Slaughter

by Shantel Tessier

“I do what I need to do. Just a few more years. Once you graduate, we are out of here. Together.” He wraps his arms around my waist. “It’ll be you and me, Bunny.” He lowers his forehead to mine and whispers, “All I need is you.” Then he seals that promise with a kiss.

Laughter fills my ears as the prettiest blue eyes stare up at me. Her blond hair fans out over her pillow. Soft hands wrap around my neck, and she pulls me down to her. “I love you, Avery,” she whispers against my lips. “I love you too, Bunny …”

Love? That word sounds minimal compared to what I once felt for her. She was life. She was … everything.

I’m coming for you, Bunny. And you have no fucking idea how much your life is about to change. For the worse.

I fucking loved her until she ruined me. And she doesn’t even care. She never looked back. But now she will. Now I get to remind her that the past always catches up with you. And she’s not going to like it.

This bitch is my heaven and my hell. My angel and my demon. And here I am, staring down the very woman I gave everything to, only for her to take it and run, never looking back.

I want her to beg me. I want her to bleed for me. I want her to love me.

don’t dish out what you don’t want served back to you. Just because you have a pussy doesn’t give you a pass to put your hands on a man. He’ll retaliate, and it’ll be twice as hard.

For eleven years, I’ve dreamed about him. Wanted him. And here he is. It’s like a nightmare come to life.

“Alcoholic, slut, and druggie?” I say, and her face tightens. “Never thought I’d see the day.” “If I remember correctly, the first time I got drunk was with you. The first person I fucked was you. And the first person who got me high … was you.”

“I allowed you to take me. I couldn’t find you, but I knew you’d come right to me. And now, here we are.”

“The innocent are the first sacrificed in war.”

No amount of alcohol or drugs could erase my mind. Memories. They’re a sickness with no cure. And I’ve been slowly dying ever since I lost him.

Men think they are God and can do whatever they want. One day, I’m going to be able to help the girls who are trapped in this dark madness. And when I can, I’ll make the men pay.

“Everyone knows who you are, Avery. And your father. You don’t own slaves.” He shakes his head. “You’re not like him. Never were.” I smile. “I do now.”

“It didn’t work, Bunny. You’re still mine. Now more than ever.”

“You were not meant for Avery, Presleigh. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be on you.”

“I’ve gone so many years with nothing but emptiness. Not able to feel anything.” She lifts her head, and her eyes look into mine. “You make me feel something. It may be pain, but it feels like love. It feels like life. I don’t feel dead. And I welcome that.”

Vaughn is our eldest brother. The only son our father cares to acknowledge. Because he wanted to own slaves, just like our dad.

“And you didn’t tell me eleven years ago that my father killed my child while he raped and beat the love of my life.”

“I’m going to slaughter them, Bunny. For you. I’m going to put you on a fucking throne and lay them at your feet for what they did to you.”

She’s been my anger. She’s been my love. She had been my happiness. And now she’s going to be my damnation.

But the most beautiful things are never just handed over to you wrapped up in a bow. It takes tears and sweat to get what you want. Even blood. And I’d bleed for this man. All he’d have to do is ask. Because I know without a shadow of doubt that he would do the same for me.