“You bitch. You fucking bitch.” His rage was so intense he thought he would puke.
She smiled sweetly, not showing a hint of surprise at his uninvited intrusion. “Josh, so good to see you. You must have gotten the news.”
“You had to tell her. You couldn’t have taken the money. You had to destroy my family.”
Bell cocked her head to one side and flashed a tightlipped smile of regret. “Things not too good at home
then?”
“You knew what Kate’s reaction would be.” Violently, Josh grabbed her by the shoulders, his fingers
digging into her supple flesh. He shook her in some vain hope of making her understand the significance of what she’d done. Bell’s raven hair scattered over her face and shoulders.
Still in Josh’s grasp, she shook her head, revealing blazing eyes and an open mouth excited by Josh’s energy.
“God, you have no idea how horny you’re making
me.”
There was no talking to her and he found it hard
to speak. Different emotional states fast-forwarded through his mind—anger, rage, desperation, loss and defeat. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A knotted ball of frustration in his brain prevented him from doing either. Releasing a primal growl of frustration, Josh shoved Bell away from him. Stumbling, she
fell backward, striking the floor unceremoniously. Legs in the air, panties showing, Bell lost all the seductive allure she’d ever inspired. Frustrated, Josh collapsed onto the couch behind him.
Bell got to her feet. She dropped her mocking tone and in all seriousness said, “What did you expect me to do, Josh?”
“Accept what happened. I don’t know.”
Bell glanced out the window. “Nice parking job, by the way.”
She came over to him. She looked at him with a pitying expression.
“Why did you do it?” Without the rage, he sounded tired.
Crouching on her haunches, she placed her hands on his knees. “You gave me no choice. You refused to give me what I wanted. I wasn’t just going to disappear to make it convenient for you.”
“But this way, you’ve destroyed everything you
wanted. You don’t get any more money. You’ve destroyed my family, so you don’t get me. You’ve lost as
much as I have.”
“You still don’t get it, do you? This has never been about money. It was about making you pay for what you did to me.” Pain was evident in Bell’s rising voice.
She pushed herself away from him and stood up. She went into the kitchen, got herself a beer from the refrigerator and popped the top with the bottle opener on
the fridge door.
Josh followed Bell into the kitchen after a moment.
His face was long, stretched by a more powerful gravity than that experienced by anyone else on the planet.
Bell saw the sad expression and moved toward him.
She wrapped her arms around him. The condensation from the bottle soaked Josh’s shirt where it touched it.
Its coldness burned against his flesh. She raised herself on tiptoe, bringing her head close to his. The instability made her teeter on her toes and Josh steadied her, putting his hands around her waist. Taking that as her signal, she kissed Josh, her tongue seeking entry to his
mouth.
Sickened by the intrusion, Josh’s face contorted in disgust. He twisted his head to break the kiss. He tasted the sharp bite of alcohol from her in his mouth and its odor filled his nostrils. She’d been drinking, and more than one beer. It wasn’t a good sign.
Bell leaned into him, applying more pressure. Her heat marked an outline against Josh’s body. Although slight, her weight seemed heavy on him and resistance was difficult. Finally, he broke the cloying embrace with a powerful shove that almost made him topple.
The force propelled Bell backward. She lost her hold on Josh and her balance. In an attempt to save herself, she let go of the bottle of beer. The bottle slammed into one of the overhead cabinets before striking the vinyl flooring without breaking. The spilt contents fizzed on the floor. Bell crashed into the cupboards and grabbed onto them to save herself from falling.
Josh dragged the back of his hand across his mouth and looked at it, half expecting to see blood.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“You’re right. I don’t.”
“I love you. I want you back. Why do you think I’ve been doing this?” Bell answered her own question.
“Because I want you free from all things so you have only me left.”
Bell’s motives shocked and abhorred him. She was
crazy. She had to be to think destroying him would drive them together. It was a madness he never thought possible in Bell. Did she expect him to thank her, flattered by the lengths she had gone to? Josh shook his head.
“Do you honestly think I would come back to you? I broke up with you because I made a choice. I chose my family. And even though you’ve taken that away from me, I still wouldn’t come back to you.”
Josh stopped. He had expected a tirade of verbal
abuse fueled by disappointment and rejection, but there was silence. There was nothing further to be said.
Bell had stopped looking at him. Her gaze was aimed over his shoulder. A blank look took over her face, as if she didn’t understand what she saw. Josh turned his head to the point of interest.
A flash of colors was all he saw. At the speed it was moving, Josh didn’t get enough time to focus on the object, only its blur, before it hit him. He felt it, though. It smashed across his head, numbing him with its force. Josh fell forward, out cold before he hit the ground.
Josh came to. He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious.
An intense ache emanated from the back of
his head. It rippled outward from its epicenter like waves in a millpond. He raised a hand to the ache, but the briefest movement drove knives through his skull.
He found a lump the size of an egg on the back of his head and the pain forced his eyes closed. He left the bump alone, but became aware of his sore cheek,
which must have broken his fall.
Bell looked very concerned with her head cocked to one side, her face so sad, so disappointed. For the first time since her return, she looked human, possessing a weak as well as a strong side. She looked like a nervous child waiting her turn to go into the doctor’s office for her shots. She spoke, but the words came out as an inaudible murmur.
He saw the knife. Not the whole knife, just the handle, its blade embedded in her chest below her left
breast. He noticed the blood. Too much blood. It
stained the white teddy; the harsh crimson made more vivid by the pale silk. The material clung tightly to her punctured body. The blood, still oozing from the
wound, ran down her onto the floor and formed a pool around her legs. His slow-witted brain hadn’t registered that she was sitting. Before the blow she had been standing, but now she was slumped untidily against the cupboards. He tried not to entertain thoughts of who had done this to Bell, but failed. He had to get out, but he couldn’t stop staring at the blood.
Slowly, the pool expanded across the floor in Josh’s direction. He recoiled on hands and knees from the creeping mass like it was scalding lava. Josh had seen deep cuts before and there’d been blood, but he had never seen a cut so deep or with as much blood as this.
Doctors dealt with these sights every day, but he couldn’t cope. Josh slunk further away from the injured woman.
Bell raised her right arm with her hand outstretched and beckoned to him. Blood trickled between her pale lips. “Josh.”
Josh stopped moving. He stared at the pool, the light reflected on its smooth surface. He got to his feet. His head swam. He wasn’t sure if the blow or the bloody sight caused it. He came as close as he could without stepping in the mess. Still, it wasn’t close enough for Bell. She called to him. He had no choice. He walked in her blood and crouched at her side.