Chapter 10

Jerome's POV…

"What the hell do you want?" I hissed as I opened the door.

"I was looking for you. I hadn't seen you since you fucked me and left me laying on your couch to run off with your precious Phoebe" exclaimed the girl who until that moment had been sort of my girlfriend or at least the girl I was fucking or well I don't know, but she was standing there, covered in brown, mud like darkness. As I stepped from the trailer, I tried not to make a sound, mostly because I didn't want to wake Phoebe. It was like she knew that though because she looked at me with such contempt. She was mad and that only seemed to make her more upset. I didn't pretend to care though as I came to stand in front of her, my hands in my pockets, as I looked down at her. I could tell she wanted me to care and that my lack of feeling for her was only making her more upset as we stood there together.

"Where have you been?" exclaimed the girl, putting her hands on her hips, her eyes staring at me as if I had committed some terrible crime.

"I had to take Phoebe to the hospital. Her dad broke her hand. Why do you care anyway, you hate Phoebe? Besides, what Phoebes and I do is none of your business. I've been taking care of myself long before you arrived" I hissed, my voice low so I still wouldn't wake Phoebe. That earned me a glare from her and suddenly, she was nosed to nose with me, as if she owned me or something. The look in her eyes made something inside me begin to rise. I didn't know if it was anger or some type of misplaced jealousy, but it made me want to throttle her the longer I looked at her. I didn't understand it at first, but I didn't need to as I stared her down.

"You're always running off with Phoebe. You once stopped fucking me to go off with Phoebe and I'm tired of it. Just once, I'd like you to ditch Phoebe to run off with me" exclaimed the girl, only making me more upset as I stared her down, feeling completely fed up with her always acting this way when it came to Phoebe. She was always acting this way. An annoying harpy little bitch, but the look in her eye, something about it set me off. She acted like I was hers. Like I wasn't a human being, but a possession to be told what to do. Something that had to obey and keep its mouth shut, but that wasn't me. The fact that she thought she could act this way showed that as I stared down at her. Because I wasn't anyone's possession. I was me. I belonged to me and I would never give that away. Not to anyone. Except maybe Phoebe. That thought came out of nowhere and as it did, I found I liked it, but I didn't tell her that. I kept my face blank and stared her down all the same waiting to see what she would say.

"I want you to stay away from Phoebe" said the girl then, her eyes holding a demanding look that made me come completely unhinged as I looked at her more.

"I have the right to ask you to do that. Any girl would if you did this to them. I mean, you're my boyfriend, not hers, you're always hanging out with Phoebe when you should be hanging out with me. I mean, really hanging out with me, not just fucking. That way we could have a real relationship" whispered the girl, talking all sweet now, but that didn't last as my hand suddenly raised as I hit her across the face so hard, she hit the ground.

When she looked up at me then, she had so many emotions running across her face, anger, sadness, but most of all fear. She was afraid of me and somehow, that made me more excited as I kicked her in the chest to keep her from getting up. Then I was on her, on the ground with her, and making it so she couldn't move. The look in her eyes changed then, so that there was only fear there, and suddenly I was smiling as I leered down at her. That was the first time the sight of someone's fear excited me like that. I held her to the ground with my body and when she tried to speak, I hit her again.

"It would be best if you didn't say anything right now" I whispered, covering her mouth with my hand. She tried to bite me then, but that only earned her another slap. I looked down on her then and there was no longer fear in her eyes. There was a type of terror that I found I reveled in as I leaned over her real close. I enjoyed the fear I saw in her. I didn't quite understand it then, but I didn't care to understand. I just enjoyed the moment while it lasted. It was there in that moment, but there was something else there too. Jealousy.

I knew as I saw the green tint to her eyes that that look was for Phoebe. She was jealousy of Phoebe because she didn't understand the bond that has lasted between us for years. She thought we could have what Phoebe and I had, that we could built a bond like the one Phoebe had had since the moment we met. She was stupid if she thought that. Because what Phoebe and I had was unique. Something special that I couldn't have with anyone else. I didn't tell her that though, mostly because I knew she wouldn't understand, because she couldn't. Explaining it would be useless, so I didn't explain, I just looked down at her silently telling her all those things. Phoebes and I, we were best friends, the only people who understood anything when it came to the life we lived. Because Phoebes and I, we didn't just live, we had survived all this time. As I looked down at her though, I knew this girl didn't understand it, she couldn't. That wasn't what made me angry though, it was the fact that she thought she could compare herself to Phoebe. That she thought she could tell me not to see Phoebe. That she didn't understand that Phoebe and I came together, like a package, and we couldn't be separated ever. She or anyone else, they would never be able to do that. The fact that she thought she could made me want to wrap my hands around her throat.

There was another reason though, I tried to deny what it was, but as I looked down at this girl, I knew what it was.

"I'm not stupid, Jerome, I know there's something more between you" exclaimed the girl as my hand left her mouth coming dangerously close to her throat as her words made me all the more upset because she didn't have the right to say them.

"You're fucking her, aren't you?" exclaimed the girl. I looked at her, my fist balling around something to hit her again. She just kept talking. She wouldn't stop. She just kept repeating those words, accusing me of fucking Phoebe, and the more she did, the more upset I became until I was raised my hand almost without knowing it.

"I knew it, that Phoebe may pretend to be all sweet and innocent, but she's a slut spreading her legs for the whole circus" exclaimed the girl, stopping suddenly when I hit her the first time.

"Shut up" I exclaimed, barely realizing as the words left my mouth as I hit her that first time, I hadn't even realized the rock was in my hand until I was hitting her in the face and head with it, not even as I continued to hit her with it. I only saw the fear in her eyes. When she died, I didn't realize it, but only continued to hit her. I was fixated on her eyes, the glazed staring fixed state of them, and the way the fear seemed to settle in them. I didn't even see the red of the blood. I was so fixated on those eyes as they stared up at me, the only thing I could see in the pitch-black night. I didn't come back to myself until I heard Phoebe behind me; she was screaming my name.

"Jerome!" said Phoebe, her voice sounding loud as it broke the silence around me.

"Jerome, please, stop! What did you do!" exclaimed Phoebe then making me look up at her. She was standing, maybe inches away from me, close enough so I could touch her, and she wasn't afraid of me. She was just looking at me, with a type of uncertainty in her eyes, but she wasn't afraid. She just stood there and after a moment, she came towards me until her hand was on my shoulder. Phoebe looked down into the girl's face too before looking at me. The look in her eyes didn't change as she continued to look between the dead girl and me.

"She's dead" whispered Phoebe, suddenly using all her strength to pull me from atop the body. As we moved away, I barely registered it until we were inside the darkness of the trailer. I was waiting for Phoebe to say something, but she didn't. She kept her back to me as she led me inside. When we reached the bathroom, she made me sit on the toilet, and then she finally faced me. She yanked my sweater then my shirt over my head and tossing them into a bag that I didn't even realize she had, she yanked my pants down the same way, and when I stepped out of them, she put them in the bag too. Phoebe left me standing there then, she didn't even care that I was half naked, and when she returned, she had a change of clothes. As I changed, she left the room again, not returning until I was dressed again then I found myself pressed up against the sink.

"You have blood all over your face" whispered Phoebe, I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or just to herself as she wet a rag beginning to wipe the blood away with a soft touch. I didn't say anything in response. I just watched her, wondering what she was thinking as she did this. She didn't have fear in her eyes, but still didn't know what she thought of it all. Her eyes relayed nothing, yet, I found myself relieved that she wasn't afraid. Maybe because I didn't want her to be afraid. I didn't want to lose Phoebe. That's why I did all of this, but as I looked into her eyes, I saw only nerves. Because she was nervous for me. Scared not of me, but for me. That put me at ease the longer I watched her wipe the blood from my face. As I did, my mind began to wonder to the type of thoughts I'd only ever had for other girls, but never Phoebe. They were forbidden thoughts and yet, I enjoyed having them the longer I looked at her. All of Phoebe.

"She's beautiful…more beautiful then that girl was" I thought it, it was the first of many forbidden thoughts as I looked at her; it was like I was seeing her for the first time and that didn't make any sense because Phoebe had been there forever, she was the only one who understood anything when it came to me. Phoebe and I had been friends all these years, but it was like she wasn't Phoebe anymore. She was my other half. More than a soulmate, more then a friend, and it was like I was just now realizing it. Phoebe had been there all these years and I needed her. I needed her as she needed me. We were meant to be only in that moment I was just realizing it.

All the other girls in my life were like the one who lay dead now. Disposable.

"I've been fucking all these girls all this time, but the one I really want has been right here" I thought it then, as I looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time as a woman, and not just a friend because all those other girls had been useless. A stopgap for the girl I really wanted, who I wouldn't let myself have. Until now, as her hand came to touch my face, I grabbed it.

Letting the rag, she held fall into the sink, I held her gaze until in one move, I did something I had always said was off limits. I kissed Phoebe, slow at first, before I felt as she returned it, her movements unsure. Until suddenly, Phoebe grabbed me by the shoulders to shove me away, and looking me in the eye, I saw a seriousness in her.

"We have a body to get rid of" said Phoebe turning on her heel without another word to leave the trailer.