Page 9 of Silent Truths

What a dick.

5

Tor

I was fucking seething. Who the fuck did Salem think he was? He hadn’t bothered to give a fuck about me in over a year, and now suddenly he wanted to act as my protector? As if he gave a fuck?

He could take the sudden fuck he gave and go impale himself on it. And I hoped when he did shove it up his ass, it burned and hurt and he couldn’t adjust himself to the stretch.

When Salem parked in front of the house, I shoved the passenger door open and stepped out, slamming it behind me hard enough to make the window rattle. I yanked my keys from my pocket and unlocked the front door. I could feel Salem on my fucking heels, and just because I was a spiteful son of a bitch, I made sure to slam the door in his face—hard. I hoped it hit his fucking nose and broke it.

The front door opened back up with so much force, the handle embedded itself in the wall. I spun around to face Salem, glaring at him.

“Can you stop acting like a fucking child?” he demanded. Our friends were right behind him, gazes ping-ponging between us, ready to intervene if needed.

I barked out a humorless laugh. He had to be kidding me. Salem had no room to talk. None at all. “Are you seriously standing there and accusing me of being a fucking child?” I demanded. “I’m not the one who got me off in a fucking club bathroom and then proceeded to ignore me and what happened for over a fucking year!” I shouted.

“Some shit doesn’t have to be talked about!” Salem shouted back at me, both of us officially fucking snapping.

I felt like he’d punched me in the gut. Anger burst through me, smothering the hurt for the time being. He was basically stating I hadn’t been important enough to talk about my feelings. Something he’d always pushed me to do, he suddenly no longer gave a fuck about because it didn’t benefit him.

I swung first, punching him in the jaw for the second time this week. But this time, Salem didn’t just stand there and take it. He tackled me to the ground. My back slammed into the linoleum flooring, and I groaned in pain right before his fist cracked across my cheekbone. I punched him in the throat, making him choke and roll to the side. I didn’t waste a beat and moved to straddle him, swinging my fists into his face repeatedly, months upon months of hurt and pain and agony pouring from me, ready to inflict pain.

I gasped in surprise when he suddenly flipped me over his head, and then his knee was crushing my windpipe. I choked, clawing at this thigh through his ripped skinny jeans.

Spike yanked him back, and I coughed and gagged, rolling over onto my hands and knees, trying not to vomit. My lungs burned with every inhale, and my throat screamed. I glared up at Salem through my tears as Kalin helped me to my feet. My face throbbed. My throat felt broken, though I knew it wasn’t. But my heart? My soul? There was no repairing either of them. Time would never heal this.

“When this contract with Nightwork Records is up,” I rasped, “I am fucking done.”

A deadly silence settled over the room, no one knowing what to say. And though I’d never thought of quitting the band before, I knew the moment those words left my mouth, I was right. I didn’t want to remain here if Salem was here. I couldn’t handle it anymore.

Salem suddenly looked gutted, his face paling, but I no longer gave a fuck. I was hurting and so empty all at the same fucking time, and I couldn’t cope. I couldn’t continue being around him like this.

I was killing myself. Fuck, he was killing me.

I yanked myself out of Kalin’s grasp and stormed out of the house, intending to put as much distance between me and Salem as possible. I heard him call my name, but I didn’t turn around.

I didn’t want to hear another fucking word from him.

If I never heard his voice again, it would still be too soon.

6

Salem

“What the fuck?!” Dalton exploded, rounding on me as soon as Tor was out of the house. I blinked in surprise. Dalton never lost his temper. He was the most level-headed one out of all of us. “This is your fault!” he barked at me. “You shouldn’t have swung back, goddammit. He’s hurting, Salem, and you’re just making shit worse!”

I clenched my jaw and shoved my hands through my hair. “He needed that fight,” I growled at Dalton.

“What he needs is for you to be his best friend again, you fucking asshole,” Kalin snapped at me. “You’re destroying him, and you’re fucking blind to it.”

“I’m not fucking blind to it!” I shouted at him, my composure snapping once again. “I broke him. I fucking hurt him. I goddamn know that! But I’m no goddamn good for him, and he needs to figure that out rather than us talking it out. Because if we talk it out…” My voice trailed off, some of the fight dying out of me.

“If you talk it out…” Jesse urged, arching a brow at me as he crossed his arm over his chest. Clearly, he wasn’t letting this go. None of them were.

Fuck.

I sighed, slumping on the couch. I braced my elbows on my knees and pressed the heel of my palms into my forehead. My head was starting to hurt something fierce.

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