I blink back the tears that threaten to pool over.
My hands shake at my sides. Anger toward the certain blonde makes my eyes narrow, seeing red. My legs stride toward her. I swing my fist back with all the force I have in my body and slam it hard into her face. With my knuckles screaming out in pain, I watch as Bethany staggers back at the impact. A scream leaves her mouth as she tumbles to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“Say that again, bitch,” I yell down at her. Flexing my fist open and shut, looking for some sort of relief, I step closer to her.
“Trinity!” I hear Leo scream at me.
But his voice is distant. I can hardly hear anything but the pounding beat of my heart.
Bethany gets up and pushes my shoulder roughly. “Don’t touch me, you bitch!”
“I said, say it again, or are you too afraid of me now?”
She takes a step closer to me and wipes the blood off her lips. “You want me to say it again so badly? Fine! Your dad would be embarrassed that he was related to you—and he probably was!”
Saliva spits out of her mouth, landing on my cheek. I wipe it off, concerned I’ll now get an STD.
“You’re a letdown, Trinity, a tragedy,” she croaks out strongly with a wince.
A letdown, a tragedy. A letdown, a tragedy …
Her body goes tumbling to the ground. I’m on top of her, punching, slapping anywhere I can. It’s like I’ve lost control of my body. I crave to make her feel what she’s done to my heart. Bethany’s knuckles make contact with my face, taking me off guard at the pounding feeling on my cheek. Feeling moisture suddenly pool at the corner of my lip, I taste blood.
Bitch.
I hold back a gag at the metallic taste.
She screams while wrestling me, “Get off me!”
Big, fat tears rush down my face. No one talks about my dad like that. I know he would have been ashamed of me. I am disappointed in myself too.Bethany has no right for that shit to come out of her mouth. She didn’t know my dad; she doesn’t know what his laugh sounded like when he hunched over, holding his stomach, or the way he used to come to my rescue with a tissue in hand when I saw a bug.
I hate her.
I hate her for making me feel this way. Low, empty, and desperate.
My lungs scream at me to stop as wheezes part from my lips. Yet I don’t listen to anything that tells me to stop as I swing my fist toward her again.
I need to hurt her the way she reopened and stabbed a scar that can’t seem to heal.
“Trinity, stop!” I hear being yelled urgently from behind me.
An arm grips me around the waist and pulls my body off of Bethany. I watch as she crouches on her knees and holds her bloody nose. Both of her eyes are red.
Sneering up at me, she snaps, “Look at you. You’re a heartless monster! Fucking crazy in the head—that’s what you are!”
I twist around in Leo’s hold. His enormous hands grip my waist more tightly as I jerk against him.
“Go to hell,” Bethany barks.
“See you there!” I yell just as loud.
“Enough,” Leo whispers in my ear. “Calm down. Follow the breaths of my chest against yours,” his normally raspy voice pleads softly right in my ear. Still holding my body to his, he jogs effortlessly to his car.
Leo’s words of encouragement do something within me. Feeling his tight grip grounds me back to reality. Following the deep, steady breaths of his muscular chest, I try to match it and regain control of my lungs.
The farther we walk, the more Bethany’s screams become distant. A crowd of people stare at me and Leo.
The man himself notices and sticks up his middle finger at the gawking people. “Take a picture. It lasts longer.”
