Page 74 of A Future To Remember

We took off, rounding to the back of the diner, then along the alley, all the way to the back door. I unlocked it quickly, and Levi held open the door, allowing me to enter first. After we were both through, he shut and locked the bolt, then we tore up the stairs, through the loft door, and slammed it behind us. Levi locked that door too.

For a long couple of moments, all we did was bend over and grab our knees, winded from the fight and our mad dash home.

Levi was the first to break the silence, but it wasn’t speech; it was laughter.

I stood tall and looked at him. I’d never heard him really laugh before. It was a gorgeous sound. I joined him, and before we knew it, we were hanging onto each other, trying to remain standing while the peals of laughter just rolled out of us.

After a bit, he stood tall again, staring at me, and said, “Who are you?”

I giggled, wiping my watery eyes while trying to catch my breath. “No fucking clue, dude! Like, duh!”

He doubled over again, and I laughed with him. “You’re like some kind of ninja!”

I shrugged. “Who knew?”

More giggles and nudges to each other’s shoulders followed.

“No, seriously, Maddy. That was badass!”

“I don’t know what came over me,” I admitted. “Or where I learned to do that.”

“That’s some skilled hand-to-hand for sure. Do you think you might’ve been in the military?”

I shrugged again. “Dude, like I said, I literally have no clue!”

Levi nodded, holding up his hands in surrender. He then moved over to the window and looked down at the alley. “No sign of them.” Then he turned to me again. “Should we call the sheriff or get some help?”

I knew what he meant. We’d kicked their asses and one, two, or all three of them might’ve been really injured and in need of an ambulance.

I frowned. The last thing I wanted to do was help the motherfuckers who attacked us and had no doubt routinely beaten up Levi. Then again, I supposed I wanted to be charged with manslaughter even less. I had no idea how badly I’d injured any of them. Concussions, for sure. Broken ribs. Broken nose. But if I’d cracked a skull, then I might be in trouble.

“Come on,” I told him, heading to the door of the loft. “Let’s sneak down to the diner and look out the window.”

A few moments later, we were ducking low in the darkened diner to spy out the far window, where we saw the Three Stooges stagger to their feet, holding themselves at bent angles, and trudge toward their pickup.

“Who are those assholes?”

“Brad Singer, Trever Cruise—who goes by Gun, as in Top Gun—and the big guy that you just annihilated is Dalton Bishop.”

I eyed him sharply and realized he had his phone out and was recording the scene outside. “Bishop?” I asked. “As in Luca Bishop?”

Levi nodded. “Luca’s cousin. He’s two years younger but taller and definitely heavier than Luca was. He’s headed to Azusa Pacific in California next year on a football scholarship.”

“So, he’s the one who’s been kickin’ the shit out of you?”

Levi’s lips formed a sardonic smile. “Yeah. He and his bros. Until tonight, that is.”

I grinned. During that entire encounter, I hadn’t thought through a single move—I’d simply reacted. Everything had felt natural; each punch, kick, and throw felt like a movement in a dance I’d learned long ago. Like at a wedding reception when you fall in line for the Hustle when “Stayin’ Alive” starts playing.

Levi was staring at the screen on his phone while it recorded the Stooges limping, groaning, and trying to staunch the blood from a broken nose. “Back in the day, Dalt would’ve thought twice about taking me on. But things are different now.”

“Back in the day?”

The set to Levi’s mouth formed a hard line. “Yeah. Back when I was training every day and eating as much as I wanted. I had it good, and I didn’t even know it.”

My heart broke for this young man. He’d had a whole life and identity that’d felt safe, solid, and secure, and then everything had changed in an instant. I didn’t know what’d happened to me—how I’d ended up a whisper from death in the hospital, beaten, sexually battered, and nearly frozen, but something told me that my life too had once felt safe, secure, and certain, and everything had changed in an instant. What that instant was, I didn’t know. And I further didn’t know if I’d ever remember. Even more than that, I didn’t know if I wanted to remember the specifics of that moment.

What I longed for was a memory of the time before all of it, though. I wanted to remember who I’d been so that I could create a future for myself where I knew who I was and where I belonged.