Page 104 of It Happened on the Lake

Levi couldn’t stand it a second longer. His mother’s sharp words cut too close to the bone. “Hey!” he said as he stepped out of the shadows and held up his hands, palms out. “Stop! Okay? Juststop!”

“Stay out of it, Levi,” Chase warned, sniffing loudly. “This is between me and him.”

“Go back to your room!” Dad was talking between clenched teeth, and the air in the room seemed to crackle. “Go. Now! You, too, Cindy! Go.” With a glance at Levi, he ordered, “Get your mother out of here!”

“Tom, please, don’t,” she said, stepping forward, the destroyed tissue drifting to the floor.

“Stop!” Levi ordered again and caught the warning in Chase’s eyes. He ignored it and pled, “Just freaking stop!”

Chase turned on his brother. “You little pansy-ass! Butt the fuck out!”

“Chase!” Mom gasped. “Don’t!”

But Chase wasn’t listening. Muscles coiled, face twisted in fury, he turned on his brother. “This is none of your damned business, Levi.”

“It’s all of our—”

Chase sprang.

Across the rug.

Hitting Levi in the midsection.

Entangled, they flew into the jukebox.

Levi’s head crashed against the sharp corner of the Wurlitzer.

Hot pain burst across his forehead.

The jukebox skidded, slamming against the wall, blood smearing across the glass cover, distorting the numbered list of songs on display.

Mom screamed, “Stop! Chase, don’t!” Then turned to her husband. “Tom!Do something!”

Together they tumbled over the rug, careening into the coffee table. It upended, the ashtray and box of tissues flying.

Chase hauled back to punch Levi’s face.

With a roar, Levi kicked upward, flipping Chase onto his back and pushing him away.

“Stop! Boys, stop!” Mom yelled.

Chase lunged.

Dad caught his elbow and yanked Chase back. “You little prick!” he growled. “Stop this, now!”

Mom skirted the upside-down table and hurried over to Levi. “You’re bleeding,” she said.

“Get him out of here,” Dad ordered, notching his chin toward his younger son.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered, finding another tissue in the pocket of her housecoat and dabbing at his eyebrow.

He jerked away. “I’m fine.” Breathing heavily, the scent of blood and a fight still in the air, he wanted a piece of his brother.

Undeterred, she reached for him. “No, honey, you’re—”

“I’m fine, Mom!” he repeated, afraid the tears stinging the back of his eyes might fall, further humiliating him. He threw off her arm. “Screw it!”

“Levi!” she whispered, but he didn’t care.

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