Page 56 of Losing a Piece of Me

I shove off the couch and jump in my truck, driving towards her house under a sky painted in twilight watercolors. As expected, my phone rings as soon as I pull up in front of her house.

* * *

I don’t want to let her go, but I have to. We can’t spend all night in the woods. I watch her climb back into her window, and when she is safely inside I walk around the house to my truck.

I’m not ready to go home yet. My empty house is too quiet, and left to my own devices I know I will spend the entire night dwelling on that memory. I tend to suppress most of those kinds of memories. I don’t like to remember myself being weak.

I mean, I got into my share of fights, all of which I won. Except for those with my dad. He walked away from every one of them victorious, with me bleeding on the ground. He was too big and too strong for me to take. He had years of fighting under his belt, I was no match for him.

I can’t see Lex and I don’t want to go home, so I call up Brett and ask him to meet me for a beer. He readily agrees and his car is already parked in the lot when I pull up.

On the other side of the bar is the last person I want to see: my dad, sitting on his usual barstool.

He doesn’t see me and I want to keep it that way. That last memory has me ready to fight. I need to calm down. I walk past and find Brett sitting at a back table.

“Hey, man. Thanks for meeting me.”

“It’s no problem. Gemma is at work tonight. What’s going on? You sounded a little off over the phone.”

The waitress brings over a bottle of beer, and I take a long pull and shake my head. “I’ve just had some stuff come up that I wish would’ve stayed buried, if you know what I mean.”

He takes a drink and nods toward my dad, who is falling asleep at the bar. “Stuff regarding him?”

“Him, Lex, what happened all those years ago.”

His eyebrows raise in inquiry. “What do you mean? Like why she left?”

I nod. “She was threatened by someone, she won’t tell me who it was or what they threatened her with.”

“Have you been seeing her?”

Fuck. I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but I can trust Bret. I nod. “I’ve been with her all week. Don’t tell anyone though. Whoever threatened her, she’s still afraid of what they will do.”

Suddenly, as if she heard her name being called, she walks into the bar. She sees my dad before she sees me, and her face pales as she stops dead in her tracks.

Was it him? Did he threaten her? When could that have happened?

Jeff is behind her and he picks up on her fear. He grabs her by the arms and leads her to the bar. “Come on, Alex. I’ve put up with your mom all day, I need a drink.”

With the mention of her name, my dad perks up. He eyes her and the guy she’s with. Something flashes across his face.

It was him. He did it. He made her leave me.

Anger washes over me again, blurring my vision and dilating my veins. I grip my beer bottle tighter.

“What’s happening?” Brett asks.

“It was him. He threatened her.”

My body seems to be moving on its own. Before I can process my thoughts, I’m directly behind him.

My hands reach out and spin him around before landing a hit to his jaw, knocking him off his barstool.

I jump on him, peppering him with hit after hit. He’s so drunk, he doesn’t feel any of it. He pushes me off of him and my head bounces on the floor. I’m stunned. I lay still, trying to catch my breath.

He stands over me and looks at her, then points his finger in her direction. “You ain’t supposed to be here.”

The color drains again from her face and her eyes fall to me on the floor.

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