Take Me Instead

Daybreak pt. 3

We sat in silence the whole way home. I tried listening to Lee's breathing to indicate if he was mad at me or drunk himself, but it wasn't clear. I leaned against the passenger window, pressing my cheek against the cool glass, forcing myself to stay awake.

When the truck finally came to a stop I immediately shoved my door open, stumbling out of the truck hoping to avoid a lecture from Lee.

"Where do you think you're going?" he called after me as I trudged toward the house.

"If you keep it up at that volume you'll alert everyone that I'm sneaking in," I whispered back over my shoulder.

He sighed and walked up behind me, turning me around. "I meant, you're staying with me tonight," he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided me to his cabin. "That was the deal."

"I thought you wouldn't want me to," I admitted.

"Why would you think that?" his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as we stepped up onto the front porch.

I didn't want to say it out loud. It was just another tally on my never-ending fuck-up scoreboard that reminded me why I was the Dutton that shouldn't have been born.

"What?" he prodded again. "From what happened—"

"It's fine, Lee," I tried to drop it, shoving his cabin door open.

"Hey—" he followed quickly on my tail, slamming the door behind him. "Just answer one question for once," his hands sat on his hips just as Daddy's did whenever he was fuming. "Did you ask him to follow you in?"

His eyes pressured my face to react, pleading for a clear answer. "No."

He paused for a moment, looking for any sign that I might have been lying. Once he was satisfied, he nodded slightly. "Ok. Then you have nothing to be guilty about."

Lee began fumbling in one of the closets, pulling out blankets. I loved Lee's cabin; ever since he had moved out of the big house this was my refuge. Where I could escape Beth and her relentless torment and stay out of Daddy's way. Lee lived like a bachelor, even if he didn't admit to being one. With animal heads decorating the fireplace, trinkets, and objects littering every nook and cranny it felt more like home than the main house with my bed did.

"How did you know?" I asked as I plopped down onto one of the two leather couches.

He set the pile of blankets down on the other couch, going back to grab a pillow. "He was watching you when you walked away."

I ran through the scene in my head, trying to see if I had caught a glimpse of the mother-fucker spying on me. But everything was fuzzy, and thinking back to the faces and bodies I pushed through to get to the bathroom made me dizzy again.

"When he followed you I knew he wasn't drunk enough to mistake which room he was in," he dropped the pillow on the end of the couch.

"I like two," I spoke up.

Lee nodded at this. "Yeah, I know. There are two on the bed for you."

"Lee—"

"Nope," he cut me off. "You've had enough for tonight. Go to bed," he motioned towards the french-style doors that led to the bedroom.

I was too tired to argue with him. I let him guide me over to the bed as he took my boots off, dropping them with a loud thud beside it.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" I asked as I pulled the covers over my shoulder.

He shook his head. "I'm gonna run out and check on something, I'll be back in a bit."

I nodded, hearing truck tires on the gravel outside. Must've been one of the boys making a late-night run.