Текст книги "Stain"
Автор книги: Francette Phal
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
I set the sledgehammer against the kitchen counter and pull out my jaw pliers. Dropping down to my haunches in front of Tim’s body, I flip them in the air and catch them with a grin. “You know, while I was waiting for it to get dark, I watched some videos online on how to castrate animals. Now I have to tell you, I’m a pretty good study, but there’s definitely a chance I’m going to mess up. Not because I don’t know what I’m doing, but because you hurt her.” I remove his pants, tugging them down his legs, and apply the pliers to his balls and crush down while yanking my hand back. I do the same with his limp dick. If I had a say, this is would be the universal punishment for every child molester and rapist in the world.
When I’m done I stand, looking down at his unmoving body, and I get a flashback of my father’s corpse on that bed so long ago, and I feel…nothing. I’m ready to pull my SIG out of my truck and put him out of his misery with a bullet in his head, but I don’t. He’s as good as dead, anyway.
I really doubt he’ll recover from this. I got what I came for. Revenge isn’t as sweet as I thought it would be, but at least this motherfucker won’t hurt Aylee anymore. And that’s a win I’ll gladly take.
***
The phone rings four times before he picks up. “Hello?” It’s good to hear his voice.
“Noah.”
I can hear the frown in his voice. “Max? Why are you calling me so damn early?”
“Listen, you’re not going to hear from me for a while. I need you not to worry. I’ll be fine.”
“Seriously, Max, what the hell is going on? What did you do?”
I chuckle dryly. “What didn’t I do?” It comes out more self-deprecating than I intend. “I’m going away for a while. Take care of yourself, Noah.”
“Max! Maddox!”
Click.
He’ll be fine. He has his boyfriend there to make him forget all about his asshole twin brother. That’s what I want for Noah. For him to be happy and forget about me. I know he’ll be able to do that with me gone for a while.
It’s nearing four a.m. two days later and I’m sitting outside the hospital parking lot. I’ve taken care of a few things in the last forty-eight hours. The main thing was getting to my apartment before the cops did. I grabbed all of the money I’d stashed away and shoved it inside a duffel bag. I’ve been staying at Willkie’s because he’s the only one I trust. He’s been telling me about Dro’s case and the fact that the judge hasn’t set a bail yet. But I give him a good chunk of the money I have, so he can post bail if need be. I can’t do it myself because I figure the cops are looking for my ass by now. Officer Timothy Dean Bennett’s death has been all over the news. And I’m a prime suspect. So I’ve been keeping a very low profile. But I know I need to get my ass in gear. It’s only a matter of time before they find me. Which is why I’m here. I’m about to do something very selfish.
***
Aylee
I come awake in a world where Tim is dead and I know I might go to hell for finding the greatest joy in that. Rachel is by my bedside, where she’s been since I woke up five hours ago. She’s been sobbing on and off since then. I haven’t shed one lonely tear. She’d described in very graphic detail the shape of Tim’s corpse when they’d found him broken in pieces on her pristine kitchen floor. When she said Sarah had been the one to find him first, my heart broke for my sister. That was going to scar her for a lifetime. But I don’t bother to ask how it happened, because deep down, I know.
Currently, she’s sitting to right. “Is Sarah still at Emily’s house?” I ask hoarsely; my throat still hurts. The painkillers they give me every few hours has practically numb all my pain except for the strain I put on my vocal cords.
Rachel sniffs and nods. Right now she’s not at all put together. Blotchy face, messy hair, and wrinkled clothes she’s slept in doesn’t really add up to the Stepford wife image she usually strives for. She looks normal this way. Human. Approachable. “Emily’s parents will take care of her for now. I think it’s best.”
“Yeah.”
We return to silence. “God, I can’t believe he’s gone,” she moans, running a shaky hand through her strawberry blond hair. “What am I going to do?” When she stares at me it’s as if she expects me to have the answers. Suddenly I feel more the adult than she’s supposed to be. It’s not a responsibility I want to bear.
I sigh. “You’ll get through it.” It comes out too harshly, and automatically I try to soften my tone. “We’ll get through it.”
“Oh, God, Aylee.” And she reaches for my hand on the bed and squeezes it. “We’ll do this together.”
“Did you know?” I ask unexpectedly, catching myself and Rachel off guard.
She frowns. “Know what?”
“That your husband had been molesting me. I’ve never said anything to you but I need to know if you knew.”
She looks away, withdrawing her hand from mine. “Aylee, please.”
I swallow hard around the thick lump in my throat that feels like resentment and tastes like bitterness. My tone grows quiet and angry. “You knew and you didn’t do anything.”
“I couldn’t.” She weeps, almost silently, staring at me with void, blue eyes that beg me to understand.
“You wouldn’t,” I correct.
“Aylee, sweetheart, I have no excuse. None. I knew. I knew what he was doing but I couldn’t stop him. I was a victim, too. He hurt me, too.”
I can’t argue that. Tim victimized her, too. And for that she has my sympathy. But what hurts the most, what makes me so sad and angry is that she knew what was happening and she did nothing. She’s the adult. She’s my parent. It’s her job to protect me, to keep me safe, and yet she’d failed so badly that I don’t even know if there is a way to come back from it all. How can I move on and heal when just looking at her now makes me ill? Tim is gone and yet when I look at Rachel I’m reminded of all the horrible things he did. Including my rape.
Closing my eyes, I shake my head to clear away the flashbacks and the tears stinging my lids. “Yeah, he did.” I agree only because I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with all of these emotions just yet. It’s just too much. I open my eyes and gaze over at her. “I’m tired.” And I don’t just say it to get some space from her. I’m extremely exhausted.
She sniffs, wipes the tears from her own cheeks, and nods. “You should get some sleep. Visiting hours are almost over, anyway.” She stands and fusses with my blankets, needlessly smoothing and tucking them around my legs and upper body. I let her do this because the more I look at her, the worse I feel. Her entire life has been flipped upside down. It must be jarring to face reality when she’d lived in denial for so long. She’s not a bad person. She’s just weak. We were both made to feel weak. She has no one now. There’s Sarah, but Sarah is just a child. A child who will probably grow up with her own demons. Rachel is alone. I think about her returning to that sad, lonely house filled with too many bad memories and now a crime scene, and I feel sad for her. Catching her hand when she reaches to fluff my pillows, I squeeze it.
“We’ll get through this. We’ll be okay.” My bruises are a quick and painful reminder that I can’t smile. We hug and she holds on too tight and for too long, but I say nothing. And then she’s gone and I’m left alone.
Letting out a long sigh, I raise my hand to tuck my hair behind my ear when my eyes land on the bracelet around my wrist. Maddox’s bracelet. Mindlessly, I trace it with the fingertips of my other hand. Has he come to see me? I can’t even imagine what I look like, but the thought of him seeing me this way is heartbreaking. I’m sure he was here. I remember hearing his voice from some distant part of my altering state of consciousness. Or maybe I imagined it?
I lie down and rest. Not really sleeping but somewhere in between slumber and wakefulness. My heart knows only the syllables of his name and so it beats longingly for him. And as if luck is finally on my side, he appears, conjured up by my sheer will alone. The tiniest of sounds calls my attention across the room. The lights in my room are dim, set low, so I can’t really see the features of the shadowy figure quietly closing the large wooden door of my hospital room. But I’ve spent an innumerable amount of time looking at this guy, studying not just the breathtaking aesthetics of his face, but his body as well. I know his features and his heart. I can pick him out blind in a crowded room. I’m the lock and he’s the key. Because in understanding him, I finally understand me. I accept all that is me. How could I not recognize the other half of my heart?
I squint my eyes. “Max?” I jolt forward in the bed, my hasty movements causing me pain, but I don’t care. I pull the blankets from my legs and just as I’m twisting to the side about to jump off, I realize the IV bag I’m attached to won’t let me go too far. But he’s there before I can miss him. He has me in his arms, my head on his chest, and his hand through my hair. Ecstasy isn’t simply a feeling, it’s this place right here, being so protectively enveloped in Maddox’s arms.
I hear his shuddering intake of breath. Feel the hard, long press of his kiss on the top of my head, and I know I’ll never get enough of this man. Never.
Pulling back, he takes my face between his hands in that way he loves to do, only this time it’s with infinite tenderness. His beautiful gray eyes are soft with emotion. “Do you trust me, Aylee?”
“With everything I am.” It’s an emphatic, unwavering avowal.
He presses his forehead to mine and kisses me softly as though my answer is something he’s waited on forever. “Run with me.”
“Max…” I trail off, my mind suddenly working. “You killed for me.” It’s not a question. I breathe the words against his lips like it’s a secret only he and I can taste. It would be natural to be disgusted and afraid of what he’s done, to be afraid of him, but what I’m feeling doesn’t even come close to fear.
“It didn’t feel good, but I’d do it again, Aylee. I’d do it all over again if…”
“Shhhh.” I pull away and take his face between my much smaller hands and kiss his nose, cheeks, and then his forehead. “You want me to run? I’ll run with you, Max.”
“I love you.” It’s a raw, breathtaking confession that I take to my soul when he fuses our mouths together.
***
Maddox
She told me to wait, so I’m waiting. I’ve been waiting for hours since I left the hospital. Sitting in a nearly empty bus depot, my hoodie on, my head low, I continue to wait. Another two hours pass and I start to get the sinking feeling that maybe she’s not coming. Three more hours and I’m sure of it. I turn everything off and go into survival mode. I hop on the nearest bus, find a seat in the back, and keep my head down. If I let myself think for even the smallest second, then shit’s going to get bad. So it’s better not to think. I stay in the moment. Passengers get on, and the sound of the door closing and the engine starting intensify the thrashing in my chest.
“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.” I feel the sweet breath of her whisper and my head whips to the side to see her smiling face. I’m nearly knock to the ground by the heady rush of happiness I’m feeling. “We’ll run forever if we have to. It’s you and me against the world, love.” Her smile, God, that smile is everything to me. She leans in to kiss my cheek before setting her head on my shoulder and interlocking our fingers. “If we go down…it’ll be together.”
The End…
Did you think that was it?
Think again!
Aylee & Maddox have a novella coming out early 2016!
Books by Francette Phal
Standalones:
Monster
Lick & Devour (Monster Novelette)
The Concubine; Letters to my king
Stain
The Butcher Series:
Flawed (The Butcher series, Book 1)
The Bet Series:
Beautiful Disaster (The Bet, Book 1)
Redemption (The Bet, Book 2)
Undone (The Bet Book 3)
