Page 21 of A Forgotten Mistake

FIVE

Liam

“Are you ready?” I ask.

“Am I scared? If that’s the question, then yes,” Gabriel says as he sits in my passenger seat while I hold a blindfold out. His demonic cat, who I’ve dubbed Lucy Fur, sits on his lap, tail twitching, hatred in her eyes.

“Shhhh, don’t be scared.”

“How the hell could Inotbe scared? The last time you surprised me, you cut off a man’s finger! The time before that, I walked in on you murdering a guy! Your surprises kind of suck.”

“If I promise there will be no dead bodies or body parts not connected to their original body, will you let me blindfold you?”

“So romantic,” he says as I tug the blindfold over his eyes. And then as I peer at the man patiently waiting for me, I realize that I want to eat him up.

“You’re so fucking cute.” I crawl halfway across the middle console and grab his face in my hands so I can kiss him as Lucy Fur bats at me because her owner can’t see the hatred she spills out onto the innocent.

“Is it ‘cute’ or naive that I’m trusting you?” he asks.

“Super cute. Everything you do is the absolute cutest.”

“And why’s Lucille coming?”

“To lap up the blood of our enemies.”

“Ha. Ha. Funny. I thought you said there would be no missing body parts?”

“One doesn’t have to miss a body part to bleed,” I assure him.

I start driving as he pets his cat and probably considers how amazing this secret must be. Really… I outdid myself. I mean… he has to love it, right? He’s not going to think it’s too much, and then decide that I’ve fucked up because he feels smothered, and get rid of me… right?

As I stop at a stoplight, I quickly text the only person I can think of to annoy.

Me: Let’s say… hypothetically, you were dating someone for about a month, which is hilarious because we all know no one would date you for that long. But say you bought them something… large… is it too much?

Matthew: First, I hate tainting my day off by speaking to you. Second, what the fuck did you buy? Like if you got Gabriel a watch or something, I’m sure he’d love it. If it was like a car, it might be a bit much. Now promise me you won’t ever ask me for advice again.

Me: What if it was bigger than a car?

Matthew: What the fuck is bigger than a car? A truck?

“Why are you weirdly silent all of a sudden?” Gabriel asks. “Why isn’t the car moving?”

“Just… amping up the surprise.”

Me: It rhymes with mouse.

Matthew: I sure as fuck hope it’s a blouse and not a house. Who the fuck buys someone a house? Why are you so strange? How the fuck did you snag someone as sweet as Gabriel? Are you blackmailing him?

I toss the phone, deciding that Matthew is a fucking idiot who knows nothing.

I pull up to the house and put the car in park.

“Can I take the blindfold off now?”

“Gabriel.”

“Yes?”

---