Fulfillment(64)

“Thank you, Rick.” I hugged him back.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and Bryce walked in.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bryce hissed at Rick as he stepped out of the elevator.

I went to speak, “Bryce—”

He stormed over to the sofa. “Get your hands off Alexis, and get the fuck out of my home,” he growled.

He was furious.

Rick stood up. “Bryce, settle down, I’m consoling her. Clearly she is upset. And who are you to tell me not to touch Alexis?”

“Rick—” I tried to talk again but no one seemed to be listening to me.

“I will console her, not you. You have no right to fucking help her grieve the loss of our baby, my baby.”

Oh no, this is why he is so upset. He thinks I was letting Rick grieve.

“Bryce, it wasn’t—” I began to explain, but I was cut off yet again.

“Who said it was your baby, Bryce? It could’ve been mine.”

“Rick! It wasn’t your baby. I told—”

Before I could finish what I was saying, Bryce had thrown a punch which connected perfectly with Rick’s jaw.

I screamed. “Bryce! Stop! No!”

Rick recovered quickly and barrelled into Bryce’s stomach, with his head down and his arms wrapped around Bryce’s waist in an attempt to take him to ground.

I screamed again.

Rick was obviously no match for Bryce, not only in size but in combat, self-defence and fighting skills, because Bryce was able to get Rick in a head lock and subdue him gently, slowly squeezing the air out of him.

I tried to stand up, putting pressure on my foot and forgetting momentarily that I had a broken leg. I cried out in pain.

“Alexis!” Bryce let go of Rick—who fell to the floor—and dashed over to me. “Shit! Are you okay?”

“No!” I screamed at him, now in a considerable world of pain. “I’m not fucking okay. I’m not okay at all.”

Rick was on his hands and knees coughing, attempting to get his breath back.

Bryce didn’t even look over at him. Instead, his eyes were on mine. “What can I do, Hunny?” His voice had softened and it was laced with regret and concern.

“Nothing! You’ve done enough.” I turned to look at Rick. “Rick, are you okay?”

“Yes,” he spluttered.

“Good. I think you should leave.”

He looked up at me, registering that I just wanted him to go. “Fine, I’ll ring Maryann and Graeme and tell them I’m coming to get the kids. Don’t worry about them. Like I said, that’s the least I can do.”

Bryce looked at Rick then back to me, suddenly comprehending that the encounter he walked in on was about Nate and Charli, nothing else.

He dropped his head. “Fuck! I’m sorr—”

I cut him off. “Don’t.”

Rick got up. “I’ll let myself out.” He stopped mid-way to the door. “Alexis, again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

I looked up at him and nodded. “Can you get the kids to FaceTime me? I really need to see their faces.”

“Sure, not a problem,” he replied, then he left.





I started crying again, then quickly reeled myself in, shuffling up to reach my crutches. Bryce snatched them away.

“Give them back,” I hissed.

“No. Where do you want to go? I’ll take you,” he pleaded.

“No, you won’t. I just want to be alone.”

“Hunny, I’m sorry. I just saw you both together hugging, and you were crying, and I fucking lost it. I thought you were both—”

“I know what you thought, Bryce. And if you had given me a chance I would’ve explained.” I tried to push myself up to a standing position, but he dropped to his knees in front of me and placed his hands on my hips, holding me down.

He surrendered and slumped his head onto my lap. “I thought Rick was grieving the loss of my baby like it was his. He has no right to grieve what I lost.”

He broke at that moment and sobbed into my lap. Lucy said he’d break at some point, this must be it.

“Oh, Bryce.” I placed my hands in his hair, and his hands slid to my arse gripping it tightly and hugging me like he would never let go.

We stayed like that for minutes. I let him cry and I cried along with him.

***

Bryce and I once again took long uninterrupted hours to comfort each other. We promised we would be honest and upfront with one another about what we were feeling and why we were feeling it. This assurance alone seemed to help with our grieving and healing process. Although we did kind of keep our distance from each other for most of the day, Bryce spending time between his office and the kitchen, while I read my book in between taking long gazes out across the skyline of the city of Melbourne.