“Hey.” Jack moved closer, tipped her chin up. He looked down at her, a wry grin on his lips. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked quietly. “Your eyes are leaking.”
A shaky laugh left her. Lola tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. One hand came around her back, pressing her against him. She couldn’t suck enough air into her lungs.
There was something in his eyes that held her in place; some indescribable emotion that was like a punch to her chest. Whatever was in his eyes was deep, earthshattering, and something Lola didn’t understand.
Jack’s head lowered until they were at eyelevel. His pulled her even closer, until there was nothing between them but their clothes. Lola’s arms moved, her fingers threaded through his silky hair.
He leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Lola’s arms slid around his waist. Her head rested against his thundering heart. Lola breathed in his scent.
She was safe in Jack’s arms. She was at peace. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. The world disappeared.
***
The lights were dimmed, the volume low on the television. Through the window Lola could make out his shape in the recliner, the outline of a beer bottle in his hand. Up and down it went, to his lips and back to his lap.
She slowly closed the door, heart racing. The room smelled like beer, like he’d dumped bottles of the alcohol on the carpet. Maybe he had. Something for Lola to clean up.
Lola avoided looking in his direction, keeping her eyes down and head turned to the side. She had the crazy thought if she was quiet enough, if she didn’t look at him, maybe he wouldn’t notice her.
“Where the hell have you been?” he growled.
She froze. Even in the semi-dark she could see his eyes on her; they seemed to glow with menace.
“I was…I was at the park.” Lola inched toward the hall.
“School called.”
She went still, back to him. Lola waited, and when he said no more, she turned around. The bottle went to his lips, beer sloshed as he drank. The bottle went back to his lap.
The strained silence continued. Every second that went by was excruciating to Lola.
Lola’s heart beat so fast she thought it might burst. She was dead. She was so dead. The cool, calm façade was the worst, because that’s when he was the meanest. Lola wondered where her mother was, and then wondered why. She wouldn’t do anything even if she was home.
“Seems you forgot to mention having detention the other night. And decided to skip out today. Looks like you got another detention coming too. Stupid kid.”
Lola swallowed, trembling.
“So where were you today, really?”
“I told you—“
He struck fast, faster than she thought possible. One minute he was sitting in the chair drinking a beer; the next he was standing and a glass bottle was flying through the air, toward her. Lola ducked before it hit the wall, the spray of beer wetting her hair and skin and clothes; glass falling to the floor around her.
“Don’t lie to me!”
Tears swam in her eyes. “I—“
A sound of rage erupted from his lips and he charged. Lola spun around, nothing but survival in her mind, and took off for her bedroom.
“You Goddamn whore! That’s what you are! Out whoring around when you’re supposed to be in school!”
Lola cried out in fear, bumping into the wall in her haste to get away from him. He gained on her, his feet thundering against the carpet.
“Mom! Please! Mom, help!” Lola banged on the closed bedroom door. Bob was behind her and she lurched away.
“Your mother ain’t gonna help you.” Bob’s stale breath fanned the back of her neck; his hairy arm lassoed her to him.
Lola screamed, kicking her feet and pounding her fists against his arm. “Let me go! Get off me!” His grip only tightened, almost like he liked her fighting him.
“You want to be a whore. I’ll teach you how to be a whore,” he whispered in her ear.
Just like that the fight went out of her and Lola went limp. Oh, God. Oh, no. He didn’t say that. She heard him wrong. He didn’t say that!
“Bob? What’s going on?” her mother asked from the doorway. She had a grocery bag in her hand; no expression on her face.
He released her and Lola fell to the floor on her hands and knees. “Nothing. Just having a chat. Lola had detention the other night and skipped out of school today. Trying to shake some sense into her is all.”
She stared at the carpet, not seeing it; shaking and sick to her stomach. “You want to be a whore. I’ll teach you how to be a whore.” Lola dry-heaved and ran to the bathroom.
What little she’d eaten for lunch came back up. Lola wet a washcloth with cold water and held it to her face, sitting with her back against the wall. She couldn’t stop shaking; her body jerked with the force of it.