(Do Not Read Back Up Copy)

Chapter V

Caleb

Growing up the youngest of four Irish brothers, I was used to few blessings and frequent beatings. We fought over the few things we cared for, our mother’s love and our father’s mercy. There wasn’t a hand in that house I feared or respected more than that of my Dad’s eldest, Liam.

When Mom died, Dad’s misery turned violent and my brothers left together to find a place of their own.  I stayed behind and tried to convince myself that I could fix my father. There wasn’t any sense in that, though. About a month after my brothers had gone, Dad took his fists to me so badly that I couldn't walk for three days.  Liam came back and took me out of the house I wasn’t strong enough to leave on my own. 

The four of us christened our new place "safe house"; an abandoned brick slaughterhouse on the outskirts of Manassas that earned its name just because it was far enough away from our father. We lived by Liam’s rules there—no alcohol, and no women.

He didn’t want distractions.

Hailey would be our first.

***

I think I got to Hailey sometime during the last twenty-minutes of our ride into town. She’d been silent since then. I’d never seen anyone pout as much as she could, and if she kept this up her lips would probably get stuck that way—that’s what my Mom used to tell us anyway.

She had a princess complex worse than any of the local girls. I guess it was a city thing. None of that “Prada” stuff mattered out here.

Hailey didn’t understand limits; that she wasn’t free to do and say whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, however she wanted. She didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. She sure as hell wasn’t afraid of me.  

But, to tell you the truth, I was scared shitless.  Maybe it was the way I’d been for a while, or maybe it was ‘cause I knew what was coming.

As a kid I knew better than to mouth off to whoever I wanted to. Either I kept quiet or had the attitude kicked outta me. Easy as that. I used to cry a lot about it.

Dad said I was too much like my mom in my teens, and still weak in all the wrong places at twenty. There wasn’t much I could do about it, though. I didn’t get any tougher, but I learned not to cry.

 Hailey hadn’t cried all morning, which was weird ‘cause I thought girls were more sensitive about things. I wouldn’t ever say this to her, but I thought she was braver than I was. Something about her took off my edge, and as crazy as she was, she kept me calmer than I thought I’d be.

Had it been some other girl, I probably would’ve chickened out. I was worried before I saw her that she’d be some priss who’d hit me with her bag and call the cops, but she didn’t. Maybe that makes her naïve, but it worked out.

Ten minutes had come and gone, and Hailey still hadn’t said anything to me. I felt bad about it. I shouldn’t have, but I did. Liam wouldn’t have put up with her. He would’ve killed her before letting any woman turn him lap dog.  If I walked off this bus, tail between my legs, he’d know about it. He’d beat me black and blue till I was numb to her, and I hoped to God I was a little less transparent today.

We pulled into Manassas around ten, and I saw Liam leaning on the hood of dad’s rusted Chevy pick up. Liam was a little ways away from the hoards of middle-aged sons and daughters waiting for their parents. He stuck out like a pariah. We were a half hour late, and I knew even from where I was standing that he wasn’t happy about it. 

The bus pulled in, and I stood up from my seat. My right foot goes nuts when I get nervous. I can’t help it. Whenever I get worried I’ve gotta tap it on something. It stops after a little while, but I used to get laughed at for it when I was kid.

I tried playing off my anxiety in front of Hailey, but she was too distant to seem to care too much. When my foot stopped, I started down the center aisle, and stopped about every other seat to let the withered old women shuffle off of the bus before I’d have to.

Hailey followed behind without hesitating too much. My mom used to say girls only get like that when they’re really mad about something. I held her hand when we got near the driver, and she kept trying to pinch me. I was scared she’d cause a scene before we passed him, but she settled down once we got to the stairs.

Once we got to the bottom, Hailey got all quiet and still again.  Truth is, she’d be better off mad and silent than scared, ‘cause walking off that bus, I was close to pissing myself.

Liam slid down the hood of Dad’s truck, took a drag from his Marlboro, and tossed it on the concrete. He took off his sunglasses right when he saw Hailey, and I already knew he’d gotten to thinking things he shouldn’t have been. I don’t know what the hell he was up to but he cracked a grin so twisted his teeth looked like a goddamn briar patch.

“Good boy Caleb! Snagged yourself a looker didn’t ya?”

Liam’s accent was the thickest of my brothers’ and when trouble was on his mind, like my father, he snarled his “r’s”. He stepped toe to toe with Hailey, grabbed a handful of her hair, and breathed her in.

“Too clean. Needs a bit of ruffin’ up I think, then she’ll do. Right kiddo?”

I kept my eyes on the pavement. My right foot was going nuts.

“You gotta look yer’ man in the eye, Caleb. Only sinners and the guilty avert them.”

I didn’t say anything—maybe I’m a coward for it, but I knew better.

Liam reached into my pocket, took back his knife, and stuck it in between Hailey’s wrist and mine, nicking us both.

“Sorry to break you apart so soon but I can’t let you get too comfortable, you’ll end up attached!”

He took Hailey by the arm, and opened the passenger door of the truck so he could throw her in. 

“Can I sit next to her on the way back, Cal?”

 “Screw yourself, Liam.”

I didn’t know why I got as mad as I did, but I curled my lips into my gums hard enough for him to see my teeth. Liam sauntered back over to where I was, and shoved the car keys into my gut.

“The Anderson girl is the only one I’m thinking about screwing, Caleb. Get in the car.”

He took out his knife again, scraped the edge of the blade underneath my chin, and pointed the tip towards the truck.

“Shotgun.”

Liam sprinted back to the truck to take his seat next to Hailey before I could say anything.

I couldn’t have been more tense the whole drive home. I had a dammed hard time trying to focus on the road while Liam had his hands all over Hailey.

She was quiet again, but this time it was an empty quiet. She kepy staring out over the dashboard at nothing while he twisted her arms behind her back with one hand, and rubbed her thighs with the other. 

 “There’s a good girl.”

I couldn’t see exactly what he was up to, but Hailey started crying and when she did I tore my attention right off of the road.

“Don’t fret now, you’re in good hands,” he said.

Hailey didn’t stop crying.

“The best—“

I knew I was supposed to leave them alone.

I knew I was supposed to drive the car and keep to myself.

 But when I caught Liam trying to slide his fingers down Hailey’s shorts, I jerked the wheel hard to the right, kicked in the brakes, and veered off the road into the cornfields. The truck hit a ditch at sixty miles per hour and rolled, hurling me and Liam upside down through the dirt and dust, and throwing Hailey out into the dying cornhusks.