Counting Paths

Chapter 24.

"Hey," the guy mutters. He walks over to the couch and sits down at the end.

"Okay..."

I return my attention to my movie.

But then... "Fuck this," the guy breathes, and the channel changes.

"Hey!" I look at him to see him holding the remote. "I was watching that."

"Too bad. I'm not watching a kid's movie."

"You too bad-real grown of you by the way. I was here first and I had the tv first." He ignores me and continues changing the channel until he settles on what looks like the movie jigsaw. "Hello?!" I reach for the remote but he yanks it away from me. "Hey, dick-head!"

Now that catches his attention. He flares at me. "What the fuck did you just call me?"

"I called you a dick-head. Who do you think you are, anyway? You can't just-" Moving as fast as a snake, he snaps out his arm and slaps me in my face.

Moose jumps up, barking at him, but before she can attack him, someone grabs the guy from behind.

I scream and scoot away as Roland strangles the guy in a chokehold. "Kevin, get her out of here," he says in a menacing, bloodthirsty voice that turns my blood cold. The guy claws at and bangs his fists against Roland's arm, his face turning a dark shade of purple as his oxygen runs out.

I gulp. "Roland-"

"NOW!"

Kevin picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. He carries me outside and tosses me in the backseat of Roland's car. I don't say anything. I don't argue or try to fight him because he looks just as furious as Roland. He slams the car door shut and hurries around to the driver's seat. He peels off, making the tires shriek and rumble. He speeds down the driveway and onto the main road, and I begin to cry.

Kevin hears me and abruptly pulls over. "Don't-"

"He hit me and I wasn't strong enough to do anything about it," I cry. "I wasn't strong enough to hit him or Shan. As if it wasn't bad enough I'm not strong mentally, I have to be fucked up physically too."

He's quiet for a moment, then he punches the streaking wheel and gets out of the car. He walks around, yanks my car door open, and reaches for me. "Get out of the car."

"No."

"Sterling, get out of the car now."

"What are-"

"Trust me. Come here," he says through clenched teeth. I can see he's struggling to keep his cool.

I take his hand with causation, then he pulls me out of the car. I stand on the side of the road next to him with nothing on my feet but socks. I scowl at his boots for a moment, then lift my head and look at him. "What are we doing?"

"Hit me."

"What? No!"

"Hit me," he repeats with more strength.

"I'm not going to hit you!"

"Sterling, just-"

"No!"

"You need to know how to defend yourself!" He snaps, raising his voice for the second time since I've met him. "Roland, Russell, and I, we won't always be there, you need to protect yourself. You can protect yourself! You're a strong kid, fuck feeling sorry for yourself-"

Slamming my fist into his nose, I punch him in the face. His head snaps back an inch or two, but other than that, he isn't phased by it at all. His reaction makes the pain in my arm even worse. "I don't feel sorry for myself!" I yell.

He wipes his nose and nods. "That's not what it sounded like in the car."

"Can't I talk shit about myself and have it just be that?"

"No. Look, your punch was okay. If you turn with your body while you swing, you can lay out more power in your punch and it also extends your arm more so you won't have to get too close and personal and leave yourself exposed. Hit me again."

I punch him again following his suggestions, and his head went farther back this time.

Roland

My hand is bleeding too much. I wrapped it up before I started hitting Joe, but a few punches in, and my stitches opened up. He's still unconscious lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. I use this opportunity to try to get my vision to clear, because all I'm seeing now is red. I know I can torture him for a long time if I just calm down now and walk away. I can walk away. I will. If I can't go after Shan for hurting Sterling, I'll make sure Joe will endure the punishment for both of them.

I fall back on the couch. Moose joins me, her eyes locked on Joe. "I'll hurt him enough for the both of us," I promise her. "And I know someone that can help." I receive my phone from my pocket and call Russell.

He picks up on the third ring. "Yeah, boss?"

"Come to the house."

There's a quick pause where I know he's thinking the worse. "Is St-"

"She's fine-or I think she is. I didn't want her to see this."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," he tells me, then the line ends. I lower the phone from my ear and look at my home screen. It's a picture of Sterling and Moose in the back seat of my car. It was the day we got her. Sterling put it as my home and lock screen, and I can't find a reason to change it.

She always does that; takes weird selfies on my phone. There's a picture of her and me in the car. I'm completely oblivious to her taking the photo, too focused on the other phone I had in my hands, but she was still smiling like I was standing right to her smiling too.

Right before my screen is about to fall asleep, I get a text from an unknown number.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: New Princess huh? Meet me at Rose's diner @ 9 -JTW

"Fuck," I whisper. Then I read the message again and allow it to truly sink in. "FUCK!" I roar, jumping to my feet and throwing my phone. "Fuck!"