chapter twelve

I tried to wait up that night to see exactly what he would do with that cooler of organs, but I must’ve fallen asleep because I missed it entirely. When I checked again, the cooler was gone, and in its place was a ton of cash in an envelope taped to my door. The envelope was addressed “Thank you for trusting me, Your Biggest Fan.”

I closed the door behind me, taking the opportunity to count just how much I made. It was a whopping half a million. Taking a gasping breath, I fell to my knees as tears ran down my face. I would never have to worry about money again, and it felt so damn good, especially since it was me who earned this money rather than me leeching off of someone who was already rich. I didn’t know what they did with those organs, but I could only assume it was due to some black market transaction. Especially since the wording in the email gave me some insight that maybe this wasn’t a one-off transaction either.

Samwise let out a tiny whine as his head tilted in question at my antics. I could finally afford a proper home for him! I could finally provide for him in the way that I’d always dreamed of.

With my mind made up, I vowed that would be the first thing I did. I would buy Samwise a house with a backyard and doggie door in a nice neighborhood. I could finally have the lab of my dreams and have a bedroom instead of the setup I had right now, where my bedroom was in the living room because my bedroom was my lab.

 

Subject: Re: Hello Love

Thank you.

 

I sent off the email before I thought of anything else to say that would embarrass me. I wanted to keep my biggest fan around for a bit longer to see where my life would end because they had changed my life for the better in a single moment.

“Let’s go buy you the fancy food.”

Samwise got up from the floor with an excited woof and tail wag.

I guessed the best thing about the shitty economy was that the house turnover rate was ridiculous. Within forty-eight hours, I could find a house within the budget I was given, reach out to the owner, and purchase the home. In cash.

It was a beautiful two-bedroom house with two floors and a large basement that was perfect for me. I only had little in my original apartment, so it took me only a short time to move into the new house. The original owners didn’t have much left in the place since they had to quickly move for the husband’s new job, so my paying in cash was life-saving for them to wrap up the sale as soon as possible.

Samwise and I were living our best life in this new, big house. Well, big for us. To celebrate, we both went to Saul’s to get the good meat and whatever else Saul could give us as extras. When we pulled up to Saul’s place, I realized I had never actually let Samwise meet Saul.

When I entered, I could feel myself relax at the familiar chill in the air from the coolers in the back. Saul heard the bell on the door and made his way to the front, only to stop in his tracks when he saw me and gave me a grin. This was the first time I’d seen him grin or smile more than a turn of his lips. He always offered me small smiles, but never something this broad. It warmed me in a way that I wasn’t expecting.

His eyes traveled down to Samwise, panting at my feet but being a good boy and staying exactly where I was instead of rushing forward to take in the new environment. I watched as Saul’s expression grew fonder.

“I see this is Samwise. I’m glad you brought him here to meet me.” He looked up at me, almost like he was trying to see through me to see if I was okay after the last time he saw me. I couldn’t be more than okay. I was great, and I knew he could see that. “Glad to see you, girl. Thought I ran you out. You’re lookin’ good.”

“Hell yeah, I’m looking good,” I teased. “He and I”—I gestured to Samwise—“just got ourselves a nice house in Norwalk County. Thought I would celebrate by coming here and getting some stuff.”

“No shit!” He shifted his weight and wiped his hands on his apron as the expression he gave me turned into something a proud father would show his child, which made my heart stutter. “Congratulations, I got just a thing.”

He disappeared behind the back door, returned in seconds with two packages of meat, and placed them on the counter. “Freshly cut sirloin for the pooch and a nice New York strip for the lady. Just finished packaging this an hour ago.”

“You know I couldn’t do this without you, right? I want to thank you so much for taking care of me all these years,” I said before I could stop my line of thinking. By the time I realized I even said what I said, it was already too late. It was already out of my mouth.

“You’re a good girl. You deserve all of this and more,” he said gruffly as if he was getting emotional as well. “No one sticks around as much as you do. I would do everything I did for you again and again.”

I knew he was not talking about scraps or feeding me when he noticed I was skinnier and only buying for Samwise. I knew he was talking about the asshole I killed, and he dismembered in front of me to protect me. I also understood what he meant about protecting me not only from outside harm but also from myself because there was no way I wouldn’t have been locked up for what I did.

Self-defense was one thing, but stabbing that man repeatedly no longer qualified as self-defense. I could have gotten away with a few extra stabs, but not nearly as many as I did. If the police were involved, I would’ve been in trouble for taking back my control after it was ripped from me.

“I really appreciate you,” I said, barely above a whisper. “Don’t you think for a second, now that I am in this new fancy house, that I am going to visit you any less. In fact, you will probably see me a hell of a lot more,” I teased, trying to lighten the now-heavy mood. I wasn’t the greatest at emotions, and now it was getting into a territory I couldn’t handle. By Saul’s body language, I didn’t think he could take it either.

“Counting on it, girl,” he huffed with a smile. I took out my wallet to pay, but he shook his head. “Think of it as a housewarming gift.”

“I can’t accept this. You can’t just give me good-cut meat that would give you income and call it a housewarming gift. You do so much for me already. I can’t accept this, Saul!”

He just took the drawer out of the register. “Sorry, I can’t take any payment. I closed up the register. You might as well take it. I packaged too much meat, which won’t fit in my freezer. You would do me a favor. I can’t eat meat. My cholesterol is too high. It would just sit out and expire.”

My jaw dropped. “You can’t just take out the register because you don’t want me to pay, Saul!”

He snickered and carried the drawer to the back room before returning up front.

“It’s the middle of the day. You cannot be closing down right now.”

“You see, today’s hours have been cut because I have a doctor’s appointment, so I can’t be open much longer. I might as well have closed up shop for today.”

“What’s stopping me from dropping off some cash before I leave to pay for this? You can’t leave it at my door like in the past. I don’t live in the apartment anymore. You don’t know where I live,” I stuttered.

“You just told me you live in Norwalk County. It is a small neighborhood, girl. I could find you in twenty-four hours. Try me. Just accept the gift for once, and stop fighting me.” Saul rested his palm on the counter. He was right. He could find me within twenty-four hours. It was a small neighborhood, which was why I chose it. If I did use a smaller community, people wouldn’t expect me to do what I did.

But regardless of it being a small community, I didn’t really know exactly the skill set that Saul had. He did know how to dismember and melt a body to nothing. I mean, some of it could be because he was a butcher, but him saying that this wasn’t his first rodeo, I believed him. I didn’t feel like this was his first rodeo, and if anything, it felt like routine to him. It felt like it was something he used to do for a living. Which made him dangerous, and I honestly didn’t know what else he knew or could do to me. He was scary, but I felt ironically safe with him. I didn’t think he would turn his knowledge of whatever dangerous lifestyle he had before being the butcher on me.

“You’re right.” I sighed. “Also, who has a doctor’s appointment on a Saturday anyway?” I grumbled.

His boisterous laughter was contagious.

I was glad he was in my corner.