Page 68 of Bully's Darkness
“They will. People will ask where he is, and I can’t lie, Bully. I can’t lie to the police.” Her eyes are wide, darting around in panic, and her complexion is pale.
“You have to calm down,” I say firmly, grabbing her upper arms, trying to look her in the eye. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I killed him,” she yells frantically, “and I have to report it.”
Bria marches in, taking Liv from me and slapping her hard across the face. Liv gasps, and rage fills me. She might be her sister, but that doesn’t mean she gets to lay a hand on her. Liv immediately begins to cry, and Bria nods. “It’s good to cry,” she tells her. “Let it out. But you are not going to the police.”
“Bria,” I mutter, “she’s delicate.”
“She’s in shock,” she snaps, “and she needs hard truths.”
I watch helplessly as she fixes Liv with a glare. “Dagger is gone. It’s done. We don’t need to get into a state over him, Liv. He deserved it. It was him or you.” Liv nods slowly, her tears dripping from her cheeks. “So, listen to Bully. He’s going to help you.”
She finally looks to me, her eyes searching for answers. “We were together,” I say as Bria steps back, leaving me to take over and fill her in on an alibi.Not that she’ll need it. Taking the Scorpions off our streets was a good result all round, and the police won’t be spending too much time trying to find answers. “All night, from when I came over yesterday.” She nods. “Just us, because Bria was with friends at the bar. We watched movies.”
“With Tom Hardy,” she mutters.
I smile, also nodding. “Yeah, a Tom marathon. Then Bria came home with Taz. We all went to bed.” She nods again. “But it won’t come to this because there’s no real connection between you and Dagger.”
Chapter Nineteen
Olivia
I stare out the window as grey clouds roll in, dark and low. The sky feels heavy, swallowing what little light remains as rain begins to fall. It taps the glass like a gentle lullaby, soothing me in a way nothing else does right now. Maybe it mirrors something deeper inside me, that stillness, that ache. The one I haven’t been able to shift for the last few days.
Not since . . .Dagger.
His lifeless image assaults my brain, just like it does over and over. Uninvited. Unwanted.
I feel Bully step into the room, his eyes burning into me, watching me. He’s watched me a lot these last few days, closer than usual, perhaps expecting me to break. I haven’t.Not yet.But I feel like my mind is pushing me to, wanting that peace that I helped Dagger to reach. I shudder. The intrusive thoughts are loud, too loud to ignore some days.
I inhale deep and turn to face him, forcing a smile. “Everything okay?”
He nods, his eyes still checking me over warily. “Are you okay?”
I drop my feet to the floor and stand, tired of hearing the same question. Can someone be okay when they’ve murdered another? “I need some air,” I tell him, heading for the door.
“Liv, it’s raining,” he calls after me, like I haven’t just spent the last hour staring out the window.
The security guard looks up from his newspaper as I step out the lift. It’s a new guy, and I suspect that’s down to Bully. The door to the stairs springs open, and Bully appears, out of breath. He holds up a jacket for me, and I roll my eyes, going out into the rain without taking it. He follows, dumping the jacket on the security guy’s desk.
Whenever I step out these doors, it’s with Bully tailing me. He doesn’t speak to me, doesn’t even fall into step with me . . . he just follows. I turn to face him, walking backwards. “I don’t need you following me.” He remains silent. “I’m perfectly capable of walking alone.” When he still doesn’t respond, I growl in frustration and spin back around, tipping my head back and holding my arms out, allowing the rain to soak me.
The street is busy with people rushing home from work, trying to avoid getting too wet as they dodge around one another. I walk slow, earning myself a few huffs as they dart past me, eyeing me with irritation. I smile. They don’t know how lucky they are.
I close my eyes, slowing to a stop. I jolt forward, and my eyes shoot open, squealing in surprise as Bully catches me right before I hit the ground. A man mutters a few choice words as he speeds around us. “Fuck you,” Bully calls after him. “Are you okay?” he asks, and I nod, our eyes locked in some kind of war.
I’m still hurting. Still haunted by the images of him with Lila. Still hearing the words ‘I love you’ play on repeat. But I can’t deny the heat crackling between us as he holds me against him.
Each night since Dagger, he’s held me until I’ve fallen asleep then crept from my room, only having to return after each nightmare.
“Why don’t you ever spend the night?” I whisper, blinking as rain drips from my brows. “You leave but then have to keep coming back when I wake.”
He brushes a strand of hair that clings to my cheek. “I don’t deserve to spend the night, Liv.”
I inhale sharply, my heart aching. And then I kiss him, slow, gentle. As I slide my hands over his cheeks and into his hair, it’s hungry and desperate. A need for connection. A need to feel.
Bully’s hands cling to my waist as he walks me out of the crowd without breaking the kiss. My back hits a wall, and I realise we’re in an alleyway. Bully pulls back, keeping eye contact. His breathing is laboured, and I see the lust burning like embers. “I love you,” he whispers, his expression changing to sympathy, “but you’re not ready for this.” His words sting, and my hands immediately drop to my sides. He’s rejecting me.Rejecting me.As if he feels the sudden tension, he cups my face, trying to force me to look him in the eye.I don’t. “Liv, you’re spiralling. If we did this, you’d regret it. I know you.”
