Haunting-Adeline

Cracking my neck, I take another deep, calming breath. My temper got
the best of me. I’m not usually a reac ve person, but I’ve already accepted
the fact that my li le mouse brings out new feelings in me, too.
“How many women have you hurt, Archie?” I ask, licking my lips and
circling his body un l I disappear from view.
It’s an in mida on tac c for the weak-minded. Makes them nervous
when I vanish behind them for that brief moment. Their minds get away
from them as they an cipate what I’m going to do. And then they get a
li le relief when they see me again.
Just to repeat the process.
It’s torture in itself. Not knowing if I’m going to strike. Or when.
“Do not call me Archie,” he snaps, seething as I stand behind him. He’s
tense.
I circle back to the front and his shoulders loosen, just an inch.
“You’re evading the ques on, Archie,” I point out, deliberately using the
name. He snarls at my defiance but doesn’t reply.
His mother always called him Archie. Up un l she died of breast cancer
when he was ten years old. That’s when his father lost it and started
dealing drugs to make money to pay off all the medical bills and funeral
expenses.
He raised his children to be cold and ruthless, and Archie here never let
anyone call him by his mother’s nickname without stabbing them.
He’s stabbed a lot of people for calling him that name, including his best
friend Max. His buddy complained about it a me or two in a bar Jay
frequents.
“Don’t make me ask again,” I warn, my voice lowering to convey just how
serious I am.
“I don’t know,” he shouts, frustrated. “A couple, I guess. The fuck does it
ma er?”
“I read up on your ex-wife,” I say, ignoring the stupid fucking ques on.
“You beat her so badly, she was barely recognizable when she was taken to
the hospital. Evidence indicated that you broke a tequila bo le against her
face and then stabbed her with it. Not to men on the countless broken
bones and bruises. You nearly killed her.”
Archie sniffs, not the slightest bit of remorse reflec ng in his cold eyes.
The narcissis c assholes never are. Somehow, they twist it in their head