Page 28 of Run
He still doesn’t answer. Shuffling a step closer to him, I freeze when he spins something on the table. Terror sends goosebumps up my spine and steals my breath.
Without looking up, Axel starts talking. “I heard this buzzing, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where it was coming from. A little while later I heard it again. It was coming from near your bed, so I went over, pulled the sheets up, felt between the bed and the wall, and found this.”
Axel holds my phone up in front of him, arm extended between us, as a lump builds in my throat. I knew it was dangerous to be texting with Ethan late last night while in bed. I must have fallen asleep with my phone out and completely forgotten about it this morning.
“I was able to get into it because you’re stupid like your mother and you didn’t put a password on it. You know what I found?” We lock eyes for a moment, and I am frozen. “There’s only one number on here. No name.” He clears his throat before he starts reading various messages from my text thread with Ethan: “‘I’m glad you came to my window yesterday.’ ‘Even with short hair, you’re still the prettiest girl in school.’ ‘If Axel passes out early, want to go for a ride with me?’”
My breathing picks up as I try to offer up a response. “It’s not what—”
“What do you do on those car rides, Ari? What do you do with that boy—and the other one, the Spanish one—with all the time you spend together? Huh?”
I shake my head side to side, but other than that, I can’t move. “It’s not what you think. We’re just friends.”
“FRIENDS!?” I jump when Axel slams his fist on the table so hard I can’t believe it doesn’t buckle. Still sitting, he leans over the table. His long sleeves are pushed up, exposing strong forearms beneath a white shirt that hugs his body. He has black oil stains on his calloused fingers and under his fingernails. His shop pants are faded and dirty. “Friendsdon’t sneak into each other’s windows.” He drops the phone to the floor and smashes it with a heeled boot. “Friendsdon’t secretly meet up. I think you’ve been acting like a little slut.”
“No.” I shake my head some more as my body finally unfreezes and I take a half a step backward. “No, that’s not it.”
Axel tilts his head and eyes me up and down, then slowly drags his tongue along his top front teeth. “I mean, you’re still a little petite, but I guess that don’t matter. Especially for a young punk like him.”
I’m backing up, still shaking my head.
“Tell me, Arlene.”
“We’re just friends.”
My back hits the door, and Axel and I have our gazes locked on one another. It’s like looking into the eyes of a snake that has uncoiled itself and is ready to strike. I know I should move, but I’m afraid to take my eyes off him for even a split second. Heart banging around erratically in my chest, lungs constricting and sweat beading up on the small of my back, I tremble.
Suddenly, Axel springs up from the table and lunges toward me as I spin, pull open the door, and jump down the few steps. I break into stride heading toward the fields, but hit a divot in the yard and go tumbling down, rolling onto my side. I scurry back to my feet but it’s too late. That was enough time to allow Axel to reach me, grab me by my hair, and tug me back.
“Ahh!” I scream out, clasping onto his wrist and forearm with my hands, afraid he’ll rip my scalp clear off my head as he drags me toward the garage. I kick my feet, trying to get traction on the ground under me, but I can’t gain purchase. “Stop! Please!” The ground changes from earth to the solid concrete of the garage floor. He drags me straight in and drops me in the middle. I try to scramble to my feet, but Axel rears back with his foot and lands a kick to my side. All the air leaves me as I curl into a ball.
“Despite everything I give you—a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes—you run around like a whore and make a fool out of me!”
“No!” The back of his hand meets the side of my face and, again, I’m knocked to the side. I get to my hands and knees and try to crawl away, but he grabs me by the hips and hauls me back toward him. Axel flips me over and places a knee on each side of my body so he’s straddling me. I try to swat his arms away as hands reach for my neck.
“Axel, don’t! Please!” His hands close around my neck and I reach up, clawing at his face, pulling some of his skin away with my fingernails.
“Shit!” he yells, jerking my head up and slamming it back onto the pavement. The pain is intense, and it stuns me. The edges of my vision go blurry and the world starts to spin, but I find my fight again. I reach my hands out to the sides, attempting to find anything to strike him with but find nothing.
Axel’s hands squeeze tightly around my neck. “You little selfish slut,” he grits out as he crushes my airway. “No one ever wanted you. Not your mother. Not your father. No one. And this is the thanks I get for taking you—”
He doesn’t finish the sentence because he’s suddenly thrown to the side, and I see Ethan land on top of him, arms swinging. “You son of a bitch!” Ethan yells, landing a left and then a right punch to Axel’s face.
Fonz kneels beside me, pulling me up. “Ari, are you OK? Can you stand?”
With Axel no longer surprised, he bucks Ethan off then rolls on top of him and lands a hard punch to the side of his head, and I scream out. “No!”
Ethan is able to block his next swing, and Fonz runs and jumps on Axel’s back, putting him in a headlock. It’s enough to distract Axel so that Ethan can crawl out from under him, but then Axel slams backward and crushes Fonz against the workbench once, then twice, and Fonz releases Axel from his grip and protects himself from a third crushing blow. Axel jumps to his feet and grabs my upper arm.
The crunch of gravel under tires registers as Axel twists my arm and tries to pull me down. He swipes a hammer off the workbench and his arm swings back. I brace for the impact. It’s going to hurt. I know it. And maybe this will be the last blow I ever take.
But Ethan moves quick, pushing me out of Axel’s reach, covering my body with his. Axel had already started his swing and it lands with a loud bang and Ethan roars out a shrill cry inmy ear. I look over to see the hammer made contact with Ethan’s hand, splayed flat on the workbench.
“Hey! Get the hell off my son!” Ethan’s dad comes running into the garage and hurls himself at Axel, causing both of them to topple over the lawn mower. Fonz throws himself on top of the pile, and I hear Ethan’s mother’s voice behind me. “Send police and an ambulance! Hurry!” She looks to her husband, drops her phone, and yells, “James, look out!”
Axel is able to turn and land a kick to James’ chest, sending him flying backward, and simply shuck Fonz off of him, then he makes a beeline right for me again.
“This is all because of you, you little brat!” His hands come around my neck again, this time with me pressed up against the side of the garage. Just as he lifts me enough so my feet are no longer touching the floor, I see Ethan. With his right hand cradled to his chest, he swoops down and grabs the hammer with his left, pulls his arm back, and swings with all his might, striking a blow to the side of Axel’s head.
