My steps are frenzied and hurried, puppeteering my body in her direction on instinct. When I reach them, I pull him off her and toss him to the ground. I’m not the same guy I was five years ago. My body has filled out in ways most young boys dream of.
“Get the fuck off her,” I snarl, crowding over the man.
Then recognition dawns on me. It’s Eddie Lind—the not-so-insufferable friend to Henry Shaw. Despite our familiarity, I pounce on him, my fists connecting to his face in rapid succession until blood begins to soak the sand around his head from my blows. I’m confident I’ve broken his nose again if nothing else. He can’t even get his bearings to sit up, let alone acknowledge our unexpected reunion. The sight of Kat pains me beyond measure. Seeing her degraded, ravaged, her dress ripped and Eddie’s cum leaking out of her is too much to bear.
Once upon a time, I might have been fine with occasionally sharing Kat with Eddie. I liked him. He wasn’t a part of my soul the way Kat was, but he was a part of my life that I look back upon fondly. But all the years apart from them has churned my anger and allowed the rage to fester, knowing I didn’t have the required pedigree to be as important to them as they were to me. These two, the perfect match, equal social standing, financial worth, names of status, a logical pairing. Knowing he was here with her while they banished me to hell like a rabid dog fuels the flames of wrath inside me.
The gods have cursed me from the moment I laid eyes on her, and no matter what happens in this world, our souls are bound together. There is no beginning and no end to Katelyn Shaw and I.
“This is what you replaced me with? This man who defiles you on the same shores I showered you with my love?’
Eddie crawls away from me in the sand, cupping his bleeding jaw. “What are you doing here, Heath? Years ago, she told you to pack your bags. She made her choice and chose right. She picked a comfortable life, what she’s always known over the absolute uncertainty and social banishment that would befall her with you. What could you offer her but shame and the life of an outcast?”
My knuckles connect to his face again. “Shut your mouth, Eddie. I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
“You can kill me with your fists, but you’ll never undo the fact that she made her choice.”
My shirt is tugged back. Kat screams as she tries to pull me away from him. Eddie’s blood spills on the sand, but it doesn't quiet the rage inside me. I want him dead. Dead for being here with her when I wasn’t. Dead for touching her when I couldn’t. Dead for thinking he could have her. My hands wrap around his throat, and I squeeze.
“Not a choice, Eddie, because no matter what you do, no matter what she says, she’ll always be mine. You’re just a blip. A mistake. A memory I’m about to wipe off the face of this godforsaken planet.”
Kat’s screams do nothing to temper my beast. It’s wrapped around my entire being and erased any sign of the rational man I used to be. “Heath, stop! Heath, you’re going to kill him!”
I shove her off me and pull out the knife I carry in my pocket. I hold the two-inch diameter round wooden handle before opening it up and releasing the blade.
Eddie’s pants are still down around his ankles, his feet restricted. I flip him over. “Get on your knees, Eddie.”
He doesn’t move. He’s frozen.
“Don’t worry, Eddie, I’m not a complete monster. I’ll use lube.”
Eddie's shrill screams permeate the night air as I slice into the flesh above his ass and cut a line. Blood trickles down the wound and gathers around his ass.
“Stop it,” she shrieks, her delicate hands hitting my back, “Stop it! This isn’t like you, You’re not like the rest of them.”
I don’t dare look at her, knowing her eyes will lure me back into her trap. “You’re right, Kat. They aren’t like me.”
With a flick of my wrist, I send the knife spinning in the air. It glimmers as it falls, blade over handle until I catch it by the blade, allowing it to slice into my hand as I push the handle into Eddie’s ass.
“The boy you used to know is dead, Kat. I was once someone who cared about doing right, but that was when I believed good deeds would be rewarded, back when I still had some light in my life. But you, sweet Kat, you extinguished any bit of hope I had left in me.”
Eddie’s screams morph into moans, and I laugh.