Vice by Nicole Marsh

Author:Nicole Marsh [Marsh, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

I head to the door, to look through the peephole to see who knocked at the door. The light on the porch must have burnt out recently, the switch is on but the bulb outside isn’t lit. Although it’s technically early morning at this point, it’s still too dark to clearly see outside through the peephole. I strain my eye but nothing is visible except a wall of darkness. I rest my hand on the door handle, deciding whether or not to open the door. I startle when a warm hand is placed over mine, preventing me from turning the knob.

Alex stands behind me, droplets of water running down his body collecting on the towel wrapped around his waist. His wet hair stands straight up on top, as if he just ran his hand through it. “Let me,” he says in a husky voice, rubbing his thumb casually across the back of my hand. I turn to face him, and realize that I’m still naked when my skin brushes lightly against his. I step aside to give him space to access the door and wrap one of the blankets from the back of the couch around my naked body. Alex places his eye against the peephole, then steps back. “Stay here for a second,” he instructs.

He strides into the bedroom, returning a moment later dressed, sans shoes. He checks me over and nods when he spots my cell phone in my hand. I had left it on the kitchen counter when we came home earlier and picked it up while I was waiting for Alex to come back to the door. He motions for me to stand behind the door to his left, after I move, he unlocks the deadbolt, and pulls the door open.

Alex shines a flashlight, which I hadn’t noticed in his hand, out onto the front porch. Starting left and sweeping right. He pauses for a second on the front mat, then continues the sweep. He shines the light directly down the stairwell, satisfied no one is in the porch area.

He turns to me, stating, “Don’t panic.” Which instantly puts me on alert and raises my heart rate. He continues speaking calm and low, “Someone brought you another dead animal. It looks like a cat this time.”

I make a small noise in my throat. Part fear, part heartbreak for these poor animals that someone is brutalizing to try and scare me. Alex shuts the front door and engages the deadbolt, then turns back to me. He wraps me in a warm embrace, whispering soothing words and rubbing his hands down my back.

I appreciate his comfort, but I also know we need to take care of the dead animal on my porch. I step out of the circle of his arms and look up at him, adopting a determined expression. “I’ll help you, we need to clean up the porch and both get some sleep before we head to the station later.”

I dash into my room and throw

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