Page 22 of Repossess My Heart

I brace myself for Michael’s answering scream.

“You’re slipping up, big brother. They have noticed, they even sent Migs. You, of all people know what that means…”

“It’s under control.” I answer, looking at his untied shoelace, splattered with blood. Hers or his, I’m not sure. My fingers twitch to tie it. He was always shit at that.

“Nath-“ Michael’s scream cuts off, plunging the room into silence before a childlike giggle fills the space. The next sound comes from Mom. I’m not sure how to describe it… something so painful, so tortured.

“You’re not under control and it’s because of that girl. You don’t like her eyes-“

“Michael stop.” I whisper.

“It’s because they remind you of mine, isn’t it? Because I looked so much like him. My eyes weren’t… full of life like yours and mom’s. There was something wrong with me. You see it in her… don’t you?”

My stomach pitches as I bend, forcing myself to look at him, at the hollow bloody places where they ripped his eyes from his skull, pretending I see them there. Even dark and as unfeeling as they were, it's better than this, “There is nothing wrong with you Michael. You were just a kid.”

“And she’s just a woman, but you’re keeping her. Couldn’t fix me, so she’s your redo? It’s worth bringing attention to yourself when we’re so close to getting what we always wanted?”

I roll my head back. Unable to watch him scoot closer, my large hands eclipsing his. “Kids shouldn’t want this kind of stuff. Let me worry about it, okay?”

“It’s my fault we died almost as much as it’s yours big brother.”

“I’m sorry.”

“They already suspect you. They have since you showed up… years later, begging to be pledged. Begging for a number. Now you’re not following the rules. The kid who has every reason to hate them is stepping out of line…”

“Stop being so serious, you little shit.” I try to joke. Letting his small hands go. The joke falls flat.

“It’s only a matter of time, Nine.”

I force myself to face him again, to face what I did. “Before what?”

“You’re dead too.”

8

A Journey

Destroy Me Mr.Kitty

“Nine?”Asoftvoicefilters past me, not past me… beside me.

Fuck, my head is throbbing.

When I look down, away from Mom’s eyes, I find another pair. Tired looking umber ones that are as empty as his always were, to their depths. Like they were born without the human bits. I let my arms fall away from where they had her pinned against me, letting her body sag. A groan escaping her lips as her stomach growls loudly again.

Must’ve been out for a bit.

Fucking hell, you’re really screwing my shit up.

“If you’re… keeping me, can I have some food?” Reverie asks retrieving the clothes she’d long dropped from the floor. I watch her quietly as she jumps up and down, making her perfect breasts bounce while she works the leather pants over her wide hips. Hips I’m far more interested in sinking my teeth into than separating from their joints.

And that is a fucking problem.

This becoming more about her and less about collecting her heart… her eyes. She’s interesting… which means I need to kill her soon. Michael wasn’t wrong… whatever damaged part of my mind that keeps conjuring him wasn’t wrong. If I keep this up, we’ll both be slaughtered long before I can fix her eyes or see the beginning of the end to a plan twenty-three years in the making.

“Yeah, come on.” My eyes scour the floor where I might’ve discarded the Nutri shot, jerking it up from where it had rolled underneath my oversized bed before handing it over to her.

“A Nutri shot.” She scowls as she follows me into the living room.

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