Chained (Caged #2)(18)

“Have you learned nothing? Haven’t you listened to a word I have said? The things I have told you?”

His eyes slowly moved to me. The cold, deep hostility in them made my breath catch. “You run, Kloe, and I promise that when I find you, I will shred every f*cking inch of skin from your body.”

I couldn’t contain the gasp as my heart speared pain through me. “Why are you blaming me for this? I didn’t hurt Robbie. I wouldn’t. I liked him.”

“Liked?” he spat. “He’s not f*cking dead!”

“I didn’t mean that!”

Knowing I would get nowhere while he was this closed off, I gritted my teeth and pulled the door open, leaving the grumpy f*cker to simmer in his own bitterness.

The corridor was bustling, many nurses, doctors and people rushing past me. Trying in vain to find a gap in the body traffic, I stepped into the flow and moved with the river of rushing people.

Luckily, a machine distributing hot drinks was just around the first corner I came to. There was a small queue and I took my place behind a redheaded woman who was talking hurriedly into her phone. I closed off to her conversation after she started to bicker with whoever was on the other end. I just wanted something happy to centre on, something that would give me a much needed smile. But life was grim and I was starting to think that wherever I looked I would never find that ray of sunshine I’d been hunting for since I was a small girl.

“Kloe?”

I spun round and my eyes widened on the man who had moved into the queue behind me. “Ben?”

He grinned at me and pulled me into his arms. “Bloody hell, talk about small world.” He chuckled as I hugged him back just as hard.

Holding the tops of my arms, he reared back and studied me. “How are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m….” Deciding to leave the first question, I moved on to the next. “A friend has been brought in. You, are you okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Jenny’s brother was brought in last night.” He looked around. “She’s just gone to find a doctor.”

“Nothing serious, I hope.”

He shrugged, a look of worry crossing his face. “He was stabbed.”

No. It couldn’t be. It was just coincidence.

“Oh. Umm, my friend was also stabbed.”

Ben frowned, tipping his head. “Robbie McMahon?”

No. Oh God. Rage floored me and my body shook as I tried to control the tremble in my jaw. “Yeah. Uhh. How do you know Robbie?”

“We became friends last year. That’s how I met Jenny. Through him.”

Tears burned the back of my eyes and vomit twisted deep in my belly. “I, uhh. I need some air. I’ll come find you later…”

Ben nodded, frowning with concern, but he didn’t stop me leaving.

Everything blurred in my vision as I fought through people to get outside, my mind whirling, and as the fresh air hit me when I burst through the front doors, I hurried around a corner and threw up what little was in my stomach.

I swore I heaved up my heart along with every bit of devastation choking me.

I jerked when hands scooped up my hair and held it back from my face. Yet, when I turned, expecting to find Ben, I was filled with a raw rage when I found Anderson staring at me blankly.

Shock covered his face when I spun round and slapped his face. But that wasn’t enough, it couldn’t be. My fists found his face, his chest, his stomach as I rained blow after blow on him. I screamed at him, my wrath taking my formed words and turning them into a garble of syllables.

“You f*cking bastard! How could you? How could you do that to me? To Ben?”

Realisation made his eyes widen. He should have known Ben and his fiancé would be here, especially since she was Robbie’s f*cking sister.

“Did you not think I’d find out what you’ve done?” I didn’t care about, or feel, his fingers that had now found my throat as he pushed me back against the wall to contain me. “You set him up. Why? Ben has nothing to do with this. Why hurt him?”

“I suggest you calm the f*ck down!”

“Calm down? How could you do this? This is wrong on so many levels, Anderson.”

“You think I care?” he spat. “You think I care about your stupid f*cking ex? His life is of no concern to me, however, I also needed a back-up plan, just in case you thought about doing anything silly.”

“So you planted Robbie into his life, for what? To find me? To bribe me? To f*cking hurt me?”

He shrugged, the smug grin on his face making more vomit bid for freedom. “A little of each.”

Sadness engulfed me and I sagged against the wall and shook my head. “I’ve tried so hard to find the good man that lives inside you, Anderson. But I’m not sure there even is one anymore.”

“I’m glad everything is suddenly becoming clear for you,” he seethed, a flash of what looked like hurt reflected in his eyes.

“I don’t think it’s ever been clearer. And to think I was starting to consider bringing my baby into this.”

His face paled and he narrowed his eyes. “What the f*ck does that mean?”

“You honestly think I could subject a child to this? To you? You are beyond evil, Anderson. You don’t deserve to be a father; you don’t deserve to have a child love you!”