The Tragedy of It

         “The tragedy of it is that you are as sweet as you are cruel.” Danny says to Alice. “If you just tilted a little way one or the other I could either love you or hate you. Instead, I’m left in this fucking mess of a tornado of emotion.”

         “Don’t say things like that, puppy,” she kisses his cheek. “I love you. I need you. And really, I bring out the best part of you.”

         Her hand comes up to touch his cheek and he doesn’t know if he wants to lean in a bit more or jerk away.

         “Do you mean the 100% crazy homicidal maniac?” he barks a laugh. “Yeah, everybody loves that guy.”

         “Everyone has to have a purpose, puppy,” she says, her fingers sliding past his skin and into his hair, twisting the long dark strands in a way where the pressure almost hurt. “And you do yours very well.”

         “I’m more than an ends to your means,” Danny grabs her elbow, pushing her against him. “But I’ll play today. What do you need?”

         Alice smiles, but only barely, and he wonders if she had any real joy left in her. He wonders if he did this to her or if they did this to each other.

         Later, he found himself in a bar that was dark with too many people in it.

         “I’ll go get us drinks!” Tessa says loudly in his ear. She had the just turned twenty-one enthusiasm and was the closest thing to a best friend he had. He wasn’t sure why he brought her with him tonight. At the time, he just didn’t want to be alone. Now he realized he was hoping she’d be around to stop him from doing the inevitable.

         She’d get involved and in the middle of it and- then the stupid bitch deserved what she got. He blinked at the thought. She knew who she was out with. He touched his crooked jaw, a reminder of the times he’d broken it doing the same shit he was doing now.

         Danny went to the back where the pool tables were and found him. Seth Stein was tall, but not as tall as Danny. He was lean, but he noted that Seth Stein had short arms.

         He found a table off to a corner and waited for Tessa to find him. He watched as his target played pool, laughing with his friends. There was one girl and another guy. The guy was short with round edges and a smiling baby face that told him that he was a born pacifist.

         Tessa came back, handing him his drink and sitting next to him.

         “Aw, the pool tables are taken,” she says, disappointed. “Do you want to play for a table?”

         “Let’s take those guys on,” he points to Seth Stein’s group. Tessa takes a gulp of her drink and then slides up to them, pushing her cleavage up and out. Danny drinks his own drink as he watches them agree. Tessa waves him over and he gets up.

         He comes to stand in front of Seth Stein, his hands behind his back, a grin plastered on his face. His target furrows his brows and takes a step back.

         “You okay, dude?”

         “You know Alice, right?”

         “Yeah,” and the side of his mouth perks into a smile. “Rather well I’d say.”

         “Story is that you’re a little bitch that likes to take advantage of women.”

         “What?”

         “You heard me,” Danny says, and then adds, “Bitch.”

         Seth Stein’s hands ball into fists, swinging at his head. Danny is quick and dodges, coming in to tag the guy in the stomach and in the chin before stepping back.

         “What the fuck,” Seth Stein groans. “Who the fuck are you?”

         “The boyfriend.”

         And then Seth Stein starts to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

         “Kidding that you took advantage of my girlfriend?”

         “I didn’t take advantage of your girlfriend, man. Believe me, it’s consensual. We’ve been consensually fucking for six months now.”

         Danny swallows. And attacks. The rest is a blur of fists and feet connecting with the face and body of Seth Stein. He blacks out and when he comes to, the guy is on the floor bleeding and unconscious. He’s got big hands around his arms, constricting his movements and pulling him away. He doesn’t want to go. He wants to obliterate the body in front of him.

         Tessa is calling his name.

         “Danny, please, it’s okay. Danny, just calm down.”

         Then he’s outside and it’s cold and Tessa is trying to hurry him to her car. He goes because what else can he do?

         “I was going to kill that guy,” he says when he’s in the car. “I was going to murder him.”

         Tessa is quiet for a while. “Yeah. You were.”

         “I wanted to. I still want to.”

         Danny pulls out his phone and finds Alice’s name. She doesn’t answer when he calls her three times.

         “If you don’t stop with her, with this whole thing you guys are doing, you’re going to go away for a long time.”

         “I’m not afraid of prison.”

         “Or death?”

         “Definitely not death,” and he lets out a humorless laugh.

         “There are a lot of people who love you, Danny. They love you the right way. Alice doesn’t love you. She just wants to fuck with your head.”

         He’s silent as he considers her words. He felt the rush and thrill of taking down Seth Stein and how it was the best he had ever felt. Alice may fuck with his head, but she was the only one who could love him in the way he needed to be loved. She really did bring out the best part of him.

         His phone vibrated. A text from Alice appeared on the screen.

         Thanks, puppy. I love you.