48. CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 48
ETHAN
P ulling into the parking lot next to what I think is Lena’s car at the pub, I turn off the engine and kick the bike stand down. The sun is only just starting to set so my eyes have to adjust to the darkness as I step inside the bar. It’s dead in here, so I walk right up to the pine and set my helmet down, nodding at the bartender.
I opt not to sit. I just want to get this address and get the hell out of here.
“Hey, Ethan.” Lena’s voice causes me to turn as she comes out of the kitchen.
I give her a nod. “Hello.”
“I was hoping Ari might be with you today. I haven’t seen her in a bit.”
“Look.” I sigh. “I have to get to work. I just came by to get that address.”
“Of course.” Lena pulls a piece of paper from her back pocket and hands it to me. I unfold it and look at the words scribbled down. “That’s the last known address I have for Shirley.”
“What about Bonnie?”
“They’ll be together,” she answers without hesitation.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket with the intention of putting the address into my maps app, to see just how far away the address is, I’m distracted by the missed calls and text from Ari. “Shit,” I grumble, realizing the phone was silenced.
“Something wrong?” Lena asks.
“I have some missed calls and messages from Ari.” Pulling up her text first, my pulse spikes.
I have to pick Lena up from her house. Listen to your voicemail …
“Uh, Lena, did you talk to Ari today?” I dial my voicemail.
She pulls her head back, eyebrows pinched together. “No, I told you, I haven’t talked to her in a while.”
I hold the phone up to the side of my head, putting a hand against my other ear to make sure I hear her message clearly.
“Oh, hey. Hi. Um … it’s Ari. Obviously … This is possibly the first time I have ever left you a voice message and it’s weird as shit.” Come on, Ari, get to the point …
“Anyway, Lena texted me. She needs to be picked up at the house because her car won’t start and she’s scared Axel’s going to come back.”
My eyes shoot up to Lena standing in front of me, and my insides tighten as I recall seeing her car in the parking lot.
“Where’s your phone?” I bark at Lena, as Ari goes on about waiting on the road, or something along those lines. “Your phone, Lena. Where is it?” I hear Ari tell me she loves me at the end of her message.
“I forgot it at home today. Why?”
Before I can even register the look of confusion on her face, I’m running out of the pub, pulling my helmet over my head. I jump on the Ducati, kick the engine to life, and peel out of the lot. Car horns beep and brakes squeal as I cut through traffic, my mind going a mile a minute. Weaving in and out of vehicles, I start flying down the parkway once I leave the city, pushing the speed of the bike until it’s vibrating under my hands and legs. The sun is setting quickly and the cold air bites at the skin on my bare arms and through the cotton of my shirt. I turn onto the backroads and continue as fast as I can go while still controlling the motorcycle.
Axel lured Ari to him. And if they’re alone, I know what that means. And for once in my life, I’m glad to know just how much she can take.
Just hang on a little longer, Red. I’m almost there …
I turn onto our old street and tear down the road, passing Fonz’s childhood home in a blur. Lena’s property comes into focus and the first thing I see is Ari’s car with the door open. I turn into the driveway so fast that I skid and have to leap off the bike as I come to a stop, letting it fall to its side. I notice Ari’s car is still running as I pass it, tearing my helmet off and casting it to the side.
“Ari!” I approach the door to the side of the house, but something stops me in my tracks. A feeling. I turn my head, then my body, and my legs take me around the side of the house, toward the garage. Gravel crunches loudly under my boots as I turn the corner, and freeze when I hear whistling. My eyes swing up to see Axel standing inside the garage. His back is to me as he begins to speak.
“You always did come running for her.”
He turns and looks at me, wiping his hands on a towel, and I take him in. He doesn’t look much different than he did when we were young. His black hair has some gray in it, and it’s overgrown a little, but he’s clean-shaven. He’s still a big motherfucker. A dirty white T-shirt is stretched over his torso, and his black shop pants are ripped and faded, but they hug his muscular thighs.
I open my mouth to call for Ari again, but choke on my words when I realize the towel he’s holding is stained with blood.
“You’ve grown into quite the beast, boy.” Axel looks at his hands as he continues to wipe them clean. “That how you were able to trash my house so easily?”
“Where is she?”
He shrugs.
“I swear to God, asshole, I will kill you with my bare hands.”
This time he chuckles. “Oh, relax.” He tosses the towel onto the workbench, and I notice a bloody screwdriver. I suck in a strangled breath as a horrible thought runs through my mind. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Axel says. “It’s not what you think.” Turning, he shows me his side. “I’m the one who got speared.” He runs a hand over a bloody spot on his shirt that looks like he was stabbed. “She’s still a feisty little thing, I’ll give her that.”
“Where is she?” My voice is louder now.
Axel waves a hand in the air. “She’s around here somewhere. She crawled off after she got me with the screwdriver. I was giving us both time to recoup before our next round. But now that you’re here, let’s just cut to the chase.”
“What does that even mean? What could you possibly want from Ari now?”
“I don’t want anything from her. I just want her to keep coming around. She’s my daughter. She belongs here with me.” Something catches my eye as I shake my head at the villain standing before me, and I force myself not to look to the side.
“All you ever did was hurt her.” When Axel turns and takes a few steps toward his workbench, I risk a glance to the side of the garage where I see Ari’s leg slip out from behind Axel’s car, then disappear as she pulls it back in.
“Haven’t you ever heard of tough love?” The volume of Axel’s voice pulls my attention back to him. He’s leaning on the workbench, hands spread far apart, head hanging between his shoulders. He bangs his hands on the hard surface once before turning around and looking at me. “All I ever did was try to toughen her up. She was cast aside right from the start, from someone who was supposed to love her the most. If that isn’t a bitch, well, I don’t know what is. I tried to show her that Lena and I, we picked her. We chose to take care of her, to make her our family.”
“You chose to beat the shit out of her.” I take a step toward him.
“I taught her how to take care of herself. How to not take shit from anybody!”
“Except you!” I point a finger at him.
“Especially me. The kind of love you’re used to … it’s made you weak. Hell, just look at you, running out here, getting yourself wrapped up in her bullshit. Why? Because you see hearts and stars when you look at her? How does that help her? How does that help you?”
Axel puts his hands in his pants pockets and braces his legs wide. “I made her strong, Ethan.” I shiver at the sound of my name coming off his lips and watch as he lowers his head and looks at the ground when he addresses me again. “Now, either leave me be to finish teaching our girl how to toughen up, or try to stop me.” His eyes shoot up and he stares at me through lowered brows.
I swallow, but then a grin stretches across my lips as I take slow steps toward Axel, feeling the gravel turn to concrete under my boots. I hit the button to close the garage door as I enter, and as the door slowly comes down, I crack my knuckles. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
It only takes a beat before Axel lunges and closes the few feet of distance between us. He succeeds in slamming me back against the garage door with jarring force, and it’s enough to stun me and for him to land a punch against my face. He’s got brute strength, I’ll give him that. I duck and swivel out of Axel’s reach, giving him a quick, hard jab to his side, and feel my knuckles bang against his ribs.
He coughs as he grips his side but laughs. “Just like old times, huh, boy?” He charges me again, barreling his shoulder into my torso. I regain my footing and pull my arm back to land a solid hit to Axel’s side again—the same side where Ari stabbed—and he yells out.
Quickly, I grab his head in a weak headlock and send two punches to the side of his face before I take it in both hands, pull my leg back, and hike my knee up as I pull his face down to connect with it. The sound of his nose crunching rings out as he goes falling to the floor.
He’s quick to get back on his feet and charge me once more, this time pushing me backward until the backs of my legs hit some equipment and I tumble over it, with Axel landing on top of me. He gets in a good swing with a fist that lands against my eye, sending searing pain through me, and then a quick hit to the other side of my face. My head snaps this way and that as he rocks me.
He stops, then his hands close around my throat as he leans down until his face is hovering right above mine. Bloody spit drips onto me from his busted face. “Do you think you could ever love our girl more than I do?”
In this moment, I see why Ari was so torn apart by their relationship. I do see love in his eyes.
A toxic, twisted, sick kind of love.
I lift my head up as far as I can manage while still under him. “She’s not our girl. She’s mine.”
Quickly, I pull my head back and throw it forward, smashing our foreheads together, and while he’s briefly stunned I buck him off, sending him rolling onto his back, clutching his head as I scramble to my feet.
“You sick motherfucker.” I rear my leg back and send my boot flying into his face. “You goddamn animal!” I do it again, then spit a bloody gob at him. “How does it feel, huh? How does it feel going up against someone your own size?”
I pull my leg back again, but Axel rolls out of reach. He grabs a shovel leaning against the wall and swings it at me, but I step back just in time. He keeps swinging it as he shakily gets to his feet, wielding it at me like he’s trying to ward off a wild animal. He charges me, and I charge right back, gripping the wooden handle between his hands and pushing as hard as I can against him, bending my knees and trying to dig my boots into the concrete.
But Axel’s strength is overpowering, and I skid backward as he growls and curses, pushing me into a corner. He twists the handle in my hands, causing my grip to break, and he snaps it up, slamming the handle into my nose with a harrowing crunch, and I can’t help but lurch forward.
And then it’s Axel who has my head in a vice grip as he lands one hit after another. Before I get punch drunk, I’m able to block a hit and ram into him, causing him to backpedal a few steps and giving myself a moment to get my bearings. When I look back, he gives me a wicked grin, like he’s enjoying this, then comes at me again.
I don’t realize he has the screwdriver in his hand until he’s on me, and he pulls his arm back and slams it into my lower side.
“Gah!” White-hot pain causes my knees to buckle before he’s on me again, and I feel another bite as the screwdriver slices through another spot near my rib. His arm comes up a third time, and then stops. He struggles to pull it down, and with blurred vision I see a small set of hands around his bicep. Ari is standing behind him, her face bloodied and blotchy.
Axel is taken off guard, too, as he looks back to see what’s stopping him. When he sees it’s Ari, betrayal sweeps across his face before it’s replaced by rage. “You little bitch!” He yanks his arm away, then elbows it back into her, throwing her off balance. Axel strides over, backhanding her so hard she goes flying to the floor.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I try to get up but my limbs are cold and uncooperative, and I look down to see a small puddle of blood pooling beneath me. Getting to my hands and knees, blood, spit, and sweat drip from my nose and mouth. “Come fight me, you piece of shit!” I growl as Axel stands over Ari, who is curled on her side.
On shaky legs, he brings his hands to his belt buckle and starts to undo it.
“Stop!” I sit back on my heels, the room spinning. “I said come get me, asshole!”
He doesn’t look at me as he pulls the belt out in front of him. He runs it through his other hand and gives a tug.
“No.” I attempt to stand but fall back to the ground. My limbs are cold.
“Arlene, you know what to do,” he says.
And to my horror—to my absolute horror—Ari slowly crawls to her knees and turns her body, so she’s kneeling with her back to him.
“No,” I try to shout, but it’s barely a whisper.
Ari’s voice, as quiet and shaky as the first time she ever spoke to me, sitting on the rocks by the creek, speaks up. “Do it.”
“Count.” Axel pulls his arm back and the belt goes swinging through the air, the metal of the buckle catching the light.
“Ari, no!” My cry is drowned out by the slap of leather across her back and the shrill in Ari’s voice as she sucks in a gasp of air, and then forces out, “One.”
“Stop!” I swallow, and although my mouth is full of thick, bloody saliva, it also feels bone dry. “I said come at me! Come on, Axel—I’m all yours!” I throw my arms out to my sides to show him I’m wide open as I try to stand and stumble again, falling back to the ground.
“Again,” I hear Ari, more sternly this time.
The crack of leather against my beautiful, sweet love rings out once more. “Two.”
As Axel brings his arm back again, I push up off the floor, but before I can take a step in his direction, Ari spins and throws her arm out, and the belt wraps around it repeatedly. With Axel momentarily confused, Ari pulls her arm back, bringing Axel with it, and swings something at him. He goes stumbling to the side, clutching his head, and he stays down, groaning.
“Ari.” I take drunken steps toward her, and she closes the distance between us. I try to assess her but can barely see past the darkening edges of my vision, and the sweat and blood dripping into my eyes. “Call the police,” I say frantically as I pat my pockets and find my phone.
Ari takes it as she steadies me. “Ethan, you need to sit, you’re losing a lot of blood.” She pushes a hand against my side.
“Huh?” I feel so weak.
“Hello? We need an ambulance and police.” Ari rattles off the address as I close my eyes and drag in shallow breaths. “Please hurry, he’s losing so much blood.” Although her voice is full of terror, it’s still the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
“Open your eyes, Ethan,” that voice says. “Ethan!” I snap my eyes open as Ari crouches in front of me, placing a palm against my face. “Just stay alert until the ambulance gets here, OK?”
I nod, bringing my hand up to hold it against the one she has on my face, and my eyes catch something behind her.
ARI
Ethan’s eyes widen before his free hand grabs my upper arm and shoves me to the side, and I trip over the old snowmobile parts and fall backward. I hear gritting and grunting and crashing as I scramble back to my feet, and see Ethan and Axel wrestling on the ground. I look for anything that’s close, seeing the blow torch and the small propane tank it’s attached to. I grab it and charge at the mass of limbs and bodies entwined, and make sure I connect with Axel’s head.
He curses but doesn’t go down. Instead, he spins on me and rips the tank out of my hands, and immediately I feel the heat of the flame as he stands back, blowing it in my direction. “After everything I’ve done for you.” He slowly advances on me, and I retreat. “I gave you food. Shelter. I taught you how to shoot a rifle, how to change a tire. Hell, I even taught you how to throw a punch.”
He keeps walking toward me, the flame bringing sweat to the surface of my skin before he lowers the torch and looks at me with tortured eyes. “If I can’t have you, no one will.” He turns and blows the flame on an old burlap tarp sitting on the workbench, and it goes right up in flames. Next, he catches the old, tattered curtains covering half the window, and flames quickly start licking up them too.
Before he can do any more damage, Ethan lunges at him and they both go rolling, but Ethan breaks away and scrambles to me. “Ari, we have to—” A flash of metal crosses Ethan’s face as his voice is cut off and his eyes go wide. On his knees, his hands go to his throat, and I see a chain pulled tightly against it. Standing behind him, Axel has the chain wrapped around his fists as he pulls it tight around Ethan’s neck.
“No!” I try to go to them, but a line of flames quickly travels across a patch of grease in the garage, and I jump back. “Axel, stop! Please!” I watch Ethan’s fingers dance around his neck, trying to find a sliver of an opening around the chain.
The heat from the flames is intense as they rapidly spread across the garage, but I hear sirens in the distance and know we just have to hold out a little longer. The fire keeps spreading and the warmth and the sound of it sucking up the oxygen is intoxicating. I look at Ethan. His face is red and veins are bulging out on his neck and forehead as he struggles for air.
Axel pulls tighter.
“Ari,” Ethan is able to barely spit out. I look around, panicked, searching for a way out—for both of us. “Red,” I hear faintly, and look up and into Ethan’s eyes. His fingernails are broken and bleeding from tugging at the chain, his left eye is swollen shut and his nose crunched, and his shirt is soaked in blood. Tears stream down his face. “Run … Ari, run.”
Clarity hits me like never before. “Ethan.” His good eye barely settles on me. “I told you, I will never run from you again.”
The tears fall down his face as I sink to the floor as we accept our fate.
Suddenly, the door to the outside swings open and a uniformed officer appears, covering his mouth with his forearm. “Is anyone in here?”
“Yes!” I jump up, coughing, and the officer looks through the smoke toward us, taking in the scene. “Please, help!”
He sees Ethan on his knees, with Axel behind him, strangling him, and the officer pulls out his gun. “Drop the chain!”
Axel doesn’t waver. The flames get bigger and hotter, and the air grows black as the officer warns again. “I said, drop the chain!” When Axel still doesn’t obey, the officer curses, then charges at them and smashes the butt off his gun against Axel’s head once, twice, three times until Axel finally relaxes his hold and falls to the ground, unconscious.
Ethan gasps as he sucks in a gulp of air, and the officer helps him unravel the chain. “Ari.” Ethan is still gasping, pushing the officer off him. “Get her … out …”
Without hesitation, the officer jumps up, looks around, runs back outside and returns in an instant with a tarp. He bats at some of the flames with it, clearing them just enough for me to jump through, and the two of us half-drag a stumbling Ethan out the door. Once the three of us are outside and a good distance away from the garage, we all crumble to the dirt. The officer speaks into a radio on his shoulder, “I need backup. Fire, EMS, additional officers.” As he gives the address, I notice his arm is covered in ink. A set of paw prints tattooed on his forearm sticks out, and my eyes snap to his.
We stare at each other for a long moment.
“I should go try to get him out,” the officer says, tipping his head toward the garage, but making no move to get up. I can see the flames reflected in his eyes that are glazed from the smoke as he stares at me. “Do you want me to do that?”
I pause, looking at the garage that is now completely engulfed in flames, then back at him, and I shake my head, silently pleading. I lick my dry lips, and reach out to touch the ink on his arm. “I remember you.”
He looks between Ethan and me and gives a tight nod.
Ethan groans, and I turn and let him lay back in my arms. I feel how cold he is and realize just how much blood he’s lost.
“Ethan, stay awake.” I turn to the officer. “How long?”
“The ambulance should be here any minute.” He reaches over and places both hands against one of the wounds on Ethan’s side.
“Ethan, baby.” I stroke his face. “Please, please don’t leave me.” Tears cascade off my face and land on his skin.
He groans, reaching one hand in the air, searching for me. I take it and he brings our joined hands to his chest. “Never.”
It’s only a moment before the ambulance pulls up, with the fire trucks right behind it. As EMTs are loading Ethan onto a stretcher, I hear a loud crack and the roof of the garage caves in, sending embers and ash into the sky.