Chapter Seventeen                  

Tim

HE HADN'T SLEPT at all that night. He turned around in his mind everything he knew. He couldn't count on Isabella not telling Alice details about what had happened, so there was no advantage in not confronting her.

Maybe it was a rationalization for what he wanted to do anyway. He wanted to frighten mousey Alice. He wanted to see how she would react against the side of his nature that she kept dormant for months.

He shoved the door to Music Room Two open so forcefully it banged against the wall.

"You, out!" he barked at the young man who stood in the middle of the room looking at his music sheets.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked, standing up.

He shot her a heated glance meant to burn her eyes out.

"Get the fuck out right now," he said again and the guy left his backpack on the chair when he ran out the door.

He was in no mood to be interrupted by the kid looking for his backpack, so he grabbed it and hurled it out into the hallway. He slammed the door shut, and thumped his fists hard against the door frame.

He tried to use the pain to get back some of the control he lost when he saw Alice. All his thorough planning from the night before vanished. Pure hatred burned inside him, his soul was stinking of brimstone.

"You little monster," he said, slowly turning around to look at her.

She paled instantly and took a step back. She could back away as much as she wanted, but she couldn't get away. He was standing between her and the only exit from that room.

"What you did... I'm going to make you pay for it until you cry tears of blood."

He hadn't prepared this speech. Words poured out of him without his control. He stalked over to her, and she backed away until she hit her shoulders against the frame of the window.

"Carter, what the..."

He stopped inches from her, drinking in the sight of her fear.

"Do me the courtesy and don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about."

She looked at him with big round eyes. He loved seeing fear in them. Terror, as real as the anger that burned in him.

Smart little monster. She took him seriously now. But she could not guess what he had in store for her.

"I'm going to make you curse the day you messed with me, little girl. You will regret it every day for the rest of your life."

He towered over her. He wanted to shove her hair aside to uncover her eyes, but touching her was risky. He was on a dangerous edge. Even from behind her silly curtain of hair, she must have seen in his eyes the depth of his hatred. Her boring brown eyes sparkled unnaturally.

The door opened and King stepped inside. That stupid boy must have alerted him. King closed the door behind himself before saying anything.

"What's going on?" King asked, striding toward the two of them.

He forced himself from taking a step back. Alice should see his anger, but it was better if King did not.

"Nothing that should concern you. Your assistant and I have some unfinished business."

If he could fake temper tantrums when he needed, he could use his acting skills to pretend that he was less insane from pain. He could act like a sane person.

"Are you done now?" King asked

"Not by a long shot," he said, without looking at Andrew.

His eyes bore into hers. She was the only one who needed to know and to fear.

He turned on his heels and stormed out of the room even more enraged than he had entered. In passing, he told Mark to work with all his contestants. He had to take get out of there. He let his brain melt under the blazing inferno of his hatred.