Dick swung the knife between us, his grip of someone who’d used one before. “I’m going to fucking cut you,” he seethed.
“Well, yes, isn’t that the point of a knife?”
Dick stepped closer, the blade getting precariously close to my face before I managed to hit him again. He went down this time, groaning a little as I crouched beside him. I ignored the sharp sting across my thigh before I managed to grab the knife.
“Enough of that.” Reaching down, I gripped the front of Dick’s shirt, lifting him from the ground so his back was arched. “Tell me, do they laugh when you drop your trousers?”
Dick tried to struggle from my grip, but he seemed to have lost his bravado now that he didn’t have his weapon. Also, I was pretty sure he had a concussion, but to make sure I hit him once more, the fabric of his shirt ripping from the impact as his head rebounded off the ground.
Ouch. Even I winced a little.
“Say youhave a baby cock, or I’ll cut up your face,” I warned, only for Dick to spit at me in return. “Option B it is then.”
Using his own knife, I began to carve across his forehead just like I’d promised. You can’t say I’m not a man of my word.
“Fuck!” Dick jerked, ruining my perfectly shaped ‘R.’
I pinched his jaw with my left hand. “Look, if you don’t keep still, you’ll ruin it.”
It took me a few tries, and my P was questionable, but I finally finished carving the word ‘rapist’ in perfect cursive. Probably helped that Dick had passed out.
“There, see? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Tutting, I wiped my prints from the knife before reaching down for his wallet.
The alley was secluded enough, with only a few lights flickering and the stench of rubbish thick enough to almost mask the sharp, metallic tang of blood. Dick probably wouldn’t be seen for a few hours, or maybe until morning. For good measure, I kicked him in the balls, grunting against the throbbing pain across my thigh.
He’d sliced through my jeans, the fabric surrounding it soaked with a little red.
Shit.
Keeping the cash, I tossed his wallet and knife into two separate bins before reaching for my phone. I immediately found the little dot flashing on my screen, knowing Violet was sitting waiting for her date to return inside like the good girl she was.Shame he wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon.
A spark of irritation danced in my gut, almost disappointment. It was like she had zero survival instincts. Dick was literally a walking red flag, and yet she was just sitting there, waiting.
Now, I was a patient man… okay, that was a lie. I wasn’t patient at all, but I had a higher tolerance than others so long as I got what I wanted in the end. Mainly money. But I was starting to feel a little restless.
Not even restless. Just irrevocably, and unequivocally bored.
I’d spent the past two weeks following her, studying her, and waiting for her to reveal what I needed. But so far there was nothing, which meant I had to shift tactics.
Clicking through the photos I’d taken tonight, I zoomed in on her pale skin, large eyes, and freckles scattered like stars across her nose. A slow smile spread across my lips as my thumb traced her image on the screen.
Maybe it was time to finally introduce myself.
Chapter 2
Violet
“Mum, I’m home,” I called through the dark, surprised not to be greeted at the door. Sliding the lock into place, I set my keys into the bowl before stepping into the living room. “You wouldn’t believe the date. He had a bigger ego than… mum?”
The TV flickered on standby, a slight static sound radiating from the screen. Reaching for the controller, I turned it off, only to be met with aching silence. Panic perforated my lungs, strangling my breath and forcing my heart to beat violently against my ribs.
There shouldn’t be silence. It was 10 p.m., which meant mum should be watching the TV on the pull-out bed, arguing with the fictional characters like she did every night. The routine worked, helping reduce her stress and therefore managing her symptoms. A routine that was approved by her therapist.
But I’d been noticing signs, her moods and hallucinations more manic as of late. Unpredictable, and increasing.
Throwing my coat onto the floor I ran to the bathroom, finding it empty.
“Mum?” My heart raced now, and scrambling to myown room I came to a halt when I found her kneeling on the rug, surrounded in shards of glass and little white pills.
