Going Mad For Maddox

CHAPTER NINETEEN

MADDOX

"MADDOX!" I'M DISASSOCIATING. My body is floating, tied to a balloon, reaching higher and higher until I loose any form of gravity. "Maddox, stop! You're going to kill him!"

I ignore Kodi and continue to throw punch after punch until the metallic smell of blood fills the room. I deliver another right hook, making Gio spit out a gush of crimson liquid—his face almost unrecognizable.

"You heard your bitch, you're going to kill me." Gio smiles bloody teeth at me, the mere mention of him referring to Kodi as a bitch makes me lose control. I punch him in the throat, making him jerk and choke around nothing. The darkness makes the brutality of my assault seem monstrous, savage, utterly terrifying.

The moment I think I'm on the verge of ending Gio's life, I stop. His eyes are swollen shut, his face every color in the rainbow—contorted into something that would make any sane person stomach churn. He loses consciousness, the last of his blood splattering across my balaclava before he lulls his head to the side.

I stand from my knelt position, reaching up to yank my mask off, hearing Kodi's rushed breathing from behind me. "Mad?" Her voice is shaky, reminding me of someone who is cautiously trying to approach a rabid animal.

I rush toward her bringing my hands up to cup her cheeks, noticing the purplish hue that decorate my bruised knuckles. It's a complete contrast to Kodi's porcelain like features, her blue irises seemingly more bright despite the shadows that hide us.

I wipe the smeared mascara from underneath her eyes, noticing how tears threaten to spill over. "Did he hurt you?" She doesn't say anything and glances down at her hand that is enclosed around my Swiss Army knife.

Blood drips from the blade meticulously, being the only sound reverberating around this abandoned place. I lower my hand, wrapping it around her wrist, feeling her erratic pulse beat against the center of my palm.

"Good girl." I inch her fingers open, keeping my eyes on hers, watching how she doesn't blink. She's caught in a clouded daze, suffocating in the very darkness mine warrants to consume. "I wouldn't have let him hurt you."

She blinks as if she's just now seeing me, "he pulled my hair."

I rub the lobe of her ear, reaching my hand behind her nape, massaging the skin there. "I'm sorry, Kodi. I'm so sorry." I hate myself for not being here fast enough. For even letting her leave my place tonight without questioning her further despite the grief she would have given me in return.

"He chased me." Her throat works to swallow on nothing, trying to keep her tears at bay. "He scared me, Maddox." She lifts her head, her face sullen with defeat. "And I hate being scared. I've been scared my entire life and he brought that same feeling back...the one I've spent years running from."

I tangle my hand in her hair, softly cradling her head as if it the most precious thing my murderous hands have ever held. "Look at me." She obliges, staring up into my eyes. They still sparkle. God, they really do. So blue, so bright and so fucking pretty. "Fear only goes where you invite it."

"But I don't invite it."

I bring her face close to mine until the tips of our noses graze each other. "But you let it in." I rub circles onto her temple, "you have every right to be afraid right now, I'm not undermining your fear Kodi, but you have a strength that even... that even I fucking envy and don't you dare let that worthless piece of shit on the floor make you lose that."