Page 58 of Awakening the Beast
of the car. The cool ground meets my bare feet as I land on the mud, and I look around to find we’re parked next to a toweringcornfield that seems to stretch endlessly under the full moon’s bright light.
As I glance back, I see him circling the front of the car, his towering figure looming in the darkness. I take a few hesitant steps backward as he halts a few feet away, holding my gun casually by his side, his gaze fixed on me with an unsettling calmness.
“Come on, then,” he says bitterly. “Allow me to explain myself so you can fucking feel better.”
His attitude pissing me off, but I fight to maintain my composure. Just as I’m about to respond, he raises the gun, aiming it directly at me with a serious expression.
“Fucking speak, Wren.”
“Arlo, you’re not going to shoot me. Put down the gun.”
He suddenly lets off a bullet, smashing into the ground beside me and I jump with fear. My heart pounds wildly as I stare at him with wide eyes. His once familiar, commanding presence now feels dangerously unstable.
“SPEAK!” His yell is like a thunderclap, sending a tremor through me.
I stutter, my voice betraying my anxiety. “Your... your pierced dick.”
He raises an eyebrow. “What the fuck about it?”
“Well, how the hell would she know?”
Arlo’s gaze sharpens, and he takes a step forward and when he pauses, his eyes narrow as he delivers a blunt truth that sinks into my gut.
“We went to high school together. I was so high on cocaine one night that I pierced my own fucking dick. Everyone in that school knew; it was the talk for months.”
His straightforward confession leaves me grappling with the guilt that’s now settling inside me. The stupidity of it all hits me like a cold wave, and I feel the sharp sting of embarrassment for letting it get this far.
“Next,” he demands.
“Let’s just forget about it.” I murmur with a swallow.
His expression hardens, and he aims the gun more strongly, his teeth clenched in frustration. “I said fucking next.”
His intense gaze shows how far I’ve pushed him. How pissed off he is. As I gather my thoughts, I clear my throat, trying to steady myself.
“My initial on your palm. She saw it when you wrapped it around her throat.”
He shrugs his shoulders, “The only time she could have noticed that was when I broke into her Daddy's house and slapped my palm over her big fucking mouth when I killed him in front of her, the same night I killed my own father.”
When he says that, so calm and honestly, I’m left grappling with the brutal truth of the past.I second-guess myself. Everything I've been through—Arlo's death, just giving birth a few months ago, my parents’ deceit—is it all finally catching up to me? I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but how can anyone blame me for having trust issues? Even Arlo. Just whenI thought things were getting better with my mental health, something so simple has spiralled me out of control.
It feels like I’ve been trying to stitch myself back together, but the seams keep coming undone. Every new lie, every new heartbreak just tugs at those fragile threads, leaving me exposed. I want to believe I’m strong enough to handle it all, but some days, it’s like the past swallows me whole. Maybe I’ve been fooling myself into thinking I’m fine, that I’m ready to be back here, that I’m healed.
I was wrong, I shouldn’t have doubted him and while I can’t undo what’s been said and done, I can at least offer an apology.
I take a cautious step forward. “Arlo, I’m sor—”
“Fuck your apologies, Wren,” he interrupts, still seething with fury and hurt. “You have no fucking trust in me. After everything we’ve been through, no matter how much of a cunt I was or am, one thing I’ve always been is faithful, even when weren’t officially together.”
“I know, but…”
“Fuck your buts! You’re about to find your trust in me all over again, the hard way.”
His eyes blaze with a fierce intensity as he takes a step closer, his presence almost deadly.
“You’re about to meet the old me—the twisted fucking beast you somehow fell in love with—the one you found your trust in.”
A shiver scurries down my spine, a fusion of fear and a thrill coursing through me.
