Page 150 of Run
“You chose to beat the shit out of her.” I take a step toward him.
“I taught her how to take care of herself. How to not take shit from anybody!”
“Except you!” I point a finger at him.
“Especially me. The kind of love you’re used to … it’s made you weak. Hell, just look at you, running out here, getting yourself wrapped up in her bullshit. Why? Because you see hearts and stars when you look at her? How does that help her? How does that help you?”
Axel puts his hands in his pants pockets and braces his legs wide. “I made her strong, Ethan.” I shiver at the sound of my name coming off his lips and watch as he lowers his head and looks at the ground when he addresses me again. “Now, either leave me be to finish teaching our girl how to toughen up, or try to stop me.” His eyes shoot up and he stares at me through lowered brows.
I swallow, but then a grin stretches across my lips as I take slow steps toward Axel, feeling the gravel turn to concrete under my boots. I hit the button to close the garage door as I enter, and as the door slowly comes down, I crack my knuckles. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
It only takes a beat before Axel lunges and closes the few feet of distance between us. He succeeds in slamming me back against the garage door with jarring force, and it’s enough to stun me and for him to land a punch against my face. He’s got brute strength, I’ll give him that. I duck and swivel out of Axel’s reach, giving him a quick, hard jab to his side, and feel my knuckles bang against his ribs.
He coughs as he grips his side but laughs. “Just like old times, huh, boy?” He charges me again, barreling his shoulder into my torso. I regain my footing and pull my arm back to land a solid hit to Axel’s side again—the same side where Ari stabbed—and he yells out.
Quickly, I grab his head in a weak headlock and send two punches to the side of his face before I take it in both hands, pull my leg back, and hike my knee up as I pull his face down to connect with it. The sound of his nose crunching rings out as he goes falling to the floor.
He’s quick to get back on his feet and charge me once more, this time pushing me backward until the backs of my legs hit some equipment and I tumble over it, with Axel landing on top of me. He gets in a good swing with a fist that lands against my eye, sending searing pain through me, and then a quick hit to the other side of my face. My head snaps this way and that as he rocks me.
He stops, then his hands close around my throat as he leans down until his face is hovering right above mine. Bloody spit drips onto me from his busted face. “Do you think you could ever love our girl more than I do?”
In this moment, I see why Ari was so torn apart by their relationship. I do see love in his eyes.
A toxic, twisted, sick kind of love.
I lift my head up as far as I can manage while still under him. “She’s notourgirl. She’s mine.”
Quickly, I pull my head back and throw it forward, smashing our foreheads together, and while he’s briefly stunned I buck him off, sending him rolling onto his back, clutching his head as I scramble to my feet.
“You sick motherfucker.” I rear my leg back and send my boot flying into his face. “You goddamn animal!” I do it again, then spit a bloody gob at him. “How does it feel, huh? How does it feel going up against someone your own size?”
I pull my leg back again, but Axel rolls out of reach. He grabs a shovel leaning against the wall and swings it at me, but I step back just in time. He keeps swinging it as he shakily gets to his feet, wielding it at me like he’s trying to ward off a wild animal. He charges me, and I charge right back, gripping the wooden handle between his hands and pushing as hard as I can against him, bending my knees and trying to dig my boots into the concrete.
But Axel’s strength is overpowering, and I skid backward as he growls and curses, pushing me into a corner. He twists the handle in my hands, causing my grip to break, and he snaps it up, slamming the handle into my nose with a harrowing crunch, and I can’t help but lurch forward.
And then it’s Axel who has my head in a vice grip as he lands one hit after another. Before I get punch drunk, I’m able to block a hit and ram into him, causing him to backpedal a few steps and giving myself a moment to get my bearings. When I look back, he gives me a wicked grin, like he’s enjoying this, then comes at me again.
I don’t realize he has the screwdriver in his hand until he’s on me, and he pulls his arm back and slams it into my lower side.
“Gah!” White-hot pain causes my knees to buckle before he’s on me again, and I feel another bite as the screwdriver slices through another spot near my rib. His arm comes up a third time, and then stops. He struggles to pull it down, and with blurred vision I see a small set of hands around his bicep. Ari is standing behind him, her face bloodied and blotchy.
Axel is taken off guard, too, as he looks back to see what’s stopping him. When he sees it’s Ari, betrayal sweeps across his face before it’s replaced by rage. “You little bitch!” He yanks his arm away, then elbows it back into her, throwing her off balance. Axel strides over, backhanding her so hard she goes flying to the floor.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I try to get up but my limbs are cold and uncooperative, and I look down to see a small puddle of blood pooling beneath me. Getting to my hands and knees, blood, spit, and sweat drip from my nose and mouth. “Come fight me, you piece of shit!” I growl as Axel stands over Ari, who is curled on her side.
On shaky legs, he brings his hands to his belt buckle and starts to undo it.
“Stop!” I sit back on my heels, the room spinning. “I said come get me, asshole!”
He doesn’t look at me as he pulls the belt out in front of him. He runs it through his other hand and gives a tug.
“No.” I attempt to stand but fall back to the ground. My limbs are cold.
“Arlene, you know what to do,” he says.
And to my horror—to my absolute horror—Ari slowly crawls to her knees and turns her body, so she’s kneeling with her back to him.
“No,” I try to shout, but it’s barely a whisper.
