A Beautiful Struggle (24 page)

He grabbed me forcefully by the arm and
growled close to my ear, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I snatched my arm back, and turned towards
him, “Why do you care? What are you even doing here?”

“I went by your house, and your mum said
you came here. I need to talk to you,” he told me.

Christopher moved closer to me and asked
protectively, “Is everything alright here?”

I held my hand up and said, “It’s fine Christopher.
We're just talking.”

At the same time, David growled, “Don’t
even speak to me, Christopher, if it was up to me, you’d be in prison right
now, so just fuck the hell off!”

“What did you say to me?” Christopher
demanded through clenched teeth, leaning threateningly towards David.

“I said ‘fuck. the hell. off’ you
pussy-hating woman-basher,” David goaded, speaking close to Christopher’s face.

My mouth fell open as Christopher’s fist
connected with David’s jaw and sent David sprawling on the ground. Christopher
then jumped on top of David and started pounding him in the face.

I rushed over and tried to pull him off but
only succeeded in getting clipped in the cheek by an elbow as Christopher
pulled his fist back to hit David again. I yelped as I stumbled backwards.
Brent jumped in along with some random guy I didn’t know, and hauled
Christopher off David, who was lying on the ground covered in blood and
laughing, of all things.

I rushed over to David and knelt down
beside him, scowling at Christopher, “Jesus, Christopher! I let you back in my
life for five minutes, and you beat the crap out of someone. You know, I
believed you when you said it was the drugs, but now I’m thinking you’re just a
thug! Don’t ever speak to me, David or anyone I care about again - or I promise
you I will press charges against you for what you did to me.”

He looked at me disheartened as he
aggressively shrugged the men off who were holding him back. When he started to
leave, Brent and Abby followed him out, Abby turning to me and saying, “I am
so, so sorry that just happened.”

I shook my head to say ‘don’t worry about
it’ and turned my attention back to David, who was now trying to sit up.

“What the hell was that David?” I asked him
softly. My anger had evaporated the moment, he hit the ground. Accepting a
paper napkin from a girl at a nearby table, I held it under his bleeding nose,
“He could have killed you, then what would I do?”

David sighed and shook his head, “I don’t
know. I just saw him near you and pretty much stopped thinking from that point
on.”

I reached up and moved his hair away from
his forehead, “Do you think you have a concussion?”

He started to try and stand up, so I jumped
up first to help him. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m pretty sure he broke my
nose.” The bleeding wasn’t slowing down so I grabbed some more napkins to help
stem the flow.

“Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital and
get you checked out.”

We walked out to the parking lot together
and got into my car, driving in silence to the emergency room at Nepean
Hospital. We were sent through to triage fairly quickly; they assessed the
urgency of David’s wounds and decided to take him straight through as he was
bleeding quite profusely.

I went through with him and sat quietly
while one of the nurses cleaned him up. A doctor came by to look at David’s
face and order some scans to be done to check the extent of his injuries.

When the doctor left the curtained area
David turned to me, confusion in his eyes, “Why were you even with Christopher
anyway?”

“I wasn’t with him. I was actually there
talking to Abby – I wanted to go out, and they were there so I was saying hi.
It was no big deal, I wasn’t trying to rekindle anything.”

He reached out to me and took my hand,
pulling me towards the bed he was on. I sat down facing him. He kept his eyes
focused on my hands as he spoke, “I lost my mind today seeing you with him
Katrina,” he looked up at me, and I could see the pain in his eyes. “I can’t
handle seeing you around other guys anymore – especially him.” He reached up
and touched my cheek gently, “Does this hurt?”

I closed my eyes against his touch, feeling
the warm familiarity of his fingers against my skin. I held his hand against my
cheek and let a tear escape as my heart ached from missing him so much. I shook
my head no, not trusting my voice to speak.

He moved his thumb to wipe my tear away and
sat up so his swollen face was closer to mine, “Katrina…I can’t handle seeing
you with anyone else because… because
I
want to be with you,” he
whispered. I met his eyes and could see the truth in them. Eyes that were blue
like mine and filled with all of the pain and suffering that I had also been
feeling during our time apart.

I saw myself in his eyes, there was a
connection between us that ran so deeply, we were one and the same. I realised
that connection, it had been there all along. “I love you Katrina,” he murmured
as he moved closer and kissed me gently, softly brushing his swollen lips over
mine being careful to avoid hitting his nose.

When he pulled away, he looked into my eyes,
his own filled with concern as he wiped at tears I hadn’t felt flowing. That
was the moment I understood - the entire time I had been with Elliot, I had
been missing David. I had felt a like a part of my soul was gone when he wasn’t
in my life, and I was using Elliot to fill that gaping hole. I didn’t love
Elliot. I loved David.

My tears flowed more freely now as I
admitted to myself what I had been denying for years.
I
loved David –
that’s why I teased him constantly about the girls he flirted with. That's why
I was so angry about Beth; I wanted him to flirt and be with me.

“Hey, baby girl – why are you crying so
much? The kiss wasn’t that bad was it?” he cooed.

I shook my head and tried to dry my face
with my hands. “It was beautiful David. I'm crying because, well, because I
love you too, and I have been so miserable without you,” I sobbed.

He took me in his arms, and I clutched
myself to him crying on his shoulder. He smoothed my hair and shushed me,
whispering to me that everything would be alright and that he wouldn’t leave me
again. He told me how sorry he was, and that he had loved me so much it hurt to
be away from me.

A nurse came around and took David to get
his scans done, I was told to sit in the waiting room as it was likely he would
go home afterwards. A good two hours later David came through the doors with a
prescription for painkillers and an information sheet about concussions. The
scans didn’t show anything except for a fractured nose which was less than we
were expecting, but it was still possible that David had a concussion, so he
needed to be monitored overnight and wasn’t allowed to drive the next day.

I looked at his face, all swollen and
bruising already. “Aren’t they going to put anything on your nose?” I asked him
concerned.

He took me by the hand, “Nah, they said to
ice it, and take some painkillers and decongestant. It’s just a fracture and
should heal fine on its own. But,” he grinned that half dimpled grin of his and
said, “you’re going to have to keep me up all night to make sure I don’t have a
concussion.”

“Well we have a month of catching up to do.
I think I can manage that,” I told him squeezing his hand.

I drove him back to his house and his
mother almost fainted when she saw him. After telling her what happened, I
asked her if it was ok if I stayed with him to keep an eye on him for
concussion symptoms. Reluctantly she agreed, hovering close by trying to take
care of her son herself.

We got David settled in bed after he took
his medication and gave him an ice pack for his nose. I called my mother to let
her know I was staying at David’s place, I told her briefly what happened and
despite some pretty heavy sighing, she was reasonably good about it.

I sat down on the bed and tucked my leg
underneath myself, so I could face David and talk to him. “So, where do we go
from here David?”

“Forward… together,” he answered quietly,
taking the ice pack off his own face and pressing it to my cheek while he ran
his fingers through my hair on the other side.

“What about Beth? What are you going to
tell her? She already hates me enough as it is. Her and Bianca will probably
string me up for stealing you away.”

“I broke up with Beth last week,” he said,
taking a hold of my hands.

“Last week?”

“Yes, when I saw you upset last Wednesday,
I knew I was being unfair to Beth. I guess I was using her to prove that I
could move on from you – but I couldn’t. I guess it’s why I’ve never really had
a relationship; because I’ve always had you. Although, your friendship isn’t
enough for me anymore Trina, I want all of you.” He moved forward and was about
to kiss me when I pulled back.

“I scared of hurting your face,” I told
him.

“It’ll be worth it,” he told me, closing
the distance between us and kissing me. His kiss was gentle at first but became
more insistent as I relaxed into him and allowed his tongue to explore my
mouth. He winced when we pressed a little too firmly, but mostly it was one of
the most soul warming kisses I had ever experienced, all the emotion and desire
my body had been harbouring for him for all those years had been released and
was surging through me, setting my skin abuzz as every part of me longed for
his touch.

His hands were roaming over my body. “Lock
the door,” he whispered in my ear.

 I got up smiling at him coyly and went and
over to turn the lock. We kept watching each other, not really sure who was the
hunter and who was the prey.

“Take off your clothes,” Ok, I was the prey
- his voice was husky as he spoke and his boldness sent a bolt of lust straight
between my legs.

I’d never been commanded to take my clothes
off before. I had to admit it was hot. He watched me with darkening eyes as I
reached behind my back and undid the zipper of my dress, letting it fall off my
shoulders exposing my breasts. I could hear his breathing change as watched me
shimmy out of it, taking my panties off with it to stand before him, naked,
exposed and loving his eyes on my body.

“You are exquisite Trina,” he breathed as
he held his hands out beckoning for me to come closer. I moved to him, and he
pulled me onto the bed kissing me while he ran his hands up and down my naked
back, “Lay down,” he instructed.

I reclined on the bed in front of him, and
he reached up to smooth his hands over my skin, starting from my collar bone
and running his fingers down, in between my breasts and over my stomach. He
brushed his fingers through the hair on my mound and guided my legs, so I was
lying in front of him with my legs open, baring myself to him.

My breathing was hot and heavy as I watched
him trace his fingers over my body. He slipped a finger in between my folds,
and I gasped when he pushed into me. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” he whispered,
“that’s my heaven in there,” he said as he moved his fingers in and out of me and
started to slide them over my clit and back inside me again. Small whimpers
kept escaping my lips as feelings of ecstasy were flooding through my nerve
endings.

My orgasm was building quickly, but I
wanted more. I wanted - “I want you inside me David,” I gasped out, trying to
hold out but only managing a few seconds before I exploded around his hand,
bucking my hips as I instinctively closed my legs, squeezing myself around him
and riding his hand with the waves of my orgasm.

I sat up and reached to unbutton his pants,
“I want you inside of me,” I said to him more forcefully this time. He grinned
that wicked grin of his and lifted his hips to assist me in taking his pants
off. I raised my eyebrows as I realised there were just pants. “You don’t wear
underwear?” I asked him.

He shook his head slowly from side to side,
watching me with a half grin.

Being careful to make sure I didn’t hurt
his face any more than it already was, I lifted his shirt. He raised his arms
above his head to aid me and I dropped it on the floor as my eyes wandered over
his naked body.

I had seen his chest before, it was lean
and fairly well toned with only a light smattering of brown hair over it. He
had broad shoulders and long sinewy limbs, and his manhood – well, let’s just
say it was sizeable.

My mouth dropped open upon seeing it, and I
looked up at his eyes. They were dancing with amusement. “It’s fine,” he
assured me, “you’ll stretch.”

“I hope so,” I said eyeing him off as he
applied a condom.

“Come,” he said guiding me to straddle him,
“you control it.”

I poised myself above him and took him in
my hand, sliding his tip back and forward between my folds to gauge the fit a
little. I settled him at my entrance and pressed down a little, gasping as I
felt myself expand around him. I moved back up to assist my lubrication and
then slid back down, a little further this time.

I let out a shaky breath as I slowly took
in his length, feeling him pressing deep inside me. My core quivered at his
touch. I was stretched around him, filled completely and the sensation was
amazing. I was letting out small whimpers of pleasure as I rode him, grinding
our hips together to accept him into the depths of me.