Broken (a novella)

8

Hux paced angrily back and forth, holding a towel to his bleeding nose. It hurt so badly that dark spots kept cropping up in his field of vision, and he was so angry that everything else was red. He could literally taste blood in his mouth, and it tasted like metal and salt and anger. Kylo would pay for this.

Snoke, however, was strangely silent. He touched the tips of his fingers together thoughtfully, like some sort of evil Sherlock Holmes. His eyes stared thoughtfully toward Kylo's path of exit, and there was no expression on his cold, calculating face. After a bit, his gaze flitted to Hux, who still held the blood-soaked towel to his nose. "What say you, Huxley?" Snoke asked, holding the tips of his fingers to his lips deductively. "What would you do in my situation?"

"I'd take the bastard out," Hux growled. "He broke my freaking nose!"

Snoke nodded. "Yes, he did. And, more importantly than your pathetic nose, he severed his ties to us. Our young Kylo Ren is more taken with this Rey Kenobi than I had previously calculated. With no loyalty to us, who is to say he will not inform the proper authorities of our dealings? This brings danger. My friend, you must learn not to use so much emotion in making your decisions. They will be the end of you."

"I don't give a shit!" Hux cried. "He broke my nose over a girl!" The young redhead was in intense emotional pain as well as physical. His mind kept replaying memories he had shared with Kylo, such as playing in Kylo's backyard in elementary school, building forts that they would have sleep-overs in during their middle school years, and joking about the idiots they went to school with as they entered high school. All of that, seemingly, had gone out the window as soon as Rey entered the picture. Kylo didn't love her. He was infatuated! Hux saw straight through his ex-friend like an x-ray machine, or so he thought. How could Hux know what Kylo was thinking?

Snoke sighed and rolled his eyes. "Be that as it may, Huxley, you must push your feelings aside, both emotional and physical, and think logically. Why must Kylo die?"

"He'll expose us," Hux growled. "If we get exposed, we go to prison."

"Correct," Snoke replied. He stood up and walked to a safe in the far corner of the room. Turning the dial, he opened the door of the safe and pulled out a gun. It was a handgun, and it looked very deadly. He handed this gun to Hux, who took it with a bloody hand. "Can I trust you to kill both Kylo Ren and this Kenobi girl?" he asked, crossing his arms in disgust as Hux's nose dripped blood all over his carpet.

"I'll kill all of them, the old man included. He may know something, though I doubt it. It's best to tie up loose ends."

Snoke nodded. "Very good. If you are successful, Huxley, you shall become my apprentice and when I am gone, my empire will be yours to control. You will be a rich man."

Hux slid the gun into the waistband of his jeans. "Thank you, master."

"No, my apprentice. Thank you," Snoke replied, grinning evilly.

***

Kylo arrived back at the bookstore to find Rey seated on one of the beanbags, nose buried in a science-fiction novel. He plopped down next to her and smiled. His violent altercation with Snoke and

Hux had left his blood boiling and his heart racing. However, all of this fell away as he took in Rey's fresh, beautiful face. When she noticed him, she looked up from her book and smiled, her brown, doe's eyes sparkling with delight before flitting anxiously back to the words in front of her.

She was perfect. Far too perfect for someone like him. He couldn't believe that she was his. Her thick, dark eyelashes blinked as she studied the pages of her book, eyes dancing from word to word in search of a new, great adventure. He could watch her read all day.