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Mam took one look at Ollie, Tadhg, and me huddling together on the floor and burst into tears.
Joey, who was frozen in the doorway, had a different reaction. Dropping his gear bag on the floor, he lunged for Dad, spearing him to the floor.
“You fucking bastard,” he snarled as he buried his fists in our father’s face. “You dirty fucking animal!”
Rearing back, he punched our father and then jumped to his feet.
“Hit me,” he demanded, dragging Dad off the ground. “Come on, asshole.” Shoving his chest, he gestured for Dad to punch him. “Hit someone your own fucking size.”
“Joey!” Mam cried out. “Please don’t—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Joey roared back at her. “You are the most pathetic excuse for a mother that ever walked the earth.”
“You little shit.” Dad swung out with his fist and caught my brother’s cheek. “I’ll put manners on you yet, boy!”
“Did you see that?” Joey demanded, directing his question at Mam. “Did you see him hit me?” Dodging another punch from our father, Joey reared back and leveled our father with a fist to the face. “Can’t you see what he’s doing to your children?”
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Dad staggered backwards, collapsing on the floor, and Joey dove on top of him.
“Joey,” I strangled out, clutching at my chest, feeling like my breastbone was about to collapse inside of my body. “Stop! He’s not worth going to prison over.”
Joey didn’t stop. He just kept swinging.
“Get off him,” Mam was screaming. “Joey, stop—you’re going to kill him!”
“Good!” Joey roared as he straddled our father and continued to hit him.
His fists were moving so fast I could hardly keep focus.
“Joey…” Spitting out a mouthful of blood, I scrambled onto my hands and knees and dragged my broken body over to my brother, desperate to save him from doing something he couldn’t take back. “You promised,” I slurred as I weakly tried to pull at his arm. Feeling woozy, I shook my head and tried again, forcing my hands to comply as I clutched his forearm. “You promised you’d never leave me.”
My words seemed to register with my brother because he exhaled a defeated sigh and leaned back.
Nodding stiffly, Joey let his arms drop to his sides and climbed off Dad.
“Teddy,” Mam sobbed, shaking her head. Clutching her stomach, she knelt alongside our father. “Oh god, Teddy, what have you done?”
Numb, I scrambled back to where Ollie was sitting with his back pressed to the fridge, crying uncontrollably. Tadhg, on the other hand, was staring at our father with a terrifying look on his face.
I knew the look. It was same look Joey wore.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, trying and failing miserably to comfort Ollie. “Shh, it’s okay.”
“I thought you were going to die,” he sobbed, throwing his arms around me, and causing me to flinch in pain.
“Ollie,” Joey barked, turning back to face us. “Go upstairs and get Sean.”
“Why?” our little brother sniffled.
“Because we are leaving!” Joey stated sharply. “We are not staying in a house with that piece of shit a day longer.”
Without another word, Ollie scooted out of my arms and bolted for the stairs.
“Tadhg,” Joey said, grimacing when he noticed the look of hatred on our baby brother’s face. “Go with Ollie.”
“But I—”
