Insomnia

BASTARD OLD

She stares at the ring in the gentle light of morning. It's simple. Nothing too crazy. Her mother's was gaudy and expensive. It was some intricate flower that she constantly added more diamonds and other precious gems to.

Just a simple, square cut diamond with smaller ones running down the band. Her back aches from lying on the frozen ground, but she doesn't care all that much. Cade sleeps peacefully on her chest. She runs her hands through his hair.

"You cold?" He asks.

"You keep me fairly warm."  She mumbles. "Aren't we lucky we still had that quilt from that picnic we had at, what was it, twelve am?"

"I think it was two, actually." Cade pulls his fiancée further into his arms. "Have I ever told you how fucking adorable you are?"

"Oh, once or twice." She yawns.

"We should go look for a house." He muses.

"What about your 'playboy' mansion?" She asks.

"It's owned by the mafia. I want something that me and you personally own. Something actually homey."

"You've never really had a homey type home, have you?" Evie muses. "It's a bit overrated."

"Oh, but you never had a homey type home, either." Cade comments.

"Yeah. It should have a fireplace. I've never had a fireplace before." She tells him.

"I have. It had marble, not brick around it though. So... Home... Big or Small?" He asks, twining their fingers.

"Small." She chirps.

"Urban, suburban, or rural?"

"Rural or urban. Suburban has never appealed to me." She traces a tattoo up his arm. "It's like, yay, we all live really normal lives in our very normal houses."

"One or two kids?" He grins.

"I say two. The oldest needs to be a boy to protect the girl. Little brothers are just pests."

Cade laughs. "They are, aren't they? So, you have one? I didn't know that."

"I don't like to talk about family." She mumbles. "I had an older sister who ditched my mother and her cancer for Paris and a little brother that conned me into giving him the last of my parents money. I don't consider them family. Archer's my brother. You're my fiancé..." She grins. "I love you guys. Family isn't always true."

He kisses her nose. "You better love me more than you do him." Evie hits him on the shoulder. "So, modern or a true, rustic home?"

"Rustic with all modern functions." She giggles. "The wiring in my house was all switched around. I had to turn the switch in the hallway to turn on the light in my room and vise-versa. Too old."

"Hm... I like it." He kisses the back if her hand. "So, mountains, maybe?"

"-down south." She tacks on. "I've heard North Carolina and Virginia are beautiful in fall. All the trees turn red and orange... And then they have hot summers and, you know, all four seasons."

Cade chuckles, "that so?"

"Yup. So... Now that Giovanni's gone, who will take his place?"

"Well, he's only the boss for our city and most of he rest of the state. Some other old guy will take his place and deal with it. Me and you can escape in all the chaos to our small, rustic with all modern fixtures, home in the more southern of Appalachians with our two kids."

She grins. "Yeah... That sounds nice..."

His phone buzzes. Cade groans, settling his forehead against hers. "This is the last fucking call, I swear..." He pulls out his phone, answering it.

"It's Cade." He's quiet while the other person speaks.

He ends up standing, tilting his phone to see a video. The volume is off.

"Cade?" Evie asks.

He makes a guttural growl, sending his fist into a tree.

"Cade?!" She asks more urgently, standing.

His fingers lock around her neck, cutting off oxygen supply to her lungs. She claws at his hand, watching the anger in his silver irises boil over. The edges of her vision begin to fade.

Cade finally lets her go, letting the woman collapse to her knees.

•

He said nothing.

He hasn't said anything.

Cade's absolutely pissed, she knows that. She's reminded of that every time she catches her reflection in the mirror. A very identifiable handprint marks her throat.

He didn't mean it. He couldn't have meant it. He was just angry.

She guesses that the house hunting and two kids will have to wait. He drove back to the "playboy" mansion, and tucked himself away in his office.

Upset, Evie went and baked 6 dozen cookies — ginger chocolate chip. They're good.

He didn't even apologize.

On that thought, she begins measuring out more flour and grating ginger. Realizing the absence of sugar and eggs, she huffs, grabbing Cade's keys as well as his wallet and preparing to leave.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Cade slurs, his hand locked around what appears to be a bottle of some kind of booze.

Evie scoffs. "Why is it any of your fucking concern?" She snaps.

"I have a right-" he continues, hiccuping, "to know where my fiancée is going."

"Jesus Christ, Cade. Just how plastered are you? Have you been... Fuck, you smell like you've been smoking! Are you high?!"

This prick fucking giggles. Cade fucking giggles. "And what gives you that impression?" He asks, his bloodshot eyes alight with humor.

Evie snaps like a taut rubber band, throwing her ring at the marble stairs.

It shatters. The ring. The 'diamond' fucking ring.

"Fake anyway." Cade mutters, taking another few gulps off his bottle. "I mean, you couldn't even order your own drink!" He slurs, throwing his hands up in the air. "That's just fuckin' pathetic! You were so fucking pathetic! It was so easy-" he stumbles down a few stairs, taking another knock of the bottle. "-So easy to get rid of your v-card. I mean, sure, it took a while, but in the end, all I had to do was make up some-some sob story about how hard my life was." He chortles, stumbling down another step. "For a hot minute there, I thought you didn't believe me. Although, you didn't notice my sneaking out. So. That sex was awesome though. All I had to do was pull a few tricks out, and then wham." He whistles. "You got pregnant and I figure, hell, I wouldn't mind the pathetic mess you were as long as I was able to tap that by the end of the night. Now that Giovanni's dead, and my baby sister was just gang-raped and murdered, I'll just take over the entire thing. Entire section of the Italian mafia. Mine, you sons of bitches!" He takes another drink off his liquor.

It takes a moment.

It takes a few moments.

He just stands there and grins like he's king of the world.

"Then why don't you come over here and screw me one last time, huh?" She leans against the door, crossing her arms over her chest.

Drunken Cade doesn't get her intentions and strolls right up to her, placing his palms on the door.

Evie grabs the man she thought loved her, shoving the keys into the flesh of his forehead, dragging down.

She storms straight out the door, leaving Cade screaming in agony. She jumps into his fancy sports car, and gets onto the highway as fast as possible.

Tears blur her vision.

That fucking prick. That stupid, stupid bastard.

Evie begins to sob.

A car hurtles into her own.