Page 31 of Beyond Repair
‘Just leave it, Dyl,’ she said softly, making big eyes at him.
Dylan looked between Sam and Katie, and took in Sam’s protective stance. The anger drained out of his face and he started smiling, the crazy bastard.
‘Let you off there, mate, I will,’ he said through his smile. ‘Don’t think I fancy my chances anyway: built like a brick shithouse, aren’t you. Got to be honest with you, not sure my training at the hands of Owain Jones at The Cow and Snuffers of LLandaff North compares too favourably with yours in the SAS, so probably for the best.’
He looked over his shoulder at Katie, gave her the thumbs up, clapped Sam on the shoulder, and then strolled away to the kitchen in search of another drink, and with that the silence that had descended on the room abated and everyone got back to the business of getting quietly pissed (what else were you to do at a cat’s funeral?).
But Lou, it seemed, was not so easily placated. Once Dylan was out of earshot she walked up to Sam, who was beginning to feel more than a little embarrassed.
‘You touch my man again and we’ll have problems,’ Lou said, keeping her voice low and poking him in the chest a couple of times, which, despite the fact that Sam towered over her and the amount of muscle on his chest, still hurt like a bitch. Sam looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck.
‘Shit, sorry, I …’ he trailed off, not quite knowing how to explain his actions. Lou’s furious expression cooled and she patted his arm.
‘Listen, Weird Rambo,’ she said, her tone less harsh than before. ‘Believe me, I feel your pain, but you just have to learn to suck it up, capisce?’
Well, at least Sam knew what W.R. stood for now, although he thought he could have probably done without that information. ‘They’re more like brother and sister than anything,’ Lou added in a whisper, before moving away to check on Dylan. Sam felt Katie’s hand give his a small squeeze and realized that every muscle in his body was still coiled with tension. When he turned to her he could read surprise and a flicker of fear in her expression. She nodded towards the other side of the room, and once they were out of hearing range from the rest of the party she gave her hand a firm tug, extracting it from his. He could feel his sister’s anxious eyes on him and knew she was hovering in the background.
‘Um …’ Katie said, meeting his gaze briefly before looking down at the ground and tucking her hair behind her ears, ‘… so I’m not a big fan of, er … physical violence.’
Sam felt his chest constrict, and the photos of Katie in the police reports he’d read flashed into his mind. Yes: she had her reasons for disliking violence. He ran both his hands through his hair in frustration. Wasn’t this exactly what he wanted? he reasoned. Wasn’t he supposed to be pushing her away? What better way of achieving that than letting her believe he was as bad as her ex? But for Sam the thought of Katie being afraid of him was curiously unpleasant. Angry with him, frustrated by him, he could handle; but afraid?
‘I would never hurt you,’ he told her, reaching up to tuck a wayward curl she’d missed behind her ear. ‘I didn’t mean to push him so hard … I just wanted him to stop … to stop touching you.’
Katie frowned. ‘Dylan and I are just mates,’ she said. ‘He’s with Lou for goodness sake, what would he possibly want with me?’
‘Right then,’ Dylan interrupted as he approached them, his chest puffed up so much that he looked like he was carrying a carpet under each arm. ‘As they say in Llandough, ciao for now. We’ll be back in a bit with more wets. Watch yourself, yeah?’ Lou was tugging at his arm, rolling her eyes, and Sam had to strain to hold in his laughter.
‘Look, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I lost it for a second, won’t happen again.’
‘We got no problem so long as you treat K.K. right, you get me?’ Dylan returned, grinning madly at both of them before allowing himself to be drawn towards the front door.
‘Hey, W.R.,’ Russell said, coming up next to them and clapping Sam on the shoulder. ‘You going to lose your shit if I give K.K. here a quick squeeze? Not that I didn’t appreciate the view; you should flip into caveman mode more often.’ He leaned into Sam. ‘Hot,’ he said, leaning back whilst Sam shook his head, his face relaxing into a small smile. Russell reached past him to sweep Katie up in a hug before backing away slowly from Sam with his hands in the air. When Sam turned back to Katie he was relieved to see the fear had receded and instead her lips were pressed together and her eyes dancing. That Russell guy had his uses.
Sam felt a tap on his arm and tore his eyes away from Katie to look down at the boy next to him. Benji’s chest was puffed up and his eyes were narrowed at him.
‘You arenotallowed to push people,’ Benji said in his own mini-badass Voice of Authority. ‘I pushed Milly Thomas at school andshedefinitely deserved it, but I was put in the playtime book, and I had to go and see the headmistress, and I wasn’t allowed to be the turnip inTheGreat Big Turnip –which is the main part and without me Jonathon Daly did it and he wasrubbishand didn’t remember any of the words,’ Benji said darkly, his serious tone attempting to convey the possible dire consequences when physical force was used, even on the most deserving.
Sam crouched down so that he was eye level with Benji. ‘I know, mate, you’re right. It won’t happen again, okay?’
‘Well, you might have gotten away with it this time anyway,’ Benji said, slightly placated that Sam had made an effort to be on his level and taken him seriously. ‘The police haven’t arrived yet.’
‘The … police?’ Sam asked, his eyebrows going up into his hairline.
‘Yes,’ Benji said with a bright smile. ‘When you’re a grown-up and you push or hit, the police come and they take you to jail.’
‘No pushin’!’ Finlay, who had waddled into the fray to stand right next to Sam, shouted, and in turn gave Sam’s head a hard shove.
‘Finlay!’ Sarah said. She had been working her way through the crowd to get to him, but stopped in her tracks as she watched Sam groan and fall to the floor clutching the side of his head. Finlay’s mouth dropped open as he watched the result of his push on the large man, and then squealed in delight when Sam pulled him down next to him on the floor, rolling them both so that Finlay was sitting on top of him. Once there, he proceeded to tickle Finlay until his happy shrieks filled the living room. Never to be left out, Finlay’s three brothers, including Baby Thomas, joined the fray, with Sam carefully shielding Baby Thomas from the more violent wrestling. That was until Sam staggered upright with four boys hanging off him and walked them all to the back door, grabbing Rob and a football on the way.
Russell came up to Katie as she moved to watch the boys playing football outside through the double doors. He slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side.
‘Well, cottage me sideways. Good with kids, great body, uber-protective hotness, and who knew he could smile? Don’t blame you for going there, kiddo; if his bread was buttered my way I’d walk through hellfire to drink his bathwater.’ Katie sighed as she watched Sam sweep Finlay up in his arms and then run him across the garden to score a goal through Benji’s legs.
‘What makes you think I’ve been there?’ she snapped.
‘Oh, please,’ Russell scoffed. ‘Dreamy expression, just-screwed hair, lipstick at a cat’s funeral? You’ve been shagged, and a damn good thing too. I’ve been warning you of the potential dangers of vaginal disuse for ages.’
‘Russell! For your information I have not had sex. Quit talking about my lady parts in public. Jesus.’ She watched for a minute more, her eyes glazing over. ‘Heisbeautiful, mind,’ she muttered, and Russell kissed the top of her head.
