The sign he asked for
SamMy blood pressure was at an all-time high because all I could think about was the many ways I was going to snap Andrew Stephenson in half. I warned him what would happen if he broke my daughter's heart and he swore to me that he'd never do it. Now Andrew is going to learn what it means to break a promise. Did this kid not realise that who he was dealing with? I could tear his smug head from his shoulders and mount it to the wall above the fire, sending a warning to all other boys who dared to do the same to my precious baby.I was livid, my rage building with every waking minute that passed, my brain coming up with new and wonderful ways in which I could extract my revenge on the kid. The entire drive home from the hospital, I'd managed, somehow, to push my anger down, wanting to hide it from Claire, who was already upset enough, but once she had gone up to her room, I could no longer hide how I felt. The kitchen cupboard coped the brunt of it, slamming it shut with all my force a
Andy"I spent the night in lock up, and you look worse than me." Adrian chucks as he enters my house."Yeah, it's been a rough night. I had a fight with Claire when she found out that we were bailing you out." I admit, side-eyeing Ed to gauge his reaction, but he remains neutral.I hear dad's footsteps on the stairs behind me, making me turn and get an idea."Dad, do you mind sitting in with us while we go over everything?" I ask him, and he looks a little taken aback by the unexpected request."Of course I can." He says, ushering the boys into the living room. "Take a seat, I'll get my notebook so I can keep a track of everything."The three of us take a seat on our lounges, Adrian and I on the couch, and Ed chooses the armchair. While Dad is in his study, grabbing what he needs, I feel it is best to explain to the others my reasoning behind asking my dad to sit in."Dad's a councillor, I thought he might be able to offer some insight into how we move forward to clear Adrian," I expl
Andy I never understood why Claremont had a 24-hour Kmart; it seemed unnecessary to keep a store open all through the night, paying employees exorbitant amounts just to work after dark. Especially when there's no way you'd get that many customers coming in overnight, but now, here I was wandering the store aimlessly. I'd spent hours driving around Claremont, trying hard to take my mind off Claire and replaying our fight, when I saw the big, glowing sign for Kmart. It was as if I was being beckoned inside. Under the bright, fluorescent lighting, you could almost be tricked into thinking it was daylight outside, but my tired, heavy body knew better. I should be in bed, Claire's bed actually, snuggled in close to her while we sleep, but here I am, avoiding my problems by browsing a big box store. I'd grabbed a basket when I entered and had been throwing in random products so as not to look suspicious to the security guard who was monitoring the store. I stopped in the stationery depar
ClaireThe loud sound of the tyres squealing against the concrete ripped right through me, shattering my heart into tiny pieces. I leaned against a pylon and watched Andy drive away from me while the voice inside my head was screaming at me to go after him, to fix this, to repair what we'd broken, but my body wouldn't cooperate. I just let him go.Hot tears fall freely from my eyes, his elitist insult still stinging. I thought we were past all of that, that we knew each other's true selves now, but I guess, for Andy, the former ideal that he held of me never went away. I didn't intend to hurt him; I was simply pointing out the truth that he was so blinded to see for himself. He's the one who took offence, twisting my words into a Claremont versus Brixton argument, which was never what I was saying.Adrian was guilty, the evidence was all pointed towards him, the motive he had to target Jupiter because he had formed some sort of fixation on her and realised tonight that she was never g
AndyEd and I haven't agreed on anything for well over a year now, our friendship had died the day I started dating his ex, but right now I knew he was right, more than anything I'd witnessed. There's no way Adrian would have betrayed me; his loyalty to our friendship was one thing I could always count on. Even when I'd pushed him away, he was still there.I shift my focus to Kyle and then to Nate. I hadn't been on the soccer team that long, but in that short time, these two had become my friends, cheering me on when I scored goals and encouraging me but that was all surface level, what if, underneath their friendly mannerisms there was something more sinister? Were these two capable of drugging and raping innocent women? If they were, then why would they go after their friend's girlfriend?Another thought then hit me: what if the attacker had already fled the scene once everything went down? This was the closest they'd come to getting caught; they would have felt the heat bearing dow
AndyMy dad always said that using your words first, in a fight,over using your fists, will most likely result in less pain and as I stepped in between Sebastian and Adrian, I hoped that Dad was right on this one. Don't get me wrong, I can fight and I'm no stranger to throwing the first punch but Sebastian's my friend and I wanted to avoid this coming to blows.I place a hand on his shoulder, just to hold him back and look him square in the eyes. I can see the fury that is radiating inside of him, itching to explode, but I have to talk him down, I have to make him see that he's got this all wrong. Behind me, Adrian is still being held in place by Kyle, with Nate standing guard, two of my new teammates on the Bulldogs. I didn't even realise Claire had invited them.Where was Adrian's support? I'd spotted Clive and Elijah straightaway when I entered the party, but now they'd disappeared, right when they were needed. There's no way Clive would shy away from a fight; he lived for a good t