Page 50 of Corrupting Ivy

The attendant stood outside the door, her eyes bugging from their sockets as I stepped out. As if she’d lost all confidence in the words she was about to utter, she spun around and went back to her desk.

A man like me—a criminal, a killer who enjoyed hurting people, a man with tainted genetics—didn’t populate the earth. I made damn sure that would never happen the day I took control of my life, and I made certain every year, getting tested to make sure it didn’t reverse itself.

Not happening.

The best sex I’vehad in my life? Hands down, yes.

The most aggravating ending in the history of the world… most definitely.

He went bareback, but that wasn’t even the problem. I enjoyed that bit. It was his nonchalance at the end.

Don’t worry about it?Who wouldn’t worry about having a baby with someone you just met? Dammit, I’m so screwed.

There had to be a pharmacy somewhere in this town. What was I thinking? When his cum ran down my thighs, though… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that, that it wasn’t a turn on. Then, as if this man couldn’t get any better, he cleaned me like I was the most precious thing he owned. Billy never did that. He was a one-trick pony, and the bedroom was a bore. But Randall…ugh, I can’t even think about that right now.

I paced the floor while the woman at the counter leered at me through her lashes, her lower lip trembling. Randall scared her that much?

He stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hands off with a paper towel, then leaned against the door as though we didn’t just fuck for the first time in a laundromat bathroom. I mean, it’s not any better than the stockroom at work.

“Sit down.”

His command had me obeying before my brain thought about it. I took my seat and placed my hands on my thighs, unsure of what to do with them now that my fingertips had touched his silver-streaked hair as much as I’d desired. The bonus being, he allowed me to do it.

He took his seat next to me, spreading his knees wide, taking possession of the surrounding space. “I’ll give you a secret.”

I turned to him. “This is a freebie. You still owe me.” I crossed my arms like a sulking child.

Pathetic behavior, I know. I repulsed myself.

He tipped his head against the wall behind our chairs, then glanced at the TV. The TV that sparked our fuse and set the explosion, leading to this very moment.

“When I was a kid, I learned just how much Ma’s psychosis rubbed off on me.”

“What did—”

He held up his hand. “We’ll leave it at that for now. Just know I was aware and still am. There was one thing I knew for certain, and that was I would never bring another human being into this messed-up world on purpose or by accident, exposing them to Ma’s world, much less mine. So the moment I turned eighteen, I searched high and low to find a doctor that would give me a vasectomy at that age. And every year since, I’ve gotten tested to make sure it didn’t reverse itself.” I pressed my lips into a firm line. How could you answer one question, just to introduce many others? “Understand that?”

I nodded. “It would be difficult not to.”

There wasn’t any part of him not being able to have kids that bothered me. It’s not as though I was planning our future. We didn’t have one. “Maybe you should’ve just said that.”

Our washers chimed, then stopped.

I got up and distanced myself from him, moving my things from the washer to the dryer, but he followed, doing the same thing.

“Now, tell me about how you found these bodies.”

“How can you go from one topic to the other? I haven’t even processed the last one,” I said, dropping my dryer sheet.

“Old habit.” He bent over and picked it up for me, throwing it inside the dryer. “I like to get to the point.”

I scoffed. “Thank you.” Shutting the dryer door, I leaned against it and crossed my arms. “There isn’t anything to tell. I was running in the forest, and I found the hand.”

“Why were you running?”

I pushed my quarters into the machine, then stepped back. “I thought someone was chasing me.”

He gripped my arm and spun me to look at him. “The same man from that night?”

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