I need to get home.
I walked past Kael.
"Kael." I said over my shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He didn't say anything back. He just gave a single nod.
I opened the door and walked out.
Chapter 6
Indigo
The hotel room on 34th Street in St. Pete was small, cheap, and smelled funny—like stale cigarettes and damp carpets. It was the kind of place that rented by the hour if you knew which desk clerk to slip a twenty to. I'd paid cash for three nights and hoped I wouldn't need all of them. I just needed time to get my courage up.
I sat on the edge of the sagging bed, staring at my phone.
It had been three days since I'd left New York. Three days since I'd watched Dutch bleed out on his kitchen floor. Three days since I'd gotten on that bus with nothing but a duffel bag and a head full of noise.
I needed help. I hated that I needed help. But I wasn't stupid enough to think I could survive alone. Calling Malachai—after everything that had happened—felt like it would kill me if I actually did it. After what happened. After his fucking indifference. After I shoved that blade into his black ass heart. But I had to stop thinking like that. I needed his help. I could go back wearing my hate for him on my sleeve. But I didn't know if I could do it without stabbing him again.
Then my mind shifted—to my father.
I was almost tempted to call him. But he hadn't spoken to me since the wedding. And he called Malachai to handle people like the men I was running from anyway. What could he really do? He wasn't going to war for me.
The annoyance sat heavy in my chest, hot and suffocating.
I exhaled and stood up, pacing the small, cramped room. My hand curled into a fist, and before I could stop myself, I grabbed the cheap lamp off the nightstand and hurled it against the wall. It shattered on impact, glass and broken porcelain scattering across the stained carpet.
"Fuck," I shouted under my breath.
I dragged my hands down my face, pressing my palms into my eyes until I saw stars. I didn't have time for this. I didn't have options.
My eyes went back to the phone resting on the mattress. Malachai… or nobody.
I swallowed hard, the back of my throat tight. Then I shook my head. I didn't want to talk to him alone. I grabbed my phone, my fingers flying across the glass screen. I scrolled to Maya's name and pressed call.
She picked up on the second ring. "Indigo? Girl, I been calling you for days! Where the hell are you? Kael said something went down in New York and—"
"I need you to do me a favor." I cut her off, my voice clipping her words.
The line went dead quiet for a second. "Okay. Talk to me, sis. What you need?"
"I need you to get Malachai to come to your house."
Another pause. Longer this time.
"Indigo... why?"
"I can't explain right now. Just—can you do it? Make sure your husband and Kael are there too. I don't know what he'll do when he sees me. He might kill me."
To my surprise, Maya laughed. "Girl, you clearly don't know what's been going on down here since you left."
I frowned, stepping over the broken glass of the lamp. "What do you mean?"