Page 24 of Tame Me
“Can I look judgmental then?”
“No.”
“That’s a shame.”
I walked past her before she could pester me further, slipping into the hallway where the music dulled, and the air felt heavier, somehow more breathable, away from the awful music and the walking dead.
We liked the music! Go back! Go to music!
The demons hissed in my ears, and I hummed a tune to shut them out. Quiet meant I could hear myself think.
Which was…optional, honestly.
Randall’s face popped into my head like it owned a spot there, and the demons suddenly stopped whining for a moment.
I wanted to curse my brain for this uninvited memory party, but seeing my sexy little cop made me feel more at ease, so I let him stay right where he was in my noggin.
“You’d hate this,” I told him. “Too organized. You like your chaos messy and controlled.”
No response.
He was bad at conversations.
I dragged my fingers along the wall as I walked, feeling the textures and leaving my mark at the same time. There were the usual scratches and dents on the stucco, and vomit, blood, and semen, too…probably.
Meh. little imperfections make something truly perfect.
“Someone fought here,” I murmured, avoiding the fresh red splotches sprayed on the white wall. “Or a lot of someones,” I corrected.
Yeah, that tracked, considering it was a mural of splatter, the further down the hall I got. The symbol showed up again near the end of the hall, and I clicked my tongue.
“Hmm, looky here. Maybe the other rigger had an unexpected two weeks’ notice.”
The symbol was etched into the wall, like someone couldn’t help themselves but to show off, and I smiled, stopping in front of it, letting my head tilt.
“Still neat handwriting,” I said. “That shit is hard to write like a girl. Am I looking for a bad girl or a stick-up-the-ass man?”
There was something almost…proud about it. The swirls were deep and carefully carved, like whoever made it wanted to be remembered.
“Good news,” I whispered, smiling a little. “I’ll remember you.”
I let a pause hang for my usual dramatic flair.
“Bad news though, big boy—or girl?”
My fingers tapped lightly against the mark, feeling the power and pain behind it.
“I’m going to ruin whatever your game is. I got nothing to lose, and I’ll give this last gift to my Randy Pandy if it kills me.”
I stepped past the symbol without another glance and tread deeper into the dark. If this place had touched his mommy…
I was going to touch it back with my fist.
The hallway didn’t end so much as it tightened.
Kinda felt like the building was clenching its ass around a nice dick.
“Cute,” I muttered. “Architectural anxiety.”
