by Ellis, Kay
“This him?”
Killigan stopped in front of Stef’s old man and looked him up and down, his lip curling in distaste.
“I’ve done nothing wrong!” Stef’s father said, pointing a shaking finger in my direction. “That man attacked me. He –”
Without warning, Killigan punched him in the face. He bounced off of the car and hit the ground with a thud. Howling, he held his hands over his nose, blood seeping between his fingers. Good. If there was any justice in this world, it would be broken. The other cops stared at Killigan in astonishment, not sure what they should do.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Arrest him,” Killigan barked. “He kidnapped and assaulted my boy.”
They jumped to it then, and Stef’s old man was cuffed and hauled away to a waiting police car, still wailing about his bloodied nose. Killigan turned to me.
“Where is he?”
“In there. Rufus is with him.” I told him. Killigan arched an eyebrow, but he didn’t comment.
I stepped up to the caravan door and hammered on it with my fist.
“Rufus, it’s me. Killigan’s here too. Let us in.”
A moment later the door creaked slowly open and a tearful Rufus peered out cautiously.
“We need an ambulance,” Rufus sniffled. “I think he’s drugged or something.”
Killigan looked over his shoulder at the remaining officers.
“Already on its way, Sir,” one of them said.
I didn’t want to appear uncaring after everything he’d done for us that day, but right at that moment Stef was took priority over Rufus. I pushed past him and Killigan followed with three of the officers. We crowded into the small bedroom where Stef was still tied up on the bed. Ignoring everyone else, I carefully lowered myself onto the mattress beside him.
“How do I get these off?” I said, gently raising his wrists so that Killigan could see the cable ties.
“Alex, we should take photos first, for evidence .”
“I don’t give a shit about evidence. Get them off him.”
“Alex…” Killigan said again. Then he sighed, knowing this was one battle he wasn’t about to win. “Fine. Somebody find a knife or scissors.”
Stef didn’t appear to have any injuries other than the bruise on his face. I raised a hand to cup his cheek and gently brushed my thumb across the vivid purple bruise. I was so angry that anyone could do that to him, especially his so-called father, but I was still glad I hadn’t hit the bastard. I’d been the man Stef would want me to be rather than the man everyone expected. Mind you, I was equally as pleased that Killigan had punched him. He’d called Stef his boy, but then he’d been more of a dad to him than that waste-of-space sperm donor. Killigan had earned the right to smack the guy in the face. I only wished he’d hit him harder.
Stef’s eyes fluttered open. The ghost of a smile curved his dry, cracked lips.
“You found me,” he whispered, his voice barely audible, but I heard him even if nobody else in the room did.
“I’ll always find you,” I promised, my own voice a low murmur. “We belong together, Stef. Two halves of one soul. I love you, Princess.”
“Love you, Boo.”
For once, I didn’t mind him using his pet name for me in front of others. None of them would say anything and I wouldn’t care even if they did. Let them laugh if they wanted to. All that mattered was that my Stef was safe.
“Scissors, Sir,” one of the officers said from the bedroom doorway. “And the ambulance has just arrived. They… um… they’ll need some space to work.”
“Okay. Rufus, come on,” Killigan said. “We’ll wait outside.”
“What about…?” the officer began.
I lifted my head and glared.
Killigan snorted. “You want to try and move him, go ahead,” he said. “I’ll be sure to come and visit you in hospital.”
The police filed out, followed by Killigan and Rufus, and were instantly replaced by the paramedics. I sat up and eyed them warily. I didn’t know these guys. How did I know I could trust them with Stef? What if they made things worse?
“Hey there,” the first guy said warmly. He came round to the side of the bed where I was sat and perched on the end. “My name’s Brian and my lovely young friend here, is Les.”
Les didn’t look very lovely or very young. He had to have about ten years on the guy in front of me. I watched closely as he leaned over Stef.
“You want to tell me your names?” Brian said lightly, leaning forward so I had to focus on him rather than Les, who had rolled Stef onto his back.
“Yeah, I’m Alex. This is Stef… Stefan.”
Nobody called him Stef but me. I’d even heard Stef correct other people who shortened his name, although he didn’t seem to mind when I did it. Rufus used to, but I was sure he stopped doing it about the same time I started.
“So, is Stefan your boyfriend?”
Supposedly-young Les snipped the plastic tie around Stef’s wrists. Stef let out a low moan and I tensed, fixing the paramedic with a malevolent stare, he was supposed to be helping, not causing Stef even more pain than he was already in.
“Alex.” Brian tapped my knee to get my attention again. “Is Stefan your boyfriend?”
“Yes. No. He’s my fiancé.”
“Well, that’s great. Have you guys set a date yet?”
“No, we can’t afford it.”
I knew what he was doing. Distracting me so his partner could do what needed to be done without me running interference. I wondered if they’d been warned about me before they came in here. Killigan probably made me sound like a caged animal protecting its young. Even though I hadn’t hurt Stef’s old man, he’d probably told them something along the lines of ‘hurt Stefan and die”.
“I hear you,” Brian said cheerfully. “Now, me, I’d have been happy with the registrar’s office and a few beers in the pub after, but the missus, she wanted the full works.”
He prattled on while his partner worked on Stef. I only half-listened, my intense gaze never leaving Stef’s still form. It felt like forever before Les looked over at Brian and nodded.
“Okay, Alex, we’re ready to move Stefan to the ambulance. Now, we’re not going to get a stretcher in here, so we’re going to have to carry him out. Are you going to be alright with that?”
“No, I’ll do it,” I said, standing up quickly.
“Alex, that’s not really…”
“I’m doing it,” I repeated.
Brian and Les exchanged a look and then Brian nodded.
“You can do it, but I’m going to tell you how to lift him, and you need to do exactly as I say, okay?”
“I know how to pick him up,” I retorted, thinking of all the times I’d thrown Stef over my shoulder in order to carry him to the bedroom and fuck his brains out. Right, so that probably wasn’t the best example to bring to mind. Carrying someone who was unconscious probably required a little more finesse. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I’d ever possessed the delicate touch in my entire life. “Fine. Show me.”
I was careful, lifting Stef exactly like they told me to. Stef felt fragile in my arms, like he weighed next to nothing. Like he was made of glass. Brian backed out of the bedroom door ahead of me.
“Mind you don’t bang his head on the door frame.”
“Right, because that’s exactly what I was going to do.”
Brian shook his head and smiled, but he didn’t say anything else until we got outside the caravan, where Killigan, Rufus and several of the police officers waited for us. There was more of them now, guys in white paper suits who each held a case that looked a bit like a toolkit. I supposed they were SOCO, but I didn’t really pay them any attention.
There was a stretcher on the grass and Brian indicated I should set Stef down on it. Instead, I held him a little closer.
“It’s cold,” I argued. “He’ll get cold.”
“They’ve got blankets,” Killigan said sharply, stepping forward. “
You need to –”
“Alex,” Brian interrupted, putting himself between me, Stef and the irate copper. “You love him. You’re protecting him. I get it. You’re doing a great job, son. But now you need to help us to help him. Come on. We need to get him to the hospital. You can ride in the ambulance with him. How does that sound?”
I nodded reluctantly, but gently lay Stef on the stretcher. The guy was only doing his job, and me being a stubborn arsehole and getting in the way wasn’t going to do Stef any good in the long run. Plus, Brian was wrong anyway. I hadn’t done a good job of protecting Stef. If I had, we wouldn’t be here, would we?
The journey to the hospital was mercifully quick. Killigan and Rufus followed close behind. The three of us were shown into a private waiting room, and not long after we got there, Marcie and Amanda arrived. Together, we all waited impatiently for the doctors to come and tell us something. Anything. Killigan and I wore holes in the carpet with all our pacing, which for some reason, seemed to irritate the ladies of the group as much as Rufus’ constant snivelling irritated the men.
Eventually, a doctor poked his head into the room, his gaze flicking to each of us questioningly.
“Are you Stefan Gold’s family?”
“Are you fucking serious?” I demanded, advancing on the poor guy menacingly. “Read your fucking notes. It was his so-called family that put him in here.”
“What Mr. Gold’s fiancé is trying to say,” Killigan said quickly, placing a restraining hand on my chest, “is that although we are not related by blood, we are the only family Stefan currently has.”
“Well, okay then. Stefan is awake so you can go in to see him, two at a time. I’m assuming his… fiancé... will want to go first.”
The way the guy looked me up and down, he obviously didn’t believe for a moment that a dainty little princess like Stef would ever be in a relationship with a big old gorilla like me.
“I’m coming too,” Killigan said. He smirked at the doctor. “I’ll keep an eye on this one.”
“I don’t need –”
“Shut up, Alex!” Marcie snapped hotly, and we all turned to stare at her surprise. She was never usually spoke that sharply to anyone, and especially not to me. “Just go and see Stefan and then come back here and let the rest of us know that he’s okay.”
I nodded, and followed Killigan and the doctor from the room. Entering Stef’s room, I didn’t know what to expect, even though I’d been with him in the ambulance. All Stef had though, was a drip in his arm which the doctor explained was because Stef was dehydrated. Stef was sat up in the bed, his face pale and drawn, his anxious, emerald-eyed gaze watching the door. He sagged with relief when I walked in, his eyes filling with sudden tears.
“I thought I dreamt you.”
Ignoring everyone else in the room, I reached the bed in the blink of an eye and climbed up beside him, as he had done with me after I’d been stabbed. Pulling him into my arms, I held him tight, stroking his hair as he rested his head against my chest.
“No dream, promise,” I whispered. “I’m right here. I’m sorry, Stef. Sorry it took me so long to find you.”
“I’m sorry too. Sorry I lied to you.”
“You thought you were protecting me. We’ve been over this.”
“I know, but I shouldn’t have let him take me. I should have fought harder.”
“Not your fault, babe. He might have hurt you more if you’d fought back.”
“Did you… did you do anything?” Stef asked hesitantly. “To him, I mean?”
“Nope, I promised, didn’t I?” I was glad then, that I hadn’t touched his old man. I should have known Stef would ask me sooner or later, and I was proud to be able to say I’d kept my word. I couldn’t resist telling him what had really happened though. “I didn’t have to anyway. Killigan decked him.”
“Oh, my God! Are you serious?”
Stef lifted his head and stared at Killigan in disbelief.
“Yes, well… he deserved it,” Killigan said awkwardly. Jesus, was he actually embarrassed? I’d never seen that before; not on the rugged old cop anyway. “Besides, they won’t arrest me. Alex is still serving his suspended sentence.”
“You did it for me?” I raised my eyebrows. “I’m touched.”
“I did it for Stefan,” Killigan said, rolling his eyes. “And you’re so not funny, Alex.”
“I am a little bit funny though.”
“Not even a little bit.”
“I am though, really. It’s okay for you to admit it.”
The sound of Stef’s low giggle was music to my ears.
23
Over the next couple of days we had a mix of good news and bad. The good was that Stef had been sedated rather than drugged, and the doctors assured us he would make a full recovery with no physical after-effects. They did recommend he seek counselling to deal with the emotional aspect of being kidnapped by his own father. That was no big deal. We’d seen a counsellor before and it had worked out okay for us.
The bad news was that Stef’s old man was pleading fucking insanity and it looked like he was going to get away with it. I mean, yeah, he was still going to be locked up for a long time, but it would be in a nuthouse rather than a prison cell.
How could anyone believe him for even a second? Every single thing he’d done to Stef and me, even the way he’d tried to goad me into hitting him back at the caravan – all of it had been calculated to my way of thinking. But believe it they did, and Killigan said there was fuck all we could do about it, even though Stef’s old man had coughed to just about everything.
Not that he took any responsibility for any of what he’d done. No, he put all the blame on Stef. Told everyone it was his gay son’s deviant lifestyle that had pushed him over the edge, and that bunch of homophobic, legal bigwig motherfuckers actually sympathised with him.
It was Stef’s fault, he said, that he had taken to drinking in the first place. Stef’s fault he’d beaten him up and put him in hospital when Stef was fifteen. Stef’s fault he’d been banged up for six months for assault, and that he’d lost his job, his home and his wife.
That last one hurt Stef. He didn’t say anything, but I saw it in his eyes. All this time, he’d believed his mother chose his father over him, when what she’d really done was choose herself. She’d left her abusive husband, but she’d left her innocent son too. She’d left Stef to rot in the care system. Hadn’t even tried to find him or see him. Apparently, the last Stef’s old man had heard of her, she was shacked up in Spain with a toy-boy lover.
Killigan told us that Stef’s old man had admitted searching for us once before, when we’d been at the centre of the media frenzy surrounding the attempted murder trial of my former gang. Stef and I had already moved away from London by that point though, and he hadn’t known where to find us. It wasn’t until we’d accompanied Eric and Mason on their very public date on Weymouth seafront and he’d seen the pictures in the papers, that his old obsession with punishing Stef had resurfaced.
He’d wanted to destroy Stef’s happiness. Thought he could do it by splitting us up, or even better, by sending me to prison. At first, he’d wanted me to go down for assaulting him, but when Stef had left me rather than play along, he’d upped his game, deciding instead to make it look like I was responsible for Stef’s disappearance. Maybe even his murder, although Stef’s old man had suddenly clammed up once the cops asked him what he’d intended to do with Stef at the caravan.
So, yeah, like I said… every fucking thing was planned and had been for years, yet somehow he convinced the powers that be that he was a victim of mental illness.
The next bit of good news was that Stef was allowed home. Or at least it would have been good if Stef actually wanted to go home. But our humble little apartment over Tony’s garage was where Stef had been terrorised and subsequently snatched from his bed. He didn’t feel safe there anymore. Tony said we could move into the main house, but until the Scooby gang went home to London, he di
dn’t have room for us. Besides which, as far as Stef was concerned it was still too close for comfort.
The day Stef was released, the whole gang showed up at the hospital to pick us up. I’d spent every waking moment at Stef’s bedside, so in a way it was like I was coming home too. The others seemed overly excited about it all, more so because of Stef than me, I supposed.
“You ready?”
I held out my hand and Stef took it, holding on tightly as he jumped down from the bed. He looked amazing. Like the Stef he had been before all this shit with his old man happened. His hair was freshly washed and brushed, a shimmering blond curtain hanging down his back. Rufus had brought in his make-up bag so Stef had on silvery eyeshadow, mascara and strawberry lip-gloss. He got a few funny looks as we walked through the hospital, but a cold stare from me soon had the haters looking the other way. Not that I cared what anyone thought. Stef was fucking beautiful and he was mine. Now the nightmare was over I couldn’t wait for things to get back to normal. Stef could go back to being a guy who wore make-up without thinking it made him a girl. Oh, yeah, that’s right. His old man had been behind all that as well. Telling Stef I only wanted him because he was more like a woman than a man.
I’d encouraged Stef to get all dolled up for his grand homecoming. He’d smiled shyly, his green eyes filled with doubt as Rufus made up his face. When Rufus finished, I walked over and cupped Stef’s face in my hands, kissing him softly.
“My beautiful man,” I whispered in his ear.
He beamed at that, even with Rufus hovering in the background and complained about having to reapply his lip gloss.
We split into two cars for the journey home, Stef and I with Marcie and Killigan, and Rufus and Amanda in with Tony. It didn’t take long for me to realise we were heading in entirely the wrong direction.
