Page 87 of August Lane
“No, you’re not.” Her eyes were swollen from crying. Blood streaked her hands and clothes. “I got worried when you didn’t show up, so I came here. You were passed out.” She gestured at the floor next to the couch. An empty Jim Beam bottle lay on top of bloodstains on the carpet. Luke remembered thinking he could pour it over his wounds like he’d seen in movies. Then he’d thought of August waiting for him, how he’d ruined her birthday, and he’d poured whiskey on that, too.
“You’re still bleeding.” She probed his arm. “I think you need stitches.”
Luke moved his fingers and was relieved that, aside from the pain, they were still functioning. He hadn’t done any permanent damage. “I can take care of this,” he said, even though he wasn’t exactly sure how. “You should leave before she gets back.”
“She who? Your mother? I’m not leaving you with her.”
“I can handle it.”
“Well, I’m here now. So you don’t have to.”
Her panicked expression had changed to stubborn resolve. It cleaved him in two—half giddy she wanted to stay, half terrified she actuallywould and be trapped in this prison with him. Luke touched her cheek with his left hand, which was still clean and good and useful.
A key rattled in the front door. Luke tried to angle his body in front of her to protect her from Ava’s wrath. But it was Ethan. His little brother stepped inside and took in the blood and the broken glass with wide eyes. “Luke?”
“I’m fine.” Luke tried to make it more convincing by standing, only he used the wrong arm to push off with. He cried out. The pain was agony.
August wrapped her arms around him and he used her for leverage. “Ethan, this is August.”
“I know.” Ethan moved closer, eyes bouncing between them. “What happened to my brother?”
“She wasn’t here,” Luke said before August could respond. “I got locked out and…” Got wasted. Why the fuck did he do that? “… did something stupid. August found me and stopped the bleeding, so I’m fine.” He didn’t know if that was true, but he needed to cool what was burning in Ethan’s eyes. He knew exactly what his brother was thinking. Ava had done this. Someone should make her pay.
“We should call Bill,” Ethan declared.
“No.” Luke untangled himself from August. “No police. Nothing happened. Because if something did, people would ask questions about other things, and neither of us is that good a liar.” He glanced toward Ava’s room, and Ethan followed his gaze. Luke could tell when the reality of their situation hit him: the liquor bottles, the pills, the fake names on her prescriptions. If the cops saw all that, they’d take Ethan away.
“You’re wrong,” Ethan said. He disappeared into his bedroom, then returned with a baseball bat and a bag of balls. “You’re the bad liar.” He dumped them by the broken window and looked at August. “Take care of him. I’ll clean this up.”
She stared at the blood. “It’s a lot.”
“I’ll handle it.” Ethan’s voice sounded like Luke’s on a bad day. Bitter but resigned. Resentful that he had to be. Then he said, “Ava won’t believe I did it, but she won’t argue.” That’s when Luke knew he had to leave. He couldn’t let Ethan become collateral damage in his war withtheir mother. Luke had stayed to keep Ethan safe, buthewas the real threat to his brother’s safety.
“My bedroom is the first door on the right,” Luke told August. “There’s a packed duffel under my bed.”
She didn’t ask why he kept a go bag in his room, and he was grateful. Once she left, Luke told Ethan, “I’m not coming back, but I won’t be far.” He didn’t know where he was going, but Ethan didn’t need to know that. He just needed to know that he wasn’t being abandoned. “I’ll send money. Hide it where she can’t find it.”
Luke hugged his brother with his good arm as tight as he could. Ethan clung to him. Luke mumbled more reassurances, emptier than he’d like because he didn’t have much else to give.I want to keep youwas all he could offer anyone.I want to keep you, even though I shouldn’t.
Her hands were shaking. Luke waited patiently while August fumbled with the car door, even though she knew he was in pain. He looked terrible. Once in the passenger seat, he closed his eyes and slumped against the window, as if looking at things took too much effort.
She stayed quiet as she drove, partly because any sounds she made wouldn’t be rational or human. Her nails were caked in dried blood. Black flakes floated to her dress like snow.
Silas met them in the Delta Blue parking lot. He assessed things quickly and retrieved Luke from the passenger side. Once inside, he cut away Luke’s shirt, revealing the damage he’d done climbing through the broken window. His upper body was covered in tiny, vicious cuts. A large bruise covered his shoulder. Silas’s hands hovered over the blood-soaked T-shirt on Luke’s forearm before he gently pried it loose. It was the most unsure she’d ever seen her uncle.
Luke tried to smile at her as the shirt was peeled away. Silas barked at August to get water and soap from the bathroom, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t stop staring at the deep cut with its cruel jagged edges.
“He needs a doctor,” she said.
“No doctors.” Luke was frantic. “They’ll call the police.”
Silas said, “He’s right.” He pulled out his flip phone. “Calling a friend of mine. He knows how to treat a wound.”
The man Silas referred to as Ghost was tall and slender, with a large afro and stern expression. After examining the cut, he looked at Luke and said, “This gon’ hurt.”
Luke glanced at August. “Can we do it somewhere else?”
It took her a moment to realize what was happening. “No! I’m not leaving you alone.”
