by Aria Ford
“I…” he sighed. “I just can’t believe it.”
“Me neither,” I said truthfully. “Kyle, it’s amazing. At least you finally know, now.”
“Exactly. I know. Whew. This changes everything.”
“Yes. Yes, it does.”
At that moment, I saw him. He was by the hedge. Watching me.
“I have to go, Kyle,” I said quickly.
He sounded upset when he replied, saying: “Bethany? I need to talk to you. Just a few minutes. Please?”
“Kyle,” I said, urgently. “Please. I want to help, really, I do. But I need to go now.”
I closed my eyes, realizing the instant I had said it that Luke must have heard me from where he stood at the hedge.
“You’re okay?”
I sighed. “Yes. Yes, I’m okay. I just need to get in the front door, now. Call back in a minute, I promise.”
“Okay,” he said. “Bye for then.”
“Bye.”
I pressed the phone off just as he came into the garden. I panicked. My key was grating in the lock. I was shivering and terrified.
“Bethany!” Luke had shut the gate behind him and was striding up the path. The key went in. Turned. I fell in and slammed the door shut, driving the bolt home. He tried the door just as I locked it fast.
“Bethany?” he yelled through the door.
“Luke!” I yelled. “Go away. Come on. Go!”
“I know you were speaking to a new boyfriend,” he yelled through the window. “You were, weren’t you? I told you I wasn’t ever going to give you up. I told you.”
I was terrified. I had always known Luke was unbalanced. I hadn’t realized he was that unbalanced. I stayed where I was, behind the door, terrified. Mom was out until six fifteen—at least that was what she had said. If she was with Claudia, she could be much longer. I was here alone.
“Go away!” I yelled. “I’ll call someone if you don’t.”
“Come on, Bethany!” he said. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“How would you know?”
I dropped to the floor so that he couldn’t see my shadow through the thick wavering glass in the panel in the door. Then I crawled under the front window and stood where the curtain hid me.
Luke was still waiting at the door. I had no idea what to do. I was trapped here, more or less, until he went. Not that I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to. I guess I could just pretend he wasn’t there, go upstairs and start working. It wasn’t like he could get into the house—not without breaking in and I would have heard him. But still. I wasn’t just walking away until I knew where he was.
I couldn’t risk leaving him standing in the front garden. What if he took it into his head to lurk there till Mom came home? I didn’t want to risk him doing something to Mom.
I could see him from where I hid. His face was tense and his eyes trained on the door where I had been. I leaned on the wall, heart thudding.
“Bethany?” He called through the door.
I stayed where I was. I didn’t want him to catch sight of me. Somehow, I felt that if he saw me, he might take it into his head to hurt me. I stayed hidden and prayed he’d go away.
He stayed there for about two minutes. Then I heard him shift on the path, the crunch of stone under boot soles. I let out a sigh of relief. He was going.
That was when my phone rang.
It was in my pocket.
Instantly, he came over to the window. I reached into my pocket and pressed it off, but it was too late. There he was, standing outside the window. He looked in. I shrank back against the wall. Luckily, he couldn’t see me. But now he knew where I was,
“I know you’re there!” he yelled through the window. “I’m not leaving this place. I will find a way in. You know me.”
I licked dry lips, wanting to shout something back. “Go away!”
He didn’t move.
“Luke, please. Go away, or I’ll call the police,” I sobbed. “I don’t want to call them. You know I don’t. There was a time when you meant a lot to me. But this is wrong.”
He laughed. “Go ahead. Call them. I’ll walk out and then you’ll have to explain to the police why you called them for no reason.”
I sighed. “Fine,” I said. “If it’ll make you go away, I’ll call them.”
I poised my finger above the phone—I had the police on my contacts list—and then stopped, knowing that I wasn’t going to phone them. If I did, he would walk away and I would be left explaining to the police why I called them for no reason.
If I just hung on long enough, he’d either have to go—he must have to go somewhere, it was nearly six o’ clock now—or he’d have to go because someone else in the neighborhood would send him off.
“Right,” I sighed. “I’m going to call them if you don’t leave on the count of ten. One, two…”
When I got to ten, he hadn’t moved. I sighed.
“Luke, please. I don’t want to threaten you.”
I heard a long exhale. “Bethany,” he called. “You know it’s me. Won’t you come out and talk?”
“Not after you threatened me, I won’t, Luke. No! Go away.”
“Bethany…” it was the sorrowful voice again. “Come on. It’s me.”
“No,” I said again. “I know it is.”
He laughed. “I didn’t do anything. You know I wouldn’t hurt you. Trust me?”
I closed my eyes. “Luke, I did trust you. A lot. Now I don’t anymore.”
“Bethany?” he said. “You did trust me. If I promise not to touch you, will you come out? I just want to talk face-to-face.”
“No,” I said. I was adamant about it. He had threatened me. And my fear was not baseless—he had hurt me before. Tried to choke me at least once.
“Fine,” he said. “But I will find out who you were talking to. You know I will. If I see him here just once, it’s tickets.”
“Luke!” I was horrified. Then I realized the ridiculousness of it. I was leaving.
“I mean it,” he said.
“No, you don’t,” I called out. “You’re being silly, Luke. You’re not a murderer.”
“No, I’m not,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Come out, Bethany. Now?”
“No!” I was desperate. At this point, my plan was to keep him talking until Mom got back. But I couldn’t let Mom come back with him out there.
I decided to call Rodney. He could do something. I took my phone out and as I did I noticed that the missed call was from Kyle. I closed my eyes in concern. The last person I wanted to call was Kyle right now. Luke knew Rodney and if he turned up he wasn’t likely to kill him. I keyed in my code and dialed Rodney.
“Rodney?” I said. “Listen. I need you to come around now. Are you finished work?”
“Bethany?” he sounded horrified. “Listen, what’s up? Are you okay? Is it Mom? What’s wrong?”
“There’s someone here, threatening me.”
“What?” he sounded horrified. I saw Luke shift, trying to see me through the window.
“Listen, Luke is here,” I said. “He’s threatening me.”
“No, I’m not,” Luke yelled. “I’m trying no such thing,” he shouted. “I’m perfectly reasonable.”
“No, you’re not,” I yelled. “You’re threatening me. You said that if you ever saw me with another guy, you’d kill me.”
“Bethany?” Rodney yelled from the other side of the phone. “Listen, I’m coming down now.”
“Thanks!” I called back. I hung up. Almost as soon as I had, the phone rang again. I picked it up. It was Kyle.
“Oh hell.” I slammed my finger onto the off button. Luke was still out there.
“Bethany, you liar,” he yelled through the window. “I never said anything like that! How dare you try and lie to your brother about me?”
“I’m not lying,” I shot back, and then I realized how ridiculous this was. Rodney was on his way. All I had to do was hope he got here before Mom did.
I’ll just text Mom and ask her if she’s going to be long.
I did so. While I did, I lost focus on Luke. I ducked round and looked out of the window. He was still there. He’d moved and was heading down to the garden fence. Maybe he would leave now. I hoped so.
I saw him at the gate. That was when Kyle arrived.
“Oh no. No, no, no.”
I ran out of the door. Luke was still in the garden. Kyle came up to the gate and opened it, walking in round the hedge.
“No!” I screamed. “Kyle! No!”
“This is Kyle?” Luke said.
“Luke! Please!”
I saw Kyle look at Luke and then at me, pain in his eyes.
“Bethany?” he yelled. “Who is this?”
“Kyle! Don’t…”
“What the heck is going on here?” he said.
Chapter 21: Kyle
I got worried when Bethany didn’t answer my text yesterday. When she didn’t answer today, and then dropped the call, I got more worried. I had been on my way to the gym when I decided to check in on her. That was when she’d miscalled me.
When I arrived, I was only a little worried—after all, Bethany was not the sort of person likely to be involved in something dangerous. And then I saw him.
“What the heck?” I said, staring at Bethany. I was confused.
Though I didn’t think it seemed likely, the first thing that came to my head was that Bethany was two-timing me with someone. I looked at the guy. The guy laughed.
“You look confused,” he said pointedly.
“I am,” I said, giving him a frown. “Bethany? What’s going on here?”
The guy laughed. “You ask her? Why? You think she’ll tell you?” he shook his head.
Trust.
“I know she will,” I said confidently. “Bethany? What is this?”
“Kyle,” she said, her voice a sob. “Please, just leave. I’ll explain later.”
“Oh,” the guy said. He was as tall as I was, at least, with sandy hair and pale eyes—gray or green, I couldn’t necessarily tell. He seemed a pleasant person. Was Bethany fooling around?
“Bethany?” I asked.
“Kyle, please,” she sobbed.
The guy—I seemed to recall Bethany calling him Luke—laughed. “Yeah, look at her. She’s not going to tell you. Maybe I should.”
“Don’t listen to him, Kyle,” Bethany sobbed. “He’s going to lie.”
Luke smiled. “You seem a reasonable guy,” he said. “Well, listen. Bethany and I…we go way back. You don’t want to step in now. Really, you don’t.”
“What’re you talking about?”
He laughed. “She’s not yours. She’s mine.”
Bethany looked at the guy with horror. I looked at her.
“Kyle, just go?” she said. “I’ll tell you later. Please?”
I looked at her. Then I looked at him. The expression on her face was torment. The expression on his face was pleasure. I frowned.
“Can someone explain this?” I said carefully. I was almost sure I believed Bethany. I didn’t want to leave, though. If I left her with him, alone, who knew what would happen to her?
He smiled. “I just did. Bethany and I are an item. I don’t know what you heard. But she’s mine. So, if you heard anything else, she lied to you.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t believe her if I were you. She does sometimes mix truth and fiction. Artistic temperament, you know…” he made a gesture.
I looked at Bethany. She had closed her eyes. “How dare you?” she said quietly.
I was pretty sure I knew what was going on here. The fact was, though, that Luke clearly did know her. And Bethany had never mentioned him.
“Bethany?” I said.
She was looking at me with a pleading expression. Then she glanced at Luke. He had moved fractionally closer to her, his shoulder between me and Bethany, pushing me out.
I shook my head. “Bethany?” I said again.
Trust.
“Kyle, just go?” she pleaded. “Now?”
Luke reached out to her. She flinched. He smiled. I couldn’t quite see her face, since he had stepped in front of her, between me and her. I shifted. He smiled.
“Go away,” he said. “You heard her. She wants you to leave.”
I looked at Bethany despairingly.
“Why would she want you to leave,” he asked, “unless she didn’t want you?”
Trust.
“I think I’ll let Bethany answer that question,” I said.
I finally realized how wrong this was. Like my father had, he was lying to me. Manipulating me. Using my guilt and my lack of self-esteem to twist me around in circles. And I wasn’t going to let it happen. I had trusted Mom. I trusted Bethany. It was time to hear their stories.
Luke moved between us.
“Tell him, Bethany,” he said harshly. “Tell him you want me. Not him. Just tell him, now.”
Bethany looked at me, her eyes wet with tears.
“Kyle, please!”
I snapped. I grabbed the back of Luke’s collar and pushed my weight against him, slamming him forward toward the wall. Bethany moved aside, screaming.
“Luke! Kyle! No! Please!”
I felt Luke tense and then slam a fist into me. I was fifteen and on the street. I was eighteen and in the pub. I was twenty-nine, facing my dad.
I screamed in rage and hit him, hard.
His fist slammed into my ribs. I felt one of them crack. I grunted and swung a fist at his head. He ducked and struck me a blow to the shoulder. I yelled and hit him again, this time landing a blow on his arm. He staggered back. Then used the stair to raise himself and rained a blow down on me.
“Luke! Kyle! Stop!” Bethany screamed.
I was fighting Luke now, grappling in a wrestling move. We went from side to side, swaying and grunting. He threw me and I collapsed on my side.
“Kyle!”
Luke was crazy. He was on top of me, hands on my shoulders, reaching to press down on my neck, cutting off the veins. Not crazy, I thought dimly as my eyes lost focus. Smart. It’s much faster than cutting off the windpipe.
I was reaching for his throat, my own vision throbbing: white and black, fuzzy and indistinct. I knew I couldn’t last out much longer: my world was a tunnel of black, shot through with white.
“Kyle!” a voice screamed.
I felt my world go black. Something made a terrible noise nearby. Then, suddenly, my vision was clear. I let out a gasp.
I rolled over. My head pounded, my vision white and black and tunnels of gray. I rolled over, choking.
“Oh, oh…” I felt awful.
“Kyle,” I heard a voice say. “Oh, Kyle. Oh!”
I felt soft hands stroke my hair, and my mind slowly returned to sense and time. I was on the ground. Bethany was with me. She was checking me.
“You’re okay, aren’t you, Kyle?” she was saying. Her hands ran over my shoulders, down my back, over my ribs. I grunted as she felt the swelling up.
“I think…fine,” I said weakly. I staggered into a seated position. My vision was black, thrumming with gray.
I heard Bethany crying.
I turned around and held her. Rocked her. Kissed her rose-scented hair.
“It’s okay,” I said. I coughed. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
She was hysterical. I noticed that Luke was lying on the pathway behind us, still awake but clearly in some pain.
Beside him was a brick.
I stared at Bethany wordlessly, my heart swelling with admiration. She had hit him on the head with a brick.
I held her close. Rocked. “It’s okay,” I said gently. “Do you think you have a key for inside?”
“Here,” she said.
We stood and very slowly, very carefully, for she was very weary, went in.
We locked the door behind us.
I led her through to the sitting room and sat her on the couch. Held her for a minute.
“Can I do something?” I said.
/> “Rodney’s… on his way,” she sniffed.
I nodded. Stood.
I went to the front door. She had left the key in the inside, so I unlocked it and walked out. Luke was still lying on the path.
I didn’t even feel fury anymore. I felt nothing. I lifted him.
“Out,” I said as he, gasping, knelt. “Go on. Out.”
He got to his knees and, wheezing, he left.
I went back in. Sat with Bethany on the couch.
“It’s okay,” I said at length. I kissed her forehead. “You’ll be okay. You’re safe.”
She nodded. She leaned against me. I held her close. We sat like that for a long time.
She sighed.
“I’m okay,” she said after a long time. She turned and looked at me. Her eyes were dry.
“Good,” I whispered.
“He went?”
“He’s gone,” I said softly. I leaned over and rested my arm on her shoulders.
“Good.” she sighed. “Rodney’s coming.”
“Good,” I agreed. We sat like that, with my head resting next to hers, arm enfolding her. I breathed in her fragrance and held her close. I could smell her and feel her warmth. I wanted her.