She struggled against me, scratching at my hands. Her eyes went wide. I squeezed harder, getting as much aggression out as I could. She grabbed at my shirt and almost went limp in my hands.
That’s enough. She’s got it.
I flung her away. “Now sit down and shut the fuck up!”
She stumbled back into the fridge and gasped for air.
“Shit.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Just sit down.”
Breathing hard, she rubbed her neck. “Now there’s the monster that Johnny was talking about.”
I tried to calm my anger.
She coughed. “He told me that he watched you kill a guy. I didn’t believe him. Not my sweet Cainy that never even glances at my cleavage when he comes into the shop, not like all the other male customers.”
I glared at her. “You’re still talking?”
She sneered. “And I’ll keep on talking.”
I placed my hand on the counter. Everything in me yearned to grab the knife.
“Johnny feared you.” Pandora giggled, but this time it was the sound of a deranged woman. “That’s what I liked about you the most. You made Johnny Cupcakes nervous. I want to fuck every man that makes Johnny nervous.”
I slipped my hand to the knife. My fingertips touched the handle. “I don’t scare you?”
“I hoped you would save me from Johnny one day. But someone else ended up killing him.”
I quirked my brows. “Who?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
I leaned my head to the side. “And now you want me to kill you?”
“No way.”
I wrapped my fingers around the handle. “Yet, you’re doing all the things that would make me want to end your life.”
“I want you to fuck me, Cain. I bet it would feel so good. I bet your cock is big. I bet you would go so deep I would scream.”
“Pandora.”
“Yes?”
I put the knife to my side and twisted it in my hand. “I would stick this handle in your pussy before I put my dick there. Do you understand?”
She licked her lips. “Is that what you’re into? I’ve never tried that.”
“Trust me. You won’t like it if I do it.”
She raised one of her legs high up and then planted her foot on the counter. “Try it, Cain. Show me. Fuck me with the handle.”
I didn’t look down but I was sure she had her pussy spread open.
Would Griff care if I killed her? Would he understand why?
Sighing, I put the knife on the counter.
Where the hell is he?
I grabbed the bottom of my shirt, pulled it off, and slung it at her. “Cover yourself up.”
She caught the shirt. “Why? Does my body turn you on.”
“No. It’s disgusting and sad.”
“Liar.” Instead of putting it on, she stared at me and opened her mouth in shock. “Oh my god.”
I gritted my teeth. “What?”
She stared at me in shock. “You. . .really are into. . .knives.”
“What?” I checked where she was looking at. Her eyes had been focused on Phoenix’s carved name on my chest. I groaned and looked back at her. “Put the shirt on.”
“Who. . .cut you like that?” Her bottom lip quivered. She hurried to put the shirt on. “Did she tell you to do that?”
I checked the pan and realized it was now too hot to pour oil on. I turned off the stove.
“Griff told me that you captured Phoenix because she took money from you three during a robbery. And then another time she ran off and you’ve just grabbed her again.”
Griff and I are going to have a talk that involves my fist repeatedly hitting his jaw.
I picked up the knife, grabbed an onion, and began chopping.
Why would he tell her so much?
“No. She probably didn’t tell you to cut yourself. She’s too. . .weak for that.” Pandora remained by the fridge. “You did that to yourself. You cut her name there.”
The knife’s blade glimmered as I diced the onion. The vegetable’s pungent scent invaded my nose.
“She’ll never love you.”
I stopped dicing and looked at Pandora.
“Johnny took me just like you took her.” Now wearing my shirt, she had pulled part of the collar up to her nose and was inhaling my scent. “No matter what you do for her. No matter how you try to make things right. . .she’ll never love you.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“She’ll never love you. Johnny thought he had me but he never did. You can’t own anyone. You can’t make a person love you.”
“You don’t know anything about us.”
“I know about being trapped to a man and forced to love him.” Pandora dropped her hands and wildly looked off in the distance. “I know about pretending to love a man just so I can have a little bit of freedom. Just so he won’t chain me in his basement again.”
“I’m not Johnny, and you’re damn sure not Phoenix.”
Pandora snapped her face my way. “Even if she convinces you that she can love you, she never will deep down inside.”