CHAPTER 8

“Good for you,” Kevin said at the other end of the line. “I wish I’d been there to see it.” Steve could hear the smile on his face.

“You don’t understand,” Steve said, as concern drenched his body. “You haven’t listened to me: she threatened me, Kev.” He could feel his throat shrinking, his legs melting.

“She’s just trying to scare you,” Kevin said in a soothing voice.

“No, she’s not. You didn’t see the look in her eyes. That look, Kev. If you’d seen it, you’d know she wasn’t bullshitting me. She means business.” He rubbed his face. “Oh, God, I’m in trouble. I know it. Things are going to get ugly.”

“Steve, you need to calm down. You can’t let her have this power over you. You are stronger than her. And she had that slap coming. All her life. You know it.”

“It’s not right to hit a woman.”

“Oh, come on, man. That rule doesn’t apply if we’re talking about her. She’s not a woman. She’s the fucking devil. You ought to be proud of yourself for doing what her asshole parents should have done the moment she was born. How could she say that about your mother? How fucking dare she?”

Steve rubbed his eyes. Beyond his anxiety, an immense weariness sliced through him. A deep sigh escaped him. “I guess you’re right.”

“Just try to calm down, all right? You’ve done nothing wrong. In fact, you’ve been too good to her.” Steve could almost hear his friend gritting his teeth. “If that cunt had said to me anything like that about either of my parents, I would have broken her teeth, I swear.”

Steve believed him. The story of Kevin’s parents was a devastating one. Kevin seldom talked about it. Externally, he appeared to be tough, but Steve knew that what had happened to them had left a deep wound inside him that would never close. Steve knew that touching that wound would break him.

In any case, Alisa would have never dared say something like that to Kevin. His Hispanic friend was muscular and intimidating, whereas Steve was more on the slender side.

“Okay,” Steve whispered. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right.”

“You just take it easy now, buddy. And remember, I’m right here if you need to talk.”

A pang of emotion resonated within Steve. He admired Kevin’s ability to appease him whenever he was distressed. Once again, he was reminded of how grateful he ought to be for having such a magnificent friend.

After saying goodbye, Steve ambled over to the worn couch in his living room. A little tingle of trepidation sank into him as he considered what Alisa could do to him, and he drew out a long puff of air, as if he could expel through his mouth those destructive thoughts.

Suddenly, memories of the car accident flooded his mind, accompanied by a visceral, gut-wrenching feeling of sorrow.

He’d been in the passenger seat. One moment he’d been gazing out of the window, and the next he’d woken up in a hospital bed, with his father by his side, his eyes bloodshot.

For several weeks, he’d remembered nothing about the accident itself.

Then, brief glimpses had come to him, flashes which were not in chronological order.

Regaining consciousness for a couple of seconds, the vehicle upside down.

The instant of the collision—he could still feel the impact.

The seconds before the collision. The other car speeding towards them in the opposite direction, getting bigger.

Her mother not having time to honk and veering to the right fast—he supposed she must have veered fast, but to this day, it still seemed to him that the steering wheel had turned in slow motion.

Now, he remembered his father trying to tell him something as he gripped his wrist in the hospital, but his muffled sobs had made it impossible.

He’d known right away what his father was trying to say.

He could still feel those moments, how he’d tried to summon tears to cry for his mother, but how his body felt empty, drained.

Steve closed his eyes, and now he did feel the tears. He had plenty of them now.