“What? You’re asking me?” Pru said, almost as though waking up.
“Yeah.”
“Is it alright, Pru?” Scott inquired. “I won’t be long.”
“Yeah. Absolutely,” Pru said. “Poor thing’s been left alone all day. Jesus.”
“Do you like dogs?”
“Of course,” Pru said. “I like all animals.”
“You Christine?”
“What sort of dog is it?” Christine wanted to know.
“Border Collie.”
“Oh. I don’t mind those.”
“Do you have any photos of it?” Pru asked. “On your phone?”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “But my phone’s at home as well.”
“You don’t take your phone to work?”
“Well, I mean, it’s back in my car. Um … I’m gonna have to get that at some point.”
“We’ll drop you back there don’t worry,” Christine said.
After receiving directions they soon found themselves parked outside Scott’s place. He slid over to the left side of the car. But didn’t get out.
“You guys want to see him?” he asked.
“I’m fine thanks,” Christine said.
“Pru?”
“Are you going to bring him out here?”
“No,” Scott said. “I don’t want to risk dropping him. Just come inside for a minute.”
There was an awkward pause.
“I’m not going to do anything,” Scott laughed.
He got out of the car.
“I’m going to say hello to the puppy,” Pru said.
Christine glanced over at her, disinterested. “I’m timing you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” she assured her. “I swear.”
Pru stepped outside the car.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Scott was still standing at the edge of the drive, facing her. He smiled when she caught up with him, and they walked on to the house.
“So what’s his name?” Pru asked.
“Whose name?” Scott replied, jangling his house keys.
“Your puppy’s.”
“Uh… Fido.”
“Fido? Wow. That’s original.”
“Sort of a spur of the moment thing.” He turned, holding the front door open for her. “After you.”
“Thanks.”
Pru stepped inside.
Scott was in immediately afterward, closing and locking the door behind them.
The house was dark. All the curtains were drawn.
They walked down the hallway until they came to what appeared to be Scott’s bedroom. He opened his hand and motioned for her to sit on the bed.
Pru didn’t make it much further than the edge of the doorway.
“I don’t see him anywhere.”
“No, he’s… He’s…”
Pru turned around. Scott had an odd look on his face.
“I’ll just go feed him,” he said. “You stay there.”
“What do you mean –”
“He’s shy,” Scott muttered. Then he disappeared around the corner.
Pru remained where she was. The bedroom was reasonably clean but an array of posters depicting women with tongue studs, shaved heads and cleavage tattoos left her unsettled.
She peered back through the doorway. “Scott?”
Silence.
Some shadows moved around the corner, but she couldn’t tell if it was him, or something outside briefly obscuring the crack of light from the window.
She walked a few steps further.
His voice came suddenly behind her.
“You know there’s no dog, don’t you?”
Pru let out a scream, whirling around.
Scott had taken off his trousers and put on a white shirt for some reason.
“You scared me,” Pru murmured. “What … what did you say?”
“We’ll have to be quick,” Scott said. “Your friend will start to worry.”
“Quick with what?”
He advanced towards her and went for an embrace.
“Whoa! Fuck,” Pru gasped, dodging him.
“Alright, alright,” Scott said, grabbing her arm. “Take it easy.”
“Don’t touch me!”
Instead he grabbed her waist and shoved her up against the nearest wall.
Pinned there, she squirmed within his grasp.
“Haven’t you always wondered, why it never happened between us?” he asked.
“Let go!”
Pru punched him in the neck and managed to get free. She found herself stumbling into his bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
She saw there was a lock on the handle. She snapped it close.
“Hey!” Scott yelled, pounding on the door. “Get out of there!”
“Not until you calm down!” Pru shouted back.
“You can’t lock me out. I have … I have the key somewhere…”
Pru leaned forward, listening anxiously.
“Shit,” Scott cursed under his breath.
“Go away,” Pru muttered.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Scott replied. “This is my house.”
“If you don’t fuck off somewhere, I’m calling the cops.”
“You … you don’t have a phone…”
“I do so.”
She didn’t.
“Well, call them, cause I’m reporting you with creating a disturbance.”
“Fuck you! You just tried to rape me!”
“What?” Scott howled. “I just wanted to talk!”
“You touched me!”
“To stop you from… Fuck…”
His footsteps moved away from the door.
“Scott?” Pru asked. She turned back to the rest of the room, looking for a means of escape.
She rushed over to the window and pulled the blinds up. She fumbled with the lever to open the window.
It opened, but not so far she could squeeze through.
Pru leant outside of it. “Christine!” she shouted. “Christine, help!”
A loud banging noise erupted on the door. As though he was ploughing it with a hammer.
“Fucking hell!” Pru squealed. “I’m opening it! I’m coming out!”
He noise stopped. “You’re coming out?”
“Don’t fucking hurt me.”
“I won’t.”
Pru moved back to the door. She turned the lock back slowly.
As soon as it clicked Scott pushed open the door and jumped on top of her.
The hammer was raised high in his hand.
“No! Don’t do it!”
“Fucking prick tease,” Scott seethed.
His attention from her was cut short at that point, as a group of figures raced in from the side. Two of them took hold of Scott, pulling him off Prudence. Before he had a chance to respond, his body became the target of a series of punches and kicks.
Pru slowly rose to her feet, the blood rushing back to her head, and her vision clearing up.
She couldn’t believe who had saved her.
“If you come near her again, I’ll fucking kill you,” Michael yelled, bloodying up Scott’s face some more.
His friend Greg who had been holding Scott’s body upright, let him crash back to the floor. He put his shoe to Scott’s neck.
Scott didn’t move. He was conscious, but had completely given up.
“How did you find me?” Pru asked as hers and Michael’s eyes met.
Michael hesitated.
Christine stepped in behind them.
“Did you call him?” Pru asked.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear anything. I had no idea. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Pru stepped over Scott and through the doorway where they all were. She saw the room on the other side of the hall was lit and the back door was open. She stepped outside of it and found it led to a driveway at the side of the house.
Michael’s car was parked there.
; She put her hands to it, still reeling in shock from her encounter, not being able to understand or explain anything.
Christine was next out the door. “Do you want to go?”
“Yeah,” Pru said.
“Alright.”
They moved away from the car together.
She glanced back and saw Michael and Greg leaving the house.
“Just a minute,” Pru muttered. She turned back and walked up to them.
Michael’s expression concealed something.
“I want to know,” Pru demanded. “How did you know I was in trouble? How did you know to come here?”
Michael glanced at Greg a moment.
His lips curled inward. His shoulders stiffened.
“Well?”
“It was him, Prudence,” Michael said softly. “It was Bastian who called me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“You should know that no one is upset about the wedding not going ahead today,” Michael continued. “They all feel really bad for us. They don’t want you to avoid them. They want you to come home.”
Pru looked at the ground, deflated. “I’ve been really selfish, haven’t I?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Michael said. “But… I guess we both need time. To figure things out.”
There was a moment of pause.
“So you say it was Bastian who called you?” Christine asked. “As in her Bastian from the maze?”
Michael nodded. “I thought you were playing a prank on me. But just in case it was real … I showed. Lucky I did. That asshole in there could have killed you. Demented fuck.”
“What did he say exactly?” Pru asked.
“I don’t know,” Michael said, looking tired. “Maybe … We’re all going down for a barbecue on the beach. Everyone who was supposed to be at the wedding. I hope you show up. We can talk more about all this there…”
He opened the driver’s side of his car.
“Have a good one, ladies,” Greg said climbing in the passenger side.
Christine grabbed Pru’s arm and led her away.
They walked along the side of the house, while Michael’s car pulled out and drove away.
“This is too much,” Pru murmured. “Too much to process.”
“We’re getting out of here,” Christine said. “That’s the main thing.”
“Should I – should I have thanked him?”
“I’m sure he knows you’re grateful.”
“And what about Bastian?”
“What – what about him?”
Pru stopped by their car. “How did he know I was in trouble? Is he … is he watching me? Right now? Can he see everything?”
“I don’t know how it works,” Christine said. “Just be glad you have someone looking out for you.”
“None of this would have happened if…”
“If what?”
Pru slumped by the car. She sat on the road.
“What is it?”
“Maybe I should have just married him,” Pru whispered. “It could have been the happiest day ever. Instead … I ruined it.”
“You weren’t sure. You can’t marry someone if you’re not sure.”
“I was sure yesterday. And every other day before that.”
Christine sat beside her. “But you couldn’t have been. You kept thinking about Bastian. That’s why we went to the maze. That’s why you met with him.”
“Oh no,” Pru whispered.
“What is it?”
“I just realized,” she said. “I have to decide.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Michael hadn’t been lying. With her teeth chattering and palms trembling, Prudence managed the shameful trek to those who had expected to see her wedding today. They’d rearranged their lives, given up their time, and sacrificed a piece of themselves to be there for her. To see them all now, knowing she’d let each of them down, was a horror unlike any other. But when her footsteps came to a stop, and she dealt with the terror head on, she found that she was not hated by them. She was not blamed or misunderstood. No one appeared hurt or offended. They felt sorry for her.
The one exception to that was Michael’s sister Millie who was also present, and giving her death stares at every available opportunity. It wouldn’t have bothered her so much except that Pru felt her behavior was how everyone else should be behaving. After a good hour of conversing with all her friends and family (for most part), Pru saw an opportunity to leave their side and approach Millie to interact.
Presently, Millie sitting on a beach towel with her headphones on, staring out to sea.
Prudence blocked her path.
“Can I talk to you?” she asked, motioning to her ears.
Millie took the buds out. “What?”
“Can we walk and talk for a bit?”
Millie hesitated a moment, then agreed. “Okay.”
She got up and they walked along the beach together. Pru didn’t look back to see who was watching.
“What do you want?” Millie asked.
“Did you hear what happened just before?”
“Yeah,” Millie said. “Michael saved your ass from some ex of yours.”
“He … he didn’t have to do that,” Pru said. “I’m really grateful he did though. I wanted to … share that with you. That I care about him and he means so much to me. In spite of everything, I’ve done…”
“Michael needs you in his life like he needs a wart on the side of his face,” Millie stated.
“I know you’re upset with me. That’s why I wanted to talk.”
“Just … move on, Pru. Really. You’re gonna ruin his life.”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Pru admitted. “Whether to go or to stay.”
“And?”
“And I can’t see myself leaving him. Even for … some mystery man.”
“But you’d leave him for some ex-boyfriend, is that it?”
“What? No!” Pru exclaimed. “I wasn’t trying to get with Scott. He was just a distraction. I see that now. I was just trying to avoid the truth.”
“Can’t you see how much of a basket-case you are?” Millie questioned. “You’re not good for anyone, and certainly not for my brother. He deserves better.”
“You’re right. But … I want to give it another go. I want to try to be better for him.”
“What is this?” Millie scoffed. “Are you trying to get my approval? Me on your side? It’s not going to happen.”
“If Michael can forgive me for today, don’t you think you could too? All I’m saying is … I fucked up. I know I fucked up. And I know I’m not … together. I’m not strong like you are, or he is. But I want to be. I want another chance.”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t give you one.”
“Is there nothing I can say – nothing I can do, to make you see that I’m –”
“No, and I’ll tell you why,” Millie said. “True love, the kind of love that holds together a marriage, doesn’t change. There are no ups and downs. No I love this big one day, but this little the next. No, I love you and I love some other dude, and I’m not sure who I love etc. True love is constant and unbreakable. You want to be with Michael because you think you’d be happier and it’s the right thing to do. But you don’t love him. Married or not, one day you’re going to get bored and you’ll want to change things. We both know you can’t –”
“What are you guys talking about?” Michael asked, walking over.
Millie turned around, looking up to him. “Nothing.”
“It’s not about me, is it?”
“It’s private, fuck off.”
He touched her shoulder. “Can I have a word?”
He led her away motioning to Pru to wait a moment.
They talked quietly for a few moments, before Millie calmly looked back to Pru forcing a fake smile. Then she walked off.
Michael walked back to Prudence.
“There’s a lighthouse over there,” he said, pointing. “Want to check it out?”<
br />
“Okay,” Pru said.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“This whole time I thought it was just in your head,” Michael said as they walked along. “But now I’ve heard his voice. Now I know he’s … real.”
Pru looked out to the endless ocean’s waters. Faraway places, seemed somehow near…
“It’s good he cares about you at least,” Michael said. “If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have reached out to me.”
“I haven’t made a commitment to him,” Pru said.
“What did you say to him?”
“He said I had to make a choice. Whether I would go back to him or not.”
“Have you made it?”
Pru swallowed. “I don’t think I can do it. I don’t think I can … do it to you.”
“Forget about me,” Michael said. “Forget about us. We had our moment. But I see … it wasn’t for the long term.”
“How can you say that?” Pru whispered. “We’ve been together for the last –”
“It doesn’t matter,” Michael said. “We both needed this. But it’s time now we moved on.”
“I thought … I thought you would be a little more…”
“What?”
She stopped beside him in the sand.
Her family and friends were indistinguishable figures on the sunset horizon.
“I thought you still loved me,” Pru said.
“You heard what Millie said, didn’t you? About true love being constant?”
“You heard that?”
He nodded. “She already pitched the same argument to me. I’m inclined to agree with her. I figure if we were meant to be together, we’d be married right now. Instead of … where we are.”
Pru looked back to the lighthouse. “Let’s keep going.”
“Alright.”
They set off once again.
“So whose ingenious idea was it to visit that old boyfriend of yours?”
“Mine,” Pru admitted. “It was supposed to be just a friend thing. Obviously … well I’d like to say he’s changed … but he was always a bit fucked up … so I guess not.”
“Do you think one day you’ll come running after me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Five, ten years from now. When we’ve both gone our separate ways. Do you think you’ll try to come back for me?”
“Is it going to be like that? Will we be strangers then?”
Vampire's Wedding (Vampire's Valentine Book Two) Page 3
