"Jayda... Jayda please hurry..."
"I am, Lilah. Hold on. I'm just pulling into the driveway. I'll be right there." I hung up the phone,
put the car in park, and jumped out.
The smell of rain usually comforted me, assuring that after it passed, the city would be fresh- wiped clean of any impurities and filth. But tonight, it mirrored it's stereotype. It crashed, beating the streets without mercy, lightning filling the sky and thunder roaring loudly.
Leaving the door open, I ran up to the house looming before me. The door was open. I curled my hand into a fist and made my way to the living room. She was on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, crying. I knelt next to her and gently shook her shoulders.
"C'mon, Lilah, we have to go. Where is he?" She glanced up at me, trying to stifle her sobs. Her hand cradled her nose, dark red seeping down her face. I clenched my fist. "That bastard."
"In the bathroom."
She spoke slowly, keeping the blood out of her mouth. She hated the taste of blood. "Can't we just go? Don't do anything stupid." Despite my anger, I offered a small smile. She didn't need to worry. No one ever needed to worry about me.
"Don't worry. C'mon, you need to go to the car." I slowly pulled her forearm up to me in an effort to stand her up. Lilah winced in pain. Moving my hand to the side revealed five fingers, bigger than mine, branded onto her arm, already beginning to bruise.
"What d'you think you're doin'?" I turned. A man stood in the bathroom doorway, his right shoulder leaning on the door frame. His head tilted forward, as if tired, but his eyes looked up at us. A sloppy smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and I could smell the alcohol on him.
"Leaving." I replied, pulling up Lilah the rest of the way- admittedly, too roughly. But Kane needed to know that he wasn't in charge here. My plan worked; he shifted his gaze to me.
"I wasn't talkin' to you, sweetheart." He made his point by scanning over Lilah with hungry, scrutinizing eyes.
"Yeah? Well, that's too bad, I don't think Lilah is capable of talking right now." I took a few steps forward. "You see, some asshole punched her in the nose. Now, I know this may take a few tries for you to understand, but we're leaving now. Do you get that? Lilah, come on."
She froze, hesitation making its presence known in every inch of her body. She was a deer in headlights. I gently nudged her shoulder. "Go on." She slowly backed towards the door. When she was close enough, she turned and fled down the hall, her feet thumping on the hardwood floor.
When she was gone I turned back to him, searching for any sign of guilt in his face. There was none. He was slightly more composed now. As if what had just happened, what he'd just done, was completely casual. An everyday occurrence.
It sickened me.
"It's amusing how you think you're in control. That you can protect her—" His gaze rose from the floor and settled on me. He seemed close to laughing. "—protect yourself." He made his way toward me. "Because the truth is, you know you can't."
He stepped forward. I inched back.
"She's told me about you, you know..."
"Look," I snapped, "You know nothing about me. Nothing."
He narrowed his eyes and smiled. "You'd be surprised… she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Unless you make her..."
He kept coming closer and I stepped back, uncomfortable with our close proximity.
"Stop... or I'll make you regret it." I threatened.
A few moments passed. He moved forward, closer to me, but this time I held my ground. I'm not Lilah—I don't back down. I won't give him the satisfaction of retreat.
"A lil' girl like you? Think that you can handle a big man like me?" he goaded.
I stared him down, this drunken fool— a man that chose to assert his authority by beating weaker women. Men like him are scum that deserve what comes to them, and he'll never change. Not that I was expecting him to, really, but I thought that he might stop yammering on. I thought that, maybe, he knew when to shut up.
I also thought that, maybe, I had the ability to walk away without cracking a few bones in his face.
I was wrong on both counts.
I clenched my fist and swung my elbow around, connecting it with his jaw. A satisfying crunch graced my ears. He stooped over, rubbing his chin, but quickly recovered, ready to strike. I ducked under his swing and side-stepped to the right, punching him hard twice in his gut. He doubled over.
"What kind of a man abuses a girl half his size?"
I set my hands on his shoulders and kneed him in the groin. He sucked in a breath and sunk to his knees.
"You are a coward." I paused. "I don't know what game you're playing, Kane, but I assure you, I'm about to end it. You have no control of Lilah anymore. You so much as text the girl, and I swear you'll regret it."
He looked up at me in disgust. "I'll do anything I want with her."
I narrowed my eyes, going in for one final blow. That was my mistake.
He dodged, clutching my forearm in his hand, and yanked me down. He unwrapped his right arm from around his torso and grabbed my other arm, pushing me against the floor. He held me there, like a wild animal in a trap. I didn't move—I was stunned. He was stronger than I had suspected. I couldn't help thinking of Lilah. What had she gotten herself into?
His eyes bore into mine as he pinned me there. "But you know, I'm feeling very into you right now." He leaned in closer to me.
"You're sick." I spit into his eyes.
He hesitated for a split second, and that was all I needed. I tore my arms from his grip and thrust my fist into his throat. He choked on his breath, tears forming in his eyes. I shoved him off of me and met very little resistance. Kane laid there on the floor, clutching his throat. I stood up.
"Pa-thetic." I said, before jogging out of the house, leaving Kane in a crumbled mess.
Lilah was sitting in the truck, head tilted back, trying to stop the bleeding, as I climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.
"Where are we going?" Lilah looked at the house nervously.
"Anywhere but here." I grabbed my jacket from the back seat and held it out to her. She put it on.
"Jayda." she demanded, "Where are we going?"
"I don't know. I'm just gonna drive."
"What kind of plan is that?" She was frantic now.
"The best one I've got. Maybe I'd have a better plan if someone didn't tell Kane everyone we know, everywhere we've stayed, an-"
"Jayda, look!" I turned to see Kane stumbling out of the house, his eyes blinded with rage.
"Looks like we're out of time anyways." I put on my seat belt and told Lilah to do the same. "I will, just go!"
I shifted into reverse and stepped on the gas. We drove off, trying to lose him, but soon the rain and darkness became too much. I could barely tell which way the roads were turning, and soon I lost sight of any road markers.
"Jayda, Jayda he's following us!" Lilah shrieked. I looked in my rear view mirror and sure enough there were pair of headlights behind us. The space between the two cars was closing rapidly. "Damn it!" I took a sharp left turn. Lilah was thrown against the car door.
"Jayda, slow down, I can't get my seat belt."
"I can't, he's gaining on us."
"Jayda!" she shrieked.
"What?!"
The rain was pelting the windshield violently now, and Lilah was a sobbing mess. She was clutching the center console, her knuckles white. I felt a brief glimpse of sympathy—she was terrified, and now her psychotic boyfriend was chasing us. Honestly, though, it started to annoy me. I always had to clean up after her. She never took care of business, and she always got herself into trouble. It wouldn't have been like this if she had just listened to me—
"Jayda, turn!"
My eyes shot back to the road. Sure enough, there was a sharp turn a few hundred feet away, and I was going way too fast to make it safely. If I messed up it would be a one-way ticket off the ledge and into the riverbank below. Looking back at the rearview mirror, Kane was gaining on us. Not knowing what else I could do, and the turn coming up, I slammed on the brakes and made a sharp left, praying that there wasn't another car coming up the corner.
I didn't have to worry about another car. I didn't make the turn.