“Awesome.” I grin as I drop down next to him at the table. “Now what did I miss last night?”
Linc starts the coffee brewing before he speaks. I swear his veins hold caffeine not blood. Though, he usually sleeps about as much as I do, so it’s not surprising. Once he’s holding a mug of coffee in his hands, he turns back to face us. “Lucas has the knife; he’s running it for prints and DNA to see if this asshole left any traces behind. He’s also running the blood to see if we know who that belongs to.”
“It’s probably pig’s blood,” I offer. “That’s what I’d do if I wanted to freak someone out.”
“Maybe,” Linc says, nodding, “But for now, we need to play our cards close to our chest. How was she last night?”
East cuts his eyes to me at the question, so I shoot him a shit eating grin before turning back to the others. “She was shook up, but that’s to be expected. She’s tougher than we give her credit for though. She handled it with more grace than most people we know would.”
Lincoln sits at the table as East plates up the eggs. He brings them and the toast over to the table, and I dig in. Linc looks at the food like it offends him. I went without food often enough that I learned to eat when food is there. Whether the eggs taste like rubber or not.
“That’s good. Hopefully it’s not just a trauma response from something we don’t know about. She seems to compartmentalize like a pro,” East offers, and Finley frowns at him.
“Do you know something we don’t?”
“No, we said we’d be open and transparent about everything to do with her going forward. You know what I do,” East says with a sigh. Getting over the secrets we kept from each other these last few months is taking a minute. Everyone’s so goddamn possessive and protective when it comes to V, which makes it difficult.
“She knows we all know by the way,” I chime in, and they look at me. “She was feeling squirrely about fucking around with all of us.” I look at Linc and grin. “Well, most of us. So I told her we were all chill about it. Do not make me a liar.”
“And what if one of us wants her to ourselves?” East asks, an eyebrow raised.
“We don’t make her make that decision,” Lincoln adds. “If you’re not okay with sharing her, then you don’t get her. Unless she makes the decision on her own.”
“Dude, you’re not even trying with her. Who says you make the rules?” I challenge. I mean, Linc usually makes the rules, but with V, everything is different.
“I never said I was trying with her,” he says gruffly, “I said that no one puts that pressure on her. None of us get to keep her anyway.”
“I’m chill with that. I mean, I’d like her to myself, but I’d rather have her and share than not at all,” Finley agrees before getting up and pouring himself a glass of milk.
“Fine,” East says, basically pouting. Sucks to be him, but that’s what happens when you hand the mantle of power down to your little brother, I guess. You lose the power that should’ve been yours. “I’m going to go and get ready. Are you assholes going to school today?”
“Yeah, we’ll see you there,” Linc says, and it’s my turn to frown. I am very much looking forward to never having to go to school ever again. Though I do have one thing on my agenda today. I feel a sadistic smile stretch out across my face.
A day with blood on my hands is always better than one without.
* * *
I follow my prey out of the school parking lot on my Ducati when the school day ends, excitement making my heart race. I spent the entire day dreaming up ways to punish this motherfucker for what he did to Octavia.
You could say that others have done worse shit to her, me included, but I’m working on ways to make up for that. Plus, I did what I did for her. This asshole crossed a line purely for himself, taking advantage of her situation and exploiting it.
I’m going to make sure he knows he fucked up… and that he can never do it again. To V, or to anyone.
I follow him to his home, glad that he lives his pathetic existence alone, because that’s going to make my life easier. Even better that he lives outside of town in the middle of nowhere. The joys of living on a teacher’s wage, I guess.
I ride past his house as he pulls in the drive, and circle back around. There aren’t many places to tuck myself out of the way, but I want to wait until the sun sets before I enter his house. Just to make sure there isn’t anyone else in there.
Shutting off the engine, I take off my helmet and place it at my feet before shrugging my backpack off. I went home at lunch just to make sure I had everything I needed to deal with this scumbag. Dad just smiled when he saw me getting my collection.
I’m not sure what it says about me that he seemed proud. I guess it’s why people think I’m such a psycho. Clinically speaking, I might not be a psychopath, but it’s easy enough for me to slip into that state of mind where emotion doesn’t exist that I’m probably toeing a line or two. My dad made sure of that from a young age.
I shudder at the memory before shutting it away and going to that quiet part of my mind. The part that lets me enjoy the pain I inflict. The part that stops me feeling even one drop of remorse for my actions.
I watch the house for hours until the sun sets, and once I’m confident there’s no one but Mr. Peters in the house, I make my approach. The silence of the night makes me grin. Everyone likes to believe it’s the things that go bump in the night that they’re afraid of, but in reality, it’s the oppressive silence that gets to most people. If you can find a home in the shadows and silence, that’s when you know you can truly claim the title of monster.
Unfortunately for Mr. Peters, I embraced the monster inside of me a long time ago.
I drop a text to Eric before I creep in through the back door of the small house. He was more than on board for tonight. Pedophiles are his favorite type of victim. The sounds of the TV filter through the house and his laughter at whatever drivel is showing grates on me like nails on a chalkboard. I palm my knives, one in each hand.