The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (41 page)

On
Sunday
, Ruby, Johnny, Kate and Matt went
to the zoo for the day. They wanted to get out and do something to
take Ruby’s mind off of the fact that my father was due home from
his business trip today. He would come home to find the note that
she left him, and that all of their stuff was gone from his house.
She had gotten rid of their phone numbers and bought new sim cards
for their cellphones so he had no way of contacting them or knowing
where they were. But sitting around worrying about it wasn’t
helping anyone, so they wanted to do something to keep them
occupied.

I was sat on
the sofa
, reading, with my legs on Liam’s
lap while he played PlayStation with Jake, when the phone rang. I
moved to get it but Jake got there first. As he answered it his
whole body tensed up. “What the hell do you want?” he growled,
jumping off of the sofa. I sat up so fast that it almost made my
head spin. “Are you fucking drunk?” he almost screamed down the
phone. I watched him, feeling sick, knowing that my father was on
the phone. “Yeah, so what? What are you gonna do about it, old
man?” Jake spat, going red with anger. “We don’t want to see you,
so fuck off. No. She doesn’t want to see you. I swear, if you come
near her again I’ll kill you,” he growled, turning his back to me.
“Actually, you know what, screw it, come over, come over right now.
We’re home, come on over and let’s talk about it,” Jake
suggested.

What the hell
is he doing? “Jake?” I
cried,
scared.

“
Sure.
Y
ou remember where the house is, right?
Absolutely. See you in a bit,” Jake said, hanging up and throwing
the phone across the room. Luckily it landed with a thump on the
other sofa and didn’t break. Did he just tell him to come
over?

“
Jake
, he’s not….” I trailed off,
unable to finish the sentence.

Jake turned
back to look at me, his face hard. “Yeah. Go next door,” he
instructed.

I looked at
Liam for help. H
e was looking at Jake; he
had the same hard expression on his face. “Liam, tell him this is
stupid!” I whispered, with tears falling down my face. Liam didn’t
look at me; Jake and him were locked in some sort of silent
exchange with their eyes. I jumped off of the sofa and grabbed the
phone planning on calling him back to cancel it. I couldn’t let him
come here, not with those two looking like that.

Jake pulled
the phone out of my
hands. “He’s not
going to stop harassing you, Ambs. He wants to see you. He’s also
really angry that Ruby’s left him. He knows that I helped them; a
neighbour saw my car in the drive. He’s seriously pissed at me, so
I just need to tell him to back the fuck off,” he said, pulling me
into a hug.

I shook my
head, that wasn’t what he was p
lanning at
all, they weren’t going to
tell
him anything, Jake and Liam
were going to beat him senseless and
show
him to back the fuck
off.

“
Plea
se don’t, you’ll get in
trouble. Please?” I whispered. My insides were squirming with
dread.

“
Not if he
starts something first
,” Jake replied,
fighting a smile.

Chapter 21

~ Liam ~

Crap, this was bad. The first thing that shot through
my brain was that I needed to keep Jake under control. Sure, I
wanted to kill that asshole as much as he did, but we seriously
needed to be careful. If we literally jumped him as soon as he
walked in, we’d be liable, and I’d promised his mom I wouldn’t let
him do that. I wouldn’t let Jake go to jail for that asshole, Angel
needed her big brother, especially now with the baby coming. The
second thing that sprung to mind was that I needed to get my girl
and my baby the hell out of here, now.

“
Angel,
let
’
s go, I
’
ll
take you to mine,
”
I stated, grabbing her
hand and pulling her away from Jake.

She wrenched
her hand out of mine and
glared at
me.
“
I
’
m not
going anywhere! I won
’
t let you do this,
either of you. You can
’
t beat the crap
out of him, you
’
ll get in trouble. You’re
being freaking stupid!
”
she shouted.
Tears rolled down her face as she spoke.

“
Angel, you
need to leave,
now
,
”
I
ordered. She wasn
’
t staying here near
that man, no way, because if he even looked at her the wrong way I
wouldn
’
t be able to restrain myself, let
alone keeping Jake under control.

She shook her
head fiercely. She always had been stubborn, usually I loved that
about her - but not right now I didn’t. Fine, if she wants it that
way then screw it. I grabbed her, wrapping her in my arms, lifting
her bridal style.
“
Liam,
don
’
t you dare!
”
she shouted, her face getting red with anger as she
struggled to get down. I shook my head, I
’
d deal with her anger later, she wouldn
’
t stay mad at me for long and a night of the silent
treatment would be totally worth it, just so I knew she was
completely safe. She started sobbing and wrapped her arms around my
neck as I carried her out of the house. Damn it, she was killing
me! I hated to see her cry.

I kissed the
side of her head.
“
Shh, everything’s
going to be fine, I promise. I just need to you safe so I can
concentrate on keeping Jake calm, OK?
”
I
said honestly.

We reached my
house and I opened the door quickly
,
heading over to the sofa. I sat down and held her on my lap,
rocking her gently.
“
Please
don
’
t get in trouble, Liam,
please,
”
she begged, hugging me
tighter.

“
I
won
’
t. I need to go next door now. You
stay here; don
’
t come over until I come
to get you. You understand? Can you do that for me?
”
I asked desperately.

She sniffed
and pulled away
without looking at
me.
“
Just go then,
”
she snapped angrily, moving off of my lap to sit on the
sofa. She really didn
’
t like this at
all.

I groaned, hating her angry expression.

“
I love you,
Angel. I just need you and our baby safe,
”
I explained as I kissed her cheek, rubbing my hand over her
flat stomach. I fought the urge to smile thinking of my baby
growing inside her, that lucky little baby gets to be closer to her
than anyone for the next eight months. She nodded and closed her
eyes; silent tears were still falling down her face.

I stood up
and turned to leave.
“
Liam?
”
she called just as I got to the door. I turned
back, hoping for a smile.
“
I love you
too. If you get sent to jail for murder then I
’
ll wait for you,
”
she stated with
no emotion in her voice at all. It wasn
’
t
a joke; she really thought I was going to jail.

I
didn
’
t answer, I just left. There was no
answer for that. She was seriously annoyed with me and I would have
a lot to make up for after this. I
’
d
never done anything that she didn
’
t want
before and I hated doing it now.

I ran back to
Jake
’
s. He was pacing in the lounge,
looking murderously angry.
“
Jake, you
need to listen to me,
”
I said, grabbing
his shoulder and making him face me.

“
I know, I
know. I can
’
t do anything unless he
starts anything. I just want to talk to him and tell him to get the
fuck out of our lives, but if he comes near me, I swear….
”
He gritted his teeth. He didn
’
t need to finish the sentence, I already knew what he would
do and it wouldn
’
t be painless
either.

After about
ten
minutes a car pulled up outside. I
grabbed Jake
’
s arm as he jumped up from
the sofa.
“
Calm the fuck down, Jake.
Understand?
”
I ordered. He nodded and I
headed to the door. I opened it and the asshole stood there looking
at me angrily. My hands were itching to choke the life out of him.
I hadn't seen him since we threw him out of the door followed by
all of his stuff, three years ago, but he looked exactly the same
as I remembered.

“
Liam James,
you
’
ve grown a bit, huh?
”
he stated, sneering as he looked me
over.

“
Stephen
Walker, you stopped molesting young girls?
”
I countered, my hand squeezing the door handle so tightly
that my fingers were hurting.

He glared at
me and pushed past
into the house.
“
Where the fuck are Jake and Amber?
”
he asked angrily.

“
I
’
m here. And
Amber
’
s out,
”
Jake said calmly. Maybe he was going to be calm after
all.

“
You little
shit! You always were fucking trouble! Where the fuck is my wife
and son? And I
’
m taking Amber with me
too,
”
Stephen shouted, heading towards
the hallway at the back. I could feel my anger rising every time he
said my Angel’s name. I took a couple of deep breaths; I needed to
be the strong one.

Jake started
to laugh.
“
Yeah, OK,
”
he said sarcastically. I think he was trying to goad his
father into starting something. I think he was planning on letting
him get a couple of hits in first so he could say it was
self-defence.

“
Where are
they?
”
Stephen practically screamed. He
always did have a bad temper.

“
I
’
m telling you now, old man,
that if you ever come near my sister again, I’ll kill you,” Jake
growled. “Do you understand me? You need to leave town. Now.
There
’
s nothing left here for you now.
Ruby doesn
’
t want you either, no one
wants you,
”
he spat.

He smiled
slightly as Stephen stepped closer to him
with his fists clenched.
“
This is
all your fucking fault! You and Amber had to open your filthy
mouths and tell Johnny about what happened. You
’
ve ruined everything for me, everything, you worthless
piece of shit. I should have fucking pushed your mother down the
stairs or something when she told me she was pregnant with
you,
”
Stephen shouted angrily.

Damn
it
, he was an asshole!

Jake grabbed
him and slammed him against the wall
,
knocking his breath out of him.

Crap! I
grabbed Jake just as he was about to
punch him and pulled him away.
“
Not like this! Jake, not like this,
”
I shouted, trying to restrain him.

“
Let me go!
I
’
m gonna fucking kill him. Liam, let me
go!
”
Jake screamed, trying to throw me
off of him.

“
Jake, calm
down!
”
I heard Amber say.

My blood went
cold at the sound of her voice. What the hell was she doing here?
We all turned to see her standing in the doorway. I let go of Jake
quickly and went to go to her, but that asshole was between me and
her. He grabbed her wrist. She flinched and tried to pull her arm
out of his hold.

“
You! You
fucking ruined everything!
”
he screamed
at her.

“
Let her go,
now!
”
I growled through my gritted teeth,
barely able to contain my anger. I could hear my heart beat
drumming in my ears; I was so angry that my hands were shaking. I
was going to kill him in three seconds if he
didn
’
t let her go.

He turned to
look at me
, hate clear across his
face.
“
Fuck you! She
’
s my daughter,
”
he shouted,
yanking her roughly closer to him. She turned and tried to push him
away. His face turned hard. I lunged forward at the same time he
slapped her hard across the face.

I grabbed his
shirt and punched him full in the face, enjoying the satisfying
crack his nose made as my fist connected with it. I pulled back my
arm and punched him again and again
,
ignoring the pain each blow caused in my hand. After the fourth or
fifth punch his body was going a little limp so I shoved him
against the wall so I didn
’
t have to hold
him up, and punched him over and over. I put all of my hate into
it, all the anger and hurt and helplessness that I’d ever felt when
I would watch my girl cry herself to sleep. I would never let this
man hurt her again. He slumped to the floor, wrapping his arms
around his head, but I didn
’
t stop, I
couldn
’
t stop. So I started kicking him
instead.