Chapter 64
Simon Couldn’t Say Much
We wandered aimlessly, chatting about nothing and everything. Well, I chatted a lot, and fast, from the sugar high I got as I chomped on the largest pink cotton candy ball I had ever seen. Karson refused to help eat it, screwing up his face when I had offered. We meandered through the fair. The scent of hot dogs and doughnuts rumbled to bottom of my stomach. I was hungry again. With all the extra training I was doing I couldn’t seem to keep up with my body’s demand.
“Are you hungry again?” Karson asked, having heard the rumble.
I shrugged. “I could go for a doughnut, or four.”
“I do not know where you put it.” He sighed. “Wait here, I’ll get them.”
He lined up behind two teenage girls. Neither could decide what they wanted, they went to and fro between the options. I smiled, thinking of the look I knew would be on Karson’s face. He wasn’t the type to line up anywhere and, had I not been watching, I had no doubt he wouldn’t have.
I wandered off past the clowns. A little girl with curly hair squealed with delight as the ball tumbled down, her father holding her in his arms. I walked past a table selling sunglasses that wouldn’t meet any reputable standard, past a toy stall, and a large marquee housing some kind of farming equipment. I stopped abruptly as I heard a woman’s breathy shriek. I frowned and went to check it out.
Standing down a shadowed alleyway was a man and a woman. I stopped at the entrance and watched. The man was not tall, nor well-built, but he was looming over the woman.
“Fucking stupidbitch.” His voice was low, so others wouldn’t hear his tirade. “Look what you’ve made me do.”
She was standing with her head down, purse clutched between trembling hands. His hand shot out and yanked on a long blue scarf she wore around her neck. Her head jolted forward, she cried out. Then he smacked the purse from her hands, it fell to the grass, spilling coins. Her lips trembled. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks. She bent down to pick it up.
Fury curled though me veins. “Hey,” I sung out, striding towards them.
They both turned to look. She looked like the sweet, girl next door type, bobbed, shoulder-length brown hair and flawless, creamy skin. Her cheeks were flushed and tear stained. He had sandy-coloured hair, was clean shaven, with smooth hands—he wasn’t a manual worker. A blue collar kind of guy. Probably charmed the whole office then went home and took his frustrations out on his girlfriend.
“What’s wrong with you?” I flared.
He shot her a ‘now see what you’ve done’ look, and then looked back. I couldn’t help but wonder, if he did that to her in public, what the hell did he do to her at home?
A lot.
There was an apprehensive gleam to his eyes. He stared at me like he didn’t know how to respond.
He worked it out. A cold look crossed his face. “It’s none of your business, fuck off.”
“It is now, asshole. You like to hurt women, do you? Let’s see how you go with one who fights back.”
“It’s fine, I’m okay. Please leave,” the woman said, her voice breaking.
I didn’t move.
“I said get lost, bitch.”
“You speak to me one more time like that and you will be pissing blood for the next week.”
His face flushed, he gritted his teeth, and took one step forward. Then his eyes fell behind my shoulder, panic glinted on the surface and I knew who he was looking at. There was only one person who could scare him that much.
“I got it,” I said, without turning around.
His anger rolled down the alleyway in silent waves.
“I’m sure you have, Amelia,” Karson said, as if he were talking about something I might reach from the top shelf. “However, what kind of a gentlemen would I be if I let you fight a male?”
“One who knows I can take care of myself.”
“If you’d like to collect your things and leave,” Karson said to the woman, ignoring me.
She stared at the man, biting her lip. Deciding whether to stay with him or find enough self-respect to walk away. Her lips thinned, she loosened her scarf around her neck and threw it on the ground. A gift from him, or perhaps a reminder of his violence she no longer wanted, and then she stepped toward us.
