Page 8 of Kali

Chapter Five

Kali

A sound comes from the kitchen and I call out, ‘only me Lo,’ as I reach the bottom of the stairs. ‘I’m going to head up.’ I’m secretly hoping she doesn’t want all the details from tonight because while we would usually share such things, Noah is her brother and it would be weird.

The ache between my thighs throbs and I realise I already miss Noah’s company, as well as everything else about him. His kindness and understanding. His patience. I swoon a little as I remember how he backed off, gave me control, despite the unrelenting desire in his eyes he would have let me put a stop to things, no questions. My heart gives a kick as I begin taking off my clothes and throwing them into the hamper. I change into my nightshirt and wish I hadn’t left Noah’s so soon. It was so lovely to be held by him in the glow of the fire. To just lie there with him, his strong body hard against my soft one. Stuck in a daydream as I brush my teeth and remove my make-up, a feeling of contentment washes over me. Everything is slipping into place. A place I never imagined, but a place that feels right.

As I climb into bed, a whistling sound on the landing catches my attention, and my insides try to turn to water.

Fear paralyses me as the whistling gets closer and closer to my bedroom door. My brain tries to send messages to my body, but nothing is responding. In my mind’s eye I see Lora smiling and laughing, Noah as he looks at me with that smouldering gaze, my mum, happy in her new life. The bedroom door handle turns and the tingling sensation of panic shoots down my legs, propelling me over the bed and into the small bathroom.

‘Kali, Kali, Kali.’ His voice is low but unmistakable. ‘Come on out, we need to talk.’ The compromising tone of his voice is layered too thick, and I know he is lying. I know he is going to hurt me, may have already hurt Lora, but I don’t know what to do. ‘Saw you’ve been painting again,’ he says in a bored tone of voice. ‘You know you’re better than that.’

Tears I didn’t realise I was crying roll over my cheeks.

‘Come out, Kali, and we can go right back to where we left off.’

Anger boils inside me and against my better judgement I shout, ‘can’t you remember where that was?’

A loud crack has me leaping back as the decorative panel of the door splinters beneath his fist.

‘I remember perfectly,’ he says looking at me with a hatred I’ve been seeing in my nightmares for the last year. ‘Only this time, I won’t leave you alive.’

He unlocks the door and I scream.

Noah

The bar is closer to Lora’s place than my house is, but I still get there before them. Judd’s truck peals around the corner and grinds to a halt just as a scream slices through the house. The chill that runs through me has me taking the steps two at a time and driving my shoulder into the door.

‘It’ll be bolted, we need to use the kitchen door,’ Lora shouts as she runs around the side of the house, the three of us hot on her heels.

‘Don’t you dare go in there,’ I yell at her but it’s no use. The keys dangle from the lock and she has already disappeared into the house before I’ve had the chance to grab her and pull her back. ‘Rhys you get Lora. Judd, I need you to call mainland and tell them what’s happening,’ I say as I run into the house.

Lora stops me as I reach the bottom of the stairs, ‘it’s him, he has her in her bedroom,’ she whispers. I move as quickly and as quietly as I can up the stairs as Rhys pulls Lora back out of the house.

I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to Kali. All I had to do was keep him off the island and somehow, not only did he get onto the island but into Lora’s house.

‘Please Gary, don’t do this.’ Kali’s voice has me freezing, she sounds scared, but not hurt. ‘We can leave now and be back on the mainland on the first ferry back.’

‘Who the fuck have you been fucking Kali? Is that why you came back here and demanded a divorce?’

‘No,’ there’s a pause, I look around the doorframe and find Gary has his back to the door, gripping Kali by her beautiful hair. He twists his fist causing her head to tilt, and our eyes meet, and the sadness I see there begins to change into something else. Something I’ve not seen for over a decade.

‘Then why?’ he screams at her.

‘Because of this, you dumb fuck,’ she says as she swings her fist up between his legs. He howls as he drops to his knees and she lunges onto him, pushing him backwards and wrapping her hands around his throat. One of his arms is pinned beneath her knee but he reaches up with the other to begin pushing at her face, trying to move her far enough away to release him.

Judd arrives at the top of the stairs and throws my handcuffs at me. In three strides I’m beside Kali, snapping one cuff around his wrist and pulling it firmly to the side. She stands up and collapses back down onto the bed.

‘Where’s Lora?’ she asks, fear crumpling her features.

‘Downstairs, she is safe,’ I say as I fasten the cuffs to the wrist that Kali had been leaning on.

‘She attacked me,’ he screams, ‘my wrist is broken, and she tried to strangle me!’

‘Shut up,’ I bark, but he continues to bleat out lies and rubbish causing my professionalism to slip as anger rears up.

I grab his collar, ‘you’re lucky I stepped in when I did,’ I growl through gritted teeth. ‘Because I’m betting no one knows you’re here, and I know the perfect place on this island where we could hide your body.’ I pause and shake him hard. ‘No one would ever know. No one would ever find you.’

‘This is police brutality,’ he squeals as we arrive at the bottom of the stairs. Lora walks up to us and looks Gary up and down. ‘What, bitch?’ he snarls and Lora smiles as she draws back her fist and throws it. The crunching of Gary’s nose is more satisfying than I ever imagined as his head snaps back. ‘Fucking psychotic whores!’ He screams as I manoeuvre him through the door and into the back of the car.

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