“I haven’t done it in a while.” He sobbed, his head bowing. “You baited me.”
“Yes, yes I did.” I grin. I walked over to my tools and run a finger over them. They are beautiful, all lined up, shining against the black velvet. I chose them all carefully. “Shall we begin, Doc?”
I push a button, making his chair recline farther. I switch on the bright fluorescent lights above him, causing him to squint against the harsh glow. I tuck a dental bib under his head and another on his chest. I sit on a stool beside him and slip on a pair of examination gloves, the sound of Mozart filling the air. It’s a beautifully dark, melodic sound. I hum along.
“Music is such a relaxant, you know?” I tell him as I place a metal bite block inside his mouth to keep it open. I twist the lever and it starts to open. His howls fill the air as his mouth is opened wide. “Let’s see how far this can go, shall we?”
I hear the crack as his jaw dislocates. I’m glad I decided to do this in a shed at the back of the motel. It’s quite far from the motel, close to the train tracks. Imagine if someone heard him shouting like a maniac.
“I just hate when guys act like babies.” Blood drips from the sides of his mouth, and his eyes roll back in his head.
“You’re weak!” I shout in his face. “Weak!” I reach into his mouth and tug at his rubbery tongue. I pierce it with a hook then tug at it till he’s gasping and bloody spittle drips onto the bib. It should make me sick, but pain excites me. Causing this kind of suffering makes all the danger worthwhile. It’s not a simple task, getting these kind of sickos interested. I have to make sure I offer them something they can’t refuse.
Dr. Grey’s eyes are bloodshot as I press the scalpel to his tongue, sawing through layers of skin until I sever it from his dirty mouth. When I’m done, he’s mute, tears sliding down the sides of his face. I open the mouth prop farther, making the skin at the sides of his mouth start to rip I open it slowly at first, but as his mouth is extended, his cheeks tear more easily. The heart rate monitor start beeping, and I look at it in disgust. He didn’t last long. How surprising.
This wasn’t always me, but I’ve learned that if I am going to rely on other people to create change, I’ll be waiting a long time.
12
Fynn
Before
Original Sin
I open the door to Maureen’s apartment with the spare key they let me have. The place is silent except for the sound of the TV in their living room For some unknown reason, I have a nagging feeling that something is wrong. I pop my head in the kitchen which is empty. Miranda should be home. She wasn’t at the centre, and she doesn’t have friends. Then I hear it, the distinct sound of soft sobbing.
“She didn’t pay me, so you’re going to have to.” The sound of a male voice has my adrenaline spiking. Stepping into the living room confirms that the voice did not come from the TV, there’s an infomercial on. Some woman selling something.
“Miranda.” I call out as I make my way through the house, my heart beating in my throat, my head. My steps quicken as I reach the back of the flat, outside the room the girls share. I push open the door, and the sight before me has me springing into action. I have him under me in seconds, the knife he’d been holding against her throat now in my hands , pressed against his throat.
“You touched her.” I hiss, slamming the handle of the knife into his cheekbone. A roar escapes his lips. I look over at Miranda who is shaking, her dress raised to her waist. “You fucker.” My fist connects with his face, and I am no longer in control of my emotions. How dare he touch her? I slam my fist into him over and over. I want to end him, make sure he never touches another girl again.
“Stop, man, fuck,” he spits, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.
I feel hands tugging at my arms as I swing, accidentally connecting with Miranda’s torso. As she falls back, her eyes wide, I gasp. “Miranda -”
The guy uses this opportunity to flip me off him and make a run for it. I’m on my feet in seconds, following him down the short hall.
“Fynn.” Miranda yells from behind me. “Don’t.” Her voice breaks, so I stop, watching that fucker burst through the front door, out of reach. My hands fist at my sides, my heart rate erratic.
“You okay?” I manage through gritted teeth without looking at her.
“You found me, before -” she’s not able to finish her thought, breaking down. I rush down the corridor and bundle her small body in my arms. I’m overwhelmed with the need to protect her, but simultaneously crazy with the need to kill that asshole. How dare he touch her? He tried to violate Miranda. My Miranda. My hands tighten around her, and my dick twitches. This is so fucking wrong. I push her away from me.
“I’ll call, Mo.” I tell her as I offer her a hand up.
“Don’t. She has enough to worry about, and nothing happened, Fynn.” She wraps her arms around me, the close proximity suffocating me.
“Miranda, I can’t not tell her. I want you to be safe. I need to make sure you’re safe. If I tell her, I can get you both away from here.” I grip her tightly against me, the strawberry scent of her hair intoxicating. “I don’t want to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been here. You mean so much to me.”
“Then let it go, Fynn.” She pulls away and sits on one of the two single beds in their bedroom.
I reluctantly nod. “Why are you here, Miranda? Aren’t you supposed to be at the center? Mo hates it when you’re here alone.”
“Drop it, Fynn.” I’ll drop it for now, but only for now. She’s still shaking, so I sit on the bed beside her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
“I am so sorry about what happened. We need to get you out of here, Miranda. Mo can’t be here all the time, and neither can I, but you can’t be here on your own. Yeah you’re seventeen, but those monsters out there…” I clench my teeth. “There are tons of college scholarships out there, you should try to get one. You have good grades, Miranda, don’t waste that.”
She shrugs, and I frown. “What’s going on?”
“I just don’t want to go to college anymore. I was thinking about getting a part time job instead. Help Mo out, ya know?” She walks to the window, her arms wrapped around her middle. She’s so responsible for a seventeen-year old.
“Besides, I want to get outta here.” She looks over her shoulder at me, and I don’t miss that small shadow that passes over her features.
“Is everything, alright?”
She sighs, clearly exasperated. “Yes. Fynn, God…” She stands and starts pacing the room. “I just need to get out of here.”
“Your family is here, I’m here. Is that no reason enough to stay?”
“Fynn, Mo has you, I-”
“Everything okay here.” Mo’s voice startles me as she looks between me and Miranda, unsmiling. There’s a wariness that wasn’t there before, and I wonder if whatever Miranda is hiding has anything to do with it. Miranda closes up again, and I know she’s not going to finish whatever it is that’s on her mind.
“Yeah,” I tuck my hands in my jeans and walk toward her, leaning to place a kiss on her cheek.
Maureen is busy looking around the room, her lip curled. “This place is a mess, sort it out Miranda.”
She steps away from me and out into the hall. I look over at Miranda who is staring out the window. I don’t think she even acknowledged her sister’s presence. “See you, May.”
Maureen and I sit at a table in the back of the diner I took her to on our first date. She won’t look at me. Instead, she’s fixated on the menu even though we both already know what she’s going to order. She always orders the same thing when we come here. I can feel that something’s off, I just don’t know what. I hate instability, that feeling of the unknown.
She eventually sets her menu down and shakes her head. “I can’t do this.”
“We can go somewhere else if you want?”
“That’s not it Fynn. I can’t do this.” She motions between us.
“Are you breaking up with me? Because you know I won’t just walk away.”
“I’m seeing someone else.” She sighs, finally looking me in the eye. There isn’t even a hint of untruth in her hazel orbs. I know Mo, and she is telling the truth.
“How long?” I ask, trying to stay calm.
“Does it even matter? I just can’t do this.”
I slam my menu on the table and walk out. I’d hoped she would follow me, but she doesn’t. This cannot be happening. Yeah, I fucked around with Miranda, but it was a once off. It happened just that one time. I hadn’t broken up with Mo over it. I ran my hands through my hair.
I decided to walk to the community center, it’s the one place I can always go to my head. Nobody would be there at this time which was even better..
When I reach the community center I head straight to the chapel. I’m surprised to find Miranda sitting in one of the pews, her head thrown back. She looks as if she’s resting, but as I get closer, I realize she isn’t resting at all. Her breathing is ragged, and she’s just slightly moving her head from side to side. Her hands are lost under her short skirt, finger fucking herself right here in the chapel. I should walk away, but the sight of her in ecstasy is the ultimate turn on. Her movements quicken and she gasps. “Fynn.” I still. For a moment, I think she sees me, but her eyes are still closed. She’s getting off to thoughts of me.
“Miranda.” Her name slips from my lips before I can stop it. Her eyes shoot open, and she sits upright, her hands thrusting out to her sides.
“Oh, God, no.” She’s flushed as she stands and tries to pass by me.
“Stay.” I say, my throat constricting. What am I thinking? Mo and I just broke up, I am not supposed to be standing here, about to make another mistake. “I want you to stay.”
Her eyes widen. “Why?”
I don’t have the answers, so I lean in and capture her mouth with a kiss. She instantly gives in, her hands around my waist, tugging at my jacket. She is so sweet, as sweet as I remember as she pours everything she feels into our kiss.
“Can I take you home?” I whisper, breaking our kiss for a second. She nods, biting her bottom lip. I consciously know we shouldn’t be doing this, but Miranda has always been mine. Some part of me realized that over the last year. She’s a breath of fresh air, and I want to taste every inch of her tonight. I hold her hand and lead her to my car, knowing that this night is going to change everything.
13
Miranda
Now
A vow of silence.
I can speak, I just choose not to. I think Mo knows that, so does Fynn. It is the only way I can purge myself of my sinful past. I stand in the parking lot, my bike hidden in the bushes. The trunk of a large tree hides me from the motel entrance. She should be at home, writing, but she isn’t. She’s fucking Trevor instead. Mo doesn’t deserve Fynn, and he doesn’t deserve her. They’ve both sinned, they continue to sin, and I’m in the mix between them, the worst of us all. I should confront her, though, tell her what I think of her actions, but I made a vow a long time ago not to confront her about any of it. Like Job, I prayed to the Lord to teach me to be silent in order to understand how I’d gone astray.
The door opens and Trev stalks out confidently, quickly leaning back in to plant a kiss on Maureen’s cheek. Does he know how evil she truly is, or the skeletons that live in that woman’s closet? He knows more than Fynn does, but he has no idea. He walks to his car and gets in. I feel slightly sorry for Trev. I've known him for years, and if he wasn’t partaking in evil that could destroy the man I love, I might actually help him. Trev fell in love with the devil, wagered his life, and now he’s about to pay the cost. I’ve heard that people know when they’re about to die. That they get a feeling deep in their bones. Does Trev know he’s about to meet his end?
His tail lights come on and he reverses out of the parking lot. I watch until the lights of his car disappear down the street before I hop on my bike and leave. I have to get home, I have to be there for Fynn. Because he will come. I am the only place he’ll seek refuge.
14
Maureen
Before
They left together, holding hands. Unable to keep their tongues in their own mouths. He could barely get inside his car without devouring her on the hood. She giggled like a teenager. Well it is what she was, and the sound made my head pound. Miranda and Fynn betrayed me. Two people I thought I could always trust. Miranda was always a strange thing but Fynn, he was studying to be a minister. So much for morality.
I felt shit for breaking his heart like that, and wanted nothing more than to make it up to him, tell him I was wrong. It didn’t even take a couple of hours, and he was hopping into another woman’s bed. Not just any woman, Randy.
Yeah, I’d fucked his brother a few times, but I have my reasons. That was the only reason I wanted to break up with Fynn. I cared about him and I was slightly remorseful for what I’d done. Trevor was an asset. He was a love sick puppy and he did whatever he was told to do. Fynn on the other hand was all self righteous, or at least I thought he was.
This is how they repay me for all I have done for them. Ungrateful assholes.
I followed them to his house and watched as they kissed their way inside. His hands pawing her right there on the porch. She really was a little whore. On the Eve of her eighteenth birthday she seduces Fynn. I guess I should have seen this coming. She has always had a crush on him.
I walked across the street and stood outside his bedroom window. He was undressing her like a gift at Christmas. I couldn’t watch this shit. I had someplace to be. Everything I have ever done, I did for Miranda, and this is how she repays me.
15
Fynn
Before
She is a vision, splayed out on my bed like that. I can’t believe this is happening.
“Are you sure?” I hold my breath, waiting for her answer.
“There is no-one else I’d rather give this to, Fynn. I want you.” I get on all fours between her thighs and blow against her pretty pussy. She wiggles, and I do it again. I stick my tongue out and lap my way up her slit. She tastes magnificent.
“You are so fucking perfect.” I want to bathe in her scent.
I push a finger inside her, and she yelps. “Tell me what you want.” I ask as I kiss her clit, sucking gently while my middle finger drives in and out of her.
“You, all of you, in me…” Her words are breathy. I curve my finger which has her bucking off the bed. I am losing all the sanity I’ve tried to keep intact.
I have to make sure she’s ready, so I push another finger inside her tight hole. The thoughts of her getting off in that chapel drive me to push my fingers in farther. She moans, a mixture of pain and pleasure.
“You’re going to like this baby girl. I'll make sure of it.”
“I’m so close.” Her face is flushed, her chest heaving. All I hear is the sound of her heavy breathing.
“On my tongue, beautiful.” I hiss as I withdraw my fingers and replace them with my tongue. She is so wet for me. I suck at her clit until she’s bucking off the bed, screaming my name and all kinds of profanities as she climaxes.
“That. Oh, my. It was so much better than when I do it myself.” Her lips are cherry red now, her cheeks puffy. She is absolute perfection.
“It’s going to hurt, but I’m here, just hold on to me.”
I reached for a rubber and after sheathing my throbbing cock, I kiss my way up her body. When I reach her lips, she looks nervous. “Taste what I taste.”
Our lips meet and she loses herself again, squirming beneath me. I spread her thighs with one hand and rub her clit a few times until she’s panting.
“Fuck me, please.” Her voice sounds so incredibly sexy, thickened with lust.
“Your wish is my command.” I smirk down at her as I place my tip to her entrance.
“Reach down, and hold it open for me, baby. Feel when I enter you.”
She does as she’s
told, gasping when I begin entering her. She screams in agony when I reach her barrier, so I quickly press through until I feel her opening up for me. Warmth envelopes me. Her nails claw at my back as I start to move slowly. She yelps again, but nods for me to continue, her brows furrowed. Little gasps and moans fall from her lips as she adjusts to my length. I fuck her gently, the way she deserves, running my hands down her hair and kneading her perky breasts.
I pick up the pace, enjoying the way her tightness grips me until I empty myself inside her. She is so beautiful, so perfect. “Happy birthday, Miranda.” I kiss her lips once again Before I lay down beside her and pull her to curl against me.
I doze off, the buzzing of my phone waking me later that night. It’s Mo. She says she’s sorry, that she wants to start over. I look down at Miranda, sleeping peacefully, as I clutch my phone and let out a deep breath. What the fuck did I get myself into?
16
Miranda
Before
I’ve always wondered about my father, who he was and where he’d gone to. Whenever I asked my mother about him, she always told me to fuck off and not bother her with stupid shit. It wasn’t stupid to me. There are no pictures, nothing, trust me, I’ve searched high and low. Maury told me to let sleeping dogs lie, that my father isn’t a feature in our lives and it’s better that way. She never even gave me a chance to argue about it, blatantly ignoring me if I persisted. Maury’s at the bar again, so I’m home alone with Francine tonight. Mo warned me to stay out of her way, but I need to try to talk to her one more time. She’s high, so maybe she’ll let something slip . I walk into the living room where she sits smoking weed from the top of a broken beer bottle, chasing her inhalation with a swig of alcohol. She looks at me through hooded eyes when I enter.
Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection Page 66