“Tonight? I’m open for the night.”
“Mhmm,” I grunt out.
“Sounds good. Send the address when you’re ready.” Curt clicks off, and I’ve never been so thankful that he’s not a small-talk person.
“Clara, you take me so fucking well,” I whisper.
She pulls away from me with a suctioning pop and slithers to sit on the booth next to me. “Let’s go home and change.”
I wrap my hand around her delicate neck, running my lips over hers. “You better finish this.”
“In time. I don’t wanna be late.” She teases me so well. The glimpses of her fire inside are one of my favourite things about her.
I hold her in place and slip my fingers into her panties. Wetness coats them, and I slide over her clit until she whimpers.
“Burke, please.”
“Don’t want to be late.” I smirk and pull away from her before shoving my digits into her mouth.
She sucks them, and I groan before tucking myself away.
The drive home is filled with tension and excitement, both of us wanting to get off as well as take care of lingering monsters.
Once we’re on our way there, Clara doesn’t say much. “You don’t have to do this,” I tell her.
“Stop trying to give me an out. I need to do this more than I’ve ever had to do anything.”
Grinning, I turn up the radio until we reach the neighbourhood. Turning down the volume, I park alongside the other block.
“Home sweet home, I guess.” She fiddles with her seatbelt and runs her fingers through her hair before putting it up.
“Clara—” I start talking, but she cuts me off. Her fiery expression is still there, and she has replaced the woman working through pain with the fierce, karma-serving villain she's embraced.
“I’ve got this.”
Eight
Clara
As I walk alone along the sidewalk to the house, my stomach twists and turns, and bile rises in my throat. Nerves threaten to destroy my digestive system, but I inhale through my nose and exhale, trying to soothe them.
I need to do this to clear the path for my future.
Once I reach the decrepit bungalow, I straighten my shoulders and hold my head high. Paint is peeling after years of neglect, and as much as I would rather run away and hide in Burke’s arms, this monster has to meet his karma.
The yard is overgrown, and the cement squares that part the grass are cracked in different spots. Memories flash before my eyes, spinning like a film reel, but I am certain I can’t simmer in the pot of the past if I want my revenge.
Andrew took everything from me—my innocence, my family—and showed me love was only something used to control people. It’s his time to pay his debts for taking so much from a child.
Not only that, but paving my future to make abuse look like love, that I’m only as good as I can provide and no one will ever love me for who I am.
The creak of the door brings me out of the past. I walk up the cement steps, swallowing all the sorrow and conjuring the pain that has followed me for years.
“Who knew I didn’t have to go out looking for my Kitty Cat? She came crawling home for me, just like I knew she would.” His gleeful tone raises the hairs on the nape of my neck, and tension wraps around my chest like a vice grip.
“Andrew, you need to leave me alone.” I know the words are futile—he’ll hide in every shadow until I can fix the holes he left in my soul.
He’s lurked for years, even after he kicked me out when I refused to be what he wanted me to be. There was always a sense of being watched, and I’ll be grateful to extinguish the tie with him.
