Page 7 of Nightmare

“Atty, don’t do this.”

Regaining my bearings, I wrap my fingers around her throat and walk her forward, not letting up when she struggles to get free.

“Did you miss me?” I grit out slowly, my teeth pressed against the side of her face.

She says nothing.

I tighten my grip on her throat, and she swallows, digging her pointy black nails into my wrist. The vicious little bitch is clawing at me hard enough to draw blood, but I don’t care. I love the way she scratches me. I love every fucking thing about her, even when it hurts.

“Baby, answer the question.”

“No,” she wheezes out, struggling for breath.

“No, you didn’t miss me, or no, you won’t answer the question?”

More silence.

I lose patience and pick her up off the ground, holding her up by her waist and neck.

“Hey,” Andie barks as she catches up to us, fisting her hands at her sides when I stop and raise a brow at her. “Atticus, what are you… How…?”

“Spit it out, little girl,” I say when she continues to trip over her own words, shocked to see me here, no doubt. “We don’t have all night.”

“Don't call me that,” she bites out, always so sensitive, this one. “And don’t you dare hurt her,” she adds, referring to Violet, I’m assuming.

“But she likes it when I make it hurt,” I say, grinning as I take Violet’s earlobe between my teeth, biting it and making her squeal. “Tell her, baby.”

“Vi?” Andie asks, ignoring me now. “What do I do?”

Those tears I saw in Violet’s eyes before finally fall, and she lets out a choking sound as she curls in on herself and clutches my hand to her face, reaching up with the other one to run her fingers through my hair. She’s still got her back to me, but she’s clinging to me as if she’s afraid I’m about to disappear into thin air any second now, and it’s breaking my fucking heart.

Andie’s eyes soften as she watches her best friend fall apart, and then she nods and tips her chin at me, silently telling me to go put her back together. She offers me a bottle of tequila, and I let go of Violet’s face to take it from her, holding it between my fingers as I carry Violet away from all the nosy fuckers staring at us. They’re smart enough not to look at her from the neck down, because if they did that, she’d be swallowing their dried-up blood later when I’m shoving my fingers down her throat.

The music fades the further I walk, and I can barely hear it anymore as I find us a private spot in the middle of the woods. I set Violet down on her feet and lean her back against a tree, crowding her space and brushing her soft hair behind her ears.

“Violet,” I whisper, running my thumbs over the red paint on her lips, smearing it up over her tear-stained cheeks. “Don’t cry, pretty girl. I’m here now.”

“Stop it,” she chokes out, smacking my hands away from her face.

“Vi—”

“No, Atty. I can’t do this right now.”

“No?” I ask, smiling a little at the fire returning to her eyes. “Why not?”

“Why are you here?”

“This is my party too, remember?” My eyes take in the necklace she’s wearing—my necklace—and I pull it out of her top, wrapping it around my fist.

“I meant how are you here? When did you get out?”

“Today,” I tell her, shaking my head when her nostrils flare as if she thinks she’s been played by her own friends. “No one knew I was coming. Not even Phoenix. I wanted to surprise you.”

She inhales deeply, and I use the chain to pull her into me and lick her bottom lip, locking my jaw when she slaps me across the face hard enough to leave a mark.

“If anyone gets to be mad here, it’s me.” I wrap my hand around her throat again, forcing her eyes up to meet mine. “Seven months. Seven fucking months, Violet. You almost killed me.”

“You deserved it.”

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