Chapter 17
Boston
“Jeff…come on. Let’s finish this. You know you want to.”
Tracking Jeff wasn’t easy. From what I could remember, we were both experienced hunters. But I had the edge. I knew these woods like the back of my hand. I didn’t need all my memories to go where intuition led me. And it was in the right path. Footprints came at random. Some were fresh. He was close.
“Don’t you want to talk about your mother? You missed the funeral.”
I kept going, pushing myself faster as I weaved through the trees before checking more tracks. A good mile went by and a clear boot print had me cutting to the right. Two steps around a large tree and pain exploded across my face. Wood from the baseball-sized branch shattered at the impact, and I landed flat on my back. Air was impossible to take in, and pinpoint dots of light speckled my vision as he stepped up, looming above. Sweat streaked down the mud covering his dark face, and pants left his chest rising and falling.
“You killed my mother.”
The kick to my stomach had the oxygen I’d just taken in leaving me.
Once.
Twice.
Three times, he kicked.
I groaned, rolling to the side and grabbing his foot, messing up his fourth attempt. He landed on his side while we both fought to get up faster than the other. Trickling of warmth streamed from my cheek toward my jaw, itching, distracting me as he threw his weight, tackling me back down.
His fist drew back, swinging for my face. The connection to my cheek was barely a graze. Laughter flowed from me as my need for this soared. I grabbed the side of his neck, controlling his movement as I pulled him toward my chest. Sticks stabbed and cut into my bare back while we rolled along the ground.
“Yeah, I killed your mom,” I said, slamming my elbow into the back of his head. “I fucking shoved those pills down her throat while she cried and swallowed her shitty-ass life away. I did her a favor.”
Jeff roared, wrestling my hands as he made it on top of me. Again, his fist slammed into my face. And I let him. The first hit was enough to stun. The following three only added to the foggy feeling, but my instincts reigned. I didn’t know defeat. I knew to win. To get what I wanted. To kill to keep what was mine.
My foot pressed into the ground and I rolled us, taking my spot over him. Once I started hitting, I didn’t stop. A tooth broke under my force. His cheek bone shattered.
“You should have seen her, Jeff. She was terrified. Crying. Weak. She didn’t even put up much of a fight. She wanted to be rid of you.”
A groan snuffed out the aggravated sound. His fight was ending. No matter how hard he tried to wiggle and break free, he couldn’t remove me from my position. Puffiness rose around one of his eyes, swelling it shut. My arms were weak from working out, but I didn’t care as I put everything into a hit that jolted his entire body. Jeff was barely conscious. His head lolled to the side and a sound got cut off as he choked on the blood filling his mouth.
“If we were back at the cabin, I’d scalp you for pulling Lucy’s hair. God, I fucking want to. You thought what we did to that girl was bad. You should have seen what I’ve done. What I’m capable of. Men. Men like you. They never knew what was coming. I waited for this. For you.”
Jeff coughed, spitting out blood from the deep tears in his lacerated lips. “Lucy. Lu—”
“Don’t you dare say her name.” I hit him again, keeping my hands in fists so I didn’t tear out his tongue with my bare hands. “Why didn’t I kill you after you slit that girl’s neck? What happen when I went to your house?”
“Who…knows. You’re…f-fucking crazy.”
Despite the heaviness in my arms, I slammed my fist into his nose with each word. “What! Happened!”
A feeble yell echoed and he tried to roll and curl into himself, but he didn’t have the strength.
“I…don’t know. You showed up…with your camera. The movie stuff was already laid out from our filming…the day before.” He paused, groaning and trying to catch his breath. “You stepped from around the house just as I was walking up. You were waiting. I ran right for…the axe.”
Something wanted to come, but didn’t. Did it even matter? I had Jeff here now. I had a…” My eyes shot up. I had an alibi. I didn’t have to act like this was an accident to protect myself. I didn’t have to make him disappear and try to cover my crime.
“Of course,” I breathed out.
Accidents happened. They were tragic, but they weren’t a missing or murdered body. Lucy could have gotten over an accident, and me…I would have caught everything on my camera. Filming used to mean everything to me. Documentation served as trophies. Proof. The realest horror movie one could ever make. And I had tapes, all kinds, just like the one Lucy caught me watching. Ones that mattered nothing to me now. Ones I would get rid of the moment this was over. The men.
“What? What…did you remember?”
I glanced to Jeff, but reached forward, picking up a large rock. “I remembered a stupid boy who was greedy for the wrong thing. A boy who was more focused on reliving deaths, he lost sight of why he wanted to commit them to begin with. I remember a coward who didn’t go after what he wanted—Lucy. You killed him, though. Thank you for that. But now it’s time I finish what he started.”
“No. No!” Jeff tried to buck me off. I was lighter now, but I still had the upper-hand. Slamming my fist down, a loud smack cracked through the air. Blood sprayed, gushing from the seams of the crater centered in his forehead. Jeff’s arms slowed, and his eyes rolled. I lifted to strike again, seeing where he’d hit Lucy with the flashlight while they were searching for the cabin. It flashed so fast, sending my arm to the side as I came in at a side angle. The rock was so big, it barely fit in my hand. Pieces broke off as the bone over his eyebrow caved in. Crimson seeped and pooled at the innermost cover of his eye. I wasn’t done, but I forced myself to stop as Dr. Patron’s words crept in. “Lucy’s almost yours. I’ve taught you what you need to know, and you’ve come far. But you must control what’s inside when the time comes. If you can do that and follow my rules, you’ve won.”
I dropped the rock, moving back to rest against the tree a foot away. Labored breaths left Jeff. Gurgling sounds as he fought to live. Each short gasp was a relief symbolizing a true beginning. A new life without obstacles. An evil smile came to my face. Moments dragged out. His fingers twitched, straightening and shaking as his muscles flexed through the fight. Then, nothing. There was no need for words as I watched his one good eye bulge, then go lax. Death had him, and the fear cementing his face reflected the fact. It was sweeter than anything thus far. Lucy. I had her all to myself now. She was all I had ever wanted. All that mattered. Our always had arrived with his departure. Our forever…it was just beginning.
****
Memories came. A flash here and there. Intense colors. Warping walls of pictures that stole me away from Lucy. I cared for none of them. I didn’t need them now that we’d started our new life.
Jeff’s death hit her hard, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t bring her back from. More patience. More wooing and building her up. School approached and passed. I didn’t go back. The city held secrets—ones I didn’t believe would come out—but I took absolutely zero risks concerning her.
My evidence of past therapy sessions, my old films of torturing and killing the men, everything connected to the old me lay in ashes in the fireplace. There was nothing she would run across, nothing that tied me to any crime whatsoever. It was all water under the bridge, and what we had was deeper than any depth of love imaginable.
For the first time in my life, I was truly happy. She was happy.
As we boxed up the last of our things from the guesthouse, I stole glances at her. A soft tune hummed through our space and blonde hair fell over her shoulder as she folded a shirt, placing it in the overnight bag we were taking for the trip. The move to Florida was easy enough to decide. I got accepted there for my new school—a degree in Business, and she was starting prerequisites for nursing. We already had a place to live, and Dr. Patron’s summer house was only a few blocks away from our beach cottage. I didn’t think I needed to continue the sessions, but in the last few weeks, I came to see how vital it was for me to confess my sins—confess the obsession that still festered when I didn’t feel I could ever get enough of her. It calmed the beast within—the one who carefully watched every look, every move, made by anyone who got too close to her.
Lucy grabbed a sundress, pausing as she caught my movement. The smile that came had the heaviness she caused inside to thicken. My heart rate accelerated, and I left the box I’d meant to carry down to our new SUV.
I walked slow…methodical, taking a wide path around the sofa. Her head jerked to the side and her lids narrowed playfully. She shot across the bed, racing for the door, but she wasn’t fast enough. A squeal left her as my arms wrapped around her waist and I spun her back to the bed, bending to flatten her against the mattress with my weight. Her ass moved against my cock while she tried to wiggle free. The pleasure sent a growl leaving me as I bit into her neck.
“Was this morning not enough? We’re never going to get on the road if this continues.”
I sucked against her skin, already jerking at the button of her jeans and shoving her pants down. My tongue flattened, licking so I could taste her. For the briefest moment, I was better than okay. I was thriving in everything she was.
“Boston,” Lucy moaned, reaching back to place her palm on the side of my forehead right over my scar. I fit myself against her entrance, easing the head inside. “Wait. Not yet. You have to say it first.”
My lips traveled to her ear and I moaned as I surged forward. “I love you. I fucking love you. All day. Every day. Always.”
A cry sounded out as fingers gripped into my hair. The sting from her pull registered, but got stolen through the frenzy that erupted as her pussy pulsed around me.
In the blur of hard thrusts, everything tuned out. Everything but the wetness and tone of her voice as she mumbled my name. Her smell engulfed me, feeding my speed. Thoughts were pointless when I had everything I ever needed before me.
My hips slapped into her ass, and she arched just like I loved. The action spoke of her desires. It showed how much she needed me too. When I was buried deep inside her pussy, it ruled everything for both of us. It was the only time we could be one.
More moans. More sighs. I swallowed them whole as my lips massaged into hers. The suction on my tongue had my hand wrapping around her throat. My cock swelled, thickening. Lucy’s body jolted in spasms, and I groaned, not holding back. My cum shot deep. Me—in her. The calm. The sating sensation that put me at peace. Her heart and life beat against my fingertips from her pulse point, and it was the most beautiful rhythm in the world. For seconds, I didn’t move. I didn’t want the moment to ever end. Because of my love, now they never would.
The End