Because I was wrong to hurt you.
BecauseIwas the sick one, not you.
Because I’m sorry, Baz. I’m so sorry for what I did to you.
Hell, at this point, I’d even take one word if I believed she meant it. One shit-ass little “sorry,” and I’d walk away from this moment, letting her keep whatever pathetic life she thinks she’s got left.
But when Janelle finally finds her words, the ones that spill out are as twisted and ugly as her soul.
“You’ve always been an ungrateful bastard,” she says, doing her best to put some fire behind it. “Your parents were right to abandon you. And that spirit-blessed bitch you call your girlfriend? She’ll abandon you too.”
She narrows her eyes, her lips twitching into a smirk, as though she’s waiting for me to crumble, to fall at her feet, to beg her forgiveness.
But all I can do is shake my head.
“You have no power over me, Janelle Kirkpatrick. You arenothing. I could end you, or I could walk away right now, and your life wouldstillbe over. Because then you’d have to spend the rest of your wretched existence knowing that the boy you tried to control, to manipulate, to crush… That he grew up to be a man. That he found love and friendship and acceptance. That he wasneverbroken. That he never needed you. Thatnoone needs you.”
She opens and closes her mouth like a fish, but no more words escape.
“Lucky for you, I’m not interested in making you suffer with that burden,” I say, my hands itching with the need to finish this. I wrap them around her throat again and lean in close, offering her one last grin. “I’d rather just choke you to death. Goodbye, Janelle.”
I press my thumbs against her windpipe.
“Baz!” she coughs out. “Don’t!”
“Sorry, what’s that? I can’t hear you.” I press harder, power coursing through my veins. Not magick, but power. Dark and hungry and ready to feed.
Kill her. Crush her. Take your revenge…
An explosion of stone and wood overhead shakes me out of my killing trance. Before I can even process what the fuck just happened, Carly’s standing in front of me.
“How the fuck did you get through my wards?”
“Magick,” she snaps. “Now come back upstairs with me. Stevie’s making tea—we can all talk about this like adults.”
“Adults. Right. So you and Stevie are friends now? What’s that all about?”
“At the moment it’s all about saving you from making the biggest dumb-ass mistake of your dumb-ass life.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I liked it better when you two wanted to claw each other’s eyes out.” I turn back to Janelle, eager to get the job done, but Carly’s not giving up so easily.
She steps in front of me, wedging herself between me and her mother’s cot, her hands firm on my chest.
“Listen to me, Baz. I don’t blame you for wanting her dead. Hell,Iwant her dead. But—”
“Carly,” Janelle whispers. “Carly, do something.”
Ignoring this, Carly pushes against my chest. “Just come back upstairs. We don’t have to talk or drink tea if you don’t want to. We can just—”
“Baby,please,” Janelle croaks. “He’s crazy. He’s—”
In a move I couldn’t have predicted with all the psychic power in the Academy, Carly straight up sucker-punches her mother in the mouth, knocking the bitch out cold.
“Goddess, I thought she’d never shut up.” She shakes out her hand, flexing her fingers. “Wow, that really hurt. They never tell you that, do they?”
“Did you just… did you seriously just punch your mom?”
“Says the guy who was about thirty seconds from killing her?”
