Scoot chuckles beside me and shouts over, “No one likes a sore loser, Calvin.” He turns around to face me. “What time you expecting him?”
I check the time on my phone. “Soon,” I tell him, handing him the rest of the pound coins that were rattling around in my pocket. “Get some music on that jukebox, will you?”
He nods and makes his way around the pool table. A few moments later and Avicii is blasting through the speakers. I look over at the girls and clock Stevie up dancing while Lacey laughs at her.
If this was any other night, and I wasn’t here for a reason, I’d probably call this a good time. I’ve got my mates, drink, music, a pool table, my sister’s here and my girl is with her best mate, a big fucking smile on her face. But I can’t shake the feeling of rage that’s bubbling under the surface. It’s like a blackness, doesn’t matter how bright everything else is, it’s there, sucking the soul out of me.
When this is done, I’ll feel better.
Not too far gone 10pm, the door swings open, and in walks Liam McGuiness.
It takes a second for him to realize what’s going on and when he does, he doesn’t turn and run. That would be stupid, Tony is right beside him ready to grab him and lock the door if needed. Calvin, who was just about to take his shot, looks up and then straightens.
Liam thinks he already knows what’s going to happen. He smiles at me, the prick, and then looks over at the girls table. I don’t know what gets me more angry, that he’s looking at my sister or that he’s looking at Lacey.
The fact that he has and will hurt both of them is enough reason for me.
I’m judge, jury and executioner.
And I feel absolutely no remorse.
“Tony get the door,” I tell him, and he bolts it shut. “Scoot, turn that jukebox down for a minute.”
I walk over to Liam. I had planned to kick the fuck out of him myself, but as I approach him, he blows a kiss towards the girl’s table. I look over at my sister and see the venom in her eyes, and I get myself a better idea.
I swing for his jaw, just the once. He buckles over and his hands fly to his face, but he quickly straightens himself. I’m not bothered that he recovers so easily, that one wasn’t for my sister — that one was for Lacey.
“That the best you can do?” Liam spits at me, and then he starts laughing. “You’re holding back, Keagan. I know you could kill me with a single blow if you wanted. Does Lacey know about that unfortunate incident?” He shouts that last little nugget over to Lacey, and now I want to give him another one.
I want to give him one that’ll shut him up for good.
He’s only acting like this because he thinks I can’t really touch him. He doesn’t know that the game has changed, and that all previous agreements are off. He doesn’t know he’s digging a hole for himself, and that unlike the previous holes he’s been in, I won’t let him crawl out of this one. I don’t have to, this time.
I glance over at Lacey but she’s frozen to her seat, mouth open in a little ‘O’ and her eyes wide. I nod at Calvin and Doeboy. “Take him over to that dartboard.”
Liam’s eyes widen in shock as the boys approach him.
What does he think I’m going to do, throw darts at his pretty little face? I’d call that too good for him. I’d call that mercy.
Calvin and Doeboy must think that’s the plan too, because they drag him over and hold him up against the wall.
I shake my head at them. “On the floor.”
They push him forwards and Calvin swings his leg under Liam, making him crumble instantly.
“Heather, here,” I shout on her and she comes over.
The two of them are holding him down on his back. He’s got his eyes shut, struggling against them but he knows it’s fucking pointless. I take his leg and I stick it up on the oche, so his ankle rests on it. It’s not a high one, but if she jumps hard enough at the right position, it should be enough to break his leg, anyway.
I look up at my sister but she only has eyes for Liam.
“Tell her what you said to me that day outside the school,” I tell Liam. “Tell her what you said about her.”
He shakes his head. He knows what’s coming now. “Please, Shaun. I’m sorry. I’m fucking sorry alright?”
I laugh at him. I laugh and then I look at Heather. “Do you accept his apology?”
She just stands there, staring at him with these crazy as fuck eyes that would give me shivers if she wasn’t my own sister.
Then, finally, she shakes her head.
“Scoot get that fucking music on full blast,” I tell him. “Sorry Liam, the lassie has spoken.”
Liam starts shaking and trying to kick his leg free but the boys have an arm each and I have his leg.
“Hurry the fuck up with that music, will you?” I shout to Scoot, who’s fannying about at the jukebox.
“Hold your horses, man, it’ll be worth it,” he shouts back, laughing.
The next thing I know, I’m Shipping Up To Boston by Dropkick Murphys starts thumping through the speakers, and I can’t help laughing at his warped sense of humour.
Fucking legend.
It’s now loud enough to wake the dead and muffle a scream, and I nod at Heather. “Jump.”
She looks at me, hesitating, and for a second I think she’s going to back down.
She turns and walks away, and I think she’s going to bottle it.
But she doesn’t.
She goes to the wall behind us and she rips the fire extinguisher off it, and when she comes back, I think she’s lost the plot a wee bit. I think she’s genuinely lost her fucking marbles, but I let her anyway.
She needs this. She deserves it.
He deserves it.
She crashes that fire extinguisher down on his leg like a demon has possessed her.
And I laugh.
Chapter 9
LACEY
I scream.
I scream while Heather drops the fire extinguisher, and Liam moans and writhes in agony, and Shaun laughs in his face.
I think I’m still screaming when Scoot runs over and wraps his arms around me, trying to turn my face away from the horror show in front of us.
I think I’m still screaming, but the music is too loud and I can’t be sure.
I look at Stevie. Why isn’t she screaming? Did she not just witness what I just witnessed? But she’s just staring, her mouth open and her eyes fixed on the spot below the dartboard.
I don’t understand what the fuck just happened.
The next thing I know Shaun is prying me out of Scoot’s arms. He takes my cheeks in his hands and all I know is that I’m not really seeing him.
It’s surreal. Like being in a dream where things are happening and you have no control over it.
He taps me on the side of my face a couple of times.
Why? Why is he doing that?
I don’t understand.
God, I’m so stupid.
He told me who he was the first night I met him, and I refused to believe him. He’s been telling me that every day since then, and still, I refused to believe him.
I could break every bone in your body.
Now I believe him. Now I’ve seen it with my own two fucking eyes.
“Come on, come with me,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me to follow him.