Leaving His Mark

by T A. McKay

  “I really hope you feel the same or I'm gonna look like a real idiot here.” I feel her body shake with laughter and I look at her. Her smile is beaming and it lights up her face making her look even more like an angel. She is always beautiful but the look on her face right now, a happiness I have never seen before makes her radiant.

  “I feel the same. God, I thought you were gonna dump me. I want to be yours, Gabe. You make me feel safe and secure, I’ve never had that in my life before. And it’s only you, it’s all you.” Fuck this girl makes me wish for everything I have ever dreamt of, she’s the beginning and the end of my perfect story.

  Tears glisten in her eyes again but this time they don’t fall. She lets out a deep breath before reaching up and kissing me quickly on the lips before pulling away.

  “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and clean myself up. I'm pretty sure my make up isn’t looking too great. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I watch as she walks away, the smile on her face huge and contagious. I find myself smiling as I see how happy she is. I can’t believe that she has just agreed to be mine, okay, she didn’t really agree to it but she said she felt the same. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I loved her but I didn’t want to lead with that revelation. Better to keep some things a secret just now, no need to fully hand her my balls.

  I'm grabbing a beer from the table in the kitchen when I feel a hand grab my shoulder and turn me. I tense getting ready to attack whoever just put their hands on me, the one thing I hate is people grabbing me, especially in surprise. I come face to face with Clay and even though I know he won’t touch me I'm still tempted to punch him in the face. I relax, putting the bottle to my mouth and taking a drink.

  “Where’s Rhys?” I smile around the bottle and I can’t wait to tell him that he has no chance with Rhys. I know he only goes on about how sexy she is to annoy me, but now I can tell him he definitely won’t be getting anything from my woman. My woman. God that sounds amazing even in my head.

  “She’s gone to the toilet. And just so you know she’s mine.” I'm waiting for him to tell me that he was right, that he is great and he knew the whole time. What I actually see is a face that tells me he isn’t in the mood for joking about and I have no idea why.

  “We need to get her. It’s Paul.” I blink in confusion. I have no idea what he's on about. It’s Paul? What’s Paul? I put my bottle down and turn back to him, he looks like he ready to explode at any minute and he’s actually worrying me.

  “What are you on about, what’s Paul?” I look about the kitchen trying to find Paul, I saw him not that long ago and he looked like someone had killed his dog. Pissed off wouldn’t even cover the look on his face. I haven’t seen him in a while but then I’ve only had eyes for Rhys.

  “The guy sending stuff to Rhys. It’s Paul! The guy is off his head crazy. We need to get her out of here now!” I feel a chill flooding through my body as his words register in my head. Paul is the one who broke into her apartment and destroyed her things, told her that he would be coming for her. A ringing in my ears covers the noise from the party. Oh god, he has been around her this whole time. He could have hurt her right under my nose and I wouldn’t have been able to protect her. My mind flips back to when she asked me if anyone had complained about him. Has he already done something to her?

  A slap on my cheek pulls me from my head, the thoughts disappearing as I look at Clay.

  “Snap out of it, Bro. We need to get to her. Don’t lose your shit just yet.” He's right. She is in the same house as him and I need to get her to safety before I come back and kill the fucker.

  I'm walking back from the bathroom when I'm grabbed by the arm and dragged into a dark room. My heart rate instantly spikes and I’m starting to panic when the lights come on. I turn and come face to face with a very pissed off looking Paul. I take a step back, not sure what’s wrong with him. I noticed him earlier at the party and that’s why I left the living room. He’d been staring at me with a look of pure fury in his eyes. I don’t know what I’d done but then I thought maybe Gabe had mentioned me covering for him. I hadn’t told Gabe the full story but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t asked him what had happened.

  His grip on my arm tightens and I flinch as the pain travels up through the muscles. He’s starting to scare me. I can smell the alcohol on his breath as he leans in closer to me.

  “Are you okay, Paul?” There’s no way that he's okay, nothing about the way he's standing so close with his fingers still digging in to my arms says that he’s fine. I want to pull back and move away from him but I'm frozen in fear. I have been in this situation before and the memories flood my mind filling me with paralyzing fear.

  “What did Gabe say to you?” I try not to show a reaction to his question but I'm not sure why it bothers him that I was speaking to Gabe. What has it got to do with him who I speak to? I choose my words carefully, trying to soothe him. He’s incredibly tense and I'm scared that if I push too hard he might snap and I won’t come off very well.

  “N … nothing. He just said hello.” I wonder how long he’d been watching us, had he seen me dancing with Gabe, kissing him? I hadn’t noticed him when I was dancing but Gabe has this habit of making the world around me disappear.

  I'm brought out of my thoughts by Paul shaking me by the arm and pushing me backwards towards the wall.

  “You’re lying. I saw you with him. Didn’t I tell you that you were mine?” His voice is low and menacing, letting me know he’s close to losing his temper. I feel the wall behind me and I panic knowing I have nowhere I can escape to. Cold panic fills me. Those words. You will be mine, they are the ones I have been hearing in my head the last day. I knew the words on the text sounded familiar and now I know why. Paul spoke them the other night at the shop when he had me against the wall. The first tear spills down my cheek when I realise how much danger I'm in just now. I try to work out mentally how long I have been in here with Paul, how long it might be before Gabe notices I'm gone and comes looking for me.

  “You’re hurting me, Paul. You need to let go of me and let me leave.” A hand comes out of nowhere and backhands me across my cheek. I stand dazed for a moment, the burning starting to build in my face. I can’t believe that he’s doing this to me, not once have I given him any indication that I want anything with him. There hasn’t been a single day since I started my job that I haven’t avoided him as much as possible.

  “You don’t know what hurt is. I sent you all those things, I gave you my heart and you just threw it away. You took my love and fucking stomped on it. I saw you have sex with him, did you think I wouldn’t find out?” The colour drains from my cheeks as he keeps speaking. No one knows that I’ve slept with Gabe, we’ve only had sex behind closed doors in our house. No one could know. Then a horrible thought comes to mind. I felt that someone had been watching me, that there were eyes following my every move when I was in my bedroom.

  “How do you know that?” The words come out quietly and I internally curse myself for not putting more power behind them.

  “I have been watching you for a very long time, Rhys. I needed to make sure you were safe, that no one was touching what was mine. All it took was a little gift with a camera in it. Imagine my surprise when you actually took the bear to Gabe’s house. If you hadn’t, I would never have known he was touching what was MINE!” A hand comes up and wraps around my throat, the pressure increasing as he continues.

  “I don’t want you talking to anyone. I don’t want you looking at them. You belong to me, remember that.” I’m finding it hard to breathe, the pressure on my throat is too much. I reach up and grab his wrists, my mind is becoming fuzzy and I'm praying that I wake up very soon. This has to be a bad dream, there is no way that this can be happening to me. He loosens his hold and I breathe in much needed oxygen. I'm just recovering from the lack of air when his hand grabs the hair at the back of my head, pulling tightly causing pain sear through my scalp.

  “Get on your knees, bitch.�
�� He pushes me down by my hair, I try to stay standing but it’s useless, he’s too strong. I feel my knees hit the ground at the same time as I hear him opening his belt buckle and I know what’s going to happen. I’ve been in this situation too many times to not realise that he's going to take something that I'm not willing to give him.

  “That’s the place for you, on your knees at my feet. Now open like a good little girl.” The tears are flowing openly down my cheeks and I know I can’t let this happen. I need to fight back, even if I get hurt in the process I refuse to let this happen again. I have come too far to let myself be abused again. I clench my lips together tightly and pull against his grip, my hands coming up to push his legs away from my body. He pulls my hair harder and I want to scream in pain but I need to keep my mouth closed. My hands fly up and grab his hands trying to release some of the pain but he just grabs harder. I can see the look in his eyes as he looks down on me, it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing but pure hatred there and I say a little prayer that I’ll survive what comes next.

  He pulls me up onto my feet and I have no option but to follow what he wants. I stand in front of him and try to control the shaking that has invaded my body. He throws me across the room by the hair and my body lands with a thud on the floor. He walks over to stand next to me.

  “That was a very silly thing to do. Do you think just because you are here you’re safe? I will show you how safe you are.” I curl into the fetal position as his foot connects with my body for the first time.

  I'm franticly looking for Rhys down the hall but I can’t see her. The bathroom was empty when I got to it and the panic had started. Where the fuck is she? I'm back in the living room hoping that maybe she got chatting to someone and I missed her. Rory is walking past me and I grab his arm stopping him in his tracks.

  “Have you seen Rhys?” He gets a shit-eating grin on his face. He's another one who has been giving me grief about liking Rhys. He threatened to ask her out if I didn’t.

  “No I haven’t seen her for a while. Did your girlfriend sneak away from you?” I know he has no idea what’s going on so I restrain myself from knocking him on his arse. I need to save all this anger for one person and one person only.

  “Have you seen Paul?” If I can’t find Rhys I need to know where he is, keep him away from her. If I take him out then she’ll still be safe. He points down the hall towards the back door.

  “He just left. I don’t know what’s up with that guy tonight but he looked ready to rip someone’s head off.” I don’t say anything more to Rory before I turn and run down the hall. I can’t see anyone down here. Fuck! Where is she?

  I'm walking down the hall when I hear something behind a door to my right fall on the floor and smash. I don’t hesitate before throwing the door open and turning on the light. I don’t see anything when I enter, the room looks completely normal.

  I'm about to close the door again when I hear a noise come from inside the room. I frown as I try to follow the sound. I walk around the bed and my heart about stops when I see someone lying on the floor. I know it’s Rhys without seeing her face, I would recognise her anywhere. My heart is in my throat as I kneel down beside her putting a hand on her shoulder. I want to cry for her as she flinches when I touch her and curls up more, a tiny whimper coming from her before she quietly whispers.

  “No more.”

  “Rhys?” I keep my voice low, not wanting to scare her any more than she already is. So many thoughts are racing through my head. Is she hurt? What did he do to her? How can I kill him?

  “Rhys? Are you okay?” She seems to relax a little and her little body slightly but she keeps her face covered.

  “Gabe, is that you?” I place a hand on her hip and she flinches again, letting out a pained moan.

  “Rhys, I'm worried. Are you okay?” I hear her sob before she pushes herself up on shaky arms. I don’t miss the fact that she hasn’t lifted her face to me yet. I can see blood on her dress and my stomach clenches, anger starting to brew inside me. I know it’s her blood. I don’t know how I know but I do. She is gasping for air as she tries to sit up straight and I hear her pain in her moans. I’m trying to hold on to my anger, not let it explode out of me. I don’t know what has been done to her but I know who fucking caused it. Paul.

  “I need you to look at me, Shorty. Show me your face.” Another sob breaks free from her and she slowly looks up at me, meeting my eyes.

  The next thing I know I'm racing for the door, slamming it against the wall as I throw it open it in anger. I'm gong to kill him. I swear on everything I have that the fucker will die tonight. I can hear Rhys shouting behind me, telling me to stop, to come back but I can’t. I need to smash something and that something is going to be Paul’s face. I see flashes of Rhys’s face in my head as I rush down the hall. The blood flowing from her burst lip, the bruise over her red and swollen cheek.

  I rush out of the back door and race across the grass towards the street. There is no way he could have gotten far and if he did then I will hunt the fucker down. I can hear blood whooshing through my ears as the pressure builds inside my body. I need to break something, I need to break him. For once in my life I’m glad of who my father is and what he taught me.

  I turn the corner into front garden and there he is. Standing in the middle of the grass talking to some girl like he doesn’t have a care in the world. The fucker doesn’t even have the intelligence to get the hell out of here after what he just did. He must think he's untouchable. I build up my speed and attack him, throwing my body against his back and knocking us both to the ground. He grunts as he lands on his front with my weight on him and it gives me a little bit of satisfaction but I need to do more, I need to watch the fear in his eyes as he realises I know what he did to my woman.

  I grab the back of his hair and smash his face to the ground. It would have given me more pleasure if it had been concrete but the snapping sound of his nose is enough for now. He bucks me off his back and I fall to the side landing on the grass next to us.

  “Fuck! What’s your problem?” His words come out muffled from behind his hands as blood spills out between his fingers. The memory of Rhys with blood on her face resurfaces and I let out a roar before attacking him again. I get him onto his back and start punching him in the face. He doesn’t just lie there and take the beating, he fights back catching me several times on the jaw and in the ribs but I can’t feel a thing. The adrenaline pumps through my body making me numb. I know when I wake up in the morning I'm going to struggle to move but just now the anger is keeping me moving.

  “You laid your fucking hands on my woman. Did you think that I wouldn’t know it was you?” He laughs. The idiot actually fucking laughs at me.

  “You actually think she’s yours? She’s mine … all fucking mine. You were just a warm body to pass the time until I claimed her.” His words cause me to pause my attack, does he honestly think that? He can’t be that crazy to believe what he's saying? The distraction gives him a chance to punch me in the face, catching my nose and making me fall back. Climbing on top of me he gets the upper hand and now it’s my time to protect myself.

  I should worry that maybe I'm not going to come out on top but I don’t, a man that puts his hands on a woman isn’t a real man and will never win against me. Seeing Rhys lying there reminded me of my mum. Too many times I found her lying on the floor, broken by my dad’s fists. I will not let that happen again to anyone, I couldn’t protect my mum but this time I will not fail.

  I buck my body and throw Paul off me, it’s not hard to do. He may be tall and have muscles but he’s nothing compared to me. I get to my feet and stand over his kneeling form. He's facing the ground and panting, blood dripping from is face and hands. I grab his hair and pull his face up to look at me. I want him to know exactly who is about to end his life. That’s what I need to purge this anger. I need him to take his last breath as I watch the light fade in his eyes. I bring my fist down on his face, a sati
sfying gurgle leaving Paul as a bone in his face cracks.

  “Rhys is mine.” I bring my fist down again making more blood explode from his nose.

  “She belongs to me.” I rain a quick succession of punches down onto Paul’s face, listening to more bones in his face crunch under the blows.

  I'm about to continue my assault when a huge body collides with mine and takes me to the ground. I look up and focus on Clay’s face.

  “Get off me.” I try to throw him off my body but I know that it’s a lost cause. I can never win against him, he’s just too damn big.

  “Calm down.” His words are level and clear. I relax into the grass and realise for the first time that there is wetness soaking into my back. I don’t know if it’s blood, rain or sweat but the coolness against my back cools my temper.

  “Is she okay?” I didn’t even take time to check her properly before I let my temper take over … just like my dad used to.

  “Someone call the police, I think he's dead!” The voice behind us makes both mine and Clay’s heads whip to the side to look over to the bloody form that is Paul. Shit, I did that.

  “You cool?” Clay asks before he starts to move from my body. I nod my head as he climbs off me and moves over to Paul. I push myself up from the ground with a groan. I'm so going to feel this in the morning. Clay puts his fingers on Paul’s neck before swearing. His eyes flash to me before he starts CPR.

  Everything that happens next happens in a blur, like it’s happening within a few simple minutes. Blue lights flash across the front garden as police and an ambulance arrive. The paramedics take over from Clay and start to work on Paul, trying to save his life. A pair of legs appear in front of me and I look up to see two police officers standing in front of me.