The man didn’t move. Just lay there, gasping, eyes locked on me like he was staring at death and had been found unworthy.
Good.
I turned, opened the door and walked away. Outside, I slipped behind the wheel of my car, hands shaking now that there was nothing left to hit. My knuckles throbbed. Blood, his blood, streaked my skin. Wiping my hands on my coat, I lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.
By the time I drove off, the anger was gone and something else resided in its place. Something worse I didn’t want to name, yet.
But I knew for certain that if Ishika found out what I’d done, she’d hate me more. And the sick, undeniable truth was knowing that, I’d do it again, without hesitation, without regret. Because someone touching her made me forget who I was and that stupefied me more than violence ever could.
thirty-eight
. . .
Ishika– 31 years old
The phone rang while I was still standing in my kitchen, staring at the coffee I’d made, my thoughts stuck on Remo’s sudden appearance after two months, that unshakable audacity, and the stinging welts he’d left on my backside. I felt angry all over again.
“Ishika,” Stasia said the second I answered. No greeting, no buffer. “Don’t freak out.”
My stomach dropped anyway. “Why would I freak out?”
A pause that filled itself with worst-case scenarios before the other person caught up. “Sean is in the ER.”
I stopped breathing. “What?”
“He came in about an hour ago. Facial injuries. Bruised ribs. He’s stable, but?—”
“I’m coming.” I dumped the coffee in the sink and called a cab while rushing to my bedroom.
The ride there was a blur of red and green lights with my own pulse roaring in my ears. How did Sean end up in the ER not even two hours after leaving my home. My mind tried to connectdots it didn’t want to see. I pushed them away, one by one. Remo wouldn’t. He warned Sean and let him go.
Stasia was waiting just inside the ER when I arrived, still in scrubs, arms folded tight across her chest, worry spanning her face. “Tell me what happened,” she said, eyes searching my face.
“I don’t know.”
She didn’t buy it. “You went on a date with him, Ish and now he’s here.”
I rubbed my hands together, trying to ground myself. “Remo was at the restaurant.”
Her eyes sharpened instantly. “Remo?”
I nodded; aware she was already connecting the dots I ignored earlier. “He tried to get me to go home. I refused. He showed up at my place and saw Sean kiss me, but Remo didn’t touch him. He just told Sean to leave and he did.”
“And you believe that’s where it ended,” she said flatly.
“Yes,” I replied a little too fast. “I’m sure of it. Remo was controlled and more interested in me. He was gone for two months, he wouldn’t do something like this the day he returned.”
Was I being naïve or a fool?
She studied me, expression hard then sighed. “You don’t really know what he’d do.”
“Would he really hurt someone just for kissing me?” Of course he would. Look at what he’d done to Billy and that man merely grabbed my hand.
God, I was such an idiot.
Stasia opened her mouth to say something, but a doctor approached us before she could.
“You girls can go in, he’s awake?” Tim, the ER resident smiled.
