Page 50 of Poisoning Ivy
Theo grips her husband by the neck and shoves him onto the ground as I sidle up behind her, running my touch down her arms to place my hands over hers. With my leverage, she's able to pull the axe free from the mutilated couch.
"A clean hit to the neck, Bambi. You already know how to go for the jugular."
She growls like the feral little thing she is, earning a chuckle from me. Theo watches her dubiously, barely using any effort to force her husband to still beneath him. The surgeon is at least a foot shorter than Theo— most people are. He's also considerably less muscular, which means as panicked as he is, he's useless to fight against this, particularly when Monty drops to his knees and pulls his hair hard, making his neck arch as he tries to get some leverage.
"Fuck you! Fucking psychos! You're sick!"
I think we've all managed to tune him out the majority of the night, and I continue to ignore him. He's not the first to launch those words at us, at me. People try to tear down what they don't understand because they don't want to deal with a constantreminder of their ignorance. And no one has ever understood the love I have for my friends. My parents accepted it, but I could tell in the way they'd look between us sometimes that they were curious about our group dynamic. They were either too scared of the answer, or too polite to ask. Regardless, they let it go and never loved me any different— quite an impressive feat, given that they weren't even my parents by blood. They had no reason to love me, and I don't think I gave them a ton, but they did it anyway. It's the same with Monty, Theo... her.
She loves me no matter what she says, no matter what she does. I think she was made for me... or maybe we were all made for each other, one exquisite package deal.
"You're hurting my feelings," I say, deadpan.
"Come on, Tiger Lily." Theo encourages. "I'd much rather be on top of you than him. Let's get this over with and make that happen, hmm?"
Monty chuckles as I help Ivy to raise the axe over her shoulder, sure to keep my face clear of the path of the blade.
"Just think about how much fun we'll have together in the future." I tell her. "You liked watching me slit Tilly's throat, remember?"
"She was innocent." Ivy gasps, her voice full of indignation despite how I can feel her resolve fading away right now.
"She wasn'tinnocent." Theo laughs. "You assumed just because Killian hired her to fuck us that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
Monty laughs, too, and when I look down at Ivy, I can see her mouth twitch into a frown, confusion dawning on her face. "You said you did. You said..."
"That she was a nobody." I answer. "That I told her I'd pay her money to let us all fuck her, to make you moan. And I told you that she was going to die, whether you were there or not."
Having realized he stands no chance, Ivy's husband resorts to verbal attacks now.
"You killed a woman just cause she was a fucking prostitute? But you want to act all high and mighty about what I do to my own wife?"
"You're really hung up on this, aren't you?" Monty chuckles.
"She may be your wife, but she fucking belongs to me. Did you never question my name being carved on her ass?"
The doctor's face furrows with his confusion, and I step back to put some distance between Ivy and I... enough to see that my name is still there. The lines are faint; I should have gone deeper.
"What are you— ?"
"He's never seen that." Ivy says, sensing my eyes appraising my old handiwork.
"You've never seen your wife's ass?" Theo asks, looking at Monty for an explanation. It's Ivy that provides him with one though.
"He'll only fuck me while I'm lying on my back."
Theo cackles unashamedly, and I can't help laughing as I step behind Ivy again, preparing to help her. "You say we're sick, but there's something really wrong with you, doc. I don't know if it's just a lack of creativity or what, but your boringness is really astounding."
"Fuck you!" He snaps, trying again to wriggle out from under Theo.
"I'll fuck your wife, instead, thanks." I offer him a small shrug. "But I'll do it over your dead body, if that helps."
"Do it, Ivy." Monty says, his words eclipsed by the string of profanities coming out of Ivy's pathetic husband.
She's had the axe poised this whole time, and as her fingers readjust the grip on the handle, I can tell she's readying herself.
"You've got this, Bambi. It's time for your revenge." I plant my own hands on the handle too, one above and one below so thatthe swing gets enough force to do this in a fluid motion. I like blood, but that doesn't mean I want to make a mess of him.
Ivy nods, and just as we're bringing the axe down, elbows me in the ribcage. It isn't hard, but that combined with her suddenly abandoning the weight of the axe on me as she slips out from between my arms, takes me by surprise. I stumble, the axe throwing me off balance in the opposite direction of where she runs.
