by L. J. Woods
She does a twirl, like the shyness dissipated with her lack of clothes. “Godfrey happened.” I turn towards Gabe but she stops me. “Not that one. Is church still going on?”
“Yeah,” I scoff. “Even after Gabe gave an enlightening sermon about the habits of his family.”
“You told them everything your dad did?” she asks, her heel dropping to the floor.
“Tried to,” Gabe says. “They’re way too stupid to use their own judgment.”
“Your father’s spell is a deep one,” Hazel sighs.
“Well, we’re not sticking around for it. I got shit to figure out.” Gabe leads me towards his car. “You’d be crazy to go inside. They want our heads on forks.”
“Wait!” Hazel calls out, her heels clicking behind us. They make her look like a rockstar model, chains hanging from her neck, skulls hanging from her ears. “I need you guys to help me with one last thing before you go. It’ll be worth it. I promise.”
Glancing at Gabe, his eyes narrow, like he’s thinking about it. With that, I nod. “What do you have in mind?”
Thirty-Seven
Gabriel
“You want help taking down my dad?”
Looking at Hazel across the table at Bible Burger, I want to make sure she knows what she’s doing.
“This is Clementine suicide for you.” Delilah sits beside me in a booth, a nugget to her mouth. “They crucified Gabe for telling the truth.”
Hazel taps a long black nail against her Saved Strawberry shake. “Once you’ve attempted suicide, things don’t seem so scary.” She glances between us. “Besides, he’s put me through hell enough and it’s time to return the favour. No one took my side after the festival. They call me a whore, a homewrecker, and I can’t even go to the freakin’ store without someone telling me I’m a harlot.”
“Is that why you’re in this getup?” Dee waves a nugget around Hazel’s spaghetti straps.
“You tried to kill yourself?” That’s my question. After Sammy, I gotta ask. “You alright?” I wish I could forget what I did to protect my family, but I’ll never forget what I did with Sammy’s body. The same way I’ll never get Elijah out of my head. Dee turns to me, her smile reminding me that there’s still some light. My hand comes over hers. Instant comfort.
“It’s not a getup,” Hazel sighs. “This is me. The real me and I’ve never felt more alive than I do now.” She turns to me. “Bottle of pills. No biggie. Drinking charcoal sucks, but I told my dads I didn’t want to die. And it’s true. That’s not what I want. What I want is revenge. Justice. Justice for me. For my parents. Justice for Sammy.”
The purple light casting on her face makes her look like a video game villain and it inspires. She’s right. If we run away from this we’re cowards like the rest of the Godfrey flock.
“God, I love the new Hazel,” Delilah says, chin in her palm.
“She’s right.” I nod. “We do need justice.” Justice for me and Elijah too. “And you’re the weapon we need.”
“Weapon?” Delilah asks. “What’re you planning, Godfrey?” Hazel smirks and I follow, Dee’s head whipping between us as she waves a nugget at our faces. “I don’t know what this is, but I kinda like it.”
Hazel cracks her knuckles. “You just wait.”
“David.”
Hazel’s voice comes clear over the speaker. Adam did a hell of a job setting up the cameras on the inside. He owes me for leaving me hanging on one of my worst nights. Not sure where he got them but he delivered.
“I told you I knew that rug!” Delilah nudges my arm.
She sits sandwiched between the front seat of my car, Adam on the other side. His phone sits in his lap, footage of my dad’s office filling the screen.
“Alright, genius.” Putting an arm around her, I pull her close. “Let’s hope this works.”
“You guys talked Hazel through this, right?” Adam asks. “Besides what we said at the park?”
I cock a brow. “Yeah, why?”
“Don’t wanna see Hazel hooking up with old man Godfrey?” Dee asks.
“Fuck, neither do I.” Cringing, I’m hoping that’s not what we’re all huddled around for.
On the screen, Hazel takes small steps towards my dad. He stands behind his desk with his arms crossed.
“Won’t he be on to her?” Adam asks, flicking through the cameras, giving us different views of my dad’s office. “After everything that happened?”
“If you saw the nude she sent him, you wouldn’t be worried,” Delilah explains. “And the texts? It was all ‘please forgive me, daddy, I’ll do anything.’” She puts on her best Hazel voice, high and soft and it makes me cringe some more.
“Alright, stop,” Adam stamps his foot on the floor of the car, Delilah’s head jerking back.
“Watch it,” I growl. No one scares her but me.
Our eyes on the screen, Hazel starts off by apologizing, not giving my dad a chance to speak as we discussed. He likes praise. Likes to feel like he’s the king of the room. Where do you think I get it? He wants me to be like him but the only thing I want is to make sure he gets what he deserves.
Nothing.
“Do you like what I’m wearing?” Hazel asks, staying on the other side of the desk. She’s in a skimpy black dress, thigh-high leather boots, and he eyes her up like he’s choosing a new car. “I have something special underneath.” I don’t know if that’s true but with how Hazel’s been acting, I believe her.
“Hazel you look … amazing.”
“It’s all for you, daddy. If you’ll have me.”
Delilah makes a gagging noise and I agree.
“Do you forgive me, daddy?” Hazel asks. “If not, what can I do to make you forgive me?”
I’m wincing as my dad tugs on his tie, turned on by someone less than half his age. Someone that’s not my mother. Fuck, I should have seen this all sooner.
Hazel takes a step back when my dad starts to move around to her. “You’ve been a bad girl, Hazel.” Her body stiffens when he stands in front of her, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “But I can forgive you if you play by my rules. No more dishonesty. No more disrespect.”
“No more lies,” she says. He puts his hands on her waist and she jumps. “Starting right now,” Hazel recovers. “Did you really have something to do with Sammy? With Gemma?”
“Pft, those girls were only getting in our way.” He brings a thumb to her lip. “They were jealous of your beauty. Of what we have.”
“What did you say to them?” she asks.
“Hazel.” He waves her off, taking a step closer but she backs up.
“I want to be able to trust you, David.” My dad hesitates before she glides his hands up to her tits. “So that I can trust you with my body.”
“Damn,” Dee mutters. “She’s good at this.”
“Too good,” Adam mumbles.
My dad hangs his head but when he does, he stumbles forward. Hazel catches his arms before he steadies himself. Starting out with drinks was a good idea. One spiked with some of that stuff I know will knock you out. He leans in for a kiss but Hazel pulls back. “Not until you tell me the truth.”
He sighs, “Hazel why are you—”
“Tell me!” she demands and we all pull our heads back.
“Alright!” Dad waves his hand, floppy and limp as he stumbles back against his desk. “I told them that if they told anybody, no one would believe them,” he slurs. “They won’t break what we have.” She lets him pull her close. “They’ll come after you too, Hazel. I-I’m just trying to protect us.”
Adam’s grip is so tight on the phone I’m afraid he might break it.
“I didn’t kill Sammy,” Dad says. “She was a fool that took her own life. She couldn’t handle what you can.”
“She took her own life because of you,” Hazel says.
“No!” my dad protests, but he can’t take his eyes off her tits. “The devil was in her system. Don’t you see, Hazel? She’s too far gone!”
“Was,” she reminds him. “Thanks to you.”
“Hazel.” He tries to stand straight, but fails, leaning back on his desk. “Why are you really here? To talk about the past or to reconsider our future?”
“But you slept with her? And Gemma? And Mariam …”
“Yes! Yes! But they were all mistakes.” He waves her off again. “And now I have you. We have each other. You’re not a mistake, are you Hazel?”
“God, he’s stupid,” Dee says. “Didn’t think it was gonna be that easy but we got it. He admits it.” Delilah’s about to get out of the car but I grab onto her wrist. I want to see what else Hazel gets out of him.
“What about Penny?” Hazel asks.
“You let me deal with it allll,” Dad says, that long drawl telling me he’s fighting whatever’s pulling him down. “You don’t have to worry about her. Now I’ve been patient.” Pulling Hazel by her slender arms, she pulls back. He pulls harder before he plants his lips on hers.
“Fucker!” Adam slams his fist on the window.
Hazel tries to push him back but he keeps her in place. It looks like whatever was in that drink was no match to my dad’s tolerance. Must be where I get that from. When she pushes again, he stumbles.
“Gabe,” Dee tries to get my attention but my focus is on one thing.
Dad. My father. A monster.
Chest puffed out, he starts to approach her. She backs up. More and more until her back hits the wall.
“What is this, Hazel?” he asks. He pulls on her shirt, ripping it down. Her arms come over her chest. “You’re not wearing a wire, so what is it? You that jealoussss? You come in here looking like this and you tell me to stop?!”
“No, I—” His hand comes to her throat.
“Gabe!” Dee yells but I’m waiting for it. Waiting for him to crack.
“I’m going in there,” Adam says.
“Sit your ass down, Armstrong,” I demand, my voice booming through the car.
“I’ll forgive you when I get what I want, you hear me?” He’s in her face and if that new Hazel is in there, using her voice will get me exactly what I want.
Like she hears my thoughts, she yells, “Let me go!” My dad’s grip must tighten because it sounds like she’s gurgling before the back of his hand comes across her face.
Perfect. If his confession doesn’t get him put away, this will.
“Godfrey!!” “Hammer!”
Both Dee and Adam yell at the same time but I’m already starting the car. My heart’s beating like I’ve done a pile of blow as we get up to the church. Adam’s a little behind us as I storm upstairs to the office. The door’s locked but I hear something tumbling around inside before my dad demands Hazel to get off the floor. I can tell he’s raging but I’m about to make that a whole lot worse.
With my foot against the door, I give it a few good kicks before it snaps open. My dad’s head whips to me, Hazel with her fists in front of hers.
“Get away from her!” I demand.
My dad’s eyes widen as if he’s snapped out of that rage. With a glance at Hazel, that scowl comes back, vein threatening to pop off his head and start a life of its own.
He’s fucking pissed.
We all are.
He picks Hazel up by her hair before Delilah runs towards them. She throws herself at him. “Suck my coc—” Her warcry is cut short when he swats her away like a fly, her back hitting the side of the desk.
“Delilah!” I call. She groans, her hair covering her face as she pushes against the floor.
My blood pumps, heat rising to my skin as I storm towards him. He starts to laugh. Loud before the room goes red, fire flowing through me.
Then all I can feel is his flesh against my fist.
The cracks I hear make me hit harder. And harder. His laugh turns into a croak before his body goes limp, my fist moving like a hammer. With his shirt wrapped around my fist, he doesn’t hit the ground and I’m about to hit him again before something stops my arm.
“Mate!” Adam. The room reappears and when I look down, the man’s a bloody mess on the floor. He has his back to the ceiling, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. With every cough, there’s more. “You’re gonna fucking kill him,” Adam warns and if he didn’t stop me I would have.
Turning to Delilah, she’s huddled to the side as Hazel stares at him. She doesn’t seem scared. She doesn’t seem angry. There’s a smile on her face that tells me she loved every minute of it.
“The hell is this?” My dad tries to push himself off the floor.
Hazel takes a step towards him. “Get up!” she demands.
Dad still laughs and now I know where my mania comes from. “Is this a setup? Are you all playing Scooby-Doo?”
“Get the fuck up!” Hazel shouts.
“Hazel …” Delilah calls, holding her arm, one eye open and it looks like my dad got her good.
Moving over to her I take her under my arm. “Let her do what she has to do. You good?”
Delilah nods before our attention is back on Hazel. She points her phone at my dad as he groans, rising from the floor. His shirt is a bloody mess and finally, he looks like the monster he is.
“Over there.” She points over to the rail, the balcony overlooking the church.
My dad uses the rail for stability, wincing through the blood on his face. “What? You want me to say I did it? You want me to say I’m not the man everyone thinks I am? They won’t believe you.”
“They will,” Hazel nods, her phone right in his face. We have cameras so this is all for her. “They’ll believe you’re a manipulative, lying, narcissistic, rapey piece of shit.”
“Stop this!” He puts a hand out, blocking the camera but she slaps it away. Dad points a finger in her face. “Stop and I won’t have you all locked up!”
“No. You’re not getting away this time. You’re the one they’re locking up.”
“Wa—” His whole body slumps against the rail, my eyebrow lifting. “Wait.”
“Oh shit.” Dee recognizes it too. It’s that same slump I have when I’m absolutely loaded.
“They’ll know what you did to me and Gemma. And Sammy.”
“Hazel, I—I don’t—” He swats at the air around him with one hand, the other gripping hard to the rail as he slumps. “I don’t feel right.”
“Holy hell,” Delilah whispers. “He’s tripping balls.”
“I don’t care.” Hazel takes a step forward like she’s relishing in her newfound power. “We’re getting justice for Sammy! For me!”
My dad freezes, staring into the camera like he’s seeing a ghost. Without knowing how much Hazel put in his drink, he might very well be. He throws a leg over the railing, Hazel’s body freezing.
“I-I’ll do it!” he threatens. “I’ll—”
Hazel screams, and it all happens fast. She drops her phone to the ground, her arm outstretched before she grazes his fingers.
It’s too late. He’s too far gone.
When I rush over to where she stands, he’s in the air, his arms waving. His legs pedal before it stops, the baptism pool below him. A smile on his face is the last thing I see before …
SPLASH!
Adam makes a run for the stairs. “Wait!” I call to him, noticing something in the water.
Red.
Blood.
“H’oh my God!” Hazel yells. “Oh my fucking god! What do we do!?”
Looking back at Delilah, her widened eyes meet mine, hand to her mouth. Blood spreads through the pool, something rising to the surface.
A loud scream comes from below, in the church. “Gabriel!?”
Fuuuck. No.
“Mom?” My throat is drier than communion crackers when I call back.
She appears in our view, in the middle of the aisle fit for the occasion in a long black dress. Craning her head up, I’m frozen against the rail. We all are. We don’t say a thing as her eyes move between us. I can see her shaking from here. “You all need to go,”
she says.
Delilah joins me at the rail and I pull her to my side, my eyes moving back to the pool.
I’m waiting for something to come. Anything, but it doesn’t.
No sadness.
No regrets.
Not even anger.
“Go!” My mom looks up again, tears streaming down her reddened face before she points behind her with a strong arm. “Now, Gabriel!”
Delilah catches my eyes before she says something I never thought she would. “We should listen to your mom.”
With that I take her hand, Adam pulling Hazel’s as we all head for the doors, down the stairs, and out the church.
“Don’t look back!” My mom’s voice calls from the main room. I’ve never heard her so loud, her voice ringing through the halls. “Don’t. Come. Back!”
With Delilah’s hand in mine, her eyes on me to lead the way, I don’t plan on it.
“You sure you wanna do this?” Delilah asks as we climb into the car. Looking through the windshield, Hazel and Adam speed away in her Beetle.
“You sure you wanna be part of this?” Starting the engine, I glance at Delilah. “You good? That was intense in there and as much as I want you—”
“No doubt, Godfrey. It’s me and you,” she cuts me off, her eyes meeting mine. It’s that same gut punch that gets me every time. That song plays again. “No Church in The Wild.” His song. Her smile grows like we’re getting his blessing. His approval. “Seems he’s down for this too.”
Seeing my dad fall to his death does nothing for me. Knowing my mom saw it all does nothing for me either. But Delilah? She makes everything worth it. All the pain. The struggle. Pulling those lips to me by her chin, I wanna make sure she’s mine. For good. “Last chance to back out, Daniels.”
Her eyes drop to my lips, inches away. “You got my back, Godfrey?” There’s no stopping us when we’re in each other’s corners. Death doesn’t even scare her with me by her side. And with her by mine? We’re fucking immortal.
Pressing my lips to hers, I make sure she feels just how much this god needs his goddess. “Always.”