Chapter 21

 

Parking in my old spot felt strange, even though it had only been a couple of weeks since I last did it. I walked slowly up the path, hoping I hadn’t made a mistake by coming here. Hoping that Rufus would behave himself and let me go without turning it into some big drama.

I knocked on the door and waited impatiently for him to answer. I thought I heard muffled voices from inside the flat, so either Rufus had the television on damn loud or he had company. And if he had company, why the Hell was he so desperate for me to be there? If he thought the offer of a threesome might persuade me to stay he was sadly mistaken. That had never been my thing and he knew it.

Rufus opened the door and I gasped in shock at the sight of his ashen face. A purple bruise blossomed nicely on his left cheek and his bottom lip was split and bloodied. Without hesitating, I stepped into the hallway and gathered him in my arms. Rufus fell against my chest, tears pouring freely down face.

“Eric, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologise to me,” I said, rocking him gently while he cried. “What happened? Please tell me this wasn’t some guy you picked up in Keane’s.”

“In a manner of speaking,” an unwelcome voice said. At the same time, the front door clicked shut behind me. “I mean, he did pick me up in Keane’s. I just don’t think he got the kind of pounding he was expecting. I’d never cheat on Mason though. You know that.”

I swung around to glare at Liam and stopped dead at the sight of gun in his hand. Instinctively, I pulled Rufus behind me, shielding his body with mine. There was a wild look in Liam’s eyes that told me he was crazy enough to pull the trigger. I must have led a sheltered life because I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he managed to get a gun. Not that it mattered where it came from. What mattered was that he had the thing and was capable of using it.

“Let Rufus go,” I said with a calm I most certainly didn’t feel. “He’s nothing to do with this.”

“He is though, isn’t he? If your boyfriend wasn’t such a slut, you wouldn’t have tried to replace him with mine.”

“It wasn’t like that…”

“Oh, of course it was like that. Little Rufus wasn’t enough for you anymore so you tried getting your claws into Mason instead.”

“Look, if you want to talk about Mason, we can. But just you and me. Rufus doesn’t need to be here.”

“Yes, he does!” Liam yelled. “He’s part of this. He sold you out once and he could have done it again. All he had to do was tell me where you were and he refused. Maybe he really does love you. Or maybe he doesn’t. He did get you here, after all.”

“He held the gun to my head,” Rufus whimpered. “He said he’d shoot me if I didn’t.”

“Not your fault, baby.” I reached behind me and grabbed Rufus’ hand. He held on tight, and I could feel the tremors running through his body. “I’m glad you called me.”

“Well, isn’t that sweet.” Liam sneered at us. I stared him down, keeping his focus on my face and praying he wouldn’t notice when I surreptitiously guided Rufus’s hand to the back of my jeans. Thankfully, Rufus cottoned on to what I wanted him to do and I felt him slide my phone out of my pocket. “You really want your bread buttered both sides, don’t you? What? Are you keeping poor old Rufus in reserve for when my Mason kicks you in to touch?”

“Rufus is still my friend,” I said. “I don’t want to see him hurt more than he already has been. Please. Just let him go.”

“So he can call the police? I don’t think so.” Liam looked up and down the hallway, his brow creased into a frown. Mentally, I crossed my fingers that he was thinking about – if not releasing Rufus altogether – at least shutting him in one of the rooms; away from us and away from the gun. He didn’t know Rufus now had my phone and, if we were lucky, he wouldn’t think to search him. “Okay, Rupert…” Liam opened the door to the coat cupboard. “Get in there.”

“It’s Rufus,” Rufus and I both said on reflex. Maybe it seemed trivial in the light of what was happening, but just for once, I wished someone would get his name right. Given he had been held hostage and had a fucking gun pointed at his head, it seemed the least Liam could do.

“Fine. Rufus…whatever.” Liam gestured to the cupboard with the gun.

Rufus clambered inside awkwardly, fighting for space with our winter coats, the hoover and a whole heap of other junk the small cupboard was home to. Liam shut him in and leaned against the door. As I had hoped, he hadn’t checked Rufus’ pockets, but with him staying by the door the way he was, I would have to distract him so he didn’t overhear Rufus making a call. That was assuming Rufus could even get a signal in there. In all the time I had lived in the flat, I had never felt a need to test for bars in the coat cupboard.

“So, what happens now?”

I had no idea why I didn’t feel more scared than I did. Maybe training and working as a nurse had something to do with it. I’d faced my fair share of difficult, angry, aggressive or downright unbalanced patients in my time, although I had to admit – none of them had ever pointed a gun at me. But then nor had any of them seen me as the only obstacle between them and the love of their life. Or maybe it went back to my childhood, and my mother’s ingrained belief that you had to deal with the situation that was in front of you, even if you cried, shouted and had a nervous breakdown once it was over. Whatever the reason, I knew I had to stay calm if Rufus and I were going to get out of this alive. For now, at least, Rufus was out of the direct line of fire, but I didn’t kid myself he was any safer in the cupboard than he was out in the hallway.

“I want you to stay away from Mace.”

I swallowed hard. Wondered how much he knew and if I would get away with lying. If I said the wrong thing – if Liam thought I was playing him – the consequences would be fatal. God knows what his background was, but I had never seen a real gun before yet Liam wielded it like a pro. So far, I hadn’t seen the hand that held the gun waver even the tiniest bit.

“Staying away won’t be hard,” I said, trying to sound as neutral as possible. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Liam’s jaw dropped. I was careful not to react, because if he didn’t know Mason had left the country, then he didn’t know I planned to go with him. “Gone where?”

“I don’t know.” The lie left my lips with ease. Maybe I’d learned more from Rufus than I gave him credit for. “I’m sorry, Liam. It looks like he left both of us.”

“He wouldn’t leave me,” Liam said with utter conviction. “We’re soul mates. Mace loves me.”

“You’re right.” I dropped my gaze to the floor, hoping I looked sufficiently defeated to appease Liam. If he thought he had won, he might leave quietly. The worst thing I could do was be confrontational. Let him think I was weak and not worth the trouble if he wanted. All I cared about right then was getting Rufus and me out of there alive. “He was never really interested in me. If you went after him, showed him how much you love him – I’m sure he’d see you’re the one he belongs with.”

Was it fair to feed into his delusion? Probably not. But Rufus’ safety was my priority, not Liam’s mental welfare. I would say anything to get him to put the gun down and leave. Mason was thousands of miles away in New York so the chance of Liam actually getting to him was the least of my worries. He would be arrested before he even found out where Mason was. I just needed him to put down the damn gun…

“I know he loves me,” Liam said slowly, sounding distant, as though he was speaking to himself more than to me. “Which is why I don’t understand why he would go on that date with you?”

“It wasn’t really a date. My friends were there, and about a million other people.”

“He still went, though!” Liam’s voice raised a notch. “I saw the pictures! The press said it was a date…”

“To make you jealous!” I said quickly, not daring to look up and meet his crazed eyes or see that gun still pointing in my direction. “Ask anyone who was there that night. I barely spoke to him. I think he was only there because he knew you would find out about it and want him back.”

“You really think so?”

The sudden hope in his voice filled me with guilt, because no, of course I didn’t think so. I knew having anything to do with Liam again was just about the furthest thing from Mason’s mind. It was scary though, the speed at which Liam’s mood seemed to change. If I said the wrong thing, he could easily flip back the other way. He was much more likely to shoot me if he was angry and upset, than if he believed he still had a chance with Mason.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Liam said happily, and I glanced up, surprised to see a wide grin on his face. Christ, the guy was living in a frigging fantasy land. There was no telling what he would do when he discovered the truth about Mason. I only hoped I wouldn’t be around to see it. Not dead, obviously. Just elsewhere. Like in America with my boyfriend. “He’s so silly,” Liam trilled, his eyes glazed as though he was already imagining his and Mason’s reunion. “I don’t need to take him back because we never really split up in the first place. I knew from the start that he wasn’t interested in you.”

“So…so does that mean you’ll put the gun down?”

“What this?” Liam looked surprised, as though he’d forgotten he was still pointing a weapon at my chest. “It’s not like it has any bullets in it. It’s not even real.”

“What?”

“It’s a replica. A prop from a theatre group my mate belongs to.” Liam stared at me, bemused, as though I was the one with a screw loose. “I only had it to scare – ”

It was at that point I did something I had never done before in my life. I punched a man in the face and knocked him out cold.