Page 41 of Monster
Vincent
Two months ago
“His name isDominik Alexander Reed. Twenty-one years old and has lived in Le Grande his entire life,” Mike tells me as I sit in my car, staring at the building Essa is living in—for now. She’s most definitely coming home with me, but for now, I want to have a little fun with her.
If she thinks she can replace me that easily, I’ll fucking show her how wrong she is. She’s not over me, only merely pretending to be. I know that—or at least it’s what I have to force myself to believe.
“His parents are dead and he’s a former addict apparently…” he trails off as he reads what’s in front of him, I presume.
“Spit it out, Mike. I wanna know everything there is to know about the fucking punk.” Thinking about him up in the room with Essa makes me fucking murderous, but I rein it in. Now’s not the time.
“His dad killed his mother, her lover, and then himself—and Dominik saw it all. Damn,” he mumbles, and I snort.
“Oh, yeah, the kid has it so fucking bad,” I growl. That’s actually fucking terrible, but I can’t bring myself to care, or even feel sorry for him. I wouldn’t anyway, but Idefinitelycan’t with him up there withmyfucking girl.
“Anyway, apparently not long after that, he checked into a rehab where he was for a year and ever since then, he’s led a pretty quiet life. He’s got a place of his own and a fuck ton of money, but that’s about all I can tell you. There isn’t much more.”
“Thanks, man. That’ll do,” I say and almost hang up, but pause. “Do they know who the driver of the other car was?” I ask. I never did before because I was in such a rush to get to Essa, but now that I have sat and basically fucking stewed over everything for as long as I have, I need to know who the fuck almost killed my girl.
“No. It was a hit and run and you know how often those are solved,” he sighs with indignation.
“I figured as much,” I grumble. “Still keep an eye out for me and if you find something, let me know.”
“Of course. I’ll talk to you later,” he says.
“Shit, before you go, the other person who was in the accident with Essa, did they ever release who it was?” I ask.
“Oh, um, hold on.” I hear clicks and the stroke of keys on a keyboard in the background as I wait. The air outside is cold with it being two days away from Christmas and it begins to seep into the car, so I crank the heat up, warming it back up.
“Yeah, yeah, here it is. Okay, her name was Holley Monroe… Oh shit, wait. That’s Essa’s sister,” he says, but his tone makes it sound more like a question. Holley… Oh fuck. Shit, Holley.
Well no fucking wonder Essa is in a mental health facility. After losing her sister, she’s probably a fucking wreck. And that explains, maybe, why she latched onto someone else so fast? Maybe she needed someone to be there for her when I couldn’t be?
Fuck. This is a whole fucking mess.
But it explains so damn much.
“All right, thanks man.” I hang up, cutting him off as he goes to say something. I don’t even know what the fuck to think. Essa’s sister fuckingdied.She was there when it happened, and she’s been alone ever since. I should have fucking been there. I should have found her sooner.
The front doors to the building open and none other than Dominik motherfucking Reed steps out, earbuds in his ears and a cigarette in his hand. He has a black hoodie on, hood up while also wearing a white baseball cap—fucking moron—and gray sweats. He even looks like a fucking punk. What Essa’s doing with him, I have no fucking clue because we couldn’t be more fucking different if we tried.
“Fuck!” I shout as I smack my steering wheel. One minute, I miss her so fucking much, my entire body aches from the intensity, and the next, I’m so fucking mad I could slit her little fucking throat and watch as she bleeds out in front of me, exactly like her fucking parents did. Parents I killedfor her.
Now, granted, I would have killed them anyway, but the fact of the matter is I killed them for her, specifically. And I’ll make sure when I get my damn hands on her again, she’ll fucking know it too. I know she’s aware they’re dead. That’s how I found her to begin with—the cops here figuring out who she was.
With my eyes glued to Dominik’s figure, I observe as he lights up the smoke and leans against the building, staring up toward the cloud-covered sky. The longer I stare at him, the more unease I feel.
Why wasn’t I good enough for her?
What does he do for her that I didn’t? I gave her everything I could. I gave her the pain she so desperately needed. I took her away from the hell which was her life. The fact that’s not how it started out is beside the point. I… I don’t understand.
What the fuck is it about him that’s better than me? He’s a fucking addict—the very thing she hates more than anything.
Hmm…
I think I know exactly what to give my baby doll for Christmas. I grin to myself as I think about the little present she’s going to be getting from me in a couple days. She won’t know it’s from me of course—not yet, anyway. But I can’t fucking wait to see the expression on her face when she finds out the truth about that punk son of a bitch.
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