“Oh my—goodbye, Aiden!” I hang up the phone and glare at the number on the screen. I know exactly what to save his number in my phone as.
Red Flag.
10
AIDEN
The pet shop is as bright and colourful as a rainbow; it stinks of wet dog, and the screeching of the birds makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
“Can I help you?” one of the employees asks, approaching me in the aisle.
I glance around, unsure of what to ask for, so I just say the two words, “guinea pigs.”
“You’d like to buy one?” The girl asks, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “We only sell them in pairs as they’re social animals and thrive with companionship.”
“No,” I respond, shaking my head. “She has some already. I just want to get some supplies for them.” The girl nods understandingly and leads me to a section filled with guinea pig cages, food, and toys. “All this for a rat?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, they’re not rats,” she clarifies, chuckling. “Guinea pigs are small rodents that make great pets.” The girl smiles and points out the clear pens where the guinea pigs and rabbitsare kept.
I walk over and look down, unimpressed by the small creatures scurrying around. “It’s a rat without a tail,” I mutter under my breath.
“Would you like to hold one?”
“No thanks.” I’m not gunning for a tetanus shot. I pick up toys, bedding, treats, and pellets for the scampering little shits and load the car before returning for four extra-large bags of cat litter. “This is for me.” I smile at the same girl who served me the guinea pig supplies. She mirrors my smile, asking, “Cash or card?”
“Cash,” better not leave any suspicious paper trails. Go cashless, me hole. So they can pin me for what I buy in the garden centre and pet shops? I think. The fuck. Not.
* * *
I found this one on my run this morning, hiding in the bushes opposite a playground with his todger in hand. I needed this; I needed a release. I’m so happy that I’m doing a Barry Keoghan. I really should not have watched Saltburn last night, “Murder on the Dancefloor” has been stuck in my head since.
“If you think you’re getting away, I will prove you wrong,” I sing as I slide up next to the bench in the warehouse. We’re even now, we’re both bollock naked; the only difference is that I’ll still have mine attached in an hour. I pinch his eyelashes and tug them up lightly, drawing the lid away from the eye. “Hear me when I say….”
The gag in his mouth muffles his screams.
“You’d want to stop shaking, mate,” I laugh, peeling away the eyelid and plopping it into the plastic bag on my right. “I almost took your eye out.” I pluck up the next eyelid and repeat the process. “Have you seen Saltburn? Thoughts on the bathtub scene?” He pukes into his gag and begins to choke. “Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus,” I remove the gag to ensure he doesn’t choke before I’m done with him. “It was the raspberry kisses that got me,” I continue, stuffing the gag back into his mouth and securing it tightly. “Overall, a great movie, though, no? A little fucked up, but I have somewhat of a high tolerance for twisted content.”
My phone rings from across the room, interrupting our one-sided conversation.
“This better be fucking good, ooh.” Her name flashes on the screen, and I walk into the adjoining room to answer the call. “Couldn’t stop thinking about me, no?”
“Why are there men at my house installing security cameras?” Katie demands.
“Well, you didn’t have any, did you?”
“Aiden,” she lets out a breathy sigh. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I can take care of myself.
But I want to take care of you.I have no idea where that intrusive thought just came from, but it’s best to put that on the back burner for a while.
I don’t know what it is with her. It’s not like I haven’t seen vulnerable women in the past. It’s a given with what I do. Something about her just seemed different. Like one more trauma could completely shatter her. I don’t know much about Katie other than what she told me in the car and what I’ve been digging around to find out about her, but somethingtells me this woman has been through hell and back and survived.
She moved out of Dublin for a reason.
She has isolated herself from everyone she knows for a reason.
She wants solitude for a reason.
And though I respect the fact that solitude can bring immense peace to someone with a traumatic past, a woman living alone without a support network is just as vulnerable to external threats as she is to her internal struggles.
