Bad Boys Don't Want Good Girls

Two

Two

Cassius

Chloe stepped into the once laughter filled kitchen. I could see her shoulders slump in disappointment that no one was there. I walked up behind her, rubbing my hands on her shoulders. The small, annoying dog that she sometimes carried in her purse growled at me in warning. I glared at the animal, hoping she wouldn't notice my hostility towards it. I never understood her love of the small creature. I myself preferred big dogs, especially the one who had taken a liking to Ilithya.

Ilithya. My poor Ilithya. I had said terrible things to her today, and, even though she seems to have forgiven me for it, I haven't. For the longest time after she had moved in, she had felt nothing. There were no smiles, no tears, no screams. For the first year she never spoke a word. My mother had given her so much attention, I had thought she had forgotten about me, so, one day, I went up to her and pushed her to the ground. When she got up, she didn't say anything and just looked at me. It had made me angry and so I slapped her, punched herm kicked her. I knocked out one of her teeth and instead of being angry with me, she laughed. With blood dripping from her gums and red marks on her skin and bruises forming, she laughed.

The sound was angelic; light, airy. For a minute, I was confused and a little bit scared. But then those big, beautiful green orbs that had been dead for so long, filled with life. It was at that moment that I realised that this gorgeous,crazy redhead was going to be in my life forever and no one would ever hurt her. But today, I had gone and broke my own creed and hurt her worse than anyone else could have.

"Cassius?" Chloe tugged on my hand, staring up at me with big blue eyes. I shook the memory from my head and smiled down at her.

"Sorry Chlo, just dazed off there," she smiled and nodded her head before pulling me in the direction of my bedroom. I sighed internally: the good girl act was wearing thin. Two years ago, it had been what drew me to her. She was shy, quiet. It was much different compared to the crass and brazen woman that I had spent most of my life with. Now, knowing her, it wasn't all that interesting to me anymore. Ilithya was right when she said this wouldn't last, I was already thinking of breaking up with Chloe. I just didn't know how to do it yet.

"That's alright. Have you done some redecorating? Your room looks different since I was last here." That's probably because it was. She hadn't been over in the last few months since she cheated on me. I decided it was time for a change then and went for a dark pallet, trying to match the feelings of anger and betrayal that I had felt then.

"Ya. Take a seat, I'm gonna go change." It was really just an excuse. I didn't like seeing her in my room anymore, it felt wrong and almost made me sick. She sat on the bed and I hurried into the walk in closet to choose a different set of clothes. I pulled a pair of shorts and a muscle tee off their hook and walked out and into the attached bathroom. Closing the door, I let out a breath I hadn't known that I was holding. My hand slid into my pocket and pulled out my iPhone, unlocking it and going straight to Ilithya's contact. In her contact photo, she was 16. It was her birthday and I surprised her with tickets to the MMA show that was coming to town. She had just opened them and her eyes were alight with joy and the gentle smile that carved her face when she was truly happy was on display. It was my second favourite photo of her, but the other one was on my nightstand in a frame what we painted together years ago.

My thumb hovered over the call icon and, without another moment's hesitation, I pressed it. It started ringing and I hoped to god she hadn't left her phone somewhere. It rang three times before she answered in a groggy voice.

"I literally just fell asleep. Go bug blondie or something." She was grumpy. Good.

"I need a favour," I whispered into the phone. I could almost see her shoot up in bed, suddenly wide awake.