Eden's resentment ebbed away slowly during training sessions after delivering a powerful blow to Yate's genitals that left him hunched and groaning. She didn't forgive him, but against her better judgement she trusted him. She knew she had to trust him. She wouldn't go out and tempt rapists if she thought he wouldn't show up and live up to his end of the deal. She needed to trust him, and she did. He gave her no reason to think otherwise.
Yates had given Eden a shiny pocket knife that looked suspiciously like the one he used to torture her, and then brief demonstration on how to handle it properly. She now found herself subconsciously flipping her knife open with the thumb stud whenever she was sitting alone in her room. Just as often, she found herself thinking of Parker and how he came to be the Shadow Killer—as the news was now calling him. She wondered if Yates had any influence in the name. He hadn't killed anyone in over a month, and the last time he'd been seen he'd tortured Eden's dad. The city was falling into a false sense of security by assuming his work was done. It hadn't even begun.
He was back to his kind eyed self, though he pushed her harder than ever in hand-to-hand combat. He said she was good at blocking hits, but hers would leave only a shadow of a bruise. She promptly reminded him of his whining moans after she'd kicked him in the balls and he clamped his mouth shut.
"So play to my strengths, I'm assuming?" she panted as she put her long hair in a tighter ponytail. "You're saying shouldn't go and punch the pig at my school who slaps my ass whenever he passes me?"
He stepped closer to her, eyes flaring. "How big is he?"
She considered for a moment, looking Yates up and down. "A little bigger than you, probably not as muscular though..." her words trailed off as she realized she was shamelessly checking him out.
"Then take him down," Yates said, like this was a no-brainer.
"But you said—"
"Eden, you can hold your own with me—"
"But I know you're not trying to hurt me, and I also know you're not putting everything you have into fighting me."
"Take him down," Yates repeated.
"But—"
"No buts, Eden. Take this bastard down." He was surprised that she hadn't said anything to him, and he was really surprised she let it happen often. She's wasn't the type to take things sitting down. He couldn't see her biting back whatever retort she'd yell at him, he couldn't see her letting him walk away unscathed. "Where's his body after he slaps you?"
She furrowed her brows together. "I don't... I don't understand what you mean."
"Is he in front of you after he slaps your ass, or does he retreat like a little bitch?"
"He's usually in front of me."
He smiled, his brown eyes shining mischievously. "Good."
Eden wore her tightest jeans and a sinful smile the next day.
She sat in history, her fury flaring when she saw the large bruise on Mrs. Whitney's left check. Why did no one in the staff do something? How many times had she said she'd fallen down the stairs? How many times had someone known the truth and sat back and done nothing? How many more beatings until it's not just bruises and broken ribs Mrs. Whitney receives from her husband?
The bell rang and class ended. Eden stalked up to Mrs. Whitney's desk, her eyes burning. Mrs. Whitney looked startled.
"Eden, are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.
"Leave him," Eden snarled in a low voice. "Fucking leave him, Mrs. Whitney. If no one else is going to even acknowledge that your husband is beating you, I will. And don't tell me he loves you, because that, that is not love. Leave him, you deserve better."
Before Mrs. Whitney could even muster a halfhearted lie, Eden turned on her heels and slammed the classroom door.
Eden marched into the hall, fuming with rage. Was this much rage always in her, or had Yates brought it out? She couldn't remember a time when anger wasn't at the surface, threatening to boil over. She'd been walking down the crowded hallway only a minute when she felt it. A hard slap, half-hit half-grope. She sucked in a deep breath and froze as Mike Ross and co. walked past her, chuckling.
She stared after him, the bubbling anger finally becoming too much. She abandoned Yate's pervious plan completely. She strode up behind Mike Ross and kicked the back of his knee viciously, his knees buckled and fell face first onto the hallway floor. There were over exaggerated gasps, jeers, and laughs that only encouraged Eden. Mike's two friends whipped around, eyes wide. Mike tried standing, but the built up anger overtook Eden, she kneed Mike in the lower back as he stood. He fell to the floor again. One of his friends shoved her against a locker. His face was inches from hers, but whatever words he was screaming couldn't be heard over the pounding in her ears. She threw her forehead against his nose, then pushed his shoulders back and kicked his groin.
Her eyes locked on Mike's other friend, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She took a determined step towards him, ready to finish the problem. He stepped back and held his hands up in surrender, eyes darting around like he couldn't believe what was happening and wanted to make sure others saw what he was seeing.
A teacher yelled. He jumped between Eden and Mike's posy, putting a hand out in front of her and Mike's friend to separate them. Mike's smaller friend was on the ground, holding his bloody nose and looking taken aback. The teacher grabbed Eden's wrist but she yanked it free and turned, walking herself to the principal's office leaving a crowd of speechless students and teachers in her wake. She met Mrs. Whitney's stare only briefly before turning away.
The principal was astonished to say the least. He stared at her as she brooded in the seat opposite to him. She waited for the speech, but it wasn't coming any time soon, unlike her breathing which was still wildly fast and never ending. She felt... powerful and out of control, yet at the same time completely in control for once. The feeling was monumental and infectious. Her desire to be out with Yates tonight, taking down the filth in the city, welled in her chest. She felt unstoppable.
"Well? Miss Summers?"
She brought her eyes to the man and raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"I've never seen such behavior in all my years, young lady. And you dare sit here and play dumb?"
She smiled but stayed quiet.
"What would possess such a nice girl to do such a thing?"
"Satan, probably."
He rubbed his temples and let out a frustrated groan. "What would possess you to attack another student like that?"
"Is a whole school year of sexual harassment not enough of a reason? I should have done it months ago."
Again, the principal fell silent. "What you should have done, Miss Summers, is file a report against Mr. Ross."
Eden chewed her lip and shook her head. "No," she said distractedly, "no, you know, that wouldn't have felt nearly as empowering."
"He could press charges."
"Mike's going suffer a bruised ego, at most," Eden scoffed.
"He could still press charges."
"Yes, because defending myself after almost a year of Mike's shit is way more uncalled for than him constantly slapping my ass. Totally understandable."
"I don't like your tone."
Eden crossed her legs and stared across the desk at the balding principal.
"I'm not justifying what Mr. Ross did, Miss Summers, I'm only saying this could hurt you more than it could hurt him."
"Ah, the justice system. God forbid if a woman tries to defend herself. "Boys will be boys" but woman have to take that siting down because it's expected for boys to want to screw anything that breathes."
He opened his mouth but Eden stood, draping her bag over her shoulder. "Are we done?"
The principal's eyes darted around for a moment. "Yes. But one moment, Miss Summers... this is the first time you've been sent to my office, and I want it to be my last. You have a little over two months until you finish high school, please do not make a habit of taking justice into your own hands."
A smile pulled her lips up reluctantly. Oh the irony.
Yates was finally taking Eden out for recon. He'd been going out on his own for weeks, tracking a level three sex offender who'd been in and out of prison. Even though Yates had known he would eventually dangle Eden in front of a rapist, he did think he could go through with it. He didn't think he could even stand back for the fraction of a second it takes to know if a man was going to try and force himself on her. If something happened to her because of him...
The car was silent, and the tension thick. Yates couldn't understand how Eden seemed so calm about what they would be doing the next day. She watched the house with a wild sort of fascination on her face. "Eden," he whispered.
She turned her head towards his.
"Did that kid slap your ass today?"
"Yeah. I got suspended."
"Why?" he asked sharply.
"Because I didn't do what you told me to do. I... just snapped," she said quietly. She remembered the feeling in her chest when she'd kicked Mike to the ground.
"Eden..."
"On the bright side, I'll have a different reputation on Wednesday. I'll no longer be the school whore, but that bitch that got two track boys suspended."
"Two? What do you mean two?"
She told Yates how Mike had slapped her ass, how she retaliated and how Mike's friend joined in on hallway harassment.
Yates laughed quietly as he gazed at her. "You broke his nose?"
She nodded, biting her lip to suppress a smile.
"Good girl."
Something other than pride filled her chest as he sat, staring at her with that look on his face. The same looked he had when he kissed her. The look of self-loathing and desire, but this time pride was there.
His gaze flickered to her lips, but then he pulled back, startled to find himself leaning so far over the center console. She hadn't realized she'd leaned in so close, either.
He cleared his throat and fixed his eyes on the house across the street.
"So. Um. How does this work, exactly?"
"What?" he said vaguely.
"This whole thing. What's your, um, system?"
"Oh. Right." He sat for a moment, trying to sort his thoughts. He seemed to have to do that a lot when he was in her company. "How I did it before was a lot more time consuming. I'd follow level two and three sex offenders for weeks and see if they tried anything on any woman that passed them that was alone. It wasn't a very effective method. I'd be stalking the rapists and waiting for them to attack, and not many of them did."
Realization dawned on her. "But—you—the guy who attacked me—was he someone you were following?"
"Yes."
"How—how many others did he...?" she said quietly.
He shook his head. "More than he was imprisoned for."
"But how many that you know of?"
He shook his head again. "Eden, don't think about it. Don't," he added sharply.
"If you hadn't been there..."
"I know."
"No. Not just... me. He would've gotten away with it. He would have done it again. To someone else." Her mind went back to Lily. Little Lily. Little, clueless, trusting Lily.
"Eden—"
"Does no one realize the connection between the supposed 'victims'? No one? Does everyone think they're guiltless? Does everyone think you're the bad guy?" she said in a disgusted voice.
I am the bad guy, he wanted to say, but he held his tongue. "Captain Matthews's knows. It's not a hard pattern to spot."
"And they don't think to tell the public what these monsters have done?"
"I'm the only monster they see," he said. "In their eyes the crimes don't cancel out. Rape isn't equivalent to murder."
She was too angry to respond so she glared out at the house once more, wondering why Yates was so humane when killing.
"What do you want me to wear tomorrow? What'll get his attention?" she said to the windshield.
Yates looked over at her and wasn't surprised to see the storm raging in her eyes. Was he doing that to her? Was he partly to blame?
"Wear your hair up in a ponytail, and wear a skirt or a dress with heels."
She eyed him with a calculated look.
"Sex offenders look for certain qualities in the woman they prey on," he clarified. "If your hair is in a ponytail it's something for a rapist to grab on to easily. And the majority of the woman that are attacked have easily removed clothing on."
"Oh." She now understood why she'd been targeted multiple times while getting off work.
"Be on your phone as you walk to the car and when he grabs you from behind don't put up too much of a fight."
"What? Why? What was the point of my training if I'm supposed to be a helpless princess," she asked bitterly.
"Rapists like easy targets, if you put up a fight or scream it discourages them. Although the night we met your fighting only seemed to—"
"Encourage them? Entertain them?" Turn them on.
"There were three of them; don't be so hard on yourself. You did better than anyone else I'd saved and you had more assailants."
"Is that why you picked me?"
His eyes locked with hers. "It was one reason, yes."
Eden's breath caught. "What were the other reasons?"
He tried not to look at her like that, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her.