For the first time in hours, I feel safe. Standing with Austin in his apartment, it feels that the real world can’t get to me here.

And even if it does, Austin would just kick its ass and send it on its way, just like he did in that alley. I don’t even want to think about what would've happened if he hadn’t showed up when he did.

I mean, Lester is out of control, and if he got ahold of me, knowing him as I do…I’m shuddering.

The commissioner has a mean streak to him, you know? He always had a knack for extortion, but I just took saw him as another dirty cop—dirty, but not evil.

But I was wrong.

Lester is looking more and more like a New York devil, and I’m starting to realize that extortion might be just be one of his pastimes.

“Thank you,” I mutter as I sit down on Austin’s couch and he hands me a glass of water. I take a deep breath, trying to steady my hands as I wrap my fingers around the glass.

“Hey, babe,” he says, sitting next to me, tucking a lock of hair over my ear. “No need to fucking thank me. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

I put the glass to my lips and start drinking—the cold water calming my nerves. I try to push Lester’s evil grin to the back of my mind, and then I look up at Austin. There’s relief in his eyes, but there’s also concern. By the way he’s looking at me, I know that he has a few questions dancing on the tip of his tongue.

“Just get it out,” I tell him, sighing. I place the glass of water on the coffee table in front of me and fold my hands on my lap, feeling that the time to come clean has finally arrived. I just hope it’s not too late.

“You asked for it,” he chuckles lightly before he starts, licking his lips while he looks for the right words. “What was Lester doing at your club? What was that all about? Because that dude came to fight a war tonight, not close down a fucking strip club.” Pursing my lips, I look into Austin’s eyes and swallow down all hesitancy. Time to come clean.

Here I go.

“He was carrying out his threat,” I say drily, breathing in as I prepare myself to tell Austin the truth. All of it.

“What threat?” he asks me in that patient tone of his, his eyes narrowing slightly. I notice his fingers twitching, and I’d bet a full year’s income that he’d like to choke out Lester as much as I do.

“Lester, he… Austin, he was forcing me to spy on you,” I finally tell him, the words tumbling out of my lips and blowing up in the air of his apartment. “He wanted me to tell him about what was going on in Python.”

Austin has nothing on his face. He’s quiet.

“Shit,” he whispers, looking away from me and turning his gaze outward, to the New York skyline outlooking his wall-to-ceiling window panes. Even though it’s still night, the city keeps on glowing, its bright lights cutting through the darkness. “I should've known.”

“He threatened he’d close my club if I didn’t keep tabs on you,” I say. “And he wanted me to find someone… The woman you were talking to. Mistress Strokes, you called her, I think.”

“That fucking bastard,” he whispers again, balling his hands into fists, anger dripping out of his words. Oh, he wants to choke Lester, alright. “Destiny, why didn’t you trust me?”

He finally turns to me, his words making my heart feel smaller and smaller. Right now, I just wish I could vanish into the ether.

“I… I don’t know, Austin,” I start, that sadness inside of me turning into desperation.

What if he tells me to get out of his apartment?

What if he tells me that he never wants to see me again?

It’s in this exact moment that I finally realize something: I’m in love with Austin Price.

That’s right. I’m in love with Python.

I felt it in the way my heart beat every time our gaze met, and I felt it every time I thought of him, that soothing warmness blanketing my mind and taking over my dreams. I’m in love with Austin, I think to myself, the words echoing inside my head.

“I’m sorry,” I repeat, “I really am.” I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I said these three words, I’m sorry, but they never sounded so real as they do now. If only I could turn time back.

“Don’t,” he says, turning his body to me. Don’t say you’re sorry! You lied to me! I trusted you! My imagination starts putting words into his mouth, a deep-seated fear making my fingers shake. “Don’t say you’re sorry, Destiny,” he tells me, just like I imagined, and I feel my fears creeping into the real world. But then he continues to speak. “It’s not your fault. It’s all on him, that fucking prick.”

He gets up from the couch and I just look in silence as he walks toward the kitchen counter and grabs a bottle of aged whisky sitting there. He uncorks the bottle and fills two glasses with the amber liquid.

Throwing his head back, he drinks one of the glasses in one single gulp and then refills it. Only then does he come back to the couch, pushing one of the glasses into my hand.

“Lester has been trying to close down Python since the moment it opened its doors. I just never thought he’d go this far,” he says to me.

I’m quiet, letting him continue.

I mean, a part of me is wanting to hear this, you know?

Whatever secret Austin has, whatever drama he’s got with NYPD, it just fucked up my club.

So yeah, I may be sorry, but I’m also going to need answers. If not now, then soon.

“You see, Destiny,” Austin says as he turns to me, a serious look on his face and I can tell I might just be getting those answers now. “Python is much more than just a bar or a strip club. We do something important there, and I guess we ended up being more than a nuisance to Lester and his cronies.”

My mind is buzzing with questions, but I can’t press Austin any further, not now. I want to.

God damn, I so want to.

But I can tell now isn’t the best time.

But soon, like I said, I’m going to need to know.

For now, I can trust him.

Still, I can’t help but wonder about the we he keeps talking about.

And what exactly is going on at Python?

Is he talking about his haven for women philosophy, or is it something more than just that? Either way, it doesn’t matter. Because I trust him and, whatever the conflict is between him and Lester, it won’t change a thing.

I trust Austin’s judgment more than anything right now, and I won’t let all the things Lester told me about him cloud my mind. That bastard tried to poison me with lies, but that stops now.

“Austin, I…” I start saying, but I stop, not finding the right words. I sided with Lester, and I worked with him to spy on Python and Austin… And, God, that’s making me feel horrible. He presses one finger over my lips and hushes me with a smile.

“You don’t need to say anything,” he whispers, smiling gently. Leaning into me, he brushes his lips tenderly against my own. “I promise you: we’re going to get through this. We’ll find a way.”

As I look into his eyes, I find all my fears fading away as if they were being carried by the wind. I believe him. I believe him in a way I’ve never believed anyone before.

Austin is going to make it all right, I just know it.

How?

Because I love him.

Yeah, you heard me. You know, in case you didn’t hear me before.

Destiny Renee is in love with Austin “Python” Price.

I nod at him, a shy smile creeping on my lips. “We’ll get through this,” I repeat, belief turning into certainty.

Yes, we’re going to get through this.