One String Attached

80.

.James.

"Babe, I'm fine," I tell Riley for the third time since this morning while I cradled Autumn in my arms. We were sat on the sofa, facing sideways while Riley dabbed at my face with a wet-wipe to clear away the blood on my cheek and knuckles.

"No, you're not, James," she responds, being the stubborn woman she's always been. "Look up for me," she states, like I was a child. I do just that and then she peers at my nose quickly before sighing, handing me another wipe to dab at the blood.
"You were supposed to talk to him, not completely fly off the handle," she mumbles as she throws the bloody wipe and tissues into the pedal bin she had positioned to her side.

"I wasn't just going to let him stand there talking about you in the way he did," I say to her. Her face softens and she bites her lip, shaking her head slightly.
"What did he say?" she asks me. But that was something I couldn't answer.

She's been hurt by words enough times in the past. I wasn't going to tell her the words of someone who's irrelevant in our lives. She doesn't need to know what had been said because it would risk her travelling down that dark route again and that's the least thing I want. She's come so far in these past few years and I really don't want the progress she's made to deteriorate once again.

I shake my head, grabbing hold of her hands while I looked down, ignoring her question as if to say that I couldn't tell her. She looked as though she was about to defy and beg me to speak, but she was stopped from doing so when the doorbell rung and Aaliyah instantly sprinted to the door.
Riley looks at me, probably wanting to find out more information but no matter what, this was something I had to keep to myself. She didn't need to know what Bryson had to say. No one did.

"Hey there, Angel," my brother's voice says from the door. Aaliyah giggles when he picks her up and tickles her sides while kissing the top of her head, our daughter's laughs filling the air.
Nathan closes the front door shut behind him before walking over while he held his niece on his side, her head resting on his shoulder. If there was any other father figure Liyah trusted more than me, it was Nathan.

"Hey, Ri," he says to her kindly as he positions himself down on the sofa opposite. Then his eyes land on me and his pupils widen in shock. "What happened to you, bro?" he questions, causing me to frown.
Riley rolls her eyes before standing up, taking the bin outside to empty it, leaving Nathan and I alone with my two daughters.

"Bryson happened," I mumble.

I sit with my back against the sofa while I held Autumn close to me. Her eyes were wide open, looking around most likely for her mother, so I begin to rock her gently, rubbing her back and playing a mini game of peek-a-boo with her, causing her to giggle, reaching her arms up so her hands could cup my cheeks.
She tickles the bristles on my chin that made up my shaven beard, and then I take a hold of her hand, making her giggle even more.

"He decided to come bursting in this morning to get some things off his chest. Apparently that included saying awful things about Ri, punching me in the face, giving me a nose bleed, shattering Asher and Aaliyah's photo frame and then leaving," I dictate, making Nathan's eyes widen all the more.
He places Aaliyah down on his lap properly and fasten his arms around her while she laughed, bouncing up and down just like she would do when she was younger.

"Is that guy asking for a prison sentence or what?" he huffs, making me sigh.
"You're asking me."

"James!" Riley's voice suddenly screams in panic. I quickly raise my head as she runs back inside before looking around, a look of horror on her face. "Where's Asher?" she asks me.

I take a look out over to the end of the living room where he was sat peacefully with his toys, and then she follows my gaze before sighing, placing a hand over her heart.
"He's over there, Ri. Breathe, okay," I tell her gently.

She bites her lip, sitting herself back down beside me before moving closer so that she rested her head on my shoulder, placing her hand down on my knee while Autumn looked up at her with a pout.

"I thought he was in the garden but when I went out, he wasn't there," she murmurs under her breath, making me shake my head and sigh, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.
"He's safe, lovely," I tell her with a soft tone in my voice. She nods her head and then smiles down at Autumn when she spreads her arms out, calling for Riley to pick her up, to which she eventually does so, pulling her into a cuddle and bombarding her with kisses.

I play with the ends of Ri's hair, looking over our youngest daughter as I did so before Bryson proceeded to telling us what he had been intending to when he first got here.

"Bryson's been trying to push the court case further back," he says, earning both of our attentions as we look up at him. "He's still been vying to get a new lawyer but I reckon that if I can urge them to move the case forwards and mention what's gone on this morning, they'll press charges on him a lot sooner."
"How soon are you thinking?" I ask him.

Aaliyah shouldn't have been here to be listening to this, but she didn't seem like she wanted to go anywhere either, so after exchanging a glance with Riley, she looks at Liyah before calling her name.
"Li, why don't you go and feed Sauble in the kitchen for me, sweetie?" she asks her, sparking the girl's interest as she stands up and happily walks away to do so, completely forgetting about even the mention of Bryson, leaving us all to talk to ourselves with the exception of Autumn.

"I'd say we need to go in as soon as possible. Bryson has committed enough crime already with the kidnaps, the break-ins, the fights, the sexual conduct, he's trying to find someone who will be able to work around that but if I can get a way to get them to no longer postpone the case, he'll have no choice but to do go with the person he's got now. And I think it's best if we go with what we've got on him now. The judge will be interested in recent events just as much as past ones. So if you let me, I'll go straight ahead and start seeing what I can do."

Riley takes a few seconds to process his words before slowly nodding her head, intertwining her fingers with mine while our hands rested above my knee.
"Do what you need to do, Nath," she gives him the permission. "It's now or never, right?"