“What are you? The damn grammar police?”
“Or spelling police?”
“Move over.” He shoved my little body and then wrapped his right arm around my stomach. “I promise I won’t seduce you.”
“Was I in danger of that or something?” Why was I arguing with a drunk person?
“Hah,” Sergio shot back. “You have no idea. Every time I see you, I tell myself you’re young. You’re innocent. You’re good. I’m bad. So bad. I keep track of my bad, right here.” Before I could stop him, he lifted his shirt over his head and pointed to the tally marks. “I keep track of them here.”
“Them?”
“Kills.” His voice was muffled by the pillow.
“And that one?” I pointed to the one tally mark that was fresh, larger, and a red color.
“That’s what loss looks like.” He divulged. “It’s red, it’s angry, it makes you bleed, it makes you mourn, loss looks like an angry, red check mark, that you can’t erase no matter how many kills you have.”
“Loss.” My mind whirled. What was he talking about?
“Red marks the spot.” He yawned. “I told her I’d remember her, I’d give her that honor. I got a tattoo on my arm to honor her. I added the tally mark to give her the respect due.”
“What if I died?” I just had to ask the drunk man who refused to fall in love with me. Brilliant. But he was so loose lipped I wanted to at least try to pry some sort of information out of him.
Sergio surged to life as he covered my body with his. I let out a grunt as his stare intensified by the minute. “No.”
“No?” My heart sank.
“No, you can’t die.” His eyes were wild. “Promise me.”
“Wh-what?” I stammered.
“Promise me!” His hands moved to my cheeks, and he lightly squeezed my face between his fingertips, and then he rolled to the side, and his head ducked as he pressed an ear against my chest. “I won’t let it happen again. I won’t.”
“Sergio, everyone dies.”
“No,” he murmured his voice getting quiet again. “I won’t make it through again, don’t you understand? I don’t want another red tally mark. I won’t do it, I won’t honor or respect your death, because it won’t happen. It won’t. It can’t.”
“And if it does?”
“Then I die with you.”
“Are you Romeo now?”
He chuckled softly. “I always thought Juliet was hot.”
“Go to sleep, Sergio.” I patted his head with my hand.
“You didn’t promise yet.”
I sighed. “I promise I’ll try to stay alive.”
“Good.” He blinked up at me. “Now kiss me.”
“You’re drunk. And you smell like whiskey.”
“You’re cranky.”
“Gee, I wonder why?”
He refused to budge off of me until I shoved him to the side and even then it was impossible to escape him as he grabbed my body and spooned me. He wrapped one leg over top of me and nuzzled my neck. “You smelled like her, that first day. I hated you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Now you smell like you.”
“Is that good?”
He inhaled deeply. “And the beast was tamed. For one night, he was tamed.”
I froze. “What did you just say?” It was exactly like the story in the letters, and for the second time, Sergio referenced a beast and compared himself.
But the room was quiet.
Except for his snoring.
Of course.
Tongue, lose thy light. –A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sergio
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.
What the hell?
I squeezed my eyes shut tighter.
Clang, Clang!
“For the love of God!” I said in a harsh whisper. “Stop banging things!”
The banging got louder.
I opened one eye, and then two.
Val was towering over me, a bat in hand and a freaking cowbell in the other. “Where the hell did you get a cowbell?”
“I was a cow in my first grade Christmas pageant. Dante played Joseph.”
“You were a cow,” I stated flatly as I tried to get to a sitting position. “And you kept the bell?”
“I’m a pack rat.” She raised the bat again to hit the bell.
“No!” I surged toward her, then in a wave of dizziness, collapsed back against the bed. “I think I might puke.”
“Oh?”
“Shhh.” I lifted my hands into the air in a desperate attempt to gain some silence, but the buzzing in my head continued, and then I burst out laughing for no reason. “Holy shit, I think I’m still drunk.”
This time the bat slammed into my shoulder jolting me out of my own amusement. “Ouch!” I leaped to my feet and reached for the bat but she moved out of the way and hid it behind her back. “What are you so angry about?”
“You almost smothered me in your sleep last night and then you…” Her cheeks reddened.