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The crack of flesh meeting flesh fills my ears and I grit my teeth, waiting for the slap to fill my face with heat and pain. It doesn’t come though. Instead, I heard a commotion at the doorway to the den. I turn to see August, the guy who’d punched Malcolm that day on the trail, go flying to the side, blood flowing from his nose. I watch him hit the wall and slump down until he’s sitting on his ass, not moving. And then I see him. Director Ballard.
He’s standing in the doorway, his hands balled into fists as he glares at each of the boys in turn, absolute rage etched into his features. The other boys all take off. I hear the front door slam shut, leaving me with Alex, who’s still on top of me, and Director Ballard. Alex licks his lips nervously and slowly gets to his feet. I draw a long, shuddering breath in, thankful to be getting some fresh air at least.
“You need to get the fuck out of his house right now,” Alex blusters.
“And you need to learn to not rape young women.”
Before I even know what is happening, Director Ballard closed the distance between him and Alex. I watch as he drives his big fist into my would-be rapists face, again and again, sounding like a baseball hitting a leather mitt. Blood flows from Alex’s nose and mouth and his head bobs around like a toy on a spring. With a grunt, Director Ballard flings him to the side. Alex crashes into an end table and flips over it, taking the lamp and other tchotchkes onto the floor with him.
Director Ballard turns to me, his face dark with rage. “Get up.”
I do as he says, quickly smoothing out my clothes and wipe the tears from my face.
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
Other than my pride and being terrified half to death? No, not really. At least not physically, so I shake my head.
“I’m… I’m all right,” I say, my voice trembling.
“Good,” he says. “Let’s go.”
I hear Alex groaning and see August shaking his head, coming to, Director Ballard follows me out of the house and into the darkness. He doesn’t say a word to me as we walk down the path back toward the compound and all I can think about in that moment is that this is what it must feel like to be walking toward the electric chair.
Dead man walking indeed.
5
“What in the fuck do you think you were doing out there, Jordan?”
I pace back and forth behind my desk, doing my best to contain the rage that’s coursing through my veins, making my blood feel like it’s on fire. Jordan is sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs, seeming to be drawing inward on herself. Her gaze is on the floor and tears slip from the corners of her eyes and spill down her smooth, pale cheeks. She looks so lost. So vulnerable. Jordan knows how close she came to being victimized and I know I shouldn’t be piling on, making her feel even worse but the flames of anger inside of me won’t abate.
“Well?” I snap. “What do you have to say for yourself, Jordan?”
She shakes her head. “I just… I just wanted to blow off a little steam. I wanted to have a little bit of fun.”
Her voice is soft and quavering. But then she wipes her eyes with her hands and sniffs loudly, sitting up straight in her chair. A calm seems to descend over her, and she raises her gaze to me. I see a glint of defiance in her eyes and in the way she tilts her chin upward. Her jaw clenches as she grits her teeth, and she balls her hands into fists in her lap.
“It’s like full military school around here,” she says, her voice tight. “I just wanted to have a few laughs. Why are you acting like such a drill sergeant?”
“I’m acting like the Director of a camp who is responsible for your safety,” I grow. “Your mother sent you to us with the understanding that we would keep you safe. Do you know what she’s going to say when I tell her you snuck out to go drinking with some boys you don’t know and almost got yourself raped?”
Her eyes widen and she looks at me with fear in her eyes. “Please, don’t tell her. I’m begging you, Director Ballard. Please don’t tell her. Nothing happened—”
“Nothing happened because I got there in time,” I snap. “Except now, I’m going to have to deal with the fallout from beating the shit out of two of your little friends.”
She shakes her head. “They’re not my friends. I barely know them. And there won’t be any blowback. If they say anything, I’ll tell the cops Alex tried to rape me.”
“Why did you go out there, Jordan?”
"As I said, I just need to blow off a little steam. I needed to have a few laughs,” she snarls. “Not that I’m not thankful you showed up when you did but how did you know where I was?”
“I didn’t,” I reply. “But we’ve got surveillance cameras all over the place. I saw you sneak out, so I came looking for you. It didn’t take me long to figure out where you went. I saw you talking to that kid.”
“So, you’re like watching us?” she asks, her face aghast.
“Don’t be flattered. It’s my job.”
The truth is, I did see her on camera, but I already knew she was planning on sneaking out. I’d been watching her cabin earlier and heard her talking to Sara about it. It was just a matter of watching and waiting for her to make her move.
