I scream. For Levi, for anyone who’ll hear me.
I fight. Like in the shower earlier, but this time for my life. As he reaches for my wrists, I continue moving, constantly staying out of grasp. He’s heavier than me, pinning me down, but my knees and elbows jab into any reachable place. He grunts when some of my hits land.
“Fuckin’ bitch. Stop moving!”
“Why did you hurt me?” I scream into his face, and he stops fighting. Beady eyes glint, his unwashed breath blowing sour over mine. “You blamed me for Mom leaving when I was ababy. You spent my childhood hitting me. My teenage life making me wish I actually died.”
“If only you had the guts to kill yourself. Life would have been a whole lot easier.” His yellow teeth bare, a line of drool dripping onto my chest. No amount of bleaching my body will clean him off me. “I should have had your mother abort you when she had the chance.”
How many times over the years had I cut myself until I bled?
How many times have I wished for death? Entertained suicide?
Levi changed that. He gave me a little bit of hope. The self-harm didn’t stop, but the suicide plans did.
Having my father wish me dead strikes something different, something that wakes me up until I’m mad with frenzy. My elbow smashes into his face, knocking him slightly off me. My next hit meets his throat.
His weight disappears as another form flings himself into me, the two rolling to the sand. I scramble to my hands andknees while Levi tackles my father, smashing his fists into his face over and over, lost to the rage. My father, physically larger than Levi but not stronger, blocks some of them.
“Always coming…to her rescue.”
He crashes into Levi, who rolls to his feet just as quickly. “Always. So take the warning now. You either back down and we’ll walk your ass back to jail, or you die.”
Die?Levi’s said some big things in our time together, both as himself and Hunter, but murder is another level.
My father laughs, voice grating with hatred. “You’re funny, boy.”
Levi rushes at him, knocking his shoulder into my father’s stomach. Dad pounds on Levi’s back, but it’s like Levi doesn’t notice the beating as he smashes his fist over and over into my father.
The clouds shift, and moonlight glints off the shine coming from Levi’s hand.
A knife.
I barely have time to consider where he got one of those from and how long he’s been carrying it around before he slides it between his fingers and punches my father again in the lower stomach.
This time, blood spurts.
My father, having not expected the stab, jerks away, but Levi stays on him. The two continue their fight until reaching the water. Levi is winning, as Dad’s hits are less frequent and with half the strength.
Levi swipes his arm again but misses. A wave rolling in staggers my father off balance; he’s already weak, and he trips to his knees. Levi slams his foot into Dad’s face, throwing him further into the water, then leaps after him, and the two are lost in a mess of water and limbs.
“Don’t get hurt,” I whisper to Levi, standing to rush closer.
A moment later, Levi appears, his hand tight around a knife dripping with blood. Drops fade into the water, lost to the larger amount of blood coming from my father’s slumped-over body.
He looks at me, his face a stranger. Darker. Possessed.
Blank.
He tosses the knife further into the ocean, and it splashes a few feet away. The weight of it will likely take it to the ocean floor. If it were to ever end up on the beach, the Westwoods would probably make it all go away.
He grasps the back of my father’s shirt and hauls him deeper into the water. The two disappear for a couple more minutes, and when the surface ripples, interrupting the reflection of the moon, only Levi returns.
He walks out of the ocean, coming to a stop in front of me. His shoulders rise and fall with his pants while his expression begs forgiveness and safety. He might have killed someone, but I’m safe.
He drops to his knees and hugs my waist. “I’m sorry protecting you took so long.”
I bend over, sliding my hands into his hair. It’s then I feel him quivering.