Page 85 of Overkill

I’d taken a page from Melody and left my shoes by the door.

This guy was such an inconsiderate prick.

“Not like you don’t got it,” I said. The fucking bill was pennies to a Griffith of the Virginia Griffiths with the daddy as the head of the CIA and the mother a millionaire socialite. “I’ll wire Taz the money.”

I took out my phone, opening the money app to send her however much it could have possibly cost and then some.

Griff slapped the phone out of my hand.

“Don’t insult me, asshole!” He growled. “You left us there without a fucking word. What the hell? You inconsiderate fuck cock swaddle!”

And like every time before, I let him take out his rage, his fucking problems, on me. I deserved it. But the words coming out of his insipid mouth weren’t his. They were mine.

Thoughtless.

Brainless.

A fucking idiot.

I got the girl. Then lost her.

His tone, my thoughts. They came together in perfectly balanced harmony. A melody…

My Melody.

Mine.

But not.

“Are you even listening?” The punch on my face was hard, sudden, and enough to rattle my teeth. “You fucking bitch!”

I punched back on instinct, jabbing him under the chin.

He stumbled, his hands on his snarling face. Every fucking muscle ticked on his clean-shaven jaw.

“Yeah, no wonder she walked out on you.” He chuckled, widening the cut on his lip. “I was wondering why a sweet kid like that would be into you. I guess anyone can get dick-matized?”

He spat on the ground in front of me.

“Just like all the others you fucking ruined behind you.”

I punched him again.

Not for me. Not for the women who had fallen into bed with me in the past. Hell, we deserved each other. But because in a small, roundabout way, he had insulted Melody. Because he was lumping her with all the alcohol-hazed faces blurring with body parts and moans that I didn’t want to remember.

Because Melody belonged on her own. On her own pedestal. A category all in herself.

She was nothing like anyone else, and he blasphemed when he said otherwise.

“Oh, you poor, poor fucking idiot.” Griff sneered. “You actually like this one, don’t you?”

He laughed, and I growled. He laughed harder. My veins must have been popping out of my head, because I was so God damn mad at him, at everyone in the world, and especially at myself.

“Well look at that,” he marveled mockingly. “All your fucking bullshit came to roost, didn’t it? About fucking time.”

“Shut up!” I felt like a kid again, with Ma hovering over me, wooden spoon in hand.

“You were never going to be good enough. How long did you spend with her? One night? Just long enough to ruin her life, right?” He was cackling.