Page 7 of Brutal for It
Jenni jerks back, trying to shield me, but I won’t have it. I shove forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
He studies us with a gleam in his eye, the pistol steady in his hand. As a child, he seemed monstrous. Now, he’s just a pathetic drunk holding a gun.
“So big, bad Ezra’s gonna shoot us?” I taunt, voice shaking but loud. I know I’m playing with fire. But I’ve played with fire every time I’ve shot poison into my veins. Every drug I ingested should have been my last. Death didn’t take me then, I’ll damn sure face it now sober.
“Not until I have that pussy one more time,” he grumbles.
The rage is white-hot. “Shoot me now. I’ll die before you touch me ever again.”
I step closer. My voice rises, steady, strong.
“You see, Ezra, father or not, I’ve learned my worth. And that shit doesn’t come from you. I chased escapes for years, but in the end, the power to forget is mine. My body isn’t tainted by you anymore. My mind is clear. So do your worst. I’ll still be standing strong.”
Jenni spits at his feet. “If I had known what you did to her, I’d have told someone. You’re filth. You’re nothing but shit on my shoe.”
He smirks, gun unwavering.
I square my shoulders. “You owe me an explanation. Tell me why. Why did you do it? I thought you loved me, even though you hurt me. I thought you cared.”
His grin is cruel. “You weren’t mine. You were a reminder of the man she fucked. I wanted you to hurt the way I hurt when she stepped out. In your pain, I found glory. Just like I find it in the bottom of a bottle.”
Outside, the faint rumble of motorcycles builds, engines growling like thunder. But I barely register it.
“You failed as a man,” I spit. “You failed as a husband, as a father. I’m glad I remind you of him. I’m glad I can stand in your face and make you choke on your failure.”
The door bursts open. Rhett storms in, gun raised, eyes blazing.
But my focus never wavers. My soul has waited for this moment.
“She stepped out because you were shit, Ezra!” I roar. A shot cracks.
Pain explodes through me, fire tearing through my chest. I collapse into Jenni’s arms. Another shot echoes, and Ezra crumples to the floor.
“No!” Jenni sobs, clutching me, tears streaming down her face.
My vision blurs, but I lock eyes with her. She has to know. If this is the end, she has to know.
“I have the power back, Jenni,” I whisper, as the searing pain becomes almost too much to bear. “He can’t hurt me anymore.”
The pain swallows me whole, but I feel light. He doesn’t win. The drugs don’t win.
I am the master of my destiny.
Even if it ends here, I did it my way.
And this is the most empowering moment of my life. Even if it’s my very last.
Three
Tommy Boy
Everything stops.
Time splits open like a tire at ninety on loose gravel, and the whole world fishtails. Sliding back and forth, left to right, I don’t know what to think. Jenni crumples to the floor with Jami bleeding out in her arms, a small, limp bird in a hurricane of red.
Crunch fires. One shot, clean. His target drops.
Ezra folds in on himself and slides sideways barely missing the recliner like a sack of rotten potatoes. There’s a split second where the part of me that’s still thirteen and mean as sin is jealous I’m not the one to end him. I don’t feel bad about it. I won’t ever feel bad about wanting that man dead. I only wish I had the chance to cause him a little pain myself.
