Soul Protector (19 page)

“Yeah, see you again mate. We
should do this soon,” said Joe.

Kerry raised her eyebrows in
his direction.

Dan looked at me, and my heart
swelled for a second as he started to speak. “Goodbye, Gracie. Take
care of yourself, okay?”

With that, he turned and
disappeared out the door.

Kerry squeezed my arm as we
picked up our bags and traced his footsteps into the cool night
air. “I’m so sorry hun.” She looked as miserable as I felt.

We had to walk near Dan’s car,
and I saw him slinging his jacket into the open boot. The thought
of never seeing him again made my heart squeeze. I realised I
couldn’t just let him walk away without a fight. I had to at least
try to make him see sense.

I turned to Kerry. “Listen; can
you just give me a couple of minutes to talk to him?”

“Sure, see you in a minute,”
she said, “good luck.”

Kerry and Joe carried on
walking towards Joe’s car at the far end of the car park. I turned
to see Dan close the boot, and then climb into the driver’s seat.
He grabbed hold of the door handle, ready to shut it.

“Dan, wait,” my voice came out
croaky.

He stopped what he was doing
and looked at me. It still took my breath away when I looked at his
face, but instead of making me feel exhilarated, all I felt was
sadness. He didn’t say anything. He sat there, looking at me, all
the warmth gone from his eyes.

I almost didn’t want to have
the conversation with him - if I put off talking to him, maybe I
could pretend everything was okay, and that way I could exist for a
little while longer without the pain I knew was coming my way.

I took a deep breath. “Dan, are
you upset with me?”

He paused for a moment,
fiddling with his key fob, and then looked up with a tired
expression.

“You never said.”

“Never said
what
?” I had
a feeling I knew what was coming.

“You never said you were in the
middle of a break-up.” His voice broke on the last two words.

“I’m not,” I rushed,
desperately trying to recover the situation. “Mike and I broke up
months ago.”

“But Kerry said all this time
you’ve been a mess,
heartbroken
was the word she used.”

Kerry and her big mouth...

“Heartbroken? I wouldn’t go
that far. Kerry was tipsy. She always exaggerates when she’s had
too much to drink.” I tried to keep the desperation from my
voice.

He climbed out of the car and
came to stand next to me. He looked down at my face and studied it.
I held my breath. I couldn’t bear being so close without touching
him and I had to fight hard to prevent tears trying to form.

“Gracie, are you honestly
telling me you’re over him?”

I held his gaze and answered
him truthfully. “Yes.
Completely
.”

He looked away for a few
seconds, and I could see he was frowning.

“But you’ve been moping for the
past
few
months
. And you magically recovered, when, a
couple of days ago?”

“Well, I was moping, sort of…
but I’m fine now,” I said, clinging onto the tiniest fragment of
hope.

Dan narrowed his eyes, and I
saw his jaw muscle tensing. He leaned in closer, putting his hand
up to my face. I flinched, my childhood legacy causing me to react,
but he just ran the pad of his thumb down my jaw line, while he
studied my features. I wondered if he was going to tilt my face
towards his like the other night, but this time he sighed and
dropped his hand back down by his side.

My eyes flicked over his face
as I desperately tried to read his expression. I didn’t like what I
saw. His eyes had turned cold and distant, and I could feel him
slipping further from my reach.

“How can you be so sure?” he
asked.

Oh I knew.
I was certain
beyond all doubt that I was well and truly over Mike, but as I
looked into the full depth of Dan’s brown eyes, I couldn’t stop
tears springing into my own, because I knew then it was over. I’d
lost him.

How could I tell him I only
thought
I’d loved Mike, that I now knew those feelings
couldn’t have been real, because they paled in comparison to the
way I felt about
him
? How could I tell him I’d fallen head
over heels in love with him in such a ridiculously short space of
time? I had never felt this way about anyone before, and I knew I
would never feel so intensely about anyone again. If I told him all
that, I was sure it would be too much too soon, and he would run
for the hills anyway.

Unable to look at his face any
longer, I stared down at my feet.

“I just know,” I said
quietly.

Before he could comment, I
heard Kerry’s raised voice behind us. I looked over expecting her
to be beckoning me to join them, but her and Joe weren’t alone,
there were three other people with them; Mike’s mates. Dan reacted
quicker than me and started running in their direction.

I followed behind, as fast as I
could in the stupid heels, and tried to make sense of the scene in
front of us. Craig had picked up Joe and pinned him against a wall.
Kerry was screaming at him to put Joe down, but one of the others,
a tall guy covered in tattoos, stood blocking her way. I noticed
Mike wasn’t with them.

I looked harder and saw a flash
of steel pressed up against Joe’s cheekbone.

“Dan, he’s got a knife.” I
shouted, rushing to keep up with him. I could feel my heartbeat
crashing against my ribs.

“Put him down and back off,”
Dan ordered, slowing his speed as he approached them.

Craig turned to look at him.
His eyes were wild.

“You forgot to say please.”

The other two guys laughed.

“Anyway, what are you going to
do about it, pretty boy?” mocked the fatter one, who’d just been
watching the others until now.

Puffs of steam from Dan’s
breath came thick and fast, but he managed to keep his voice level.
“Let him go and back off. This is the last time I’m going to ask
you.”

“Hmm, this fella’s got no
manners, let’s teach him a lesson,” said the one who’d been keeping
Kerry at bay. He shoved her hard, sending her to her knees and
lunged at Dan.

I looked away for a split
second, a reflex action, but when I looked back, Dan was standing
rubbing his knuckles and the other guy was lying on the floor, out
of it. I looked down at him and was relieved to see his chest rise
and fall.

Kerry took the opportunity to
scrabble up from the floor and jump onto the back of Craig. Craig
let go of Joe and staggered backwards. He spun round with the knife
in his hand trying to dismount Kerry.

I was trying to work out who to
help, but everything was happening so fast it was chaos. One wrong
move and someone would get stabbed.

Dan, quick to react, turned and
pounced at Craig. He grabbed hold of his arm, and I prayed he would
be able to release Craig’s grip from the blade. Instead, my heart
squeezed in terror as Dan’s eyes fell closed.

Everything seemed to go into
slow motion at that point. I wanted to scream and shout, but I
couldn’t. I wanted to run over and help, but my legs felt heavy and
wooden. All I could do was stand there, paralysed, and wait for the
inevitable.

As I watched, I thought I saw a
shimmer in the space around them. It was as if we’d stepped into
the desert for a minute and the heat was rising from the
surface.

Dan’s eyes flicked open. He
stepped backwards and turned round towards the fatter guy.
He’s
just turned his back on a knife
.

To my amazement, Craig stopped
what he was doing and wrenched Kerry off his back, telling her he
wasn’t going to hurt her. Meanwhile, Dan had got the plump guy
pinned down on the floor and he was making a hell of a fuss.

“Stop resisting, and it won’t
hurt,” Dan told him, looking round to survey what was happening to
the others.

Meanwhile Joe had gathered his
senses and was heading towards Craig, who quickly spun round, and
deposited Joe on the floor.

“Just leave it mate, I’m not
going to hurt anyone,” he said to Joe.

That’s when I understood. Dan
had switched.

Kerry took the opportunity to
fling herself at Craig, but he grabbed her arms, and spoke to her
in a low, steady voice. “You need to calm down, Kerry. It’s over
now.”

I heard footsteps and saw the
landlord Mark, and a couple of his bar staff come running in our
direction.

“Right, we’ve called the
police. They’re on their way.”

Craig released Kerry from his
grip, and flung the knife down on the floor at the feet of one of
the barmen, who promptly picked it up and put it in his pocket.

Mark knelt down over the tall
guy Dan had knocked out earlier. “I think he’s going to have a bit
of a headache in the morning.”

One of the other barmen took
over holding down the chubby guy. Dan straightened up, brushed
himself off and looked over at me.

“Gracie, go home with Kerry. If
you come to the Police Station, you’ll get dragged into it all. We
could be there all night.”

I shook my head. “I don’t care.
I’m coming with you.” Please let me come with you.

Dan moved closer and spoke so
only I could hear.

“Please, Gracie, there’s going
to be some awkward questions. It’ll be difficult enough with Joe
there, but I need you to make sure Kerry doesn’t come and put her
foot in it.”

He was pleading with his
eyes.

“Okay, no problem,” I said,
feeling myself deflate. I really didn’t want to leave his side, but
after everything he had done for me, and my friends, this was one
last way I could help him.

“Thank you,” he said, giving me
a crooked smile.

I watched him as he turned,
walked over to Craig and bent his arm up behind his back. Initially
Craig didn’t resist. This time I watched closely when Dan closed
his eyes. As I expected, the faint shimmer re-appeared creating an
ethereal image. When Dan opened his eyes, I saw his facial muscles
twitch as he tensed his body. For a while Craig looked like he was
just daydreaming. Dan took this opportunity to drop him to the
floor, keeping his arm firmly bent behind him, and then sat on top
of him. As if a switch had been flipped, Craig’s eyes grew wild and
his face contorted with anger as he struggled and hurled abuse at
Dan.

Dan looked over at me and
winked. A silent understanding passed between us. Everyone else
looked bewildered, unable to work out why he had been so docile
just a few moments ago.

I didn’t know if I was relieved
or not when I heard sirens in the distance. I was pleased we were
out of danger, but worried at what lay ahead for Dan.

“Gracie, Kerry, go now, before
they get here,” shouted Dan.

Mark nodded. “You should go.
Don’t worry; we’ll give a statement to say who started the trouble
in the bar, and who was holding the knife when we came out.”

Kerry rushed over to give Joe a
quick kiss. “Call me as soon as you can,” she urged him, forcing a
weak smile.

I turned to look at Dan one
last time. He was looking up at me. His shirt was ripped and he was
covered in dirt, but he still looked amazing. I wanted to say
something smart to win him back. Hundreds of words spun through my
mind, but I couldn’t conjure up anything that would bring him back
to me. He nodded his goodbye and looked back towards Craig who was
still trying to resist. I bit my lip, turned around and followed
Kerry to the taxi queue up the road.

~

In the cab I managed to stay
strong, convincing a tearful Kerry it wasn’t her fault, and
everything would be okay. After the taxi dropped me off and I waved
goodbye to her, I crumbled. In the sanctuary of my flat, I curled
up in a heap on the bed and let the tears fall. I wondered how the
evening could have ended so badly when I’d been euphoric only a few
short hours before. I cried so much, I gave myself a headache.
Exhausted I walked into the bathroom, and peered into the mirror.
My eyes were red rimmed and puffy. I blew my nose on a tissue and
dabbed cold water under my eyes.

After finally accepting Dan
really wanted me, I had well and truly blown it. I kicked the bath,
instantly regretting it as pain shot up my left foot. Then I blamed
Kerry for inviting me out in the first place and blabbing out my
personal details. If I’d stayed in, everything would still be okay.
Hindsight was a wonderful thing. Finally I turned my anger towards
Mike.
Why did he have to turn up?
It wasn’t his local. He’d
only ever visited that pub with me before.

I made my way back into the
bedroom, fighting the urge to pick over my conversations with Dan.
The central heating was turned down low, but the room felt stuffy
and it was hard to breathe. I cracked open the window and as the
cold breeze filtered inside. I sucked in a deep breath, filling my
cheeks with air, before slowly blowing it out.

I whipped off my clothes before
pulling on a pair of pyjama shorts and a vest top. I pulled back
the duvet and climbed into the cool sheets without taking off my
make-up. I knew I’d regret it in the morning, but right then I was
beyond caring. I grabbed the spare pillow and hugged it close to my
chest, before wrapping myself up in the duvet. I prayed for sleep
to take me away.

I tossed and turned all night,
only managing to catch short bursts of slumber. Every time a car
drove past I stirred, holding my breath, hoping it was Dan coming
to tell me he was sorry for the way he over-reacted. Then my heart
would sink all over again as the engine noise faded into the
distance.

I knew it was ridiculous to
feel so strongly about him, I’d known him for such a short space of
time. But no matter how many times I tried to console myself with
that fact, it didn’t help. I wanted Dan so much, I ached for
him.