Chapter 22

 

 

Afterward, I was running on auto-pilot. I checked Liam’s vitals and put him in the recovery position. He groaned when I rolled him onto his side so I figured he would live. I pulled a frightened and tearful Rufus from the coat cupboard and held him while he sobbed into my shoulder. He had, he managed to inform me between gulps, called the police and Killigan too. I dragged Rufus with me, a dead weight around my neck, and opened the front door.

We sat on the floor by the open door and waited, ears straining for the sound of sirens. Maybe they wouldn’t use them, I thought, knowing they were on their way to a hostage situation. They wouldn’t risk spooking an armed man, and obviously they had no way of knowing that the gun was a fake or that he had already been disarmed.

I took my phone back from Rufus and called my mother, letting her know I would be getting there later than planned without explaining why. My hand throbbed with pain from hitting Liam. For some reason, the pain made me angry and I felt like going over to him and thumping him again for good measure.

Across the hallway, Liam sat up, groggy and disorientated. He opened his mouth to say something and I glared at him. He shut it again sharpish. I wasn’t a tough guy. Nobody could have been more surprised than me when I punched Liam, but so long as it kept him wary of me and down on the floor, I could live with it.

It felt like an age before the police arrived, although in reality it was probably only a matter of minutes. Killigan arrived hot on the heels of the uniformed guys. Once they had Liam under arrest I just wanted them all to go away and leave us alone, but Killigan insisted on taking Rufus to the hospital to get him checked over. Both Rufus and I protested, saying there was no need until Killigan told us he wanted Rufus’ injuries documented for if the case went to trial. The gun wasn’t real, he pointed out. Liam could claim in court that he had never seriously intended to hurt anyone. An official record of his assault on Rufus would prove the lie in that statement.

I didn’t leave Rufus’ side the whole way to the hospital. Not that I could have shaken him off easily anyway the way he was clinging to me. I held his hand while we waited for the doctor and while he was patched up, and kept holding it while we waited for someone to come and take photographic evidence of his injuries. Then we had to wait some more for the doctor to release him. There were a couple of times when I heard Rufus refer to me as his boyfriend, but I let it slide. The doctor said he probably had a concussion, and he was tired and upset enough as it was, without me adding to his woes by telling him I was leaving at the first chance I got.

Eventually, Killigan drove us home, and insisted on taking us both to his house so Marcie could mother Rufus half to death. I agreed, thinking it would be better that he had people around him when I left. Killigan, I knew, had never had much time for Rufus, but Marcie loved everyone. She called the four of us – me, Rufus, Alex and Stefan – her boys. She would be over the moon to have Rufus around to spoil in ways that Alex would never let her do with him, the first of her lost boys.

On the journey back to the house, I remembered I had left my phone on the floor of Rufus’s hallway. Killigan made a detour so I could pick it up. Rufus didn’t want to go inside so I dashed inside, picked up my phone and ran back to the car. There were a dozen missed calls from Mason and almost as many texts. Clearly he was aware something had happened, although I had no idea who could have told him. Killigan was the only one who knew about Liam and what he had done and he didn’t have Mason’s number.

The texts grew increasingly frantic the longer he went without an answer.

Are you okay?

Where are you?

Call me.

Just let me know you’re okay.

Please call me.

The final one had been sent less than two hours ago.

I’m coming back.

Shit. He was supposed to be rehearsing with his band for the fast approaching charity gig. I didn’t want him to jeopardise anything by racing across the Atlantic to be by my side when there was nothing wrong with me. I wasn’t hurt, upset or frightened like Rufus. Maybe later, the emotions would hit me like a ton of bricks, but right then I was more pissed off than anything.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, Marcie rushed out of the door. Rufus found himself enveloped in a bone-crushing hug before he was even halfway out of the car. I saw the look of shock on his bruised face before he decided he actually quite liked it and relaxed into her embrace.

“Oh, you poor baby,” Marcie cooed, dragging him toward the house. “Let’s get you tucked up on the sofa with a blanket, and then I’ll make you something to eat. You must be starving, and you’re too skinny by far. Don’t you worry, sweetheart. I’m going to take good care of you.”

I looked over the roof of the car to where Killigan stood with an indulgent smile on his face. He caught my eye and shrugged.

“What can I say?” He patted his rounded belly. “The woman’s a feeder.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” I said. “Rufus needs someone to look out for him.”

“Does he know yet? About you leaving for America?”

“I might not be. Mason said he’s coming home.”

“Call him. Stop him.” Killigan gave me a stern look. “This is your chance to get away from here, Eric. Start something new.”

“I can’t call him in the States! I don’t have enough credit.”

“I do.” Killigan pulled his phone from the pocket of his jacket and passed it to me. “Call him now, before he gets on a plane.”

I waited until Killigan had gone into the house and then sat both phones on the roof of the car so I could read Mason’s number from mine while punching it into Killigan’s. I mean, sure I liked the guy, but I hadn’t learned his number off by heart – yet.

Mason answered on the first ring. “Christ, Eric, I’ve been worrying myself sick here. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mason,” I told him truthfully, although I realised I felt all the better for hearing his voice.

“And your ex – Rufus, isn’t it – is he okay too?”

“Yeah, Rufus.” It was sweet that Mason was considerate enough to ask after Rufus, like he accepted I was still going to care about him even if he was my ex-boyfriend. “He’s a bit bruised and upset, but he’ll survive. Marcie is looking after him.”

“Marcie?”

“Yeah, that’s who I’ve been staying with, remember? Marcie and Killigan. They’re Alex and Stefan’s friends really.”

“Oh, right. That’s good then. I’m glad Rufus is okay.” Mason took a deep breath. “Eric, I’m so sorry this happened. I knew Liam was jealous, but I never dreamed he would go this far.”

“How did you know?” I asked, resting my back against the car and closing my eyes. Now that the drama was over and the adrenalin rush had worn off, I was surprised by how tired I felt suddenly.

“I told you before; Liam’s cousin handles all my legal stuff. Jerry’s a corporate lawyer really, not a criminal one, but Liam called him when he was arrested. For once, Jerry saw sense and decided telling me what Liam had done was more important than protecting his cousin. Anyway,” Mason said, “I’m on my way home. Text me the address of where you’re staying. I’ll be with you in a few hours.”

“Mason, you need to stay with Arcadia and rehearse,” I argued. “Please don’t come back because of me. I’m fine. I’ll be in New York in a couple of days, just like we arranged.”

“Too late. I’m already at the airport.”

“Mason…”

“In fact, they’re calling my flight. Got to go.”

“Mason, please…”

“I love you, Eric. You said you didn’t believe in love at first sight, but I do and, however lame it sounds, I love you.”

He hung up before I could answer him, which was probably a good thing. While I couldn’t deny I had strong feelings for Mason, I was hesitant to declare myself in love with a man I had known for only a matter of weeks. I liked Mason – I liked him a lot and I certainly hoped we had a future together, but that didn’t make it love. Part of the problem was that I still found it hard to believe that someone as amazing as Mason could really be interested in an ordinary nobody like me. The other part, was that I had been burned before when I’d fallen too hard and fast for a good looking guy. I wanted Mason to be different.

I wanted him to be forever.