Always For You (Books 1-3) (22 page)

“He's probably just protecting him
babe. He might be back in town for all we know. We don't even know
where he lives, so there's no way for us to find out.”

“I do,” Emily said suddenly. “I
know where he lives. Or, where he lived.”

Of course.
It had never occurred to me that Emily might actually know where he
lived. Brad wouldn't tell me, but if he was back, he'd probably still
be at the same place. “OK, do you wanna give me the address? I'll
go check to see if he's back, like tomorrow or something.”

“No, he's not far from here - you
could go now?” She seemed so keen to know, I had no idea she'd
cared about him that much.

I thought about it for a second. Of
course I should go. If he was back in town he might just be sat
there, alone, on Christmas Day, no one for company. The thought sent
a wave of sadness through my body. Cain, my brother, who'd saved me
so often, alone at Christmas, after all that had happened. The image
got stuck in my head.

“No, you're right. I should go check
it out, right? Where is it?”

She scribbled the address and passed it
to me. “Do you wanna come as well?" I asked. “I could do
with some company?”

She screwed up her face, battling with
herself. “Errr, I can't. I would. I want to. But, you know, Scott.”

I nodded. “I understand, he might not
get it.”

“Exactly. Please, don't tell him I
gave you the address.”

“I won't, don't worry honey.”

Five minutes later I was in my car
driving to Cain's place, or his last known location at least. I'd
told everyone I was popping out to see Katie quickly, purely because
I couldn't be bothered to answer any probing questions. “I wanna go
give her her gift,” I'd told everyone. They were all stuck watching
some Christmas film anyway, so I didn't think I'd be missed.

I
wondered whether Emily had already been back, checking in to see
whether Cain had returned. The way she was, I'd imagined she probably
had been, although perhaps not for a while. It was certainly a long
shot – going to his flat – but there was no harm in trying. I
still hadn't spoken to him since our brief chat after he'd woken up
above the clinic, so there was a lot we needed to talk about. When
it comes to it, however, I doubt either of us will want to even think
about it, let alone talk it out.

It only took me about 10 minutes to get
over to Cain's address, a pretty run down looking neighborhood. It
didn't surprise me that Cain lived somewhere like this, and I could
only imagine what Emily must have thought when she first came here. I
doubt she went back too many times.

I walked to the buzzer and rang for
Cain's flat. There was no answer. I rang again. Still nothing. I
looked up to the third floor where his flat was located and saw that
there was no light coming from the window. He wasn't in, he wasn't
home.

I started walking slowly back towards
my car. Screw this. I turned on the spot and went back to the buzzer.
The floor below had lights on, with a couple of shadows moving around
behind the curtains. I buzzed for the flat and heard it click.

“Now what the fuck would anyone want
on Christmas Day?” The words were aggressive but the tone was
fairly light.

“Hi, sorry to bother you. I'm just
looking for Cain, he lives on the floor above. Have you seen him
recently.”

“Cain huh? Nah not seen him I'm
afraid love. Have a nice Christmas.”

“Wait, wait,” I called down the
line before he could click off. “Can you just tell me when you did
last see him.”

“Er, must have been a couple of
nights ago now.”

“Nights?!”

“Yeah, nights.”

“So he's not away still?”

“Away? Nah, he came back a few weeks
ago now. Who are you anyway?” He sounded suddenly concerned, as if
worried he was giving too much information away.

“I'm his sister, Grace. Would you
tell him I dropped by when you next see him. Tell him to come see me,
he knows where I live.”

He breathed down through the intercom.
“Ah cool, a sister. Didn't know he had one. Yeah I'll let him know.
And Merry Christmas – Grace.”

“And you.”

I walked back towards my car and got
in.
So he was back
. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I sat
there. He was back, he was safe, and he wasn't even alone. Probably
over with Brad or maybe seeing a girl or something. The thought of
him sitting alone in his flat was suddenly shot from my mind.
He
was probably having a happy Christmas after all.

Cain

I slowly opened my eyes and the picture
came into focus. Ahead of me was a white wall, charts all over it. I
heard beeping, the sound of my heartbeat, and could smell that
familiar stink of chemicals that only a hospital gave off. I turned
my head to look around. My neck ached fiercely, stuck in a brace.
There was nobody else in the room with me.

I slid my legs out of the bed and
planted them onto the cold floor. I felt like I had the worlds worst
hangover, my head was banging so hard. I ripped the wires off my
wrist and ambled out towards the door, looking through the glass
plate window. It was much quieter than I'd usually known hospitals to
be, much more mellow.

I saw a nurse suddenly rush round the
corner towards my room and storm through the door. “Well, well, Mr
Taylor, I see you're up and about.”

“Yep,” I said groggily, “just
looking for the exit. Never liked these places.”

She laughed lightly. “I'm sure, but
you're going to have to stay here for now.”

“Why, what's wrong with me?”

“Nothing major,” she said, ushering
me back towards my bed, “just some whiplash and concussion. You're
lucky, it could have been a lot worse.”

My mind was still trying to catch up
with exactly what was going on. “Huh, what d'ya mean?”

“Well your friend, the one who
brought you in, he told us you were set upon by some thugs? Don't you
remember?”

“Trying to forget. My pride's hurt
more than anything.”

“Well it's good that you see the
light side of it. Now, get some more rest, I'll come check on you in
a little while.”

She turned and walked towards the door.
“Oh, and Mr Taylor..”

“Cain – it's Cain.”

“Cain,” she continued, “Merry
Christmas.”

A merry fucking Christmas indeed.

December 28
^th
2013

Cain

“Hey bro, how you holding up?” Brad
woke me up from a light sleep as the door shut behind him.

“Yeah, alright,” I croaked.

“Look, sorry I haven't been around
here much, you know Christmas and all that, been manic. The
girlfriend had me over at her folks place for the last few days dude,
I'd have been here if I could.”

“I know.” Brad was a good friend,
so I knew he was telling the truth.

The fact that no one else came to visit
spoke volumes of my life though. I had no idea what the nurses must
have thought of me, lying there day after day over Christmas, nobody
coming to visit, nobody caring if I was OK. They probably pitied me.
Frankly, I was a pretty pathetic case.

“So, I wanted to talk to you about
Rex, that guy who you fought.”

“Yeah Brad, I remember.”
How
could I forget.
“What about him?”

“Well, I did some digging around
after the fight. Turns out this Rex guy has a serious problem with
you, that's why he just went for you at the end there.”

My mind was a little hazy still about
exactly what happened. “Remind me how it finished will ya?”

“Well, once he had you down he just
didn't stop. He was like a crazy psycho, just punching and punching.
It took me and both his coaches to drag him off, he was like a wild
animal or something.”

“Well, that's nice to hear. So what's
his problem with me?”

“That's just it, I don't know
exactly. I just heard from the friend of a friend that he had been
trash talking you before the fight, saying how he wanted to batter
your face in.”

“Sounds like a real nice guy.”

“You know what I think mate. I reckon
you hooked up with his girlfriend or something a while back.”

Well that certainly sounded plausible.
“Could be, but he'd need to get in line.”

Brad laughed. Good your sense of
humor's still intact mate.”

“Yeah, well, he'll never 'batter'
that off me,” I said dryly.

“So what are you gonna do about it?”

“Do about what?”

“Rex. I know you coulda had that
guy.”

I wasn't sure of what to say. I wasn't
a professional fighter, whereas this guy had clearly had some
training. If I stepped into the ring with him again, what's to say
the same wouldn't happen again? Or worse?

“Nothing. He beat me fair and square
in the ring. Nothing I can do about that.”

“But bro, he tried to kill you,
literally. You gonna let him get away with that?”

“Alright, what do you suggest? What
the fuck do you expect me to do?”

“I dunno man, fight back. This guys
gonna come for you again, I know it. Whether it's in the ring or
outside of it, he's gonna come for you. I'm just warning you man,
it's what I've heard. Watch your back.”

“Thanks for the pep talk. I bear it
in mind.”

“Alright mate, I'll leave you to
rest, think about things. Let me know when you're getting out of here
and I'll come get you. Right?”

I nodded without saying anything. I
didn't wanna talk about all this shit right now. I'd been beat to a
pulp for the first time in my life. It hurt, physically and
emotionally. My pride had been severely knocked and, realistically, a
good source of income had been crushed.

I lay there for a while after Brad
left, seething in my bed. What the fuck was this guys problem? What
had I done to him that he wanted to kill me like that. I couldn't see
his face under that mask, had no idea who he was when I saw him in
the ring. What sort of coward doesn't announce himself if he's got
such a problem with someone. He's coming for me? HE'S COMING FOR ME?

Fuck him, I'm coming for him.

January 4
^th
2014

Grace

“Hey Grace, what shall I do with this
box?”

I looked over to see Chase standing
next to a small box of things marked 'Katie'. She'd already moved
out, off with her boyfriend as well, but I guess she forgot that box.

“Yeah that's some of Katie's stuff I
guess. She must have forgotten to take it with her. We'll take it to
yours and she can pick it up whenever.”

Chase moved up to me and stretched his
arms around my back. “Ours,” he said, “it's our place now, not
just mine.”

I smiled up at him and gave him a kiss.
It was a really big step to be moving in with him but it felt right.
The last couple of weeks we'd pretty much been living together anyway
and, as a sort of dress rehearsal, it worked really well. I know it
was only less than 9 months since I'd met him, but it felt like I'd
known him a lot longer.

It didn't take us too long to reach the
new apartment. I'd been there a lot already, of course, but this was
different. The flat I'd lived in had come pretty much fully
furnished, so I didn't have too much to add to the flat itself. I'd
made the deal with Chase that I'd be able to add my own more feminine
touches to the flat to drag it away from the bachelor pad feel it
currently had. As much as he wanted to protest, he knew that certain
concessions would need to be made.

We brought my things up and sat them in
the middle of the main living room. It was wide, breezy, and open
planned, with massive windows looking out over the city. I guess the
one thing it lacked was a cosiness: it was all a bit ergonomic, a
little bit clean cut, just like Chase. What did I expect from someone
who only ever wore sharp suits.

Over the next few days I made my mark
on the place, getting busy while Chase was at work. I still had a
week or so before I needed to get back to college so I spent a lot of
time there, settling in, moving things around, making the place more
homely. Every day when Chase got in something was different. In fact,
every day lots of things were different. His complaints, jovial as
they were, carried a ring of truth that, unfortunately for him, fell
on deaf ears. Frankly, the place needed a serious overhall if it was
going to accommodate any woman long term.

Cain

I sat on my bike, as I often did,
watching and waiting. Brad had told me that Rex was meant to be
fighting that night, so I sat and waited for him to turn up.
When
he comes out, I'll follow him home. Yeah, then I'll show that fucking
guy not to mess with me.

I sat and waited, but he never showed,
he never turned up. Maybe he'd got his comeuppance at the hands of
another guy. The way that maniac acted he'd not be long for this
world.

I started up the bike and began heading
off back home. It was a Saturday night but my face was still a little
too bruised up for public consumption. I'd only get a certain type of
girl going for me with that sort of look, not that I wanted any girl.

Emily. I still hadn't plucked up the
courage to go see Emily. I guess I'd have done it by now if it wasn't
for that psycho. Now how could I go see her? Turn up looking like
this? No chance.

As I got further from the club the
roads got quieter. I got the feeling that there was someone behind
me, someone following me. I'd been more cautious since I'd got out of
hospital a couple of days ago, what with Rex apparently baying for my
blood, so I'd begun to notice anything that seemed out of the
ordinary, out of place.
Ah, you're probably being paranoid, don't
worry about it.

But no, there was definitely something
up. A car, about forty yards back. I'd seen that car parked nearby
when I was waiting at the club. I'd been driving for ten minutes now,
how was it still on my tail?