“It was this sonofabitch!” he yelled. “This sick fucking sonofabitch hurt my Lydia. He beat the fucking shit out of her! Tell them, Lydia, fucking tell them what he did to you.”
She elbowed him hard in the ribs, gasping for breath as he let her go. Her eyes were as wild as his, but wild with fear. “Leave me alone, Stuart!” she screamed. “FUCK OFF!”
“I won’t fucking fuck off!” he boomed. “I’m not leaving you with that fucking monster! You can’t fucking love him, Lydia, not after that!” He reached out for her again, snaring her arm and dragging her towards him.
I broke my stance, pacing out towards him. “Let her go,” I seethed. “She doesn’t want to go with you.”
“Fuck you!” he thundered. “How fucking dare you, you piece of shit? You’re not in Brighton now, you sick motherfucker. You can’t hole her up in some hotel room for your sick little fantasies this time. I won’t fucking have it!”
“Let her go, Stuart.” The beast flared in my veins, screaming for release. “Let Lydia go right now, or so help me God, you’ll wish you had.”
I breathed in relief as he dropped her arm. She scuttled over, eyes wide with horror and shame.
Stuart weighed me up for size. “You want a piece of me, hey? Want to pick on someone your own size, you sadistic piece of shit?”
“Get out,” I hissed. “Clear the fuck out of here.”
“Make me,” he fronted. “Come on, hard man, fucking make me!”
Lydia’s fingers were on my arm. I brushed her away on instinct. “Please, James,” she said. “Leave it, he’s not worth it.”
“COME ON!” Stuart goaded. “You think you’re fucking hard, do you? Lydia doesn’t even know how to fight back!”
“Shut up!” she screeched. “Let’s go, James!”
I shook my head. “You need to leave, Stuart, right fucking now.”
“Make me.”
“Call security,” Frank yelled to Hazel. “Get them up here before this gets out of hand.”
“It’s already out of hand,” Stuart growled. “I’m gonna rip his fucking spleen out.”
“STUART!” Lydia tried again. “Please, will you just FUCK OFF!”
I saw his attack from a clear mile away, ducking from his path in a flash and sending him careening on past me. I caught him with his back to me, wrenched his arm up unguarded. I breathed into his ear, gripping him tight. “Move and I’ll break your fucking wrist,” I hissed. “You need to get out of here, before this gets fucking serious.”
I shunted him through reception, while he lashed out with his feet, trying to topple me off balance. Grunting out a stream of abuse and struggling in my grip, I delivered him into the hands of oncoming security and they took him down from there. I heard him screaming all the way, screaming to anyone who’d listen that James Clarke is a fucking wife-beating monster, a sick fuck who likes to beat women, a sick fuck that beat his beautiful Lydia black and blue.
Lydia looked at me through broken eyes, swimming in horror and disbelief. I surveyed the scene, heart ricocheting in my ribcage as history repeated itself. Nobody would look at me, not even Frank. Not one single person would meet my eyes as the thrum of gossip danced around the crowd. I was done here.
I stalked through them with angry paces, ignoring the pleads from Lydia at my back, ignoring everything but the soft promise of sanctuary calling from my office upstairs. She caught up with me at the top of the stairs, pulling me round to face her.
“Please, James, don’t hate me!” she said. “Please don’t hate me! I didn’t know this would happen, I swear I didn’t know! He’s just an idiot, a stupid fucking idiot.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “It’s mine. I walked straight into it, just like I did last time. Please, Lydia, leave me alone.”
I slammed the door behind me.
***
I finally let her in after lunch, staring blankly ahead while she wrung her hands in front of me.
“Don’t do this, James, please,” she wheezed. “Don’t block me out. We can get through this, ok? I’ve told them he’s an idiot, that he’s crazy, that he’s a drugged-up fucking asshole. They don’t believe him, James, I swear! They don’t believe him!”
“They saw the bruises, Lydia, they’ll believe him. Frank hasn’t been up here yet.” I met her eyes, flinching at the animal panic I found there. “You forget, Cat, I’ve been here before. I know the lousy fucking drill.”