by Michelle Day
Gavin jumped to his feet when he heard Quinn shouting at Angel and her equally loud reply then a bang and nothing. He ran into the house and grabbed his car keys and faithful leather jacket, turning to go out of the back door he found his way barred by the mountain of Novak accompanied by Kiera and a few of his other friends who had seen his reaction.
“I have to go,” he told Novak.
“Where?”
“I have no idea, but I really need to get out of here.” Gavin answered.
Novak turned and ushered the other people out of the house. “Wait until she calls back,” he advised.
“You didn’t hear her, she was scared, he was hurting her.” Gavin protested as he began to pace around the voluminous kitchen pausing to look at his phone.
“What is it Gavin?” Kiera asked .
“Her phone isn’t connecting.” Gavin explained trying again, then raking his fingers through his hair.
“You should go,” Kiera began, Gavin’s look of relief telling her that was what he needed to hear right now.
“Dude, you can’t go off half-cocked just wait,” Novak interrupted, throwing a glare at Kiera.
“I can’t wait, I have to be doing something even if it’s finding Quinn and beating the shit out of him.”
Novak sighed. “We’ve already covered all the reasons why you can’t do that.”
“Move out of the way,” Gavin ignored him.
“I’m obviously not going to talk you out of this am I?” Defeated, Novak gave in and stepped aside “Ok go, drive carefully bro, you’re no good to her dead.”
Gavin smiled appreciatively at his friend. “I’ll call you.”
“Ok. I’ll get everyone out of here,” Novak heard Gavin shout his thanks seconds before the Supra roared to life.
Gavin’s head was spinning as he screeched to a halt at the end of the road. Which way to go? Had she decided to talk to him at the beach after all? Did she wait until he had taken her home? Gavin decided, knowing Angel that she had told him on the way home. Perhaps they were arguing in his car outside her house? He turned his car in that direction and slowed as he approached her driveway, it was empty and the house was in darkness. Grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it into a full left lock, he turned the car around and headed to Quinn’s house, growling in frustration when he saw that the white monstrosity of Quinn’s car wasn’t there. He made several further sweeps of the two homes in the vain hope that the couple would turn up at one of them and that Angel would be home and safe. On his final pass of Angel’s house, Gavin had finally managed to form a plan of action after noticing he had wasted an hour going back and forth.
It took a lot longer to reach the beach than he had anticipated with lorries, caravans and minibuses blocking his path, the three litre turbo under the bonnet positively straining at the leash to be let loose on the open road. The traffic finally cleared and Gavin planted his foot down hard on the accelerator.
Gavin’s heart plummeted when he saw that the car park they had used earlier that day was empty. He jumped out of the car, pressing the remote locking button as he ran to the beach and hurdled the railings landing heavily on the pebbles and scanning the seafront. Knowing he couldn’t physically search the whole of the coast alone he decided to head as far up the beach as he had walked with Angel that afternoon and set off at a stumbling sprint, the pebbles hampering his progress wherever possible.
It was dark by the time he had completed his search. Puffed and with the blood rushing through his ears, he dropped to his knees, bruising them on the offending pebbles and reached into the left pocket of his jeans for his phone. It wasn’t there. Frantically his right hand shot into the pocket on that side, still no phone. Nothing! Heaving himself to his feet and climbing over the railings, he stumbled to the car, approaching from the front; he saw the glow of his phone through the windscreen and grappled the keys from his pocket, dropping them before he managed to press the button to unlock the car.
“Don’t hang up,” he whispered. “Don’t hang up, please don’t hang up.” The central locking buzzed and he wrenched the door open, too late, that call was dropped. Re-dialling, he waited anxiously for the phone the other end to start ringing then the click as it was answered.
“Angel?” he almost yelled. “Angel, its Gavin is that you?”
“Gavin?” Angel spoke through her sobs. “Please help.”
“Where are you?” he asked gently.
“I...I er... I don’t know,” she blurted sobbing louder.
“Angel love, calm down, I’m coming for you ok?” the crying subsided. “Are you in a phone box?” The occasional bleeps on the line giving him the hint.
“Yes.”
“Ok, that’s good. Stay there. There should be an address on the wall behind the phone, read it to me.”
Angel heard him scrabbling in his car and the glove box opening, she relayed the address as he wrote it down ready to enter into his phones GPS.
“I’m not too far away; I’ll be there before you know it. Is it safe for you to stay in the phone box?”
“I think so, what if Quinn comes back? I ran away from him but I don’t know where he is now.”
“Stay out of sight, I’m on my way.”
Angels heart leapt in her chest as she heard his car door close and the familiar sound of his Supra jumping to life at the turn of the key, she was somewhat comforted that Gavin had forgotten to end the call, she could hear him shouting at people to get out of his way in an effort to make his journey to her as quick as possible.
Gavin realised he’d have to use the GPS device on his phone to pin point Angel’s precise location.
“Angel? Are you still there?” he asked.
“Yes,” she breathed, he hadn’t forgotten to hang up and he’d left the line open deliberately.
“I’m sorry. I’m going to have to hang up,” he told her. “I’ll be there very soon, I just need the GPS for this last bit.”
“Hurry,” she pleaded shortly before he hung up.
Angel sank down to the floor of the phone box, making herself as small as possible in the corner. Now that she could no longer hear Gavin she felt horribly alone. She glanced at her watch then at her reflection in the glass. God she looked terrible. She tried to straighten the tangled mess of her hair but as her hands were shaking uncontrollably, she only succeeded in making it worse. The darkness outside pressed in on the phone box and the rain continued to pour, Angel started to shiver.
She was concentrating so hard on the second hand of her watch that when light flooded the phone box she panicked and scrunched down closer to the floor in an effort to hide. The pay phone rang and she stretched an arm up, knocking the receiver off its cradle, relief flooding through her at the sound of his voice.
“I’m here,” was all he said before once again hanging up.
Angel heard the car door open and close then the door to the phone box opened and he was on his knees in front of her.
“Hey,” he greeted her, holding out his hand. He felt bile rise in his throat as she lifted her head to look at him and he saw her bruised face. “Come on, let’s get you in the car.”
She took his hand and let him help her to her feet, holding her ripped t-shirt together with her other hand. Once on her feet she used her free hand to push the hair from her eyes.
Gavin shrugged out of his jacket and placed it around her shoulders noticing that she tensed when he stepped in closer. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know,” she began to cry, great racking sobs of relief, she was safe now and the shock began to set in.
All Gavin wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and hold her but he knew if he tried she would shy away from him again. He decided for the time being, he needed to be strictly hands off. Once they were both seated in the car and Angel was securely strapped in, Gavin turned the heater on then leaned over towards her, making her flinch again.
“What are you doing?” she asked, edging as close to the passenger d
oor as she could within the confines of her seat belt.
“Turning on the heated seat, you look frozen,” he told her.
“Oh” she replied, feeling silly for over reacting and hating herself for not trusting him.
Gavin set the GPS to “home,” then spun the car in the direction he had come from as directed. They drove in silence, Angel not wanting to talk and Gavin fuming, silently planning what he would do to Quinn.
When they reached the main road, Gavin pressed the accelerator to the floor. With the interior of the car illuminated by the passing lamp posts, Angel shifted slightly, seeing Gavin in profile. He didn’t look in her direction at all but she noticed his frown and his beautiful full lips were pulled into a straight line. She knew him well enough to know that he was plotting revenge on Quinn.
“Gavin,” she cleared her throat, watching as his scowl changed to a warm smile when he looked at her. “I’m beginning to steam.”
He glanced down at her legs and saw the wisps of steam rising from her drying jeans, “the switch is just by your right calf, can you reach it?” he asked, she nodded.
“How much further is it?”
“Only about another half hour.”
They didn’t speak again until they pulled into Angel’s drive way and Gavin saw that her parents Jaguar was missing and the house was still in darkness.
“Where are your parents?” he asked switching the engine off.
“They have a do at the golf club, they won’t be home tonight,” she answered.
“Huh, my old man’s there too,” he got out of the car and went to open the passenger door.
“My keys are in my bag, which is in Quinn’s car.” She told him.
“We’d better go to mine then,” he moved to usher her back into the car.
“I can probably find the hide a key.”
“As Quinn has your keys I would be happier if you came to my house.”
Angel shook her head “I’ll dead lock the door from inside and I doubt he’d know what key to use. I really need to be at home Gavin, I’m safe here.”
It didn’t take long to find the spare key with both of them looking. Her hands began to shake again as she tried to insert it into the lock, she gave up and handed the key to Gavin. Once inside, he dead locked the door, making sure it was secure before turning to her.
“You should get out of those wet clothes,” he advised.
“Will you stay?” she asked.
“If you want me to.”
“I don’t want to be on my own,” she flashed him a weak smile.
“Go and get changed, I’m going to see if I can find you some ice for your face,” he headed towards the kitchen as Angel went upstairs.
Gavin double checked that all the doors were locked before he made his way upstairs to Angel’s room where he found her in a pair of loose fitting pyjama trousers and a clean t-shirt trying to brush the tangles out of her hair and failing miserably causing fresh tears of frustration to flow.
Gavin pressed the bag of ice wrapped in a tea towel to her face and placed her own hand on it before taking the brush from her and, as gently as he could, brushed her matted hair until it was hanging freely down her back. He reached down and grasped her elbow, encouraged that she didn’t cringe or pull away as he guided her to her en suite and sat her down on the edge of the bath.
Wetting a hand towel, he took the ice pack from her and with his large, capable hands began to clean the dirt from her face, lightening his touch when he came to her bruises, relieved to see that the ice had already begun to reduce the swelling.
“Let me run you a bath,” he said drying her face with one of the fluffy white towels. Angel nodded and moved away from the bath, watching him as he filled the tub with warm water and lots of bubbles. “I’ll leave you to it,” he told her.
“Don’t go,” she grasped his arm.
“I’ll be in the bedroom,” he assured her. He waited until he heard her lower herself into the warm water before he called Novak.
“Did you find her?” his friends first words.
“Yeah, we’re at her house. She’s in the bath.”
“How is she?”
“Quinn’s used her as a punch bag, her face is bruised, I’m guessing she has more bruises that I can’t see, her clothes were ripped when I got to her, she’s a mess.” Gavin’s voice had deepened in annoyance.
“Did he touch her?” Novak asked, the silence on the end of the line telling him his friend didn’t know the answer. “You should call the police.”
“I know, I’m going to try and persuade her when she gets out of the bath,” Gavin paused. “I want to gut him.”
“I bet you do, but you have to let the police handle this.”
“Yeah, because they are going to believe anything I say with my record. I can’t be here when she calls them in, they’ll automatically think I did this and that she’s defending me because she’s scared of me.”
“Perhaps,” Novak conceded. “But beating up women isn’t your M.O. Gav. You generally wipe the floor with the assholes who pick on their girlfriends.”
“True. I’m staying here for a while, you guys shouldn’t bother waiting up, just don’t latch the front door.”
“Ok, take it easy.”
As he pushed the phone back into his pocket, he heard Angel sobbing in the bathroom, he knocked on the door.
“Angel?” he called.
“I’m ok, I’m ok,” she called back, “I’ll be out in a minute,” with the added layer of her dressing gown she was finally beginning to warm up, she opened the bathroom door and waited for Gavin to stop pacing.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked.
“No, I think I’m just going to get into bed,” she shrugged out of the dressing gown and slid beneath her duvet, Gavin moved the dressing table chair to the side of the bed.
“Are you up to telling me what happened?” He asked.
“Promise me you won’t go after Quinn?”
“I promise.”
“The short version is, I told him we were over, in the middle of him ranting about that, you called, he flipped totally and attacked me.”
He dragged his hands through his hair as he regarded her bruised face, “did he do anything else? Did he…?” He couldn’t voice the words.
She dropped her gaze as she whispered, “no.” Then, swallowing the lump in her throat, “but I think he would have if I hadn’t fought him.”
“Je-sus.” Gavin growled before softening his voice. “We should call the police.”
“What’s the point? His Dad is a top notch lawyer, nothing will happen to him.”
“We have to at least try.” Gavin protested.
“No,” she replied sharply, causing him to frown, “I appreciate all you’ve done tonight, you’ve been great but I’m not calling the police, I’m not going to put myself through that.”
“What if he tries again?”
“Then I’ll call the police,” she stifled a yawn.
“I should let you sleep,” he moved the chair away from the bed a little way and sat down again, “I’ll be right here.”
It took a while for her to fall asleep; she kept opening one eye to check he was still there but eventually her battered body gave in to sleep.
A little past 4am Gavin decided that as Angel was sleeping soundly, he would go home. He walked over to her bed and softly pressed his lips to her forehead before turning to the door. He had almost closed the door when she jolted awake, her eyes immediately going to the chair he had occupied.
“Gavin?” she called, panicking now she was alone.
“I’m here,” he replied coming back into the room.
“I thought you’d gone,” she was standing by her bed.
“I was just going to nip home,” he answered.
“Please don’t leave me,” she pleaded walking over to him. “I feel safe when you’re around,” she slipped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest sighing happily
as his arms wrapped around her, circling her in security.
“Go back to bed; I’ll stay until your parents get home.”
Angel refused to let go of his hand, insisting that he get into the bed with her, pointing out that it wouldn’t be the first time that they had shared a bed but she settled for him laying on top of the covers while she snuggled beneath them.
“Hold me,” she whispered, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes. With his arms tightly around her and the sound of his steadily beating heart beneath her ear she was soon in a deep, unmoving sleep.
The next time Angel opened her eyes it was approaching nine in the morning. Unfolding herself from Gavin’s embrace, she headed for the bathroom to survey the damage in the light of day. There was surprisingly little swelling on her face but the bruises were already visible black splodges on her skin. Lifting up her top she saw the bruise on her stomach also turning black but not as large as the ones on her face. Her crotch protested each time she moved and her left breast was hugely sore but all in all, physically, she had expected to feel worse.
Gavin was perched on the edge of her bed when she returned to her room. While she knew he would never physically hurt her, her confidence had taken a huge knock and she hesitated before moving closer to him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked not getting up or making any effort to move towards her after witnessing her hesitation, a fresh wave of anger filling him at the sight of her bruises.
“Actually, not too bad,” she admitted. “Why did he have to go for my face? She asked, not expecting an answer.
“I’d better get out of your hair,” he stood and made to leave the room.
“You could stay for breakfast,” she suggested.
“Nah,” he shook his head. “I’m good thanks.”
“I’ll walk down with you,” she said following him out of her room.
Julian and Linda returned home to find the front door deadlocked and Gavin’s car in the driveway. Entering the house through the back door, they called their daughters name as they approached the staircase to find Gavin on the bottom step and Angel a few steps behind him.