CAPTURED BEAUTY (Peter Steele x Reader)

EIGHT: A New Angle.

"What are you doing here?" Peter is quick to demand answers, "Why are you here, Elizabeth?"

"Just figured to stop by, you know, talk." Her voice sends his stomach to twist and turn. Peter is beyond lividity but he doesn't show it.

He begins to walk away.

The sound of her long heels seems to slither up close to him as he reaches for the front door.

"I don't want to talk with you. I already have enough regrets, you know." Peter seethes and then turns to see Elizabeth now on the concrete stairs. She looked hurt but Peter knew better.

"Don't you think I do too? One of them is realizing how much I-"

"No, Liz. I can't take it. I don't want to see you. Go home." Peter snaps and shoots a dark glare at his ex-girlfriend. He gets the door open and steps over the threshold with haste.

The history between them is one filled with burning hatred where fiery passion once was. Elizabeth looks at him from the steps while he nearly shuts the door.

Yet he can't and he doesn't know why.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Peter. It wasn't right and-''

"Enough, Elizabeth.'' Peter turns on his heel towards the woman before him. His eyes can't seem to tear away from her shocked gaze. It angered him. How could she ever be so shocked despite knowing what she did? His past actions also haunt him. The feeling ebbs and flows, the silence thickening with tension as they stand in a stalemate. Peter finally rips his sight away from his ex-girlfriend, biting his tongue from saying some nasty things.

Elizabeth however doesn't know when to quit. She never has and Peter knows this. It's why he can't walk away. After all these years, he'd still be standing in the same spot she left him.

"Are you really done with me?" Elizabeth asks, clearly upset by this by the rising tone of her voice. She tries to ease closer to Peter, her brows furrowed in disbelief by this.

"What kind of question is that, Liz? Are you kidding me? Of course I am.'' Peter responds incredulously, "I...am seeing someone now. I moved on. I'm not going to waste years mourning you.'' It's like his heart starts to bleed all over again, looking at someone he really did care about. His face falls in deep contemplation about her coming back.

They always come back.

"We aren't good for each other. You hurt me. I hurt you. Relationships don't work if you can't trust one another. You need to go home, okay?'' Peter's tone falters from anger to defeat. He doesn't want to fight. Elizabeth simply nods and it sends a chill down his spine. Confusion rests on his shoulders and he shakes it off. The look she gives him makes him think there's something else bubbling right underneath the surface.

Elizabeth turns and leaves, ascending the concrete steps and eventually driving off. Peter lingers while in the front door, now left with those old emotions fluttering around in his head. The ghosts of his past fill his ears and he curls inside back to his basement dwelling.

Peter decided that this tour thing would just get him further from whatever it was that he was feeling. He had to keep busy.

His mother eventually descends down the steps to see him. She smiles warmly at her son but is always quick to notice Peter's deep confliction.

"I came down to see what was going on. I noticed a cold draft coming in.'' She shuts the door as Peter then heads up the stairs to where he'd then sit at the kitchen table.

"I'm fine mom, really. She uh...came back supposedly for a 'little visit' but we all know that's a bunch of bullshit.''

"You're lying,'' Nettie says as she sits across from him, "You're not fine. You have that little crease on your forehead.''