In Death

I closed my shop and clutched my bag tightly. It was raining cats and dogs and I'd forgotten to bring an umbrella, though I didn't mind. It was late and a few drops of water couldn't hurt. I took the usual short-cut through the alley to get to my house and saw someone leaning against a wall, head down. 

I walked faster, I knew all about the kind that hung in alleys at night, looking for innocent women to prey on. My hand clutched around the pepper spray in my purse, defensively. It took me a minute to realise that the creep was following me. I increased my pace, he did the same and my heart clenched with fear. Finally, he stopped right in front of me, I opened my mouth to scream, though I highly doubted anybody would care for it at this hour of the night. But, I closed my mouth as soon as I saw his face. My heart stopped beating and a lump formed in my throat.

I thought he'd been dead. I never could've imagined I'd see that smile of his again. 

"No," I whispered.

Ashton towered over me, tall as a mountain and handsome as an angel. I stepped back, hugging myself as an instinct. 

He grabbed my arm roughly, pulling me forward.

"What's up, Eleanor," he muttered in my ear as I tried to fight back, unsuccessfully. 

 "How- what?" Words seemed to slip from my tongue, leaving me unable to form sentences.

"Surprised to see me?" He asked in that angelic voice of his. It still turned my stomach, knowing what he could do to me. 

I found my voice and squared my shoulders. "I thought you were dead, Ash." realising that this was no time to use nicknames, I quickly added. "-ton."

"Yeah, you did. Because as I recall you were the one who left me for dead." He snarled, and I winced, afraid of what he would do to me. 

I debated on apologising or shoving my knee in his groin. I decided on the former.

"Ash, I'm sorry. I was scared." I said pouring emotions in my voice, to soften him up.

He grabbed me by the collar and hitched me up to my toes. "Sorry? You are sorry?" he growled. "Bitch, you tried to kill me, just to save your tiny ass."

It was not the smartest move, but I shot back at him. "You would've done the same and were going to."

He pulled my hair back, so my eyes met his. "No, I wasn't. I loved you, and you stabbed my back, literally."

He spun me around and pressed my back against the wall. Ashton pulled his shirt up and turned so I could see an enormous white scar on his back, right where I'd stabbed him. 

"See what you did? Had to be in the freaking hospital for weeks, and now I am going to have my revenge."

I reached the pepper spray as he turned around and was about to pull it out before he struck me across the face, with so much force I stumbled and almost fell to the ground. 

Fury bubbled inside me, and I struck back, raking my nails across his face. He was no less and shoved me hard, I got up from the floor and kicked at him, he caught it in mid-air and flipped me over. It was more a fight for control than it was for hurting each other. Ultimately, he pinned me down as I fought under him.

"Few years off the streets have turned you soft." He snickered, and with a final blow to my head, he knocked me unconscious. 

I woke in the dingy place that I so vividly recalled. I was surprised that he had chosen to live in the same place where we had lived earlier. My hands were tied to the bedpost and he stood in front of me, smiling. God, had I begun to hate that smile. 

"What the hell do you want?" I asked.

"I want you to relive that day as I had. I want vengeance. I want as much money as you have, right now. But, first things first. Imagine being stupidly in love with a young woman, beautiful, elegant and dangerous, just the perfect one. That would be you. I remember your leather jacket and your tough fists."

My expression remained blank, although I remembered it all clearly. He was one of the street thugs, selling drugs and picking fights. When we'd met he and I'd bashed each other up, then done it like rabbits. He introduced me to his boss, one of the richest men in the country at that time and I'd seen a chance. 

"Then you pulled me in your twisted love which was good while it lasted. At least when we were not ripping each other out."

That was true, we fought like savages but couldn't seem to keep our hands off each other for long. Finally, we decided to move in, with the money that I had stolen off people and the money that he had got being a dealer. As far as I was concerned, he was the one. Handsome and deadly.

He pulled at the ends of my hair, which fell to my waist. 

"You had shorter hair then and more badly cut. And your hands weren't pretty. They were hard are ready for a hit."

It had been easier to hack at my hair and keep it short because long hair needs maintenance and hurts a lot when pulled. I'd never let my hair grow past my shoulders back then. 

"They still are. Wanna try?" I said.

He laughed. "No, they still have the shadow of your past but are no[t as efficient. Now, where was I? ah, yes, I was telling you about the day you tried to kill me."

"Wasn't my fault. You were practically abusing me, and I was putting up with it."

He snorted. "Putting up with it, my ass. Don't pretend like you didn't hit me back."

"You don't remember what you did when you were high. You almost raped me." I could still feel him grabbing my wrists and pushing them back. 

He was silent for a while, then he shook it off, and continued with the story that both of us knew by heart.

"Then Lawrence came in and you decided to become his bitch, doing whatever he asked whenever he asked for it. And when the cops were behind his ass, you two decided to put me on the line." His voice dripped with disgust. 

"I warned you and said that you should move out, get away from Lawrence, and they were only behind his ass because of you. You were careless and sold the wrong stuff to the wrong person. What were we supposed to do? I was protecting you."

"Really? In which dictionary does stabbing someone mean that you are protecting them?"

"Well, when I told you that Lawrence is going to kick your ass, you snapped out at me. And you threatened to dump the drugs down the toilet, some of which you even did. So I had no choice but to hurt you, get the drugs and go straight to Lawrence, he gave me his shop that I now run and get good money out of. I would never, ever go back to living on the streets."

"Whatever, you now are going to experience what it is like to be," He held his two fingers a millimetre apart. "This close to death."

He turned to get a knife from the kitchen. In sheer desperation, I struggled against the bonds as they cut deeper in my wrists, I saw my purse, lying beside me. I twisted my legs, scissoring them so that I could slowly pass the pocketknife I carried in my purse to my hands and worked on the rope, I didn't have enough time as he soon walked in, with the same knife that I had held in my hands so long ago. 

I had to keep him talking and distracted so that I could work on those bonds. "Ashton, you don't have to do this. We can be together again. Remember how good it was? I can give you more, anything you need." I poured the fear and desperation in my voice, hoping that he would buy it long enough.

"No thanks, I am dead set on vengeance. Even if it brings me pain," he said. 

Almost there. Just ten more seconds. 

His face was close to mine now, with no choice left I leaned forward placing my lips on his, catching him by surprise. His armed hand loosened, I have to admit that I'd almost forgotten how good he was with his tongue. But I was more aware and sure of what I was going to do, and it was going to be nasty. 

As soon as he broke the kiss, my knife was on his throat. Bringing my knee upward, I hit him in the groin and when he curled I slit his throat, for I knew that he would've done the same if I'd been vulnerable. Gushing blood he slashed his knife towards me blindly and caught me on my stomach. I pushed him to the ground and ran. 

I stopped in front of the alley in which I'd met him. Too bad he wanted to kill me. He was incredibly good in bed. Sighing, I dipped my head lower and stripped. I pulled off all the blood-covered clothes which left me half-naked. Pulling myself together I disposed of them and went into my house to report a murder.