Page 45 of A Bloody Merry Christmas
“Dalton, the asshole! He lied to me. He was the one who taught me those signs. I’m going to shove his cheese so far down his throat he’ll be shitting it out for a year.”
He fell against the back of the couch, hand thumping his chest as he continued to laugh until tears filled his eyes. He wiped at them with his knuckles.
“Ugh.” I ran a hand over my face. I guess it was my fault. I trusted Dalton too easily, and I knew what kind of guy he was. Messing with people delighted the fuck out of him. That dirty act gave him a point in this war of ours. He succeeded in embarrassing me, but I’d get him back. I wasn’t going to let him win this battle.
Sam nudged me with the notepad, and I glanced down at what he’d written.
I want to show you something.
“Wha—”
He grabbed my hand and dragged me up off the couch, leading me through the house. I went because I trusted him, but I paused in surprise when we reached the door to the basement.I hadn’t been downstairs since the first day, and I hadn’t thought about it, either.
The fact that he was taking me down the steps to the place where he handled business made me think he trusted me, and that had my lungs squeezing as heat spread through me, settling low in my stomach.
As I reached the bottom step, I stopped and glanced around. The basement wasn’t anything special. It was a normal, boring space, not as exciting as I remembered it being the last time I was here.
“Why are we here?” I stepped in closer to him, desperate to be in reaching distance. It was a strange feeling, wanting to be so close to someone, but I’d cracked open my chest to him upstairs and flashed a vulnerability I didn’t think I’d have with anyone. These feelings with him were new and raw.
He wrote on his notepad again.
You said you loved me.
“Yes, and?” Maybe it was a mistake. He hadn’t told me the same thing back.
And you learned to sign for me.
Heat spread over my cheeks and I ducked my head. “I’m still learning, but I have a long way to go. I only know a few signs.” I shrugged in embarrassment.
You opened yourself up to me, so I’m doing the same with you.
I stared down at the words, my heart drumming harder. He stepped back and walked over to the washing machine. He placed the notepad down so he could use both hands to lift the machine and move it. When he had the machine out of the way, he fiddled with something on the floor. I moved closer in time to see him heft a big slab of concrete that I hadn’t realized was separated from the rest.
I shifted closer, catching sight of a barrel in the ground. “What is that?”
He glanced at me for a long moment before he grabbed a couple of masks and pairs of gloves from the cabinet and passed a pair to me. We both put them on before he unlocked the lid of the barrel and took it off. An acidic stench drifted through the air, and I crumpled my nose and cringed.
He wrote on his notepad again and turned it around so I could read.
There’s a body in there. The chemicals in the barrel break down human flesh and bones. The pigs can only eat so much and we had three bodies. I keep this barrel and chemicals for things like this.
“Oh.” I shuffled in closer and took a look at the green bubbling liquid. From here, I could see what looked to be traces of hair, but the chemical was thick and gooey. I could ask him what it was in there, but I didn’t understand anything about chemistry anyway. “So who got the honor of the barrel?”
Sam smirked.
I cocked my head, a grin tugging at my mouth. “Paul?”
He winked as an answer.
I bit my bottom lip as I sat down on my knees in front of the barrel. I leaned forward, but he grabbed my shoulder before I could get too close. He crouched beside me and used his knee to write on the notepad.
Careful! If this lands on you, it’ll burn straight through your skin.
I whistled. “What kind of mad scientist are you, Mr. Morris?”
His wicked grin sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine.
I rose as he replaced the lid on the barrel and slid off the protective equipment. I took a slow walk around the room and opened cabinets, and he didn’t stop me as he removed his mask and gloves. He was busy placing everything back to normal when I came across an object of intrigue.
