“I’m good.”
“I’m sorry.” I sputter, keeping my eyes on his hands as I bring up the conversation we’ve both been avoiding. “I shouldn’t have said you were damaged beyond repair. I was angry and I was willing to say anything to fight back.”
Ezra clenches his jaw as he audibly exhales. “You were calling it like it is.” He says, keeping his eyes low. “One perk of being as fucked up as I am is I can tell when someone is lying. You weren’t.”
“That’s not true.” I say, hopping down from the counter to try to get him to look me in the eye.
Ezra makes a move to leave, but I throw myself between him and the door.
“It’s been fun, Angel. Truly.” He hisses, narrowing his eyes at me. “Now kindly get out of my way.”
“N-no.” I stammer, shaking my head. “If you’re going to go back out there, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
“Trust me. Out there, I’m the predator. Never the prey. This is nothing compared to the damage I inflict.”
“I’m not letting you leave.” I say, moving between him and the door.
He lets out a dark laugh before looking down at me. “What are you going to do?” He challenges, stepping closer. “Are you going to try to stop me, Angel?”
His voice is menacing, and the cold, calculated way he’s staring at me reminds me so much of the first night we met. Of how much he used to terrify me. He and I have come so far since then and I refuse to let the Ezra I know just slip away. Without thinking, I lunge for the knife sticking out of the holster on his hip and hold it up against him. I won’t attack him, but he doesn’t know that.
“You think taking my knife will protect you? I could kill you with my bare hands, Angel. Snap that pretty little neck of yours so quickly you won’t even feel it.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, but I would. And the sad thing is, there wouldn’t even be any repercussions for me. We wouldn’t even have to hide the body. After all, no one would come looking for you. No one would care. You’d be just as insignificant as your dead little sister.”
“Shut up.” I scream, shaking my head. “Just shut the fuck up!”
“Maybe I should kill you. Then you two can finally reunite, just like you always wanted.”
He steps closer, forcing the blade against his throat. I try to back away towards the vanity, but his footsteps seem to follow mine.
“Do it.” He taunts. “Now’s your only chance. I’m unhinged. Two seconds away from killing you and every person you’ve ever cared about. If you’re smart, you’ll eliminate the threat now.”
I stare at him for a few seconds as I try to still my quivering hand.
Ezra laughs. “You think you’re a match for me, but you’re wrong. You don’t crave pain the same way that I do. You don't even have it in you to hurt me. You and I are nothing alike.”
“You’re wrong.” I say, pressing the knife into his skin deep enough to draw blood. “I can be just as brutal to protect the ones I love. And whether or not you want to accept it, you are someone I love.”
“You shouldn’t love someone like me.” He says, inching his body closer until the hard edge of vanity bites into my lower back.
I squeeze the base of the knife tighter as I watch the blood slowly seep down the blade.
“I’m a dangerous man.” He says, gently wrapping his hand around my trembling wrist. His touch is soft, tender even, and the resistance inside of me starts to slip. I shake my head in a feeble attempt to keep focused, but his smoky grey eyes lock onto mine and I sink into their inky depths as everything else melts away.
“I’ll hurt you.” He growls, yanking my wrist down and painfully twisting it behind my body. The sharp knife slips from my fingers and crashes onto the vanity as he forces me to turn around to stop my arm from snapping.
“I’ll use you.” He says, gripping my hair and forcing me to bend over as he retrieves his knife.
He presses my face against the cold granite, and I almost want to cry. Not because I’m scared, but because this is the first time I’ve felt anything in days.
“Is this what you want?” He hisses, gripping the back of my neck in a painful sign of possession as his fingers dig into my flesh. “You want to feel my monster?”
Yes.I want to scream, but I hold back, not wanting anything to change whatever this is that’s building between us. This is what I needed. I needed him.
“This.” He says, ripping the towel off of my body and leaving me bare and exposed. “This is who I really am. I don’t ask, I take. I don’t build, I destroy. I don’t fix, I break.”
