Jagged Embrace

Chapter 89 - Will

Will tilted the bottle back and surveyed what was left. It was enough for today, but he was going to have to hit the store soon. The ache in his chest had distracted him all day, always did on the seventeenth. He rubbed the back of his head. It didn't help that he'd mentioned his mom. Hadn't meant to. He was just trying to answer Maeve's question.

Images of his mother's ripped up, bloody body flickered in his mind. Cheating whore deserved it. Wyatt's harsh words echoed. Those were the words of comfort he'd offered Will when he found out that Will had found her body. To this day, Will still had no idea what the fuck his asshole father was talking about. His mom had never cheated on him.

Wyatt hadn't killed his mom on purpose, but after their fight, he'd left the door open when he stormed out. Because he was an abusive bastard, he'd left her there bleeding, and a fleabag scented her blood. Will still blamed himself. Logically he knew that if he hadn't listened to his mother and stayed in his and Ander's room, they'd be dead too, torn to shreds by the werewolf. At eight years old, he would have been like a flea to the werewolf, easily swatted away but maybe the distraction would have been enough for his mom to do something to save herself.

He emptied the bottle and tossed it in the trash can. Didn't want to see that, think about it. Fuck. He rubbed his face. It was always there, along with every kid he had taken down, those people in Somalia...

"Hey," Maeve's voice soothed him from behind.

She ran her hands over his back. He slowed his breaths. She moved around in front of him. Damn, she was pretty. He loved her rosebud lips, smooth skin, thick hair, and smoking ass. Maeve put her arms around him, her breasts crushed against his body. Loved those, too. He'd told Ander to leave, but thought it was to have make up sex with her. Now he felt weird and wasn't sure he could. The fuck? When had feeling off ever stopped him? Of course, nothing was the same with her. He folded his arms around her , breathing in her scent, and closed his eyes.

The scent of leaves, cloves and rosemary surrounded him, comforted him. A young woman with long, thick, dark hair ran ahead of him, laughing. He adored that laugh. Just as he reached out to touch her, a flash of white against his eyelids and his mother was dead on the floor in front of him. Her entrails scattered around her. So much blood. Her face...

Will yanked himself from Maeve's arms and stumbled back. She said something, but he ignored it and picked up the first bottle he saw and downed half of it. His insides stopped shaking.

"Please let me help you."

"You can't help," he told her in a rough voice.

"Then I'll just stay with you." She touched his temple before she slid her hand down the side of his face and rested it on his neck.

"You shouldn't be near me right now." Any other year, he'd only allow Ander to stay with him today. Only Ander understood. He couldn't trust anyone else to be around, they wouldn't know how to handle him. "You shouldn't be around me at all." He turned away. Fuck, that was true, too. What had he been thinking, trying to make them work? If she understood what a headcase he was, she'd leave. Eventually, everyone did. He lifted the bottle to his lips.

She walked around to face him again. "You might be right, but I'm not going anywhere. No matter how hard you try to push me away. Maybe you can scare other people away, but you're stuck with me." She moved her hand to his hair.

"Even if this is it and I never change? I won't stop destroying monsters, no matter how mad you get. Even if you don't talk to me, even if you cry, I won't stop. I can't." The hand holding the bottle shook.

"I know," she replied, her voice sad. "It'll always bother me, and I won't stop fighting with you about it. But it doesn't change the way I feel." She put her palm on his chest, near his heart.