Page 67 of Roses and Skulls

Chapter Seventeen

Billie Rose

Iwas watching my mom make her way down to the lake when it started. My first thought was to run down there and stop my dad from murdering Elijah but then my mom looked up at me. I can’t explain how her eyes stopped me, calmed me even. Eventually, her gaze went back to the brawl and so did mine.

My dad isn’t hitting near as hard as he could. I’ve watched him fight many times. The men in the club need an outlet and I’ve never really questioned it, growing up around it my whole life.

But is Elijah going full out? I don’t know, I’ve never seen him fight.

It’s a little unnerving watching them go at it like this. Is this all over me?

“Someday, a boy is going to come into your life, and he isn’t going to be afraid of your dad. Nothing will stop him from stealing your heart. Not even Dirk.”

“Oh, grandpa, I wish you were here to see this.” A smile breaks out over my face as I watch Elijah take a punch to the face. And he just keeps taking it, but don’t get me wrong, he’s not afraid to fight back.

Dan steps out from the patio and throws his hands out, shoving them off of each other. I start to giggle because it takes him no effort at all. Words are still being thrown but I don’t think Dan is going to let them do any more physical damage to each other.

Mom is still watching from the dock. She won’t let things get out of control. I drag myself away from the window, trusting that they will work it out. When I get out of the shower, Elijah is perched on the end of my bed.

I lean against the door and stare at his beat-up face. “Come here,” I say, waving him into the bathroom. He follows me and sits on the toilet lid while I grab some things from the medicine cabinet to patch him up. I’ve watched my mom do this for my dad many times.

“Why do you keep doing this to yourself?” I ask him.

He pulls me between his legs and stares up at me. I wipe my thumb over his busted lip.

“I’m not worth it, Elijah.”

“Stop.”

I bite my lip and continue to clean the blood off his face.

“Your mom has known for a few years that I was coming for you.”

My hand pauses over his cheek bone.

“It was her who kept us apart. Dirk took the heat for it, but it was her decision to stop your visits.”

I focus on what I’m doing, wondering why my mom would do that. That makes no sense. It’s always been my dad who chases the boys away, not her. And Elijah was my friend. My only one. Yeah, I made a new friend in Lanie when she transferred to my high school, but no one could ever replace Elijah.

“You’re angry?” Elijah asks as he follows me back into my bedroom.

“I don’t know what I am anymore. Here I’m finally ready to tell everyone my secrets and…”

“She saw something we didn’t. She said she didn’t want to put us in a situation where things progressed before you were old enough.”

I shake my head. “Elijah, that makes no sense.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“No, we were just friends back then.”

He nods his head slowly. “We were, we still are.” He walks over and sits down in my window seat. “I wanted to come back with her when she visited after your accident. She showed me a picture…” his words trail off.

“Why didn’t you?”

He laughs lightly. “Because I would have done something stupid. I wasn’t ready for war.” He tilts his head to the side. “I needed to become someone worthy to stand by your side.”

“But there was no war. There was nothing. Not a single damn thing. Everyone just assumed it was an accident. No one even asked me what happened.” I shove off the wall and storm over to my dresser. I open the top drawer and throw all of the newspapers I collected about the “accident” to the floor.

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