The blood.
Too much of it.
And him over her, his hands on her.
Trying to get her clothes off like she’s something he owns, something he gets to...
Something inside me drops out.
There’s no thought after that.
No separation between what I see and what I do.
I hit the door hard enough that it flies open and cracks against the wall, the sound loud, sharp, meaningless compared to the noise in my own head as I cross the room and grab him.
I don’t remember deciding to move.
I just know he’s under my hands.
I rip him off her so hard his body leaves the ground before it hits, slamming into the floor with a sound that barely registers before I’m on him.
The first punch lands and I feel it, bone under my knuckles, the impact running straight up my arm, but it doesn’t slow me down. It doesn’t even count. I’m already hitting him again, dragging him back by his shirt just to drive him down harder.
“You thought—”
My voice comes out rough, wrong, like it’s tearing out of me instead of being spoken.
“You thought you could takemy wifefrom me?”
He tries to get his hands up.
He’s too slow.
I hit him again. And again. There’s no rhythm to it, no control, just force, everything I’ve been holding in since she was taken coming out in every strike.
“You thought you could fucking touch her?”
He swings at me.
The knife flashes in his hand and I barely register it before it catches my arm, a sharp burn across my forearm that should matter and doesn’t. I grab his wrist, twist it hard enough that he makes a broken sound and the knife drops, skidding across the floor somewhere out of reach.
I don’t let him go.
I don’t give him space.
“I’ll kill you for this,” I say, and this time it’s quieter, more dangerous, because I mean it in a way that has nothing to do with anger anymore.
I hit him again. Something shifts under my fist.
I don’t stop. I can’t. All I can see is her. All I can think is...
“Elijah!”
Jackson.
It cuts through. Not enough to stop me. Enough to reach me. Zach’s voice follows, rough and panicked.
“Fuck! There’s so much blood...”
