Light of Dawn Ch. 08

Dawn wanted to bite down, wanted to bite his disgusting finger off at the knuckle so she could spit it in his ugly face. He must have read her mind.

Yanking his finger from her mouth, Jase reached for the gilded hand mirror resting on the oak dresser. He forced her to look at her own reflection. "Take a good look, you stupid cunt. Little Dawn, everyone loves her. Everyone thinks she's so Goddamned cute. You're not going to look so cute after tonight." He struck the mirror against her cheek. Just a slap, but it was a promise of the pain to come. As he raised the mirror again, Dawn prepared to endure the second blow. She would endure anything if it meant Jeff's safety.

A series of rapid knocks rattled the door. Then a voice, the most wonderful voice she had ever heard. "Dawn, are you in there? Are you alright?" Jase smothered her mouth with one hand and calmly replaced the mirror with the other. "Open the door!" Wood cracked as Jeff flung what little mass he had against the heavy door. It must have been murder to his bruised body. Again and again the doorjamb rattled. Whether it would be Jeff or the door, one had to give.

Accompanied by a final crack and two large splinters, the master bedroom door finally conceded.

Uncovering Dawn's mouth, Jase casually sat up. His hands came together in slow, theatrical applause. "Look who it is Dawn; it's your big brother. Sorry, Jeff, no threesome tonight, and before you ask, yeah, Liza told me all about your little adventure with her and Baby Sis. You are one sick fuck; you know that?"

"I'm taking her home, Jason." Jase sneered at the use of his full name.

Dawn started to get up, but Jase shoved her down hard. Jeff didn't react. He remained the cool, calm quarterback. "See, Sunshine, Jeff isn't so dumb." Squeezing Dawn's bare leg, he rumbled with disingenuous laughter. "I mean, the only reason he's at Choteau is because of the athletic scholarship named for my poor, dead grandpa."

An altercation with Jase would cost Jeff his scholarship, cost him his spot on the team, cost him any hope of making millions of dollars in professional football. Dawn knew it was too much to sacrifice for anyone, especially someone as insignificant as her.

"I'm taking her home." Jeff's voice was firm. He took a step towards the bed, but Jase shoved him. Jeff stumbled. Unable to retain his balance, he landed on his backside.

"I thought you only shove women around." Jeff was afraid; otherwise, he wouldn't have acted so calm and cocky. The accumulated injuries significantly slowed his movements, but he managed to regain his feet. Still following the nonviolent path, Jeff extended his hand to Dawn. Jase slapped the hand away and then slapped Jeff's handsome face.

Not wanting to see her brother hurt, Dawn tried to diffuse the situation. "I want to stay." She couldn't have sounded very convincing.

Jase faced down her brother. "You heard her; the little slut wants it real bad." To his credit Jeff didn't back down, no matter how much she sensed he wanted to. "I can make you leave. You do know that?" They were both huge but Jase was thicker, more substantial. Jeff looked like he was constructed from willow sticks in comparison.

Jeff's fists clenched then just as quickly unclenched. The look he gave Dawn was of pure defeat.

"That's what I thought." Turning to the bed, Jase started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'll let you know how good she is, maybe send you some pictures."

Jeff's first punch was wild; his enormous fist flew past Jase's head.

Jase caught him in the gut with an elbow. Jeff staggered, clutching his mid-section. Jase seized the opportunity by slamming his knee into Jeff's side. Her brother grabbed his ribs then crumpled to the hardwood floor.

"God, Liza was right; you are stupid." Partygoers passed by the broken door, watching dumbly as Jeff struggled to his feet. He took a step but tripped on one of the finely woven Persian carpets that crisscrossed the room. Jeff launched an off-balance jab, easily deflected. Jase Riley's fist connected with the bridge of Jeff's nose. As Jeff dipped to a knee, Jase clubbed the back of his head.

Blood gushed from Jeff's nose, drenching the supple accent carpet. She could hear his wet, raspy breath.

Jase struck what was surely the deciding blow by driving his shoe into Jeff's badly bruised sternum. The injury from Saturday's football game was still purple, swollen, and obviously a vulnerable spot. Jeff opened his mouth in a breathlessoh. Sinking to his stomach, a single lanky arm was all that propped him from the floor.

"Mr. Star Quarterback," Jase said with no shortage of disgust, "Baby Sister's big hero. She protected you. Did you know that? I took her to Alpha House. You should have seen the little slut, jacking and sucking. I could have told her to fuck every guy raw. She would have done it as long as I promised not to hurt you." Blood was spattered everywhere, on the carpet, on the bedspread, and on the toe of Jase Riley's shoe. Jase scowled, then kicked Jeff's valuable left arm. The crack the kick produced was sickening.

Jeff slammed face-first to the floor.

"Your such an idiot, Jeff. Look at your sister, look at the bruises, the welts. If I could do that to a cute, sweet little thing like Dawn just imagine what I could do to a piece of shit like you. Your career is over,everything is over." Jase loomed over Jeff, prodding her brother with the toe of his bloody shoe, "and all because of this red-headed slut?"

Jase glared with his mismatched eyes. His foot found the back of Jeff's neck, near the base of the skull. He pressed the sole of his shoe against Jeff's vertebrae. An ocean of warm red blood flowing from his nose, Jeff lay motionless, making no effort to defend himself. "What do you think, Sunshine? Is his goosey neck as brittle as it looks?"

A hiccup shook Dawn's body. Cold fear gripped her, locking her muscles. She chased the debilitating fear away, willing strength and courage. She remembered how brave Jeff had been when their mother died. He had been brave for so long. She could be brave this one time, for him.

Jase lowered his eyes long enough.

Sucking in a breath, she flung herself onto his back. The muscles of Jase's powerful back flexed, making her feel weak and insignificant. Nevertheless, she wrapped his waist with her legs and locked his neck with her right arm, refusing to let go. Her left hand attacked, scraping and gouging his eyes and face with five meticulously manicured fingernails. The nail of her ring finger tore, causing excruciating pain. She didn't yield. Ribbons of blood flowed across his face as she repeatedly gouged and tore at his ugly flesh.

Jase sputtered and cussed. Stumbling forward, he bucked Dawn from his back. Somersaulting through the air, she collided with the French doors. Glass and mullions cracked with the impact; the latch gave way, spilling her onto the balcony.

Dozens of scratches and one very nasty gash wept blood on Jase's cheeks. One eye was red and watering, the other completely closed. She was amazed she had inflicted so much damage.

Her left ankle screamed with pain. She tried to move but couldn't. Her ankle was sprained, at the very least. Using the wooden railing, she pulled herself to a standing position. She couldn't put weight on the ankle, couldn't escape.

Dawn looked for a flowerpot, an umbrella, anything that could be used as a weapon. She found nothing save a cast iron umbrella stand that was far too heavy to wield. She was trapped.

"You shouldn't be out here, Dawn. It isn't safe. Do you know what a fall from the second story would do to a pretty little girl like you?"

He was only trying to frighten her. Jase Riley was a piece of scum, but he wasn't so psychotic that he would murder her at a party with two hundred witnesses. Balling her tiny hands into fists, Dawn postured for a fight.

"Stupid little bitch." After pretending to laugh, he collected a glob of blood from his cheek and wiped it on her tee. "I think you need another lesson---" Jase's face twisted. As Jase stumbled forward, she saw Jeff's long, skinny arms wrapped around his waist.

After tackling Jase against the rail, her brother delivered a savage flurry of slaps, punches and elbows to Jase Riley's bloody face. Propped over the wooden railing, Jase spat blood and bits of teeth over the side. Raising his foot as if to defend himself, Jase delivered the sole of his enormous shoe to Dawn's chest. She was knocked to the balcony deck, breathless.

Jase's final act of violence seemed to drive Jeff over the edge. He repeatedly drove his fists into Jase's ribs. Breathing hard, he sprayed Jase Riley with the blood from his broken nose. Jase's resistance was non-existent when Jeff grabbed his legs.

"You mother fucker," Jeff spat. He struggled to lift Jase's lower half. "You are never going to hurt her again," he spat a mouthful of his own blood, "never going to hurt anyone." Only then did Dawn realize Jeff's intentions. He hoisted Jase Riley's limp body in a bid to pitch him off the balcony.

She had never seen such rage from anyone, let alone her icy big brother. She was stunned it was even possible. "Jeff! God, no!" Dawn recovered her voice. "Please, stop it. You're not him." It was the truth. Jeff was obnoxious, self-centered, sometimes even cruel, but that was only a small part of him. He was also sweet, loyal and braver than any person she had ever known. He was not like Jase Riley; he would never be like Jase Riley.

Jeff seemed to relax a bit. Her words had been exactly what he needed to hear. Jase's words were not. "Do it, Jeff," Jase wheezed. "Send me to Hell. I'll bet your Mama could use a good fuck."

Jeff released Jase Riley's legs.

Jase thudded against the deck of the balcony. After coughing a final mouthful of blood he lost consciousness.

Police sirens echoed from the interstate. The party was already thinning out. Without really realizing how she got there, Dawn was in Jeff's lanky arms. Blood gushed from his nose, and his eyes were a bit cloudy. Jeff's legs unsteadied. After a moment, he collapsed.

***

His nose was broken, the bicep of his throwing arm torn. Four deep bone bruises had been strategically distributed across his body, making movement exceedingly painful. Jeff hobbled out of the adjustable hospital bed. A tiny, uncomfortable-looking cot lay disheveled beside his own bed. Dawn had slept there all night. She refused to leave when the doctors poked and prodded, refused to leave when the campus police interviewed him for their bogus investigation, and refused to leave when Coach came by to tell him he was off the team.

Jeff hobbled to the cramped bathroom to empty his tickling bladder; as he did, Coach's words echoed in his head: "You're a good kid and a great player, but this type of situation is out of my hands." Coach didn't need to elaborate. Four members of the Riley's extended family sat on Choteau University's board of trustees. Jeff had been expelled from college and banned from ever setting foot on campus; all because he did the right thing.

Dawn's pink, freckled cheeks had grown steadily pinker throughout Coach's visit. She was angry that the school would stand so steadfastly behind Jase Riley, though not surprised. She controlled that anger well, graciously offering Coach thanks for his visit, and thanks for delivering Jeff's gym bag and the contents of his locker.

Four more wins would have led to an unprecedented fourth straight championship for the Choteau Knights, punching Jeff's ticket to the NFL. Jeff climbed back in bed. Willie Thompson, Hayden Burt and the rest of the team knew of his fate by now. Most of the guys were at the previous night's party. They had seen him draped between Dawn and Liza, bleeding over everything. None of the guys offered to help as the two small women dragged him to the emergency room; none came by the hospital to see if he was okay.

He hated hospitals. This one most of all. County General was where he had spent so much time while Mom slowly wasted from cancer. Knowing every bone white corridor by heart, he could still shut his eyes and retrace every step from the cancer ward to the heart ward to the maternity ward and back.

The nurse came in to check his blood pressure. She had been doing that often, wrapping the cuff around his skinny right arm and pumping it tight so tight he lost feeling; it drove Jeff crazy. Dawn had almost flown off the handle when the nurse woke him up at 5 A.M. to check his blood pressure.

"Where is Dawn?" Jeff's voice was dry and thick. The nurse filled a paper cup with cold water and pressed it to his lips.

"Your father came by to see you while you were asleep. He and Dawn went for a walk." The nurse stared at her watch as the cuff filled with air.

"Dad---" He tried to sit up too quickly. The pain medication had left him woozy.

The nurse placed a surprisingly strong hand on Jeff's chest and forced him back down. "Don't worry about him. You need to rest. Besides, your little Dawn would kill me if I let anything happen to you." Dawn had remained so devotedly by his side that the older woman assumed they were a couple. Just about everyone at the hospital assumed that.

"Normal." The Velcro hissed as she tore the cuff open. "You have a blood test coming up this afternoon. If everything goes right you'll be sleeping in your own bed tonight."

"And you won't be alone, either." Dawn stepped back into the room, carrying a tray of food.

"Uh-oh," the nurse said. "Sounds like you're gonna need all your strength tonight." After patting his cheek, she gathered her equipment and departed.

Dawn sat the tray on the bed and speared a fat green bean with the fork. She offered the bean to Jeff; it was mushy from being overcooked. "Pretty bad, isn't it?" Dawn's pretty little mouth curved in a frown. "The meatloaf won't taste any better." She was right. He had somehow wound up with the heel of the meatloaf. It was crispy, black, and every bit as disgusting as it looked.

"I can't eat this crap." He spit the bite of meatloaf in a napkin. Climbing out of bed, he said, "Come on." His bare feet hit the cold floor once again. Jeff felt his ungainly body tip, but Dawn was there to hold him upright.

"What are you doing?" Dawn's wide eyes darted to the doorway. She was scared to death that the nurse would see him out of bed without permission.

"Real food. Cafeteria." His head throbbed with the first few steps. The loss of blood, in addition to the pain medication he had been given, gravely effected Jeff's equilibrium. On rubbery legs he began the journey to the cafeteria, supporting himself on his much smaller sister's shoulder.

He struggled with the back of his hospital gown. The only gown that stretched low enough to cover his nakedness was an extra-extra-large that hung copiously from his narrow body.

After walking a short distance, Jeff's head spun and his stomach lurched. His body needed more time to recover. The cafeteria was on the second floor, between the cancer ward and the children's ward. They sold sandwiches, chips, and sodas. The sandwiches were made up early in the morning and were kept refrigerated for lunch and dinner.

They meandered through the halls of the pediatric ward, a place that had frightened Jeff severely when he was a boy. He remembered wandering the same halls at nine years old and seeing a much younger child wrapped in a plastic oxygen tent. There were other children with tubes running out of their noses and throats.

When they reached the cafeteria, Dawn helped him to a table. She ordered lunch, carrying back a tray with two sandwiches. She looked slightly flustered. "I ordered you tuna salad, but they gave me turkey salad." She slammed the cold sandwich on the table. "I know how much you hate turkey. I'll take it back."

"No it's alright," Jeff said, taking the sandwich and unwrapping the cellophane. The bread felt cold between his fingers. His stomach purred hungrily. "This is fine." He took a bite. It was quite good, actually. He couldn't imagine what he ever had against turkey. His sister smiled and let out a slight giggle. "What?" he asked between mouthfuls.

"I was just thinking about Thanksgivings at Grandma's when we were little. Dad always had to force feed you Grandma's food." She laughed; it was contagious. "You wouldn't eat the stuffing or the potatoes and gravy. You thought they had turkey juice in them."

Jeff chuckled softly. "I guess maybe Iwas a little eccentric." He tried to remember his grandma's face, but for some reason he kept picturing his mother. Dawn's giggles slowed to an abrupt halt. There was something strange about what she had just said, something about Dad. Dad? She never called their father anything but Daddy.

As Dawn swallowed her first bite of sandwich a tear fell down her cheek. She tried to hide it by turning away.

"You and Dad talked?" He felt his heart beat faster when she nodded. "Oh God, what did he tell you?" Dawn sniffled into her napkin. She didn't need to answer. Old Vinnie Kramer had been stupid enough to dredge up the past, stupid enough to confess his infidelity.

"How could he..." She caught a tear with her forearm. "How could anyone...?"

How could anyone cheat on someone as wonderful as Mom? Jeff had asked himself the same question a hundred million times. Vince Kramer was indefensible; yet, Jeff tried for Dawn's sake. "One time I helped Mom spread a bag of cow manure over the rose garden. It smelled disgusting, and looked even worse. I asked her why we were ruining the garden. You know what she told me?" Dawn shook her head no. "She said the prettiest flowers grow from the ugliest dirt."

With all of the Hell in their lives, Dawn and her Daddy had somehow cultivated a healthy and beautiful parent-child relationship, one that Jeff envied. Things would be tense for a while, but Dawn was the type of person who could forgive anyone for anything. She was so much like their mother that way.

"I wish..." Dawn's bottom lip quivered a bit. "I wish I could have known her better." She had been so young when their mother passed. Jeff's memories of Mom had hazed over the years, Dawn's disappeared altogether.

One thing he remembered clearly was how Mom would lift Dawn onto the hospital bed despite her obvious weakness. They would sing "You Are My Sunshine." That was how his kid sister had gained her nickname.

God, how he missed Mom. And yet, he saw bits and pieces of her every day. When Dawn burned waffles in the toaster, he saw Mom. When Dawn needled him about eating right, exercising, and not staying out so late, he saw Mom too. When Dawn smiled at him, her freckled cheeks dimpling, sometimes he saw Mom, but usually he saw Dawn, the beautiful young woman who made him want to be a better person. True, he had thorns; he would always have thorns, but there was something worthwhile there too, something only Dawn had seen.

With lunch a memory, Jeff and Dawn headed back for his room. He didn't need her shoulder anymore, but still moved slowly through the corridors.

The path ahead was blocked by a little boy dressed in pajamas and a blue bathrobe. Thin and frail, the boy couldn't have been more than six. In his arm he clutched a football.

"Hi," Dawn said. She leaned close to the boy. "What's your name?"

"Tyler," the boy said. His eyes were fixed upwards on Jeff, but darted to Dawn's freckled face every once in a while.

She kneeled down to get face-to-face with the boy. "That's a nice football you have, Tyler." Her fingers ran over the bumpy pigskin. "You even had it signed."

Tyler nodded. He handed the ball to Dawn, who handed it to Jeff. Silver letters covered one side of the ball. Jeff read the names of his teammates--ex-teammates. "The Knights gave it to me. They all came to the hospital and signed balls." The boy pointed to the names of the guys who had seemed particularly friendly. "Nurse Debbie told me you play football."