Page 44 of Psycho

“Either she goes with me, and you leave her the fuck alone, or I kill you right now and let the girl come home to see you bleeding on the shitty carpet flooring.”

He backed away from me. “Micah. Please be reasonable. You can’t just take my daughter.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Everything I had learned about him told me he wasn’t one to sacrifice himself for anyone, not even his own daughter, so why the hell was he being so strong-will about this?

“Why are you so adamant about keeping her with you?” I asked.

That was the only explanation. I knew I guessed right when his eyes widened, and he hadn’t been able to hide his expression from me in time.

He sputtered a bit before he said, “Of course, I want her with me. She’s my daughter.”

That was true, but I wasn’t wrong about the piece of shit. I knew he wouldn’t have cared for anyone but himself. So why would he risk my wrath to keep her?

I took a step forward, and he flinched back. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I stood there, thinking, and when he took a deep stuttering breath, I said, “I take the girl, and your debt is cleared.”

He swallowed. “All of it?”

“All of it.”

Ozzy didn’t say anything for a moment, bathing the entire trailer in silence, save for the slight creak from an unknown source in the room.

Then, “Okay. Take her.”

I smiled and walked over to him. He flinched when I patted his cheek.

My smile grew, and the fucker smiled back at me. I wondered if he would have done it if he realized just how the sight of his smile boiled the rage I had built inside me.

Without a word, I pulled my arm back and punched him square in the face.

“Fuck!”

He fell down and clutched his nose.

“That’s your fucking free pass. If you ever make me chase after you again, I’ll break both of your feet. Got me?”

He swallowed noisily as he nodded. His voice was small when he answered. “Yeah. I got you.”

* * *

I stayed where I was,perched against the wall when I heard her riding her bike back to the trailer.

Ozzy was quiet, sitting on the crappy recliner in the corner with his hands braced on his face.

Something brewed behind his dark eyes that I didn’t fucking like one bit, but unless he gave me a reason to pummel him to the ground, he was safe from me.

For now.

After all, I wasn’t completely unhinged.

I looked out the window to see her getting off the bike and perching it against the trailer before slowly making her way up the steps. My eyes narrowed at her movement—wondering why she was moving like that—even as a strange feeling took hold from the sight of her.

This fucking feeling was nothing new.

It was the same feeling I had as I watched her the last three years, but it seemed to have amplified now that I was just moments away from revealing myself to her.

The door opened then, and everything became faint...

Vaguely, I was aware of Ozzy in the room. I was aware of the dingy room we were in, with the musty smell that seemed to have permeated the very essence of the place. Still, it all became fuzzy when she opened the door and walked through, stopping when she found me standing in the corner.

---