I touched her arm to get her attention, and she withdrew from me. “I need to use the restroom.” A mumble, and she walked off.
I looked back at Phoenix, who was still watching her as she crossed the room.
Kane slammed a fist on the bar top. “He didn’t pay you five grand to just stand there like an idiot.” Cyrus pulled back on Kane’s shoulder to get him to calm down, but Kane shrugged him off. “No, man, I’m sick of these...”
Phoenix was lost in Fable as one would be lost in a thrilling tale.
Nothing fazed him. Not Kane, not the stares, not the insults.
Except Fable was disappearing into the crowd, and panic flashed across Phoenix’s face.
He jumped over the bar to chase after her.
It felt like my heart had left me. What did he want to do to her? Hurt her? Wrap his hand around her throat? Grab her and toss her out of the bar? I didn’t know, but my only thought was that I couldn’t let him.
I sprung from my chair, and it tipped backward, crashing to the floor.
Before I could reach Fable, Phoenix reached around people, and snatched her arm, yanking her out of the crowd like plucking a wildflower from a bed full of weeds. Then he grabbed her face, dipped down, and crushed his mouth against hers.
I froze mid-stride, watching Fable’s hands move up the length of his neck, his hand move down to her hip, his tongue slipping into her mouth.
The Heathen was kissing my little sister. Right in front of me.
Right in front of everyone.
I looked around the room, unsure if what I was seeing was really happening.
Everyone’s expressions had left them.
What was worse, Fable wasn’t fighting him at all.
“Get away from her,” I shouted, but the guitar solo strumming in the room crashed into my ears and drowned out my words. I didn’t know if anyone could hear me. It was as if the song was shredding my words as fast as they were leaving my mouth.
Phoenix’s hand moved to her back, fingers splayed on bare skin, and he pressed her flush against him, deepening the kiss. Knots tightened in my stomach, and I shook my head to push the sight away.No, no, no, no, my mind repeated as nausea twisted inside me.
When they broke apart, my sister didn’t tear herself away.
“I’ve been saving that for you,” Phoenix said to her, and I almost didn’t hear it over the sound of my hammering heart. As if the rest of us weren’t here at all, Phoenix started to say something else, but he didn’t get the chance.
“You have some fucking nerve!” Kane shouted.
At the corner of my eye, Kane picked up a pool stick, flexed his fingers around the butt of it, and swung like a baseball bat, striking Phoenix in the back of the head with a loudcrack!
The pool stick broke into two and crashed to the ground.
Phoenix hadn’t seen it coming and fell into Fable, pushing her to the side on the way into a brick wall. Before he could right himself, Kane grabbed Phoenix’s shirt and slammed him back into the pool table, his spine folded over the edge.
“KANE!” Cyrus shouted, screaming everywhere. But Kane swiped the eight ball from the pool table, held it in a tight fist, and slammed it into the side of Phoenix’s skull.
The bone-crunching sound made the room recoil, and Phoenix went limp, his glazed and golden eyes fixed on Fable.
Fable let out a heart-shattering scream. One that made my heart collapse.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her away as fear shocked the entire room.
And Kane never stopped. He repeatedly beat the ball into Phoenix’s head, painting the room in the Heathen’s blood. It sprayed Kane’s face, the brick walls, and the pool table, where the Heathens had played every Friday night since they were kids. Blood slid down the wooden scrolls carved around the green felt and dripped onto the floor.
“NO! STOP! PLEASE STOP!”she cried, collapsing against my chest and clawing at my arms as I held her back. Her screams were so full of anguish they made my chest burn, made me feel sick, as she begged him to stop, begging someone to do something.
