Page 26 of Heart of a Killer

Before my feet ever touch the floor, I can feel the chilly air radiating from it.I know it’s a government-run facility, but turn on some heat, for heaven’s sake;my nipples could cut glass. As I walk to the desk we’re supposed to use for journaling, I feel the sting of the icy floor on my toes. My towel and toiletries sit on top. I grab those and head for the community-style showers. A hot shower will help relax me enough to sleep. That’s what I need right now, a scorching hot shower.

My make-shift shank is kept in my scrub pants, always within reach. If the staff found it, they would accuse me of trying to kill myself again, but they’ll never understand why I did what I did. No one will.

The lights in the hallway give off a dim yellow glow. Tonight is too quiet, and I don’t like how tight it makes my skin feel. I walk quickly to the bathroom with my towel and bag hugged close to my chest. As I shuffle down the hall, some lights flicker as I pass. It doesn’t help my anxiety, and I’m reminded of the silhouette I saw at Alex’s house. I pick up the pace as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I get an eerie sense that someone is watching me. I’m running lightly on tiptoes, still trying to stay silent. When I make it to the bright fluorescent light of the bathroom, the panic dissipates like a bubble bursting in my chest. I lean into the cool ceramic tiles on the wall and attempt to catch my breath.

In, out. In, out. In, out.

The layout for the bathroom is an open space. The shower stalls come up to your shoulders, so you don’t see your neighbor while you wash, but they don’t have curtains for the back. The privacy here is a privilege. My guess is they are too afraid to find you rotting away in a corner somewhere and stinking the place up. My thoughts always turn morbid when I’m stressed. It’s as if death is always waiting around the corner for me with arms wide open. Thankfully, no one is here with me, and I can shower in peace.

Walking past the wall of mirrors and sinks, I choose the last stall, in the hope of putting distance between me and the darkness lingering outside the doorway. I grab the shower handle, turning the heat all the way up, but a shock of cold water drenches me. As if I wasn’t freezing enough. My teeth are chattering, and I hold myself with my arms over my chest, but that doesn’t help me fight the chill. I stand there, accepting the torture of the icy water. I need the pain and punishment, the misery and penalty. The guilt for everything I’ve ever done eats away at me. The clarity of my thoughts consumes me, and the torment helps to clean the slate. Then the water running over me begins to warm, taking the dark thoughts down into the drain along with the glacial water. Relief and comfort come in its wake.

With my eyes closed and the warm water flowing down my body, I lose myself to my lingering thoughts. I don’t hear when someone enters the bathroom stall with me. I only feel the presence as a sixth sense, and I immediately grab for my shank from the wall’s ledge. My eyes shoot open with water running down my face. I’m straining to keep my eyes open through the flow to see who’s here with me.

“Aw, what’s the matter? You’re not scared of me, are you?”

Brie comes in closer, and she has a crazed look in her eyes. I know she’s pissed at me for sleeping with Leland, but she did the same. She’s here with me, and I’m not sure how insane she could actually be. I hold my shank up higher, hoping to ward her off. She’s completely naked, and I’m practically eye to eye with her. Her breasts are perky and small, with the prettiest light pink nipples that are almost ghost white. Her skin glows under the lights.

“What are you doing here, Brie?”

She ignores my question and moves in closer. I can’t help but devour her with my eyes as she approaches. She has light blond hair on her mound that matches the dirty blond on her head, and all my thoughts go to running my fingers through it and my tongue running up her slit. I wish they didn’t make me take my tongue ring out because I could have her shaking and begging from my mouth. My eyes travel further down, landing on a stretch of rough maroon tissue on her thigh, which stands out in contrast against her alabaster skin.

I find her attractive regardless of scars, but it doesn’t mean I trust her.

I hold a fighting stance, but she continues to inch forward. “You think that’s supposed to scare me?” A sly smile plays on her lips.

We back up to where the water curtains down around us. Brie’s so close, her nose is almost touching the shaved-down end of my toothbrush. Then she does something that shocks me. Her tongue glides over the sharp tip, splitting it open as she does. Blood runs down my hands, and a fire that’s not from the hot water ignites my core. I’m really fucked up in the head for getting turned on by this. When she finishes cutting her tongue with blood running down her chin, she smiles with a look that promises to eat me up. I think I would let her too. Backing into the shower wall, I know I’ve messed up when she pounces on me. Her arms trap me, and her eyes sear into mine.

“You like that, don’t you, little trailer trash? I can see it in your eyes and how your breathing has increased. You feel it, too,” she says with a slight lisp from the cut on her tongue.

In a split second, our mouths clash, and her tongue rubs against my own. The coppery sweet taste of her consumes me. She smells like blood and flowers, sinful and sweet. She breaks our kiss, and the water has spread her blood all over her in pink and red rivulets. Her fingers glide down my abdomen, spreading tingles throughout my body and making my muscles jump in the wake of their journey.

She crouches down and looks up at me with amber eyes.

“Can I taste you here?” she asks as the tip of her finger skims the sensitive flesh.

Unable to speak, I nod as she places a bloody kiss on my inner thigh.

“And here,” she continues, leaving a trail of bloody kisses as the butterflies in my lower belly flutter.

She continues until she is at my apex, her warm breath fanning over my sensitive clit.

“And here.”

She lifts one of my legs over her shoulder and licks up my center.

“Oh, god. Please.”

She looks up with a sweetly sinful grin playing on her lips.

“Nuh-uh, Sky. I told you there are no saints here. If you’re going to pray to someone, beg for the devil himself.”

Her words cause a chill down my spine, and her mouth is back on me. She moves over my clit and suctions around it, sending me into a fit of moans. She works me over with her tongue, and I move my hips to chase that high of release.

Then that eerie feeling comes over me again. The sensation of someone watching us. My eyes shoot to the bathroom doorway. A dark figure stands tall in an outline framed by the fluorescent lights. My heart is in my throat, and my adrenaline spikes.

Where the fuck did my shank go?

12

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