I Am Keeley

Chapter 24: Tension

I rubbed my neck and I could see worry etched onto Julia's face, although I had a feeling what just happened should be the least of my worries. My father had yet to speak.

"Is she okay?" I heard Finn ask, the softness of his voice contrasting the hostility in the room.

"No, she's not. She locked herself in and I can't open the door." Luca's eyes never left mine as he spoke, his voice seeming thicker with his natural accent.

"Nicholas," my father began, speaking for the first time since he ushered us all into the room. "I'm going to give you one chance to tell me what happened. And if you think to even leave the smallest of things out, you might want to think of where that will get you."

His stare is cold, almost emotionless if it wasn't for the fire burning in the glaciers of his irises. I take an unsteady breath before telling them what happened, knowing that when I'm done, it won't sound as bad as she made it seem.

"I took Julia out to this club," I began. "We went for a couple of drinks and after an hour or so, I saw Keeley. She was dancing with her red-headed friend, neither one of them paying too much attention to anything around them. They were drawing attention from everybody with their clothes and how they were dancing. She left the dance floor and I went to find her.

"I followed her to the bar where I saw she already had a drink in her hands. She took a swig as she turned, and when she saw me, she stopped. I took the drink from her and pulled her off the stool. I could smell the whiskey on her and she refused to leave with me. I told her she shouldn't be out at a place like that, drinking, while she was dressed the way she was."

I quieted down after that having said all I needed to say, after all, it was the truth. All eyes in the room were trained on me. I shifted in my seat after nobody made any notion to speak or even move for that matter. It didn't seem like an understanding sort of silence, but rather it made the tension in the room heavier.

"That's all that happened?" my father asked, his posture stiff and face stuck in disapproval.

I nodded my head and he returned my gesture with a heavy sigh and the slight shake of his head.

"See, Nick, I don't believe you," he spoke humorlessly. "We all know Keeley can be temperamental, but it's never without cause. And what you just said to me? That is not enough to set her off and you know it too. So don't play stupid and tell me the rest of the fucking story."

I tried to keep my face calm and impassive, but I could feel my facade starting to slip as his voice rose. My father held my stare as we looked at each other, neither one of us going to move until the other does. Eventually, it was me as I sighed and rubbed my palms on my forehead.

"She asked me what I meant by shouldn't be out especially dressed like that. I told her-" I stumbled on my words, knowing for a damn fact that they were going to sound terrible before I could get a chance to explain myself to them all.

"I told her I didn't peg her as the whore type," I spoke quietly and hesitated before the next words came out of my mouth. "And then I told her that no one wanted to look at her back and the marks across it."

"You motherfuck-" but I didn't hear the rest because Luca had already grabbed me and threw me onto the floor, his body following right after. My body landed with a thud as the shouts of both of our families filled the room.

I did my best to fight Luca off, but the rage that had quickly plagued his body made his strength unmatched. I managed a solid punch to the right side of his jaw, but after that, I had no chance of beating him.

I winced in pain and held back a groan as his knuckles connected to my nose once and then twice. He went in for the third time, but by then, Giovanni and Stefano were pulling him off of me.