Our eyes clash in the mirror.
Kal turns red. Just like his pop. The fist not gripping my hair like a vice crashes into the glass, fracturing our reflection and turning the dozens of reflected lights into hundreds.
He stumbles backward.
I struggle for air, gasping and fighting against the unbearable cough stinging my lungs and throat from having refused to inhale for so long. “That is exactly how my dad is,” I manage to croak out.
Ten or more emerald eyes framed by golden lashes flash at me in the splintered reflection.
“He loves her, Kal. My mom. So much. But she pushes him.” My explanation gets whispery as I serve Kal a hard truth in comparison: “It boils down to the fact that he is not as strong as you. Once he gets in that frame of mind, that is it. There is no going back. No rationalizing.”
Kal looks positively sick that I have used him and his buried anger as an example. Repercussions aside, I wrap it up: “His trigger is Reece and me; that’s where he draws a line with his patience for Mom. He has never lifted a finger toward his girls. Never. Ma has, though. Especially when she is fucked up.”
“Y-you’re justifying abuse?” Kal asks, shocked, completely disregarding what I said about Mom.
“No, Kal. I am justifying human fallibility. For both of them. Anger is a chronic mental illness. As with most illnesses, it carries the potential to be remedied with professional help. Not a damn bullet!”
The two of us stand staring at each other for a few long minutes — me sending out silent pleas to the Universe, him dazed and confused, his brain working overtime.
Then, his eyes flick toward the shower stalls again.
Just like I was too slow to defend myself against Stoney when he drugged me, I am too slow against Kal, too.
He starts slinging open the shower curtains one at a time while I wrap my arms around him and put all my body weight into trying to halt his progress.
This is no longer about making sure she goes unseen. Kal somehow already knows Reece is in here. This is about him not getting to her; I am not capable enough to prevent her from being taken. Nor strong enough.
Kal opens the final curtain, blinking only a couple times in recognition when his focus actually lands on the little being he was looking for.
Then he scoops her up, kicks me aside like I am nothing more than a pesky animal, and prowls away, his prey in his maw.