We stay like that.
I don’t move from the wall until sunrise.
I want her to feel that I’m here.
If it brings her even a fraction of comfort, it’s worth it.
Chapter 77
Milo
I come back to the present with a roar and I am on him before he has the chance to react.
He looks genuinely startled just as my fist connects with his face, and I don’t stop.
I drive another punch into him, another, and then another, each one harder than the last.
“Fight me back,” I roar. “Fight back, you vile excuse for a man.”
I hit him harder, faster, putting everything into each punch, but he doesn’t fight back. He fucking can’t.
He’s a coward who only knows how to hurt people who are weaker than him.
Time disappears with every punch, until I feel a soft hand on my shoulder.
I snap my head up.
“Milo,” she says quietly.
I glance at the man lying at my feet, unconscious and bloodied, and then lift my eyes to her.
She smiles sadly.
“I always imagined I would be the one to end his loathsome existence,” she says softly. “But I’m glad it was you. Just as you promised.”
Her words press against my chest.
I find I despise myself a little more.
How does she not hate me?
How can she stand to be near me when the blood running through my veins is stained with his DNA?
Now everything clicks.
I finally understand why she kept her distance in the beginning. There was always something guarded in her eyes, and the way she reacted when that girl lied suddenly makes sense.
This bastard hurt her.
The girl that night… it was her.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
It’s hard to breathe.
