“You think you can fucking touch me and live? I’ll fucking kill you!” I roared, wrapping my other hand around the monster’s throat. I began to squeeze as my attacker choked and thrashed beneath me.
He clawed at my wrists, and his eyes rolled back into his head as I strangled the life out of him.
‘Die, die, die!’my mind chanted.
Eliminate the threat! Kill the target!
Kill, Kill, Kill!
Kill him, then you can rest.
No one can hurt you if you kill him.
“A-angel—” The monster coughed.
Wait.
Angel?
That word rattled through my triggered mind, and I froze.
Angel… Angel. Only one person had ever called me that before.
The inky black fog that had completely melted my brain began to recede, and my racing heart skipped a beat as I realized who it was I was trying to strangle to death.
It was Ryan…
“G-ginger snap?” I rasped, and despite the fact that his face was beet red and it looked like I had popped a blood vessel in his right eye, he smiled at me.
“Yeah, baby. It’s me. It’s your ginger snap. You’re safe now. Let me go, please.”
I launched myself off of him, not caring that the stitches in my side definitely tore with the movement.
“Fuck, Ryan, I’m so sorry… I…” Stumbling toward the door, my vision blurred.
Holy fucking shit… I had almost just killed him! I almost just killed my ginger boy…
My hands were shaking. I couldn’t get them to stop, and my stomach hurt. Not just from the bullet wound, I felt like I was going to throw up.
The blood drained from my face, and my mouth flooded with bile. Yeah… definitely going to throw up…
I needed to get the fuck out of here…
But as much as my mind was screaming at me to get away from Ryan in case I hurt him again, my body wouldn’t cooperate.
I fell to my hands and knees, and a strange sound ripped from my throat. It sounded suspiciously like a sob, but that didn’t make any sense.
I didn’t cry.
I was a mercenary. Mercenaries didn’t cry.
A cold sweat broke out over my skin, and I heaved, doing my best to force the vomit down, but I couldn’t stop it. I puked allover the floor. Before I could try to apologize again, Ryan was kneeling next to me, his large, warm hand rubbing down my sweat-slicked back in soft, soothing motions.
“Shhh, it’s okay, angel. Don’t apologize. You’re safe. I’ve got you,” he murmured.
I heaved again, but thankfully, I didn’t seem to have anything left in my stomach to puke up. Turning away from my sick, I looked at Ryan, my heart breaking as I took in the ring of bruises already forming around his neck and the way the white in his right eye was full of blood.
I did that to him… I hurt my baby…
