Page 9 of Black Widow's Bite

“I can come back after work tomorrow,” I told Austin. “But no more sending snakes to my lab. They might eat my research subjects.” I smiled, and he grinned and nodded. Piper gave me a little wave as Wyatt quickly ushered me out the basement door.

The fresh air felt good on my face, and it helped me clear my head a little bit. Wyatt was still holding onto my wrist - I wasn’t sure he even realized he was doing it anymore. “My apartment’s this way,” I pointed, and led him out of the alley, my heart giving a little tug as we walked away from the studio.

Chapter 11

Wyatt

Ithink Cain had good reason to be worried. He hated change, and most of the time, it was a bit of an overreaction on his part. Piper had told me that it took months for Cain to accept that he’d be sticking around, and then when Austin found them, it was another couple of months before he was okay with him. I think it only took a month for Cain to get used to me, but I don’t remember much from back then. I hadn’t been in the best state of mind. This was a much bigger change for him than it had been with any of us, though. I think Cain was worried because Addy was offering something we hadn’t had before.

Hope.

I think all of us had accepted the fact that we were going to be alone. I know I had. Sure, we’d occasionally meet a woman who was interested in a quick hookup with the freaky guy at the bar. Nobody ever stuck around, though, and they definitely didn’t want to be close to us. We didn’t have friends outside of each other, but at least now we had each other. It had been much lonelier before. Addy was a grenade being lobbed right in the middle of our boring, lonely existence. She was someone who might stick around because, unbelievably, she was just as lonely and isolated as we were. That’s what I think Cain was struggling to understand. Addy looked normal enough, so she couldn’t possibly be as sad and as desperate for contact as we were. However, I knew better. I’d felt that ache inside her whenI saw her memories. I could see the pain she carried because it was so similar to my own.

If she stayed, though, how would that even work? Austin didn’t get possessive about things as we did. Everything was simpler to him. And Piper, well, he wouldn’t have a problem with sharing. I knew that from experience. Cain was an enigma, like with most things, and he was still too focused on hating Addy to concern himself with these kinds of questions. As for me... I’d felt a sharp pang of jealousy when I saw her on Austin’s lap, her lips swollen and hair a mess. But I also knew that my friends needed to have that chance for connection too, so if Addy chose Austin, I would be okay with that. Having her near was good enough to keep some of the pain at bay. And maybe, if at some point she wanted something from me, I would happily give it no strings attached.

Addy walked me to her apartment, which really was close by, only two blocks from our studio. She didn’t complain that I was still holding onto her, and the simple touch made my skin feel like it could light up the evening. She fished her keys out of her bag as we neared the door, but stopped just short of the entrance. I followed her gaze and saw that the front door was broken; the glass busted in the window like someone had tried to get inside.

“Was it like that this morning?” I asked and moved ahead of her to pull at the door. It opened, and the latch unlocked from the inside.

“No.” she breathed, clutching her keys tightly. “This is new.” We both looked around. It was a relatively pleasant neighbourhood, mainly students and campus staff members. Sure, we had the occasional crimes of opportunity, and sometimes the frats would get rowdy and get into some shit, but otherwise, break-ins weren’t really the norm.

“Come on, let’s get inside,” I murmured and held the door open for her. Addy stepped gingerly over the broken glass in the foyer, and I stayed close behind her as we headed up to her floor.

“It was probably just someone trying to get to the mailboxes.” Addy reasoned as we waited for the elevator doors to open. I wanted to agree with her, but weird shit tended to happen around us too often for this to be just an unrelated incident. Sure enough, Addy slowed to a stop in front of me, and I nearly collided with her back. “Oh, come the fuck on.” she groaned. We had stopped in front of what I assumed was her door.

“You didn’t happen to leave your door open when you left this morning?” I asked hopefully, but she shook her head. “God damn it...” I pulled the knife I kept on me out of my pocket, flipping it open before I nudged the door with my foot, peering inside. The door had been kicked in, and the door frame was splintered from the force. I walked inside slowly, looking around. The place had been trashed. I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me as Addy took in the wreckage.

“Go back outside and call your landlord,” I whispered, and she nodded, her eyes filling with tears. I waited until she was back outside before I continued into the apartment, stepping over the debris as carefully as I could. Dishes had been pulled out of the cupboards and smashed across the kitchen counter. A bookshelf was pulled over, and piles of torn-up books were scattered across the living room floor. Her kitchen table was flipped on its side, the chairs around it smashed to pieces, and anything with a cushion had been slashed to ribbons with some kind of knife.

Pushing open the nearest door with my foot, I peered inside. The bathroom was wrecked, the sink partially hanging off the wall like someone had tried to rip it out with their bare hands. The mirror was smashed and bits of blood and mirror littered the floor. When I got to the last door - which I had to assumeled to her bedroom - it was fully shut, and I hesitated a moment before quietly turning the handle and cracking it open. “Oh, fuck me...” I muttered, taking in the wreckage. The person who had trashed the apartment was lying in Addy’s bed, eyes lifeless, as he faced up at the ceiling. He was clutching one of Addy’s blouses, tangled up in her bedsheets, his own clothes nowhere to be found. From the looks of it, he’d sliced his own throat with a kitchen knife, which was still lying beside him on the bed.

I backed out of the room quickly and slammed the door, shoving my knife back in my pocket. Addy walked back in, still holding her phone, her eyes wide with fear. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You need to call the police,” I told her quietly, my heart pounding in my chest.

It took the police and EMTs five minutes to arrive, and the landlord appeared shortly after. I stayed with Addy in the hallway while the EMTs went inside to check on the guy in her room. I was pretty sure he was dead, judging by the amount of blood all over everything, but I guess they wanted to be sure. After a little while, they came back out with the stretcher, a black body bag strapped on top. Addy stifled a small sob, and I reflexively put my arm around her.

“Hold on a moment.” one officer requested. “Miss, would you mind taking a look at his face to see if you can maybe identify him?” Addy grimaced, but nodded, her mouth set in a thin line. She walked over to the officer, and the closest EMT unzipped the bag just enough for the guy’s head to be visible. Addy looked confused for a split second, then her face went stark white.

“Oh god, it’s Pete,” Addy told the officer. “Peter, um... McKenzie, I think. He was a researcher on campus. We worked in the same lab together.” She backed away from the stretcher, and the EMT quickly closed up the bag, offering her a sympathetic smile before continuing down the hall.

“Were you in a relationship with Peter?” the officer asked, taking notes on a little pad. “Had something happened recently at work that might’ve upset him, or angered him?” Addy crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes shining with tears.

“No, nothing, I don’t think.” she told him earnestly. “I barely knew him. We just exchanged hello’s sometimes. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen him outside the lab before... uh... this.” she trailed off, hands digging into her arms. The officer frowned and nodded, jotting that down.

“So he’d never been here before?” he pressed. “You never told him where you lived?” Addy shook her head, chewing on her lip.

“My address would’ve been with my personnel file,” she offered. “It would be pretty easy to find it if he had wanted to.” The officer pursed his lips and closed the notebook with a heavy sigh.

“Well, miss, I think you’ve been very fortunate today. We’ll do a bit of digging into Mr. McKenzie’s records, but it looks to me like he had an unhealthy fixation on you and couldn’t take it anymore.” He looked back into the apartment, where several other officers were still taking pictures. “We should be done here in a couple of hours, but I don’t think your landlord will be able to fix this door until tomorrow at least, by the looks of it. Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight?” he asked and looked over at me, where I was doing my best to blend into the wall. “Can you stay with your friend there?” He said friend with an edge that made me bristle.

“Of course she can stay with me. Can she grab some of her clothes and stuff, at least?” I asked, standing up straight and moving to Addy’s side. The officer hesitated, but then nodded.

“Sure thing, just try not to touch too much,” he told her gently, and she nodded, wiping her eyes quickly. I waited outside while he escorted her in, and she came out a few minutes later holding a duffle bag full of stuff. I took the bag out of her handsand slung it over my shoulder. With my hand on her back, I guided her gently towards the elevators and back outside.

Chapter 12

Cain

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