“Two twenty-three Brecan Road, Canning Town,” her mum told Em.
“Margaret, no!” screamed Frank. I frowned, having no idea what she was talking about.
“It’s the flat he took Em to. He wanted somewhere close to you, I guess. He rents it under my maiden name. He’s been running a scam with some of his mates from the police there. They skim evidence from drug busts and seizures. Frank fences it through his probation clients.”
“You stupid fucking bitch. After everything I’ve fucking done for you, you fucking betray me now?” he said, and she recoiled slightly.
“After everything you’ve done for me? You don’t scare me, Frank. What have done that was so great?” she asked.
“You think anyone else would have stuck with you as many years as I have? You were always fucking jealous of Emily. You’re right, it was always her.”
With a wild animalist scream like nothing I’ve ever heard before, Margaret pulled her arms up over her head and plunged her knife into Frank’s chest as a shot from one of the police officers cracked and echoed in the open space.
We all jumped as we watched Frank drop to the ground with Margaret on top of him, a crimson bloodstain spreading quickly across her shoulder. I turned Em away so that she didn’t have to see any more and carried her up the stairs back to Nikki’s flat.
* * *
When we got there, Nikki sat on her bed rubbing her jaw as though she were still in pain, with Kieran beside her.
“It’s done?” he asked, and I nodded.
“What happened?” Nikki asked.
“Frank used Em’s mum to trick you into opening the door and he knocked you out,” I told her.
“I remember that bit, thanks,” Nikki replied sarcastically. “I meant, what happened after?”
“He took Em at knifepoint. Em’s mum heard Frank talking about how he’d always wanted Em. Her mum lost it and knifed him in the chest.”
“You’re very verbose, you know that, Con? And you have a real gift for storytelling.” I frowned at her fucking sarcasm. I told her what happened. What? Did she need me to describe it in Technicolor?
“I’m sorry, Con,” she said at my frown. “I’m tired, my head hurts, and I’m feeling a bit testy.” With everything Nikki had done, I had no reason to be pissed at a little sarcasm.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “I’m sorry for what Frank did to you. It wasn’t fair of me to leave Em here and assume you’d be safe. That’s on me,” I told her. She shook her head no, but I knew it was the truth. “I need to get Em out of here,” I told Kier.
“There’s no way the police will let you go without taking your statements,” Nikki warned me. I desperately wanted to get Em alone and help her process some of this shit. She hadn’t spoken to me since it happened, and I had a horrible feeling she was going into shock.
“Take Lauren’s bed,” Nikki told me pointing to the bed opposite hers. “We’ll explain to the police that you want a little time to make sure Em’s okay. Maybe they’ll let us give our statements first.”
“Thanks, Nikki. I appreciate it,” I told her as she stood up.
As I laid Em down, she started shaking. “It’s okay, baby girl. It’s all over now. You’re safe, I promise. Everything’s gonna be okay.” I gathered her in close and grabbed a throw blanket from the bottom of the bed to keep her warm. Fuck knows if I was doing the right thing for shock but I had to do something. I rubbed her arms vigorously while holding her as close as I could without crushing her. I was really starting to get worried when she finally spoke to me.
“Is he dead?” she asked me.
“I think so, love. I can’t imagine it’s that easy to recover from a knife to the heart. Assuming he had one, that is,” I said.
“Is it wrong that I hope he is dead?” she asked.
“No, baby. I’d think something was wrong if you didn’t fucking want him dead,” I reassured her.
“If he’s dead, does that mean I should forgive her? She killed him for me. But I don’t think I can forgive her.” She sounded so utterly and hopelessly lost. Like she was alone in the wilderness without a compass. Well, I’d be her motherfucking north.
I held her chin gently in my hand and tilted her face up to look at me. “You listen to me, Sunshine. Your ma is one sick fuck. By the sound of it, she ain’t been right in the head since long before your dad died. She killed Frank out of jealousy, not because she was protecting you. After what she did, there’s no evening the score—not ever. So don’t you feel like you need to forgive either of them for anything. I hope they both die and spend eternity burning in hell.”
“When this is all over and your fight and my exams are done, I want to finish our home, close the door, and keep the world out for at least a week,” she told me shakily.
“Sounds like a fucking good plan to me, love,” I said with a chuckle. Em tucked herself in closer to my body. After a while, the shivering stopped, and her warm breath evened out as it blew gently across my neck. I knew that Em was finding all this difficult to process, but for me, it was like Christmas had come early. In all likelihood, Frank was dead, the evil poison in our life that was Margaret Thomas was looking at twenty years behind bars, that’s if she made it at all, and my girl was lying safe in my arms.
* * *
After making sure that Nikki was all right, we all piled into Liam’s truck and headed home. Em didn’t protest as I carried her up the stairs to our flat. After taking my keys out of the lock, I kicked the door shut and headed straight to the bathroom with her still in my arms.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled as I set her down on the toilet seat lid.
“Hot bath,” I replied. “It will make you feel better.” I knew she’d need to wash away the stink of Frank’s touch, and I needed to be close to her, to feel like I was taking care of her. She liked baths hot enough that you could boil off a layer of skin of you jumped in too quick. Being only used to ice baths I was a complete fucking pansy arse about dipping my balls into the scalding water, but I did it for Em.
Pulling her to stand up, I carefully undressed her and folded her clothes neatly in a pile. She’d kill me tomorrow when she was feeling better if I chucked them all over the floor. When she was naked, I pulled my shirt over my head and made quick work of my boots, jeans, and underwear. She was so tiny that I lifted her effortlessly into the bath and then sat behind her, pulling her back against my chest. Pouring a ton of that smelly shit she liked onto a sponge, I washed her carefully as she laid against me with her eyes closed. When I got to her chest, I had to adjust my cock so it didn’t impale her, but in all honesty, it had been at half-mast since I started undressing her.
“That thing’s got a mind of its own,” she giggled sleepily.
“It’s not my fault. There’s invisible string connecting my cock to your top. As soon as the top comes off, my cock salutes in approval.” She giggled again, and it was such a fucking beautiful sound I wished I could bottle it and take it away with me across the world. I’d call it my jar of happiness, and it would let the sun shine into the dark.
There are days when men take their woman for granted. When you come through the door tired and hungry and don’t see how tired she is or how the place is spotless and how, as you’re hoovering your meal without really tasting it, she’s spent ages in the kitchen making that just for you. There were probably days that I’d already done that to Em, and try as I might to make sure that didn’t happen, it probably would, on occasion, happen again.
Today wasn’t one of those days. My beautiful, gentle, loving wife was safe in my arms, and our bright and shining future was right in front of us. I sent a silent prayer upstairs for that. Fuck success and fuck the money ’cause everything I had right here and now was more than I ever deserved. More than I ever dared to dream. That didn’t mean though that laying the world at her feet wasn’t still on the agenda. Rico Temple’s attitude pissed me off, and I had some shit kicking to do.
“I’m supposed to be back on a flight tomorrow night,” I told her, “but I don’t want to leave you.”
“The university would probably let me bail on the exams if I asked them. They’re only internal exams, sort of mocks for the finals. But I’m going to take them anyway,” she told me.
“Why, if you can get away without doing them?” I asked as I rubbed the sponge gently up and down her arm.
“Because fuck Frank and his memory, that’s why. Today he took the last piece of normality he’s ever going to take again. The trial and worrying about Frank has messed around my final year so much, but I’ve worked hard for these exams and I’m going to sit them. And when I pass, I hope Frank gets my ‘fuck you’ message in hell.”
“Baby?” I asked.
“Hmm…” she answered.
“Remind me never to piss you off, okay?” I loved that she giggled again. “I want you at the fight with me but I’m so fucking proud that you still want to see it through.” I paused, feeling like I should cancel the fight to stay with her.
“Absolutely no way,” she said without looking around to me once.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I can practically hear your brain working, O’Connell. You are not canceling this fight. I’m going to stay with Nikki as planned. My last exam finishes on Friday, and there’s a flight to the US early on Saturday morning. I probably won’t make it for the fight but at least I’ll be there to celebrate with you after.”
“Please tell me there’ll be sex. Lots and lots of sex?” I said.
“If you win, there will be,” she teased. I tickled the sponge over her ribs making her laugh, then sucked gently on the side of her neck making her moan.
“Not until after the fight,” she protested without feeling.
“Spoilsport,” I answered, but didn’t push my luck. She squirmed around a little to get comfortable, and the cheeks of her arse brushed against my already painfully hard cock, making me groan. I rested my forehead against her head and tried to remember that this was about taking care of Em, not twisting her around and bending her over the bath so I could take her wet, soapy curves from behind. Shit! No! She seemed a little less vulnerable now so sex was pretty much the only thing I could think about.
“Think about the national anthem,” she said, tapping my leg.
“How come you’re not as frustrated as I am?” I complained.
“Because I get to watch you all hot and sweaty in training then come home and touch myself,” she admitted, and I swear to God I dropped the motherfucking sponge. The image of Em lying in our bed, maybe wearing my wraps and touching herself was burned on my retinas. After dropping that little bombshell, she started humming my go-to song for telling my cock to stand down.
“You know, one day I’m gonna fuck you to that song,” I warned her.
“Promises, promises,” she said and I smacked her arse as she climbed out of the bath. When she was safely covered from head to toe in my navy bathrobe and I had thrown a white towel around my hips, I pulled on her lapels to turn her around to face me.
“Seriously, Sunshine. I don’t want you putting a brave face on this. What happened tonight was all kinds of fucked up and, I’ll be honest, going to America and leaving your here feels wrong,” I admitted to her.
“I won’t tell you I’m fine,” she told me. “It’s probably going to take years of counseling before I can ever get to the stage where I’m not messed up about what happened. But I’ll get there. Knowing that he’s dead, though, feels like I’ve been let out of prison. I’ve wasted the last six months on Frank, but the next six belong to us.” I smiled, because I knew that there was nothing about being a fighter that this strong woman couldn’t teach me.