For the Love of Ash (35 page)

"Luke?" She sounded frantic. "You have to come home. We're locked in my room, but Dad is going crazy."

"What's going on?" Maggie asked, but I hardly registered it.

I waved my hand when I saw the waiter walk by and gestured for the check. We had to go. Now. Maggie's eyes widened, and I saw her leg jiggle beneath the table, making the silverware clink.
 

"We'll be there soon. Stay where you are and make sure Ash is okay."

"Ash?" Maggie questioned the second I got off the phone.

"There's a problem. My dad did something, but Lindsay was crying. I couldn't understand her. We need to get home. Do me a favor? Go get the car."
 

She didn't ask another question as she leapt from the table without getting her coat. I stood and grabbed it as I reached into my wallet and pulled out my Bank of America card.
 

"Here." I handed the card to Ronaldo the second he came back, and as if he could feel the worry roll off of me, he hurried back to his stand. I gathered our things while I waited for him to come back.
 

"Thank you. I'm so sorry we had a family emergency."

"No problem. I wish you the best." I quickly scribbled my signature down on the receipt and gave him a twenty-five percent tip for being such a nice guy. I waved and then ran to catch up with Maggie.

She had the car pulled around the front of the building, and when she saw me jogging out of the five star restaurant, she scooted over into the passenger side of the truck so I could drive.
 

"What is going on?" she asked the second I was on the road.

"I honestly am not sure." I fidgeted with the steering wheel, sitting up straight as if that would help me drive faster and safer.

"There's something you're not telling me." From the tremble in her voice, I knew she was just seconds away from crying so I decided to tell her my secrets.

"My dad hit me. At first, he hit the girls, but then I offered myself so he would leave them alone. I think he hit one of them."

"Asher?" She was crying. I looked across the console at her, and she had her hand to her mouth, holding back a sob.

"Maggie, look at me." I reached over and pulled her arm down so she would focus on my words and hear them. I pulled to a stop at a red light and met her eyes. "My father is a piece of shit. But he would never hit another person's son. He wouldn't risk it. Trust me."

"I'm scared, Luke." The admission hit me right in the gut, and it was worse than all the beatings in the world combined.

"Come here, baby." I reached my arm out towards her and she leaned over. I dragged her in the middle of the car and let her rest her head on my chest. I was sure that she could hear the erratic beating of my heart, but just having her close was containing my anger.

"Will you wait here?" I asked Maggie as I pulled around to the back of the house. I didn't want Father to know I was here until I knew what was going on.
 

"You're kidding me, right? My son is in there."
 

"I figured I'd try. Be quiet, we'll sneak in the back." I grabbed her hand and tugged her along with me to the back kitchen door. The bottom level of the house was blanketed in darkness.

I quietly opened the back door and was about to step into the house when Maggie pulled me backwards and looked up at me. "Should I be scared?"

"No," I promised her and then kissed her on the lips. When I pulled back, her mouth was set in a firm straight line, and she nodded.

I knew where I wanted to go first. I had to find Asher, leave Maggie there, and then find my father. Enough was enough of this shit. I sighed and then walked fast through the kitchen, past the living room, and down the hallway. I didn't want to clomp up the stairs, but I wanted to get Maggie up there so I could deal with Father.

I knocked lightly on Lindsay's door. People muttered from behind the wood, and then I heard the lock flip. Lindsay peeked out the door, and when she saw me, she swung it open.

"Mom!" Asher yelled as he ran over to Maggie and jumped into her arms. He was so big, but she lifted him easily and held him against her like she was afraid to lose him.
 

"What the hell happened?" I pulled Linds into the bedroom. I quickly looked around the room to see who was there. Lilly was texting on her phone, earbuds in on the couch in the corner. Liam was in Linds's bed, passed out.
 

I shut the door, locked it, and then dragged her into the bathroom that was attached to only her room. I shut the door there too to make sure that Ash and Maggie couldn't hear us.

"It's bad, Luke." Her bottom lip jutted out and shook. She acted so strong, but she didn't deserve to deal with this shit. I pulled her close, and she wrapped her arms around me. I held her as her body trembled, until she finally pulled back and wiped her tears.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"He hit Liam in the face. Not a closed fist, but Liam's poor face is already bruised."
Shit.
 

"What brought it on?" Father never punished unless he thought it was
for the benefit of the child.
He was a fucking joke. I shook my head and refocused on Lindsay.

"And then Liam said that he wanted to develop video games. He knows all this crazy shit about codes and programming. But Dad wasn't having it. He walked into the kitchen when it was just me and Liam, and he pulled up Liam by the back of his shirt.

"You should've seen him. His eyes were so alarmed, I thought they might pop out of his head. Liam started crying, and that just pissed off Dad more. He threw him on the ground, and when I rushed over, he gave me the look." She paused and wrapped her arms around her mid-section.

"And he just hit him in the face."

"Yeah. After Liam told him to go back to whatever whore he was fucking in the hotel he rents down the street."

"Jesus Christ." I turned my back to Linds as I felt my body start to shake, fury coursing through my veins. I pulled in a deep breath, expanding my chest as I held it inside of me and then let it out, pushing out my negative thoughts.

"Luke, don't do anything crazy."

"I'm going to fucking kill him."

"Luke!" Linds yelled as I turned and pushed past her. I tore open the door to the bedroom and stormed over to the bed. I ripped the covers off of Liam and turned his head so I could see his face.

Holy shit.
The welt was already purple and blue, covering most of his left cheekbone and the prune that used to be his eye. My stomach literally hurt like I was about to vomit as I stared down at my baby brother.

"Where is he now?" I asked into the room. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Lilly no longer had her earbuds in and was staring at me. "You okay, buddy?" I asked Asher as he watched me.

He nodded. "Lindsay was really sad."

"I'm sad, too," I told him. I cut a glance up to Maggie and then left the room, my sisters both darting after me. I ignored their annoying steps and trudged down to my father's office, the only reason he ever came by the house anymore.
 

The mahogany door was locked, but I slammed my shoulder into it, cracking the side by the hinge. "You better open this fucking door!" I yelled loud enough for the entire house to hear.
 

I heard my father chuckle from the other side of the door, and instantly adrenaline shot through my veins like liquid energy. I slammed into the door again and my shoulder vibrated with pain, but I pushed through.

Finally the door broke at the hinges, and I walked in like I really was going to murder him. I heard the girls sob from behind me, and just a tiny part of my brain told me to stop before I really fucked things up and landed myself in jail for murder. However, I think the jury would let me off on self-defense.

"You hitting the kid now?" I taunted him. He was sitting behind the dark wood, nearly black, desk that was positioned in the center of the room. I hated this place. It was pretentious with hundreds of books that I bet he never even read.
 

The dark tones just made it feel grimy. It wasn't classy; it was dirt and blood and wrong. There wasn't even a window in the room, which just made it that much more like a jail cell.

"What I do with my children is none of your business." His voice was calm, but I knew underneath his exterior he was preparing for war. Father was calculating to the point where he planned his every move. It's what made him so successful as a businessman.
 

"He's my brother. It matters to me."

"Well, father takes precedent. Or did you not know that?" He smirked at me, his yellow teeth sharp. "What are you going to do? Fight me? Take him away?" His head fell backwards as he laughed from deep in his gut.

"I'll tell Mother."

"You think she doesn't know that I beat you for years? She's too drunk to even give a shit about you kids." He made a point to look behind me at the girls in the doorway.

"Fine, then I guess we're fighting."

"You aren't even worth it. You and your brother are a waste of sons. You're a lost cause that is never going to change. But that kid—I can still try to change him." This time it was me who was laughing.

"Really? Like you changed me through beatings?" He stepped towards me with threat in his clenched fists. I stepped forward, ready to beat him within an inch of his life.

"How did my family become so useless?" he muttered to himself. "After everything I gave you children, did for you. You're a sad disappointing piece of nothingness just like the rest of them."

"Don't hit my face," I warned him.

"I wouldn't even waste a hit on you." He stepped forward again, his coffee breath hitting my face, and then spun around on his heels. I lunged towards him, but a hand on my elbow pulled me backwards.

"Wha—"

"Don't do this," Maggie pleaded. "
He's
not worth it." She pointed over my shoulder where I knew my father was lingering. I heard his chair squeak as his fat body sat down.
 

"He can't get away with this."

"We can't lose you." She touched my chin with feather-like fingers and guided my eyes down to her. Her green eyes were full of tears that threatened to spill over.

I didn't have anything else to say to him. I turned and left, following Maggie and my sisters back to Lindsay's bedroom.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Maggie

Luke sat at the edge of his sister's bed. He stared down at his sleeping brother with a look that could only be described as regret. I watched from a chair in the corner of the room as Luke brushed the swollen area of Liam's face with his index finger.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Lilly asked from behind Luke.
 

"Yes," Luke said with conviction. "Can you get some ice and a washcloth?" I didn't know who he was asking, but Lindsay was fast to move from the room and retrieve what he needed.
 

Asher climbed onto my lap and nestled into my body until he was comfortable. His head rested on the plush red arm of the chair, his legs dangling over the other side. I twirled his hair between my fingers as I watched Luke with his family.
 

Lilly sat down beside Luke, behind him on the bed with her legs crossed in front of her. It was obvious she had been crying, but she was trying to hide that fact. Her blonde hair was thrown up into a loose bun on the top of her head, and it was about as disheveled as I had seen any of them.
 

Lilly hugged Luke from behind and stayed there. She rested her head on the back of his shoulder, one arm over his back, and she too looked down at Liam—just watching.
 

It was hard for me to believe that Lilly was only seventeen. While her texting and cellphone habits were immature, in this moment, she seemed my age. But I guessed trauma would do that.
 

Lindsay came back into the room and locked the door behind her before she ran to the bed. She handed all she had gathered to Luke and then sat on the bedside table so she could see poor Liam.

Luke wrapped the bag of ice in the washcloth and then placed it over the most swollen part on Liam's face—his eye. I knew that when Liam woke up he wouldn't be able to open it or use it.