Page 6 of Infinite

I push down my need to cower. It won’t help me or Hale. But fear always enlivens memories better left alone.

“What happened?” Daddy asks Kirk.

“I don’t know, sir. Like I said, I only saw him on top of her.”

Kirk knows Hale wasn’t forcing me to do anything. But he fears Daddy, just like his brothers and I do. Kirk won’t say anything to defend me or to anger my father. Like a typical follower, he’s merely along for the ride.

“Y’all trespassing on my property,” Daddy reminds them, ignoring the swelling and bleeding faces.

“Just let them go,” I say, wishing my voice didn’t shake as much as it does. “Please. They won’t come back here no more. I swear it.”

“No,” Hale says.

Hale’s voice robs Daddy’s spotlight. Sean and Mason recover first, flanking Hale’s side.

“What did you say?” Daddy asks, his tone rising.

Hale ignores him. No one else exists now, not the way his steely features bore into mine. He holds out his hand. “Becca,” he says. “Come with me. I won’t leave you behind with them.”

My breath releases in a stammer and for a long while all I see is Hale’s outstretched palm and the olive branch he offers.

“Please, baby,” Hale says, ignoring my cousins as they struggle to their feet. “You don’t need to be here.”

He’s wrong.

It’s only because I’m here that my father hasn’t lashed out at him. My father walks forward, squaring his shoulders. I know that stance.

My racing pulse surges painfully as I hurry forward and intercept him.

I look my father dead in the eyes. “Go, Hale. Leave. Sean, Mason, you, too.”

My back is to them. It doesn’t matter. I know they’re not leaving, because I wouldn’t leave them, either.

A sharp pang squeezes my heart. “Please,” I say, my composure dwindling as I continue to stare my father down. “I need you to leave right now.”

Sounds of feet shuffling through the sand draw near and like the rising tide, the sense of danger returns. “Only if you leave with us,” Hale’s deep voice thrums. “I’ll take care of you. I swear to Christ I will.”

My composure crumbles and I clasp my hand over my mouth. My vision blurs with tears, but not so badly that I don’t catch my father’s smug smile. “Hale, if you feel anything for me, you’ll leave without me.Please,” I beg.

“Let’s go,” Mason mutters.

“Like hell,” Sean says.

He’s still itching for a fight. But Sean’s family has money like mine. He’s not in the same danger as Hale and Mason.

“We’re going,” Mason says, his promise stopping Daddy and everyone else from closing in.

“Becca,” Hale says. “Becks, come on—Get the fuck off me,” he adds, shoving someone away.

“I don’t want you here,” I say, my voice likely reflecting the dull hate overtaking me. “You don’t belong here.”

I mean what I say. Hale . . . he doesn’t belong with this shit. I only wish it didn’t sound so cruel.

I don’t know how long I stand there, trying in vain to stare my father down. It’s long enough for a truck to start and then another, their dense tires kicking back debris as they peel away and back onto the road.

With my boys gone, I’m on my own. I should be used to it. After a lifetime of being treated like I’ll never be good enough, loneliness is more friend than foe. Except I want to be good enough. My word, I need to be.

My first mistake is standing this close to my father. My second is speaking.

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