Chapter 20 #2
“I’ve got sick in my hair,” she sobs.
“Yeah, darlin’, you do. But it’s alright, I’m gonna get you to bed, okay?”
“I don’t want to go to bed. He’ll be there, and I just wanna enjoy the party,” she’s slurring, and I can see the anger on Wade’s face multiplying.
The door opens again, and the third guy I recognise from the bar interrupts us. He’s dark-haired and has a tattoo, of what looks like a spider, on the side of his face.
“Noah’s got him, found him down in the games room, fucking a girl in the same state she’s in.” His eyes glance over Leia while he waits on Wade’s instruction.
“Tell Noah, I’ll be there in a minute.” Wade lifts Leia off the floor and starts carrying her out, and since I have no idea what to do with myself, I follow after him.
He moves her effortlessly through the party and up the stairs, and when we get to Leia’s bedroom, it’s exactly how you’d expect the room of the Mayor’s daughter to look.
It’s pretty and very pink, and Wade looks out of place in it as he lays her down on the bed.
She snuggles her head into the pillow, and he stares down at her with every muscle in his body clenched.
“She’s your curse, isn’t she?” The words spill out of my mouth, and considering the mood he’s in, I instantly regret them.
“She’ll never know it.” The way he looks at me, turns his words into a threat.
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I promise with a sad smile, and he nods gratefully before staring back at her.
“Stay with her.” The fury finds his eyes again, and he starts making his way toward the door.
“Where are you going?” I call after him, but he’s far too mad to answer.
I sit on the end of the bed and watch Leia sleeping, and suddenly I recall what the guy said to Wade. He caught Tyler, whoever he is, with a girl. One in the same state Leia’s in.
Some poor girl at this party has been assaulted, and when I hear all the chaos coming from outside, I move across to the window to see what’s happening.
Staring out onto the driveway, I see that the entire party has moved outside, and then I see Wade dragging a guy, who I assume to be Tyler, by the back of his shirt toward the fountain.
I watch through my fingers as he slams the back of the guy’s head into the fancy, white stone.
Then twisting him around, he grabs the back of his neck and submerges him under the water.
I’ve never seen Wade look so angry; he’s always the opposite of Garrett. Warm, friendly, and carefree. Not the man I’m watching hold Tyler’s head under the water, in front of the crowd.
When he lifts him out, Tyler’s desperate gasps for air prove that he’s still alive, and I watch Wade mouth words tightly into his ear before he forces him back under again.
The three guys from the bar stand and watch, they stop Tyler’s friends from intervening, and I hold my breath as I watch Wade physically drowning the guy in Mayor Walker’s fountain.
The water that’s illuminated by underwater lighting, turns red from the huge gash that’s on Tyler’s head, and there’s no sign of Wade stopping.
“Where did you get it?” I hear him yell, as he lifts Tyler back out the water. People have their phones out recording him and seeing that this is about to go horribly wrong, I do the only thing I can think of, and call Garrett.
“You ready?” he answers on my first ring.
“Garrett, I need you to get here, now. I think Wade’s gonna kill someone.”
“You okay?” His voice instantly turns rigid.
“I’m fine, just get here quick.” I check on Leia, and when I see she’s breathing soundly, I rush down the stairs to try and talk some sense into Wade.
“Tell me now, where he got the shit or I swear to God, I will bust his head apart!” Wade is screaming at Tyler’s friend now, holding an unconscious, maybe even dead, Tyler by his hair.
“Wade.” I step between him and the guy he’s yelling at.
“Maisie, I told you to stay upstairs.” He’s furious, his chest rising and falling like a crazed psychopath, and when I see Garrett’s truck pull up behind him, I don’t have time to think about how he got here so fast, I’m just relieved to see him.
“Wade!” He calls out to his brother in that deep, commanding voice, and my stomach flips as he marches towards us and forces his brother to let Tyler go.
“Noah!” He calls one of the bar guys over and when the one with the nose ring steps up, “Handle crowd control, there’s gotta be twenty fuckin’ cell phones recording this shit.” Garrett hisses through his teeth, as he holds Wade back from doing anymore damage.
“He dead?” He looks down at the dark-haired one, who’s on the floor tending to Tyler.
“Got a pulse,” he nods.
“Good, you take him back to Sawyer’s place and ask Shelby to clean him up. Keep him there.”
The guy gets straight to work and, with the help of the blonde one, hauls Tyler up, loads him into a Mercedes, and skids off.
“I’m gonna kill him, Garrett,” Wade uses all his strength to push against him, but Garrett manages to hold him firm.
“Not here,” the warning he whispers into his ear, sends a chill down my spine. And when Wade finally backs down, he scrubs his bloody hand over his face and picks up his hat from the floor.
“Son of a fucking bitch!” He kicks at the fountain with his boot, before resting his hands on his knees and steadying his breaths.
“Where’s the girl, the one he was with when they found him?” I ask, she must be scared, and if she’s in as bad a state as Leia was, she’ll need taking care of.
“I left her with one of her friends,” Wade tells me, staring at the mess he’s made of the fountain.
“What girl?” Garrett stares between us, confused.
“They found him down in the games room, he was…”
“Cunt,” Garrett closes his eyes before looking over to Noah. He’s got some kid pinned to the wall, by his neck, with one hand and is scrolling through his cell phone with the other.
“Noah,” he calls out and grabs the guy’s attention. “Ask your boss how he wants this handled, and if you need me, you know where to find me. No fucker does this shit in our town.”
Noah nods his agreement, before he gets back to work.
“Come on. We’re leaving,” Garrett comes to stand beside me, and when his fingers slip between mine, I almost pull away in shock.
“We can’t leave. What about Leia and the girl downstairs?”
“I got Leia,” Wade assures me, and after what I’ve witnessed, I believe every word he says.
“And the girl?” I stare between both brothers, in shock.
“She’ll be taken care of.” Wade assures me of that, too, pulling himself together and heading toward the front door.
“Come on, let me take you home.” Garrett starts leading me toward the truck, and I let him, looking around blankly at the shocked faces and devastation that’s surrounding us.
I get inside the truck when Garrett opens the passenger door for me, and mechanically I pull on my safety belt while Garrett moves around the hood to get behind the wheel.
“How did you get here so fast?” I ask, as he starts the engine. Suddenly I feel so drained, there are alot more important questions I could ask, but this is the one I want the answer to, now.
Garrett ignores my question and drives around the fountain, nodding his head to Noah as he passes him.
“And who are those guys? You talk to them like you do the bunkhouse boys.” Again he ignores me,
“Garrett. How did you get here so fast? You arrived, like, five minutes after I called.”
He breathes through his nostrils and stares at the road in front of him.
“Jesus, will you just fucking answer my question?” My body gets thrust forward, and I jolt back when the safety belt tightens from him slamming on the brakes.
“I told you about cursin’, and why’s it so fuckin’ important how fast I fuckin’ got here? I’m here, and that’s all that matters.” He looks at me like he’s mad, that and the fact he’s disregarding my questions makes me mad, too.
“It’s important because I don’t think you want to tell me the truth,” I admit, fully aware of how bratty and stupid that sounds.
“You’re right. I don’t wanna tell ya.” He focuses back on the road before he pulls back off, and that signals the end of our discussion.