Page 99 of Anathema Codex

And I have the power to ruin his life right now. To tell him that his beloved Bea doesn’t give a fuck about him—just like I always said—because she doesn’t even remember him.

“Feeling tough?” I ask, blowing a stream of smoke into face.

“You broke your promise, Lakyn!” Ichabod grunts as he uses his strength and shoves me back roughly into my chair. I wish this were a different circumstance because I would be turned on as fuck right now by this little display.

With a chuckle, I shake my head and get back to my feet, giving his arm a slap as I walk by him.

“You’re right. Sorry I let you down,” I say over my shoulder as I make my way to my room. I expect him to call after me, or continue his tirade about Trixie, but I’m pretty sure I’ve stunned him into silence when I make it all the way down the hall without a peep.

Once inside, I stub the cigarette out in the ashtray on the dresser, then close the door behind me, flipping the switch in place to lock it and keep him out, or me away from him. It doesn’t really matter either way. Turning away from the door I drop onto the bed and toss my arm over my eyes.

Just leave me the fuck alone.

TWO

The Countdown Starts

ICHABOD

I’m shaking as Lakyn walks past me and down the hall, and I can’t make myself turn to look until I hear the door shut. I’d been prepared for a hundred different reactions after I slapped the cigarette out of his mouth. I figured he’d laugh, or yell at me, or hit me, or fuck me.

Hell, I’d been prepared to die just to get all of the betrayal off my fucking chest. But that’s my own fault. It was stupid of me to believe he’d bring Bea back.

After all these years I should know that hope only serves to eat me alive from the inside out… but I’d let myself feel it anyway.

I’d believed him.

So fucking stupid.

The anger had surprised me, though. I barely remember deciding to slap the cigarette away… it justhappened. Like once I’d uncorked all of that rage, all of that miserable fucking hope that Bea would be sitting in that SUV when Lakyn finally came home—I hadn’t been able to stop.

I’m going to pay for it.

All of it.

I know it, but even though I’m still shaking from the lingering adrenaline and the raw fear that’ll hit me as soon as I process what the fuck I’ve done… I just don’t care.

I can’t.

Lakyn always says he keeps his promises, but this time he lied. He deserved to know that, even if all I have waiting for me now is more pain. My breath shudders as I force myself to walk down the hall, pausing at the bedroom door to listen.

I don’t know what I expected to hear. Maybe him breaking shit, or blaring Blondie, orsomething, but the silence is almost more eerie than just how fucking calm he was when I lost it.

This is bad.

When Lakyn is quiet it’s always just the calm before the storm. It’s when he’s thinking, planning, plotting, and I know it’s my death this time. I should welcome it. After all, what the fuck do I have to live for? Another twenty years of being Lakyn Meyer’s favorite fuck toy? His clean-up bitch?

No one would sign up for this life.

So why do I still want to live?

The trembling in my hands is way more fear than anger now, and I hate myself for wanting to survive a little longer. I hate myself for thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to see Bea again. Hope is like a fucking cancer, and I’m terminal with it, which only leaves me one choice.

Rapping my knuckles gently on the door, I clear my throat and call out quietly. “Lakyn?”

Only silence answers me so I lick my dry lips and try again.

“Can I come in?”

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