Figuring Out Foster

Chapter 18

My shove caused the swing to fall short of hitting Foster, but that let me open for the hit.

The bat cracked down on the side of my head.

I immediately felt the pain and the ringing in my ears. Gasping, I fell back into Foster's chest and he quickly snaked an arm around my front to keep me from falling completely to my knees.

I put a hand up to the side of my face, where it was already so warm and inflamed where I got hit.

My vision blurred slightly as I gazed at the ground, and I leaned more weight onto Foster. Making sure I stayed upright, Foster held onto me tighter and pulled me closer to him.

Taking my hand away from where the bat hit, I noticed, to my luck, I wasn't bleeding.

Foster stuck his hand out, his forearm brushing my shoulder, as he reached for the bat. I glanced up at Foster's hand was wrapped tightly around Vincent's bat. Looking passed that, Vincent looked horrified look as he stared down at me..

"Mag...gie, you," Vincent's mouth gaped open trying to form words forced out. At his own hesitation, he must have relaxed his grip on the bat as Foster easily yanked it from him. Foster flipped the bat to hold the handle instead, and then let it hang by his side.

I placed a hand on Foster's chest, keeping myself balanced, as I put my weight back onto my own feet. Foster, feeling me move, removed his hand from around my waist to hold onto my side, keeping me stable. The ringing in my ear subsided, but the pain was still present.

I didn't think Foster realized that I had gotten hit, or how badly I had gotten hit, until I turned to look up at him. Feeling my eyes on him, Foster pulled his glare away from Vincent to glance down at me.

"Oh shit, Maggie..." Foster whispered softly, before lightly skimming the injury with his fingertips. I flinched hard at the contact.

At my reaction, his eyes widen in alarm before snapping into anger. It was such a spilt second transformation, that if I'd blinked I would have missed it/

Looking away from me, he turned all his rage towards Vincent.

Foster lightly set me aside as he side stepped me to follow Vincent, who backed away from us once the bat was taken.

"Sorry, I'm sorry—Maggie wasn't supposed to... I didn't want her to get hurt." Defenseless, Vincent mumbled the apology and put his hands up in surrender.

I knew Vincent hadn't meant to hurt me. I would have been hit a lot sooner if that was also his intention coming here.

However, Foster was listening to any of it.

Vincent stepped back farther and tripped on the curb of the parking lot, but saved himself from falling in the last second. He continued to stumble backwards out onto the asphalt as Foster tracked after him.

Foster slowly lifted the bat in one hand. Vincent looked warily back and forth between Foster and the bat, "I never meant to hurt her. It was you..." He whimpered as he suddenly tripped and landed hard on his back. Laying there on the asphalt, he stared up at Foster.

Foster didn't say anything and just continued to raise the bat higher and walk closer.

"Foster! I'm sorry— please don't." Vincent cried out while trying to crawl backwards to get away from Foster, who now leered over him.

I couldn't watch anymore, so I took action. Stepping closer to Foster, I noticed he was breathing irregularly. He was out of his control; I knew he would do something if I didn't stop him. I knew he didn't want to hurt Vincent; not like he'd hurt Vincent's brother. It would tear him up inside.