If that happens, I’m as good as dead. And if I’m dead, there’s no one left to turn his attention away from Mom. I need to stay alive, stayhere, to protect Mom.
“You know what?” he asks, his voice low and lethal. “I think I’ll leave your ass down here. You only have a couple more days before I ship your ass off to summer camp anyway. It’ll keep you out of my fucking hair so I can get the rest of our shit packed up.”
“W-what?”
“Surprise, Junior,” Marlin hisses. “Found your mother, so we’re going to go there and pay her a littlevisit. Now is as good a time as any to start over somewhere else. Got too many of those CPS workers sniffin’ ‘round here anyway, since you can’t seem to keep your TRAP SHUT, fuckin’ crybaby. You better not run your little tattletale mouth at that campeither! If you say a fuckin’ word, I swear to Christ, boy, you and your mother willbothpay, ungrateful shits!”
On that, Marlin stalks over to the pathetic excuse of a mattress in the middle of the floor.
“Get your ass over here,” he bellows, grabbing at me with his free hand. “Junior, now!”
“No! No, don’t! Please don’t!”
His fingers curl around my wrist, and I try to yank myself away. I don’t want to be down here for two days! He forgets I’m down here. He doesn’t feed me. I only have a bucket—
“Wake up!”
Wait, what did he just yell at me? Did his mouth even open to scream that in my face? I don’t have time to process that before I try to tear myself out of his grip again, but I can’t. He’s too strong. In a last ditch attempt to break free and make a run for it, I start throwing punches and kicks of my own. Violently, I thrash—hoping like hell he’ll just let me… fucking… go.
"Gordy! Wake. Up. Jesus fuck, that hurts, motherfucker!”
Gordy?Marlin doesn’t call me—
Suddenly, my eyes pop open. Where the fuck am I? This isn’t the basement. Who the fuck is here? What the fuck is going on?!
My eyes dart around the space, trying to take in my surroundings. Gannett—not Marlin—is in front of me, one hand clasped around my wrist and the other running his palm up and down over his rugged jaw. I’m sweaty as fuck, gasping for air.
Oh, shit. No…no, no no. I hit him! Panic surges in me all over again. I swipe at his hand, trying to get him to let me go. He releases my wrist, and I scramble to sit up. “Fuck, Gannett,” I rasp, gulping down air as my pulse struggles to stop racing. “You gotta get away fromme.Please.”
He slides off the edge of my bed, but the stubborn, oblivious asshole doesn’t go far. His back against the wall, he plunks down on the floor, drawing his knees up as he continues to rub his jaw. “Christ, man. The fuck were you dreaming about, anyway? Wrestling Godzilla? I heard you over here yelling, and came in to find you thrashing all over the place.”
I shake my head, sucking in breaths through my nose and expelling them from my mouth. “I didn’t—I’m sorry. I should have warned you I get night terrors. I didn’t think that having you here would bring one on the first night.”
He rears back. “Wait.Ibrought it on?”
I fist my hair, struggling to formulate a vague answer. One that won’t trigger a panic attack. “No,” I sigh. “Well, yesandno, I guess. Having… anyone new in my space. It’s… I don’t… I’m not used to it.”
“Oh,” he replies, looking down at his lap. “I can… leave. I mean, if having someone here freaks you out that much, I can just… go?”
“No,” I blurt quickly, shaking my head again. “Don’t. I offered you a place to stay. I’m not going to take that back just because I’m fucked in the head. I mean, I get it if you don’t feel safe here anymore. So if you want to leave, that’s up to you. My offer, though? It still stands. Taryn used to, uhm, use his headphones to block out the noise.”
“Do you… wanna talk about it?”
I wince. “No. Normally I don’t even remember them after they happen.”
He nods, and I’m thankful that he seems cool enough with that to leave well enough alone. I clutch the blanket wrapped around my waist. “I’d, uhm, get you an ice pack for your jaw, but I, uh, sleep naked.”
He chuckles, and unfolds his body gesturing down at himself. It’s only then that I notice he’s only in his damn boxer briefs. Fuck. He’seven better looking than I imagined under all those clothes. And trust me, I’ve imagined. But I’m all too shook up now to really focus on that. Not like I need to anyway. I shouldn’t…
“I know where your freezer is, and my legs still work. We’re good. It’ll be fine. I’ll make up some epic ‘you should see the other guy’ story if anyone asks,” he tells me, pushing himself up to a stand.
“I’m sorry,” I say earnestly, averting my gaze from the hard work and weather-hewn brick shithouse of a man on display at my bedside.
He shakes his head, stealing my attention away from his form. “Don’t be. I didn’t know you had night terrors. Aren’t you like, not supposed to wake someone up during one of those? I kind of brought it on myself, if that’s the case. Is that going to be rule number three for staying with you? Wear ear plugs to bed?” he asks, his lips twitching slightly.
I snort. “Doesn’t matter to me if you wear ear plugs or not, just steer clear of me and let me ride ‘em out.”
“But what if you hurt yourself?” he asks, seeming genuinely concerned now.
