Page 39 of Monster
I didn't say a word. I didn't even look at Keeley as she scrambled away. It was only when she was out of sight that The Judge slid into the space she had vacated. He didn't look at me and I didn’t look at him.
“Want to go on a job?” He finally asked.
“Depends on the job.”
“One for Gio, but it's for you as well.”
Slowly, my head turned to him. “Are people going to get hurt?”
I needed to hurt someone. I needed it more than I needed my next breath, because if I didn't get the anger out somehow then I would end up hurting someone I cared for. Someone like Keeley.
“One person, yeah.” The Judge said something else but I was already sliding from my stool with a grim smile. I didn't care what the job was. Who I had to hurt for The Family. I just needed to get out of there before I exploded.
“Don't care who it is. If they deserve it then I’m there.”
The Judge's eyes met mine and the smile on his face mirrored mine. “Oh, they deserve it.”
* * *
The houseThe Judge drove us to was familiar. Familiar because I had been there so many times as a kid. None of my memories of that place were happy. But my memories were nothing compared to the memories Keeley had been left with. The red brick house with its dark blue door was where she had grown up.
Her parents’ house.
The house she had escaped the moment she turned eighteen.
I threw a glance at The Judge out of the corner of my eye. He looked perfectly serene with his hands wrapped around the steering wheel, taking it all in. It looked so unassuming, that red brick building, but I knew more than anyone how looks could be deceiving.
Keeley had gone through hell within those four walls. A hell I hadn't known about until she was old enough to escape. I had been too consumed by my own hell growing up to think even for a second that she was going through the same sort of shit. If I had known, I would have protected her. Or at least I liked to think I would have.
“Why are we here?”
“Gio saw some messages on Keeley’s phone.” The Judge said it as if it should make perfect sense to me, but honestly it just gave me more questions. One - why was Gio snooping about in my cousin's phone when he had given me his word that he would have nothing more to do with her? And two - why hadn’t Keeley herself asked me for help? I wanted to know just how long my no good uncle had been messaging her.
“Keeley doesn't know but Gio did some digging when she started reacting strangely to messages that were coming through. Gio’s a clever man. It didn't take him long to realise why, and then, well...” The Judge shrugged. “It's not hard to check records, Monster, and boy does Keeley have a long and colourful medical history.” His eyes settled on me. “I'm surprised you didn't take him out when you found out.”
“I didn't because Keeley didn't want me to. She wanted to get on with her life.” I studied his silhouette for a second. “Is that why we’re here? To take him out of Keeley’s life for good?”
“Would it be a problem if we were?” Still The Judge didn't look at me.
I thought about it for a second and then I grinned. “No.” It wouldn't be a problem for me to take out the man who had beat on and done God knows what else to a defenceless girl who hadn't hurt a soul in her life. I would enjoy it.
“Good, but we aren't here to kill him.” The Judge’s lips quirked up in a smile. “We are just here to ask him very nicely to leave his daughter alone.”
“And what if he doesn't listen?”
“Then we ask him not so nicely.”
31
MONSTER
“I know you, you’re…”My uncle squinted at me with his bleary, alcohol addled eyes but I didn't let him finish. I smashed my fist into his face before he could say my real name and sent him reeling backwards. I stepped into the house as he fell to the floor. The Judge brought up the rear, his chuckle menacing as he closed the door behind us.
“What the hell? Get the fuck out of my house!” My uncle's foot lashed out, connecting with my shin and sending shockwaves of pain through me. If he thought a little pain was going to stop me then he had a lot to learn about me. I had dealt with pain my entire life, both physical and mental.
Righting myself, I aimed a kick at his gut. The first one landed just below his ribs and I knew from the rush of air he exhaled that I had winded him. It wasn't enough. I put everything I had into the second kick, aiming it squarely at his face. The bones of his nose crunched under my foot. I didn't need to look down to know that his blood now stained the front of my boot.
He howled in pain. Like most bullies, most males who pretended to be decent whilst they beat on the very people they should be protecting, my uncle was a coward. He threw his hands up to protect his face. That was a rookie mistake. One that he soon regretted.
