Page 2 of Acid

“Hold it, kid,” I state, placing my hand on his shoulder.

Her head snaps to me. “Excuse, me?” she snaps. “Do not tell my son what to do.”

I reach into my pocket, pull out a 20 and hand it to the kid. “Go to the diner down the street. Treat yourself to some ice cream while I talk to your mom.”

The kid smiles. “Feck yeah!” he yells.

“Oliver!” his mom chastises.

Stopping at the top of the stairs, he looks back at his mom. “You ain’t going to hurt her, are you?” he asks.

I smile and shake my head. “No, your mom is safe with me,” I promise.

He nods and runs off down the stairs. I turn my attention back to his mom stood in the doorway. Her arms are wrapped around her middle, like she’s protecting herself. I take a step forward, and she instantly moves back two spaces. I shut the door behind me.

“Where is he?” I ask.

“Who?” she asks. I smile and walk around the apartment. It’s clean and she obviously tries. I instantly spot the blood stained rags in the top of the trash can.

“I’m not here to hurt you or your kid. Where is the cunt that has done that to your face?” I press. She shakes her head, but as she tries to smile, it wavers. I walk towards her and reach for the sunglasses, causing her to flinch. “I ain’t going to hurt you,” I state softly. She removes her sunglasses, revealing a badly swollen black eye. I delicately move the hair away from her face, revealing more marks and bruises on her face. My blood boils. “Where is he?” I ask, repeating the question.

“I don’t want any trouble. Joe will hurt you and then blame me and, well, you know.” She sighs.

“He can’t hurt me, and I will make sure he will never hurt you again,” I promise her. She stares up at me, and I see hope and fear dancing in her eyes.

“Why would you involve yourself in this? You don’t know us,” she states.

“Because I ain’t a cunt. I would never walk away leaving a woman and her kid living with this,” I say, gesturing to her face. She looks away. “I ain’t saying you’re a bad mom. I’m just saying you’re in a situation and I’m going to help you out of it,” I add.

“He’s gone to the liquor store,” she mutters.

I nod. “Go pack a bag for you and the kid. You can stay at the motel,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “I can’t afford that,” she sighs.

“I didn’t ask you to pay for it. Now pack your shit,” I demand.

She pauses for a moment before running off to the bedroom. I turn around and look out the window. Flashbacks of my childhood still fucking haunt me. If my brothers were here, they would be doing the same. If I ignored the kid and left them to it, he would end up either in prison or fucking dead. I’m snapped out of my thoughts as the sound of the lock on the front door loudly clicks. I look to my left and see her stood there, fear written all over her face.

“Go back in the fucking room and don’t come out until I say,” I order. She jumps but quickly returns to the bedroom.

The front door opens and in stumbles the piece of shit. His drunken gaze lands on me. “Who the fuck are you?” he yells.

I smile, watching as he walks towards me like I’m supposed to be afraid of some shit. “I am your worst fucking nightmare,” I answer.

He scoffs. “Let me guess. The slut has been blowing you, and you thought you could save the day. Recuse her from here?”

“Don’t call her that,” I growl.

“What? A slut? Just calling it like it is. She will change on you, too. She’ll go from being all sweet and giving you pussy whenever you want it, to a nagging bitch that will only put out when you force her to,” he sneers.

My fists are clenched tight at my side. “I’m giving you your last warning. Fuck off and don’t ever come back,” I seethe.

He laughs, holding his hands out to the side. “And what exactly are you going to do about it?” he challenges.

I step forward into his space and slam my head down onto his, causing him to stumble back. Moving forward, I swing my fist and slam it into his face. I don’t let up as I do the same with my left fist. He falls to the floor, and I swing my booted foot back and slam it into his side. He groans, clutching his ribs.

“Get up, you pathetic sack of shit!” I spit. He just groans as he rolls around the floor like a pathetic worm. “That’s what I fucking thought. You can’t fight a man. You can only hit fucking women. You can only bully and torment women, and from what you’ve just fucking confessed, you can’t seem to get a woman to fuck you so you fucking rape her instead? I should slit your fucking throat and leave you to fucking bleed out,” I growl as I pull out my blade.

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