A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

by Alice Winters

“What is with your obsession with fingerprints?” he asks. “I like how unique they are. Each one tells a different story.” “And what do yours tell?” I glance up and catch his eyes watching me closely. “The story of a man who will tear this world apart for you.” “Why me?” “I’ve asked myself that very question again and again.” “I…” Gabriel shakes his head. “I don’t know that I can forgive you. I don’t know that I can look past what you’ve done… what you are.”

“How was Lucille Pawl last night?” “I’ve renamed her Lucy Fur since you like atrocious names so much. She’s named after her father… Lucifer.” “Do not call my cat Lucifer!” “I’m not. It’s Lucy… Fur. Like cat fur. I woke up with Lucy Fur sitting in the doorway of my bedroom staring at me. And when I went to pass her to use the bathroom, she sprang up and bit me on the knee. I have fang marks in my knee. I’m afraid the only way they’ll heal is for you to kiss it.” “She must have been scared.” “Of what? Her own inability to find happiness?” I ask. “I found her when she was like three weeks old. I bottle raised her. She’s never been without me. This is really hard for her.” “What did you feed Lucy Fur to make her so mean?” “Stop calling her that!” he says as he chases after me, and I’m not going to lie… I love it.

“So why didn’t you go through with it?” “Because I promised you I wouldn’t. Can we negotiate this promise?” Why does it make me feel good that even after all this time, even after he put a fucking man in his trunk… he’s chosen to protect that promise to me? “What if I lightly kill him?” he asks. “You can’t lightly kill someone.” “Sure you can. Like… I’m going to lightly stab him… oh shit… oh no… he’s stopped breathing. I will lightly try to resuscitate him. And then I will lightly guide him into this unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere.” I stare at him. He stares back. “All of that was clear murder,” I remind him.

“Is everything up to Her High Majesty Lucifer the Great and Bitchy’s satisfaction?” “Seems to be. She’s still hissing at you?” “Hissing, striking, yowling. I believe she goes through the five stages of grief every time she wakes up and sees me. She screeches out her displeasure hourly. She likes to watch me scoop her shit. I make sure to look her in the eyes when I do it and she loves it.” Gabriel laughs and I love the sound of it. “You’re ridiculous. I know I’ve told you that time and time again, but you are definitely ridiculous.” “Am I? When I just watched your cat try to stuff her head into your mouth as you laughed, you have the audacity to call me ridiculous?”

“If you get lonely when she’s not around, I volunteer my body for tribute.” “To… hold like a baby?” Gabriel asks as he raises an eyebrow. “That is correct. I am prepared to do this for you.” “You act like it’d be a hardship for you,” he says as he watches me pull some pork out of the fridge. “It’s a hardship I’m willing to face… because of you.” “You’re just jealous of my cat. Admit it.” “Yes, but can your cat make you dinner?” “She brought you dinner not long before I arrived, and you chose to dispose of it,” he says, referring to the mouse. “But did I?” I ask as I wave toward the bowl I’m mixing seasonings into. “You never specified what you wanted on your pork.”

“She thinks she’s a Komodo dragon. One bite and she’ll get to watch me die a horrible and painful death,” I say as I try to hold out the pork again. She growls at it as I look at Gabriel, who is clearly trying to come up with another excuse for his precious feline. “You moved too fast.” “I’ll show you what she wants,” I say as I pick up the steak knife and hold it out to her with the handle aimed at her. She sets her paw right on top of it. “Thumbs. She wants thumbs so she can hold this knife and shiv me while I sleep.”

“Gabriel, I promise I’ll kill him. And then I’ll let you get back to your life.” “What if I don’t want that?” I say as I drag myself to him. I swing my leg over his waist and grab his face tightly in my hand. “Why the fuck can’t I step away from you?” “You can. I can leave. After he’s dead, I’ll leave, and your life can go back to normal.” “I don’t even know what normal is.” “Normal is a life without me in it.”

“Liam, could I borrow some clothes so I don’t have to run to Chris’s… oh dear god, the look of excitement on your face has made me change my mind. Never mind.” “What fucking look? There was no look at all! If it was the manic look of delight you believe you saw as a fantasy of you wearing my clothes and going ‘I made you pancakes, you sexy man, but I got so hot I lost my pants’ runs through my head, then you’re obviously confused.” “How the fuck did it go from me asking if I could borrow clothes to that?” “I don’t know, Gabriel. I think we’ve already covered the fact that my mind is a delightful place.” “Did we? I’m texting Chris.” “To wear his clothes?” I ask in horror. “No, why the fuck would I wear Chris’s clothes when he could bring me my own clothes?” “Ah… I might have… panicked a bit there. My bad. No, no. Please wear my clothes. I will do nothing and say nothing about it. I swear on your cat.” “Don’t swear on my cat!”

“I guess we can drive separate so you don’t have to run me anywhere later,” Gabriel says, like he wants to take my state of euphoria and stamp it down to healthy levels. “You might as well stay here again tonight, so it’d be best to leave your car here.” “I don’t know what I’m doing tonight.” I take his head in my hands and direct it to the window where Lucy Fur is sitting in her little window perch pawing at the window. “Look into her eyes and tell your child you’re not coming home tonight. You tell her you’re going out for milk, and five years from now she’ll wonder if you ever found that milk, and question if maybe it wasn’t the milk all along but her that was the problem.” “You are so freaking dramatic! How do you two not see that you have the same damn personality?”

“You can put me down.” “The floor is lava,” I announce as I hold him while I turn the shower on. Only when the water’s hot do I gently set him inside. I grab a washcloth and squeeze some soap onto it before I start washing him, thrilled by this new activity. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a more fun one. “I can wash myself.” “But why would you when I’m here? Is the washcloth soft enough?” “Are you going to make it softer if I say no?” “I could shave Lucy Fur and make you a washcloth from her fur.” “Do not touch the floof.”

“Please don’t die on me. I love you,” he says as he grabs my face and kisses me. “If I knew it was this easy to get a confession, I’d have let someone shoot me much sooner.” “I’d have volunteered,” Matthew comments. “See? Matthew could have shot me weeks ago,” I say. “Why? What is wrong with you?” Gabriel asks, but I see a small hint of a smile among his stress.

“And you and Lucille Pawl still need to become best friends.” “She bit me today. She was like ‘Look at my fluffy belly’ and I was like ‘Hell no, cat, I would never fall for that.’” “But you fell for it?” “It was a moment of weakness. I think it’s your constant cooing about how cute she is that made my brain momentarily misfire and I thought she was possibly… lightly… touchable.”