A Love Worth Saving
Page 21
‘Ana I want to stay. But I need…I need your help.’
‘Of course,’ she whispered, and he could see her smile turn to concern as she sat up in bed, her eyes drawn to the hands he was holding up in front of him. ‘Anything. Tell me, what can I do?’
‘I…I…’ It took him a moment to focus, to work out what to tell her. He couldn’t look at her as he talked, so he stared down, focussing on the blood seeping through the creases on his hands, staining him.
‘When I heard you scream that night, for real with so much terror in your voice, I just ran straight over. I didn’t have time to think. Then I saw your mum on the floor, and the blood…there was so much blood. It was hard to pull my eyes from it. But you were still screaming, the fear was still there in your voice. And then I saw him coming towards you with the knife, and a red haze just kind of clouded my mind. I knew I had to get him away from you. I had to stop that knife from reaching you. And I did, I got him to the ground, the knife was between us. It was him or me. I couldn’t let it be me, so I pushed it into his belly. He couldn’t move, then, he couldn’t hurt you anymore.
But that wasn’t enough. The red haze didn’t go away. His blood was seeping out of his belly, coating my hands, making them slick where I held the knife. I knew it was over for him but it didn’t make a difference. I just kept pushing and pushing until his eyes glazed over and the blood stopped flowing. I had to make sure he was gone.
Everyone said I did the right thing, that I was protecting you. But I wasn’t. Not at the end, with his blood already soaking my hands. I should have pulled back, but I didn’t and now…now I can’t get his blood off me. I try. I try and scrub it off, but it never goes away.’
He couldn’t believe he’d said it. Not to her. Not to anyone. He’d never revealed so much of himself in any of the counselling sessions Natalie had made him attend.
But he had to tell Ana. Finally, he wanted someone to know.
And so he sat still and waited. And waited. And waited.
The tension inside him became too much and he drew his gaze to hers. She was staring at him and he couldn’t tell in the dark if she was looking at him in horror, or fear or something else.
He closed his eyes, unable to watch, to wait, a moment longer.
Fuck! He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have just got up and scrubbed his hands and run for his life like they’d agreed. But now? Now he’d gone and opened his big mouth again and ruined—
‘I love you.’
His eyes sprang open, and he stared at her, trying to fathom out how she felt, what she meant by her declaration. Because there was no hint of disgust in her voice, no revulsion, no fear. Just…love.
‘Don’t you want to run away from this?
‘Why would I do that?’
‘Because—’
‘I love you, Brad. I will always love you, no matter what. And right now? I want to wash this blood—this blood that saved my life—from your hands. And come Monday, we’re both going to get some help and once and for all put that awful night behind us.’
Brad stared at Ana, gobsmacked, his insides a tidal mix of awe, and love, and surprise for this gorgeous, courageous woman.
She was his.
Finally his.
And he was never letting her go.
Thanks for reading A Love Worth Saving. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage www.amandacanham.com, follow me on twitter @AmandaCanham, or like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AmandaCanhamNovels.
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You’ve just read a book in my Nights at St Mary’s series. The other books in this series are A Life Worth Living and A Heart Worth Mending.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
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ISBN: 9780857992666
Title: A Love Worth Saving
Copyright © 2015 by Amanda Canham
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