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Lyric’s eyes flashed at the older woman. “I don’t care how late I was or who you had to call. What you failed to see while you were lecturing me about being tardy is that your priest friend here is reading her a story with a fucking hard-on, Pamela.”
Pamela covered her mouth with a gasp.
I looked to Byron’s lap, but he’d conveniently twisted away so no one could see a thing.
“I was just trying to help the child learn to read. Nothing more to it than that. Kara told me she didn’t do too well on her Edgely intake tests. I didn’t want her disadvantaged because she isn’t getting the support she needs at home.” He pushed to his feet, brushing his hands off on his pants like all of this was no big deal.
Pamela gave a wobbly smile, trying to keep the peace. “See? Just a misunderstanding—”
Lyric whirled to me, covering Amelia’s ear with one hand and pressing her other to her shoulder, muffling our conversation. “He’s the creep who followed me home from the club that night. Stalked me with a mask on, but I know it was him. He had me plait my hair into pigtails so I would look young enough to be in school.”
Unlike Pamela who frowned at Lyric with a disgusted expression of betrayal, I believed every word Lyric said.
I’d buried my head in the sand. Refused to see what was right beneath my nose because Byron had taken me in and set me straight when I’d been a lost kid, reeling in a storm of confusion. I’d suspected Byron myself and then nixed the idea because I didn’t want it to be true.
The thought of him watching Lyric dance, stalking her, intent on violence, sent a shudder through my body. I wished for the rope I’d taken from him. Wished it were in my pocket right now so I could wrap it around his fat neck.
The punch connected with Byron’s nose before I even really knew what I was doing. Pamela screamed, scuttling for the exit. Amelia’s cries rang in my ears, but I couldn’t stop. Another punch had the man howling in pain and blood spurting across the room, splattering against fingerpainting and stuffed animals.
I drew my foot back and kicked him in his flabby gut. Over and over again, completely out of control.
“Jesus, Zeph. Stop.”
Lyric’s words fell on deaf ears. All I could see was this asshole making her play dress-up, touching himself while she danced, then following her home, intent on no good. I’d regretted letting him go ever since that night, and now I hated myself even more. Because Lyric might have been a grown woman who had proved she could take care of herself.
But Amelia was a child.
A child I was terrified was being groomed right in front of me.
Bile rose in my throat, and the anger left my body the only way it could. In kicks and hits and punches.
“Fucking stop, man. You’ll kill him.” Strong arms wrapped mine from behind, his hands pressing to the back of my neck while he dragged me away.
I twisted and turned, catching glimpses of Lyric and Amelia, huddled in a corner, expressions terrified.
Not of Byron. But of me.
The fight went out of me, and I let Lleyton drag me away, out the door into the waning evening sunlight.
“Go check on him,” Lleyton said to Pamela, who was staring at me like I’d lost my mind. Probably because I had. “He might need an ambulance.”
Lyric came out with Amelia held tight in one arm. “What the fuck was that, Zeph! Are you insane?”
“He followed you. Could have hurt you. Or Amelia.”
“And your response is to try to kill the man in the middle of a daycare? You have no proof!”
I shook my head, trying to clear my foggy brain. “You said… Wouldn’t you have done the same?”
She was furious. Angrier than I’d ever seen her. “I know what I said. I know what is true. Fuck, I wouldn’t have minded getting a punch or two in either. But what you were doing in there…you scared me! You could have killed a man. I’ve got a child to think about, Zeph. One who needs me to not be in jail. You told me off for putting myself in danger just this morning, and then what? You try to kill a man right in front of us? How is that keeping us safe, Zeph?”
“I love you. I’d do anything for you. For her. If I find out he’s touched any child in that center, I’ll put him six feet under.”
Lleyton finally let go of me and stormed across to Lyric.
Amelia leaned to him, frantically trying to get to her father.
Lyric’s face fell at her daughter’s reaction. She let her go when Lleyton lifted her from her arms, saying, “Come here, little girl. I got you.”
