No Ordinary Bloke (31 page)

But this bastard was drunk and out for blood, and there was no way I was going to let a bully like him beat me. Our fists flew, and when he landed a punch on me, it did hurt, but I was too focused on causing him pain to think about it. The pub started going nuts with screams and cheers, and from a distance, I kept hearing Adam and Allison yelling at me to stop. I couldn’t stop, though. I was on autopilot to make sure this guy never beat up a girl again.

The guy was bigger than me, which worked to my disadvantage because he could pin me down and his punches had more force behind them. I was in better shape and bigger overall, so I could out maneuver the guy, and in the end, I lasted longer and drew the first blood.

As blood spewed from his nose and mouth, he stopped and touched his face. When he saw the blood, he screamed, “I’m gonna’ fucking kill you!”

Just then the barman stepped in between us. “Get the fuck out of here. Piss off the lot of you.”

Taking a step back, I looked to the woman who was now crying hysterically. She saw me and yelled, “Why? Why did you do this? It was none of your business.”

I blinked repeatedly, thinking I was having a flashback to the crap me own mum would say to someone who interfered between her and dad. When I turned back around, Adam was now also in the middle, talking with the bartender. He stopped for a moment and leaned over to me. Without any trace of emotion, he said, “I’ll take care of this. Please take Allison and Nicki home. I’ll be back later after I sort things out, and we can talk in the morning.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. I felt terrible because I’d made trouble for Adam. The gossip would be that a hooligan distant relation of the Viscount Kincaid caused a fight and someone ended up in hospital.

With dread, I turned to Allison, who looked stunned. She stood next to Nicki, and neither was talking. When she saw me, Nicki immediately went to Adam’s side, no doubt wanting to give Allison and me some privacy. Adam was busy though. He was speaking to Craig, probably making sure he wasn’t going to press charges.

“I’m sorry, Allison,” I said, as I approached her, but she didn’t say anything, and the more I talked any remaining expression she had on her face vanished. I tried coaxing her out of her silence with apologies, humor, and affection. Nothing worked. When her silence continued all the way back home, I knew things between us had shifted, maybe permanently.

W
hen we got back to Lathan, Nicki went off to relieve the nanny, and Allison and I were left alone at the stairwell. I touched her elbow. “Let’s go upstairs.”

She nodded, still with the vacant stare. I figured she’d talk to me when she was ready, so I gave her space that night. I let her be quiet and in her own thoughts as we got ready for bed, and when we got under the covers, I spooned her, but I didn’t force anything more than that. I lay there regretting the entire night. We could’ve had a quiet night at home. There wouldn’t have been Emily, there wouldn’t have been a fight, and I would wake up tomorrow morning with a happy, wonderful girlfriend whom I loved with all my heart.

As I started to fade into sleep, I heard strange noises. It only took me a few seconds to place them. Allison was crying. With my heart breaking for her and me, I leaned over her shoulder and touched the curls by her face. “What’s wrong, love?”

She shook her head without answering, so I tried again. “Please, talk to me. I can’t tell you how sorry I am if you won’t talk to me.”

A ragged voice I’d never heard from her before squeaked, “Not now. Not now.”

When I woke the next morning, I had a splitting headache, but that wasn’t as bad as finding an empty bed. I moved my hand over where she’d been, and the sheets were cold. I told myself that it wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it was a good sign. Maybe she’d gone downstairs and was talking to Nicki and Adam. Whatever the case, I needed to clear my head before I faced anyone, so I took a shower and dressed.

It was only when I sat on the bed to put on my socks and shoes that I noticed a very bad sign. Her suitcase was gone. I went into the bathroom, and her toiletries were absent as well. I was just about to run downstairs barefoot, when the noisy crack of the ancient door broke the room’s silence.

I looked up to see her dressed and made up, as if she were going somewhere. She definitely didn’t look like she was about to have a lazy holiday weekend breakfast. “Hi,” I said. “I was wondering where you were.”

“Hi,” she said softly. “I needed to make a couple of calls.” She smoothed down her trousers and took a breath. “I’m leaving. Gerald is waiting to take me to the airport.”

“No!” Panic struck me, and I went to her immediately. Putting my hands on her shoulders, I said, “Please no. Don’t leave. I’m so sorry. That was a terrible night for you. I should’ve never have put you in that situation.”

“That’s the thing, David. You didn’t put me in a terrible situation. It was just a night at a pub. You were just you. I’ve been hoping that all of this would change, but it hasn’t, and it won’t.”

I reached for her hand to lead her over the bed, but she snatched it back. “No. Don’t make it any harder.” She grimaced and closed her eyes. “This is already the hardest thing I’ve had to do since I went back to school after my dad died.” She let out a dark chuckle. “This makes Trey cheating on me seem like something easy to get over.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Why was I asking such dumb questions when all the signs pointed to one conclusion. I was getting dumped.

“I want to break up.” She shook her head and held up her hand. “No. That’s not right. I don’t want to break up. I need to break up.”

“Allison, for fuck’s sake, no. Don’t do this.”

“I have to.” Her lower lip began to quiver. “Nothing is going to change. You frighten me with your violence, even if it’s not directed at me. It’s about the future. What if one day it is directed at me?”

That made me mad. I thought we’d gone over this a hundred times before. “Just because I hit a couple of dumb wankers once in a while doesn’t mean I will ever hurt you. I fucking worship you. You know that.”

“Listen, I admit I’m kind of crazy. I’ll always be that way because I can’t change what happened to me, but I’ve worked at keeping my crazy contained. I’ve been through years of therapy. I’ve worked through it. You’re crazy too, but you haven’t done the work to keep it in check. In fact, you refuse to even consider therapy. My dad was a sweet man with a violent temper, and one day he snapped. I think you need to deal with your shit, so you don’t snap either.”

That struck a nerve and I said something I shouldn’t have. “What’s the bad joke? In my neighborhood growing up, no one committed suicide. They were too unhappy.”

She closed her eyes. “That is a really inappropriate joke. Don’t you think?”

“It is. I’m sorry. It just has an element of truth, and that’s that where I come from: you suck it up and move on. All things considered, I think I’ve handled my problems just fine.”

“Absolutely, you’re a fully functioning, successful, sweet, and kind man, who occasionally gets so enraged that he has to beat someone up over nothing.”

“Last night was not nothing.”

“It was none of your business.”

“You would have me sit by and let that happen. He was hurting her.”

“You could’ve gone to the bartender and called the cops.”

I whipped around and went to the window. I didn’t like hearing the perfectly reasonable and appropriate way to have dealt with that arsehole. I stared out onto the estate lands and reiterated once again, “I adore you. How could you ever think I’d lay a hand on you to do anything else but love and take care of you? Really. How could you think that of me?”

“It’s not that I think you would hurt me. It’s that I think you
could
hurt me. That alone scares the shit out of me.” The quivering lip returned and she choked up as she said, “And we never have talked about a future together, but what if we did marry? What if we had kids? Would they definitely be safe? What if you snapped?”

My throat felt like it was closing in. I couldn’t even look at her. My eyes remained on the window as I said, “I will never hurt a child. Ever.”

“Again, it’s not that I think you would do it. But what if you did it unintentionally?”

Turning around, I went back to her and took her hand. “Don’t leave me. For Christ sake don’t leave me. Jesus. I should be dumped for doing something wrong like that arsehole Trey. Not for something I could do, but you know I wouldn’t. I could also cheat on you, but I never would. I’ve only treated you well, and all I really want in life is to continue to do so.”

She took a step back. “That’s the other problem. If it was just the violence it would be one thing, but it’s the women—all the women. They will always be there, and how do I know you’ll say no?”

“If I could change my life so that I was with a few less women, I would, but I can’t. They’re all in my past. Far, far in the past. I am not a cheater like Trey.”

“They’re not really in the past though because we keep bumping in to them. I hate it.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded in silence, and then she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “I know and I accept your apology, but this has to end, no matter how much I hate that it is.”

“It
does not
have to fucking end.”

“Yes, it does, even though I love you…so very much. I should just be another one of your ex-girlfriends.” Her voice cracked at the end, and the tears began to spill down her cheeks.

“No!” I yelled, though it was stupid to do so. My world was collapsing around me, and I could yell all I wanted, but it made no difference.

“Yes, David.” She looked at her hands, as she blubbered. “If I ever get married, please don’t give me any wedding gifts though. I couldn’t handle getting a breadknife from you.”

Allison was disappearing from my life again, but this time it truly felt like she was taking my soul with her. Because this time, I was sure I’d never get it back. She wasn’t coming back to me. I muttered, “I’d never get you a wedding gift from Tiffany’s.”

“Why not?” she said through a teary chuckle.

“Because I’d have to buy the whole fucking store.”

Her mouth dropped open and then it shut again. I’d left her speechless, and I certainly didn’t have anything else to say. After a moment, she lifted her eyes to me and gently kissed my cheek. “I will always love you.”

“Allison, I—”

She shook her head. “No more,” she said and left the room.

S
tunned by her rejection, I couldn’t move for a few minutes, as I pondered what to do next. Run after her through the house? I loved her, but I didn’t want Adam and Nicki to witness me begging her desperately to come back to me. Allison wouldn’t appreciate it either. Moreover, I knew my Allison. When she set her mind to something, it took a while to convince her otherwise. I wasn’t going to be able to pull it off in the bloody Latham kitchen with Gerald waiting to do as he was told and take her away.