Slice (The Elledge Family #1) (14 page)

“What in the fuck are you doing in here!” He yelled.

“Quiet,” I whispered. Fucking Phillip was loud.

“I’m calling the cops.” The knife slipped out of my hand and hit his leg. He screeched something terrible and ran towards me. I tripped him and pushed the knife in deeper causing him to yell. I didn’t want him to bleed out. I wanted him to suffer a little. I pushed him to the floor and drug him into the bathroom. “Now be quiet. I want to introduce myself…”

“You crazy son
of  a
bitch! I know who you are!” I stuffed a sock, dirty of course into his mouth before he could finish and avoided blood at all cost. I couldn’t toss my clothes out if they were dirty…

“That new leaf that you turned over seems to have been forgotten.” I growled. He was a lair too. “My name is Lucas and I am the love of Cypress’ life… She doesn’t know it yet. She doesn’t know a lot yet.” He muffled something behind the sock. “Shove off already!” I yelled. I sighed and yanked the knife from his leg. Blood spouted out like a fountain and I smiled. “It’s truly a glorious sight isn’t it?” My eyes stared as his blood flowed out. “Anyway Phil, is it okay for me to call you Phil?” I watched as his eyes grew wide. “Good… The reason I am here is quite simple you see. I come to you as an angel of death… you wronged her so many times it sickens me. I read her diary. She was bat shit for you and you went around shagging the entire city. How nasty and crude of you? You defiled her and I came and made her pure… So now I have to defile you, more like kill.”

Whimpers escaped and the tears flowed from his eyes. “Don’t cry now,” I whispered. “You had a chance to love the most beautiful woman on the planet and you chose to fuck whores. And now for her hurt… I will fuck you over one final time.” 

There was this look of undiluted fear in his eyes and it was satisfying.  He scurried back and left more blood on the floor I had to avoid. “Be still.” I pushed him to the floor and smiled. “I have to unfortunately make this one quicker than usual. I wanted to make you suffer, but I guess I can be kind to you.” The knife cut into his chest and I could feel his blood rushing out of his body. I snatched the knife out and stepped carefully away from the scene. I watched as his pulse stop and almost every ounce of blood flowed from his body. Then the urge receded. I could sleep now. And thank fuck's sake, I wouldn’t have to come back and do this later.

Cypress

I don’t know where he has been, I don’t care to ask, I feel too angry to care. He’s been gone for hours on foot. Where could he have been? I stared, watching him look me over. “What’s the matter love?”

“Where have you been?”

“A nice walk around the city, it is truly beautiful here.” He smiled. “Why do you look bothered? I just needed some fresh air. I am a bit of a night owl.”

Night owl my ass, he usually slept like an angel at night. I had watched him too many times. I was not buying what he had to throw out, “Lucas, where have you been?’’

“I have been out love. I don’t even know anyone from this area; I just wanted some fresh air.”

“Fresh air,” I paused. “Why did you leave your phone?”

“Why are you giving me a third degree love? I got some air, breathe.”  Lucas nodded his head and slipped his shirt off. “Can I sleep?”

“Yeah, after you are honest?”

“I’m being honest Cypress.” Lucas made his way up the stairs with my hand in his. “Let’s get some rest.”

“Ugh,” I pouted, “Fine.”  I didn’t want to sleep alone. I hadn’t really slept alone since we had started to date. “Perhaps I could sleep in your room with you?”

“Your father will string me up by my toes.”

“Ugh,” I was moody tonight. “Fine then, I’ll sleep alone.” The thought in general seemed to be unbearable, I turned to go to my bedroom and smiled. “Goodnight.”

“Are you mad?”

“Yes, I want to sleep with you. I sleep better when I can feel you next to me.” The words sounded pathetic, but the feeling in my chest knew that they were true.

“We can sleep in here together, with the door opened.” He took the pile of comforters my mother had tossed on the bed and put them on a chair. Then he laid the pillows on the floor next to the bed.  “Are you coming or not?’

“I want to…” I grinned jokingly.

“Are you mad? I would like my dick to stay attached to my body love.”

I snickered and realized his absurd humor was part of the reason that I was in love with him madly. I could only hope that he felt more than the same about me. “Oh my god Lucas,” I blushed and climbed onto the bed with him.

“I love you, dear,” he kissed me lightly on the lips.

For the first time I actually wanted to say it. “I love you more.” And with that, we fell into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter Seven

Lucas

Cypress was a control freak in her own way. She always wanted to be in charge of dinner and what time the movie started and when we would visit family. I had not yet introduced her to anyone but Mark and Lydia. Lydia loved her. Mark tolerated her.

“Okay Mark, look we should make sure you get the math,” she said smiling.

She didn't quite get that Mark was careless and was borderline sleep. “I don't care how you want it Cypress. I agree with you fully.” He winked at her and nodded his head. “She is just like Lydia.”

Lydia giggled in satisfaction. She shared some similarities to my sister, but she was totally different in the same breath. “So we have to get matching dresses.”

“I like that idea. It's for your graduation party?”

“It's like ten months away.” Mark mumbled.

“It's the first major event of her life.”

“We don't even know if you will be here next year Cypress.”

“I’m not going anywhere asshole.”

God, I loved that about her. Lydia high fived her and they continued to walk through the store.

“Why in the hell did I come?” Mark mumbled.

“I was wondering the same thing.”

“Asshole. She acts just like Lydia. Mom is going to love her.”

“Pump your brakes.”

“Brother you are head over heels for this feisty piece of work. I haven't seen Shia since that night. She was not a perfect fit.”

“Mom has a bad habit of falling for someone before I can.”

“I don't think you will have this problem.”

“Yeah mate, I'll see.”

“Are you staying for Christmas?”

“I haven't got that far, Thanksgiving is around the corner. I figure we get through that first.” Thanksgiving at my parents’ house was always dramatic. It was never about the actual holiday. It was about the food. Of course it was an American holiday either way. I never celebrated it.

“Exactly,” I grinned. “I can't miss Nadine this year, she would fly over her and have a swing at me. Then the rest of my crazy family misses me too.”

“Must be hereditary.” Mark sat down on the bench in front of the store the girls had disappeared in. They had made friends with one another which was great.

“Who are you telling?” I chuckled and joined him on the cold metal bench.

Mark laughed and then leaned closer to me. “You have to be more careful brother.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you kill Summer?” It was less of a question and more of a statement. He exhaled. “Jesus, Lucas.”

“Ugh bloody hell mate, can the badgering wait?” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m telling you that a string of your ex-girlfriends being murdered is a bad look. I care for you. I want you to be wise and leave the exes alone.” He leaned in. “I would look at you and think you were guilty if I was looking into them. You are the common factor.”

“I understand.” I said.

“You should try to find another way to funnel your anger.” Mark was the only person in the world who understood me because he was more like me than anyone else knew. He was a killer that had never actually experienced the kill. He was lucky, I sometimes feared that I was unstoppable. Their lives meant shit to me, but my life, well, I kind of enjoyed it.

The news had not yet made it back to her yet. It had been a full week since he bled out the floor of his home. His heart beat completely stopped under my knife and the thrill of it still had its effects on me. I knew the moment she found out I could not be around her because I tended to look careless when people died. My
mother and father were the only ones that had ever brought me to tears. And even then I tried to remain numb. 

“I see what you are saying. But how in the hell do I channel it?

“Well, I thought that Cypress was a good start.” He smirked.

“I'll try.”

“Thank you,” he sat back.

The mall had ended without anyone getting hurt and with no trunk space. Cypress bought up random items to fill her apartment. We had started working on her new project at the library. She wanted to do some psychology research and I knew what she needed to know. Thank God she hadn't mentioned Asher; he was lucky the need to kill him had dissolved once I ended her ex. She scanned through the books, writing down little things while I text my brother about some upcoming event he wanted to do.

“Hey,” a too familiar voice said from above us.

We both looked up and seen Asher. Cypress did wear a shocked look on her face, she was flushed like she enjoyed seeing him again. This fucker would not disappear. “What the fuck do you want?” I whispered.

“I wanted to apologize, to you both. I had a bad day. My father gave some bad news that day and I wasn't taking it well. I usually don't act out of character.” Asher stared at Cypress and the small smile appeared across her face. “I really am sorry.”

“You think you can harass her and just apologize.” I leaned forward and touched Cypress' hand breaking her trance to him. “Not bloody likely?”

“Calm down, he really must have been hurt.” She said. Cypress looked at me with some concern. “Is everything good?”

“I don't care.” I seethed.

“I just wanted to say that and I hope you don't think bad of me. You have a good day.” He walked away from the table and I clenched my fist.

“You have an anger problem. He made a mistake. Most people would not have apologized at all. He didn't have to apologize. He could have just never said anything. I appreciate it Asher.” She said loud enough for him to hear it.

“Okay, yes, thank you Asher for apologizing for shoving your tongue down her throat. You are a marvelous chap! Tea sometime?”

Asher walked off, nodding his head and through his hand up. Was this some kind of game to the fucker? I would ruin him. She hit my hand playfully. “Quit it damn it. You should calm down.”

“I will tomorrow.” I exhaled. That fucking urge had nudged its way back in. “Let's, um goes to your apartment. I have a better way to express my anger.”

A smile emerged on her face. “Are you sure?”

“I have never been more certain in my life.”

Asher

My research had been more than productive over the past week. I was looking out for Mark every damn second of the day. I was sure he had a tail on me. A black SUV with horrible blending skills. As far as Lucas I was more than sure that he would kill me at some point. Mark said he would not let it happen, but there was no comfort still for me. Lucas was a selfish guy and the open apology route I had just tried crashed and burned in front of me. I felt like I made him even more mad. But Cypress was okay, so maybe she could hold back the hounds. I sat down at the table and started to take more notes in notebook. Who the fuck was I kidding? She oblivious that he was even, a killer. There would be no way that she would ever care if I died.

Perhaps it would be easier for him to forgive me if he saw that I had a girlfriend, but from what I had discovered this campus crawled with women in committed relationships. Even just the thought of getting laid was a distant one. I had not gotten much sleep in the past few days. There was still so much that rambled in mind during the quiet of the night.

“Whatever you are going through could not be that bad?” Whitney’s voice chimed from behind me.

“I think you are wrong this time Whit,” I mumbled.

“Life sucks.” She smiled. “What are you mad about or should I say what are you depressed about?”

“First, I’m a dumb ass. Second, I’m a dumbass and third, I’m a dumbass.”

“You are twenty-five and you are about to have a PhD. I am sure more than one or two mistakes won't kill you. But most men are dumbasses so I won’t disagree with you completely.” She laughed cheerfully as she pulled a chair up to my table.

I pushed my hands through my disheveled hair. If she only knew how incredibly wrong that statement was she would hug me and tell me to get the fuck out of town. I had considered it. I had considered just moving back with my father and being his assistant, but I wanted this study to go through. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Dinner and movie tonight?”

Great, she had friend zoned me and now she wanted to do best friend shit. “I would love to.” I answered, perhaps too quickly.