Chapter Thirty Eight

 As Jay caught his breath, the adrenaline caught up with him.  “Earl, what the f**k!” he bellowed.  “All Laura ever was to you was a f**k-buddy!  Your own words!  You’ve already spent a night in jail because of her, now all of this!  How the hell can it be worth it to you!  Just let her go!  God damn it!”

 Earl smiled, feeding off of his anger.  “Hey, relax buddy,” he said, gasping for air himself.  “You want the dumb b***h, you can have her.”

 There was something in his voice...  “What about Madison, Earl?” I asked.  Please god, just let him say he’ll leave us alone.  Please!

 “Can’t go neglecting my fatherly duties,” he smirked.

 “Why!” Jay yelled.  “Why, after five years, do you want to step in suddenly!  What are you going to do, take her to the zoo?  Do puzzles with her?”

 “Buddy, you got no imagination.  None at all,” Earl said with the most evil smile I had ever seen, made more ominous by his blood-stained teeth.  “You know how much that little mouth can make me in a weekend?”

 It was like the words came from another world, another language that took a moment for us to translate.  My knees went weak, and I almost fainted.  With a flick of his wrist, the bat in Jay’s hand snapped to a ready position.  A truly murderous look came into Jay’s eyes.  For a moment, I wondered if I really wanted Jay to kill him.  Earl saw it, and a terrified expression came over his face.  He tried to struggle backward, but his knee was giving him trouble.  The look in Jay’s eyes vanished as soon as he took a step forward.  He stopped, and the bat lowered.  Relief washed over me, ending my confusion.  I hadn’t liked that look at all.  That wasn’t even Jay, for a second.

 “Ha!” Earl laughed, trying to cover the fact he’d just shown naked fear.  “Hahaha!  I knew it!  You still ain’t gonna do s**t!  Nothin’ but a p***y!  Go on and do it, tough guy!  Kill me.”

 “Earl, what the f**k is wrong with you?” the man leaning against the pickup said.  Jay looked at him.  “Dude, I ain’t nothin’ to do with that, alright?  I was just tryin’ to help my boy out.”

 Jay went back to ignoring him, looking at Earl.  He stared into his eyes, and I think we all wondered what was going through his head.  Then his gaze lifted higher, over Earl’s head, toward the Cerberati.  Earl saw where he was looking.  “Oh, buddy...  You better not.”

 That was all the encouragement Jay needed.  He wiped at the blood that was running down his face, then frowned at his hand, just noticing that it was bleeding too.  “Better not what, Earl?” he asked as he started walking toward his car.

 “Buddy, get the f**k away from my car!”  Jay knew Earl’s buttons as well, apparently...

 Jay was next to it, and looked in toward the back seat.  He smiled.  “Oh, man.  That is too perfect.”  He looked back at Earl.  “Are you really that lazy?”

 “Fine, take it.  It’s unlocked.  Just get the f**k away from my car with that bat!”  He started trying to move toward Jay, who stopped him dead merely by shifting his stance to face him squarely.

 “Heh.  Look at you, telling me what to do down there.  Cute.”  Jay spun, lifted his knee to his chest, and kicked out.  With a sound of shattering glass, Earl’s passenger side rear-view mirror flew off.

 “Hey!  Knock it off!  I’ll leave you all alone, I swear!  Cut your s**t!”

 “S**t?  We can talk about s**t, Earl.  For starters, I’m calling you on yours.”  He moved to the other side of his car, and kicked off his other mirror.  “You keep calling me a p***y.  But who’s the one who has to wait until she’s all alone before showing up to bully a woman?  Who’s the one who needs three other guys to beat someone up who’s half his size, and loses anyway?  Who’s the one who’s sitting there watching his precious car get smashed up and not doing a thing about it but whining?”  He swung the bat up to hold it with two hands, and smashed the driver’s side window out.

 “Buddy, you’re signing your own death warrant.  Know that?” Earl growled.

 “Earl, you tried your best and failed.  I f*****g dare you to come after me again.  Just you.  No cops, no boys.  Like you said, this is between us.  Be a man and come after me by yourself.  If you’re not going to do that, just stay away.”  He circled around and broke the passenger’s window.  He reached in and pulled the rear-view mirror from the windshield, tossing it carelessly to the side.

 “You are so f****n’ dead,” Earl said in a low tone that made me, at least, believe him.

 Jay turned toward him, and ran at him with the bat raised.  Earl held up his hands and cowered, and Jay stopped to look at him.  He dropped the bat and sank down quickly, pinning one of Earl’s arms to the ground with his knee and the other with his left hand.  His bloodied right hand went to his throat, with the same grip he’d used on his shoulder the other night.  “You better make sure of it, if you ever come around again, Earl.  Because if I ever see you around my family again, I will rip your f*****g throat out.  Do you understand me?”  He spoke in a low, feral tone that terrified even me.

 “Your fam...” Earl started to laugh, and was cut off.

 Jay’s forearm muscles stood out as he tightened his grip.  They were so engorged with blood flow from the fight it looked like they’d doubled in size.  “I said, do you understand.”

 I could see the fury building up in Earl’s eyes as he nodded.

 “Good boy,” Jay said, releasing his throat and patting his cheek.  Jay, why are you trying so hard to infuriate him?  He stood, and went back to Earl’s car as Earl laid there coughing.  He opened the door and reached in to get something from the back seat, emerging with the box of Madison’s baby things.

 The four of us headed home.  I was the only one to look back.  Earl looked at me and licked his lips suggestively.  He never gives up.

----

 Not a word was spoken as we walked home.  I had Mariah’s leash and Madison’s hand, Jay carried the box.  Occasionally he wiped at the side of his face with his sleeve.  Inside, he set the box down and collapsed into the armchair.  I released Mariah, and she tentatively sniffed at Jay before laying at his feet.  “Good girl,” Jay said, breaking our numbed silence.  He started crying softly.

 That started Madison crying, who up until then had watched everything with an innocent fascination.  “Mommy, I don’t want Jay to have a rough day!” she sobbed.

 “It’s alright, Madison,” Jay said, reaching out to stroke her hair but drawing his hand back when he saw it was still dripping blood.

 I forced back my own tears.  “Jay, you’re bleeding everywhere...” I said, and fetched some towels from the bathroom.

 “Sorry,” he said when I handed them to him.

 “That’s not what I mean!  We have to get you to a hospital.”

 “No,” he said adamantly through his tears.  He sniffed, and tried to regulate his breathing.  It still sounded jagged.

 “Jay, you’re bleeding bad.  You’ve been bleeding the whole time.  Look at your shirt.”

 He looked down.  The whole left side of his shirt, and a good part of his pant leg were darkened.  “It’ll stop.  Just need to apply pressure.”  He leaned back and pressed a towel to his forehead.  His right hand was wrapped in another, pressed between his legs.

 “Jay, let me take you to the hospital!  Please!”

 “He was messing with me, wasn’t he Laura?  He had to be.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 Jay hesitated.  “What he said about her,” indicating Madison with a quick glance that she didn’t miss.

 “Why does Earl wanna hear me talk, Mommy?” Madison asked through her tears.  It looked like she wanted to hug Jay, but she was scared of the blood.

 I could only search for words.  Which ones could ever be appropriate?  “He...”

 “You say such cute things, sometimes,” Jay said in a dark voice.

 I couldn’t help it.  I burst into tears.  “Jay, why did you do that to Earl’s car?  He’s stupid enough, he really might...”  I put my hand over my mouth, and knelt by his side.  “Oh Jay, I’m so sorry...”

 “What for?”  He forced a smile through his tears that lasted only for a second.  “You didn’t do this to me.”

 “If it wasn’t for me...”

 “Don’t,” he interrupted, and his crying slowed enough for him to speak coherently.  “Don’t even permit the thought that this is your fault.”  He grimaced.  “My head hurts,” he said, and leaned forward.

 “You got hit with that chain...  I wish you’d let me take you to the hospital.”

 “Laura, was Earl messing with me?”

 Are you still on that?  “I don’t know!  He’s a sick f**k, Jay!”  I was glad he hadn’t seen the knife-wielder looking at Madison.  No, ogling her, I corrected myself with a shudder.  If it hadn’t been for that, I probably would have been inclined to think Earl was just trying to upset Jay even further.  I hated that I couldn’t be sure...  “Why does that matter right now?”

 He tried again to get his breathing to normal, and only started crying harder.  “Because I almost killed him for it!  I almost took a life, Laura.  Just because of something he said, words he was throwing out.”  Madison couldn’t take anymore as he started sobbing, and ran to her room.  “I almost killed him out of reflex.  That...  That damn smile!  Then I couldn’t, and I got ashamed of myself.”

 I remembered how glad I was to see that murderous look fade from his eyes.  I took a deep breath and managed to stem my tears.  Be strong.  He’s down, he needs you to be strong.  “Jay, you couldn’t do it because you’re not a killer.  And I’m glad you’re not, okay?  It took strength to not do it.  That strength is one of the things I love about you!”

 “My head...” he whimpered to himself before responding.  “Strength?  No, I chickened out.  Then...”  He gasped a few sobs.  “You might want to send Madison upstairs for this.”

 “She is upstairs...”  I rubbed his thigh.  “Jay, you’re scaring me.”

 “I thought...  I actually thought, what’s the point of living, if I don’t have what it takes to protect that miracle of a little girl from a piece of s**t like that?  I felt so useless...”

 “Jay...”  Tears started flowing again, but I didn’t lose control.

 “So I thought, the hell with it.  Ugh...  My ribs...  I timed that grab all wrong.  Damn, everything’s starting to hurt.  That shoulder he hit, too.  Earl’s got a hell of a swing, I’ll give him that.”

 “Then let me...” I tried to suggest the hospital again, but he interrupted.

 “So I thought fine, let him kill me.  Then he’ll be gone forever.”

 “Jay!”

 Getting that out seemed to ease his crying further, but when he tried a deep breath he winced.  “Broke a rib or two, I bet.”

 “That’s it,” I snapped.  I was done asking, he was in no state of mind to decide if he needed to go or not.  “We’re going to the hospital.  Jay, you’re talking crazy, and you’re getting pale.  Let me look at that.”  He was too weak to argue.  I pulled the towel away from his head, and gasped.

 “Hmm?”

 “I...  That’s your...  I can see your skull!  How hard did that chain hit you?  Forget it.  Wait here.”  I went to my bedroom and called the neighbors.  “Anne?  It’s Laura.  Could you, or Julianne, come over and keep an eye on Madison?  There’s a bit of an emergency.”

 “Of course, is everything okay?”

 “Well...  I have to take Jay to the hospital, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

 “We’ll both be right over, alright?”

 “Thank you so much.”  I ran upstairs.  “Madison,” I said through her door.  “Could you open the door, sweetheart?”  She peeked out.  She was still crying...  “Mommy’s going to take Jay to the doctor.  Julianne and her mom are going to come watch you while we’re gone.”

 “Is Jay going to die, Mommy?”

 “Oh, no, sweetie.”  I sank to my knees and hugged her.  “No chance of that.  He just needs some...  Special band-aids that we don’t have here.  He’ll be fine.”

 “Can I stay in my room?”

 “Of course.  Can I have a kiss?”

 She came out a little farther and we swapped kisses.  “Does Jay need a kiss?” she whispered.

 He was still bleeding, and I was afraid he might inadvertently say something to upset her.  “When he gets back.  I’ll give him one for you for now, alright?”

 “Alright.”  She retreated back in and shut her door.

 The doorbell rang as I headed down the stairs.  Mariah gave the door a disinterested look, and rested her head back on Jay’s foot.  “Come in,” I yelled.

 “Oh my gosh!” Anne said when she saw the bloodied towels, and Jay’s pallor.  “What happened to him?”

 “Fell down the stairs,” he was quick to mutter.

 “Oh,” Anne said, weighing the truth of his words.  I saw her eyes follow the trail of blood from the chair to the front door, and she swallowed.

 “Thank you so much for coming over, hopefully we won’t be long.”  I bent over Jay.  “Come on.”  He didn’t move.  “I will drag you if I have to,” I hissed into his ear, gripping his arm tightly as a warning.

 He stood, still holding the towel to his head.  The one on his hand fell to the floor, revealing the gashes on his last two fingers.  Julianne paled.  “Where is Madison?” she asked.

 “In her room.  Go ahead up, she might like some company.  Jay, come on.”

 “You should keep that hand elevated,” Anne said.

 “Oh yeah,” Jay muttered and held it bent up at the elbow.  Finally, we walked out the door and got in my van.

Reviews

[Sarah]

This was definitely more of what I was expecting. Jay's rage really was out of character for him, but it shows the reader and insight into him that we may just not know. He really can be destructive and intimidating as he proved to be. I really was shocked at the way he talked back to Earl and smashed his car. It was a very intense scene, but very well done.

At the house, I'm kind of surprised he didn't want to go to the hospital. He knew he was hurting and broken, but he still refused. Even complaining about his body. Found that odd, but it makes sense in the words he spoke. He needed to get out his emotions about almost killing Earl or getting killed himself. And his reactions were perfect as well.

Everything about this scene was done right, I don't know if there is anything I would change. Maybe make up a better excuse than falling down the stairs if his skull is visible. No one would believe that, and I understand that that's what you're going for, but Jay is better than that!

[Sira YR]

Hurry and post the next chapter please! I spent almost all night reading this cuz i just couldn't leave it until i finished it :). So hurry and post more please :)