He calls back, “I want a cookie! I earned a cookie, dammit!”

The woman calls out, “No cookies! Dinner will be ready soon.” Nox attempts to cover the phone, but I hear every word. Thinking hard about what he said, I say quietly, “Noted.”Ī squeal in my ear sounds, and Nox yells out, “Lily! He’s loose!”Ī woman calls back, “You know, he wasn’t the Immaculate Conception. With a noose you put around your own neck.” And that’s when you’re going to realize that you lost her and that you got hung. You’re gonna love her so much and do everything to keep her, and that noose will become so tight that you can’t breathe. Because time’s gonna pass and that secret is gonna be a noose tightening around your neck. “You love her, then you need to tell her the truth. Listen carefully.” Rolling my eyes, I grunt for him to go on. I’m telling you something that you need to hear. “I’m worried you’ll hurt her without meaning to.”Īnger surges through me. You can pry her from my cold, dead fingers, bro.” Finally got something I’m proud of, and you want me to give her up? Not likely. He says gently, “Sometimes you gotta walk away for the sake of the people you love.” Especially when you’re high most of your teenage years.” I say quietly, “She’s nothing of what I made her out to be.” I continue quickly, “But you gotta understand that my obsession with her started a long time ago, when I was a kid, and the mind distorts things. I was going to hurt her.” His intake of breath lets me know he’s pissed at me.

But that line teetered when I met the real her, compared to my mind’s version of her.” Nox is a good guy, and one of the rare people I work with that I trust. You know that saying there’s a thin line between love and hate? I hated her. “I’ve always loved her, in a really f**ked up way. “Your dumbass went and fell in love with her.” A statement. I spit, “Julius needs to mind his own f**king business!” Nox sighs, “Julius doesn’t see it that way.” I grit my teeth and count to ten.īreathing deeply, I assure him, “Regardless of what Julius thinks, she’s my girl. My blood pressure soars through the roof. So you could say I’m a little worried about her, seeing as you’ve claimed her.” Nox sighs, “Just…don’t get pissed, okay? But Julius called and…” Motherfuck! “And he might’ve mentioned that this girl was in danger.” Sitting in my desk chair, my brow furrows at his tone, “What’s the problem here?” Silence, then a restrained, “Glad it worked out.” Once I close the office door behind me, I tell him honestly. Standing, I wink at Lexi and mouth, ‘important’ before taking off upstairs to my office. I hadn’t heard from you since you asked me to track down that girl.

Raw by Belle Aurora