Page 39 of The Butterfly Killer

Roman’s hand reached toward Marcus’s chest. Marcus struck his arm, jerking his head to lock eyes with Roman. His heart pounded painfully against his rib-cage, the look in his eyes a mixture of fear and anger.

Roman held his hands up in faux innocence. Both of his brows rose and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He thought this was funny. He thoughtMarcuswas acting funny.

“You’re shivering. I thought you might be cold.”

As if make Marcus even more a fool, his teeth chattered.

He clamped his teeth tightly until his jaw ached. He grabbed the blanket and jerked it back up to chin level. He twisted to his side so he fully faced Roman because even though he might want Roman to think he wasn’t scared of him, he still didn’t trust the man to not do something.

Though, if he was strong enough to fight whatever that might be off was to be debated.

The lop-sided smirk fully bloomed over Roman’s face. They had a staring contest for a long couple minutes before Roman folded and grabbed the now cold soup. He returned it to the kitchen, pouring it into the large pot kept warm by the furnace.

“Help yourself if you’re hungry. And if you need to use the restroom, tell me.”

Marcus ignored him. He bundled deep into the blankets, shivering hard, but also sweating at the same time.

He felt like he was dying.

Roman closed the curtain behind him as he disappeared into his small working space. The sound of him going about his work and the crackling fire lulled Marcus into a place of being awake and asleep.

But he refused to close his eyes.

Marcus woke with the covers kicked to the foot of the bed, his arms hanging over the edge of the mattress, and his face squished into the pillow that had somehow been bundled up into a ball.

The way his cheek was pressed to his arm and the pillow made his lips pucker like a fish. There was just a little drool on the corner of his mouth that he wiped away as quickly as he could.

His plan to not fall asleep had failed miserably.

Though he still felt like shit, he felt much better than he’d felt before. His skin burned with a flush that was even present in the soles of his feet. However hot he was, he felt naked without the blanket on him. So, even though he flushed with another wave of heat, he grabbed the blanket and covered himself.

He looked around and immediately spotted Roman in the far corner. He reclined in an old beat-up recliner with the same frayed book he’d been reading earlier in his hand. He turned the page before looking up and back at Marcus.

“Good morning.”

Marcus’s brows furrowed as he tried to find a window. There wasn’t any. “Morning?”

He didn’t know how long he’d been there. He just knew that when he tried to escape it had been light out. Though, that didn’t tell him much of anything because of the snow. It made everything brighter.

Roman looked back down at his book. His eyes scanned over the page quicker than they normally should have. Marcus couldn’t tell if he was pretending to read or if he was some sort of genius.

“I haven’t made breakfast yet. If you tell me what you want, I’ll see what I can do.” He turned another page, the paper crinkling as he did so. “I boiled a pot of water for tea or coffee if you like.”

Marcus’s bladder made itself known at the mention of any other liquid. He made a face at the sharp pain that rivaled the other stabbing pain in his ankle.

He pulled the blanket down to look at his foot. His eyes widened when he saw the swollen and blacken skin.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” He yelled in shock. He went to touch it but was scared to do so. His fingers hovered over the flesh.

Maybe it looked worse than it was? He didn’t remember getting hurt here and he thought by the look of it that the pain would be a lot worse.

“I did nothing to you.” Roman sat the book down on his lap. He picked up the mug sitting on a shelf next to him. “Did you forget your run in with another serial killer before I saved you?”

Marcus gave the man a disgusted look. “You didn’t save me.”

Roman was about to take a drink from his cup. He paused at what Marcus said. He looked over the brim, cold eyes meeting Marcus’s for another time but it still felt like the first each time.

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