Page 12 of Bloody Quarter

“There’s no one out there,” he yelled, sipping his water. “I need to take a dump. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

There was no way he needed to have a shit with the way he was stroking the front of his boxers. I moved slowly and silently set the box down before pulling my knife free of its sheath.

“Okay, but before you come up, check all the doors again. Then hurry up and get back to bed. I’m cold,” Janette yelled from upstairs. Dave finished off the glass of water and set it down rather than taking it back to the kitchen. That was a second mark against Dave and his lack of cleanliness.

I rolled my eyes as he pulled his boxers down and gave me a view of his ghostly white ass. Un-fucking-believable. The glow of Dave’s phone lit up the room around him, and a moment later, the soft sound of moaning reached me.

Yeah, Daddy. Just like that, Daddy. Fuck me harder. Yeah, yeah, just like that, Daddy.

Mark three, he had terrible taste in porn. If I had to stand here and watch this asshole jerk off, I was going to slit my own throat.

“Get up and go downstairs. No, come back to bed. Go outside and take the garbage out. Wakes me up and won’t even fuck me,” he said. Dave turned, still looking down at his porn with his cock in his hand.

Dave would’ve been fine if he’d just turned right and walked into the living room, but his critical error was not closing the drapes and looking up from his porn. Adrenaline flooded my body as Dave paused and locked eyes on me. He tilted his head and squinted like he couldn’t make out the hooded shape. I couldn’t believe that he was not only standing there with his cock still out, but it was taking him this long to recognize the danger. Cull the weakest.

Flipping the knife over in my hand, I stepped out of the dark corner. As he opened his mouth to yell, I whipped the blade at Dave, and he stumbled back. It found its mark right through his eye, an almost impossible shot for most people, but I wasn’t most people. I practiced until I was the best.

Darting out of my hiding spot, I grabbed the front of his T-shirt and eased him to the floor. His one good eye stared at me in confusion as his brain tried to catch up to the fact that it had been stabbed. The phone with the porn playing was still tightly clutched in his left hand while his right gripped his cock like a weapon.

“You’d need more than that to use against me.”

I smirked as I yanked out the blade, and blood dripped onto the floor. The grotesque wound brought out a genuine smile. With a quick slash, I cut his carotid and wiped the blade off on his shirt before sliding it home. His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish in a tank, his voice frozen in his rapidly filling throat. As the blood started to spread into a puddle around his body, I stepped back to keep my boots out of it.

“Dave? Can you hurry up?”

“I agree, she is annoying. Trust me, you’re better off,” I said.

Before Janette decided to investigate, I stood and ran to my box, picked it up, and left through the back door, resetting the lock to add confusion. Once in the car, I checked myself over to make sure I didn’t have any of his blood on me, but I’d managed to stay clean. Removing my leather gloves, I tossed them on the seat.

Fuck. Killing Dave hadn’t been part of the plan, but this was all Janette’s fault. Stupid bitch just needed to keep her mouth shut, and all would’ve been fine. Now, she could live with the consequences.

Starting the car, I turned toward home. An excited thrill raced through my body. I had two boxes of treasure to sort through, catalog, and learn all about Alora.

“Don’t worry, Doll. I’ll find you.”

Alora

Stepping outside, I looked up at the overcast sky. It felt like rain, and I made a mental note to stop at the dollar store to grab an umbrella since the last storm we had turned my old one inside out, or was that outside in? Either way, it had been completely ruined.

“You’re looking more like your old self today,” Rex commented. He saw me have a complete breakdown when I got to the shelter after leaving my mother’s house. I still had no idea what I thought I was going to accomplish. Maybe a tiny part of me still held out hope that she could love me again or at least show me forgiveness. That had been an epic failure.

He took the final draw on the cigarette he was smoking before crushing the butt under his foot.

“I went to a meeting,” I said as an explanation.

He nodded, knowing what I meant. Rex had an issue with painkillers and had been to a few meetings of his own. Although, if you asked me, he needed them. The limp he had was caused by a piece of shrapnel the surgeons hadn’t gotten out of his leg at the time of his injury. Now, the money needed to remove it from where it had been embedded cost as much as a house. Rex had just laughed at the doctor and walked out. That was before my release, and he was still hobbling around with the metal, stabbing him every step.

“What’s up with the new duds.” He waved his finger at the black and tan uniform.

“I had to get another job to supplement the hours that Miss Harper cut. It took me two days, but the bakery where my sister worked hired me. I start in an hour, so I better get going.”

“Hope it goes well,” Rex said, giving me a small smile, but I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What are you not saying that you want to say?”

He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Just wondering when you’re going to start living again?”

I looked away from Rex. “We’ve been over this. I’m going to buy a house, and then I will see what’s next.”