“It was, but thankfully Bryce had heard my cry for help and came running into the room grabbing Gareth and pinning him up against the wall. He’d asked him what the fuck he thought he was doing laying a hand on a girl let alone his own cousin. Bryce was absolutely furious. But it was what Gareth did next that cemented there was something seriously wrong.”
She leaned over and teased Alexander with a soft squeaky toy, gently touching his nose with it then moving it away, only to touch his nose with it again. Alexander thought it was brilliant.
“What did Gareth do, Luce?”
She took a deep breath. “He said to Bryce, ‘The name is Scott, and you have no fucking idea how long I have waited to be pinned up against a wall by you,’ then he leaned forward and kissed Bryce.”
I shrieked and replaced my hands over my mouth.
“He only got so far as a peck, but it was enough to shock the shit out of us, especially Bryce who then punched Gareth directly in the nose, knocking him out.”
“Geezus,” I blurted out.
“Yeah, Geezus alright. So there, on the floor, was Gareth out cold with a broken nose, Bryce was standing over him with his hands through his hair just staring, and I was still crumpled on the ground. That’s when we discovered Gareth had DID and why he got it. Bryce was devastated and blamed himself. He also decided from then on, that his martial arts training would be put to better use by teaching women to defend themselves when being attacked, starting with me. So although I can confidently say I can defend myself from my cousin and his psycho-alter Scott, I still try to avoid anything that could trigger his appearance.”
“Oh, Luce, I completely understand. Don’t worry about me and my telling Samantha. I can handle it.”
“I hope so. The last thing you need right now is more drama, especially where Gareth is concerned.”
***
I deliberated over what Lucy said and agreed that I did not need any more drama in my life, but I had a conscience, and I desperately had to get the nagging Samantha/Gareth issue out of my head. So I took the plunge and asked Abigail to send her up to the penthouse to collect Bryce’s brief, which at this point in time was non-existent.
I was sitting at Bryce’s desk when Samantha knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I called out.
She opened the door and walked in, closing it behind her and gingerly making her way toward me.
“Hi, Alexis, how are you feeling? Oh, sorry, you don’t need to answer that if you don’t want to. Shit, sorry, I’m really not good with these types of things.”
“Sam, it’s okay. I’m fine.” I smiled reassuringly at her.
She could barely look at me.
I pushed myself up from the desk and hobbled over to the sofa in Bryce’s office. “You got a moment for a chat?” I gestured to the other sofa seated opposite the one I sat on.
“Sure,” she hesitantly answered.
“So, what’s been happening Sam? I miss you. I feel like you avoid me now.”
“I don’t mean to. It’s just when I heard about your fall I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and upset you.”
“Don’t be silly, I’m okay. I’m getting stronger both mentally and physically as each day goes by. It happened and it can’t be changed, all I can do is move on.”
She smiled feebly at me.
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you. I didn’t get to say goodbye to you at my birthday party. What happened?”
I figured I’d play dumb and get her side of the story before I mentioned anything to her about Gareth.
“Oh.” She displayed an expression of confusion. “Didn’t Gareth say goodbye?”
“No.” I answered, with a dumbfounded expression.
“That’s strange, as I was exiting the bathroom shortly after your announcement...Oh, shit, sorry I didn’t mean to mention the—”
“Sam, it’s fine. Keep going.”
“Sorry, um...where was I? Oh yeah, when I walked out the bathroom, Gareth took my arm in his and said we were leaving. He was actually in a pissy mood if I remember rightly. He’d said the party was winding up. Sorry I never said goodbye, but Gareth told me he’d already done it on my behalf.”
“Maybe he did, I can’t quite remember,” I said, brushing it off.
I felt a sickly feeling in my stomach at the confirmation Gareth had in fact lied about why he left the party. Something was not right, and I had a feeling I knew what; Scott was pretending to be Gareth. I couldn’t be positive though, and I had no idea how I would prove it without baiting him and putting myself or my children at risk. I would have to think about it a lot more, but first I needed to tell Sam the truth. If my feelings were correct and Scott was disguising himself as Gareth, Sam deserved to know and she deserved to know immediately.