“Don’t we get to do that? Not think—for just one night?” Ben asks.
“You saw Tera. You tell me,” Jesse answers. “That’s too high of a price to pay.”
Ben scoffs.
Kennedy cuffs him on the back of the head.
“The fuck, man?” Ben scowls.
“Just trying to help you get your head on right,” Kennedy replies.
“I’m going out for a smoke,” is Ben’s response—well, that and a slight door slam.
“What’s going on with him?” Dad asks.
“He’s going through some shit. Nothing we can’t handle, Pops,” Jesse answers.
“You sure?”
Jesse nods. “Yeah. If not, I know your number.”
“Good. Now…”
Pain lances through my face unlike anything I’ve ever felt before—even worse than Lincoln’s fist. It works its way up into my brain, my skull, my jaw. Fuck!
I let out a howl.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dad says. “Let’s get this set before it heals like that.”
“Shit, Dad. Isn’t there a less painful way?”
Jesse snickers. “You don’t want to ruin your pretty face, do you?”
I give him the finger.
“You didn’t hear me wailing like a girl when he set my nose—”
“Three times,” Dad interjects.
“Whatever. I’m not as badass as you. I can admit that.”
“Son, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” Dad tells me with a smirk.
“Lies!”
Snap, crackle, pop. That’s what it sounds like as he manipulates my nose, bringing tears to my eyes and my bladder threatening to let loose.
“There. All done,” Dad comments as he wipes his bloody fingers on a dishtowel. Thankfully, not Tera’s fancy ones. “That wasn’t so bad, was it.”
Not a question. I just scowl.
“Here.” Sandy cuts a tampon in half and inserts one half in each nostril. She then hands me an ice pack. “You’re going to need this. It won’t stop the black eyes, but it’ll help with the swelling enough that you’ll be able to breathe.”
I look at her, then Dad. They’re silently communicating—laughing at my pain.
“Thanks,” I reply blandly.
Now, Dad lets out the laugh. “You fight, you pay the price.”
