Last time in Boy Window...Amber is
pregnant. Jake invited DBD to hopefully duke it out. In my mind, the
BFG 9000 is involved.
Chapter 22
“~Liam~”
Liam says how he has to keep
Jake in check.
“Sure, I wanted to kill
that asshole as much as he did, but we seriously needed to be
careful. If we literally jumped him as soon as he walked in, we'd be
liable...”
Kirsty, that's not how that
works. A man with a history of violence threatens the well being of 7
people, 3 of whom are minors and 1 which is an infant, you don't need
Matt Murdock or Jennifer Walters in your corner to argue that you
felt threatened. Especially, when dialogue from the previous chapter
led us to believe that DBD is currently wasted. Hell, you could do
the logical thing and call the cops. You could explain that Ruby was
being abused, that you were helping escape that situation and DBD is
trying to retaliate. You have 6 people (not including the baby) who
can testify to his criminal behavior, not to mention the piles of
medical records from injuries that they have suffered at DBD's hands
over the years.
Anyway...
Liam takes Amber next door
after arguing about how stupid their plan is. Mind you, she isn't
saying it's stupid because there are a hundred better options. She is
saying it stupid because they could get in trouble. He wins the
argument by carrying her to his place. Because this is a romance and
the guy has to carry the girl at some point. But before we move on I
want to point out this line.
“She wasn't staying
here near that man, no way, because if he even looked at her the
wrong way, I wouldn't be able to restrain myself...”
So it's not for her safety
but because you would kick his ass and possibly get in trouble.
He makes her promise to
stay. Tears are involved but I'm listening to a Latin tribute to
Michael Jackson so all I wanna say is I really don't care about this.
(5 points to those who get the joke)
“'If you get sent to
jail for murder, then I'll wait for you'”
This would be sweet if this
wasn't entirely preventable.
Liam returns to Jake's side.
They repeat the idea that DBD has to throw the first punch.
“'I just want to talk
to him and tell him to get the fuck out of our lives...'”
And you couldn't have said
this over the phone why?
DBD shows up. Jake is out
for blood like a starved pig (those guys are terrifying).
DBD: “Liam James,
you've grown a bit, huh?”
Liam: “Stephen Walker,
you stopped molesting young girls?”
...I didn't take anything
out (except DBD sneering) and I have reread that section about five
times and I still don't get this exchange.
DBD says he is taking his
wife and son back plus Amber, a threat that would have no weight if
they got a restraining order or put him in jail like any sane person.
“Maybe his plan was to
let his dad get a couple of hits in first so he could say it was
self-defence.”
Is that how it works in the
UK? No matter how much someone abuses you over the course a life
time, if they aren't presently beating the shit out of you, you can't
do anything about? Is that why they haven't called the police? I
think stand your ground laws are abused to high hell, but DBD has a
history of violence and is angry. Jake could easy argue that he felt
threatened.
Anyway...
DBD says he should have
injured Jake's mom while she was pregnant with him and force her to
miscarry. Jake shoves him. Liam tries to calm him down. Amber shows
up because she is an idiot. DBD grabs her, when she struggles, he
back hands her into a table. Liam precedes to beat the crap out of
him. Jake has to pull him off DBD because
Jake: “LIAM, AMBER'S
HURT!”
Amber: “It hurts, Liam.
Please, it hurts so much.”
Liam: “What hurts?”
Amber: “My stomach.”
“~Amber~”
We rewind to just before DBD
shows up and Amber convinces herself that she needs to witness the
crime for legal purposes. The same things happen but from Amber's
perspective. When we finally get back to where we left off before, and Liam is trying to comfort Amber.
“How the hell is he
still comforting me? This is all my fault – why is he not shouting
at me?”
Anytime someone does
something that makes sense, I wonder if the characters are annoyed
and confused. What Liam, you are being loving and caring while I am
obviously miscarrying?
Then Amber surprises me by
acting realistically. She is ashamed, embarrassed, and terrified
because she is miscarrying. She is also paranoid that Liam is going
to leave her because she is miscarrying, but sense isn't usually a
thing when you are panicking and in pain.
What does bother me about
this whole thing is that we are on page 244 and she found out she is
pregnant on page 228. Not including the 4 pages of repeated events,
we have only known about the baby for 12 pages. That is not long
enough to form an emotional attachment. Why was she pregnant at all?
Just so Liam has an excuse to to hulk out and beat the shit out of
DBD? DBD would have still hit her, and Liam would have still reacted.
What was the point? It didn't progress the characters or the story.
Liam tries to beat DBD up
some more. Jake pulls him off. Everyone finds out that Amber is
pregnant. DBD calls her a slut. Liam sees red, but the sounds of
sirens keeps him from doing anything. Paramedics show up (for the
second time in a few days).
At the hospital, the doctor
explains that they need to perform a surgery to remove the miscarried
fetus. All this tells me is that Moseley is capable of doing research
but has refused to do so until now. Amber goes into surgery.
“~Liam~”
Jake shows up.
“I was actually
surprised that he wasn't kicking the crap out of me for getting his
little sister pregnant...”
He probably has other things
on his mind, and we all know that he wouldn't anyway. That would
count as consequences for your actions.
Amber gets out of surgery.
All went well. Eventually she wakes up and is surprised he stayed.
“She honestly
thought I would leave her?”
Well, you both are terrible
people so I'm not surprised by any of this.
At night, Liam uses his
puppy dog face on a nurse to get her to let him stay the night. They
fall asleep on her hospital bed. Mind you, this isn't an
end-of-Titanic-they-totally-could-have-both-fit situation. Hospital
beds are small, I have no idea how this worked out.
In the morning
“'Liam James, I'm
arresting you on suspicion of Grievous Bodily Harm.'”
The dad is suing for GBH?
Are you serious? There is no way this would stick. DBD hit his
underage daughter so hard that she miscarried Liam's child. Unless
extreme emotional distress is not a viable defense in the UK, this
shouldn't be a problem. And when the police find out why DBD was
there in the first place, his history of abuse will be known. Which
leads me to the question. WHY WOULD DBD SUE WHEN IT WOULD FORCE
POLICE INVOLVEMENT AND POSSIBLY RESULT IN HIS ARREST? Hell, Amber
could have him arrested for GBH because HE HIT HER SO HARD SHE
MISCARRIED!
Whatever...
The officer reads Liam his
Miranda Warning (the UK version at least), it confuses me when he
says
“'You have the right to
an attorney.'”
Because I was under the
impression that they were called “solicitors” in England. Either
way the chapter is over and I am free!
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