Page 108 of Wolf

I roll to the side and push to my feet, ignoring Maddox panting on the floor.

Joker grabs my arm, but I push him off, grab the bottle of whiskey from the floor and go up the stairs, ignoring Maddox as he says, “You’re a fucking coward. A stupid one too.”

As soon as I reach the landing, I see Melanie waiting down the hall beside my door. She’s crossed her arms under her breasts, which emphasizes the milky, fake as fuck globes.

“Hey stranger,” she says, “want some company?”

Visions of Lilli leaning over the kitchen sink, her thin shoulders trembling cross my mind, and I shake my head.

It’s maddening really but Melanie doesn’t make my dick hard. What Lilli saw was a desperate man trying to forget, but all the while, I was painfully limp.

Just as well though, we should believe the lies because anymore, the truth is hard to swallow.

I leave Melanie pouting in the hall and collapse onto the bed in my room before rolling to my back.

How the fuck did I become this pathetic ass creature?

Chapter 32

Lilli

Later that evening, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Beyond the thin walls, I hear my parents having sex again, but no matter what I do, I can’t drown out the sounds.

Beyond the fact that it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard to hear them in that room, it’s galling to know that they’re going about their lives as though nothing is wrong.

Miriam ran away to get out of their cloying world. The two of them, despite their supposed godliness, have conspired to hurt her and the baby.

Meanwhile, I’m carrying my own child, and I know to my bones that if I don’t escape, they will try to hurt it too. Now I must choose.

Although the sheriff hasn’t been back with any more threats, it's only a matter of time. If I stay, I'm risking my baby. If I go, my sisters will suffer the consequences. I can't win no matter what I do, and I feel so alone curled up on my bed in the dark.

Wolf’s cold stare when I found him with Melanie dances over my vision and I groan. I know what I said but it didn't take him long to move on. What that means about his feelings for me, I don't want to consider.

The thought sours my memories, and I welcome the distraction when Rachel tiptoes into my room and stops at the edge of my bed.

“What?” I whisper.

I can’t see her face in the dark, but I see her hesitate before sitting down beside me. “I want to go too,” she says, and I shake my head.

“What are you talking about?”

I haven’t said a damn thing about leaving. How does she know?

I barely came to the decision myself. Now Rachel’s begging to go with?

”Rae—“

”Please,” she sobs, and I drop my head to the pillow. Her pain hurts my soul but what can I possibly do? They’ve already proven what they’re willing to do to Miriam and her baby. How can I risk Rachel on top of that? Who would take care of Mercy?

”Rae,” I say, taking her hand and she falls against me, her thin shoulders shaking as she cries. Quietly I soothe her, my own tears snaking down my face.

Eventually, she falls into a fitful sleep, and I stroke her hair, singing a lullaby until I fade into slumber myself, dropping into a dreamless void, and waking, if possible, more exhausted than usual. It’s only when I see Mercy standing in the doorway of my room that I realize something is wrong.

Rachel is no longer in bed with me, and I hope she’s back in her own but with doom circling my soul, I whisper, “What’s wrong?”

She points down the hall and I approach their room. It's empty, of course, with the bed neatly made. But the drawers, hanging open and empty, mock me as I open her closet door and stare at the hangers now missing her dresses.

She’s gone. She left. How the hell did I let this happen?

---