Sincerely, Red

Chapter Eleven

"Why is everyone staring at me?" Lucas asked, shifting nervously on his feet. "I didn't do nothing."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" David interrogated. "Because I won't spare you if I find out you've been sending my daughter all these stupid letters. Do you know how scared she's been? She's-"

"Shut up, David," Claire managed, in between sobs. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"And I suppose you do, do you?" he answered. "Have you known all this time? Have you been helping him turn Liv's world upside down and give her these stupid little ideas? Is this some sort of sick game to you? Because we all know how much you care."

A stark silence suddenly filled the room.

I'd never seen David so angry before and a part of me wondered why his words were so harsh. Of course Lucas deserved something for sending creepy letters and messing with the situation, but it was hard to understand why David - of all people - was dealing out that punishment and taking Claire down with it.

"David-"

"No, Liv," he said. His tone was steely. "Please don't interrupt me this time. This is long overdue."

"But why are you-"

"Being so harsh?" he laughed, sounding strangled. "Because there's lots of things that are running through my mind right now and all of them are making me really, really angry."

"Dave-" Lucas tried.

David ignored him and turned to me. "He's Laney's brother, you know, but Tim's nephew. That basically means that none of us can trust him. Tim's probably made him do all this just to mess with us, and he's forgotten his dead sister after everything and-"

A sharp cracking sound resonated in the still, empty air.

Everyone looked up, locating where the sound had come from.

Our gazes landed on David's nose, which was now spurting out blood like a volcano does lava. His skin was flushed red and his mouth was rounded in shock. His eyebrows, however, were clenched tightly into twin positions and radiating anger.

"Do. Not. Ever question my loyalty to my sister," Lucas bit out, rubbing the blood from his hands on to his jeans. "Just because you have issues with Tim doesn't mean you can accuse me of doing whatever it is that you're thinking. I don't know anything about your letters and I don't care if you believe me or not. Liv was my friend and that's the end of it. I haven't even spoken to her after she lost her damn memory."

"You-" David managed, before lunging at him.

Lucas dodged the blow, fear taking the place of his earlier defiance. "I'll call the police if you do anything. You can't hurt me."

David ignored him, trying to lunge again, almost snarling every time Lucas got out of his way. He was animalistic and volatile, something I'd never seen him become before. And it was scaring not only me, but Claire, who was still crying herself into the corner.