Like I’ma hit her,Demi thought. He was crushed, destroyed under her presumptions that he would bring her harm.
“Demi, please leave,” Charlie said, her voice unstable, barely making it across the threshold of her lips.
Her reaction to his presence injured him. His eyes took in her trembling hands and her wide eyes and his stomach knotted. He saw the evidence of what he had done. Because he loved her, it was all over her. Subtle scratches. Bruises where he had grabbed her. Manhandled her.
I took this shit too far,he thought.
He had hurt her, and now witnessing the damage, he was remorseful in her debt. He just wanted to pay the debt. All her debts. In whatever ways she made him settle up, he was willing to.
“Leaveeee!” Charlie yelled.
EXCEPT THAT WAY. He didn’t want to leave. He wasn’t going to leave. He had watched her sing online for hours. He hadpractically bribed Stassi’s address out of Day. Leaving was the last thing he would oblige.
She picked up the Aloe plant that sat on the kitchen island and threw it at him.
“Bird,” Demi said. He took a step toward her and she took a step back.
“Demi, please leave,” Charlie said, her voice unstable, barely making it across the threshold of her lips.
Her wounds had physically healed. The bruises were visibly gone. The scratches had disappeared, but he saw evidence of her pain all over her.
“Leaveeee!” Charlie yelled as she reached for the aloe plant that sat on the kitchen island and threw it at him. Demi narrowly dodged the vase, leaving the wall to receive the blow.
“Fuck, Bird!!” Demi’s bark was loud enough to shrink her. She had seen a side of him that was volatile, a side that was menacing, and he could see her anticipating abuse. Would he hit her again? Would he lose control? He had come to her to deliver an apology, but it was going terribly wrong.
“Just get out! I didn’t say anything to the police. I didn’t press charges; Justin isn’t going to press charges! Just leave!” Charlie shouted. She was hyperventilating, she was so shaken, and Demi wanted to soothe her. He wanted to undo everything he had done but hearing Justin’s name on her tongue reignited a blaze in him.
“Fuck you talking bout? You speaking for that nigga now? You still fucking that nigga, Bird?” He didn’t give a fuck about space. Didn’t give a fuck that she was like a deer in headlights. He cornered her, digging his finger into her forehead. “You fucking that nigga? He dropping charges for you now?” He was irrational. Jealous. His hand was around her throat and she was withering beneath his hold. He wanted to get control of himselfbut he couldn’t. The thought of her with another man drove him mad.
“No! Demi, no!” Charlie shouted, crying as he stood in her face, fuming, breathing so hard he felt like his heart would explode. He couldn’t even see her sincerity he was so livid. Knowing Justin had been inside her, remembering the chemistry he had witnessed between them, thinking about Charlie letting somebody else in the place where he sought refuge... Demi was going to murder somebody. The nigga Justin. He could go. He could catch every single bullet in Demi’s chamber. Demi had done a good job of keeping his temper in check over the years. He didn’t bring this side of him home when he was with Lauren. Hadn’t cared enough, or perhaps, she didn’t provoke him the way Charlie did. Charlie giving her love away was motivation for murder. Charlie was gasoline to an uncontrollable fire. “Demi, please. Please, Demi. I just want to feel safe. You’re hurting me so bad.”
He took her face in his hands, pressing her into the wall and meeting his forehead to hers.
“I know,” he said. “I know, Bird. I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up. Burn me, baby. Sing me a song, Bird.”
Demi was riding a line between sane and insanity and Charlie could feel the clock of her life ticking down. Demi was dangerous. A fucking lunatic. He killed people. He had told her in so many words. He had warned her, and she hadn’t heeded his words. Staring in his eyes where she saw nothing but rage, she feared that he could very well kill her.
“Demi, no,” she whispered, turning her head away from his persistent lips.
“I’m sorry, baby. I fucked up. My head is fucking spinning. I can’t think of you with that nigga, Bird. I’m on another level with this shit. I’ma kill niggas out here over you. I need to gothere, Bird. To Charliezonia. Take me with you, baby. Sing to me, Bird.”
Charlie was sobbing. He was scaring her. He knew it, but if she sent him into the streets tonight, Justin was dying.
This is insane. This is NOT right, shethought.This isn’t love.Only it was. It was love, unlike any love Charlie had ever felt. It was the kind of love that didn’t make sense. The kind that hurt just as much as it healed. The kind you needed space from but craved when it was gone. Charlie loved and hated this man. Felt calm and fear around him. Demi was everything. He was her everything. Every possibility of emotion, he made her feel. Charlie trembled she was so terrified.
Her face was a mess. The prettiest fucking mess and he swiped her tears and her snot, craving her dirt. He kissed her, forcing his lips on hers as she moved her head from side to side. “Demi, stop, Demi, stop,” she protested. She reached for the knife block on the counter. She didn’t even realize what she was doing until he released her.
He took a step back and looked down at the blood as Charlie dropped the knife.
“You stabbed me,” he said in disbelief. It was the calm in his voice that made him crazy, like he was okay with dying if she was the one doing the killing.
Weird-ass fucking psychopath.
“Oh my God, Demi,” she whispered. “Demi! Demi, what do I do?”
Demi stumbled to the wooden chair and sat, his legs weakening by the second because Charlie hadn’t only stabbed him, she had pulled the knife out and blood was gushing everywhere.
“I’m so sorry, Demi; don’t die, don’t die,” she cried.
