“You still have to ask?” he questions, but it comes out more like a cackle. “I’m killing you, Vanna, without even touching a hair on your head. You wanted to leave our group, you wanted to take a child of ours back out into the filth ridden world? Well, this is my punishment for your selfishness. You can never speak of our loyal servants, even if you tried no one would believe you. After all, you’re dead.” Matthias stops speaking and looks through the glass where the man has put down his instruments. The woman’s screams have turned into exhausted moans and Matthias walks up to the glass, banging his fists against it three times.
His man on the other side bends down and picks up a jug of kerosene, slowly begins to pour it over the woman, and then pulls out a box of matches from his back pocket. He backs up into the corner of the room and lights a match, tossing it on the woman and her body lights up like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
She screams louder than I’ve heard her before, though they quickly die down. Even her limbs stop moving and she doesn’t continue thrashing. Her body is simply still and the man on the other side picks up some sort of bucket and pours it over her. It looks like powder, but I have no idea what it could be . . .
“You won’t be able to touch us, Vanna, not now, not ever—”
My heart beats harder than it ever has before as I sit up on the bed. I put my hand over my chest and breathe in and out slowly, trying to calm myself down after the worst of my memories comes flooding back.
They call it post-traumatic stress disorder, but even the words seem like they aren’t painful enough for the agony that comes with it. I’ve tried to bury the pain with alcohol, marijuana, even food, coffee, anything I felt like at some point it could help. The issue is that it doesn’t, nothing helps and I highly doubt anything will help until I have Peyton back in my arms.
Glancing over at my phone, I tap on it and see it’s only four-fifty in the morning. Sucking in another heavy breath, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and rise. There isn’t any way I’ll be getting sleep after that, so I’d best get up and at least make myself useful.
I head down the stairs and enter the kitchen, but I can’t be in here for more than five minutes before the distinctive sound of feet on the stairwell comes from the hallway. God, maybe I shouldn’t have come down. The last thing I want to do is talk to anyone this damn early, especially before coffee.
Chapter Five
Ricochet
Pulling my arm over my head I stretch and get ready for the day. I don’t remember hearing my alarm go off so I roll over and grab my phone, realizing I could’ve had five more minutes of blissful sleep. Fuck, whatever. I get my ass out of bed, throw on some fresh gym clothes and head downstairs. Every morning I have the same routine, I get my ass up, throw on some new clothes, have a nice hot cup of coffee, and head to the gym around the corner.
Coming down the stairs I notice the light in the kitchen is on, which is odd for this time of day. It’s early, and the only person who’s ever up this early is Boss when Destiny’s having a bad night. Though, she hasn’t had one of those nights in a really long time. Destiny’s out of that nasty habit now thank goodness, but toddlers should be, I guess. Hell if I know, I don’t have kids. She makes me want to have them. The sort of happiness I see on Cowboy and Tala’s faces, when I get the opportunity to watch from afar, as they look at her . . . it must be somethin’ really good, somethin’ I eventually want to try.
Turning the corner, the first thing I see is the color of her bright hair. She’s sitting at the island, hunched up with a hand over her forehead. I don’t say anything at first while I make my way over to the coffee pot, open the cupboards, and pull out a coffee filter and some grounds. I still don’t say a word, ignoring the massive elephant in the room while I start the coffee and lean against the counter.
Now, as I look at her, both hands are over her forehead and she’s breathing in and out roughly through her nose. I want to let it be, but let’s face it, I’ve never been that type of dude. The only ones who ignore shit right in front of their faces are pussies.
“Morning,” I keep my tone casual, like normal, and wait for her response. I don’t take my eyes off her body, and quickly enough she’s responding to me.
“Morning,” it’s one word, but I’ll take it.
“Coffee should be done in a few minutes,” I say matter-of-factly, carefully assessing the situation in front of me.
“Cool.” Her tone is so cold, and her voice is gravelly, like she’s parched or she’s fighting back the urge to bust out into tears before my very eyes. I’d bet on the latter.
“What’s going on with you?” I cut straight to the point, waiting for some sort of response. A few moments pass by and I still don’t get it, so I speak up again, only this time I clear my throat, “Venom, what the hell is going on?”
She moves her hands from her face and stares right at me. “Nothing.”
“You’ve never been a bad liar until now,” I’m blunt, but I get straight to the point.
She pinches her lips together and I don’t miss the way she curses under her breath. While she’s making her frustration clear, I don’t give a flying fuck. I want to get to the bottom of this.
“Just leave it alone, will you?”
“Not gonna happen. I’ve bit my tongue for a few days and I’m not going to ignore something happening blatantly right in front of my eyes. You’ve been drinking more, sleeping less. You’re snapping at the people who care about you . . . what for? What the fuck is going on?” I really wish I knew her name, that I could pull it out of a hat but I don’t know that about her. Hell, I don’t think any of us do. After she first came here, I brought it up to Boss, but Boss told me it didn’t matter what her past was, or if she wanted to keep things from us, how it was a safe place and she could keep whatever demons she had in the past right where they were. It’s insane. Venom is as close to me as Emerson is and yet I don’t even know her fucking name.
“Nothing is going on. I’m just tired. I told you already.”
“Bullshit. Something’s going on and you’re not talking to anyone. How are you even getting it out?” At this point my tone’s getting nastier as I’m now getting frustrated. She could’ve just told me and I might’ve been able to help her somehow, but instead she’s only getting more and more upset, more guarded.
“It’s my business, Ricochet. If you don’t like it then oh well,” Venom snaps in my direction and the coffee beeps at the same time, signaling it’s ready.
I turn around and get her a cup before getting one for myself, then go and hand one off to her. She leaves the cup on the island for a minute before taking it, and while I’m aggravated as hell with her, it is a peace offering of sorts.
I stand while she sits and we both sip on our coffees. After a few minutes, I think we’ve both calmed down enough to speak normally. “If you’re not gonna talk to me about it, will you at least get your energy out somehow?”
Venom raises her brows. “Yeah, and how do you suggest I do that?”
I shrug my shoulders and take a sip of coffee. “I don’t know. A fucking workout? Something to get your heart rate up and some sweat goin’.”