Page 122 of Striking Range

I admire his resilience in this moment. He is unashamed and unconcerned in his amusement and anger. I can see a glint in his eyes—one I’ve never noticed before.

“I swear to god, Everett,” Ash snaps, turning his attention back to me. I believe that he understands Skylar isn’t an easy target, but I sure am. “If you don’t delete that and get out, you will regret it.”

“Why would he regret it, hm?” Skylar presses, holding his phone up in an obvious attempt to capture his voice better.

Ash just growls in irritation.

“Answer him,” I command, narrowing my eyes. “Are you scared, Dad? Are you trembling? It doesn’t feel so nice, does it?”

Shock briefly flashes across my father’s features, but a moment later, it’s gone, and his eyes drop to where my fingers are intertwined with Skylar’s.

“How could I ever be scared of the likes of you?” he grunts out. “A pair of fags can’t touch me.”

What the fuck did he just say? Sure, Ash has used the word ‘homo’, as well as ‘queer’, but he’s never slurred. Heat flames my face as I stand frozen, unable to respond.

But Skylar’s grip on my fingers loosens, falling away completely as he takes a step forward to stand fully at my side. He shoves his phone into his pocket.

And his expression… I have never seen this before. There is no emotion being portrayed, and not in the typical ‘I’m-too-good-for-this-interaction’ way that he sometimes does, but in an eerie, terrifying way.

He does not shake, and he does not falter as he asks, “What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” Ash snaps back.

“What did you just say?” Skylar repeats, anger finally dripping into his features and his tone. “Say it again, motherfucker. I am begging you to say it again.”

Ash has the good sense to take a step back, but he does not surrender. No, instead, he laughs as he replies, “You think you’re big and bad, little boy? Please, I could eat you for breakfast. I said that you’re a fag. You like dick. You’re unnatural.”

And suddenly it hits me. In my mind, I’m standing in that motel room, watching Skylar cry as he says, “He called me a faggot, and I nearly killed him.”

Ash has just opened Pandora’s box without the slightest clue. Shouldn’t it be in a report somewhere that that kid had slurred at Sky? Shouldn’t Ash know not to wrestle with a poisonous snake?

“You… You can’t say that,” Skylar mutters, his eyes glassy and unfocused as he stands beside me, completely still.

I can’t tell if he’s fighting his anger or reaching deep inside of himself and beckoning it forward.

“He can say whatever he wants,” Felicita sasses, crossing her arms from where she still sits.

“If I want to call you what you are, then I sure as hell will,” Ash adds. “I have seen your kind before, Skylar: selfish, narcissistic, and malicious. You want to protect yourself? Leave Everett behind forever, and I’ll leave you be.”

He’s negotiating for my life, for the right to destroy it.

“What will you do with him if I do? If I up and leave him here, what will you do?” There is an undertone of interest, of joy, in Skylar’s voice.

He wants the answer to be horrible. He wants the gory, miserable details. And my best guess as to why? They will fuel him.

“You’ve turned my son into a creature I do not recognize. Once you’re gone, I will do my best to beat that influence out of him.” Ash is honest again, now that the phone is put away.

Skylar grins, his slack hands balling into fists at his sides. Everything around me slows to half-speed, and I feel like an outsider to this experience. I’m not even here anymore—it is only Skylar and Ash.

And I know how it ends.

Skylar has disengaged his safety mechanism. This version of him that I’ve just discovered is on full display.

“Good luck with that,” he mocks.

And then Skylar lunges, quick and lethal in his movements, just as he is in the sand. As he zips past me, I can see it in his eyes—the malicious intent, the desire to break and dismantle and harm.

He is, in this moment, his very own force of nature. Skylar encompasses all the harshest, most vicious things to walk this earth, all wrapped into one.