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I looked back up at Tony, startled by his sudden closeness. The heat of his breath touched my face as he reached for me. I flinched away, but all he did was swipe my chin with a thumb. Blood gleamed on the black leather of his gloves as he stared at it.
“He didn’t die right away, you know,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “He laid there in his own blood, where you left him, and bled out slowly.”
Tears sprang to my eyes as I shook my head. No. That couldn’t be true. It couldn’t.
Tony’s sharp eyes flicked to mine. “He woke up sometime after the stabbing and dragged himself to the living room. We aren’t sure what he was doing, but his phone was charging in the bedroom, so I think maybe he was going for that.” His voice sounded cold. Detached.
I shivered.
“You’re lucky, you know that?” His head tilted to the side again as he stared at me. “Since both of them were dead, they determined that they’d killed each other. A crazed druggy breaking into his neighbor’s apartment, probably looking for more drugs and money, and they both ended up dead. They didn’t look more into it, but I knew better.”
He leaned toward me until his lips were directly at my ear. “I knew better because I knew about you,” he whispered. “It took me a little while to find you, but it wasn’t hard. Did he never tell you I worked for that busing company? I was the one who got you that damn ticket in the first place.”
A sob escaped me, and Tony pulled back. “Jay talked about you all the damn time. He told me all the stories and how crazy and terrible that man was to you. He empathized with you, and look where that got him. Look where bleeding hearts get you. In the fucking ground.”
He slashed out with the knife so suddenly I didn’t have time to react. I felt a searing, sharp pain on my side and gasped. I swayed back, the chains rattling. There was a perfect red line on my side, curving slightly onto my stomach. Blood dripped down my pale skin, but it looked shallow.
When I glanced back up at Tony, his hands shook; the knife quivered in his grip. “Don’t worry,” he said, sounding breathless. “I’m not going to kill you quickly. It’ll be slow. Painful. That’s just a taste of what you deserve.”
Another sob left me, my hands shaking as the pain radiated across my skin. “I’m so, so sorry, Tony.” And it wasn’t a lie to get myself out of this. It was true. I was sorry. I was so sorry for what happened to Jay.
Tony shook his head. “Shut up.”
Tears rolled down my face. It was swelling on the side Tony had punched, my eye almost swollen shut, but the tears found a way regardless.
“But I am. I’m so sorry. I never meant for that to happen. Jay was my friend.”
Tony lashed out again, the hot kiss of the knife skidding across my flesh. I gasped and cried out.
“I loved him!” Tony yelled. “I loved him so much, and you took him away from me.”
I drew in a ragged breath. “I loved him too, Tony. He showed me kindness and compassion, and he meant so much to me.”
The knife hit me once again. This time the slash went deeper, and the room spun. My shaky legs gave out, and I sagged against the chains holding me.
“Shut the hell up,” Tony cried, tears in his voice too. “Shut up shut up shut up! Don’t ever talk about him again. You left him for dead. You didn’t care about him at all.”
I didn’t open my mouth this time. My whole torso felt as if it were on fire. The basement spun, and my stomach lurched. Everything became gradually darker, and I thought maybe the sun was setting. But it was just me, slowly losing consciousness.
Tony was still speaking, yelling at me about how awful I was. And maybe he was right. Maybe it was my fault.
Maybe this was what I deserved.
