What They Deserve

EIGHTEEN

His plan was set in motion.

It had been much easier than he’d expected. And Raven didn’t even realize that she’d helped him in his quest. She’d given him the perfect opportunity to make her disappearance a little less obvious right away. An added bonus was that the delay in anyone realizing that she was missing would help give him a little extra time to get rid of Willow.

That didn’t mean he felt okay about attacking the poor guy; he was just a pawn in a game he didn't deserve to be a part of. And figuring out who he needed to put on the sidelines was more of a guessing game. Without even a name to go on, he relied on all the time he’d spent watching her. He’d seen the guy with her a few times, always in their work clothes and leaving or returning to their office building together. He had no clue he’d chosen the right guy until he got a phone call.

A breathless Raven didn’t even wait for him to say anything. As soon as he answered, she blabbed that she was leaving for China on Wednesday. 

You should be thanking me for this. "That's exciting."

"I know!" The words were breathy and he could picture a smug smile on her blushed face as she stood in her living room with the attitude of a narcissist, as if she deserved this.

Whether her breathlessness was from the obvious excitement she couldn't contain or all of the running around she was doing, he didn't know.

He didn't care. All he did care about was that now he could create the perfect opportunity for her to disappear. He just had to have impeccable timing.

Her place was finished and he found that he couldn't wait for Wednesday. He was almost tempted to take care of her now, but then the attack on her co-worker would have been pointless and he had to admit that he felt a little guilty for hurting the man. To ease his mind, he kept telling himself it was all to rid the world of one more evil woman. So instead of taking care of her right then, he agreed to go to her apartment and take dinner with him.

She was so caught up in her trip that she didn't hint at anything happening between them besides eating. He was fine with that since it meant less work on his part. If all he had to do was feed her and put up with her non-stop talking about herself, he could deal with that.

After hanging up, he got ready and went to a wing shop close to her apartment to get their food, splurging a little on cookies. Once he had the food and drinks balanced in one hand, he flagged down a cab, figuring it would just be easier to ride the short distance rather than walk with all of the stuff. 

Ten minutes later, Raven opened the door, her face flushed just as he'd imagined it would be. "I love wings."

He breezed past her into the kitchen, flashing her a quick smirk. "Good. I've been craving some and heard this place is the best."

She came up beside him and started to help unload the bag, brushing a hand along his or bumping her hip against him. "It is the best. You're gonna be addicted."

He gave her small smiles when all he wanted to do was punch her in her face. “Not sure I want to be addicted.”

Her laugh felt genuine while his was forced.

“You want a beer?” She already had two bottles in her hand as she waited for his answer.

“I think I’ll pass. How about a soda?” The cringe he gave her was uncontrolled. Just the thought of drinking made his stomach unsettle.

“Okay.” The look either went unnoticed or it didn't matter to her as she put the beers back and grabbed them each a soda.”

After grabbing her styrofoam box of food, she led the way to the living room where they watched a true-crime show as they ate. "It's scary to think there are sickos out there like that. I mean, we could work with people that just want to bash our brains in."

He managed to keep from laughing. If you only knew. "Yeah. Pretty crazy."

“What’s really crazy are the stories you hear where a family member kills someone.” A look of sadness flashed in her eyes. If he hadn’t been looking at her, he would have missed it. For the same fleeting second, he felt pity for her.

“Makes it hard to trust anyone when you hear those stories.”

“Yeah.” She nodded and focused back on the show.

Raven made a few guesses about who the murderer was. But he knew who it was within the first few minutes. The ending of the show surprised her, but he grinned in satisfaction. If she only knew the signs, she’d realize just how much danger she was in.

Once they were done eating, he stayed long enough to watch another episode. He kept his sneers to himself as he judged the woman who had mutilated her ex-husband with a hacksaw. Raven made disgusted noises the whole time.

“See? This is what I’m talking about.” She shook her head.

“Yeah.”

As the credits rolled, he decided that it was time to go. She kept glancing at her phone, checking the time he guessed. After a somewhat dramatic stretch and yawn, he said goodnight, quite happy she didn't give him a hard time. They exchanged a very bland kiss at the door and then he made his way to his favorite look-out spot to spy on her, sure it was going to be boring and he'd go home in a short while.

Raven whizzed around the apartment, folding and packing clothes, filling a bag with toiletries. She organized her briefcase seven times. Every so often, she picked up her phone to check it. For what, he didn't know. He wasn't interested. But he had a sneaky suspicion that she was waiting for him.

So he decided to put her heart at ease and typed a quick message. I'll miss you.

When she blushed, typing her response to him, he got up and went to his place. Wednesday couldn't come fast enough.