“Promise?” My voice breaks. Monica nods and I fight with all the strength I have to pull myself up. Monica pulls me to her. I feel her warm body and sigh. Something normal. She wraps me up in her arms and I feel her moving us away from Momma and Daddy. I struggle in her grip. “Wait,” I plead. “Please, you have to wake them up, you promised.” My tiny fists beat on her shoulders as I watch police lay covers over my parents’ bodies. “Don’t do that!” I scream, trying with everything in me to break free. “Uncover them, they can’t breathe that way! You promised!” I scream at Monica.
I feel as if everything around me is crumbling as I whisper brokenly again, “You promised.”
Monica collapses with me in the front yard. Her body trembling with sobs, echoing my own. “Y-you promised,” I hiccup. Something like a broken scream tears from my throat. I can’t stop shaking. My mind won’t work. I can feel the darkness at the edges slowly washing everything around me. I look up over Monica’s shoulder, my eyes connecting with small, familiar mossy caramel eyes.
Everything stops for just a second. For one solid heartbeat, the world is quiet and peaceful as I stare into his eyes. And then, the darkness covers everything.
* * *
I feel raw today.As if a hidden wound has been ripped at the seams, allowing the pain of the forgotten to flow freely into my soul. My mind is running on autopilot as I work in the lab during biology class, not retaining a single piece of information. I think I had a nightmare last night, but I can’t remember. Because I woke up with an ache in my chest and sadness eating at my brain.
I pack my things like a mindless zombie, meeting Vance outside. “Hey, Soulless.” He grins.
I lift one corner of my lip in my best attempt of a grin. “Hi.”
“Don’t worry about last night. We’ll catch the person.”
I nod, because I believe him. “Something is not adding up,” I confess.
“Yeah?”
I nod. “Yeah. My entire life, there are pieces missing.”
He nods slowly. “There is.”
I look up to Vance’s beautiful face. “Will you tell me?”
He breaks eye contact, looking away. “Eventually.”
We walk in silence as I reach my dorm, needing to grab some things. Once I enter my room, I notice all my things have been boxed up, broken glass swept nicely into a pile in the corner, and a single letter sitting on top of it. Vance and I stare at the envelope.
Thump.
Thump.
My heart thumps against my chest harshly as I begin to walk to it. Reaching down, my finger explodes with red, a sharp stinging pain blooming as the glass cuts me. “You’re accident-prone, Soulless.”
I suck my finger into my mouth, allowing my tongue to soothe the pain. I watch Vance as he opens the envelope, study him as he crumples the sheet of paper in his hand and takes his lighter out of his pocket. He brings it to the edge of the paper, and it bursts into bright orange and yellow flames. Turning blue as it catches on the ink. He throws it to the ground, stomping the ashes out. “Get what you need,” he demands, voice coated with brutal energy.
“What did it say?” I ask, walking over to the box labeledClothesand grabbing spandex shorts, a sports bra, a hoodie, and a pair of socks. I grab my shoes out of the box next to it.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”
* * *
My body comes alive,moving with the beat of the song, as it drips with sweat. I roll my head, my hands gripping the pole behind my head as I drop my body slowly down it. My legs stretch out until I’m sitting in the splits. Dancing used to be a means to an end, now it’s my freedom. I never feel more empowered as I do when I use my body like a weapon. I lean my head against the pole, pushing my damp hair back as I get ready to do some spins, when I feel him behind me.
Licking my lips, I toss my head back onto Beckett’s shoulder, bringing my body flush to his as I wrap my hands around his neck. Listening to the beat, I roll my hips. I lift my head, meeting his eyes in the mirror in front of us. His eyes are the only thing visible behind the bandana.
“Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras comes on. I watch my sweaty body move over his as if he’s my pole. His arm wraps around my breasts as he pulls me tightly against him. I move my hips against his growing erection, loving the feeling of him hard behind me, the way his eyes dilate as he rakes his eyes over my body. He reaches behind his head, untying his bandana. He drapes it over my mouth, fastening it around my head. My head tilts as I roll my body against his, admiring how the black brings out the red in my hair, highlights the freckles on my face, makes my green eyes pop. I watch his lips connect with my flesh, sucking on the side of my neck as my head falls to his shoulder again. His hand grips my throat, spinning me around. He flips the bandana over my eyes, leaving only my lips visible. He jerks my face to his, feasting on my lips, licking them until my mouth falls open for him.
His tongue thrusts inside of my mouth, rubbing along mine. I suck down on his tongue, causing him to moan. His moan is the sexiest noise to ever grace my ears and I want to make him moan for me again. But he breaks away. “We don’t have time for this,” he says as he skates his hand over my toned, sweaty torso. His hands slip into my spandex shorts. “But fuck, look how wet you are. Your pussy is so messy for me, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I moan as he inserts two fingers into me, curling them against my sweet spot.
“You’re soaking my hand, Brixley.” My name is a rough, raspy noise as it leaves his mouth. “Your body is fucking sin and I can’t wait to devour every inch of it.” Beckett begins to work me with slow, punishing thrusts. “But that’s going to have to wait.” A cloth is places over my mouth, and I don’t care as my consciousness slowly fades, because he’s still working every inch of me with his fingers. A whimper leaves my lips as everything around me fades to black.
* * *