Menace (Scarlet Scars #1)

by J.M. Darhower

Fucking fool. That’s what I am. That’s me. Lorenzo ‘Fucking Fool’ Gambini. Say it with me.

But the gut? The gut knows. The gut remembers. You should always listen to it.

You see, I learned long ago that the most valuable thing you have is your reputation. It gets you things money can’t buy, opening up doors that are usually sealed tight. Don’t listen to that ‘fuck what people think’ Sesame Street bullshit they spoon-fed you as a kid. You should care what people say about you.

If my stepfather taught me anything, it was that the key to survival is mimicry. You be what you need to be for somebody. Wear the skin of a rattlesnake even if there’s not a single drop of venom inside of you, because if you make them believe, they won’t come close enough to get bit. They won’t get close enough to see that maybe it’s a disguise; maybe you’re not as dangerous as they think. And if they do get that close, well, then you’ve got a choice: you either surrender or you become the thing they fear most. I don’t surrender.

You can’t just be all one thing. If you’ve gotta be a monster, you be a fucking shapeshifter.

Someone once told me that evil can sense itself inside of others, our hearts beating in a different rhythm than most, playing a morbid song that only other evil knows.

You burn a little witch at the stake and she’ll laugh in your face.

There’s a reason girls yell ‘fire’ instead of ‘rape’, why we lie and say we have boyfriends instead of just saying ‘no’ when we’re not interested. Because a lot of men respect another man’s property more than they respect a woman’s right to her own body.

Moments are pieces, formed together and built upon, creating the bigger picture within the border of your world. My puzzle is full of deformed shapes and jagged edges, but it still all fits together in its own twisted way, making a hideous fucking picture of my reality. I like puzzles.

“Sometimes the stories are horrific, Scarlet. Just because you haven’t found some bullshit Prince Charming doesn’t mean fairy tales aren’t real. They’re just not always pretty pictures.”

His lips are the softest things about him, warm and gentle, like a slice of heaven wrapped in hell, so worth battling the flames to feel his fire.

“I swear to God, if you throw yourself off this roof, I’m jumping after you, and I’m going to catch you.”

“Reason number thirteen, Scarlet: I may just be your only hope.”