Behold the Stars by Susan Fanetti Page A

bastard, you know that?” He jerked his head, but she kept hold of him. “What about Show, and Len, and all the other guys you call brother? What about them? They’re lined up to fight with you. They all agreed to run the town with you. They agreed to the meth. They are there to fight Ellis with you. It’s their town, too. You’re not a monarch, Isaac. You’re the guy at the head of the table, but the rest of the chairs are filled, too. You are not alone.”
    Isaac stared at her. Lilli stared back. She let go of his chin and traced the line of the scar running up his left cheek. That scar, from just below his nose all the way to his temple, was something she’d never asked about. She’d simply accepted it as a part of him. She loved it, in fact. “How’d you get this, love?”
    Blinking at the change of subject, Isaac took her hand away from his cheek and kissed it. “Long story.”
    She wouldn’t push. Not her style. “Okay. You think you’re ready to go in now?” She started to stand, but Isaac kept hold of her hand.
    “My dad.”
    Lilli sat back down. “What?”
    “My dad did it. He was a big drinker. A drunk. And, you know—a nasty son of a bitch. I was…twenty-two. I’d gotten a lot bigger than him by then, and he hated it. I’d had my top rocker about a year, and I voted against him at the table. First time. Swung the vote against him. Didn’t do it to piss him off. Did it because he was wrong. That pissed him off worse, I guess.”
    He cleared his throat and blew out a stilted laugh. Staring at his hands, he continued. “It’s weird. I’ve never told this story. Anybody else who’d care was already there. I’m sitting at the bar, drinking with the guys, starting to think about grabbing a girl. My old man’s at the other end of the bar, watching me. All of a sudden, he’s off the stool, charging me, yelling fucking pussy pretty boy! , and he’s on me, yanking me off my stool onto the floor—catches me off guard and off balance, and I just fall right down—and he’s got his switchblade. He just…slices me. Never manage to put up any kind of fight. Doesn’t hurt at first—shock, I guess—but blood’s gushing like somebody turned on a faucet in my face. The guys pull him away, and he shakes them off. He stands over me, says, see how they like you now .” Isaac laughed again. “Then he just went back to his Wild Turkey, left me lying there, holding my face together with my hands.”
    Lilli was speechless. She rose up on her knees and kissed the scar. But Isaac wasn’t done. “Show took me to get stitched up. I was staying at the clubhouse then, and when I got back my old man was sitting at the bar reading the morning paper. He gave me a look, then went back to the sports page, like nothing. I grabbed his fucking bald head in my hands and slammed it into the bar until he was unconscious. Nobody stopped me. Fucker never touched me again.”
    Because there was simply nothing to say, Lilli didn’t try. Instead, she pulled on Isaac’s legs, straightening them along the floor, and she opened his arms. She climbed onto his lap and held him close. After a moment where he was completely passive, as though he were not entirely in his body, his arms came around her, and he laid his head on her shoulder. They sat like that until dawn broke. Finally, Lilli got him to come back into the house. She took him to bed and held him while he slept.
     
    ~oOo~
     
    Exhaustion had finally really claimed him, and Isaac slept hard that morning. Lilli lay with him as long as she could, but when she heard one of the horses—she thought it might be Gertie—raising a fuss, she slid out of bed and got dressed. Leaving a note on her pillow to let him know where she’d gone, she pulled on her boots and jacket and hurried to the barn.
    It was Gertie yelling, but as soon as Lilli opened the doors and came in, she settled and dropped her head over the door, making a series of chuffing noises. Lilli went to her