An uncomfortable silence permeated the pub with Jonathan's group being the center of attention.
"Honey, forget it, it's not worth it," said Samantha as quickly as she came out of her stupor, the concern on her face almost palpable.
"Yeah man, it's that crazy girl's problem if she wants to be friends with Little Red Riding Hood and make a fool of herself," said Sergio, who seemed in a hurry to agree with Samantha and stop what they both probably knew would be Jonathan's course of action.
Mikael and Keila didn't even have a chance to speak, as Jonathan's reaction was faster than theirs. "That bitch is dead."
Jonathan had felt particularly humiliated by the way Lucia had spoken to him, no one treated him like that, not him, so he decided not to let it go. He couldn't stand the idea of being embarrassed in front of his friends, in public, and not precisely in front of stupid Kath.
With an impulse that promised a violent confrontation, Jonathan followed Lucia and Kath. He saw them as soon as he left the pub, standing next to a magnificent motorcycle beast, laughing and having a good time. "How dare they?"
For a moment, Jonathan saw red—the red of pain, the red of hatred, and the stupid red hair of that girl who was once his best friend, who once laughed like that with him—all before his sister died and Kath started lying and saying nonsense to get attention.
"She didn't leave; she's here. She wants to hug you, but she can't. Don't you see her?" Jonathan could hear her voice in his head, as he did every time he thought of his sister, Jane, and remembered that and all her lies. "That's why I hate you, Kath; I'll never forgive you."
That's why he made sure she didn't have new friends, no one she could lie to and manipulate to get more attention. No one deserved to have their feelings played with like that.
At least Katherine made things easy for him. It didn't take long for the whole town to see her as the liar she is. It was already a miracle they didn't officially declare her crazy with how much she talked to herself.
At some point, Katherine stopped trying to defend herself, stopped trying to prove she was right, and started accepting the way everyone treated her. "At least she knows she deserves it," Jonathan thought every time he saw her cower.
But she had found courage again in the company of that girl on the motorcycle, and Jonathan simply couldn't tolerate that. With a hurried step, he caught up with them just as they were getting ready to get on the motorcycle. By then, his friends and his girlfriend had already left the pub and were heading towards him, probably to try to stop him, but he didn't care.
"Do you think you can talk to me like that and get away with it?" Jonathan said as he extended his hand and grabbed the arm of the tall, grey-haired girl whose name he didn't even get.
Lucia, without losing her calm, looked at him with a mixture of disdain and irritation. "Look, pretty boy, I don't know what your problem is, but you started that exchange of insults when you tried to humiliate Kath in public. You simply lost. Now you'd better let go of me before I get angry."
Jonathan refused to let go of Lucia's arm, his grip becoming firmer as his expression darkened. "I'm not going to let an outsider come here and think she's better than us. You don't know anything about this place or that girl you're protecting so much."
Lucia remained calm, though her gaze hardened. "I don't need to know, I can recognize an abuser and a victim with my own eyes, and guess which category you're in?"
Kath, watching the confrontation, felt anxiety take over her again. She didn't want Lucia to get into trouble because of her and more than anything she didn't want Jonathan to keep talking because she knew what he would say. With effort, she gathered enough courage to intervene, though her voice trembled with every second she spoke. "Jonathan, please, leave her alone. This doesn't have to go any further."
Jonathan heard Kath's words, but he decided to ignore them as always; he had long since learned his lesson with her. His attention was now completely on Lucia, who seemed determined to go against him no matter what.
"What? Do you think she's the victim?" Jonathan asked not because he was too dense to understand what Lucia was trying to say, but because the mere idea of what she was saying seemed too ridiculous.
Then Jonathan saw red again, the red of his sister's blood spilled on the wooden floor at the bottom of the stairs, the red of the hair of the girl who said she could see her, the red of the blood of that same girl when he hit her for lying; and then he lost control again.
"She has no right to be the victim, she's a leech that feeds on others' pain, someone who craves a world full of more victims so she can hog all the attention with her lies." Jonathan shouted, accused, and pointed at Kath with all the fury his heart could bear, squeezing Lucia's arm harder in the process.
In his state of rage, Jonathan didn't even see it coming when Lucia jabbed him straight in the chin, forcing him to release the girl's arm. But she wasn't done there.
After freeing herself, she grabbed him by that same arm, twisted it behind his back, and used her other arm to grab him by the hair and slam his face against the motorcycle. "I warned you," Lucia murmured, her voice laden with cruelty and sadistic enjoyment that sent all kinds of danger signals through Jonathan's head.
Jonathan's friends, seeing the situation escalate quickly, finally intervened. "Jonathan, let it go! It's not worth it," said Mikael, trying to calm his friend before he made things worse and caused the girl to hurt him even more than she already had.
Samantha, who had been watching until now, was now alarmed to see how that violent girl was assaulting her boyfriend and subduing him so easily, decided to intervene as well. "Miss, please, we don't want any trouble. Jonathan, this has gone too far, let's go."
Jonathan, feeling the pressure from his friends and the pain from Lucia's grip that seemed about to break his wrist, finally gave in. "Okay, I give up, let me go now."
Lucia kept her grip on Jonathan's arm, her expression of firm determination showing no signs of softening. "I'm glad you gave in, but this doesn't end here," she said firmly. "The one you really owe an apology to is Katherine, not me."
Jonathan, still feeling the pain in his wrist, looked at Lucia with resentment, if looks could kill, Lucia would already be six feet under, but that wasn't the case, he knew he had no choice but to give in no matter how much it hurt his pride. With effort, he turned his gaze to Kath, who was watching the scene with a mixture of surprise and apprehension.
"I'm sorry, Kath," Jonathan murmured, though his tone was still laden with resentment.
Kath, still in shock from Lucia's fierce defense, slowly nodded. "It's okay, Jonathan," she said softly, though she still felt the discomfort and pain of the previous words.
Lucia released Jonathan and stepped back, her expression softened slightly, though her gaze remained firm. "Look at that, now I know your name. You better not get any funny ideas later, Jonathan, I'll be in town for a couple more weeks and I can always make time to give you a beating if I hear you try to do anything to Kath."
Jonathan, feeling humiliated but also relieved that the confrontation was over, simply nodded before turning and walking away with his group.
Lucia turned to Kath, her expression softened completely, all that confidence she had a few moments before had disappeared and she had an uncomfortable apologetic look. "I'm sorry you had to see that, as you can see I'm not the best at ending conflicts peacefully."
But to the surprise of the six-foot-tall brunette, Katherine didn't seem uncomfortable or horrified by her rather fluid and sudden display of violence. Instead, the redhead seemed excited in some way.
Kath looked at Lucia intently with a somewhat strange look, her cheeks flushed to the extreme and her chest rising and falling faster than usual. "Honestly, I don't know if she's terrified, excited, or... aroused," Lucia thought, the last part perhaps more her own expectation than anything close to reality. "But a girl can dream," Lucia murmured as she came out of her thoughts.