The Minutes We Have

chapter thirty

Nobody moved. 

I didn't breathe. 

I turned back to Ezra. Perhaps it was because I always looked up to my older brothers when I didn't know what to do. They always offered guidance, either verbally or by showing me. Even Ezra. His expression was as cold as the winter but I knew beneath his skin a hurricane was brewing. I saw it when he jumped to conclusions when our eyes connected for a brief moment.

He may have grown to have patience with us---his family---but those who posed a threat to us received no such mercy. He connected the dots between what I had told him. The incident that had happened at the lake party and now the reason stood on the other side of our pond. Why she had come to us, I didn't know, but something made me wary to jump to the same conclusions.

Something didn't add up. There was no reason for her to come here.

Did she need help? 

Suddenly, Ezra turned on his heel and began stalking off the dock. I started swimming to the shore as fast as I could. 

"Ezra, wait," I called to him. He didn't. His steps were as predatory as the frown on his face. "Listen to me, we don't know what's going on." 

"I intend to find out," He snapped. 

I managed to scramble out of the water as soon as my toes touched the soft earth beneath the surface and I was sprinting after Ezra. He was halfway to where Soren stood. 

She was wearing torn jeans and a hoodie. The hood was pulled up over her head, shadowing part of her face as the sun met her back, and her long black hair was only distinguishable when a breeze blew it away from the black material of her hoodie. Her hands were not in her pockets and that's why I saw the shaking of her fingers before she clenched her fists and tucked them into her hoodie pocket. 

Ezra was a force to be reckoned with. 

Her dog growled as Ezra drew nearer to where they stood and I caught up to Ezra. I went to grab his shoulder to stop him and he lifted his arm to harshly shrug me off but Soren misinterpreted what was happening and as soon as his hand lifted, she flinched away. Both her hands came up to protect her face as she shrunk back. Her dog barked but remained in front of her. 

We both saw it happen. 

Ezra must have realized how badly he had misjudged the situation because his hand fell to his side and he was silent. I watched Soren wait for the blow for several seconds before she managed to glance at us. My lips were parted as I stood beside Ezra.

She slowly dropped her hands and tried to straighten her stance. 

I couldn't believe the signs I was seeing, but some part of me was not surprised that he abused her. Out of nowhere, I had the urge to turn on Ezra and scold him. She was tiny. Her hoodie probably swallowed her whole but it hid any obvious signs. I remembered the twins and their friends talking about her always being covered at school. I hated how things were making sense. 

"Why are you here?" I asked quietly. 

Her eyes met mine. She licked her dry lips, and then softly said, "Keep her, please." 

My eyebrows drew together and I glanced down at her dog, who had sat down against her feet. "Your dog? Why?" 

"He's going to kill her." 

Suddenly, I remembered the day after the motorcycle accident. Ezra had tried to avoid a black dog on the road. Moments after we had wrecked, I saw the sheriff running after the dog into the woods with a gun in his hand. "Why does he want to kill your dog?"