TouchStone for ever (The Story of Us Trilogy) Read Free Page B

It’s just that.
We still have each other. I love you more than life itself. You remember that,
right?”
    I’m
shaking my head; too distraught to hear anything.
    “I
know you wanted our baby so much, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
    I
can’t accept what he’s saying. “But it’s what you wanted. You said so;
to finally have a family. You won’t have that, not if you stay with me.”
    “Beth.
I don’t give a fuck about what I said. This is about us now. We’ll get through
this, together.”
    I
pull my hands free of his. “No. I can’t let you do it. You deserve better. I
can’t give you what you want most. I’ve been nothing but trouble since the day
we met. Leave! Just leave!”
    He
looks at me with undiluted horror. “No! Why would I want to leave you?”
    “Because
I don’t want you here.” I slip down under the bedding and turn away from him. I
can’t allow him to settle for me. I have always been damaged goods. I’ve been
soiled and now …
    His
hands are in his hair. “You’re upset. I get that, but you’re doing what you
always do. You’re taking the fall for me; trying to let me off lightly when
it’s all my fault.” He’s shaking his head, massaging his neck and so
fueled with rage I think he may explode. “I should have organised 24 hour
security for you. I should have kept you safe and I’m the one responsible for
this not you! I’ll leave so you can rest but, no matter what, I will always come back to you.” He storms out of the room, leaving me open-mouthed and
speechless.
    Left
alone to reflect on my unreasonable behavior I struggle to hold onto a rational
thought. The drugs have dampened my senses, I’m not thinking straight. I didn’t
mean what I said. He’s not responsible. I sit bolt upright and call out his
name. “Ayden.”
    No
one comes.
    “Ayden!”
    Nurse
Lorna appears, leaving the door ajar. I catch sight of Ayden sitting on the
floor, his back against the far wall; his head in his hands. Jake towers over
him, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
    “Lorna,
please get Ayden.”
    She
senses my agitated state. “Now, Elizabeth, please settle down. Are you feeling
any pain?”
    “No.
Please get Ayden.”
    “Can
I get you a drink or anything?”
    “No!
Just get me Ayden,” I yell at the top of my voice.
    Looking
startled she returns to the door and opens it. I see Ayden snatching the keys
out of Jake’s hand. His fists are clenched and he is visibly shaking and
yelling. “Give me the fucking keys!”
    Before
I can form a sentence, he’s gone. I call out his name, “Ayden!” But no one
hears; only Jake turns and glares at me, stunned, realizing what just happened.
    What
have I done?
     
    ***
     
    Too incensed to
return to work, Elise storms out of Dan Rizler’s apartment and dives into her
car. She heads home harnessing her thoughts long enough to call her office,
claiming to be laid-up with a migraine.
    Once inside her top
floor apartment she makes straight for the tray of spirits neatly arranged on a
wooden cabinet and pours herself a very large whiskey. She gulps it down and smashes
the glass onto the tray with a noisy clatter.
    Kicking off her shoes
as she goes, she drags a dining chair beneath the loft opening and begins
lowering dust-coated boxes one at a time until three of them litter her tidy
lounge. They were once labelled but the letters have long since faded and the
occasional streak of a marker pen is not enough to distinguish one set of
contents from another.
    With hands covered in
a layer of black soot, she tears open the first box; a plume of dust scatters
across a cream rug, speckling it with black polka-dots until it resembles a
snow leopard.
    Unconcerned, she
rifles through the contents, lifting out estate agency paraphernalia:
brochures, a Contract of Employment, old wage slips. Realising it’s not what
she’s looking for she pushes it aside and tears off the tape from the top of
the second box. Inside are old exercise books, a