Page 79 of Oblivion
“What, Stormy? He’s allowed to talk to me like that, yet I’m not allowed to defend myself? Are you all out of your mind?” I looked at the three of them. “You’re acting as if I’m this damsel that needs someone to protect me.” I looked at Atlas and Storm. “You are acting as if I wouldn’t be capable of killing you. You’re forgetting that your rules don’t apply to me—”
“Phee.” Atlas came closer to me, putting his hand on my shoulder, but I shook him off, pissed at all of them. “Please.”
“No,” I answered and stepped back with Kaiser. “You wanted war?” I looked at Storm. “Well, this is war.” I smiled. “If any of your men even dare to look at me wrongly, I can promise you that they will not be seeing the next sunrise.”
“You can’t say that,” Indigo whined. “She can’t say that.” He looked at Storm as if he could help him.
“I went away, you motherfuckers. I went away, leaving all of this behind because I didn’t want to deal with any of you. I deserve a place where people are going to respect me and want me there, and I never found it here. So what if I killed people for a living? Are you trying to tell me that every single kill of yours was only against bad guys?”
None of them answered.
“Are you trying to tell me that the people you slaughtered didn’t have families, lives and whatnot? It’s easy to act as if what happened to you is the end of the world, because you’re closing your eyes to the pain of others,” I told Storm, looking straight at him. “It’s easy to make me the villain because it fits your agenda.” I looked at Indigo. “I don’t want to be here. But you brought me back and now you’re trying to tell me how to act?” I scoffed. “Well, fuck you.”
I pulled Kaiser with me, his body never relaxing as we passed by Storm and Indigo.
“No dogs in the house,” Indigo dared to say.
“Watch me, Indy. Fucking try me, bitch.”
“Sunshine,” Storm said. “Wait.”
“Fuck you, Storm. Fuck you and your merry band of leather-wearing asshats.” I turned toward him, glaring the entire time. “Kieran was an asshole, still is, but at least he knew where he fucked up and he tried to fix it. You need to get down off your high horse and look in the mirror. I’m not the only guilty party here. And please,” I rolled my eyes, “keep your dogs on a leash, because I won’t hesitate to put them to sleep.”
I could hear them talking, calling out to me, but I ignored all of them. It wasn’t my fault I was born with this last name. It wasn’t my fault that darkness was the only thing I knew up until recently. But I stood by what I said—they are not saints, even though they’re trying to act that way.
Each and every one of them had fucked up at least once in their life, yet they looked down on me as if I was the worst person ever to walk on this planet.
Maybe not Atlas, but the disgust in Indigo’s eyes raised my hackles, and I’d be damned if I allowed another person to talk to me that way.
A man was sitting on the staircase as I walked in, his eyes widening as soon as he saw me and Kaiser.
“Good, you know who I am,” I said.
“I-I,” he stammered.
“I don’t have time for niceties today, so I will get straight to the point. I need a leash for my dog because he needs his walk and I need to get away from here before I kill someone.”
He looked at me as if he was seeing a ghost, but he didn’t move.
“Do what she says,” Storm barked from behind me, igniting my anger even higher. “And find her some pants and shoes as well. She can’t walk outside like this.”
“On it, Prez.” The guy scrambled, leaving me alone with Storm.
“You can’t threaten my men like that, Ophelia,” he said as soon as the man was out of the earshot.
“Your men can’t treat me like I’m a common whore, brought here to please their boss.” I looked at him pointedly. “Once they learn how to control their filthy tongues, I’ll start controlling my murderous urges.”
“God,” he exhaled. “And to think that I used to fight for you.”
“Oh no, buddy. You never fought for me.” I stepped closer to him. “You expected me to fall on my knees and worship you. You expected me to love you no matter what, but that’s not how love works. You’re blaming me for what I did, and I respect that, but you played your part as well, Storm, so stop acting like a motherfucking saint and own your mistakes.”
I started walking upstairs with Kaiser in tow and turned one last time.
“And for fuck’s sakes, just let me go. Let me go and live your life freely without me. It is obvious that the only thing we are capable of is hurting each other, and that isn’t working for us.”
I didn’t wait to hear his answer and started walking back up, but as soon as I came to the top of the staircase, I heard it. Almost a whisper, meant only for him to hear, but I caught it, nevertheless.
“I can’t.”
