Page 85 of All Your Pain
“Which one is her room?” I ask as we reach the top.
He nods towards a closed door up ahead and says, “there, it’s locked.”
“And why’s that?Force of habit?” I sneer at him before kicking the lock in with my boot. The door flies open and bounces loudly against the wall. “If you try to run, it won’t be fun for you,” I call back over my shoulder before stepping inside.
A nervous energy courses through me as I enter Willow's room. I’m not sure what I expected but being smacked in the face by everything that’s her wasn’t it. Her smell is the first thing that hits me and my cock stirs in response.
I flick the light switch on and see just how small the room is. A single bed sits next to the window and the only other furniture is a bookcase, a dresser and a small desk cramped into one corner.
I know from just the briefest glance that this room couldn’t belong to anyone else. She’s really left her mark here. Her sketches decorate the walls and everything’s so soft and pastel from the bedding to the clothes hanging over the desk chair. I run my fingers over it all imagining her touching it all.
Just how many hours did she spend cramped in here?
This is what I want our house to be like, warm and lived in. I want Willow’s mark on everything, I want to see her in everything I own.
There’s a large sketch book left open on her desk and I wonder why she didn’t take it with her. As I look around, I see just how much she had to leave behind and I know she must have been desperate to only take the few essentials I found her with.
I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing but I grab an empty rucksack from the floor and gather up all her sketchbooks before gently putting them in, being sure not to damage any of the pages. Then I carefully take each piece of her artwork from the walls and slip them inside the bag as well. Everything else in this room can be replaced if she wants but I know her art is what brought her some security whilst she was here and is irreplaceable.
Hoisting the bag over my shoulder, I close the door behind me. The spot where I told Henry to stay put is of course empty. When I head downstairs, I find him lying on the floor with Bones massive platform boot covering most of his face.
“Caught us a rat,” Bones sing-songs. “Car's ready, can we leave now?”
“Please, just take whatever you want! Just don’t kill me!” Henry's cries are muffled and I think he might actually be crying from how pathetically wet his voice sounds.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” I say ignoring the mess of a man on the floor.
“Finally,” Bones sighs with relief before bringing his boot down hard against Henry’s head knocking him out cold.
I get to work binding his ankles and slapping a piece of tape over his mouth before helping Bones carry him through the house to the interior door in the kitchen that connects directly to the garage.
“Abato and his wife were using her to have a baby,” Bones says out of nowhere and I almost drop Henry on his head. I’m tempted to, just to give him another bruise to match his already purpling eye. “She was just meant to be a bit of fun. I saw herand knew I couldn’t leave her there but I didn’t think I’d end up gettingattached.The shit they did to her, Dean.” I can see the mix of anger and frustration in his eyes as he struggles with his emotions.
Bones’s girl seems to have a lot more demons for him to conquer than mine does and I know it’ll be a battle for him but it’s one he’s more than capable of winning.
“You don’t want to hurt her,” I say, understanding what he’s going through. “But you can’t help yourself.” Bones nods solemnly and I add, “if you need my help with anything just ask. Feel like I owe you a few now.”
“Don’t worry, I'm keeping count.” He shrugs himself off and we close the trunk on Henry. “Let’s go burn this fuckers place down.”
In the kitchen, I turn the gas on whilst Bones pours gasoline down the hall. He lights up a cigarette taking a long drag before placing it down on the edge of a table so the end hangs over the spilt gasoline.
We leave in the car and in the rearview mirror I see the orange glow of the fire as it spreads behind the windows of the house as we drive further away from it.
I’m reminded of the first fire I started and how, just like then, I’m taking another huge step forward in my life.
“Willow’s really changed you.”
“Can you stop saying her name already? I really don’t want to have to punch you in your pretty face but I will.”
Bones snorts out a laugh then says, “see! You’re such a softie now. The old you would have smacked some sense into me then told me to suck it up and move on with a kill or a fuck.”
“Or both,” I smirk.
That’s exactly what I’ll be doing soon and I can’t wait, my cock’s already hard just thinking about it. I never considered itbefore but my job’s going to become even more fun now that I get to fuck Willow after every kill.
34
WILLOW