Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 14

I froze. What was I supposed to say?
"I-I'm sorry?" I stumbled. Damon let his hand fall away from the handle and turned fully back to face me.
"Who hit you?" He repeated slowly, catching my eyes, but I looked away.
"No one, it's nothing." I rushed.
"As I said," He began quietly, "you're a terrible liar."
Nervously, I reached up and fixed my hair again, but his scrutiny was too harsh. I felt as if my guard was being stripped away slowly. As if his eyes could see into my soul.
"And as I said; it's nothing." I repeated, meeting his eyes with much more confidence than I felt. He clenched his jaw at my answer, but said nothing else before he nodded, turned and left.
*
The rest of the day at work, I finished under Mr. Lawson's (Greyson's) order and I didn't see Damon again. Much to my relief.
When the day was done, I texted David and asked where he was, and if he had taken mom home yet. He told me that he' taken her to the park, and now they had to go return the melted ice cream. That brought a small smile to my lips, knowing that he had planned that to keep mom out with him until I got off work.
"I'll meet you at home." I told David, leaving the Lawson building, and heading towards the crosswalk. He said something about dad not being home anyways, so I bid him goodbye and hung up.
When I got home, I started some water over the stove, before I began making a salad.
"What are we eating?" Tony's gruff voice sounded behind me, and I shut the water faucet off with unnecessary force. It took everything inside me not to snap at him and say that he wasn't getting anything.
"Italian."
He grunted, walking towards the kitchen. "Where's your mother and David?"
I moved stiffly to shut the stove off and pour in the noodles, not answering him. "I said, where are they?" He repeated, balling his hands into fists and stalking towards me.
"You skipped your meds today, didn't you?" I turned around, anger flashing in my eyes, as I leveled my gaze with his.
He screwed his face into a nasty snarl, "Answer me!" He thundered, closing the distance between us, and looming over me. The noodles were forgotten. I glared defiantly up at him, my own hands in fists as he fumed.
"At the store." I spat. My tone sent him over the edge. When he lunged forward, I didn't flinch. I felt the sting on my cheek and for a split second, an image of Damon flitted through my mind, before the pain made me peel my eyes open. I had stumbled back against the fridge, almost the same as what had happened yesterday, except now, I didn't have David.
"You think you can speak to me in that tone?" He roared. Another slap stung my cheek and I lifted my arms to shield my face. The blows came faster now, and he was lashing out at my arms, my stomach, and when I fell to the ground, he started to kick at me. I screamed out for him to stop, but his anger was beyond stopping.
"Stop!" I heard David's voice, and my mother's frantic yelling, as David tackled Tony to the ground, and began throwing punches of his own. "I told you not to touch her!" David yelled, slamming Tony into the floor when he tried to stand. Wiping the blood from my lower lip, I scrambled back from the wall, and managed to get to my feet. My vision was spinning. I saw David and Tony wrestling on the floor, each of them landing painful punches to the other, while my mom screamed for them to stop.
"David!" I yelled frantically, watching him roll over on top of his dad. "David, stop it!" I screamed, and his fist stopped mid-air. He was shaking with rage, and his eyes were dark. Tony lay under him, conscious but stunned. I could see the physical force it was taking David to hold himself back, so I rushed over beside him and grabbed his wrist. "Get off of him." I ordered quietly, and he worked his jaw, his shoulders tensing at my words. He was furious. Angrier than I had seen him in a long time. "Look at me, David." I pleaded, seeing his eyes darken a shade when he looked back down to his father. His eyes suddenly snapped to me, and his face softened just barely notcibly.
"You're bleeding." Was all he said, before he moved off Tony, and pulled me behind him as the man rose to his feet. With flashing eyes, Tony turned on us. "Get. Out." David growled, and even behind him, I could feel the tension resonating from his body.
"I'm not going anywhere, boy." He snarled, and I knew David was about to lose his cool, so I grasped his wrist.
"We're going David, come on." I demanded, hoping he would listen to reason and get us out of here. No doubt the neighbors had heard the brawl, and alerted the police. The last thing we needed was a legal affair.
"David, honey, please come with us." Mom's timid voice sounded by the door, and all eyes turned to her. I saw Tony start to move towards her, but David stepped in his path.
"You're leaving tomorrow," he said through his teeth, "or I'll call the police." At the mention of the law, his dad froze, and fear washed over his face. David took my hand, and pulled me towards the door, ushering mom out in front of us. Without a word, we made our way out to the car, and I took the driver's seat. David protested that I was hurt- which wasn't wrong- but I told him that he and mom weren't in any state to drive either. I was the calmest of them all, and if anyone was going to drive, it would be me. I drove us to the nearest hotel, and we sent mom inside to book two rooms for us, while we parked the car and came in the back entrance. We took the stairs to avoid being seen, because I still had a bloodied lip, and David was sporting a black eye from his fight. Once David took mom and me to our room, he went next door to his, and we agreed to clean up before we ordered pizza. Luckily, mom still had her purse on her when they got home, because she was the only one with money. With her credit card, she ordered two pizza's and sent me to the shower to clean off.
Letting the water wash over me, I sobbed quietly against the onslaught, blinking at the white shower wall. All the pent-up fear and anger I had came pouring out with the shower water. Wiping at the droplets on my face, I drew in a few deep breaths, and tried to pull myself together.
You're being such a wimp.
I scoffed at myself, shutting the water off quickly, and jerking a towel down off the wall. Pulling it up to dry off my face, I rubbed bitterly at my skin, stopping when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Slowly, I reached up and tenderly touched the swollen flesh around my cut lip. In doing so, I noticed the redish-purple bruises forming on my forearm. Pursing my lips, I shook my head and turned away from the mirror. I didn't want to remember how many times I'd stared into a mirror, wondering how I was going to hide these bruises the next day.