Her nails bite into my skin, but I can’t feel it.
One, two, three, four, five…
Breathe, Phoenix.
FUCK. THAT.
Shannen's head turns back, and her eyes find mine across the room. I can feel every ounce of her panic as if it were my own, but she's not scared for herself.She's scared for me and what I'm about to become in front of all these people.
Too late.
“Phoenix, stop,” Lianna yells again, but it’s just noise.
My feet are already moving. Everything else fades to nothing—the shitty music, the even shittier crowd, Lianna's not-so-shitty voice screaming at me to stop—until all that remains is Shannen and the fucking corpse who doesn't know he's already dead.
Those eyes of hers say everything she can't.
Please don’t do this.
Don’t do it for me.
But she doesn't get it because she is the reason.
She's the only reason.
She knows exactly what's coming.I can see it written all over her face, but fuck it, I’m nothing if not consistent.
There’s nothing in my head except the absolute, undeniable need to make sure he never lays his hands on her again.
That’s all that exists.
There’s no thought about what this’ll cost me or a future beyond the next few seconds, when I’m going to shatter every bone in his body until the floor’s decorated in something that used to be him.
His head turns, and those smug eyes see me coming for him.
Good.
Shannen’s in my peripheral, her mouth moving frantically, forming words I can’t hear, but the rush of blood in my ears drowns out everything else.
Three more steps and…
Snap.
That’s the sound I hear when I wrench James’s hand off Shannen’s body and twist it behind his back until the bone breaks clean in half.
His scream comes next, and I fucking welcome it because I’ve been stuck listening to garbage music all night, and this is a nice upgrade. It only gets louder when I drive my foot into the back of his knee, stomping down with every ounce of force I have until the joint shatters. The crack is wet and sickening, and when he hits the floor, his body crumples to the ground like a broken puppet with its strings cut.
Everything suddenly blurs to slow motion and silence.
James rolling on the floor, screaming—gone.
The cries from the ballroom—can’t hear them.
All that’s left is Shannen and me.
Her chest rises and falls in shallow, terrified gasps that tell me she can’t get enough air. Her eyes—god, those beautiful fucking eyes—fill with tears that catch the light like stars breaking apart in real time.
“What have you done?” she whispers.
