TOXIC BLOODLINES: PARADISE - BOOK 2/4

ON YOUR SIDE

ARIK

Kim was pissed, and I could feel it, literally. Her body's been letting off heat like a furnace the whole day. Usually, she'd be rage cleaning, slamming doors, or making remarks about minor things when she wanted to segway into an argument. She was not doing any of that. Kim opted to slowly boil me alive while icing me out completely. This was how I knew she wasn't just upset.

She was furious.

Twelve hours, this was the longest we had gone without talking after a fight, which worried me. Kim's scary when she's silent. I hadn't seen this side of her in years and hoped to never see it again.

Fuck.

Sitting across from each other at the infamous dining table, I tried to focus on my work and Kim was reading. She never reads at the dining table. I wanted to say something but I knew it was a trap. So, I lowered my head and kept my eyes glued to the screen. SLAP, SLAP, SLAP. The repetitive sound of her slipper hitting the sole of her foot as she tapped it was driving me crazy. I closed my laptop. "...About last night."

Kim chuckled. "What happened last night?" She responded, loudly flipping a page of a book I knew she wasn't even reading. She just wanted my attention.

I should have to leave it.

I should have ignored it.

I should have let her cool off.

"I'm sorry I left," I caved.

"You wanted space to think. I can't blame you for it," Kim replied, not looking at me.

I shook my head and sighed. The silent treatment was getting on my nerves. "I spoke to Elenore. She's at a hotel in town... She's going to see Ian and Sara later today."

"That's great," Kim replied.

"...I think we should reconsider," I expressed, knowing the risk. "If Elenore of all people is getting inv—"

"—You can go. Nobody is stopping you," Kim cut me off.

"You should be there, all of us, together."

"I'm not giving those people another reason to blame me when one of them dies," she responded dismissively, hiding behind her walls of stubbornness.

"And that's why you should be there."

Ignoring me, she loudly flipped another page to emphasize that she would die on this hill.

"Well, I'm going," I told her, knowing she would not budge.

"While you're there, please pick up my dress. You forgot it when you ran away from your mother," She sneered.

"Now you're just being mean." I decided to drop it and just carry on working. This conversation was pointless.

"What are we going to do about your mother?" Kim asked.

"I'll handle it," I responded, continuing with what I was doing.

"Hmph, if you say so," she finally lifted her eyes from behind her book.

"I can see you're trying to pick a fight, and I'm not doing it," I replied.

She scoffed and carried on reading. Her foot started tapping even louder, and her fingers darkened, a warning sign that something was coming.

"Fuck," I muttered.

She shifted to face me.

I sighed.

"You know, I just think it's funny," Kim remarked, placing the book down, its edges singed.