Fragile Desires (18+)

Eighty-Two | For Her

We're always presented with choices in life.

Choices that can drastically affect our future.

I always questioned: Am I making the right decision?

Is this smarter in the long run?

I always aimed to make calculated choices.

I never thought about what the next day or week would hold, but instead, what the next months or years would look like from such a small decision.

Because if I thought in the moment—then I would be making a lot of selfish decisions.

Decisions that wouldn't age well over time.

And one of those decisions would've been staying in that bed with her.

But that decision likely would've cost her life.

And even I'm not selfish enough to do something like that.

- Ren

♛Chapter Eighty-Two: For Her♛

The moonlight was bright.

It was calm.

And I was not.

I was desperately clinging to my sanity as I sat on the balcony, watching the still-dark ocean gathered at every edge of the expensive yacht.

The bourbon was strong on my tongue—and instead of drowning my thoughts out, it only made them worse.

"Ren, what's going on? The captain just said you..." Eli quickly trailed off as soon as he stepped into my view sight.

Noticing one of two things.

The black gun resting on the glass table.

And my calmness—the neutral expression on my face.

"I'm going to kill her," I suddenly said, my calm voice echoing in my ears as I sat the glass of bourbon down, emitting a gentle clatter.

Eli furrowed his brows, stopping in front of the table that I sat at, "Kill her?" he repeated back to me, "Kill who?"

I forced a smile, shaking my head to myself, "Haylen Torres," I said, her name single-handedly leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

Eli's confusion only grew, "Haylen? As in the one over on Noa's team—"

"Yep," I cut him short, grabbing the black gun and loading the clip into it.

The air stilled between us as I admired the black gun—imagining numerous ways I would kill her.

But ultimately deciding that using a gun would be too easy.

I should slit every inch of her skin and let her bleed out. Painfully.

"What happened? Is she working with Elle?" Eli asked, trying to get more information out of me.

I forced a hum, clenching my jaw as I prepared myself for the next words that fell from my lips.

Words that I never imagined I would say.

"Azura went back to her place—I got the news an hour ago."