I stumble back and grab my side, the familiar feeling of steel in my skin making me curse and stagger.
“Maddox!”
Andi shouting my name is enough fuel to keep me going.
The knife clatters on the asphalt when I grab it from my side. Adam stares at me with wide eyes. His lips are moving. I wonder if he’s giving an excuse for this or if he’s insulting me in some way.
I don’t fucking care.
Adam runs at me. His arms wrap around my waist and send me flying into the cement. He’s on top of me. His fist swings into my face—
“GET OFF!”
Reed.
Reed grabs Adam and throws him off me. I get to my feet fast. I can’t let Reed get involved. If anyone is taking the fall for anything, it’s me. I’m the the one with the history in this family. Not Reed. Reed is too good.
I pick Reed up by his jacket and shove him off of Adam.
“Get Andi!” I tell him, grabbing my side and pushing through the pain. “I’ll handle this.”
Reed shakes his head as if he knows why I’m shouting at him. “No—“
I grab him by his ripped t-shirt. “Get your fucking sister,” I snap in his face. “If anyone is going down for this, it’s me. Now,go.”
I don’t give Reed a chance to argue. I propel him behind me and pull my hood over my head as I see people are coming around for autographs.
Adam has rolled onto his stomach. He’s rising on his hands and knees. I’m fucking shaking as I look at this miserable excuse for a human.
My boot lands in his stomach, the kicking blow sending Adam flailing again.
His groans sound like nails on a chalkboard.
“What were you going to do—kidnap her?” I ask, circling his mewling figure.
Adam presses up on his hands and spits out blood. I kick him again and send him on his back. He curls up in a ball, wincing at the pain.
Good.
“After everything you already put her through, you thought she deserved this, too?” I sink to one knee and grab him up with my fists so I can see the fear in his eyes.
“Maddox!Knife!”
Andi’s voice makes me blink, and when I do, Adam shifts.
He swings his arm, his knife hiding in his hand where I can’t see it. It slices my knee. Screams sound around us. I fall back and try to shake off the pain.
Adam grapples his way up before I can get my bearings.
He swings the knife again, and I see it. I see the moment I know my life is done. The gleam of the silver heading toward my throat to end me.
Andi screams my name.
I catch Adam’s wrist and twist it backward, stopping the knife a breath away from my face. It clatters to the ground with his yelp, and my fist meets his face.
Adam falls onto his back, and I think I black out.
One punch after the other, I lay into him. I punch him until it isn’t just blood splattering back. It’s bone and matter and teeth and tissue. I rail into him long after I know he’s done, long after I see his eyes fade and feel his fight drain.
