shoulders, not willing to be intimidated by his anger. “It was an accident. The frame fell off the wall and broke, but I’ll get a new one and hang it back up.”
His eyes cut to mine, fury swirling in their brown depths. “What kind of accident could knock a picture off the wall that has been hanging there since the day we moved in here nearly twenty years ago?”
There’s no way I’m telling him what happened, so I lie. “I bumped into the wall when I was digging clothes out of my duffle bag. The picture just fell.”
“You should’ve been more careful,” he roars, walking over to me. “Lauren loved that picture. She may not have loved me, but she loved that stupid fucking picture.”
I have no idea what to say. Even if I did, he wouldn’t care. He’s too lost to his anger to hear a word I say. Again, he is so lost in his love for her, he doesn’t even notice how much he is hurting me.
“Dad, calm the fuck down,” Smoke says, as he walks into the bedroom with Brew and Boz following close behind him.
Round spins around to them, then looks back at me before shouting, “She broke your mother’s picture. Didn’t you?”
The pain in his voice brings a fresh wave of tears from deep in my soul. I know Round loved her, and he doesn’t love me. Still, I thought he cared for me a little. Right now, I’m beginning to wonder if he cares at all. The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.
“I didn’t mean to break it,” I say, glaring at him.
“Fuck, Lisa. What the hell happened?” Before Round can reply, Brew walks past him and grabs my hand. “You’re gonna need stitches.”
For the first time, I look at my hand. Blood is dripping to the floor, and the stinging cuts are much deeper than I thought they were. “I’ll be fine. Nothing a band-aid won’t fix.”
“Get her to see Doc,” Boz orders, shaking his head when I start to refuse. “You’re gonna go, and I’m not gonna hear any lip.”
It’s as if the sound of Boz’s voice finally breaks through Round’s anger, and he finally looks down at my hand and says, “Damn it, baby. Let me get you to Doc.”
He reaches out to touch me, but I take a step a back. “Brew can take me.”
“Fuck that,” he says, trying to grab me again.
I sidestep him and walk out of the bedroom, Brew following close behind me. I head straight to the kitchen and grab a dishtowel to wrap around my bleeding hand. After getting it wrapped up, I head to the door, knowing my time with Round has come to an end. No one should willingly put up with this much bullshit. Now, I just have to figure out how to get the hell away from him, without him knowing I’m leaving. If he finds out first, he’ll talk me out of it. I’ll think of something. I always have, and I always will.
Just before I walk out the door, Round’s voice reaches my ears. “I fucked up again.”
6
Round
I walk in the front door and am shocked that Lisa isn’t there to greet me. For the last three nights, ever since she got back from getting stiches, she has been at my side. The only time we haven’t been together, the only time I haven’t been trying to make up for being such an ass, has been while I was at the clubhouse. That has been limited to church and when I’m ordered to come in by Boz, like today.
Lisa used to spend all her time at the clubhouse, but she cut back awhile back, saying that Trix could handle things now. She went down to only going in a day or two a week. When Brew brought Addy to the club, she cut back even more. Now, she may come in once a week, sometimes not even then. Instead, she picks up some extra shifts at the diner she has worked at for the last three years if they need her to.
I tried to tell her she didn’t have to do that shit. She’s my woman; it’s my job to take care of her. But she didn’t agree. Lisa claims that she doesn’t belong to anyone, and even if she did, she would still be taking care of herself. I used to just laugh off her words, but they are getting harder to