Free Holding Her in Madness by Kimber S. Dawn Page A

and I’ll send your ass to jail. You’re eighteen, right?”
    I nod, but before I can get ‘Yes, sir’ out he’s back in my face with the gun, pushing into my head harder with every word he spits at me.
    “I want your ass outta town or I’ll have your ass thrown in jail for statutory rape. Never fucking talk to her again. Five years from now, you see her across the street, you turn around and walk your trashy piece-of-shit ass the other way. Understand me, son?”
    “Yes, sir,” comes through my gritted teeth.
    “Tonight, son. I want your ass to go back to wherever the fuck you came from tonight. Don’t make me send Lillian away from her family and friends because you’re too fucking selfish to do the right thing for once in your shitty life.”
    He turns around, gets in his car, and then he’s gone.
    “Holy fucking shit, dude! Are you fuckin’ okay?” Josh is standing beside me, and he rips his t-shirt off, holding it to the back of my head. “I was headed over here to help you out, but when I saw the gun, I just stayed back. No sense in both our asses getting shot.”
    I stagger around the back of the house and through the back door into my room, kicking my boots off and stripping down to my boxers. I fall beside the wall next to my bathroom and lean my shoulder against it until my room stops spinning.
    “Leo, you gotta go to the ER. Your head has a hole in it the size of a fucking baseball.”
    “I...juss gatta wassh thiss shit off firss... Juss gatta...”
    Shit, I’m gonna pass out. I hold on to the wall with one hand and slide my leaning shoulder against the wall until I’m in the bathroom.
    “Fuck. Here.” Josh turns on the shower, grabs me by the upper arm, and helps me get under the spraying water. “Leave your fuckin’ boxers on, dude. Sit the fuck down.”
    I can’t help but sit down.
    I slide down the shower stall and feel Josh squirt shampoo on my head. “Use your own hands to wash your fuckin’ hair out, dude. You got mud and blood all matted up in it.”
    I have one hand barely keeping me upright and the other doing a half-assed job of scrubbing the shit out of my hair when I feel a soapy rag slap me on my shoulder.
    “I got it all soapy. Just wash up real quick. Here’s your towel and some dry boxers. You got five minutes before I knock. If you don’t say you’re ready, then I’m going to go get my ma and have her ass drag you outta the shower, you hear me?”
    “Fuck ya.” My head falls forward under the shower spray, and I use the rag to wash off. Once I hear the door close, I use the hand on the wall that’s been holding me up to lean back and lie down.
    Then I use both my hands to get the wet boxers off. I pick the rag back up and start washing the dirt and grit off my face for a second before the anguish takes over any strength I have left and both my arms fall to my sides.
    All I can do is lie there, shoulders shaking from my silent sobs. I just lie there and fucking cry. I don’t know how long I’m in the damn shower crying like a fucking baby.
    Josh’s knocking on the door pulls me from my bitch-ass pussy crying spell. “Man, you all right? You ready?”
    “No! Juss hang on!” I use my foot to turn off the water and roll over onto my stomach, heaving myself up with both hands. I wrap the towel around my waist and sit on the closed toilet lid, dry off, and pull my boxers up. When I look down, I see blood all over the floor and walls. It’s fucking everywhere. “Kay, commin, gatta go, Joss. Too much blahd, dooo.”
    The door opens and I hear Josh scream, “Shit! Somebody fuckin’ HELP!”
    Then I’m falling forward, my head is going face-first into the bathroom floor tile. Thank God I black the fuck out before I hit.

When I wake up, I’m confused. I can’t remember the last thing that happened. I have no idea where the hell I’m at or what the fuck I did to my face, throat, and the back of my head.
    Shit, was I in another fight? I’ve been doing better