“Take your fucking hands off my wife,” he snarls in a voice I barely recognise.
I feel the pressure ease slightly off my shoulder blades. “Oh, look who just walked in … if it isn’t
Prince fucking Charming. You’re just in time to join the party. I’ll go first and you can have what’s
left.”
Ayden takes a step closer. “This is between you and me now. Let her go.”
“Let her go? I’m just getting started. She’s up for anything, this one. I should know, I broke her in
for you Stone.” I hear the words but they can’t hurt me. They can’t hurt Ayden. We have no secrets.
He releases me and I slide onto the floor without substance, merely flesh and bone. The breath has
been sucked from my body and it’s all I can do to shuffle away to the side.
Ayden edges closer and adopts a boxing stance. I remember now: plant your feet on the ground, put
your weight behind your punches …
Underneath me I feel the knife and grasp it. Thinking quickly, I throw it to Ayden. He offers me a
grateful smile and shakes his head before turning his attention to my attacker. “I won’t be needing the
knife,” he says, so self-assured I believe him. The olive green shades are fading from his eyes. In their
place are sinister black hues. He has the look of a man possessed.
He turns to me. “Go! I’ve got this.”
I want it to be true but, even after all I’ve been through, I can’t bear to leave him in such a perilous
position. I shuffle towards the door, signalling my allegiance but make no attempt to leave the room.
Not least of all because I can’t stand.
Ayden steps forward fearlessly, strident and purposeful.
“Well, looky here, if it ain’t the great pretender coming to take a pop at Danny boy.” He’s actually
laughing at the prospect of fighting Ayden. This is not a good sign.
“I’ll be taking more than a fucking pop. You crazy bastard!”
His adversary throws a punch but Ayden is psyched; he rocks backwards and the punch finds fresh
air. In retaliation, Ayden swivels his hips and lands a punch in his enemy’s stomach that causes him to
arch his body away for no more than a second. I watch on, willing him to fall, praying he isn’t as
powerful as he looks.
“That the best you’ve got?” He turns to me. “I’ll be with you in a minute princess. Don’t go
anywhere.”
With him distracted, Ayden sinks another punch that lands with a thud on his kidneys. It causes his
body to judder and throws him of balance. He staggers back into a desk and Ayden goes in for the kill.
He leans into him and launches an over-arm punch that catches him on the back of his head. With his
head lowered Ayden raises his knee to smash it into his face. There is the sound of bone on bone and it
makes me wince, wondering who has fared worse out of the collision. But Ayden’s not done. He lifts
up his head by his hair and plants a powerful upper-cut to the jaw.
He’s won.
Staggering and breathless he turns to me but, before he can get a word out, there is movement
behind him.
“You’ve got some balls Stone, trying to take me on with your fucking street fighting.” He stands
tall, gigantic, as if he’s grown a foot in height. He squares up to Ayden and throws a salvo of punches
which he is managing to absorb, blocking shots, ducking to avoid others, matching him in everything
but size. I fear for him.
“Nice moves, for a lightweight.” He’s grinning, merely toying with Ayden. Then, from nowhere he
catches him on his chin with a ferocious upper-cut that propels perspiration into the air, sending him
careering backwards, dazed and unsteady on his feet. He tumbles and lands heavily on his back.
“Ayden!” I call out, falling onto all fours.
My demon turns to me. “You’re wasting your breath. He ain’t going to save you princess.” He
sneers, spitting out blood.
As he approaches me, I’m scrambling backwards. Running out of space, I hit the wall.
“Now it’s your turn.” With a bruised right hand he reaches out to me, fisting my hair, tearing out
strands and lifting me up like a broken doll.
I’m yelling out in pain. “No! Get off me. Let me go!” But, he’s too incensed to concern himself
with my suffering. With what little strength I have, I lunge forward letting fly with a punch to his
groin; it lands with a thumping sound as it hits his balls.
He grunts, but does not loosen his grip. “Now that’s not a nice thing to do, is it?”
As I scramble to my feet, I’m scraping my nails across his hand in my hair and catching sight of
Ayden. He’s coming to his senses, rubbing his chin and watching me being roughly manhandled but,
he is in no fit state to partake – not yet. Playing for time, I prepare to distract my attacker with life
threatening provocation. “I’ll never be yours. You’re a fucking animal!” I spit in his face, and, with
wide eyes, witness a transformation from man to monster.
Every fear I have ever had comes down to this very moment. He’s going to kill me. I close my eyes
…
When all is lost … Ayden comes to my rescue, launching himself onto his enraged enemy from
behind with the force of ten men. He has his right arm wrapped around his neck. Twisting, using his
full body weight, he brings him to his knees. He looks feral, gripped by savage thoughts. His chest is
heaving and, from the unwavering look on his face, I know exactly what he intends to do.
His grip is unfailing. As hard as the choking monster tries, he cannot shake Ayden off; he’s
elbowing him in the stomach, pulling at his hair and trying to turn him this way and that. They are
rolling onto the floor and still Ayden will not release his suffocating grip. He is crazed enough to take
his life.
I plead as best I can, “Ayden no!” But my words go unheard in his relentless assault upon this
madman. I try to stand, but collapse into a heap. He cannot hear me. My words are no more than
muffled sounds that dissipate in the highly charged air.
I see, in slow motion, what’s happening. This is my fault. I brought this phantom into our lives and
I should be the one to rid us of it, once and for all. I can’t allow Ayden to sacrifice himself for me.
I pick up the knife off the floor and, on my stomach, crawl over to the wrestling pair; drag myself
up the demonic body and raise the knife aloft. Using my body weight, I fall onto him, plunging it
deeply into his heart with an agonising cry. Like a woman kneeling in prayer, I leave my hands around
the knife until I see his blood seeping through his open shirt, haemorrhaging across my name and
oozing onto the handle. With this one act I put right all wrongs; purge myself of my shame and find
justice. I’ll be the one to take this life as recompense for the life he stole from me: an eye for an eye.
I will live in fear no more.
The monstrous mass rises from the dead. He lifts his head. We are within inches of each other. He
lurches forward and I lean back, shocked, witnessing his forced submission. In his eyes, I see myself
reflected like a fading ghost.
In his dying breaths there are words. “You’ve got your happy ending princess.” A gruesome grin
forms and then dissolves into nothing, a hideous face devoid of all expression: the face of a corpse.
His head rolls to the side and he slumps to the floor, a dead weight.
Ay
den clambers to his knees, allowing his hands to fall by his sides. He prepares to speak but words
refuse to leave his mouth.
“It’s over Ayden.” I look down at my blood stained hands. “I killed him. It was self-defence. I did
this. Do you understand?” He doesn’t answer but simply stares into oblivion, lost in the realisation of
what just happened.
“Ayden! Look at me. Do you understand?”
He’s entranced. Turning to me he answers, “Yes, Elizabeth.”
I censor my surprise but continue. “We tried to fight him off but he had a knife and, in the struggle,
I got it off him and …”
The door swings open and Lester bounds in. “What the …?”
Having taken a moment to regain his equilibrium, Ayden comes around. He looks up. “Where’s the
ambulance?”
Behind Lester are a fleet of ambulance personnel and our Chief Inspector Bowker, who holds back
the flood. “Wait! I want pictures of this. Please don’t move Mr. Stone. He takes out his iPhone and
starts clicking. “This is not normal procedure but it’s for the record.”
“Are you done?” Ayden snarls. “She needs medical attention. Now!”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry.”
Ayden staggers and tries to right himself. Lester hurries over but he shakes off his arm. “I’m
alright. Get that stretcher in here now. Beth’s badly beaten. She’ll need X-rays and a thorough
examination to check for broken bones and fractures and internal bleeding. Tell them to check
everything.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone. I’ll see to it.”
I hear the words but they make no sense. I slump backwards onto my heels and fall over to my left.
Ayden catches me and takes me in his arms.
“You’re safe now Beth. It’s all over. We’ll get you checked out and then we’ll go home. Do you
hurt anywhere?”
I look into his adoring eyes. “Everywhere …”
“I know, baby. You were so brave.” He kisses my forehead. “Bring that stretcher over here.”
Two paramedics move desks to situate the stretcher and Ayden lifts me onto it. I feel the weight of
the blanket being tucked around my neck and another tender kiss on my forehead.
Outside there are flashing lights and a crowd of people. I’m about to turn my face away from them
but my eyes rest on a solitary figure; a blonde haired woman in jeans, wearing a long, black coat. She
looks familiar, something about the mouth, the intensity of her stare …
I’m in the ambulance. A paramedic is working on me, inserting a line, pumping something into my
veins. Ayden has hold of my hand and is whispering to him. He’s nodding.
“This will make you feel better Mrs. Stone. It’s a mild sedative. In a minute or two you’ll feel calm
and there will be no pain. You have nothing to worry about …”
Before the world fades into black, I gaze lovingly at Ayden; his face is bruised and his mouth is cut
and bloodied; his knuckles are grazed and swollen. Tears sting my eyes. He fought so hard for us
I try to speak. “Ayden …”
“Hush baby. I know.” He folds a bloody hand around my face and smiles reassuringly, his words of
comfort dissolving in a wave of tiredness.
A riptide pulls me under, but I can’t leave him. Not like this. Not without letting him know. What if
I never wake up! “Ayden,” I mutter through swollen lips. “You were right … you saved us …”
His anxious face becomes no more than a blur and my eyes close. All I see is a dark haired boy with
eyes the colour of the Caribbean Sea. He has me in his arms. I’m giggling. I’m spinning round on a
cartoon carousel, hair blowing; the tails of my pink ribbon flying through the air.
As the pain dissolves, I descend backwards into a black hole of nothingness. In my mind I reach
out, fearing I may never claw my way out of it then … into my hand appears three marbles. I see
myself reflected in the smallest of the three and, holding them tightly, I begin to fly, comforted by the
words of a song. Suzanne Vega’s melancholic voice lifts me, raises me high above the clouds. I am a
Small Blue Thing. One single thought remains …
Catch me Ayden, catch me …
The Story of Us continues with TouchStone for ever©
TouchStone
forever©
Songs featured in the soundtrack to TouchStone for giving will be
available as a CD. They are the perfect accompaniment to
The Story of Us.
Twitter: @SydneyJamesson, @TouchStoneFans, @ElizabethP1984,
@AydenStone, @CharlieM_TSFP
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Jamesson
Website: http://sydneyjamesson.com/
Amazon: http://viewBook.at/B00CW6FNXO
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TouchStone for giving (The Story of Us Trilogy) Page 50