Page 46 of The Legend
“What thefuck happened?” I demanded of Van. “Where is that fucking kid?”
He shookhis head slowly, his eyes drowning. When it came to my kids, I knew him wellenough to know that this is who he was. “I’m not really sure but I think weshould get her to the doctor first. Those aren’t her only injuries.”
I don’t thinkI will ever understand why the strong preyed upon the weak. I’ll neverunderstand why good people die young and assholes get to live happy long lives.I’ll never understand why a six-year old little boy with bright chocolate eyesnever got to see his first race and lost a battle he should have never had toendure. I’ll never understand why planes crash and kill innocent victims or whyone person loses their life in a wreck and others walk away without a scratch.
Mostly, inthat moment, I couldn’t understand why Brian would do something like this to mylittle girl simply because Axel punched him. I didn’t know everything thathappened between them and I honestly didn’t care. All I cared about waswhyBrian felt the need to take it out on Arie. I needed answers.
Sway andmy mom ended up taking Arie to the hospital while Van and Spencer went toquestion Brian. I never liked Brian and he was about to find out just how muchI disliked him. He was about to have a really bad day.
“He’snineteen Jameson. Be careful,” was Sway’s only advice to me when I left, butthe words stuck with me the way to his house. Sure Brian was nineteen but Ariewas seventeen. What he did was unacceptable to me and he needed to know that.
We pickedup Spencer on the way there but in the nearly forty-minute drive to Westportfrom the shop in Mooresville, Axel had called and filled us in on whathappened.
Brian andAxel had been battling for third place in the points for the last few monthswhen a late race wreck took them both out of contention. Brian thought Axelwrecked him on purpose and pushed him into Lily after the race causing her tofall. She wasn’t hurt but it pissed Axel off enough that he took a swing atBrian. This caused an all-out pit fight and ended up with Axel getting a fine,along with Tommy and Rager when they got involved.
Brian,upset with Axel, took it out on Arie when he got home after the race.
I kept mycool when he shut the door in my face after we arrived and I kept my cool whenhe called my son an asshole. I also kept my cool when he said my daughterinstigated him. Let’s face it, Arie was a spitfire and passionate. Much likeme, if she believed something to be true, she would scream until she was bluein the face to prove her point. She also knew how to push your buttons ifneeded.
When did Ilose it?
When hehad the nerve to say he didn’t hit Arie that hard.
I may havebeen forty-two years old and he may have only been nineteen, but I didn’t careat that moment. He could sue me for assault but he would think twice beforehitting a girl again. He would think twice about hitting my little girl.
Spencerand Van did nothing but stand there near the front door. I could have very welldid some damage to him but that wasn’t me. I didn’t want to kill the kid; Ionly wanted to teach him a lesson about respecting women, more importantly mylittle girl.
“I’llpress charges against you!” he wailed holding his broken nose. “I will! Youfucking asshole, get out!”
Spencerstepped besides me. “It’s about time we left, Jameson.”
I noddedto him but laughed darkly stepping toward Brian again. He flinched, curlinginto himself against the tile floor in his kitchen afraid of what I might do.
“Go ahead,press charges,” I leaned down to his level, my voice burned with a warning hewould never forget, “and I will press charges for what you’ve done to mydaughter. She is seventeen. Did you forget that?”
His eyeswidened with surprise but the warning sunk in. He knew the charges he wouldface and I’m pretty sure he understood he could kiss any racing career hewanted, goodbye now.
Personally,I thought I handled it well. I did lose my temper and yes, I hit the kid but Idid a lot less damage than he did to my daughter. At least that’s how I justifiedthe regret I felt afterward.
I don’tknow why I felt regret about it. Maybe it was because he was just a kidhimself.
Eitherway, after I arrived at the hospital and saw Arie lying in that hospital bedwith Casten, the regret was gone.
Her faceswollen on the left side, her lower lip had three stitches with her left eyecompletely swollen shut. Deep purple blotches covered her eyelid. Her nose wassurely broken; gauze shoved up each nostril to stop the bleeding. Thankfully, Icouldn’t see the other bruises on her body but I knew very well that they werethere.
The doorclicked behind me, Arie looked up tears streaming down her face but she neverspoke a word. Casten withdrew himself from her grip and slipped outside to callAxel leaving me alone with her.
“Can I sitwith you, sweetie?” I asked hesitantly stepping forward.
Sinceshe’d been dating Brian, Arie didn’t want much to do with me. Mostly because Inever liked Brian and protested any relationship, she had with him. That neverwent over well with Arie.
Arienodded carefully, her eyes fell to her hands as she fidgeted nervously with thewhite fleece blanket covering her.
Cautiously,I moved to sit next to her but hesitated when I heard the beeping of themonitors beside her. Instantly and without warning, my mind flashed with imagesof Sway and Darrin. It was an image I would never forget, him hovering over herin that dark stairwell.
Shaking myhead, I tried to erase the image.
Sucking ina deep jagged breath, it was like dying a slow painful death reliving thoseimages that had haunted me for over twenty years. The pain never faded, onlynow this was my daughter.
