Fractured

by Leanne Pearson

  Leisha sits me down on the burgundy suede couch. I sink down into its plush softness as I meet her baby blue eyes that are dusted in shimmery mauve eye shadow, full of sympathy and question. She is twisting a section of her pale blonde hair around her index finger, something she does when stressed.

  Rob barrels into the office, Aaron hot on his heels, brows furrowed in concern. Aaron’s eyes hit mine and he scrubs his hand across his shaved head.

  “Shit, that guy that was back here with you. Please tell me he didn’t hurt you, Kate?” Aaron implores, eyes wide.

  “He didn’t touch me, guys. We were just talking.”

  Aaron sighs in relief, still staring at me quizzically.

  “How did he get past the two of you, Aaron?” Rob demands.

  “You bouncers know club rules. Nobody gets past that rear door.”

  “Rob, I...” Aaron starts. I interrupt him.

  “Rob, this isn’t his fault. I told him I was good, and I thought I was just going to be catching up with an old friend.” I sniffle. Leisha hands me a tissue, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I keep my eyes down, fiddling with the tissue in my hands.

  “Some friend, sweetheart. You’re a friggin’ mess. You sure he didn’t hurt you in any way?”

  Yeah, I’m hurt all right. My heart feels like it’s trying to beat through a fist of glass splinters.

  I look up. “Please don’t worry, Rob. I’m fine, really.”

  Rob looks anything but convinced, but doesn’t push it.

  “Well something sure as hell upset you, Kate. You want to talk about it?” he says.

  I shake my head.

  “Well, I still want to know how some random guy breached security. We’ve got two bouncers covering the floor. One out front, and one back here. This should not have happened, Aaron. We’ll be having a meeting about this after closing. Let Nick know.”

  “Sure, Boss. Will do.”

  “We need security on the floor as there are still four more dancers performing till closing. I’m heading back to the front with Aaron. You going to be okay, Kate?”

  “I’ll hang back here with Kate. All good, guys,” Leisha says.

  Rob looks me over again, frowning.

  “Okay. Thanks, Leisha. For what it’s worth now, you were dynamic on that stage tonight, Kate. Blew me away. Well done, sweetheart. See you girls in a bit.”

  “Thanks, Rob.” I force a smile.

  “A bourbon, hon?” Leisha asks.

  Sighing, I nod.

  Leisha and I both watch their retreating forms. She then fixes me a drink and sits back down. Turning to face me, she takes my free hand in hers. “Right, spill, Katy. Tell me what’s really going on here.”

  I take a long gulp of the drink she passes me, and I proceed to tell her everything…

  * * *

  Half an hour later, needing to be alone with my thoughts, I’m sitting under the cover of semi-darkness in the alcove under the stairs where the lighting is dim. I can barely make out my hands. Nobody will notice me back here. All the focus is on the stage and the glittering dancer performing her routine.

  Dominic’s words play over and over in my head.

  “I never touched another woman while we were involved. I was consoling her. That baby isn’t mine.” The utterly broken expression on Dominic’s face, and the hurt in his eyes haunts me. He seemed so genuine. Heaviness knots my stomach, as doubt begins to tug at the fringes of my unwavering belief that he’d been unfaithful.

  What if by some very unlikely chance he is telling the truth? But how could he possibly explain her away? I saw him kissing her, but…God…what if I was wrong, and had been too quick to judge?

  So lost to my churning thoughts, I jump when somebody slips into the dark booth next to me. Two details simultaneously register in my mind as a roving spotlight sweeps the room. One is the unmistakable tattoo of a blackened feather on the arm next to me. The second is the sharp blade that is pressed into my side. Fear freezes the blood in my veins.

  “Scream or move an inch, and this knife will pierce your lung, bitch.

  Chapter 27

  EVIL LURKS

  ~ Dominic ~

  Fuck! I roar, while pounding my fist into the concrete. I have been pacing around the car park of the club for over twenty minutes already, venting my frustrations against the wall of the building Kate is in.

  I’m only in Hanmer for a stag party this weekend. I knew Kate was somewhere in the area. Over the past few months I’d heard she was in the Hanmer vicinity, but I had no fucking clue she was dancing for a living though.

  Respecting her wishes had been hard. A broken, confused man, whiplashed by her cold dismissive words, I dragged my sorry ass around to her unit the night I received her letter four months ago. It was all locked up. Neither she nor Sarah were anywhere in sight. I’d tried calling her numerous times, but she’d cleverly avoided me until she’d left town, and had taken my heart with her. By the tone of her letter, my presence in her life just seemed to be confusing her and delaying her healing. But as the weeks ran into months, and she’d continued with the compete blackout, I figured I was wrong in assuming I’d ever meant much to her at all.

  I had braced for the possibility of seeing her again at some point. It was inevitable. What I hadn’t prepared for was how much it would fucking hurt when I did. It felt like my heart ripped open in my chest when my eyes had landed on her.

  As I think again of her near-naked body back inside, displayed up on that stage for all to see, a simmering rage seeps into my veins, down through my fists, which begin pummelling the wall in front of me.

  “Shit, Dell, calm the fuck down, bro.”

  My head snaps up to lock eyes with Chase and Ryan.

  “You saw her. She’s in that club almost naked, gyratin’ all over a fuckin’ pole,” I yell, pointing to the door.

  Silence.

  “I don’t know what to say, Dell. Club shows. That doesn’t sound like Kate. She only ever danced at the studio she belonged to, never in public.”

  “Well, she sure as shit has progressed to putting on public performances, and that was no damn girl-scout routine, either. F-U-C-K! I wanted to rip the balls off every asshole in there who was starin’ at her like she was their next goddam meal.”

  Wanting to rip something apart, I slam my fist into the wall again.

  “Dell, cut that shit out. Pulverising your hands isn’t achieving anything.”

  Trying to get a grip on myself, I lean back against the wall, pinching the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on.

  Images of Kate’s hot-as-all-hell body has been flipping through my brain like a freaking slideshow since I stepped outside. All hair ‘n’ lipstick, legs ‘n’ tits. God, she has a body that begs to be touched. That being the sole reason I can’t bear seeing it on display like that one little bit. The club was packed to fucking capacity, too. Just thinking about how many randy-assed pervs drank her in with their eyes, and fantasised about all the ways they’d like to experience that body up close, makes me bat shit crazy.

  “You get a chance to speak to her?” Ryan asks tentatively sensing how volatile I am right now.

  “Yeah, you could say that.”

  Chase squeezes my shoulder.

  “She’s lost her way, Dom. Seemed to be finding it with you for a while, then, shit, I don’t know, she suddenly just closed off. It’s real hard, bro. I felt an obligation to Danny to look out for her, but she pulled back from me, too. Love my brother, Dell, and admit I wasn’t too keen on you hooking up with his girl after he passed, you know this. But I accepted it. I’ve never seen you like that with a woman before. Figured you’d be the love-’em-and-leave-’em playboy till the day you died. I’m real sorry, man. Really am. I know she meant something to you.”

  “Correction. Meant everythin’ to me,” I admit, the backs of my eyelids burning.

  “She, uh...accused me of being with another woman.”

  “Shit. What? Why?”


  “I knew I should’ve told her about Lisa,” I mutter to myself, realisation dawning that my omission led to this clusterfuck of a misunderstanding.

  “Didn’t know till she told me tonight, but she saw me with Lisa at my house the week before she left. I had no fuckin’ idea she had come around that day. Lisa was there. She’d arrived outta the blue to let me know that the baby wasn’t mine. She was cryin’ so I hugged her. She may have kissed me goodbye. Kate must’ve witnessed that. Painted her own sordid picture and scraped me off, I’m guessin’, that extended to you, too.”

  Running his hand through his hair, Chase stares at me dumbfounded for a few seconds.

  “Shit, I knew there was more to her leaving town. You’ve got to make this right with her. Christ, she’s been alone and hurting this entire time under the impression you were with another woman. Fuck, Dell, I told you to be careful with her.”

  I open my mouth to cut him short, when the club doors burst open. A murderous rage floods my brain, as my eyes identify a terrified Kate being dragged away by the same fucker who’d manhandled her on the dance floor months back, in Hanmer. Then my eyes zero in on something pressed against her side. And I explode.

  Chapter 28

  MORTALITY

  Fear has me in a chokehold, and I whimper as the sharp knife edges farther into my skin.

  “Keep your head down, bitch, and keep walking,” Heath barks into my ear.

  I want to scream, but the noise is incredibly loud, and the club so packed, that nobody would hear my cry for help, and he’d most probably stab me if I tried.

  I’m powerless.

  He steers us through the throng of patrons, kicking the side door open as we exit the building. As we lurch out into the semi-dark car park, he grabs my arm roughly.

  In the two-point-five seconds it takes to gain my bearings in the poorly lit surroundings, I see Dominic. Before Heath knows what is happening, Dominic roars out for me to run, surges forward, ramming his shoulder into Heath’s ribs. As I’m thrown forward onto my knees, the knife arcs up into the air before flipping across the gravel onto the ground a few feet from me.

  I hear Chase’s voice call out as he and another guy sprint towards us. I scramble to my feet just in time to see Heath reach into his jacket. The glint of steel catches the light as his hand re-emerges with a pistol. Dominic springs for him, they scuffle, and two gunshots ring out.

  My heart stops beating.

  Chase comes to a skidding halt, eyes wide with fear.

  I realise Heath’s been hit when he slumps forward, and Dominic slams a boot into his side as he goes down.

  A blinding terror bleeds into my veins as he goes down but doesn’t stay down.

  Aside from the swooshing sound of blood coursing through my head, for just that fraction of a second, it’s silent as time stalls.

  I try drawing in a breath to scream out a warning, but can’t get any air into my lungs. I’m frozen. An inaudible scream is trapped in my throat as Heath rears back up with the knife in his clutches once more. Before Dominic is even aware of Heath’s presence, I see him lunge for Dominic, and then the thrust of the blade. Dominic is completely unaware of the imminent danger.

  Because he’s looking straight at me. Concerned for my safety.

  Then there’s a flurry of movement. My eyes widen in horror. Dominic grunts, clutching his chest. Surprise. Pain. I know the knife found its target when he stumbles and goes down heavily, his eyes never leaving mine. Heath collapses back onto the ground with a hard thwack, and the knife falls from his grip. The sound of metal hitting the ground seems amplified. I scramble towards Dominic, my brain misfiring as a deep red patch of blood starts seeping through his light blue cotton T-shirt.

  Dropping to my knees, I prop Dominic’s rapidly fading body across my lap.

  A sense of déjà vu washes over me.

  God no, please. Not again. Not Dominic, too. Why is this happening to me again?

  Everything speeds up as people start shouting. Chase, and his friend rush to my side. People gather around with phones pressed to their ears.

  Dominic’s face drains of colour as the seconds pass by; the corners of his ashen lips tip up as he tries to offer me a strained smile.

  “Told you I’d kill him if he touched you again. I’m always a man of my w-word,” he rasps. His breathing sounds bubbly, and a small trickle of foamy blood drips from his mouth, as his eyes lose focus while desperately trying to stay trained on mine.

  Or you’d die trying, damn you! I want to scream at him.

  But I don’t scream. I don’t yell. I can’t. My mouth is only capable of repeating a robotic chant, “N-no, no, NO!” as I cling to his body, rocking him.

  Sirens approach from a distance. Voices that I don’t register float around me in the cool night air.

  Feeling as if I’m detached from reality, I’m aware of movement, as Chase and the guy with him drop to their knees. They frantically begin working to plug the gaping knife wound in Dominic’s chest with a section of Chase’s shirt that he’s ripped off with his teeth.

  Dominic’s eyes roll back in his head as they flutter closed, and his body becomes lifeless. Sticky warmth seeps onto my legs as he bleeds out into the gritty asphalt parking lot. I can’t move. The voices of those around me are drowned out by the violent pumping of blood through my ears. I flinch slightly when warm hands brace my shoulders, lifting me gently, as paramedics take over from Chase’s desperate attempts to stem the flow of blood, attending to the dying man on my lap.

  After Dom was airlifted to hospital, and I’d been checked out by the paramedics for injuries, the police interviewed Chase, his friend Ryan, and me, along with a few other witnesses. A few hours later, Ryan drove us back to Christchurch to where Dom lay fighting for his life.

  On the drive back, Chase sat in the back seat with me. I broke down in wracking sobs as Chase told me how wrong I’d been about Dominic all along, explaining that he hadn’t been unfaithful, and why he’d been preoccupied the week prior to me finding him with Lisa. He told me she had flown in to Christchurch to tell Dominic in person that he wasn’t the father of her child. This explained why she was at his house, and just as he had said, why he had been consoling her.

  Apparently Lisa had called his phone while the guys were waiting for an ambulance. She’d rung to thank him for being so understanding about it all. Chase took the call and for my sake, had verified all that Dominic had told him.

  Heath died at the scene. The gun he used was stolen, and in addition to the knife, the police found duct tape, rope, and a substantial quantity of GHB in his car, a drug which police informed me was often used as a date-rape drug. Dominic had saved me from unthinkable horrors. He’d saved my life, and now his hung in the balance.

  In just under two hours, we arrive at Christchurch Hospital. I hit the ground running as I burst from the car, leaving Chase and Ryan behind me.

  As I sprint through the doors of the emergency room, the clinical smell hits my nose. I’m briefly assaulted with awful flashbacks from the day I was wheeled in after the devastating quake in February.

  “D-Dominic Dell’Antonio, where is he?” I shout to the receptionist in the emergency room as I fly towards the triage desk, totally out of breath, and borderline hysterical. The room is swaying, and my whole body is trembling.

  Her eyes widen slightly, and she’s about to answer me, when I hear Mom and Sarah’s voice. I turn to face them, and am instantly engulfed in a tangle of arms, and hiccupy sobs tear from my chest. Feeling the sickening fear that accompanies a panic attack start to slide through my veins like a noxious poison, I start taking ragged breaths. This hospital. The memories associated with it. Dominic. It’s all too much.

  Recognising the signs of an impending anxiety attack, mom flies into action, pulling a small pill box from her handbag, and hands me a Xanax. These were the tablets prescribed for me months ago, a few of which she keeps in her handbag, for moments such as these, where a trigger can send me over t
he edge.

  “Breathe, Kate, breathe. It’s going to be okay,” Mom says softly while stroking my back.

  I hear Sarah say something to the nurse, and then Chase and Ryan find us. While Sarah speaks with them, Mom leads me over to a row of seating away from prying eyes. She explains that Dominic has been taken to surgery and that for now, no news is good news.

  I wonder momentarily how she knows about Dominic. I wonder if she’s hurt that I never said anything to her about him. I also wonder just how much Sarah has surmised about the last few months, and pieced together. Taking deep breaths, I drop my head into my hands, looking up when I hear Uncle Dave call my name.

  I leap up and plough into his broad arms. Uncle Dave gives me the only thing he can at this stage— support. He holds me for a long time while I sob. My remorse, fear, and anguish flows through my tears into the flannel of his shirt. When I next open my eyes, I see Chase’s grim expression. He signals that he’s going to grab us some coffee.

  A short while later, with my body feeling heavy and my nerves temporarily soothed under a medication-induced calm, I tell them everything. Sarah holds one hand, and my mom the other. My uncle sits on a chair in front of me, quietly absorbing the information.

  Mom is tearful, yet composed, while I give a detailed account of how I met Dominic, and how he quickly grew to mean so much to me. Mom and Uncle D are both surprised to learn about my relationship with Dominic. Mom is overjoyed that I’ve healed enough emotionally to let another man get close to me again. They both understand my reasons for keeping things to myself, and are saddened to hear how an unfortunate set of factors led to us being apart for so many months.

  If Sarah is hurt by my omission in telling her exactly what we were as a couple, and the main reason I left Christchurch, she doesn’t show it.

  “I didn’t need you to tell me. I knew it, Katy. I just knew there was more to the two of you than just a budding friendship. Platonic my ass,” she says into my hair, giving me a tearful hug.