Page 31 of Lilies from Hell

“Liam, I already told you I don’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t care less about what happened to you with that girl. Just let it go.”

“No. I can’t let it go until you really know what happened,” I start tapping my foot nervously. Right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to stab my ears if I had the chance. “I… I kissed her. I admit it.” That’s more than enough to make my lips curl in anger. “But I don’t remember how I got into her bed. The last thing I remember is drinking, drinking a lot, but—”

“You drank and couldn’t control your disgusting worm,” I retort.

“No. It’s not what you think. Really.”

“Even if that’s how it was, you should have told me. Not now. Besides, you kissed her when we were in a serious relationship, anyway.”

“I know, and believe me, I’m sorry.” His touch on my arm makes me take a few steps back in vain. Every time I take a step back, he takes one further. “Even if you don’t feel the same way I do, I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten you. And I’m going to get you back, no matter what it takes,” he murmurs, raising his fingers. Before he can touch my cheek, I pull my face away by leaning back. “N—” I don’t even get to say a word before he presses his lips against mine.

I try to push him away by placing my hands on his chest, but he’s stronger than me and all I do is make him wrap his arms around my waist, pulling us closer together. When he finally pulls away, the first thing I do is slap him hard, not caring about the curious looks around us.

“Let’s go,” I say to Romina as soon as she appears, taking her arm and walking with her to the music store without giving her time to find out what happened with Liam.

What’s wrong with people today?

Denis enters the living room, dodging pieces of furniture and broken glass.

“Hi there” he greets with a grin when my eyes meet his, flashing the anger that hasn’t stopped clouding my thoughts, even though I’ve wrecked half the room. My cheeks are stained with dried tears and broken skin on my knuckles leaves spots of blood. They will soon be used again. “Everything is ready. Whenever you wish to proceed, my lord,” he says, bowing his head and leaving as quickly as he came.

With a cigarette still in my mouth, I get up from the sofa and go down to one of the many rooms in the basement. The rooms are divided according to the type of work. I can say that my mood improves slightly when I see the terrified expression on the soon-to-be-dead man in front of me. After another drag, I put out the cigarette on one of his arms and throw it on the floor with a faint smile.

“What’s your name?” I ask in a harsh voice, blowing smoke in his ugly face.

“Liam Bernard. It’s written on the…” My eyes are enough to silence Denis. He knows better than anyone that today is not the day to be dealing with his bullshit, but he doesn’t give a damn.

I tilt my head back to get a better view of the boy’s body hanging from the ceiling, trying to figure out what made her notice him. It’s insulting that she wanted to replace me with this worm.

“Do you have any idea why you’re here?” The boy makes a move to answer, but the duct tape on his lips prevents him. “Oh. Sorry,” I murmur before ripping off the tape, removing a few hairs from his mustache. The motherfucker is going to leave here with his mustache waxed. He coughs uncontrollably, gasping for air.

“No. But if it’s money you want, I can give you as much as you want. I swear.” He stops talking as soon as I raise my hand, his eyes shining, making me snort derisively.

I haven’t done anything to him, and he’s already started crying. I move my piercing impatiently to increase my limited patience. Why do they always think I want money? Do I look fucking homeless?

“Stop shaking. I just want to have a little chat,” I murmur under Denis’s laughter. Then I grab a chair and place it in front of him, sitting down so that the backrest is in front of me. “Let’s do something. You’re going to answer all my questions, and with every answer I don’t like, you lose a part of your body. If you behave yourself, I might let you choose which one. I want to believe you are not that dumb to lie to me.”

The other two boys I put last in my collection had a better fate; a knife was more than enough to cut their heads from their bodies at night while they slept. You could say I was like the Grim Reaper, snatching their lives away without them realizing it until the very last second. I thought it was unnecessary to cause them suffering if they had at least tried to make my little demon happy in my absence, but with this one I plan to have a little more fun. There’s something about him I don’t like.

“How did you and Lena meet? Who came up with the stupid damn idea of dating?” I spit, running my thumb over the edge of the silver knife.

“Me. I… We met because we were in the same class in our first year of college. I liked her and asked her out. She accepted—”

“Did you two fuck?” I ask, now face to face with him.

“No.” I search his eyes for a hint of a lie for a moment until I find nothing, and relief calms my anger a little. I always wanted us to have that first experience together when she was older. That way it would be purer, without imperfections.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. She never wanted to.”

“Not surprising,” Denis replies behind me, to himself. “Has anyone ever told you that you look like a beanpole?” I lift the boy’s head with the edge of the knife and speak.

“Now I want you to remember in which parts of her body you put your disgusting lips.”

“I don’t know,” he mutters with a pained gasp. Fucking shit. I haven’t even made him bleed yet. My grip tightens, nearly crushing his bones. With a swift, agile motion, I slice off his finger, eliciting a pained cry. Now he has a reason to cry.

“Wrong answer.”