Page 22 of Monster
Vincent
Five months ago
“Areyou sure you're healed enough for this?” Leo asks as he glares at me.
“Yes.” I don’t elaborate.
“You’re only going to fuck yourself up more if we do this. You got shot only a month ago. You’re not healed.” He crosses his arms across his chest, looking like the ever brooding fucking bastard he is.
“Did I ask you for your fucking opinion? No. No, I didn’t,” I spit out through clenched teeth as I mock his pose and fight the pain that shoots through my shoulder because of it.
“No, you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it to you—especially if you’re acting like a fucking dumbass.”
“Who the fuck are you calling a dumbass?” I walk right up into Leo’s face, almost nose to nose. My chest is heaving with my anger, and I’m about to punch him in the fucking jaw, but he doesn’t seem the least bit fazed. In fact, he smiles.
“I’m calling you a dumbass, Vin. What the fuck are you going to do about it, hmm?” He quirks his brow and his grin only widens. It takes me all of two seconds to cock my fist back and swing it towards his face. The moment my gloved fist makes contact with Leo’s jaw—it’s on. He takes a step back and brings his hands up—not to fight me back—but to encourage me.
“That’s it, Vin. Take it out on me,” he grunts as I hit him again. And again. And again. Every blow to him, he grunts, but doesn’t stop. Every hit to Leo’s body jars my arm and sends shockwaves of pain up and throughout my body, but I don’t stop. In fact, it only spurs me on.
The sun beats down on the both of us and I feel the sweat pouring down my shirtless back despite the somewhat cool temperature of the air. We both move fluidly together, knowing exactly how the other will react without thinking about it. I throw my left arm out and Leo catches it in his hand, throwing it back at me. “Again,” he rumbles.
It’s been a long ass time since Leo and I have sparred, but this is different. This time I’m fucking angry. I’m angry about too many fucking things. About Essa. About me. About fucking everything. I’m fucking weak. I’m broken. I’ve been fucking useless—but no more. Hence why I asked Leo to fight with me again. I need to get back into shape. The sooner the better because I have some shit I need to get done and I can’t do it laying on my ass at home, weak as fuck.
* * *
“Feel better?”Leo asks as we both plop our asses down on my couch, completely out of breath. Well,I’mcompletely out of breath. Leo on the other hand appears almost the same as before we started, the only difference is his dark gray T-shirt is now soaked with sweat.
“Fuck off,” I grumble, too worn out to say anything else.
“Hmm. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he mumbles, and I shoot my gaze over to him to glare at him but notice he’s staring at his phone, typing away. Probably finding someone to fuck.
“What the fuck are you glaring at me for?” he asks, throwing his hands up in the air when he’s done typing.
“Nothing,” I mumble right as one of my housekeepers walks into the room, carrying a bucket full of cleaning supplies. I bring my tired gaze over to her and when our eyes lock, she freezes before quickly turning around and scurrying from the room.
Hmm.
“Uh. What was that about?” Leo asks with his brow quirked at me. I barely spare him a glance, my eyes still locked on the spot the girl dashed from.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. I don’t ever remember seeing that girl before, but then again, I don’t pay much attention to the comings and goings of the people I pay to clean my house. Today though, today is different. Because today—even after my workout—I’m still feeling pent up. And I need a release.
What better way to get that than with someone like her? She’s small, meek. She’ll be so submissive; all it will take me is one flash of my dimple to have her dropping to her knees in front of me and that’s what I need right now.
Without thinking twice, I drag myself up from the couch and begin making my way out of the room in the direction she ran in. Behind me, I hear Leo get up. He catches up with me and when I feel his hand on my arm, I stop and glance over at him.
“You sure you wanna do that?” he asks and I nod, not bothering to say anything more than what a nod indicates.
“All right. I’ma get out of here and get some ass myself,” he chuckles. I start to laugh too before it quickly dies on my lips as I watch him stride out the door. The only thing on my mind now is having that girl kneel for me.
I make my way down the hall and when I reach the door to my game room and it’s open, I pause. Memories of Essa flood my mind as I think about what happened in this very room. Her dancing, her hitting me, the fuckingtensionbetween us both.
Fuck!
I growl as I shove the door open, and a startled shriek leaves the girl I was in perusal of when she hears the door smack against the wall. When she flings her gaze over to mine to find me already staring at her, she drops hers to the floor and turns back around to continue dusting off my bookshelves.
I prowl towards her and when I get close enough to smell her almost too strong floral scent, she still doesn’t move. In fact, she keeps dusting, but her movements become jerky, and she moves the cloth back and forth on the same spot. I step forward until my still sweaty chest presses against her back and I hear her sharp inhale of breath.
Ahh, I fucking knew it.
