Page 58 of Broken Skulls

Jacob doesn’t hesitate. He steps away and hauls it inside the room. Jesse places it against the wall beside Mr. Baxter.

“Believe it or not, but I have also painted with blood.” She studies his painting as she continues to speak. “It’s not my favorite medium.” She drills him with a look that scares even me. “Have you ever killed anyone, Mr. Baxter?”

He turns away from her.

I shiver against Jacob. He gives me a gentle squeeze.

“No,” he answers.

His answer surprises me. I thought …

“Hmm, interesting.” She pulls her lighter from her pocket. “So basically, your claim to evil is that you’ve decimated corpses and tortured a young girl. What a tough guy. Picking on people who had no way to defend themselves.” She thumps him on the forehead to get his attention. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I’ve ever killed someone?”

He ignores her.

“Hey, JD, have I killed anyone?”

“Yeah,” Jacob sighs. He’s getting impatient with the game.

Jesse claps. “JD, have you ever killed anyone?” she asks.

“Even Elizabeth has killed someone,” he groans. “Let’s just get on with it already.”

Mr. Baxter remains quiet, and for the first time ever, I see fear in his eyes. He’s just now realizing he’s met a group of people who might be crazier than him.

Jesse’s fingers dance over the painting of me on my knees. She uses a fingernail to trace over the flowers he had painted on my skin with the dead woman’s blood. “What medium do you think I should use?” she asks Mr. Baxter.

He closes his eyes but doesn’t answer. I don’t think she was expecting him to.

“I know.” She snaps her fingers. “My wood burner would be perfect. It will make lovely lines over your skin. Is there electricity in here?” She glances around, looking for an electrical outlet. When she finds one, she backs out of the room, pointing at Mr. Baxter. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

As soon as the door falls closed, he looks at me. “You would have the father of your child burned and murdered?” he asks, as if it’s the most ludicrous thing in the world.

I don’t answer.

“You need to let me go right now, Lizzie. This has gone on long enough.”

He’s right.

Jacob laughs. “She’s not Lizzie anymore.”

Mr. Baxter glares at Jacob. “You’ve always been my good girl. Until you met him,” he sneers, spit flying from his mouth.

Something inside me snaps … until I met him.

Him.

I turn in Jacob’s arms. “Until I met you,” I whisper over his lips, my fingers tracing the gun he has shoved in the back of his pants. “You severed his hold on me, but I’ll always be broken, Jacob.” My voice cracks, and I glance toward the door suddenly wanting to run.

Jacob wraps his fingers around my throat and forces me to look at him. “I want you exactly as you are.” He stares at me for a long moment before his lips descend on mine. So warm … so alive.

I’m tired of living in the morbid world Mr. Baxter drug me into. I may be broken, but I’m not dead.

My fingers wrap around the gun, and I slowly pull it from Jacob’s pants. He smiles against my mouth. I don’t need Jesse to torture him. I just need him gone.

I point the gun without looking, lost in the world of Jacob’s lips.

“Lizzie,” Mr. Baxter says in warning, his voice rising several octaves.

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