Page 32 of To Save Him

Oh, shit.  What if, in spite of what I thought, I’d been wrong?  I’d heard rumors of bears being sighted in lower elevations.  What if Brandon was running out to meet his doom?

I rushed out the door—flipping the porch light back on—and paused, looking and listening, trying to figure out where he was, because he wasn’t anywhere in my line of sight.  I could feel how my ears had perked up, straining to hear animal sounds.  Instead, I heard some kind of human scuffling—including guttural noises—on the side of the house where my bedroom and office were situated.

As I rushed over there, I flipped on the flashlight because, at the moment, I felt a little blind.  I was shining a beam as I made it to the side of the house and I waved it around, searching, until I caught sight of what I knew I was looking for.

Two people were involved in some kind of skirmish—one of them was Brandon.  The other person stood, but Brandon was on top of the guy’s back, almost as if he was on a piggyback ride, except Brandon had one arm wrapped around the guy’s throat in a sleeper hold.  I continued running over and, as I got closer, I could see the look on Brandon’s face.  It was that of a soldier—cold and focused.  The man suffering under his grip was taller than Brandon, but not by much, and as I got ready to try to get Brandon’s attention to ask him what he wanted me to do, I realized the man receiving his punishment was none other than my ex-husband Melvin.

“Brandon,” I said, trying to get my young friend’s attention.  But he wasn’t quite with us, I discovered.  His conscious mind seemed to be shut off and his only purpose was to harm or kill the man in his grip.

It was frightening.

“Brandon! Brandon!”  In all the movement and commotion, I still managed to grab one of his arms.  The flesh felt like pure steel under my hand.  I kept the flashlight in the other, waving it toward Brandon’s face, until I saw something register in his expression as he almost seemed to “come to.”  He gave me a look of confusion, of question, and I seized that opportunity to speak again.  “Brandon, let him go.”

Even though Brandon seemed to be aware of what was going on, he kept a relentless grip on my ex…and Mel seemed about ready to pass out.  His eyes were fluttering, threatening to roll to the back of his head.  I kept my grip on Brandon’s hard forearm, trying to exert my own pressure on it.  “Brandon, this is my ex-husband, Annabel and JR’s father.  Please let him go!”

Brandon seemed to respond not to my actual words but to the panicked tone in my voice.  He tilted his head slightly before I felt his arm relax under my hand.  I stood back while Brandon untwined his arms and slid off Mel’s back.

After we’d all regained our footing, I asked, “Mel, what the hell are you doing here?  And why are you creeping around the house like a peeping Tom?”  I heard a dog bark in the distance, and I knew if we stayed out there, the ruckus was going to disturb the neighbors.  “Get inside,” I ordered.

Mel found his voice while we walked around to the front of the house.  “I wanted to see Annabel and congratulate her on a job well done.”

Noisy or not, my mouth couldn’t be stopped.  “And you couldn’t use the front door like a normal person?”

His voice was stiff.  “Am I welcome inside nowadays?”

It was like he’d gotten stupider as he aged, but I wasn’t going to say anything else until we were inside.  A big part of me loved how Brandon still seemed bristly and aggressive.  It was a side of him I’d never seen before and wasn’t helping my undying crush—lust—on the young man.

Once we’d closed the front door, I didn’t bring Mel in any farther.  “I’m glad you came to see Annabel.  I am.  But tell me again why you chose to sneak around the house.”

He cocked an eyebrow, glancing sideways at Brandon who was acting like he was just waiting for Mel to get out of hand.  “The last time I saw you, Kim, you weren’t exactly happy to see me.”

I took a deep breath in through my nose, willing myself to remain calm, but I could feel my jaw stiffen.  “The last time you saw me, Mel, you were getting a blowjob from your Barbie wife in your car while waiting to pick up our children.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“That might be, but it was the last time I saw you.”  Willingly, anyway.  After that, the kids were old enough to meet their dad on their own.  I’d take them to McDonald’s or wherever, maintaining phone contact as needed, but I avoided the ex at all costs.  It was bad enough that he’d left me for another woman.  A younger woman.  An apparently more adventurous woman, one with a perfect body.  But to engage in fellatio outside my home where my kids might spy what was going on was unacceptable.

Mel shifted his weight to another foot and cocked his head.  “Who’sthis?”

I looked over at Brandon—now officially my hero—and relished the fact that one eyebrow was arched in judgment at my ex-asshole.  I tried to keep the disgust out of my voice as I answered Mel.  “This is Brandon Abbott.  He was a friend of Gabriel’s while they were both in the Marines.  I invited him to stay here with us until he gets on his feet.”

Mel’s expression grew darker.  “And did you know he’s been fucking our daughter?”

I felt the bottom of my jaw grow heavier, but it was Brandon who said, “Where did you getthatidea?”

“When I saw you just now—which waswhyI was being sneaky.”

In all fairness, I’d had my suspicions that Brandon had half an eye on Annabel, but his denial at that moment was so sincere, I couldn’t doubt his word.  Even if I did, that was my problem, not Mel’s.  Mel couldn’t play father for forty-eight hours a year and expect to be worshipped.  It didn’t work like that.  “Do you even hear yourself, Mel?”

“When did I supposedly sleep with your daughter?”

“I just saw you in her bedroom.”

That was when I knew Mel had lost his mind, because Brandon had been with me the whole time—well, all except for when he’d gone upstairs with JR.

Had something happenedthen?

Mel moved so quickly, I didn’t see it coming.  He had Brandon pinned against the wall.  I’d seen how ferocious Brandon could be, but Mel right now had the element of surprise working in his favor.  No one expected crazy right this second.  Mel brought his fist back, ready to pummel Brandon’s beautiful face, and I knew I wasn’t as strong as he, but I grabbed his arm just the same.  If nothing else, I could soften the blow, slow him down.

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