Page 8 of Falling in Reverse

I clutch onto the long barrel, warmed by being used, and try to drive the gun away from my neck. “Fuck off.”

He immediately releases me, stepping away before I’m fixated on the front end of his handgun this time. The adrenaline and fear dripping off my body have me frozen against the wall where he left me.

Then he glances over to Mae and Ellie’s bedroom.

I mindlessly leap for him, a stupid decision with a handgun pointed at my face, but he pulls back on the hammer without so much as looking at me, followed by a distinct click.

I freeze like he cast an ice-cold sheet over my body to keep me from moving before he cranes his head back to me. I couldn’t move again if I wanted. Slowly, he backs down the hall, and his buddy opens the front door to leave.

Then they’re gone.

I didn’t tell Levi about the last part.

The way he responded about the news on the phone was the only indicator I needed to show me that he might do something stupid.

And I can’t afford that.

The moment the gun went off in the house, it only took another minute for Mae and Ellie to come out in a panic. I was able to cover up that I was watching TV too loud, which prompted them to forget it.

Dad was on sleeping pills and—high five to the pharmaceutical company—because he dreamt right through the ordeal.

Now to fix the damn hole.

I currently put an old My Little Pony poster up of Mae’s to cover it. Mrs. Gomez is gonna ask what the fuck that’s about, but I don’t have to explain shit to her. We’re redecorating for all she knows.

Snatching up my backpack, cell, and headphones, Mrs. Gomez from next door is already chatting away with Levi. She takes care of Dad until I get home from the two classes I have at the community college. She has nothing else to do and looks for extra things to do to get out of the house.

“Hey, Dad,” I sing-song, trying to put on a normal facade when I walk into the living room. “Levi and I are takin’ off. Be nice to Mrs. Gomez.”

His matching blue eyes flick over to me, clear and defeated, as he sits in his brown chair and aimlessly stays there. The stroke has taken not only his motor skills but some of his speech too.

Mrs. Gomez was able to obtain a walker to help him get around to the bathroom, and we walk through the front room to get his muscles moving, but it’s going to be a process.

“We playin’ Connect Four tonight?” He blinks at me once and turns back to the TV. “Don’t wanna lose, huh?”

That immediately grabs his attention again, the competitiveness I’ve adopted from him getting the best of his conscience.

“A-a-lr-r-right,” he says, his deep voice a tad slurred. “B-b-br-r-ring m-me…b-b-back hamb..ur..g-g-gers.”

“Hamburgers?” I repeat with clenched brows. “Doc’s orders were less red meat.”

Dad promptly glowers at me.

That didn’t affect any motor or facial skills.

I shrug. “I guess it’s the least I can do since I’m planning to kick your ass tonight.” I lean over his chair and kiss his forehead. “Love you.”

Ellie and Mae scuttle into the room, unicorn and purple backpacks strapped on their backs as they round my body to say goodbye to Pops.

Fear rears its ugly head on cue. If those guys show back up when I’m not here, Mrs. Gomez isn’t going to fend them off with anything but the Spanish coming out of her mouth. I shouldn’t be leaving. I need to stay here and?—

“Ready, Bay?” Levi shows up within the threshold of the family room, arms crossing and waiting for us to go.

I nod. I won’t let two fucking dickheads freak me out like a silly little bitch.

I require those damn security cameras, though, so I can keep tabs on Dad.

And like a JD Wentworth commercial, I need them now.

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