It had to be him. There was no one else Tess would’ve had this kind of reaction to, no one who could pull such visceral fear out of her.
And he was staring right at us.
He was leaning against a souped-up truck, a lit cigarette in his mouth. My insides surged with white-hot rage at the sight of him, at the sheer size of him. He was built for intimidation, and worse, he knew it. But that was part of the thrill for people like Jeremy; they targeted people who were too vulnerable to fight back.
I was not one of them. Even if he had four inches and probably fifty pounds on me. Over my dead body would he get past me to them.
“Take Luke inside,” I said, my voice hoarse. I put my body between hers and Jeremy. He straightened off the truck, stalking towards us. He flicked the cigarette across the asphalt, his face a picture of fury.
“Tess!” he bellowed across the parking lot, his voice booming like thunder. She shrieked and slammed her body against my back. Luke whimpered behind me, clinging to my leg. I looked down at him and—God fucking help Jeremy if I got my hands on him. Just the sight of him made Luke wet himself.
I took a deep breath, wrenching my jaw. “You’re violating a legal protection order, Jeremy,” I said, using every piece of restraint I had to keep my voice calm. I didn’t want to scare Tess and Luke even more. “You can’t come within a hundred yards of Tess. Leave now, and I won’t call the cops.”
It was chilling to see him so close, to see the similarities to Luke. They had the same brown eyes, but Jeremy’s held no warmth, just a feral possessiveness as he looked at my family. “And who the fuck are you?”
I reached behind me, my hand on Tess’s lower back. “Her husband,” I ground out lowly, protective rage flaring through me as he looked at her.
Jeremy scoffed, not believing me. “Tess, get over here,” he ordered, his voice calm but biting. She sobbed, her fists curling into the back of my shirt. He ran a hand over his buzzed scalp, his composure snapping. “Now!”
“Just go, Jeremy, please,” she wept.
He let out a humorless laugh. “You always were a dumb bitch. I’m not going anywhere without you two.”
“This is your last warning.” I took a step towards him. “Leave,” I said through clenched teeth. My hands curled into fists at my sides, trying to stop the shaking. Not from fear, but fury.
His eyes flickered with amusement, sizing me up. “You think you can stop me?”
My stomach twisted. I’d never been in a fight before, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was about to have my first one, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. “To keep them from you? Yes.”
Jeremy’s nostrils flared, his eyes clouding over with something that made all the hairs on my body stand. “They’re mine,” he snapped.
It came faster than I could blink, the pain blinding as it radiated up through my nose and into the rest of my skull. I’d never been hit like that in my life. I didn’t even know where I was for a second. I fell to the ground, spitting blood. Tess screamed. My vision swirled, and I ripped my broken glasses off, tossing them to the side.
The thought of Tess enduring that kind of pain for years ignited something feral in me. I hurled myself at him, my throat raw with a sound I didn’t recognize as my own, and somehow we hit the pavement. I wasn’t delusional enough to think it was because I was stronger; it was because he wasn’t expecting it.
The smack of my fist against bone jolted all the way up my arm, pain sparking as sharp as a knife. Jeremy’s head whipped sideways, blood spraying, but all I felt was the sting in my hand and the crazed need to swing again. I wanted to lay into him. I wanted to punish him for the terror he’s reigned down on my family for years.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to kill someone.
I swung again. And again. Yelling with every blow I landed.
“You motherfucker,” he roared, neck veins straining. Past Tess’s screaming and Luke’s crying, I heard the faint whirl of sirens. Someone must’ve called the cops, thank God.
I just had to hold Jeremy off until they got here.
His fist slammed into my side with the force of a Mack truck, and the air just…vanished. My body buckled, and I slid off him to the ground, useless. I groaned, my lungs seizing with every failed breath I took. My forehead rested against the pavement, the sound of Jeremy’s boots on the asphalt ringing in my ears.
“Grab the boy and let’s go, Tess,” Jeremy ordered.
“We’re not going with you,” she said. Her voice was wobbly, but it carried steel. And I’d never been more proud of her. My weight was barely supported by my hands and knees beforeJeremy’s boot collided with my ribs again. I crumbled to the ground, coughing.
Tess’s yelp sent ice through my veins. I pushed back the nausea and pain. I had to get up. I had to protect her. “Get off me!” Her scream pierced the night and hit me like a crack of lightning.
Galvanized, I rose to my feet, staggering. Jeremy’s hand was wrapped around Tess’s entire upper arm, his knuckles white. She was beating against his back, flailing in his grip. My body moved faster than my mind, and I stormed toward them.No. I stopped. I needed to be smarter than him. It was the only way I’d win this.
“Get out here, boy,” he snapped at Luke beneath the car, bending over. “Before I drag you.”
Tess’s eyes met mine, and I vowed to myself she’d never be terrified like this again. She stopped hitting Jeremy, but I shook my head, stalking towards them quietly, and pressed a finger to my mouth. I tipped my chin, gesturing to Jeremy. She caught on and started hitting him again, slamming her fist down on his back, even though it didn’t seem to faze him. But it did exactly what I needed—distracted him.
