Love Resisted (Entwined Hearts #2) (20 page)

“Fuck this shit!” I’m stuck in traffic, so I’ve taken a few minutes longer than I told Soph I’d be. I’m on the Fulham Road and I can see the hospital in the distance. I’m just about to call Soph and let her know to come out when I spot her mother walking around the corner. The only thing that made me look was the striking resemblance to Soph. I haven’t seen Soph’s mother for years, but she’s always looked like Soph, just an older version. And even though it’s dark, my eye are still drawn to her. I know it can’t be a coincidence that she’s here, where Soph is. I don’t have time to catch the bitch and demand to know what the fuck she’s doing. Instead, I abandon the car on the side of the road and run to where she’s just come from. I only get a couple of feet around the corner and I see Soph up against the wall and a man has his hands around her throat. My vision blisters red and my body feels like molten lava is coursing through my veins. I run as fast as I can and slam into him hard throwing his body a good ten feet. He lands with a thump on the cold hard cement. I catch Soph as she falls not wanting her to hurt herself, but as I lower her to the ground to check if she’s okay, I get a swift kick to the ribs. I jump up and see his eyes widen slightly.

Yeah, that’s right, I’m going to kick the shit out of you.

I pounce, punching him with my right then my left and with my right again, then kick him once, twice, three times and before his body crumples I kick him again for good measure. I rush over to Soph and lift her in my arms then turn running at full sprint back to the hospital. The moment we enter people start fussing around and she gets rushed off to be checked. I call the police, knowing what I’ve done, but being more concerned with Soph’s safety. Then I call Dane and fill him in, asking him to do whatever he can.

Fuck knows what’s going to happen.

I pace the waiting room for about ten minutes before the police turn up. When they do I tell them what I can which, unfortunately, isn’t much. They explain that if I assaulted someone they would have to arrest me, but when they check, he’s gone. I curse under my breath knowing the fucker got away.

Next time…next time, I’ll kill him.

The police leave and Dane turns up about five minutes later. “I saw your car outside, brother. It’s been clamped,” he tells me. I shrug my shoulders. “I’ve sorted it. It’s being taken back to the house.”

I nod my head in thanks, not feeling up to talking. Dane must understand as he sits next to me in quiet support. We’re not there for long when a doctor comes out to us.

“Mr. James?” the doctor asks. I nod and stand up. “Ms. Rawlings tells me you’re her fiancé, so if you would like to come with me you can visit with her.”

“I’ll wait out here until you’re done,” Dane says behind me and I look over my shoulder at him.

“Thanks,” I murmur.

“Is she okay?” I ask the doctor, my voice raspy.

“She’s okay. Battered and bruised, but no permanent damage. She’ll need a couple of days of recuperation but, to be honest, she just needs time to heal.” I nod at his explanation, finding that I can’t figure out what I need to say. “She’s in here, and we’re happy for her to go home,” he confirms gesturing to the door then walking away.

“Doc,” I say finding my voice. He stops and looks back at me. “Thank you,” I tell him, just managing to get the words out. Opening the door and stepping inside, I take in Soph. The bruise around her eye is forming as is another one around her neck. My jaw ticks at the sight.

“Don’t honey,” she says and I look up into her eyes which despite the bruising are soft and filled with love. “You saved me, Saul. If you hadn’t come along when you did…” she doesn’t say anymore and I step forward carefully wrapping her in my arms before she starts crying.

“Let’s take you home,” I say when her silent tears subside and I feel her nod. We walk back out to reception and see Dane. I can tell the moment Soph is in his vision because he grinds his teeth and narrows his eyes, which are flinty and cold. As soon as Soph spots him I watch his face morph into a soft and loving stare.

There’s definitely more to my brother than I know.

“Hey Tink,” he says as we approach and he wraps her in his arms in much the same way that I did just moments before.

A few hours later and Soph is asleep. I’m standing in the kitchen sucking down my second beer.

“Did you talk to Con?” I ask Dane and he nods.

“Yeah, I explained everything. He’s going to tell Pea when he sees her in the morning, but I think he’s going to give her a
softer
version,” he tells me.

“Probably best in her condition,” I reply.

“I called Eric too. He flapped a lot and I made him wait until tomorrow to call Soph. Which was a feat in itself as he wanted to come over straight away.” I smirk at what Dane says, then I hear movement on the stairs and turn my head to watch Soph walking down them. I rush over to her.

“Soph, you should be resting,” I chastise softly.

“Sorry honey, I know and I will go back to bed, but I need you to do something for me, please?” she asks rubbing her neck. It must be hurting her to talk.

“Anything, babe,” I tell her. She moves past me and to her jacket, fishing in the pockets until she brings out a small black item.

“What’s this?” I ask and she points to Dane.

“Dane? What’s this?” I ask and see him coming toward me. He looks at my hand and takes the object from me.

“It’s a Dictaphone,” he says and then continues, “When Soph started getting these letters, I gave her this. I told her to keep it with her and if she was ever in anyone’s company which she didn’t trust she was to turn it on to record. She could always delete the recorded stuff later if it were crap.”

I look from Dane to Soph. “You recorded them?” I ask and she nods. “Okay, let’s take you back to bed and I’ll listen to this in a minute and deal with the police, all right?” She nods again and I pick her up in a bridal lift and carry her back to bed while kissing her tenderly on the lips.

“Sleep well, angel. I’ll be here when you wake up.” She smiles and her eyes close from exhaustion. When I get back to the kitchen, I look at Dane.

“Play it,” I demand and he fiddles with the buttons and presses play.

“So, I have to resort to following you just to talk these days?” Followed by Soph’s wary tone saying, “Mother.”

Two hours later and the police have left with the tape. Dane made a copy, actually he made three. Hopefully, we’ll never need them, but I’m glad we have them. Now we just have to hope they find the fuckers.

“Go up to Soph, in case she wakes,” Dane says.

“Was just going to. What about you?” I ask.

“Things to do,” he tells me making it obvious that the conversation isn’t going any further. I slap him on the back.

“Night brother,” I say before walking up the stairs to join Soph. When I get to the room, I stare at her sleeping for a moment, knowing that if I’d been five minutes later,
no fuck that two minutes later,
I could have lost her. That cunt would have strangled her and I would’ve had to find a way to live my life without her. I close my eyes and take in a shuddering breath as a couple of rogue tears escape my eyes. Pulling off my clothes, I slide in next to the person who’s quickly become the centre of my world.

You know those moments you have? The one’s where suddenly everything seems to slot into place? All the worries and insecurities wash away, all the broken pieces come back together and heal? That tragically beautiful moment is happening right now for me. As I sit and watch my family lounging in Dane’s conservatory, this is it for me. And I know regardless of what is happening outside and who might be willing to harm me, that when I’m with these people, the one’s that fill my heart, they make me feel like nothing can touch me. They give me the strength I need to face whatever’s coming next. I know something’s coming, I can feel it…like a film covering my skin. Still, for now I have everything I need around me.

I look to each of them, happy for once to be in the background watching others. Con stands at the back near the French doors with Rich, they’re talking about tattoos, comparing them by the looks of it. Rich holds out his arm while Con points to some of the intricate detailing. My eyes sweep over to the sofa. Eric sits next to Pea. He’s talking animatedly about a maternity dress that came through his department the other day and how it would be just perfect for her. Of course, she tells him she has enough maternity clothes, to which he shoo’s her with his hand and says he will sneak it out of wardrobe and bring it to her tomorrow. I look over to Dane to see if he heard, you know seeing as he owns the company. He is looking at Eric, but he has a smirk on his face and doesn’t say anything, instead turning to Saul, who’s talking about Cornwall.

I watch their interaction, it’s so natural. When I think back to only a few months previous when every little bit of communication they had was awkward and uncomfortable. Whatever Dane says has Saul belly laughing and I watch as his eyes twinkle and his dimples pop out.

“God I love you,” I say and then I feel my cheeks heat when everyone stops talking to look at me and I realise I’ve said that out loud. But I only have eyes for Saul. His attention has turned to me and he steps over to where I’m sitting and lifts me up, he then sits down and places me in his lap.

“I love you too, babe,” he tells me, his eyes piercing mine and a balm coats my heart, being here with them all. I look around the room again at everyone and they’re all smiling at me.

“I love you all. My life would be empty without every single one of you in it.” I feel the tears shimmering in my eyes and I blink releasing one, which Saul mops up with his finger. He pulls my head into his neck and I breathe him in, feeling complete.

Some people never have this. Never have people that love them with such a fierceness that it’s almost crippling. I close my eyes and burn this moment into my brain.

Never forget what you have.
My new mantra.

I don’t need to
be brave
anymore because I have a family around me that will always be there to fight for me and to fight with me, and they are all the strength I need.

“So run me through this shit now we’re away from the girls,” Con asks while doing sit-ups. Dane is skipping like the Energizer Bunny and I was doing chin ups, but at Con’s question I jump down to relay what the police said when they came over yesterday.

“They arrested her,” I tell him. Con stops mid sit-up slowly bringing his arms down then props himself up with his palms.

“So the tape was enough?”

“I don’t know, apparently they had some other info. Although I imagine the tape must be intent to harm or some shit like that, but they got a warrant. Apparently, they arrested her then went through all her crap. They found a fuck-ton of stuff that proved she was a prostitute too, and that she was linked into some sex trafficking shit. I don’t know the details, they didn’t tell us. All they said was that she had been arrested and it was unlikely that she would get bail. Dane found out the rest and he hasn’t told me how. Anyway, as long as she stays the fuck away from Soph I’m good. Hopefully, she rots away the rest of her pitiful life in a prison cell,” Con nods in agreement at my words.

“Patrick?” he speaks that one word, knowing there’s no mistaking what he’s really asking.

I shrug my shoulders and shake my head. Linking both my hands behind my head and looking up at the ceiling, I tell him, “They can’t find the fucker. He’s gone to ground or some motherfucking shit. All it means to me is that he’s still out there, and I don’t know when or how he’s going to try and hurt Soph next. What I do know is that I can’t stop her having a life or he’s already won. If this was only a few weeks then yeah, I would tell her to keep her arse inside, but it’s not. It’s gone on far too fucking long, and I know she can’t be finding it as easy as she makes out. It’s like there’s this bomb ticking away under our feet and I don’t know what to do anymore.” I look back to Con when nobody says anything and realise Dane has stopped skipping now too and is instead staring at me. His jaw is locked and his eyes have gone cold.

“We need to find this fucker,” Dane says in a growl and both Con and I look to him and nod.

“But we have to do Cornwall first,” I say and now it’s their turn to nod at me.

“Are you ready for it?” Con asks me.

“Fuck! I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to be seeing as we’re going on Thursday night. You still alright to come with? You know, with work?” I ask Con.

“Pea would have my balls if we didn’t go. She’s been looking forward to this since she came out of the hospital. Well, even before that really and after what happened to Soph, she’s started her mothering eleven weeks early,” Con says dragging his hand down his face.

“I’m sorry, bro, you don’t need this shit on top of worrying about your pregnant fiancée,” I tell him what he already knows and he smiles.

“I’ll always worry when it comes to, Pea. I think after all these years it’s inbuilt. I’m worried about Soph too. I want this fucker caught before he does anything else.”

We all remain silent at Con’s words, knowing only too well what he’s saying and what we’re all quietly thinking and worrying about.

“It’s such a lovely day,” Pea comments. Pea, Eric and me are laying in Dane’s back garden on a blanket looking up at the sky. We’re being childish and trying to decide what the clouds look like. When Pea and I were eight and used to do this, the guessing was all elephants and cars…not so much now.

“Oooh look, over there to the right a bit,” Eric says pointing. “That’s a cock with a dolphin piercing.”

I snort and chuckle then go straight into a full on belly laugh when Pea says, “What’s a Dolphin piercing.”

To which Eric replies, “Oh sweetie, they don’t let you out much do they?”

Pea says nothing and about five minutes later when I finally sit up using my elbows for leverage to look over at her, I notice her eyes are closed and she’s snoring softly.

“Fuck me! Has she got that sleeping disease?” Eric asks now sitting up and pushing his sunglasses up onto his head.

“Narcolepsy?” I ask and he nods. “No, you numpty. She’s always been the kind of person who can fall asleep quickly, but since she’s got pregnant, she’s tired all the time apparently,” I explain, but Eric just wrinkles his nose.

“Just another reason not to get pregnant,” he tells me.

“Not something you have to worry about, Eric,” I state with a smile.

“Not me, Missy, but you might go through…this,” he says it again with such disdain and curls his lip up at Pea like she might infect him at any moment. It would make me laugh if it didn’t bring so much hurt and resentment to the surface.

“Probably not going to be an issue for me,” I say to him pointing to my abdomen. “Only one tube remember?” I refresh his memory and he looks at me with pity in his eyes which hits me hard.

“What did Saul say when you told him?”

I look back up at the sky and smile. “He said as long as he’s got me he can roll with anything.”

“Knew I liked that hunk of a man,” Eric mutters and we both lay back down to catch the last rays of the sun.