WORK IN PROGRESS: Three Witches #1: Magnus and Magnolia

Chapter 11 (Magnus): Stab

***TW for gun threats and stabbing***

I walked out of Noli's place, leaned back against her door and slid to the ground, legs weak after all of the shit that just went down. Listening to her cry, I wanted to cry right along with her because I was the reason for each and every tear she was shedding. The pre-cheating discovery Noli I'd known how to care for. I would have gathered her into my arms and held her while she cried, letting her release everything she needed to. Then, when she was done, I'd have kissed the tear tracks on her face.

But the Noli I'd known had come back from her time away different, and even though I had no idea what was going on with her, it was scary as hell. Those illusions she'd somehow conjured up looked real as fuck, and I didn't have the first clue how she'd done them. They were as real as her fuck sessions I'd seen with that fucking blonde asshole.

Rubbing my chest, I felt the sticky wetness, and when I pulled my hand away, I could see the red smears on my palm. This, at least, was no illusion. Every time I'd told Magnolia the truth just now when she was asking me questions, I'd felt a wrenching pain in my heart and then a stabbing pain over my heart so intense it was all I could do to stay upright at times and answer each question she asked honestly and without showing the pain I was in. I could feel the blood trickling down my torso the longer we talked, but I'm sure she didn't notice because the blood was hidden by my black T-shirt and cut.

It began with the first I'm sorry I said to her when she opened the door.

Stab.

And then it just kept going, kept happening with every truth I spoke.

How long had it been going on with her?

A month.

Stab.

A month. A month. Every day?

No. Twice a week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Stab. Stab. Stab.

Did you love her?

No. It was never like that with her.

Stab. Stab.

What was it like then?

It was sex with her, Noli. That's all it was to me. No feelings.

Stab. Stab. Stab.

You must not have had any feelings for me, either, if you could do that with her twice a week for a month.

No matter what it looks like to you, that's not true.

Stab.

Why did you go there with her?

I don't fucking want to tell you any of this, but I'm going to tell you all of it. She was giving me signals immediately after she started working at the strip club. I thought she was attractive, but that's as far as I was going to let it go. Then drugs started popping up in the club, and we figured it was probably one of the three new girls that started. She was one of them. Prez asked for three brothers to get with each of the three girls and try to get information.

Six stabs.

I volunteered to be one of the brothers, knowing what he wanted, and said since she'd been giving me signals for the last month, I'd take her. I rationalized it as club business, felt guilty as hell, but not enough that I stopped myself from going there. I also justified it by saying you and I had never had a discussion about exclusivity.