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I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, grabbing all the cash I had. It was seventy-five dollars.
“The guy with the fucked up face at the bar, can you throw him out into the alleyway?” I held out the cash to him. He looked down at it, then back up to me.
“What did he do?”
My eyes fell back to the black hair tie around his wrist. I had been known to keep a hair tie on my wrist for Wren. It never failed that she would want to throw her hair up and never had one. I liked being able to always hand her one.
So, I took a chance that he was the same way.
“You know the worst thing men can do to women?” Understanding hardened his eyes. “That.”
He looked over my shoulder then back down to the cash. “Keep it. I’ll give you five minutes to get back there.”
“Hey, what the fuck did I do!?” The emergency door opened and Kevin was kicked out, landing on his ass.
“Fuckin’ ugly bastard,” the security guard said before the doorwas slammed shut. Kevin threw himself up against it and pounded at the door, yelling.
“Hey!” I shouted, getting his attention.
I was almost on him, dragging a pipe I had found along the ground. Kevin turned toward me, and as soon as I saw recognition in his face, I swung.
I connected with his stomach. He doubled over, groaning. I swung the pipe again, lower this time, catching his shins. I thought I heard the crack of a bone in his leg.
He cried out in pain.
I tossed the pipe to the side, letting it clank and roll along the ground.
His leathery face split into a smile when he looked up at me, like he knew who I was. Blood was trickling out the corner of his mouth, the sickening grin heightening my anger.
Like he knew who she was to me.
I kneeled down on his chest, pinning his arms down. Rage blinded me as I threw punch after punch at him. Turning his face into something unrecognizable. He gurgled up a laugh, and even when I couldn’t hear him anymore, I kept punching, beating. I stopped and his head turned, spitting out more blood and even a tooth. He wheezed as I wrapped my fists around his throat and squeezed, bearing all my weight down onto my hands. I watched his eyes widen. I was straddling his chest, my knees on his arms so he couldn’t even try to stop me. I was twice as big as him. He kicked and flailed his legs, then slowed. I could hear his heels digging into the gravel. Blood vessels in his wide eyes popped. He stopped fighting, but I still held his throat.??
Only when I felt the thread of his pulse stop did I let go. I continued to sit on his chest, letting the seconds and minutes tick by, watching for any sign of life. He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Still, the sick look of satisfaction seemed to remain on his face, even in death. Even when you could barely tell he was human.?
Only then did I finally get up, leaving him in the alley and heading back to the house. My limbs were heavy.??
I needed to get back to her.
I could finally go to her.
Back at the house, I looked through the first floor. I took the stairs one at a time. At the top, Jon was standing there at Wren’s door. His eyes widened.?
“Alex? What the fuck happened to you?” Jon’s words were guarded, hesitant. He took a step back.?
I look over his shoulder into the open bathroom. I could see my reflection in the mirror. My white shirt was stained with blood. My face had Kevin’s blood splattered all over it. I didn’t look like the man I was when I woke up this morning.?
This morning seemed like a lifetime ago. Funny how the course of one’s life can change in an instant.?
I failed her. I promised her over and over that I would never let it happen to her again, and it did.??
All because I’d failed to kill him in the fire the first time.??
I looked away from Jon, ignoring the fear in his eyes. Wren’s door was wide open. The evidence of what transpired in there evident. I looked across the hall to my closed door. I knocked softly on it. Leaving behind blood spots.
“She won’t come out. I’ve been trying since you left.” I could hear the apprehension in his voice.?
“Wren, it's me.” My voice didn’t even sound like my own.
