Page 52 of Make Me Bleed
“Don’t walk away from me!” I shout after him, and that makes his footsteps falter—but only for a moment before he whirls around, gray eyes sparkling in the darkness.
“You havenoright!”
“We keep talking about rights like it actually fucking means something between us!” I scream back at him, not sure what we’re even talking about anymore, and my shoulders drop with a loud sigh.
“Oh, right, because heaven fucking forbid there were everboundaries,” Abel snipes, and I can’t help but snort as I come up beside him.
“We never did have those, though, did we, runt?”
“No,” he concedes. “I guess not.”
“What the hell is your problem?”
“So, so many things.”
“No fucking shit.”
“Hey!” he quips, shoving me in the shoulder, and I smirk down at him as we both lean against the brick wall of the building. It’s quiet outside. The night sky is clear with the starsshining, and since we’re away from the thick of the city, I’m able to make out most of them, which is nice.
Though, it’s getting really goddamn cold.
“It’s been almost two years,” he says out of nowhere, and I flinch.
“I know, Abel. I don’t need the fucking reminder.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my cigarettes.
“Yeah, I’ll take one of those, thanks,” Abel says without asking and takes the lit cigarette right from my lips. I huff in feigned annoyance but light another one as I try to ignore the squeezing ache in my heart at the simple domesticity of it all.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out and swipe to answer without looking to see who it is.
My first mistake of the night.
“Hey.”
“Peris, my boy. You’re a hard man to get ahold—” I don’t let Luke finish his sentence before I’m hammering my finger down on the end button and shoving my phone back in my pocket, heart now in my throat.
Abel fills my vision as his hands reach up and cup my face, warm against the cool contrast of the air we’re surrounded by. “What’s going on? Why do you look like that?” And I’m suddenly reminded of why I hate the man in front of me.
He left me when I needed him the most, and now, here’s Luke reaching outagain,and Abel’s… here but also not because I can’t rely on him this time. He’s flighty and twitchy, and he’s not mine anymore.
I can’t trust him
Not with this.
I think I could have, back then. But not anymore.
My eyes stare right through him, not really seeing much at all because all I can hear is the sound of Luke’s voice ringing in my head all over again.
So much for that no-contact order we put in place.
Fucking bastard.
I knew it was him calling from that number. It’s why I never answered. But Abel’s had my head too fuzzy and confused. I haven’t been thinking straight, and I didn’t even think to look at the screen and?—
“This is your fault,” I snap at the man in front of me, teeth bared in a snarl.
“My fault?” He cocks his head to the side, eyes widening when I take a step toward him, quickly backing him down the alleyway to our right.
“Yes. If you would just leave me the fuck alone, I wouldn’t have to worry aboutanyof this! I was just fine before you came along and fucked itall up!”
