Hanging on (Jessica Brodie Diaries #2) (31 page)

“I kne--knew him. He was trained, had rules. I knew--” Sob, wheeze, snot wipe, swallow. “...knew what he might do. Adam is so...wi--
wild
!” Racking sob. She shook her head. “He
hates
me.”

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think Adam would ever hit anyone, but if he scared Lump this bad, maybe there was something dark in him I didn’t see. If Lump knew something about people, it was how to tap into their dark side and see if the demons lurking there were dangerous.

I looked at Jane. She shrugged back. We hugged tighter and stroked her hair and back. Lump was still crying, but I thought it wasn’t as bad as before. I wanted to rock her, but with three people on a bench, that might not be doable.

I heard quarreling by the door. It was a man and Flem and Claire. They were probably listening to the whole thing and now trying to bar William, or maybe even Adam, from coming out. I then distinctly heard William tell someone to get out of the way. He sounded mad and forceful. He only got like that when it really mattered. Or when I got lost in the ghetto.

Would this be boys against girls? I knew for a fact William would not hurt me, and I was pretty sure Adam was harmless, too, but Lump was in crazy-ville and there was no telling what she would do. I would have to be the road-block on this one. No one would hurt little ol’ me—not even Lump. Still, I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Sure enough, William barged through the door, Adam directly behind him.

“
Fuck!”
I heard Jane mutter. Lump looked up and saw what was happening.

“Jane, take Lump elsewhere. Get her cleaned up. I’ll head them off.” I stood.

“Got it,” Jane responded.

“I’m fine.” Lump was deathly calm again. I now knew this was probably terrified calm, but not surrendering. Strong woman. She would have probably killed Dusty had our roles been switched.

She did not move, even when Jane and I were trying to lift her up.

William slowed down until he was beside Adam, who was purposely striding out to us. He had a look of determination on his face. When he got close enough to see faces through the dark, he looked at Lump’s face and stopped dead. Disbelieve overcame determination

She stood, squared her shoulders and jaw, and lifted her head. Her body no longer quivered. She looked like a woman accepting her fate. Like she would fight against terrible odds.

It broke my heart.

Alice in Wonderland meets cage fights. It was a fitting end to a screwed up day.

Flem and Claire were running behind and saw that Lump had been crying. I heard a “What the fuck?” from Claire, and a sudden intake of breath from Flem.

Then things got weirder. For some reason Flem took Lump crying as an act of violence. She put herself between Adam and Lump and soundly slapped Adam in the face.

He didn’t move—he was still staring at Lump with an unreadable expression.

Lump screamed for them to stop. She obviously thought Adam would explode.

Jane and I were in the way and wouldn’t let her pass. Adam let the girls hit and kick him while he looked up at Lump again with confusion and intense guilt. A look you might have if you killed your kitten in a fit of anger.

I’d called the wrong person Lennie when I’d first met these guys. It wasn’t Moose at all.

William grabbed the girls, one in each hand, and dragged them away. The girls changed their attack targets, not really knowing what was going on. Now I was yelling at them to stop when I saw Adam coming through us for Lump.

“No!” I yelled. “Adam, don’t hurt her. Adam! What is happening with you? Leave her alone!” I was pleading by the end.

His voice was shaking when he said, “Jessica, please move. I won’t hurt her.”

I was still nervous, but Jane and I let him pass.

Madness. All of this was madness. I no longer knew up from down.

Lump was still standing in her pose from earlier. She was calm, but looked shaky nonetheless. It looked like she was confronting a demon with no hope of salvation.

Too much alcohol and emotion for any sort of normality from the lot of us. Add in boys to a wild group of females and a shit storm ensues.

Adam took two big strides and was directly in front of Lump in seconds. She looked up at him with caution and steadfast determination.

Once in front of her, he slowly, ever so slowly, reached his arms out wide, giving her ample room to withdraw if she needed to. Still moving at a snail’s pace, he reached his arms around her. She tried to step back but couldn’t because of the bench. It was like a rabid animal that was cornered. She looked at all escape routes and decided on one when we all heard, “I will not hurt you, Betsy. I will never, ever hurt you. Please, please believe me. I behaved badly.
Horribly.
Like my father would have. I swore I wouldn’t never be like him. I crushed a beautiful flower, just like he did. Please...” he begged.

I couldn’t see his face, but I could swear he was crying. I bet that was a first, too.

“Please, Betsy.” He was not saying her name to be an ass this time. He wanted to connect with her. Begging to connect with her. To be forgiven.

His hands were nearly around her now. Moving ever so slowly. She looked up into his eyes, tears gleaming, her body quivering. His arms closed, and he brought her to him. She bowed her head and let him.

He hugged her fiercely. “You were right,” he was saying. “Everything you said about my mannerism was right. I
did
want to hit you, Jesus help me. I did
.
I
was
bullying you. Like you was a man. Like you could fight back.

“Lord, Betz. You could. You
can
fight back. I ain’t never been hit so effectively by any man. Or bull. If there weren’t a door there, you woulda dropped me. Timber, straight the ground.”

Adam shook his head. He was definitely crying. She was crying. I was crying. We were all crying.

“I wouldn’t’ve though, Betz. Please believe that. I would
not
have hit you. I would not have hurt you. I wouldn’t never,
never
hit a woman.
Never
!” he said this with such venom it surprised me he had it in him.

He hugged her and rocked her, burying his head in her hair. “I came out here to apologize. You had me pegged, don’t ya see? I was even...you know...hard. Kinda. That made me feel sick. To realize that, and you knowin’ it ‘n all. How disgusting—picking on a smaller person. I ain’t like that. Lord, I ain’t
never
been like that. My dad was, though. He did that to my mom. To me. To my whole family. I was the only one that could fight back when I was grown. Rich family, never raised no fuss, tryin’ to hide it, but he would get drunk and mean.”

I even think William was squeezing out a tear or two. This was awful. I knew I should walk away, but couldn’t. I was hypnotized by his testimony. I suddenly realized I had never seen his family. He obviously had moved very far away from them.

“You scared me,” Lump squeaked out.

Adam squeezed tighter. He turned her around, sat on the bench, and sat her on his lap. He laid her against his chest like she was an infant, and she promptly started bawling. He put his head in her hair again and rocked her. I heard him say he was sorry over and over again.

I felt William’s hand on my shoulder. I turned to him and let him put his arms around me.

“Let’s give them some space,” he said quietly. “She’s in safe hands, now.”

I nodded mutely.

Everyone went back to their rooms after that. Ami and Gladis saw us all coming in, William beat to hell from Flem and Claire losing their minds and trying to protect Lump, everyone crying, some of our clothes scuffed with snot and things all over it. I think Claire half fell in the pond. She stunk.

We gave some quick explanations for why we were in such a state, and excused ourselves. Lady was sent to check on the other two and an extra room made up for Adam, whom Gladis wanted to make sure was staying. It looked like she knew about his family history and didn’t want him spending any time alone.

William and I went back to my quaint pool house. I tended his scratched face.

“William?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you come barreling out with Adam?”

He stiffened a little. “Well, I guess he said as much, so there is no harm in telling you now.” He paused and flinched when the alcohol touched his scrape. “When I got to Adam, after Lump had left, he looked like I had seen his dad look a million times. Blind fury, mostly. Ready to do battle with someone. Anyone. Adam has let himself get that angry only a few times. Each time it was defending a woman. It was never
because
of a woman.

“Adam’s dad looked like that when he got his dander up. Usually when drunk. If he didn’t fight a man in a bar, he would come home and beat his wife or kids. Adam got beat up plenty, but his mother got beat up more. Especially as Adam got bigger. His old man was a cowardly bastard.

“Adam grew up protecting his mother and sisters. When he eventually got bigger than his old man, his dad stopped hitting the family in front of him. But Adam would see a new bruise crop up on his mother, or on his sisters, every so often. He couldn’t do anything because everyone protected the father.”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

He sighed. “They were an affluent family. His mother wanted to protect the family name so their kids wouldn’t be affected by bad publicity. It is always the mothers that stay and get abused in the name of the kids. It was a bad situation for everyone.

“Well, one night Adam came home and found his dad beating his mother and his sister. Adam was 17 years old I think—somewhere around there. He was big, tough, muscled, and knew how to fight. He had been ready for this day since the first time he remembered his mother getting hit.

“He brought hell to his father that day, beat him within an inch of his life. His mother was furious. What would everyone think? Adam drove his dad to an alleyway and deposited him there. His dad was found and taken to the hospital. He nearly died.

“Adam knew his dad would blame it on him like the coward he was. Adam waited in that hospital room day and night until his dad was coherent enough to understand him. He told his dad that if the finger was pointed at him, then Adam would put him in jail for spousal abuse. However, if his dad never laid a finger on his family again, Adam would leave home with his trust fund and nothing else.

“The dad agreed for Adam to leave. The story was that he was beat up in a bar. Adam left him with a parting warning that if he found out his mother or sisters were beat up or hurt in any way, he would come back and see to it that the dad ended up in the morgue. His sisters wouldn’t live there without Adam, and went with him.

“A short while after he moved out with his sisters, his mother killed his father with a frying pan, of all things. He was laying into her again. Without children to keep her quiet, his mother defended herself. Adam’s dad had been so drunk he could barely stand. She was a small woman, but she got in a few good shots. He had no will, and since they were married, it all went to her. She made sure the children were well provided for, then moved to Florida with her family. Adam’s sisters followed.

“Adam now rarely lets himself get that worked up. Very rarely. He is usually extremely even tempered unless there is just cause. How he was acting with Lump was like his father would have, like he said. It was a warning for me to see it.”

William was quiet for a minute, then, “I asked him what was going on. He told me what Lump said. He told me it was true. He was starting to break down—I could see it. He had completely lost control. If not for Lump’s presence of mind, and pointing out the warning signs, he very well might have hit her.

“If that happened...Well, Adam is exceptionally strong. He has a
mean
punch. He hit me once when I jumped in between him and someone else when he lost control...I went tumbling. I weight 150% more than your friend does, and I can match Adam for strength, yet he knocked me clean out. He would have made putty of her face.”

“She is fast, though. She has fought against men as big as Adam,” I said in her defense.

William nodded. “I’m sure she could hold out for a while. But when a man loses control in rage, it’s worse than a drunk. He feels no pain
and
he is faster than lighting.”

“Lump is fast!”

“Jess...Lump is a woman.” I bristled. “No—don’t take this the wrong way. But, Lump is a woman. Women...” I could see him looking for a good explanation. He better, too, because I was ready to argue!

“Okay,
men
have testosterone, right? Young men have a lot of it. It tapers off as men get older. Some men more than others. A shot of testosterone makes men faster than normal, usually because there is adrenaline with it. Reaction-wise they are genetically faster, and they are stronger than your average woman. Lump is not your average woman, so she would hold up against most men. But Adam is not an average man, either, and when he loses control, which happens rarely, he is a force of nature.”

“But... but her moves helped me get away from Dusty.”

“Yes. But Dusty is small, not very strong, not very good at fighting, and a wanker. Your friend Lump would have probably made mince-meat of that guy. If given the opportunity, I would tear that little snake limb from limb for what he did to you!”

William calmed himself down. “But Adam is not Dusty. Adam, also, has a violent past and a lot of demons.”

I nodded sadly. Poor Adam.

“Would you hold up against Adam?”

William sighed. I could tell he didn’t like to think along these lines. “If Adam was in a rage, it would be a toss-up. I did a little boxing in my youth, so I have a slight advantage there, but a man in a rage like that—if I didn’t lay him out early, or really keep my head, I don’t know. I like to think I would win, but that is ego talking.”