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But he turned and pointed at Noah, beside his mother, clutching a phone in his hand. “Let’s go, boy.”
Noah shook his head.
“Noah!” Seth roared, making the kid jump and quiver. “You’re going to listen to me right now. Get your ass outside. We’re getting the fuck out of—”
“You don’t have to go anywhere with him, Noah,” I interjected, locking eyes with the scared boy, who now looked years younger than he was. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
Seth looked over his shoulder, narrowed eyes scanning my face. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he asked, voice lowin an attempt tothreaten me. “That’s myson. I can tell him to do whatever the fuck I want.” He looked back at the boy. “Noah! Get the fuck outside!”
“N-no,” Noah replied, shaking his head. “I’m not going.”
Seth’s pride was evidently wounded at his son’s protest.
The man looked back at me with a blend of malice and disgust, then asked, “You just can’t get the fuck out of my way, can you?”
“Not as long as you keep showing up.”
He snorted a wicked chuckle. “And they’re afraid of me?” He shook his head, continuing to laugh. “Do they know you’re a murderer? Does she know”—he pointed behind himself at Ray—“that she’s fucking a murderer? And she’s scared ofme?”
“Your time is up,” I told him, flexing my fists at my sides. “Get the fuck out now.”
“Youarefucking her, right?” he asked, still trying to ruffle my feathers, even as he headed for the broken door. “How does it feel, Soldier? Knowing you’re just getting my sloppy seconds?”
As he stood in the open doorway, I spun to snatch his arm, twisting it around his back and feeling the telltale sensation of a bone snapping. Seth yelped, sounding like an injured dog, as I brought my mouth to his ear.
“If you ever come back here, I promise you, I will end your fucking life.”
“Not if I end yours first,” he challenged, his voice strained under the weight of his pain.
I released his arm, shoving him toward the steps and hoping he’d fall. But no such luck. He slithered his way down, like the fucking snake he was, clutching his fractured arm to his chest.
When I was sure he wasn’t turning around, I went to Ray.
Noah sat beside her. “I-I didn’t call the cops,” he admitted, clutching the phone. “I d-didn’t want them to take you away.”
I could only stare at him as my hands were held out, frozen, ready to tend to his mother. “Noah, they wouldn’t take me away.”
“But …” Shame filled his eyes with tears. “He … he said that you … you … that you’re a-a-a …”
He couldn’t say it, what he had heard come from his father’s mouth. That I had killed someone. He couldn’t admit out loud the possibility that it might be the truth.
“That’s not something you have to worry about, okay? You don’t ever have to worry about me. You worry about your mom and yourself. That’s it. And if I tell you to call 911, that’s what you do. You understand?”
He was crying as he nodded. “I-I-I’m sorry.”
This kid, who I had known for six months of my life, thought he’d done the right thing by protecting me.
For once, someone had looked out for me, and I couldn’t be mad at him for that.
“It’s okay, buddy,” I said as I reached out to lay my hand over his head. “Now, do me a favor. Get a wet washcloth and an ice pack from the freezer. Then, call 911.”
***
Her nose had been broken. Her cheek had been bruised. Seth hadn’t gotten the chance to do much more than that—thank Christ—but it was her mind that was wounded most of all.
Officer Kinney sat with us in an emergency room bay, asking questions about the break-in and if we knew the guy who had broken in. I let Ray do the talking, unsure of what she would say.
I was ready to blow a fuse when she claimed to not know the intruder. But instead of saying anything, I walked away as she spoke to him while the on-call doctor tended to her wounds, angry with myself for not killing Seth when I’d had the chance. Angry with her for not doing something to protect herself and her son.
