Page 14 of Devious Delusions

“I’ll be okay. I promise to take my meds and I won’t leave the house in case I act crazy,” she whispers against my skin.

“You can go wherever you want. I don’t want you to be a prisoner here.” Cupping her nape, I kiss her crown and ask for further reassurance. “Will you call me if you need me to come home?”

She nods and presses further into me. The arms banded around my middle are a contradiction to the words leaving her. “I promise. I’ll be fine and it will be good to get into a normal routine. You can’t babysit me all the time. If I feel up to it, I might get some new clothes.”

It doesn’t sound like a bad idea for her to venture out and get to know the surroundings. It will help her feel at home and ease her into her life. All the work I’ve put in has to come to an end soon. It has to be worth it and it’s a little easier as Delilah, my wife, stares up at me with a genuine smile on her face.

Brushing her hair out of the way, I cup her face with both hands and the urge to press my lips to hers increases. It will be good to leave the house, have some time away, and hopefully reduce how stunning she is.

Or I’ll be slammed on my ass when I come back because the memory of her pales in comparison to the reality.

It’s too soon for anything intimate, or sexual. The change will end up fucking with her head, so I kiss her cheek then sit her further away on the bench before leaving the room to pack for work.

I managedto last two hours before giving in and checking the cameras. All Delilah has done is play the piano and eat when she’s bored. She’s taken her medication on time without a reminder. But she was cute as fuck taking photos of herself. They were innocent. She was pulling stupid faces, but my mind distorted them into different poses I’d have her in and just how far back in her head I could get her eyeballs to roll.

My thoughts should probably be elsewhere as I wash blood off my hands. But it doesn’t matter what I do, they never stray far from the woman who has owned me in mind, body, and soul since I was a child.

A wet cloth hits my nape and I tense as I curse. “Don’t throw your cum rag at me.”

Niko’s childish ass laugh vibrates around the warehouse, and I turn to see him bag the fucker that pissed him off. He could have done this shit himself, but he always has to act like a mentor and check up on me. It’s no different now that the physical release is over. The dead guy isn’t enough to convince him that I’m fine.

“How’s your girl?” he asks, like rolling tarp around severed limbs is normal.

But I correct him. “Wife.” Continuing to remove any traces of blood from my skin, I ignore the way he pauses and smirks.

“Okay, your wife, whatever, how is she?” He straightens up and rolls his shoulders before taking out a cigarette. The stench of blood and piss is only ever made worse by the smoke. “Scar mentioned some shit about a hospital.”

The easy way he asks questions always makes it easier to answer. It has since he found me as a scared mess with no family and the one person I’d had since birth no longer in my life.

“Yeah, she had another episode”—I scrub my hands harder—“and she keeps thinking I’m him.”

The skin around my knuckles is raw and I can’t work out what parts are stained red from blood or because of my scrubbing. Throwing the shitty rag in the stainless-steel sink, I hit the switch, cutting off the water, as he takes two steps closer. The smoke is intense, and I turn, resting against the edge of the sink. He taps a cigarette out and hands it to me with a lighter while assessing me.

“So, your dry streak is getting extended. Is that why you’re so pissy?” he asks as I take in a lungful of toxic air that helps me regulate my breathing.

The smoke is thinner as I answer pathetically. “I’m not exactly going to…” I trail off, not wanting to voice the thought.

Which he has no issues doing. “Going to fuck her when she might call you?—”

“His name?” My tone hardens and I push away from the counter. “Yeah. She already says it in her fucking sleep.”

The blood, piss, and smoke turn my stomach and I walk out of the warehouse to pitch black. Whoever owns this space is secretive enough to take up every adjacent plot and it’s all bland, gray buildings under a dark sky. Tipping my head back, I look up at the stars, remembering the nights Delilah would sneak into my room because she couldn’t sleep at home. She’d always watch the sky and lay on my bed with her head hanging out of the window.

She’d watch the stars with awe, and I’d watch her with that reverence multiplied.

“You still have your head in the clouds, buddy?” Ruby’s question startles me, and I suck the smoke down. It burns mythroat and turns my voice to a croak as I watch my sister-in-law stand like a creep at the edge of the building. I haven’t spoken to her since I was eight years old and she left her family, yet she still has to call me buddy like she’s babysitting us again.

I half expect her to ruffle my hair, but she smiles as though no time has passed and steps out of the shadows dressed like she’s going to take on the world. The power heels are sharp enough to cut someone. Her dark hair is the direct opposite of Delilah’s, and she crosses her arms over her chest. The nights she would be stuck babysitting all the kids while our parents went to one of their fancy ass parties forced us all to see her as an older sister. It was partly due to the fact that all three families who left their kids with her told her she had full control too.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you alone. Unless little Dilly is hiding somewhere?”

There’s hope in her playfulness and I shake my head as I take a drag. Making sure to blow the smoke away from her so she doesn’t attempt to put me in timeout only gives her an opening to softly ask, “Is she up for visitors yet?”

“Not yet. She’s still confused with things and—” I cut myself off, unsure of what Delilah wants her family to know. She hasn’t had any contact with either of her sisters since they left home and she was forced to be alone with her parents. I’ll give them information since they’re friends with my bloodthirsty mentor, but other than that, I can’t force them to have a relationship.

“And?” She edges closer with her eyes hardening.

Fuck it, I can tell her shit that involves me to get her to understand that it’s a precarious time for her baby sister.

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