A.A. Davies

They said it took sixty-six days to create a new habit, but all it took for me was one look from her emerald-green eyes, and the promise her small smile gave me.

Some might’ve called it stalking, but I called it observing. Someone had to watch over her. She was a girl in the midst of a family that had deep secrets running through their veins. Secrets no one knew about but the people involved. Secrets that would never come to light.

She’d only grace me with her eyes and part of her face, but that was all I needed to keep me coming back.

I promised myself I wouldn’t be like them, we all had, but that didn’t mean we’d stuck to that promise. We’d all fractured out into different parts of the country, but as the youngest, I was kept around more of the family. I didn’t deal with the amount they had to deal with, but that didn’t mean their blood didn’t run through my veins.

Evil was evil, no matter how you portrayed it.

I told myself I was being her protector, watching out for her so that she didn’t get hurt by the very people who should love her above all else, but it was a lie.

It was all a lie.

I craved to touch her. To be near her. I was on the precipice, about to fall to my death, but I’d do anything for her, even if it meant protecting her from me.

It’d only be a matter of time until she left for college, and until then, this was what I had to do. I didn’t want to think about what would happen after that, all that mattered was the here and now.

And right now, I had a fight to win, both physical and mental

I was invisible, but not quite. Forty-three fights in three years and I hadn’t lost one of them. Tonight wouldn’t be any different. Sure, I’d let them get ahead in the first round, I’d allow them to get hits on me, to punish me for giving in to the temptation and staring into that window night after night. It wouldn’t make a difference though, because I’d unleash my hell on them. Just like I was going to do tonight.

I recognized the look in his eyes, it was the same one I’d grown up seeing—want.

Everyone wanted something, whether it was a brand-new car or the hot chick standing at the bar. Sometimes what we wanted we couldn’t have. Like my mom. What she wanted she shouldn’t have been able to have, but it didn’t stop her from taking it anyway. People were takers. They took every piece of you and left only little parts for you to salvage.

I needed the impact of flesh hitting flesh, the burst of energy, and the reminder of who I was and where I came from. It was easy to forget, but I couldn’t afford that luxury, not when it came to her.

“Happy birthday, Beth,” Dad’s deep voice announced, and the hairs on the back on my neck stood up.

I turned around and smiled up at him. It wasn’t that he was the tallest person—he was only six foot one—but compared to my five foot nothing, it felt like there was an entire world of height separating us. There was a time where my dad was everything to me, but the older I got, the more he pulled away. Even more so when Mom left him—us.

“Thanks, Dad,” I whispered.

“Happy birthday, Beth,” Dad’s deep voice announced, and the hairs on the back on my neck stood up.

I turned around and smiled up at him. It wasn’t that he was the tallest person—he was only six foot one—but compared to my five foot nothing, it felt like there was an entire world of height separating us. There was a time where my dad was everything to me, but the older I got, the more he pulled away. Even more so when Mom left him—us.

“Thanks, Dad,” I whispered.

His bulky arms came around me and he pulled me into his chest. The side of my face smushed into his pecs, and for a second, I felt like I was that eight-year-old girl celebrating her birthday with the two people who loved me most.

“Can’t believe you’re legal now,” he murmured. Legal for what, I hadn’t gotten a clue. I could drive the family car legally two years ago and couldn’t drink for another three. He pulled back and cupped my shoulders with his palms. “You look more and more like your grandma every day.”

My brows furrowed and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. I knew he was right. I’d seen pictures of his mom, old ones that weren’t even color, but they were enough to tell me that I looked like her. It was the way his pupils dilated as he stared at me that had me wanting to back away, but maybe it was because he could see so much of her in me? Maybe he missed her like I missed my mom?

Knocking at the back gate had Dad’s dark-brown eyes widening, and he sniffled, crinkling up his straight nose as he did.

surrounded in scruff. Scruff that showcased a scar on his cheek and jaw. I’d asked once how he got it, but he never told me.

“I...yeah.” I cleared my throat and stepped back.

His musky cologne flowed on the air as he moved past me, and I could do nothing but stare at him as he stepped closer to my dad and exchanged a few words with him. Uncle Jacob always gave off a carefree vibe, but today his shoulders were taut as he sat down next to Shell.