He bursts into the kitchen. Eyes locking on to me. “Fucking hell.” He drops to his knees so we’re face to face. His hands hover over me, trembling, afraid to touch me. Tears fall onto my cheeks as I watch the silver drain from his eyes, leaving only a shadow of him.
He’s withdrawing, sinking into the darkness. His hand balls into a fist right in front of my face. A rumble bites through his bared teeth. “I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill them all.”
Shane places his hand on Kane’s shoulder. “Kane. Calm the fuck down. We’re going to deal with this in the proper manner.”
Kane shrugs his friend’s hand away, standing to his feet as he turns into a raging bull. He misses Shane’s head and punches the wall. His fist going straight through Lilly’s pretty wallpaper.
She screams. Covering the sound with her hands. The police woman is up and on her radio, but Shane tells her to back off.
“Kane. Breathe with me.” Shane takes a deep breath, and Kane does the same. He places his hand on his shoulder. “One.” Another deep breath. “Two.” He faces the wall, unable to look at me. I want to go to him, but fear of triggering him again keeps me pinned in my seat. “Three.” His fist is bloody. It’s a good thing Lilly’s a nurse. “Four.” A trickle of sweat runs along his temple. It’s taking every ounce of strength for him to calm down. “Five.”
Kane shrugs the hand from his shoulder. “I’m all right.” He inhales and exhales through pursed lips. His body still vibrates with tense muscles.
“She needs you, man. She needs you now more than ever. They’ll get what’s coming to them.”
“You think a six-month prison sentence is justice for this? That’s if he even got sentenced. And if he did, he’d be out in three.” He winces, bending his fingers back and forth.
“I agree. It’s nowhere near what he deserves. But I’m not letting you get yourself locked up again.”
I stand with weak knees. My hand slides over his back. His muscles flinch under my touch. I slip between him and the wall where his palm rests. “I’m okay. It looks worse than it is.”
He gazes into my eyes with tears in his own. “Nothing about this is okay, petal. I should’ve never let you go back there.” His lips brush my forehead with the softest of touches.
“Will you two both sit your asses down so I can see to your injuries?” Lilly stands with a bandage in hand and a stern look on her face, playing matron.
Shane tells the police woman to file the report. They will have another officer bring Gareth into the station.
Lilly reaches for Kane’s bloodied knuckles. He pulls away, pointing at me. “I’m okay. Take care of Vi.” But his eyelid flickers every time he flexes his fingers.
“It could be broken,” Shane says.
“It was only drywall. It’s fine.”
Lilly sets out her first aid kit and wipes the blood from my face with a wet flannel. “If it’s not broken. I’ll break it myself,” she says with a tight lip.
“I’ll fix your wall. I’m sorry.”
“You can re-wallpaper, too.”
Shane nods to Kane, offering him a cigarette. “Come out back for a minute.” They both walk through the house towards the back door, out of sight. Shane knows all about Kane’s triggers. He’s trying to distract him.
I wince each time Lilly wipes my face. Though she’s gentle, it just hurts where my skin stretches over the hard lumps. My lip is all bust, making it hard to smile, and my cheekbone has swelled like a hard-boiled egg. My nose is tender, but I don’t think it’s broken.
“Well, the good news is that I don’t think you need stitches.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is that you’re going to have to talk Kane down from committing murder every day for the next ten years.” She gives me a warm smile and inspects my lip again.
“I look like a platypus, don’t I?”
She laughs. “Just a little. Platypuss are cute though.”
44
KANE
The nicotine does nothing to stop my vibrating muscles. I lean back against Lilly’s brick wall and rest my head against it. Icy night air numbs the prickling in my muscles, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins slows with the winter chill.
