Page 121 of Beautiful Scars

“Right. Right.” He holds his hand up, and all three of us watch him while he gets to his feet.

It’s like standing on a hornet and waiting to find out if you’ve killed it or just pissed it off even more.

He smiles behind me at the girls. “There,” he says, fixing the collar of his white shirt. “Got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

Sarah sniffs. I glance over at her. Her eyes are puffy. “Cole...”

“Don’t you fuckingColeme.” He spits blood on the carpet.

“Enough,” I state.

He turns around and stares at me. “Shut-the-fuck-up. You barge in here, uninvited, and tell me it’s enough? I fucking decide when it’s enough. Not you. Not her,” he turns and points the finger at Sarah, then Meisie. “And certainly nother.”

I laugh at him, nodding my head. “Oh right, aye. I see. This is what you do now? What did she do to you? Did she call you a nasty name? Fake a fucking orgasm?” I’m trying to keep a check on my temper but that wall is slowly disintegrating. “What thefuckis wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong withme? Are you fucking kidding me?” He shoots back.

I shake my head. “This isn’t us, Cole.”

Now he’s the one laughing. “This isn’t us!” He turns toward the girls, and repeats it for their benefit. “What isus, Kill? Hmm? Fairytale fucking weddings? Don’t forget the horse-drawn carriage.”

And now I’m the one pointing fingers. “Don’t you give me that shit. You’re the one who started this whole mess.”

“Cillian.” Meisie takes a step closer and tries to pull me away.

“There she is, though.” My brother rounds on her. “Beautiful little Meisie. You going to whip my brother into shape? Call him to heel? Where’s his leash, Meisie?”

“That’s fucking plenty,” I warn him. “Meisie, get back over there.”

“Oh look,” Cole shouts. “The man still has a set of balls. Goodbye Meisie. Back in your corner. My brother will come and see you when he needs his cock sucked.”

I shake my head, staring at the carpet and trying to think of how we end this without one of us killing the other one. “Don’t you fucking talk about her like that.”

Cole takes a step back and smiles. Then he reaches a hand inside his pocket and pulls out his cigarettes and a lighter, sparking one up. “I’ll talk about her however I want,” he inhales, and only speaks again on the exhale. “She’s a piece of fucking meat.”

I clench my fist, seeing nothing but red where the carpet should be. I’ve buried cunts for less. Much less. But they weren’t a Hendry. “Apologize.”

He chuckles and takes another draw of his cigarette. “Alright, alright. Cillian, I’m sorry I upset the thing you dump your load into. Sarah, I’m sorry it’s not my brother dumping his load into you. And as for you Meisie, you’ll get the full fucking wrath of my apology when this is over and I fuck whatever’s left of you.”

That last line is the one that hangs in the air.

Everyone is silent.

For a second.

Just a second.

It feels like the whole world sucks in a breath, but at the same time nobody is breathing.

There’s just calm in the room. Chaos in my head. Everything I ever knew cracking.

This isn’t us. I said it earlier, but that was for an entirely different reason.

I was seeing red, but now everything looks clear. Realer than it was before he said what he said.

Cole clears his throat. Breaks the silence. And I want to end his life for always taking my fucking silence away from me. “You see that, Meisie? Look at him.”

I glance up at her to see her pale face staring right back.