Page 45 of Grave Possession (Grave #2)
Chapter Thirty-six
Mallory
S o blood-thirsty.
If he only fucking knew.
I’ve been warring with that god damn voice in my head for the past three and a half weeks. While he’s completely aroused I killed his traitorous comrade, I guarantee he’d be less than pleased to know I killed and tortured an innocent woman.
You want to do it again, t he voice whispers in my head.
Fuck, of all the things I’m dealing with since coming back, a lust for killing shouldn’t be one of them.
Embrace me, and I’ll help you with those pesky nightmares.
The sickly-sweet words slither through my grey matter, and I unleash a scream beneath the water’s surface. It’s a cathartic outpouring of my frustrations until my lungs burn. I break the surface before heaving in a mouthful of bath water, and try to calm the racing of my heart.
My head falls back against the edge of the massive tub, eyes falling shut as peacefulness eventually finds me .
“Your sandwich, my love.” Nox kneels beside the tub, extending the plate like a servant while so enticingly naked.
I sit up, moving to grab the plate from his hand. The smell wafting up from the deli meat hits me like a freight train, and invisible hands violently constrict my air flow.
Feed me.
I cut out her esophagus and used it like a fleshlight. Spilling my cum down her throat over and over until it shrivelled up and rotted.
Pass it to me with your tongue.
Pushing away the plate, I try to stand. “Get it away,” I mumble, dizzy and nauseous, unable to see straight. Staggering in the slick porcelain tub, Johnson’s laughter rings in my head.
Hands grab at me, but I push them away.
I slip.
Water sloshes.
Something crashes, the shattering sound echoing around me.
A voice is loud but I can’t make it out through the fog.
Fuck, something’s wrong.
“MALLORY!” Nox’s terrified bellow cuts clear through my panic. Is he okay?
Snapping my head in the direction of his voice, my long hair whips around me, lashing my cold goose-bumped skin. The panic abates and my vision clears. “What the fuck?” he harshly whispers.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” I cry. Blood stains the towel beneath his feet, and guilt presses down on me, threatening to crush me beneath its tremendous weight .
“Are you?” he pants, hands reaching out to grip my forearms and steady me.
“You’re bleeding!”
“Are you okay?” he gruffly asks.
“Yes, yes. I’m okay now. What happened?”
He assesses me, debating whether to tell me the truth or not. “I stepped on the broken plate trying to make sure you didn’t slip and crack your skull open.”
A fat lump gets stuck in my throat. I gulp it back, force it down. He’s hurt because of me. My eyes burn as tears spring to the surface.
Stop it, Mallory, the voice snaps.
A white towel works to soak up his blood, the pool increasing in size the longer I stare at it.
“Look at me,” he demands and I obey, lifting my ashamed eyes to his.
“I know you left a shit-ton out of your police statement,” he starts.
I open my mouth to interject but he silences me with a look.
Nox’s anger and concern flow out into the atmosphere around us as I stand there shivering.
The malice in his eyes promises violence, and I want to climb him like a tree.
Shit, he’s still talking to me. Focus. “…need you to talk to me. I know you don’t want to…
but by not knowing, I’m unintentionally hurting you.
It’s gutting me that every issue tonight was because of me. ”
“I can’t be scared of everything forever,” I reply.
“Mallory,” he says fatly, “you were subjected to unimaginable things for weeks. Victoria was strangled unconscious, and you thought she died. Then I was shot.”
I wince, Victoria wouldn’t have been taken and Nox wouldn’t have been shot if I had killed Ted when I had the chance.
“Then,” he continues, “you were poked, prodded, and tested on at the hospital in order to save my life.”
“You know?”
“Of course I know.”
“Oh.”
“After that, you had a million other tests and exams done. Then you never left my side while I recovered, all while hiding everything that happened to you from me. I can’t imagine the weight you carry, let me help.
Let me in, Mallory.” His voice fucking breaks, and he’s barely holding back tears of his own.
“I fucking failed you, over and over. Let me try to save you now.”
“Okay,” I surrender, and his face brightens just a little bit. Leaning down, I pull the plug from the tub. “Can I just start with a list of things to avoid before I get into the specifics?”
“Yeah, baby. Whatever works.”
“You didn’t have to break a plate to get out of the glitter bath,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
“Tiny victories,” he says. “Watch the glass.”
I lift my leg to step out of the tub, and he steadies me.
“Can you grab me some pants, and the first aid kit?” Nox asks.
“You don’t want to go to the hospital?”
“Uhh, no. I’m going to tell you what to do, and you’re going to play doctor.”
“I don’t think so!”
“Mallory, these are important life skills. And I can’t bend that way to give myself stitches. ”
“Stitches!?” I exclaim.
“Yes, baby. Your thick ceramic plates are fucking sharp.”
Knowing he usually gets his way, I reluctantly accept my fate. Gesturing to his foot, “Show me,” I say.
He lifts his foot, and the skin is barely hanging on. Oddly, I’m not at all squeamish, but he’s going to have to go to the hospital unless he wants the soles of his feet looking like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s face.
“Other one,” I say. He drops the first foot and lifts the other, it’s got a gash but not near as bad. “Nope,” I counter, popping the ‘p’ sound. “We are going to the hospital.”
“Mallory,” he growls.
“Be a good boy for me, and I’ll get you a milkshake. Kay? Now, let’s go.” His eyes darken, and he palms his dick. “Really? Now?!”
“You’re sexy. I can’t help it,” he replies sheepishly.
“Okay, well, do as you’re told, and maybe you’ll get something special when we get home.” I wiggle my eyebrows and he laughs.
“You just want to drive my truck.”
“Maybe…” I smirk. I can’t deny it’s something I’ve wanted since I first saw it, so…it’s fucking happening.
“You still need to wrap my foot up before we go so blood doesn’t get all over the interior.”
“Yes, sir.” He grips his cock again, and I roll my eyes. “I’m going to put clothes on.”
“But if all the blood is in my dick then my foot won’t bleed as much!” he hollers.
His outrageous fit of laughter follows me out of the bathroom and down the hall to our shared bedroom. At least his sense of humour is still intact after everything.