Free My Angels Have Demons (Users #1) by Stacy, Jennifer Buck

am I?" he croaked in alarm.
    He couldn't see anyone, but he could hear faint steps from behind the bed.
    "You're in my version of the batcave." A voice he recognized as Fox said from over his shoulder. "A secret lair under my house."
    The walls were bare rock in some places, stacked bricks in others, a mix of a natural and man built structure. The room was shaped like a semicircle with a long training pad complete with targets for throwing knives and other projectiles. On the opposite side of the room was a weight set and exercise machines. Fox didn't mess around when it came to this shit. She was prepared.
    "How...how did I get here?" Carter asked.
    "Alaric brought you here."
    "Why? Why would he bring me here? Why not just leave me to die?" And at that moment Carter wished Alaric had. It felt as if his brain had been mixed up in a blender and his face was like a bloody piece of beef.
    "Alaric would never leave anyone to die. Not even you," she said.
    That only made Carter hate him all the more. That do-gooder son of a bitch saved his life, then brought him here to show his girlfriend how he had pounded her ex.
    "Figures," Carter said.
    "He's not a bad guy," Fox said.
    "You're not helping," he said.
    "Oh, I'm helping. I'm the only thing keeping you alive," she said in a mocking tone.
    For the next day he slipped in and out of consciousness. While awake he and Fox talked about his condition, despite his face taking a pounding, his nose was broken and his cheek bone was fractured, but he was otherwise okay.
    "It could have been a lot worse you know," she said. "I've seen Alaric kill a man in one punch. You're made of tougher stuff than you look."
    "I've always been a survivor, if nothing else," he said. They spent that evening reminiscing about the old days, and even joking about cases or fights.
    "Remember that time Darnell hung that Pusher out to dry? There he was, dangling in thin air over the buildings edge forty feet above the ground with nothing but Darnell's moving powers holding him aloft," she said.
    "Yeah, but you're forgetting a key element there. Before Darnell got a hold of him that bastard had already pushed me into believing I was a chicken. I spent the next twenty four hours pecking at the floor," Carter said.
    They laughed aloud and it echoed off the stone walls of the subterranean basement.
    "How could I forget that?," she asked.
    "You did spend the entire day corralling me like a wild animal."
    "Those were good times."
    "They were," he agreed.
    A dour look came over her face at that moment, as if she had remembered something solemn.
    "They weren't all good times though," she said.
    It was as if they were sobering from their mirth. The air was just sucked out of the room as they went through the time line from so good to so bad in a matter of seconds.
    "Yeah, things after that went from bad to worse, but we were just kids. What started out as just partying became an addiction and an addiction became an ugly way of life."
    "I should have stood by you," she said.
    "No, you did the right thing." He stretched his legs and arms, checking for feeling in them before propping himself up on his elbows. "No one should have to sit by and watch someone destroy themselves. You would have just been dragged down with me."
    "I know, but I should have done something, done more," she said and a tear rolled down the side of her face. He reached out and wiped the tear from her cheek.
    "You did what you could, beyond that you didn't owe me anything. And you still don't, which is why I'm going to go," he said sitting up.
    "What? Where will you go?" she asked. "You're still too injured to leave."
    "It's just my face. My legs are fine. I know of a shelter down at the old church that I'm sure has open beds. I'll go there," he said.
    "Are you sure?" she asked.
    He swung his legs around and stood up from the bed and immediately had to take a seat as the blood rushed to his head and the vein on the side of his head pounded with