Fearless Like Us (Like Us 9)

“DAD!” I scream again, rushing after him. I trip over the rope.

My knees hit the dirt.

“You fucking touch her, and you’re dead,” he growls. “You fucking hear me?”

No, fuck. No, no, no.

“We already have, sir,” Banks says.

I look up just as my dad swings. He punches Banks in the jaw, and Akara wrenches Banks back so forcefully that Akara takes the second blow to the stomach.

“NO!” I’m crying and clawing at the dirt to stand. “STOP!” I scream bloody murder, barely able to see the scene through my tears. “I LOVE THEM! STOP! PLEASE FUCKING STOP!” My voice is horrific and hoarse, and my dad instantly backs away like I rattled him awake.

He blinks hard and breathes heavily. Two hands fly to his head. I’ve never seen his anger directed anywhere near the people I love.

“Dad,” I say, softer this time. I pick myself up, dirt coating my hands, and I stumble towards him.

2

SULLIVAN MEADOWS

My dad can’t meet my eyes. Something raw floods them, something that wells a pit in my ribs, and I want to excavate the hurt but I don’t know how. I’ve never felt this before, not from him.

“I’m leaving,” he says, almost in a whisper. “Before I do something…” He grimaces, his scowl darkening, and he pinches his eyes. Because he did already do something.

Banks spits a wad of blood on the dirt.

Akara is coughing from getting the wind knocked out of him.

My lungs burn from breathing so hard. “I don’t want to leave this conversation like this. Can’t we talk it out?”

He drops his hand from his face. “I’m not good at talking,” he says roughly, staring at the ground, then the sky, then the distance to the parking lot, then wincing at me. “Call your fucking mother, Sul.” His eyes well up the longer he stares at me, so he just turns around.

He walks away slowly, like each step is a thousand pounds in agony. I know it must be excruciating for him to leave me here. When he thinks I’m in harm’s way, all he wants is to keep me safe forever.

But he punched the two men I’m in love with, and is there any coming back from that?

As he disappears through the woods, leaving behind his gear, the pain surges inside me. I’ve never really been at odds with my dad or my mom. It feels worse than disappointing them.

It feels like I’ve lost my dad.

I rub the dirt off my palms in a trance.

“Sulli,” Akara breathes.

I blink back more tears and turn to my boyfriends. They’ve come closer, and their concern envelops me.

“I’m so fucking sorry,” I say, throat scratchy and tight. “I didn’t think he’d react like this. I mean, I knew he might be hostile at first, but not to the point where he’d hit you guys.” I glance up at Akara, then Banks. Not thinking, just doing—I reach up and cup Banks’ unshaven jaw, inspecting the cut on his lip. Time slows, but the hurt stays in our silence. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

Banks tries to smile, but it’s faint and weak. “Not the first time someone’s tried to hit me, mermaid.”

“Won’t be the last,” Akara says, but he can’t force a smile either. He exhales a tensed breath. “Shit. I wish that went a lot better.”

“I shouldn’t have told my dad,” I realize and drop my hand.

“No, hey, you did the right thing,” Akara assures.

Banks nods. “We all agreed to do what you feel—you did that.”

I try not to burst into tears. But I really fucking love them right now, for making me not feel like shit about the consequences of my decision today. Not only did I implode my relationship with my dad, but I put them in the crossfire of his anger. And I didn’t prepare them to deal with that heat.

I hug Banks’ side, then I hug Akara’s, and they squeeze back before I pick up the abandoned rappelling gear. I want to hug them longer. I want to roll around in the earth with them and pretend what happened was just a fucking nightmare and not real.

I want to kiss them, but turning back around feels like swimming through tar. If I just gather all the safety equipment, then maybe my mind won’t descend into replay mode.

Locking carabiners.

Non-locking carabiners.

A pull cord.

Rope.

Rappel device.

Two harnesses.

Check, check, check, and more checks.

Banks scans the wilderness around us. “Nothing good ever happens in quarries.”

The comment chills my bones.

I glance over at him. “This isn’t the same quarry where…” Where his brother Skylar died.

“No,” Banks shakes his head once, then lightly kicks a pebble. “Haven’t been to that quarry in forever.”

“Something good did happen here,” Akara contends.

“Yeah, you got the wind knocked out of you,” Banks teases.

Akara manages a half-hearted laugh. “Uh, no.” He playfully shoves Banks’ shoulder. I almost smile as Akara winks at me, then says, “Someone climbed a sweet rockface today.”