AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I see Cole curl his right hand into a fist at his side and then he’s swinging down at Lana still sitting on the floor beside me. Before his fist makes contact with her head I slam my hands into his chest sending him flying back into the couch. He gets to his feet and charges at me hoping to get through me, to Lana, to take her from me.
It’s not happening.
The impact of Cole colliding with me sends us both to the ground with him on top of my prone body. A bright flash momentarily blinds me as he nails a strong fist to my face causing my head to slam back against the wood floor and all I hear is Lana’s panicked screams for me. I quickly shift my head to the side and avoid another hit to the face. Cole’s hand slams into the wood below me and then I pull him by his collar towards me and I headbutt the bastard as hard as I can. There’s a sickening crunch.
“Fuck!” he shouts bringing a hand to his broken bleeding nose. I shove him off me and twist, now pinning him below me and once again I find myself pounding mercilessly into someone’s face.
My fists are falling to a dull ache with every hit of flesh and bone. Cole’s hands are flying up at me, blocking some hits while trying to grab onto my arms and strike me back. He bucks and squirms beneath me and I'm reminded about how many times he’s had Lana below him exactly like this. Now he can feel a fraction of what she felt! The thought only sends me further into a blinding rage. My jaw is clenched so tight I feel I might crack my teeth. I can't stop this.
Cole slowly begins to weaken and succumb to my violent frenzy. His arms drop and his blood covered face goes slack. He’s out, unconscious, but I continue. Why can't I stop? It’s like I have no control over my arms, like someone else– something else deep within me is in control.
“Callum! Callum, stop! You're gonna kill him!” I hear a voice yell from behind me. It sounds so far away though, like someone is calling to me from down a tunnel.
Suddenly I feel a hand gently squeezing my shoulder and a sweet calm voice finally draws my attention and pulls me out of the fiery pit I was in.
“Callum. Stop. You gotta stop,” Lana says. My hands cease and fall to either side of Cole’s head, holding myself up as I heavily pant over him, trying to catch my breath. His face is so swollen and bloody, he’s barely recognizable. He’s alive though. I stopped. Lana stopped me.
I fall to the side of Cole staring up at the ceiling, my bloody hands shaking, heavy breaths still falling from my mouth, and my heart pumping hard in my chest. Lana’s face comes into view and she sits down next to me, placing her hands on my chest.
“I'm sorry, despite everything, I couldn't let you kill your own brother. I was afraid of what that would do to you,” Lana says through tears. I turn on my side and curl into her as she leans further down wrapping her arms around me. We stay like that for a few minutes while my heart rate lowers and my breathing slows, returning to normal. Then I hear Cole begin to stir next to us.
Cole’s swollen eyes are halfway open. I stand and nudge him with my foot, “Get up. Get your shit and leave before I finish this.”
Cole doesn’t argue further. With the disfigured dead man laying in our living room and Cole’s near-death moment at my hands, he knows I'm serious and I'm done. I knew I was reaching my breaking point and tonight, I broke.
Cole doesn't speak another word to me. He grunts in pain while sitting up, spits out a mouth full of blood and wipes at his face. He stands, stumbling to the bathroom then to his room packing a bag then he finally walks to the front door. Before he walks out, with a rough, strained voice, he gets the last word in, “You win, whore.”
“I’ll be right back,” I say to Lana and walk to my bathroom. I remove my shirt and wash off the blood coating my hands and arms in the sink. I then begin to fill the large tub in the corner of the room with warm water. I walk back out to Lana and kneel down beside her.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, little dove. Can I pick you up?” I softly ask.
She looks at me through swollen eyes and tears still falling from them and nods. I scoop her bloody and shaking body into my arms and carry her into my bathroom. I set her down on the edge of the tub that's lined with tile and I remove her cold wet socks. I offer my hand and help her into the bath.
“Is the water temp okay?” I ask. She nods again in response.
She settles in and I grab a face cloth and more of the soap I got her. I sit on the edge of the tub leaning over and begin to wash her.
I start with her face, as gently as possible wiping away the bloody spots with the cloth. I see her wince but she doesn’t move away. I move to her neck then upper chest, careful not to go much lower. She stares up at me as I wash her and I find myself wondering what she’s thinking. If she thinks of me as a monster now, like my brother after she witnessed what I did with my bare hands. I move to her back and then hand her the cloth when I'm done so she can wash her other areas I don't dare touch. I tell her to lean back and I wet her hair and begin to wash it. When I'm done she faces back towards me with an unreadable expression.
“Are you afraid?” I ask.
“Yes,” she finally speaks.
“Of me?”
“No. I'm afraid of what will happen now.” She says.
“What do you mean?”
“Ray, he’s dead. You killed him. You killed him because of me and now you could go to prison like your brother did.”
“It will be fine. I’ll burn his body out back. He just got out of prison and has no one. He won't be missed.”
“Like how I have no one? Like how I won’t be missed.”
“No, no, that's not the same Lana. It's not. Can't you see? I told you, you have me, completely. I would miss you and it's over now anyway. Cole is gone.”
“Cole’s not gonna let this just go. He’ll be back. He’s gonna kill me. You know he’s capable of it. He killed your dad, and he’ll kill me next! Maybe I shouldn't have stopped you out there, but I didn't want his death on your hands because of me,” she begins to cry again.
