He hums, then grumbles, “Ted. The guy in the basement.”
A beat passes before I burst into laughter, not expecting jokes from a man who sounds like he wouldn’t be awake enough to even string his full name together.
Archie becomes very, very still.
“Sarelia?” he asks, much more awake.
“Yes?” I giggle, then snort.
He sits us up before answering, carefully placing the throw pillow back in my lap before scooting to the other side of the couch. He eyes the chair across the table.
My stomach drops. “Did I do something wrong?” I ask. “Was I hurting you?”
His eyes dart to mine, and my heart meets my stomach on the ground.
“Archie?” I whisper, uncertain. “Are you okay?”
“I fear I’ve made a mistake,” he answers. “And I do not quite know how to fix it.”
Has breathing always been this difficult? “A mistake… with me?”
“Yes,” he answers, knife to my heart.
“Oh,” I mutter. Well. That’s… to be expected, probably. Waking up and realizing I am not what he wants is probably the most logical outcome for this situation. Particularly right after getting a front-row seat to my deeply unwell relationship with my family.
My breath halts.
I… should leave. Right?
I should definitely leave.
I mean, me being here when he doesn’t want me to be makes no sense.
I can take the memories I’ve made and store them up in my heart for cold, lonesome nights back at home. I’ll just leave out this one, teensy, tiny little pocket of time wherein Archie realises I am Too Much Work and ends our not-so-convenient marriage.I will keep the memories that warm me, and throw the rest into the deep, dark abyss where they cannot haunt me every day until I die.
A foolproof plan that has zero issues and is totally enactable.
I map my exit plan while Archie stares at me, his hands clenching and unclenching as his breaths come rapid.
I’ve unpacked already, but I didn’t bring a lot. Packing it back up would only take five minutes, tops. I’d have to find a ride, somehow, but even out here they should have a ride service, right? I can get one and find a café to sit at while I figure out a way home. I have enough money to rent a car, if need be. Or maybe I’ll pay the ride service a million dollars to drive me across the state so I can spend the hours sobbing.
Tears prick at my eyes, threatening to start the sobbing now, when I am nowhere near the safety of away from Archie’s sweet, perfect, way-too-good-for-me presence.
Archie jolts forward suddenly, framing my face with his hands and kissing me. His kiss is rough and quick and just on the edge of panic.
I have just enough presence of mind to kiss him back before he’s gone, across the couch again, hands tucked neatly in his lap.
“Ar-chie?”
He takes a deep breath, braces himself, then rips the Band-Aid off. “I wasn’t telling a joke when I said that I torture monsters for fun and for my job. Ted is an incredibly real, incredibly horrendous man I have lying strapped to a table in my basement as we speak. Ted, and all of themen,” he spits the word, “that I work on do things—things much worse than anything I’ve ever been able to do to them—and they do these things to children. Teenagers, sometimes. Women, sometimes. But primarily children. We—my family here—we work to get these people out of commission. Stryker takes a quicker, permanent approach usually, but for the ones who are…particularly bad, he gives them to me, and he lets me play before he or Basil take away the leftovers and put an end to suffering I do not believe should have an end at all. Typically, they take them in trade for a new monster for me to work on.” He pauses, jaw working. “I’m sorry, Sarelia. Not that I do this, but that I didn’t properly convey the nature of my work before our marriage. I let my excitement lead me, not taking the time to make sure you understood what I was saying, and the seriousness of it, before moving forward in making you my wife.” His hand lifts, then drops. “I apologize. I… whatever you wish to do going forward, I will honor.”
Chapter Fifteen
?
Sarelia
“You’re torturing a bad guy in your basement? A bad guy who did bad stuff to little kids?” I ask after a lengthy pause, just to confirm.
