By some wild maneuvers, they were able to get rid of the other car, and made it to the house on Wilmer street. Even when they pulled into the driveway, Eve lay on the backseat and cried over what had happened.
"Oh, Lex, Lex, that was so awful!"
"Don't worry, Miss Teschmacher, I'm fine."
"I meant about Philip, Lex" she stopped crying, and sat up, her voice cracking with anger She so filled with adrenaline, she felt herself trembling.
"That's all right; I'll find a replacement. Shouldn't be too difficult. Now, are you going to come inside, or do you intend to spend the night here?"
"Lex, do you not care that Philip is dead?"
"No, why should I?"
"Well, wha—how can you—he was close to you, and now he's dead."
"Miss Teschmacher, do you really think that the greatest criminal mind of our century is going to waste time worrying about the death of some strung-out little punk? That I don't have more important, more elevated subjects to occupy my mind with?"
"What if it had been me? Or are you too brilliant to care about the death of some cheap hooker?"
"Come on, Miss Teschmacher." He lifted her out of the car, and carried her into the house, setting her down on the couch, before changing out of his bloodied shirt.
"You know" he called out from his bathroom, "if you plan on staying with me, you'll have to get used to things like that happening." He came back to the living room, his shirt half-buttoned.
"I know" She wiped her eyes. "I'm okay. Just a little rattled. It's just that was the first time I've ever been shot at, and the first time I've seen a dead body. Big day." She smiled weakly, and he kissed the top of her head.
"Stick with me and you'll get used to it."
She gulped down her last few tears and asked the question she'd been too scared to bring up before. "How many people have you killed?"
"Including people I've killed indirectly, or just mano a mano, so to speak?"
"Yeah, just ones you've actually killed yourself, and not counting self-defense" She had the feeling that if he counted the people he'd ordered to be executed, and the ones who'd been sent to kill him, the number would be far higher than she'd like to hear. It would be like if she had to count the number of people she'd slept with including paying customers, it wouldn't be fair.
"Fifty-seven."
She felt her jaw drop open. "That's not counting self-defense of things like that?"
"Those are the ones that I personally killed, for my own gain."
"Oh my god, Lex; you are sick. You are really, really sick." She couldn't help but feel a little thrill at the thought, especially as he stood in front of her, his shirt still unbuttoned. After what had happened to Philip, she needed to feel something better, or at least different. Lex seemed to sense her thought process, because he gave her that sardonic smile.
"Miss Teschmacher"
"Yes, Lex?"
"In light of what happened to Philip, I think it might be best for us to lie low as much as possible. Now, that's easy for me to do, since I'll be moving into my new place next week, but you might have a harder time, considering the nature of your job. So, I was wondering if you'd like to quit and move in with me."
"What—really? I…oh no. No, no, you think I'm stupid, don't you? You think that if you get me to move in with you, then we don't have to get married."
He didn't fall for her bluff, however, and flashed that awful, adorable smile. "All right, Miss Teschmacher, that's completely your decision. But don't blame me when you're slowly bleeding to death behind a dumpster because a member of the Schoppa family thinks they can get information from you."
"Well" she sighed, leaning back on the couch "maybe I could move in with you for a little bit. Just until we know they're not after us anymore. Unless we get married, then I wouldn't have to move out again." She figured it was worth another try.
"Miss Teschmacher" he growled. It was a warning and she knew enough to heed it.
"Where are you gonna live, anyway?"
He smiled, "I think you'll get a kick out of it."
"Can I have my own room?" After years of living with a roommate, she had her priorities.
"I think that can be arranged. You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
She shook her head. "I don't care, where we are, just so long as I can be with you."
And she did get to be with him. Living underground was hard to get used to at first, but so were a lot of things; so was watching Lex throw people into the river with concrete attached to their feet, so was being shot at by members of other families whom she could never keep straight in her mind, so was having to whore herself out to anyone Lex wanted information from or on. It was all worth it, though, because of Lex. He was good to her, he loved her. He loved her, she reminded herself for what seemed like the hundredth time as she watched him interrogate a young lackey while his new assistant worked on the boy's fingers with a pair of pliers. He loved her, and she loved him, and that was all that mattered.
The End