Page 64 of All Your Tomorrows

“When are you gonna get over that? It was clearly a mistake.”

There was no talking sense to a drunk Rick. I glanced to Kyler who looked ready to pounce. I held up my hand to let him know I’d handle it. I walked to the door and jerked it open. “You need to leave, Rick.”

He huffed his annoyance as he staggered toward the door, but instead of walking out, he ripped my hand away from the knob with such vigor it threw me off balance and launched me halfway across the living room.

Kyler sprang, his fists coming from both sides as he pummeled Rick with blow after blow to his head. I’d never seen this rage in Kyler, and I wondered if part of it stemmed from his recollections of the accident.

“What the fuck?” Rick screamed as “an invisible force” took him to the ground, relentless with its fists. Blood poured from Rick’s nose as he used his arms to protect himself from the unseen attacker.

“Kyler,” I said, pulling at the back of his hoodie to get him off of Rick. “He’s not worth it.”

Kyler landed a few more blows before climbing off of him.

Rick, clasping his bloody nose, sprang to his feet with fear in his eyes as he searched my living room for the entity that had just beaten his ass. The entity that only I could see who was currently breathing heavily and staring at me. “What wasthat?”

Good question. As far as I knew, Kyler could only touchme. “That was your cue to get out of here and never come back,” I said.

He rushed to the door and stumbled outside. I slammed the door and locked it, overwhelmed by his aggression with meandKyler’s reaction to it.

“I’m not sorry,” Kyler said before I even turned around.

When I did, he stood with his hands in his pockets. I took the two steps necessary to stand in front of him and removed his hands from his pockets, examining his knuckles. “Are you hurt?”

He smirked. “No, but he is.”

I cocked my head. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“He wasn’t gonna lay a hand on my girl,” he said.

I sucked in a sharp breath as butterflies swarmed in my belly.

“Now, he’ll never be back,” he assured me.

I slipped my fingers into his. “Did any of that have to do with Melanie?”

He shrugged.

“I wouldn’t blame you if it did,” I said, my thumbs rubbing gently over the backs of his hands.

“I never imagined she had it in her. I knew she was whacked-out, but to purposely try to kill me…that’s some messed up shit.”

I said nothing because he needed to say this. He needed to process it.

“She needs to pay,” he said. “She’s taken everything from me.”

He was right. The only positive to come from the accident was us meeting, and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he’d sacrifice that to have his life back. “You need to wake up and tell someone.”

His lips twisted regrettably. That was the only way to have definitive proof. But, currently, that didn’t help us.

“Do you think she confided in any of her friends?” I asked.

“Would you if you did something so horrific?” he asked.

“I’m not her,” I said. “So, there’s no telling what a crazy person would do.”

He dropped his forehead to mine. “I have no idea what I would’ve done if I didn’t meet you.”

I smiled a sad smile knowing that the circumstances that brought us together sucked.

---