Despite himself, Archie felt his body relax under her touch. A gentle tingling sensation spread across his skin. His muscles loosened. “You’ve aged me,” he said, and he took his finger off the trigger of the gun. She knew the moment he’d done it. Maybe he’d glanced down or relaxed his shoulder or she felt his hand shift between their bodies. But she knew. And her free hand was there, between them, moving the gun out of his hand. He let her take it. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to shoot her, not now, not today.

She set the gun on the bar behind him. “You need to take better care of yourself,” she said.

Rachel was still sobbing softly. Gretchen gave an irritated sigh and rolled her eyes. “I find that sound irksome,” she said. She pivoted to Archie’s side, and leaned back against the bar next to him, facing Rachel.

Rachel cowed under Gretchen’s gaze, eyes on the floor, her body twisted away from them.

“I know emotions can be tough for you psychopaths,” Archie said. “So I’ll help you out with this one.” He indicated Rachel. “That’s called fear.”

“I know what that’s called,” Gretchen said, eyeing Rachel like she was a particularly unappealing piece of meat. She turned to Archie. “Are you going to introduce me?” Gretchen asked.

“I was under the impression that you’d met,” Archie said.

“Not formally,” Gretchen said with a smirk.

“Gretchen, this is Rachel,” Archie said flatly. “Rachel, this is your employer.”

Rachel was shaking, the handcuffs rattling against the wood of the chair. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “Don’t kill me,” she pleaded.

“She’s not going to kill you,” Archie said with a pointed look at Gretchen. “Because if she does, I’m not going with her.”

Gretchen raised an eyebrow.

Archie held his ground.

Then Gretchen inhaled deeply and her eyelids fluttered. “I can smell you in here,” she said. “The room reeks of sex.”

Archie’s gut twisted, but he tried not to show it on his face. “Did you like watching?” he asked.

“Mmm,” she said. “It was almost like being here.”

Her eyes grazed the floor, landing on the rubber mask, and she walked to it and picked it up. She turned it right side out and held it aloft on one hand, so that she was facing her own profile. Then she laughed.

“It doesn’t do you justice,” Archie said. His body was feeling calmer, looser. He was no less afraid, but the Oxycodone made his body forget that a little.

Gretchen tossed the mask back on the floor. “No,” she said. “It doesn’t, does it?” She cocked her head and examined Rachel some more. “Do you like her?” she asked Archie.