Page 91 of Jar of Hearts
Unconsciousness threatens to overtake her. Dominic’s hand is still at her throat, and he’s impossibly strong. She can’t scream, she can barely move, and little by little, she feels the fight going out of her.
Then, a second later, he’s ripped away from her. In the sudden absence of pain, there is relief, and she wilts under it, gasping for breath. Her vision is hazy, and all she can see is a shape looming over Dominic, who’s now on the floor.
The shape through the haze reminds Geo of the fog the night of Angela’s murder. When her vision finally clears, she sees why.
Calvin.
He’s standing over Dominic, who’s stunned, a dark-red welt forming on his cheekbone where he was punched. His lip is split open, and he’s lying on his side, hurt and vulnerable. In this moment Geo can finally see a glimpse of the boy she might have known had she chosen to keep him.
“Are you all right, Georgina?” Calvin asks her.
He doesn’t look anything like the last time she saw him. His hair is longer, lighter, and a full beard specked with gray covers half his face. He’s dressed in old clothes. She nods, sitting up on the bed, and his eyes move down to her stomach and her thighs, which are bare. She’s aware suddenly that she’s exposed, and hot tears fill her eyes as she frantically pulls her leggings and underwear back up.
Because someone has seen. Someone has borne witness to what her son just tried to do to her. Even if that someone is Calvin, it’s still the worst thing for anyone to know.
On the floor, coming to, Dominic lets out a small laugh. Calvin looks down and kicks him in the head.
“Wait,” Geo gasps, struggling to speak. She’s still on the bed, and she scooches as far back as she can until her back is resting against the headboard. “Calvin, wait. Just… just back away from him.” She forces herself to focus. “How did you get in here? There’s a police officer out front.”
“I took care of the cop,” her old boyfriend says, his brow furrowing. His gaze moves from her to the young man on the floor, and then back to Geo. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you. These new murders, they’re not me. I would never hurt a kid.”
“I know.” She closes her eyes briefly. The police officer assigned to guard her couldn’t have been more than thirty. His poor family. His poor mother.
Another laugh from Dominic.
“Can I pull my pants up?” the younger man asks, and though his words are a little thick because his lips are beginning to swell, he sounds almost pleasant. “I’m feeling a little chilly down here.”
The gun she got from Ella Frank’s brother is still where she hid it, and Geo’s hand snakes under the pillow as the two men talk to each other. The small grip fits comfortably in her palm, and once it’s firmly in her grasp, she clicks off the safety. The sound is muffled by the pillow.
“No, asshole,” Calvin says, sounding equally pleasant, the arrogant drawl unchanged in almost twenty years. “You seemed to haveno problem pulling them down, so why don’t we leave them that way?”
“Mother,” Dominic says, not moving. Geo glances down to the floor to find him smiling. It’s a terrible smile. “Maybe you should tell Dad that it’s not nice to refer to his kid as an asshole. It isn’t good for my self-esteem.”
Calvin’s eyes widen and cut immediately to Geo, reflexively seeking confirmation that this can’t possibly be true.
“Surprise,” Dominic says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s a boy.”
“How?” Calvin asks, locking with eyes with her. “How is that possible?”
“So the man’s erect penis enters the woman’s vagina—” Dominic begins in a monotone voice, parodying what one might hear in a middle school sex-education lecture.
“Shut up,” Calvin says, but he doesn’t kick him again. His eyes are still fixed on Geo. “How?” he asks, more urgently.
“You know how,” she says, her voice small. Her gaze shifts to the heart tattoo on Calvin’s inner wrist. She hasn’t seen it before, but it has to have been there awhile, because the red ink is a bit faded. She can see the initials inside it.GS. He immortalized her on his goddamned arm.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice is soft. “I would have wanted to know.”
“You were gone,” she answers. “And I was glad. I never wanted to see you again.”
Calvin stares at her a second longer, then looks down at the young man on the floor, who is still lying on his side, but watching the exchange with bright eyes. “Stand up. Pull your pants up. And don’t make any sudden moves or I’ll rip your throat out.”
Dominic does as he’s told, slowly bringing himself to a standing position. Side by side, there’s no question that he’s Calvin’s son. They’re the same height, with the same features. But where Calvin has confidence, his son has bravado, and they’re not the same thing at all.
“Jesus,” Dominic says with a mocking roll of his eyes. “Now I know where I get my violent tendencies from.”
“Shutup,” Calvin says again.
Geo pulls out the gun. The two men look over, their faces making identical expressions of surprise. Dominic takes a step toward her, but Calvin grabs his arm. He nods to Geo, who gets up off the bed and stands, facing them. Calvin pulls Dominic back toward the wall, putting about five feet of distance between the two of them and Geo. It might as well be five inches. The bedroom feels tiny and stiflingly hot.
