The Castle of Gold [Bk 2]

ch.23 Knight, night

Then he got up slowly and stood to his full height. He wiped the blood from his face on his sleeve.

He turned and limped off.

“Wait” I called and I took his arm.

He shrugged me off.

My throat started to close in on me.

I saw Liam grinning.

“Well that took a bit longer than I expected” he admitted and he wiped off some blood. Then he reached for my wrist and tugged me to him.

“Let go of me!”  I shouted and I pushed back at his chest.

“Stop fighting me!” he shouted and he tightened his grip around my waist, pulling me to his chest.

I stared at him as distress and heartache made me cower back in fear.

Liam took a deep breath and he softened his grip.

Then he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it.

“You don’t have to hide how you feel anymore” he told me and he kissed my cheek softly.

I shook my head slowly and a tear slipped from my eyes.

“Angela” he spoke quietly and wiped the tear away.

I shook my head faster.

“No. No. NO!” I raised my voice in desperation. What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

“Angela, come on. Let’s go home” he told me and he tugged me along gently.

Home? The only home I had was with Harry and now I’ve lost that. I’ve lost Harry because I’m an insecure coward.

“No” I protested when we got closer to Liam’s car.

“Angela, come on before I get a parking ticket” he repeated more firmly now.

I looked into Liam’s eyes, but they were hard and determined. They weren’t soft and brown and golden like before.

“You! Why did you do this?” I asked him even though I knew it was my fault, my stupid useless heart was so easily persuaded and confused.

Liam took my face in his bruised hands.

“I did it for us” he told me.

I stared up at him and the guilt washed away, only to be replaced by hopelessness.

My chest felt completely empty, like Harry had stolen that horribly confused and useless heart of mine.

Then I looked out at the street and Harry was just a distant figure in a leather jacket.

Liam rubbed my cheek with his thumb.

I turned and looked at him.

Then he pressed his lips to mine and I let his tongue find mine. I let him do whatever he wanted because there was no reason to fight anything anymore. There was no reason to deny that tiny sliver of emotion for Liam.

Harry was gone. I was gone, too.

I lost my knight.

My beautiful, confident, protective knight in leather armor.

*****

Liam clicked a button on his remote and my car door flipped open.

I sighed; the old-fashioned way is better.

Liam kept droning on and on about something, but I coudln't hear anything.

The only thing that echoed in my head was :you sold it, you sodl it, you sold it."

I wanted to rip my throat out so that I would stop whimpering like a pathetic baby.

Liam parked his flawless electric blue BMW in the driveway, but I almost didn't know because his engine didn't grumble or combust like Harry's always did.

Liam leaned close to me now and wrapped his arms around my numb body.

"I love you Angela" he whispered close to my ear.

I nodded. Those three cursed words meant nothing to me now.

There was a knock at the car door.

I jumped slightly and then saw Danny.

I swalloed hard as I remembered the last time Danny had stood outside Liam's car impatiently.

Liam looked at me expectantly.

"Good night, Liam" I spoke quietly.

Every ounce of emotion which had once been confusing my heart was now completely drained out of me.

"Good night" Liam said and he pressed his lips to mine once more.

A tear slipped from my eye.

Knight...

***

Danny just stood there and watched me walk to the front door. Then he followed me inside and shut the door.

“What the hell are you doing, Angela?” he demanded.

I grasped the staircase banister and turned around slowly.

I had no excuses, no lies to tell, so I used to truth.

“Harry left. I’m with Liam now” I told him in an emotionless monotone.

Danny stood there and stared at me. His mouth hung open enough to indicate his newest emotion: shock.

I turned around and started to walk up the stairs.

“Angela” Danny called.

I stopped half-way on the stairs.

“What?” I asked, completely uninterested in any sort of suggestion or persuasion. I had been persuaded enough to ruin the way I wanted my life to go.

I had ruined everything.

“I don’t understand” he admitted slowly and he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Mean either” I confessed. The truth was so much easier to work with. I just wish I had known that earlier.

I went upstairs and sat on my bathroom floor, throwing up in the toilet until all the guilt, alcohol, and hopelessness evaded me.

Then I changed my clothes and pulled the covers over my trembling, and unbelievably shameful body.

A tear slipped from my eye, then another and another until my pillow was soacking wet.

Knight, night, I whispered to my pillow.

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