Michael killed Corey… and nearly Keoni…
“I’d say that was the worst thing I’ve done since being with you. But then that would make me a liar…”
His hand moves to my cheek, knuckles dragging down to my bare shoulder.
“Guess it doesn’t hurt to confess this. At least I can get it off my chest. Not that I feel any sort of guilt, but who knows, maybe I’ll feellighter.”
“Don’t… touch me…” I clench my jaw to stop my chattering teeth.
“It was your own fault.”
He pushes me slightly, and the slosh of snow as he does has me shivering further. It isn’t colder, but it’s like my brain was reminded I’m currently laying in snow.
Is he going to let me die of hypothermia? Cause that’s where this is leading.
“You were going to leave me because,once again, you wanted to come to this fucking place for the holidays. You couldn’t just behappy to be with me, could you?” His hand balls into a fist, and I close my eyes, preparing for him to hit me.
I’m surprised when he doesn’t. Instead, he just continues talking, “The night of your so-called accident”—my skin heats, and my heart frantically begins to beat in my ears—“I nearly killed you.”
Slowly, I refocus on his face, the image of him going in and out of a blur.
“You just… pissed me off.”
An unknown memory of a fight I don’t recall flickers in my mind.
“I’m leaving, Michael. I’m done.”
“You aren’t fucking goinganywhere!”
“We had such a great night. We saw the movieyouwanted to see. Ate dinner at the placeyouwanted to eat at. Yet you still weren’t happy.”
“If you touch that door, I swear to God, Ayden.”
Flashes of his bloody apartment and his voice flood my head.
“I’d gone a little too far, I’ll admit. The bat was a bit too much.”
I think I actually stop shaking, or I simply can’t register it anymore.What… is he saying?
“I’m honestly surprised you didn’t die. I’d broken your back, and that hit to your head should’ve done the trick. All it did was knock you out. I think I realized then that I couldn’t be reckless and commit murder in my own home.” He drags his fingers along my shoulder and down my arm. “You just loved to push me to the edge. It was your fault, but what had been done, was done.” A sigh vibrates from his throat. “I was going to fake a break-in, but that was too convenient. Plus, I know you told your sister I had hit you once before.”
Several times before…
Even if flashes of that night surface, I don’t… remember any of it. I don’t even recall going to dinner. He said we were just heading home…
“She’d have told your dad, and that would’ve been messy. A car accident that you caused because you had been drinking? One I knew my dad would help me clean up to ‘keep you safe’. Nowthat was… relatively easy. Still a fucking mess, and lots of strings to pull.”
“I don’t… understand. Why?”
He sighs and rolls his eyes, as if irritated by my questions. “Because you belong to me, Ayden. It’s more than obsession. I can’t allow you to be with anyone else. We built a life together and you can’t just move on!” He scoffs. “You are meant to bemine. No one’s allowed to leave me. Especially not you.”
“P-Psychotic… asshole…”
“Anyway… You had completely forgot about the argument that night, thanks to the hit to your head. That was lucky. At least I didn’t need to threaten you to keep your tantalizing lips shut. I thought we’d only go up from there. I’d become your savior… but no. Becausenothingcould go my way.
“You were supposed to be hit with a DUI, but my dad didtoogood of a job and you were slapped on the wrist instead. Suspension.Pfft. Even so, SF General should’ve taken your reckless behavior into account and fired you. But since that doctor friend of yours pulled his strings, that didn’t happen. You were supposed to become dependent on me, and I was going to take care of you… as long as you were my good boy.”
I’m so tired… so cold…
