Page 27 of Fighting the Tide
“That doesn’t mean she can’t develop feelings.Look at us.”She flutters her lashes as she gives me a serene smile.“We’ve known each other since first grade and look at us now.”
“No offense, Brooke, but we don’t know each other like Avery and I do,” I huff as I push away my tray.
“Even more so then.”She leans over and kisses my cheek before getting up.“I better run off to math, unless you want to fuck me senseless and leave for the day?”
Who could say no to that?
The wind is bone-chilling as I walk home from the bus stop.I spent a little time with Brooke and before we knew it, the sun had set.
It makes me feel awful that I’ve been spending a lot of time away from home, and even worse that my mother is there alone most of the time, but that house feels like a black hole.Whenever I step inside its four walls, the energy is sucked out of me.The demons that reside inside that little cottage are starting to wear down my defenses, and I fear one day they’re going to slip inside me and I’ll find myself more like him as they feed off my soul.My mother feels the same, she just hasn’t voiced it out loud, but she’s never made it a secret how badly she wants me out of this town.She wants better for me than what was given to her.
“Sears.”I turn at the sound of my name and see Darren leaning against a tree along the path that I usually meet his sister on every morning, right in the center of the fork where our destinations split.Avery to the left and me to the right.
“Hey.”I give him a nod and slip my hands into my pocket.“What’s up?”
The hood of his sweater sits low on his face, covering his forehead and his eyes, casting a shadow along his cheeks.The air around us shifts, and I can immediately sense an ominous vibe as I take a step back.Darren no longer lives here and he has never waited on this path to speak to me or Avery.
“I’m here on business,” he says as he pushes off the tree to stand in front of me, his head tipping to look up at me since he’s just a few inches shorter.
“I don’t have business with you, man.”I take another step back as his hands shift inside his hoodie pocket, setting off alarm bells in my head.Drug dealers carry weapons, and Darren is one of the most well-known drug dealers in our area.It would make sense for him to have a gun or a knife as protection.
“You may not, but your pops does.”As soon as I hear it, I know it’s true.There have been nights I wondered just exactly what my father was on, because his behavior was so vastly different from when he was drunk, and I know the American dream in crystal form is not cheap.There’s one thing I can guarantee, and that’s the fact that Anthony Sears rarely has any money.
“What does that have to do with me?”I pull my hands out of my sweater pocket, leaving them loose at my sides because the energy I’m sensing is violent.If I have to, I’ll defend myself by any means possible.If he thinks he can run up on me, demanding debts owed by my father, he’ll never do it again.
“He owes me over ten G’s.”My stomach sinks as he says the words and my mouth gapes open as I stare at him, shock tearing through me like a bullet, fast and painful.
“Why would you continue to give to him and let him rack up a bill like that?”I shake my head with disbelief as he finally pulls his hands out of his pocket to yank the hood down off his face.For the first time in a long time, I’m eye-to-eye with Darren, and I can see the ghosts that haunt him and his mocha-colored irises.
“Because at first, he was paying me.I thought he was good for it, and each time he’d buy, it was more and more.Yeah, maybe I was stupid and I shouldn’t have done it after he skipped payments the first few times, but I’m giving you a chance to square up for him before I take this matter into my own hands.”Again his words leave me absolutely speechless, as if he’d think me, Nolan Sears, would have ten thousand dollars to pay off a debt.
“Giving me a chance to square up,” I repeat, the words tumbling from my mouth in a dry chuckle.“Where the fuck would I get that money, Darren?”
“Well, you got that fancy, new, rich girlfriend.Maybe you could steal a couple things out of her house.Hell, maybe she’ll even hand over the money to save her poor boyfriend.”The smirk lining his mouth looks evil, but for the first time since I started dating Brooke, I feel the weight of her money pressing on me.
“I’m not asking my girlfriend to give me money.Not to pay off my father’s drug habit to a drug dealer who wasn’t smart enough to cut him off when he should have.”
He’s quick as he darts toward me, eating up the three feet of space between us in no time and slamming his fist into my cheek.My head snaps to the side and I immediately feel the throb skate along my skull as I press my hand to the tender flesh.“You’ll do as I fucking say,” he snarls as the cool bite of metal hits my temple.My body stiffens as a cold dread moves through me.“Or I’ll show up to kill you, your mother, and your worthless fucking father.”Every ounce of fight drains from my body as fear quickly funnels in.I’ve never seen a gun, let alone become this intimate with the cold metal of the barrel.My bladder threatens to fail me as he presses it harder, shoving my head down.“Get me that money!”
As soon as the metal leaves my temple, I drop to my knees, and even though my mind registers Darren’s receding footsteps, the quick pace telling me he’s in a rush to put distance between us, my body still trembles with fear.I fall forward, my hands clawing into the cool earth as a sob hitches in my throat.It’s clear I’m not dealing with a sane man, and I’m scared that if I don’t get what he’s asking for, the next person who will become acquainted with the barrel of his gun will be my mother.
I stagger to my feet, my limbs not cooperating as I stumble to a tree, my fingers finding purchase on the rough bark as I try to steady my breathing.I’m on the verge of a panic attack as my lungs cease with every strained breath, my cheeks soaked with the tears I can feel dripping down to my jaw.My body moves of its own accord as my mind stays frozen, the fractured images of what just happened swirling in my vision like a kaleidoscope.I’m having a hard time processing the events as I hobble up my driveway toward my front porch.
My cheek pulses as I pull open the cottage door, the skin already feeling tight as it swells from the hit I received.I step inside and drop my bag to the floor, watching as my mother turns at the sound and her eyes widening on my face.“Nolan!”She rushes forward, her cold hands gently touching my heated skin.“What happened?”
I gently move her aside as my eyes lock on the man who’s sitting on the couch, his eyes heavily hooded and the dark bags underneath standing stark against his pale skin.My vision tunnels in on him like the narrow scope of a rifle and everything else just fades into a pulsing red.The fear I felt as my life hung in the balance is now saturated with rage.I’m across the room in less than ten seconds, and my hands curl into his tank top as I rip him up off the couch, forcing him to look me in the eyes.He struggles as his dirty nails dig into my skin, but I don’t feel it as I drag his sorry carcass out the back door and onto the beach.
My mother’s screams float out behind me, the sounds so disjointed around the loud beat of my heart.Now it’s my father’s turn to feel fear as I throw him down to the sand, his greasy hair flinging across his forehead.He starts to crab walk backward away from me, his eyes blinking rapidly.“I was paid a visit from your drug dealer today!”I scream down at him as the translucent skin hanging from his jowls turns a light shade of green.“He pressed a gun to my fucking head, Dad, demanding the money you owe him.”
“What?”my mother screeches as her bare feet hit the sand.“What?Anthony!Your drug dealer?”
“Tell her!”I berate him as I kick sand onto his body, the rough grain slapping against his cheeks.“Tell her what you owe!”
“Stella.”His voice shakes as he continues to crab walk backward.“Get your boy off me, Stella.”
“Don’t talk to her!”I turn on him, and this time my foot connects with his thigh as a howl rips from his throat.“Don’t even fucking look at her, you worthless piece of shit!Look at me, look at my face, and then you tell her what you owe.”
“What have you done, Anthony?”My mother’s shrilling voice breaks through the wind and the rolling waves.“What have you brought to our doorstep now?”She stands a few paces behind me, her words filled with fear.
