Page 119 of His Juliet

“You think you only have to respect women if they’re with a man?”

“No, that’s not what I?—”

I dropped him to the ground and grabbed the duct tape from my bag. “This will be so much better if I can’t hear your whiny little voice.”

“No, please, I’ll do anything!”

He cowered as I pressed the tape over his mouth before patting his cheek. “Don’t worry. I will honor your consent as much as you did Juliet’s. Now strip.”

When he didn’t move, I unsheathed my large knife and sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it for you.”

I cut off his t-shirt, not caring when I sliced his skin. His blood matched the red of his shirt.

“Want me to do the pants, too?” I asked.

That got him moving. Once he was naked, I kicked his chest and he fell hard on his back. I turned to my bag and Chase used that moment to try to sweep my legs.

He was unsuccessful.

I pressed my boot to his chest, keeping him painfully pinned. “You will regret that.”

I reached down and dislocated his other arm. The tape muffled his shrieks, and this time, when I turned towards my bag, he stayed where he was.

I pulled out several lengths of rope, tying them to his wrists and ankles. I had to be creative, finding various pieces of furniture to fix the ropes around until he was lying spread-eagled on the floor. I made sure they pulled hard on his dislocated arms.

I stood over him. “Do you feel like a big man now?”

His sobs were music to my ears.

* * *

I calledour clean-up team to come to Chase’s apartment.

The former resident was dead and bleeding on the living room floor.

I crossed my arms, drumming my fingers as I studied the word I’d carved into his chest.

RAPIST.

My lettering was improving.

Chase’s cock lay a few feet away from his body, shriveled and bloody. The monster inside me wanted to bring it to Juliet as a present. Luckily, I’d taken back enough control from the darkness to know my Juliet would be horrified by such a gift.

Just like she’d be horrified if she ever saw me like this—covered in blood with a depraved gleam in my eyes. Like my mom had been. Her terrified expression after I took revenge on the men who hurt her and murdered my father would forever be burned in my mind.

Before that day, I’d been the easy-going and playful jokester. Seeing my Mamma like that had awoken something dark in me. It had taken over with its thirst for blood and had never gone away.

But here was the secret that nobody knew:I liked the monster.

Surrendering to the darkness was like sinking into a cool lake on a hot day. I couldn’t control the world around me and couldn’t always keep the people I loved from getting hurt, but the monster knew how to respond.Hedidn’t shy away from violence and vengeance, and it made me powerful.

This was why I’d distanced myself from my mom all these years, even though I missed her. Even though it hurt us both. She’d seen too much, and I was too much of a coward to face her disappointment—for not saving my papà, not getting to her in time, and for the suffering it caused her to know the boy she raised had been tainted by darkness.

For the first time, the thought of returning to Juliet filled me with dread. What if I went home to her now and she saw the monster in me? Could she ever accept me like this?

I shook out my arms. At least she would be asleep when I got home. The monster would be fully put back in his box by morning.

A knock on the door told me the cleaners were here. It was time for me to return to my girl.

---