We drive to Ice Apartments in silence.
Bree grips the edge of the seat even though I'm hardly speeding, and I can't stop looking at that fucking hickey.
"What do you keep looking at?" she finally snaps.
"Your neck."
She lifts a hand to trace over the red mark.
"Why?" She asks.
She really doesn't know?
"Your hickey?" I prompt.
"What?" She frowns. "I don't..."
Her cheeks flush and she pulls down the vanity mirror and inspects the damage.
"You kissed him."
"I did."
"Was it good?"
"Yes."
I tighten my grip on the steering wheel.
"Your knuckles are all bruised." She observes and I smirk.
If only she knew why.
"So, how's the fighting going?" She asks bluntly.
"What?"
"The fighting competition," she says sweetly. "With the hundred thousand dollar prize?"
Fuck, how does she know about that?
"I'm assuming you haven't lost yet?"
"No." I finally say and she frowns.
"So you actually are in this competition?" She checks.
"You're kind of confusing me, Bree." I say.
"My neighbor had a flyer about it and I thought the man in the picture looked like you, but I didn't know if it was," she places her hands in her lap. "You're the guy everyone wants to fight?"
"Yeah."
"But why?" She says. "I know you have money, so that's not your motivation."
I can't tell her.
"I need to make sure I can still fight." I say instead.
She knows that's bullshit.
She was with me in that parking garage.
She knows I can fight.
"Right."
We don't say anything else.
We drive past a man getting put in a bodybag, a woman streaking naked across the road, and a large, skinny dog eating the remains of something unidentifiable.
When I park the car at her complex, Bree clears her throat.
"Are you gonna say sorry?" She asks, voice quiet.
"For what?" I say, playing dumb.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" She glares so coldly at me, I'm a little uncomfortable.
I don't want her to look at me like that.
"Alright, I'm sorry." I lift my hands up defensively.
"Really?" She scoffs.
"I'm sorry," I say seriously. "What I did was fucked up, you told me all that stuff—"
"Really personal, scarring stuff."
"And I left you, I'm sorry."
I don't know what else to say.
"Why did you leave?" She asks. "Why didn't you come back?"
YOU ARE READING
The Lonely Hearts Club
RomanceHaunted by memories of her past, Bree has hidden herself away from society. Plagued with horrifying nightmares both in sleep and reality-she cannot do it anymore. Hades, a ruthless fighter and charming security guard is instructed to look after her...
