Boss Next Door

by Mia Ford

  “Mom?” Nope, there is no sign of her downstairs. No sign of anyone really, but it does smell like booze. Someone has definitely been here recently and that someone is definitely David. “Mom, where are you?”

  My nerves get worse as I climb up the stairs two at a time, my hope lessening by the minute. I am really starting to fucking freak out now and I don’t like it one bit. David really has out done himself this time…

  “Oh my God, Mom…” But then I see her. Not that the sight of her does anything to dispel my fears. She is lying on the floor of my old bedroom in a pool of blood, not moving. He might have really done it. He may have really killed her. “Mom, what happened? Oh God…” I rush to her side and fall beside her. “Mom, what happened?”

  She’s breathing, faintly, and she has a light pulse as well, but it doesn’t feel great. I’m scared that the life is slipping away from her no matter what happens. I might be too late, I might have been idiotic by not calling the cops, so if my mom does pass away then I will hold some of the blame for it as well. No doubt about it. I will never recover from this, I won’t forgive myself, I might not be able to even live with myself honestly.

  I grab my cell phone and call nine-one-one, needing an ambulance at least. I don’t know if I want the police here, I don’t give too much of a shit about David, he doesn’t seem to be here anyway, but we do need medical assistance.

  “Help me,” I plead with the operator on the phone. “Send an ambulance. My mom… I don’t know what has happened to her. I think that my stepdad might have beaten her. But she’s on the floor, she’s in a pool of blood, I’m scared that she’s going to die. She’s passed out, she isn’t talking, she is barely breathing…”

  The woman asks me for an address, and I reel it off at the speed of light. My heart is in my throat, I feel like shit, I feel like this is all my fault. I let them know that I need them to come quickly. I need someone here now.

  By the time the woman hangs up the phone, I try to calm myself down by convincing my brain that help will be here soon, but I’m still terrified that no one will turn up or that David will somehow intervene and she won’t get the help that she needs. I was always afraid that David would hurt Mom too badly before she could get out but I never considered death. I never would have thought that he would do this to her. How could he? What sort of prick would do this to another person? To the person he’s supposed to love? Oh my God, what an asshole…

  “Mom, please wake up,” I beg her. “Please, give me a sign that everything is okay with you. I’m scared, Mom. I’m terrified. I got here as soon as I could, and I need to know that it was fast enough. Mom, I need you.” I feel myself breaking down. “Oh God, Mom I’m scared. I can’t live without you. I can’t have him kill you…”

  But she doesn’t stir, she doesn’t move, she gives me nothing. I’m sure that she’s still in there somewhere, wanting to give me a sign that everything is okay, but somehow she can’t. And that’s what kills me, the fact that she can’t. I weep, the tears flow hard and fast from my eyes, I collapse on top of her, begging her to stay with me. I really can’t lose my mother like this, I don’t want David to win, I wouldn’t be able to stand any of it.

  Bang! I leap up as I hear the front door slamming open. It’s loud, it’s someone who isn’t afraid to make noise, which I can only assume is Will. He has gotten tired of waiting outside for me, not knowing what’s going on, and now he wants to know what’s happened. I might not want him in here with me, I may not need him to see the sad reality of my life, but I guess we will be beyond that now. He’s here, it’s all too late.

  “Will,” I cry out, hoping that he can hear me. “Will, I’m upstairs. Me and Mom are up the stairs.”

  I collapse forwards into tears once more, the emotion getting the better of me one more time. I can hardly hold myself upright because this has made me such a mess. Where the fuck is the ambulance? Why haven’t the paramedics turned up yet to save the day? Or maybe they have, perhaps that’s who it is.

  “I will be right back, Mom,” I whisper in a hurried tone of voice. “I’m getting help.”

  Just in case this is the ambulance and the paramedics can’t hear me, I race to the top of the stairs. I lean over, staring to the bottom of the stairs but there isn’t anyone there. What the hell is going on?

  “Hello?” I yell out. “Will? Ambulance people? Who the hell is it? Mom is up here. She needs urgent help.”

  But I get nothing back. The house has gone back to silence once more. Could it have been just the door swinging open? I don’t know if I shut it fully behind me when I raced inside. To be fair, I was in a bit of a state. So, I might be in a mess for no reason. I rush over to the nearest window to me where I can see the street in front of the house, wanting to see if there is an ambulance out there, to give me a clue. But I’m disappointed to see nothing. Nothing has changed… oh apart from the driver’s door on Will’s side of the car is wide open. He definitely isn’t in there any longer. It must have been him coming inside, but where the hell does that leave him now?

  “Will, where are you?” I lean down and scream even louder. “Will, I’m up here.”

  Bang… I jump again. Bang, bang. It definitely isn’t the front door this time around. Bang, bang, bang.

  My heart stops dead. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be listening to but it freaks me the hell out. It isn’t a normal sound and since this is already a messed up situation I don’t need that. I glance back at where my mother is laying, hoping that she will be okay for just a couple of moments while I find out what’s happening. I need to, I have to know if this is going to get any worse than it already is… if that’s even possible.

  “Will?” I can barely hear over the pounding in my ears. I do know there is definitely still banging though, “Will?”

  Holy shit. I don’t find Will until I reach the kitchen and it’s immediately obvious that he isn’t alone. David is still here after all, and he has that mean drunk look in his eyes. He is also covered in blood which I can only presume belongs to my poor injured mother… not that he cares enough about what he’s done to check in on her.

  “You little slut,” David growls at me, spittle flying out of his mouth with every angry word. “How dare you bring some asshole into my house. Who is this man anyway? Someone you have been fucking, you little whore? And what is he doing here? Huh? You want the blessing of me and your mother for this shambles? You swan off and come back to let us know that you have turned into a prostitute? That will kill your mother.”

  In the past, I have always remained silent when he has said these sort of things to me because I don’t want to wind him up more. Knowing that it won’t be me facing the consequences of my words but my mother will be beaten instead is a sure fire way to shut me up. But this time, I don’t feel the same terror and I can’t explain why.

  Perhaps it’s because Will is here or maybe it’s because I’ve had some distance. It could even be because he’s taken things too far this time and it’s time for me to shut him down completely. It will feel good to finally get the truth out, I’m sure of it. It’s been far too long since I let how I really feel free.

  “You have already tried to kill Mom, you bastard,” I scream. “Don’t you dare talk to me about her.”

  David lets Will go as if he’s nothing and he starts making his way towards me. I can tell by the look in his eyes that the years of him never putting his hands on me are about to come to an end. All rules are broken and he’s going to hit me too this time around. Then, I will be another punching bag of his forever.

  Chapter 16 – William

  “No way.” That asshole might have gotten the jump on me because he surprised me, which left me at his whim, but I’m not going to let him get to Serena. No way. Not a chance in hell. He might be dangerous and maybe I am afraid to attack him because I don’t know what he will do in his drunken state, but I’m not allowing him to attack Serena. She doesn’t deserve it. It already seems like he has hurt her mot
her badly. “Fuck you, David.”

  Thank goodness I followed Serena inside and I waited by the front door. I know that she didn’t want me to, but I felt in my gut that it was the right thing to do, and my gut has been good to me. It hasn’t let me down yet.

  I leap on to David, shocking him this time around, before he manages to get to Serena, and I knock him to the ground. Because of the amount of alcohol that he has consumed, he falls easily and I manage to pin him this time. It’s only when he’s down and I am weighing on top of him so much that I know he won’t be able to get out, that I finally meet her eyes. Serena is stiff, fearful, scared to move in case he comes for her once more.

  “Call the cops,” I cry out. “They need to get here now. This man is a danger to everyone. He needs to be locked away.” She doesn’t move. I think that Serena is in shock. “Come on, Serena. Get your cell phone now.”

  She finally breaks free from the mental shackles holding her in place and she nods firmly in my direction. She bounds from the room and up the stairs, presumably to her mother’s side where she left her phone.

  “She really is a little slut that one,” David growls from underneath me, as if he doesn’t quite realize what position he’s in right now. Maybe he really is too drunk to work it all out. “A whore. You don’t want to shack up with a nightmare like that. She will only cause you trouble. Just like her mother does with me.” He tries to struggle, but he’s too weak and pinned down to fight me too much. “People assume that I am the bad one here, but no one knows what I have to put up with on a daily basis. She is impossible to be around, she can’t get anything right.”

  “Don’t say that about someone who you’ve hurt.” I pinned my knee into him, to try and shut him up.

  “Oh, that bitch will be fine. Don’t you worry about her,” he replies dismissively. “She always is.”

  “That isn’t an excuse to hurt her. Who the hell do you think you are? You really are disgusting.”

  I always thought of people who beat women as cowards, and I stand by that belief, but David isn’t shying away from what he’s done like I thought he might. Instead, he’s almost bragging about it. It’s like he thinks that’s just a way to treat women and he isn’t doing anything wrong. I can’t believe what I’m hearing to be honest.

  “And that makes it okay, does it? That makes what you do alright? Honestly, it’s hard to listen to you.”

  “Have you ever been married? Because if not then I don’t want to hear what you have to say. Marriage isn’t easy. It’s a battle every single day. Anger is just a part of that. If you don’t get it then when you’re hitched, you will.”

  I don’t know this piece of work so I’m not about to tell him that I have been married and yes it was hard because I got hitched to the wrong person, but violence never would have come into the equation. Not for me. Even when things were at their lowest with Molly, I wouldn’t have ever hit her. But I don’t think that me and David are exactly on the same level when it comes to love. He doesn’t have a clue what it is.

  “It’s pointless, you know,” David continues smugly. “The police aren’t going to do anything. They never do. If Maria won’t press charges, which she never does, then they can’t do anything. Serena doesn’t get it because she always has her head in fucking lame ass fairy tale books, but this is what love looks like in real life.”

  I can imagine Serena using her books as an escape from her miserable life if this is what it always looked like. I got in to reading as something added extra, to improve the happiness that I already have, but for Serena it was an escape, something that she needed to do to be away from everything. I can’t believe that this was the man who was supposed to come into Serena and Maria’s life to fill the hole that another idiot man left by walking away from his family, and this is what he’s done to them. Rather than enriching their lives, he’s destroyed them.

  I don’t know if Serena will ever let me back into her life, but if she does, I will make sure that I spend every day making her life happier and better. I will show her that this isn’t love after all. Love can be uplifting.

  “Just stop this, mate,” David finally pleads. “Get the fuck off me and stop this. It’s all so stupid. We can sort this out like real men rather than teenage boys who are shitting wrestling. This is stupid…”

  “You are the one who came in and attacked me, remember?” I remind him with a warning tone.

  “Yes, because I walked inside my house to find a strange man in my home. Of course, I attacked first. That’s what any sane human would have done. You could have been a monster for all I know.”

  That’s laughable, and he says it so seriously. I don’t know if he’s fucking with me, using sarcasm as some form of wit, or if he has actually convinced himself that he isn’t a low life human being who doesn’t deserve the air that he breathes. He must be fucking deluded as well as a total scum bag. I could kick him in the head because I’m so angry at him. Luckily, I know that he isn’t worth it. He’s too shitty to deserve a kick.

  “No, the only monster here is you. The one who has been in the house all along.”

  The door flies open at that moment and the police burst inside with paramedics not far behind them. They have arrived much faster than I was expecting, but that can only be a good thing. It means that I have managed to keep David down for the entire time. I have to admit that I was a little worried he would find a way to slip out from underneath me, just because he’s obviously manipulative and used to violence, unlike me.

  But now, I can slide off him with ease and watch as his smug face falls while he is put into hand cuffs. I really hope that this time around, Maria doesn’t let him get away with this. I hope this time she finds the much needed inner strength to put this man in jail, the place where he belongs and from where he can never hurt her again…

  “It turns out that the operator I originally spoke to ordered the police to come along with the ambulance,” Serena tells me weakly. “I can’t remember what I said on the call exactly, I was in shock. But I guess I must have said enough about David for them to know that we needed help. So, my second call was needless…”

  “I’m just glad that it’s all over for the time being,” I sigh back. “I gave my initial statement to the police, and I assume that you did as well.” She nods, clearly weary and overwhelmed by the whole thing. “And the paramedics have got your mom stabilized enough to go to the hospital. That’s good, right?”

  “Very good.” But I can still see tears forming in her eyes. “She is okay for now. Hopefully she will live through this brutal attack.” Serena turns to look at me. “Thank you so much for everything that you did for me today. Driving me here, stopping David from attacking me, keeping him in place until he got arrested…I can’t tell you how grateful I am. We wouldn’t be here now without you. I dread to think what would have happened.”

  “It’s okay,” I reply warmly. “I would do anything for you, I hope you know that by now.”

  She envelops me in a surprising hug, heating me up even more. We have shared even more now, there is an even deeper bond between us, and it could potentially take us anywhere. Not right now of course, but maybe in the future. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but the more that I learn about Serena, the deeper I fall for her, the more convinced I become that she is the one. I know her now, I see her in a more raw and honest way, and I adore every part of her. She isn’t what I was expecting, nor would I ever think that I might fall for a woman like her. But I have, and I continue to do so. I just don’t know the best way to make her see that this is everything.

  “I have to go,” she eventually tells me sadly. “I’m going to ride in the ambulance with Mom so I can keep an eye on her. I don’t want her to be alone. I’m sure that you have a lot to get back to anyway…”

  I nod once, wanting to relax her because I can see that she thinks she’s putting me out, but there isn’t a chance in hell that I am going anywhere. I will follow her to the hospital and see wha
t’s going on. Whatever she thinks, I am in this now, I’m with her all the way, but I don’t want to freak her out about that. She has her mom to worry about, she doesn’t need to be checking in on me as well and feeling guilty because I have decided to stay. No way. Luckily I’m a grown ass man who can patiently take care of myself while she gets everything under control.

  “Don’t even think about work, by the way.” I offer her a smile. “This is where you need to be right now.”

  She clasps her hand to her mouth as if work hasn’t even occurred to her, which isn’t much of a surprise. I don’t think I would be worried about the office if I were in her shoes either. “Oh God, thank you, Will.”

  With one last lingering look, she climbs into the ambulance to be beside her mother and she takes a seat to hold her hand. She is clearly going to be the best support that Maria could need right now to get her through the situation that she finds herself in, I really hope that it’s enough. I hope that she can be the inspiration she has always wanted to be and Maria sees another life without David. Anything has to be better than living with fear, surely?

  I wait, watching as the ambulance drives away with Serena and Maria’s fate in its hands, before I get into my own car and follow it. I’m praying to every deity that will listen to me for everything to be okay because Serena needs some good luck. She needs her mother to be okay. I don’t know if she will be able to cope otherwise. It may well be the thing to tear her apart forever.

  Chapter 17 – Serena

  “Oh God, Mom, this is too much,” I mutter as I hold her hand, silently praying for her to wake up at long last. I have been assured that everything is good with her now, that her vitals are okay and she will recover from what’s happened, physically anyway, but she hasn’t yet opened her eyes and it’s killing me. “You really have to leave David now. You need to. We can’t carry on with the way that things have been going. No way. You must see that now.”