“Let’s go to bed. It happened because I was sitting uncomfortably is all.”
I stand, offering my hand and exhale when he takes it, squeezing and pulling me into his embrace.
“I love you,” he breathes and I sigh, content in his arms.
The next morning I wake alone in our bed.
THE SMELL OF FRESH CUT grass always reminds me of my school years, and sitting on a bench across from Cereus’ school watching the sheep coming and going in herds, ignoring a few giggling girls looking at me and whispering, takes me back. It’s a bizarre feeling being surrounded by people yet feeling completely alone in the world. I struggled to make friends in school because I couldn’t relate to anyone and even from a young age I knew I was different, superior to those around me. My intellect alone set me apart.
Time has been kind to me and my looks are still impeccable, my dark eyes able to captivate my prey like a snake charmer before striking them down. My lips are full and experienced, my body toned and cut. I’m leaner than I like to be but I’ll soon be back to my full potential. My hair has grown longer than I would usually keep it but I like how it falls heavy over my forehead. When I tilt my head it acts as a shield, allowing me to assess my surroundings without being obvious that I’m watching, scanning and taking in information. It’s something I do wherever I go. It’s surprising how much someone’s body language can give away their intentions or secrets.
“Hey, can I sit here?” an old man, easily in his late sixties asks after already sitting next to me. I look over at him and follow his eyes to the group of girls on the other side of the road.
“You can sit there as long as you don’t start rubbing on that wrinkly maggot you call a cock while you deflower those sweet little virgins in your head, old man.” I laugh.
His evil eyes burn into the side of my head but he doesn’t deny it. Why would he? It’s the truth of why he sat here.
The air leaves my lungs as if I’ve been punched when I see her. Tall and slender, accept her tits and hips; they’re full like her mothers. Her hair is long, all the way down to her ass, and I see the green of her eyes from where I’m sitting. She is stunning. I see Blake in her smile and Melody in her eyes. My skin feels like it’s vibrating with the need to be near her, to just speak to her and discover what she’s like and who she takes after.
Her clothes don’t match those of the girls gathered around the jocks. She’s in a crowd with guys holding skateboards and wearing rock band names splashed on their t-shirts. She has Chucks on her feet and her face is completely clear of make-up.
“She’s a pretty little thing,” the pervert next to me says, looking over at my niece. What a fool he is. If one thing pulls the pin in the grenade that is my demons, it’s someone interfering in my obsession. This filthy old fuck will no doubt stroke his one-eyed snake to my beautiful Cereus if I allow him to live. The bells ring to alert the students that school is beginning; only half begin to move. It’s not until a second bell chimes that they all pile in through the entrance doors until there are just stragglers left.
The old man adjusts his trousers and stands. I wait until he begins to walk away before getting up and following him. He’s a slow fuck and it takes him twenty minutes to make the five-minute walk to the subway. He must travel to stalk his prey just like me. Before he has a chance to take the steps down to the train, I pick up my pace and give him a shoulder nudge, swiping my foot out under his, making him trip and stumble sideways into the road and oncoming traffic. Tires screaming on the asphalt and the crunching of bone hitting metal bring a rush to my body. Cries and screeching from bystanders fuel it further. The busy street and commotion make it impossible for anyone to know it was murder. They will just assume an old man lost his footing.
I’m high on the kill. He was an old cunt, an easy kill, but the adrenaline pumping through me right now is a feeling I’ve missed more than anything. My craving’s being fed; it’s therapeutic, I feel alive and in need of someone more worthy of my torment. I roll my head over my shoulders and make my way to the little flower shop I know Sean works at.
My little nurse whore was very willing and forthcoming with Intel when I asked her to look up Sean as well as Blake, informing her he was my only friend and I just wanted to know he was doing okay. God, she was a fool. She gave him up so easily, an accomplice to my depravity and too blind to see it.
I don’t go over, I just watch from across the street as people come and go with their arrangements. After an hour or two, the bell chimes from above the door and he walks out carrying a watering can to water the displays outside the store. He looks good; his blonde hair is in the same style as he wore it back then. He’s filled out into a man and carries more weight than he once did. He looks his age.
I’m surprised when a man walks up behind him and mouths “boo” then places his hands over Sean’s eyes. He turns with a chuckle and embraces the man openly, and they’re clearly more than friends from the affectionate way Sean keeps his hand on the guy’s arm, and the closeness of their bodies. When he embraces the man in a hug goodbye, his eyes collide with mine and he freezes. The other man must sense his unease and pulls away, bringing Sean’s attention back to him. I use this time to slip away behind a large tree. I see him looking over and shaking his head in question. He’s not sure if who he saw was real, and with him not seeing me in so long, my changes in appearance from boy to man and being at a distance, it will satiate his mind, telling him it couldn’t have been me.
This is going to be fun.
Jodie is waiting outside my room when I return, her face sullen. I offer her my hand and help her to her feet.
“You are really mean, Ryan.” She is so childlike for a twenty-four-year old.
“I know. Now come and get naked. I’ll let you punish me,” I say.
Her eyebrows lift and she follows me inside. “Punish you how?”
I pull my leather belt from my pants and hand it to her, then pull my shirt up and over my head, dropping it to the floor.
“You want me to whip you?” she asks.
“Do you want to whip me?” I lower my eyelids, daring her.
“No,” she squeaks.
“Well, pretend I’m that Daddy of yours who did bad things to you,” I mock with a smirk.
Her body goes rigid. “That’s not funny.”
“Maybe you liked those bad things. Did you sit on his lap and wriggle your ass over his cock, Jodie?”
“Shut up!”
“Did you encourage him to come to your room? Walk around naked and claim innocence?”
“I hate you! Shut up!”
“Mommy knew what a little whore you were, though, didn’t she? And she blamed you for Daddy coming into your room at night instead of the marital bed.”
The lash kisses the air with a hiss and ignites a fire across my stomach. “I didn’t want him to come to my room. I HATED IT!” Another lash burns a trail across my chest.
“Did you beg for him to stop, Jodie? Or did you just lie there like Daddy’s good little girl while he tore you up?” A rain of lashes come down on me from her frenzied attack. I feel the buckle cut the skin, the blood warming a path down my torso. Her quick spurts of breath and retching make me want to come.