Page 46 of Catch My Fall (Catch)

I saw Brady’s feet next to my head as he came back into the room and handed something over. “Here you go, Dad.”

Leaning closer to my face my father whispered, “Now, we’re going to have some real fun. This is for you and your mother.”

I tensed in anticipation of what was to come, but suddenly he was off my back. I was confused and disoriented until I heard Tristan’s voice screaming obscenities, and I turned over just in time to see him throw my father clear across the room. Brady ran forward and tried to grab him, but in addition to being a skilled fighter Tristan was in a rage and it wasn’t even close. Grabbing Brady by the shirt he spun him around and slammed his head into the wall. He did it with such force that there was a crack in the plaster as Brady fell backward to the floor, completely knocked out.

I saw that the front door was still open and I screamed for help as I prayed that someone on the street would hear me. My father grabbed the knife from the floor and went for Tristan, but he didn’t get far. I screamed in horror as Tristan got him down on the floor and began savagely beating him.

The punches flew through the air, almost no time passing between the loud sounds of fist hitting skin again and again. I screamed for it to stop, for everything to stop, but my screams did nothing, did not even cause a pause in the beating. Wherever he had gone, he couldn’t hear me.

Forcing my sore and broken body up off the tile floor, I stumbled over to where they were. I lurched forward and grabbed his arm with both hands as I tried to pull him away. My hands on his skin seemed to bring him back to reality, at least for a moment, but I feared that he would go back to that dark place again if I didn’t ground him somehow.

I heard the distant sound of sirens, and although ten minutes ago I had been praying for that sound, now I was terrified. There was no doubt in my mind that the police would arrest him and take him away from me if I didn’t calm him down and get myself together enough to tell the police exactly what happened. Even scared and injured, I knew that I needed to force myself to stay strong for him. I’m more afraid of losing him than I am of anything else.

His eyes… the beautiful eyes that I’ve come to love so much were full of rage and pain, and Iknew he was far away in his head. Letting go of his arm, I lifted both of my hands up and cupped his face, forcing him to look at me.

I could barely croak wordsfrom my sore and swollen throat, my screams having depleted my voice to almost nothing. Still, I managed to force the necessary words out, needing him to listen to me so that the police wouldn’t find him wide-eyed and raging.

“Stan, you have to pull yourself together. I need you.I. Need. You.”

My words broke through whatever fugue state he was in, and my heart broke as he crumbled. He dropped to his knees, wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face against my stomach before he forced out one word.

“Mimi…”

I barely had time to push his hair back from his face before the police burst into the house with their weapons drawn.

“Put your hands up!”

We both complied as Tristan shouted that he was the homeowner, and then we spent the next half hour explaining what had happened. Against my will I was taken away in an ambulance, leaving Tristan by himself with the police. I cried and begged not to be taken, but the paramedics and the police weren’t having any of that.

Before I left the house on the stretcher, I forced one of the EMTs to give me my cellphone. I had my Uncle Jesse on the phone before we were even away from the curb.

Chapter Twenty-Four

My Uncle Jesse got to the police station before Tristan did, and he had an attorney there half an hour later. Knowing that Teresa would likely throw money at the situation so that Tristan would be labeled the bad guy, Uncle Jesse went on the defensive and made sure that never happened. No charges were filed against Tristan and other than having a messed-up house, a busted-up girlfriend and logging too many hours with the police, he was in the clear. The evidence that my father and stepbrother had trespassed and assaulted me was overwhelming.

My poor mom was with me at the hospital the entire time all of that was going on which made me feel wretched because she’s still in the process of recovering from giving birth to baby Nate via C-Section. Neil tried to argue with her that he should be the one to sit with me, but in the end he dropped her off at the emergency room entrance and left her at the hospital while he took Nate home.

I was released from the hospital after my dislocated shoulder was reset and I had an X-ray on my knee. Everything was fine and other than having some swelling, I was fine. I’ve got to wear a brace as a precaution until I can schedule a follow-up visit with an orthopedist.

It felt like a million hours had passed by the time that we were ready to leave the hospital. I was expecting Neil to be at the curb when we left, so when I saw Tristan standing next to Darby’s car, I half hopped, half ran right into his arms.

“You saved me… you saved me. Thank you, Stan. Thank you. I love you so much!”

He held me tight as he ran his hands over my face in wonder. “No baby… it’s you who saved me. Fighting for you is what I was born to do. Never thank me for doing what comes naturally.”

It was the sound of my Mom crying that separated us from our mutual love-fest. As soon as Tristan and I pulled apart, my Mom practically tackled him to the sidewalk.

“You can’t make me stop thanking you, ever. You’re the best thing that ever happened to my daughter and I love you for saving her from those maniacs.”

I loved Tristan more than ever when he hugged my mom and promised her that he would always take care of me. I also loved him more for knowing that my Mom would need to have me under her roof for a few days. He had a bag all packed for me to stay with her, and I loved that he was willing to sacrifice his need to be with me in order to make my mother happy. In a stunning turn of events, my Mom asked him to stay at her house as well. My mom is still my mom so of course we weren’t allowed to sleep in the same bedroom with the door closed, but she did cave in and let us sleep in the same bed.

Snuggled safely in his arms that first night, I unloaded all of the things that I was thinking and feeling on him, and he listened to every word.

“You’re in my life because of fate, Stan. If I didn’t have you I would never have learned how to defend myself. Your defense techniques held them off long enough that they weren’t able to do whatever it is that my father was about to do before you got there. I was in a total panic one minute and the next thing I knew, I was doing the maneuvers that you taught me. It’s my own fault that my father was able to get on top of me. That happened because I wouldn’t stop kicking Brady.”

Drawing in a shuddery breath, he traced my face with his fingers. “I’m so fuckin’ proud of what a fighter you are, Mimi. You’re the kick-ass girl of my dreams and I love you, now more than ever.”

“I love you too, Stan. Now more than ever.”

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