Page 101 of Vicious Behaviors
‘Kill her. Kill her now.’
“I’m not sure what you want me to say right now.” My tone’s gone cold, and I can feel my features tightening, my eyes flattening into something that makes her take a step back instead of forward.
‘Good. Let her be afraid. Tell her to run. Give her something to really be scared of.’
“I have to go,” I mutter, already moving toward my clothes on the floor.
“Go where?” she asks, bewildered.
“Anywhere but here.” I yank on my shirt and pull on my pants without meeting her eyes.
“What are you talking about? This is your house!” she shouts. “You’re just going to leave me here?”
“Stay. Go. I don’t give a fuck. I just can’t be here right now.”
‘Coward,’the voice spits.‘Like always, I’ll have to be the one to clean up your mess.’
I shake my head, hating the words coming from the monster’s mouth.
Always taunting me. Always provoking me to be just like him. And if I stay here another second… I just might become the monster he wants me to be.
I rush out of the living room in a hurry and avoid glancing over at Izzie, who is surely heartbroken by now. I’m almost at the door when she steps in front of it, planting herself there and blocking my quick getaway.
“Move.”
“Don’t go,” she begs, searching my face as if looking for the man who spent the majority of the afternoon making promises to her with his body.
However, he’s no longer here. The demon inside me made sure to cast him out.
“Move, Izzie,” I repeat with a growl, shutting my eyes to evade her look. If I don’t, who knows what will happen. Whatever lies that may be hidden in her eyes will either break me or ensure that I break her.
“I don’t want you to go. Not like this.”
“Yes, you do. Trust me.”
Silence hangs between us until she lays her palm gently on my cheek. Half of me wants to bite it off while the other half aches to lean into her touch.
“Just tell me where you’re going,” she says softly. “I need to know you’ll be safe.”
My eyes snap open at the sound of fear in her voice. And as I look deep into her eyes, the fear I see isn’t for her well-being, but mine.
“I…” My throat tightens, the words jamming up before I force them out. “The gym. I’m going to the gym,” I lie.
“Okay,” she whispers, the answer easing her worry even if only a little. Then she rises on her toes and presses a soft kiss on my lips. “Go. Do what you need to do.”
She steps aside, giving me the space to leave, but I just stand there for a moment.
“Stay here. Don’t… don’t leave. Wait for me,” I rasp out, my heart at war with the demon fuming inside me.
“Okay.”
That’s all I need to hear before I shove through the door, desperate to put as much distance between us as possible. I’m so rattled that I fumble my car keys, dropping them to the ground. Once inside, I slam my fist into the ceiling, trying to calm myself down and failing miserably.
There she was… worried for my safety, when all I could think about was how dangerous I was to hers. If I ever laid a hand on Izzie in anger—if I hurt her in any way—a locked ward would be the least of my problems. I’d rather die than hurt her. Which means I need to feed the monster inside me before it turns on her. The gym won’t cut it tonight. I need something more gruesome. I need to hear my enemies scream for mercy, to smell the sweat of fear clinging to their skin. Only blood will quiet the hunger. Only blood will guarantee I keep Izzie safe.
I honestly thought my mind would have cleared after going on a murder spree. It wasn’t hard to think of whom I wanted to feed the monster.
I know my father wants to deal with Elio Zappa himself to make a show of force with the othercapos,but that still leaves Aldo’s soldier buddies. I have no doubt in my mind that they knew the piece of shit they were hanging out with. They knew exactly what kind of abusive husband he was.
