Chapter 8 Lily
Lily
Iscramble into my clothes as the shouting in the living room gets more intense. My dad just saw me naked, which is all kinds of embarrassing, but that's the least of my problems. If I don't intervene, he's going to really hurt Jesse.
“Stop it!” I scream, but no one's listening to me.
Dad's got his fists all over Jesse, and Jesse's not fighting back. I understand why he's not. He thinks he deserves this, but no one deserves to be beat up this way.
“Stop it!”
I try to get between them to make it stop. I'm a big girl, and I can throw my weight around. But when I try and pull them apart, Dad shoves me out of the way. It’s not rough, but it’s still a shock.
No one's listening to me, so I do the only thing I know of that will get Dad's attention.
Dad loves the people in his life fiercely, but his love for his bike is a close second. Grabbing his keys from the table, I dangle them in front of his face.
“If you don't stop right now, I'm gonna take your bike and crash it.”
He gives me a sideways glance, but I can tell he doesn’t think I mean it. I’m mad as hell at him. He’s not giving us a chance to explain. No wonder Jesse waited so long to be with me. This is a side to Dad that I’ve never seen, and I don’t like it.
Suddenly needing to be away from here, I race out of the house. I need to get away from this violence, away from this male energy that thinks everything can be solved with fists.
I jump on Dad’s bike and don’t bother with the helmet. The wheels kick up the gravel as I turn her around and speed off down the driveway.
I don't want to be around this, and if there’s one thing that will get Dad’s attention, it’s taking off on his bike. I only hope that it stops the violence that's going on inside.