The White House - Book 6, The Porth Kerensa Series

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Are you okay? I saw you just sitting here staring up at the house and it worried me,” he said with genuine concern in his voice.

“Yes, yes…I’m fine,” she replied, quietly.

The look in his eyes told her he didn’t believe her, but he simply said, “I’m sorry about earlier. To be honest I thought it would cause less trouble for you if I didn’t answer you, but I felt awful about it all day.”

Elise sighed and said, “I’m the one who should apologise. James isn’t normally so unreasonable.”

Ben reached out and caressed her face, gently. “If everything is okay with you, why do you look scared and lonely?”

For a few seconds she leaned in against his touch, drawing strength from it before she said, “Honestly, I’m fine, Ben.”

Ben shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but a loud thud against the boot cut him off and a few seconds later James wrenched the door open, reached across and yanked, furiously, at Ben, pulling his hand away from Elise.

“I fucking knew there was something going on between you two,” he yelled, furiously. “Did you find a nice hotel and spend the day screwing my wife? I’m going to rip your fucking head off, you bastard.”

“James,” Elise cried, disbelievingly. “What the hell are you doing? There’s nothing going on between us, for God’s sake!”

“I just fucking saw you,” James growled, angrily. “I saw you, Elise.”

Despite the fact James was shorter than Ben he managed to drag him from the car even as Elise was scrambling out and running round to break up the scrap. James threw a drunken punch which Ben avoided before Elise threw herself at her husband, grabbed hold of his clenched fist and hung on to his arm for dear life.

“Please, Ben, just go,” she begged. “I’ll sort this out.”

“I will kill you if I ever see you near my wife again,” James snarled, venomously, trying to shake Elise off his arm as if she was nothing more than a tiresome puppy. With a vicious flick he achieved it and she fell against the car.

James charged at Ben who responded by sidestepping him at the last second and James lost his balance, slipped and crashed down onto the wet driveway with a humiliated cry. He lay, winded, face down on the floor, gasping for breath and Elise ran to his side, kneeling down in the puddle to make sure he was alright.

She glanced up at her neighbour and pleaded, “Please just go, Ben. I’ll get him indoors and sober him up. He’ll be mortified about this tomorrow. I told you he’s not normally like this.”

“Get off me, Elise, I’m going to kill the bastard,” James muttered, trying to get to his feet.

“I don’t think I should leave you, he’s a drunken mess,” Ben said, tightly.

Elise pulled James to his knees. “It’s this bloody house,” she mumbled. “I have to get him away from here. Please, leave us alone, Ben. I promise you it’ll be alright.”

Reluctantly, Ben backed away, watching Elise drag James, who was still shouting insults, into the house.

James pulled his arm free of Elise’s grip the second she pushed him through the front door and flicked on the lights. He stumbled upstairs, muttering under his breath, and Elise went into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil. She leant against the counter and covered her face with her hands, replaying exactly what had happened in the last few moments. Upstairs she could hear James thudding around the lounge, cursing, and she shuddered.