Like it’s calling me home, I stumble to the bag hanging from the roof. The old man is gone and, from behind me, I can feel my mother’s and father’s stares. My sister still giggles in the distance from her success.
My thumb caresses the bag like I’m greeting a long-lost friend. For three rounds of three minutes, I used to be granted the gift of focusing on one thing and it was the one thing that brought me a sense of pride and a sense of satisfaction...a sense of self.
I’ve spent my entire life idolizing my father. He’s been this god on top of a mountain that I’ve always tried to climb in order to be part of his glory. But my father’s not a god; he’s a man and man, if anything, is fallible.
My father stopped moving forward and in my effort to drag him along, I also lost my way. Forget about everyone else and their issues and their expectations.... If I clear my mind and look deep inside me, I know who I am. I know what I’m capable of.
With a surge of power, I pull up my guard and tap out a combination: two jabs, a cross and a low kick. The moment my shin connects with the bag, I close my eyes as a feeling of home washes over me. The bag flies high in the air and this time I let it swing as the smile pulls on my face. “I’m still a fighter.”
West
Two days and life has returned to normal. I attend the best school, I have the best opportunities, the richest friends, reopened credit card accounts, a swank home and all the food I can eat. It’s what my parents want as my normal, but I have never felt more like a person living in a foreign land than I do now.
It’s Friday and if I’m back to normal that means family dinner night. I’ve avoided my parents and they’ve given me my space. Tonight, for some reason, feels inevitable.
I hit the last step of the stairs and the doorbell rings. I open it and discover Rachel’s boyfriend, Isaiah, standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets. The guy hasn’t changed: shaved head, earrings and tattoos cover his arms.
“Little early, aren’t you?” I take it back; he has changed, and that burn on his arm from when he saved Rachel from the accident proves it. Rachel said she saved him. He saved her. Guess they saved each other.
“Nope.” Isaiah shows every day, but he typically waits until after dinner on Friday.
“He’s coming for dinner.” Rachel’s wheels hum against the floor as she exits the newly created workout room. In a fresh pair of jeans and sweater, she whips around the open front door with a huge I’m-going-to-see-the-guy-I-love grin. “Hi!”
The don’t-fuck-with-me guy sure as hell gives her the same grin back. “Hi.”
I nod my head for Isaiah to enter and I close the door behind us. “Do Mom and Dad know about this?”
A glint strikes her eyes. “No, but you’re going to help me, right?”
Isaiah folds his arms over his chest and the glare says he doesn’t have Rachel’s faith in me. Which he shouldn’t. I’ve done nothing but give him shit since he’s been around my sister. I extend my hand to him. “I can’t promise it’ll be pretty. In fact, I can guarantee it’ll be the equivalent of wearing a sweater in hell.”
Isaiah assesses my outstretched arm, then meets my eyes before accepting my hand. “Didn’t expect anything different.”
“See,” Rachel says behind me as I head to the dining room. “He’s changed.”
I chuckle to myself. That’s right. I have.
My heart stops. Have I?
I spin and Isaiah grabs Rachel’s chair to stop her from running into me. In a second, I’m on my knees in front of her. “Do you think I’m different than who I used to be?”
“What?”
“Am I the same person? Do you think I’m different?”
“No. Yes. Wait. You aren’t the same person. I mean, you are, but you’re different. None of this sounds right.”
I stand. “I’ve got to go.”
“Whoa.” Rachel snatches my hand. “I know you’ve been avoiding Mom and Dad, but dinner won’t be that bad. It’s sort of why I invited Isaiah tonight. There’s no way they’d go into the biological stuff with him there.”
He grunts. “Thanks.”
She waves him off. “It’s a kill two birds with one stone thing. It’ll be so awkward we’ll inhale our food and run.”
“Again. Thanks,” he says.
“I’ve got to take the fight,” I tell her.
“West...” It’s like she’s preparing me for impending news of death. “Haley’s gone.”
“Yeah, she is, but she’s still worth fighting for. When I was jumped, Haley came back and fought for me. She changed me, for the better, and now it’s time to fight for her.”
“What about the scholarship? Dad said he’ll find her in California and make sure she gets it. If you fight, she’ll lose the money.”
A heaviness consumes me and the urge is to fix Haley’s problems and control her destiny, but it’s time I start controlling mine. “I’ve got to do this.”
Her forehead crinkles and I hate I’m causing her pain. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”
Take Me On
Katie McGarry's books
- Bella Summer Takes a Chance
- Cowboy Take Me Away
- High Stakes Gamble
- Taken (Erin Bowman)
- A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked
- A Summer to Remember
- A Time to Heal
- Aerogrammes and Other Stories
- All in Good Time (The Gilded Legacy)
- American Elsewhere
- American Tropic
- Bad Games
- Binding Agreement
- Bite Me, Your Grace
- Bring Me Home for Christmas
- Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense
- Dare Me
- Date Me (The Keatyn Chronicles)
- Death Warmed Over (Dan Shamble, Zombie PI #1)
- Fifteenth Summer
- Four Summers
- Game Over
- Life Times Stories
- Learn Me Gooder
- Leave Me Breathless
- Little Women and Me
- Midsummer's Eve
- Miss Me When I'm Gone
- Naked Came the Stranger
- Omega Days (Volume 1)
- Parlor Games A Novel
- Someday, Someday, Maybe A Novel
- Sometime Soon
- The Adjustment
- The Emerald Key
- The Game (Tom Wood)
- The Gentlemen's Hour (Boone Daniels #2)
- The Informer (Sabotage Group BB)
- The Remembered
- The Redeemed
- The Summer He Came Home
- The Summer I Became a Nerd
- The Summer I Learned to Dive
- The Summer Man
- The Summer We Came to Life
- The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
- The Time in Between A Novel
- Three Times a Lady
- Touching Melody
- Wind Chime Point
- Blameless
- Blood Memories
- Brains:A Zombie Memoir
- Brief-Interviews-with-Hideous-Men
- Full Measures
- Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
- Shame on Him
- Shame on Me
- Shame on You
- The Geography of You and Me
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
- A Vision of Loveliness
- Abdication A Novel
- Already Gone
- Armageddon
- Blood Gorgons
- Bonnie of Evidence
- Buried (A Bone Secrets Novel)
- Confessions of a Call Center Gal
- Conservation of Shadows
- Constance A Novel
- Deadly Deception
- Death on a Pale Horse
- Death on the Pont Noir
- Diamond Girl
- Domination (A C.H.A.O.S. Novel)
- Dragon's Moon
- Elimination Night
- Every Contact Leaves a Trace
- Extinction Machine
- Fight Song A Novel
- Fire Stones
- Gideon's Corpse
- Gone to the Forest A Novel
- Harvest Moon
- Hitman Damnation
- Honey Pie (Cupcake Club)
- Honor Student
- Honor Thy Teacher (Honor Series)
- Honor Thy Thug
- Invasion Colorado
- Kind One
- Light on Lucrezia
- Lionheart A Novel
- Montaro Caine A Novel
- Moon Burning
- Moon Underfoot (A Jake Crosby Thriller)
- On Dublin Street
- Once Upon a River