Page 12 of Cut Me Down

“Hey Serena….” My angel speaks, and I’m immediately disappointed that I can’t kill this one. “Yeah, no, sorry. I went for a walk… My cliff spot is not creepy, I’m about to regret sharing my location with you… I’m fine… No, I’m not thinking of Cooper…”Who the fuck is Cooper?“Someone’s been leaving me flowers and notes on my doorstep every day for a week… I don’t know who, Ser… Please, if Cooper sent me a note, it’d be a death threat, not cute little love notes…” A death threat?Who the fuck is this Cooper!?

I don’t care if I have to track down every man in the country with the name Cooper, I will find him. I imagine I won’t have to search very hard with my skills, but why the fuck would anyone want to harm her? Well, I know one thing, he won’t get the fucking chance.

“Because, Ser, what if this guy is like Cooper. Or worse?... Maybe I don’t want to know who it is… You forget, I work with men all day long, none of them really inspire confidence… I’m not living in fear… I call it living with caution…” She laughs slightly. It sounds like this guy really did a number on her. Is he still alive? Well, if so, that’s going to have to change. “Yes, if it gets weird, I’ll call you… I’m going to go home soon; it just feels nice out tonight… Yes, Ser, I’m fine… I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?... Love you too, bye.” She lets out another long sigh and stares out into the water again, but only for a moment before pocketing her phone and standing up to leave.

That really pisses me off. She just wanted some fucking peace, and this friend gave her shit for it? What kind of friend does that? She’s not in danger by being out here, especially with me watching her, and she’s not a child that needs permission to do anything. I need to research this friend too. Every aspect of her life is now my business. No detail is too small. Including overbearing and commanding friends. The only person allowed to command my woman is me, and I have a feeling this friend is going to have a problem with that.

We’re walking back through the park, and she doesn’t look nearly as content as she did walking earlier. Her shoulders droop slightly, and she doesn’t bother to look out into the park. It’s almost as if she’s too lost in her mind to care anymore. To my surprise, she does look to the side as she senses people, eyeing warily at her surroundings when she passes a group of guys hanging out on a park bench.

The tallest, and I'm guessing the dominant of the group, watches intensely as she passes. I can tell the moment their eyes meet, because she looks ahead sharply, and moves closer to the other side of the sidewalk. He wickedly grins at his buddies, showing his darkened yellow teeth and loosens his stance, as if he’s mentally preparing for a good time. He starts to walk after her. Leaving his friends behind and out of sight, not bothering to keep a good distance, and I instantly feel my body temperature rise as I clench my jaw in anger.

Oh. Fuck. No.

Not my girl.

I quickly walk up behind him, and this dumb mother fucker is so set on her that he can’t hear me approach him. Watching him intensely, I see as he reaches into his jean pocket, ever so slightly pulls a knife handle out and looks at it, then puts it back in his pocket. Not removing his hand. I watch as if his body tenses, and he slowly pulls the muscles in his neck to the side, cracking his spine, as if he’s trying to loosen up for something.

My blood begins to boil, and I quicken my pace. My mind is racing with all of the things he could be thinking of doing to her. Would he just try to scare her? Does he think she’d have something he’d want? Or, the reason my mind immediately goes to, is that he wants to hurt her…maybe even kill her. Absolutely fucking not. No one touches what’s mine!

I quickly plan my attack, and the moment we pass an alleyway, I grab around his throat with one hand, and his mouth with the other, shoving him into the alley. I release my hold once he’s out of sight from the public, and he stumbles at the force of my push, almost tumbling over. He stands straight and twirls around angrily, staring at me with bloodshot eyes.

“Fuck is your problem, man!” I swing, my right fist hitting him in the jaw, and he fumbles, but stands up straight and swings back. My movements are swift from years of practice and training, and his face hardens as he misses me. Using the momentum from his punch, I grab his wrist, twisting it behind him, and yank back, dislocating his shoulder. He screams out in pain as I plant the sole of my foot into his back. Sending him flying into the brick wall.

He scrambles, trying to stand again, so, to be generous, I help him by grabbing his shirt in my fists and raising him up. Shoving my trembling, enraged face into his. Making sure that the heat and hellfire of my breath can be felt on his disgusting skin.

“Mine!”I say shakily, even slightly scaring myself with the harsh tone in my voice. I shouldn’t kill him here. There are too many possible witnesses, his friends, and with it only being almost eight in the evening, it’d be hard to hide the act until a clean-up crew could get here. “She is fucking mine, and you'll do well to never look in her direction again.”

“Alright man! Fuck! I get it!” He yells as I drop him and he scrambles, holding his shoulder as he attempts to run off. Though as he goes to turn back onto the sidewalk, I see him glancing in the direction that she was walking. As if I could read his mind, I know what he’s thinking. Find out where she lives and get back at me for hurting him. I don’t fucking think so.

Something snaps in me. Something I can’t control, and that makes me feel even more manic than I already do. I’m always in control. Always planning things out to the last detail, but not this time. I reach out again, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, and dragging him back into the alleyway. Unsheathing my own knife, I swiftly graze the sharp edge of my blade across his throat in one move as the momentum takes him backwards.

By the time I slowly turn around to face him again, he’s reaching up and grabbing his throat. As if that will actually help him. I’ve severed his carotid artery. Nothing could save him now. Taking slow, menacing steps, I walk up to him. His eyes now wide, and the globes themselves trembling under my presence. The stare boring into me as if he’ll see God in my gaze. He will find nothing of the sort in me, and whatever awaits him in hell is almost as satisfying as killing him.

I press the tip of my blade to his forehead and lightly push forward. The action sending this repulsive sack of diseased meat to his back. His body starts convulsing as his grip loosens, allowing the blood to flow freely from his throat. In a matter of seconds, his body becomes completely limp, and I watch as whatever light was there leaves his eyes.

Inhaling the fresh iron in the air acts like an inhaler. Demanding the muscles in my lungs to relax and work naturally. The tension rolls off and down my body as if I was bathing in it, allowing the anger and worry to melt away, leaving only the need to see her running through my veins. I take a moment, inhaling deep breaths to contain myself before I use my cell to dispatch a cleanup crew and continue walking, determined to catch up to my girl.

I quicken my pace, and I approach her in enough time to watch her reach Cut Me Down. As she reaches the door, she takes a quick, scared look around to make sure the man isn’t following her, and then she enters. As I walk past the entrance to the building, I see through the glass to see that she’s practically running up the stairs. I want to run to her and tell her that everything is all right. That the scary man won’t be able to hurt her anymore, but I stop myself, remembering that she hasn’tactuallymet me yet.

And that pisses me off more.

I heavily storm up to my own apartment next door, slamming the door behind me, and I can’t help but pace the living room. My whole body begins to move, trying to shake the agitating, tingling feeling that has washed over me. What is wrong with me? I shouldn’t feel this way. I know that. I hear the voices in my head screaming that this is wrong. How irrational it is, but she’s so fucking captivating. Hypnotizing. She’s yanking my heart out of my chest, twisting my brain until anything but her is drained from it, and I don’t know how to stop it.

I slam my fists into the desk to try and relieve some of this aggression. Passion. I’ve never felt this way for someone, and I don’t even know her. What the fuck is wrong with me? I look up through the window to see her in her bedroom. The last light streaming in through her window and shining over that gorgeous face. So soft. Gracious.

My eyes zone in on her as she takes off her top, showing me her bare back as she unclasps her bra and throws it into the laundry basket. Her skin looks just as smooth from here, and I run the pads of my fingers down the windowpane as if I could reach out and touch her. She looks so delicate. Innocent. Gentle. Something just begging to be ruined.

I feel a heat rush through my body as she begins to unbutton her jeans and slide them down along with her black panties, revealing her round, firm ass. My cock strains against my pants and I attempt to adjust myself without losing control and tugging on it like a horny teenager.

She quickly pulls on a small, cropped tank top and a pair of sweatpants, and as she turns around to her bed, showing off her tight, pierced stomach, I see her hardened nipples poke through the thin material. My dick throbs, and I know the moment she falls asleep I’m going take a shower and pleasure myself to the thought of her.

Sitting down on top of the bed, she curls into her pillows and turns on a movie. The new lights from the tv illuminate the room as ‘Halloween’ flashes on the screen and I look back to her. Her soft blanket is now draped around her as she sits on top of her comforter, and I watch as she lays down and pulls the blanket in close, her hands tightly fisting the material, as if she feels ashamed for putting on comfortable clothing while being alone in her apartment. After a few minutes of the movie, her face calms, but not completely. The worried look still plastered onto her face. What happened to her to keep herself so concealed? So scared? The thoughts bring me back to my main objective of finding out everything I can about my gorgeous mystery.

I march back over to the desk, turn on my laptop, and begin working. Navigating to the Police Department database, I find my way in through their supposedly secure server and look up her name. It doesn’t take long before multiple files with her name pop up.

Ashia Morgan Carpenter…

I begin looking through them, and I only have to read two sentences before I find out who Cooper is…and he’s not fucking dead! I feel the rage resurface in my chest, and my hands shake again. I finally get to the seventh file, and I can’t stand to look anymore. I can’t focus enough to read anything… Her pictures from the attack are first to come up, and in a moment of pure fury I shove the laptop off of the desk and into the wall with one arm…

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