“You fucking useless twats,” Frank shouted when they didn’t move. “Get that stupid bastard. Don’t listen to him. I’ve never gone down before. I’m not going down this time either.”
But I’d planted the seed of doubt now. These men weren’t going to help him get Clara back into the house. Then I noticed one of them behind the bald guy, muchskinnier and younger than the other two. I recognised him from the street outside Clara’s school. He’d clearly been watching her for a while.
“Let her go with him, guys,” the skinny guy said. He was sweating and looking increasingly nervous. “Let Clara go. Listen, if they’ve got into the network like we think, we’re all fucked. Let Clara go, or it’ll be even worse.”
Then I heard footsteps running on the pavement. Ruben Mason came into view and screeched to a halt outside the house.
“Clara!” he cried, taking a step towards her but I blocked his way.
“That’s close enough,” I told him. “I’m taking her to hospital.”
“Is she okay?” Ruben asked in a hoarse voice.
“She’s alive, but I need to get her out of here.”
Ruben looked between me and Clara for a moment, then focused on his father who was staggering towards us. “Get the fuck away from her, Dad,” he said through gritted teeth. “All of you get away from my sister.” He was shouting now and seemed to have a damn sight more authority than the skinny guy from before. All Frank’s men started moving back despite Frank screaming at them.
I wasted no time in spinning around to pick Clara up. I knew it wasn’t ideal. I knew she needed an ambulance, but I had to get her out of there before these men changed their minds. She let out a soft groan as I held her up against my chest. There was blood on her temple, her glasses had a crack through one of the lenses and one of the arms was broken.
“It’s okay, baby,” I said. “Everything’s going to be okay now.”
Chapter 33
I’ll be keeping you safe
Clara
I bit my lip,trying to contain my claustrophobia and lie perfectly still as I was moved through the CT scanner. Everything from the last hour was fuzzy: the sound of the frying pan and the dull thunk as it connected to my father’s head, the dizziness as I ran out onto the front lawn, Rafe appearing as if my fevered imagination had conjured him to life. All of it was a jumbled mishmash in my mind.
I had a cracking headache and my temple was still throbbing from my father’s fist and the wood of the table. I knew that there was a cut there. I could still feel the dried blood around my eye, but I didn’t know the extent of the damage. No one had given me a mirror yet. I’d lost consciousness after the head injury and, although it had only been brief, I’d then become disoriented once we reached the emergency department, so I had been immediately rushed for a scan.
The last place I wanted to be was inside this horrid,noisy tube. I wasn’t convinced it was necessary, to be honest.
I’d been knocked out once before when I was a teenager. That time I’d woken up on the kitchen floor, with Zach crying next to me; he’d helped me into bed afterwards. There was no hospital assessment involved then.
Finally, the noise was over, and I closed my eyes in relief. They’d asked me if I wanted to listen to music, but I’d turned them down. In the back of my mind I think I was worried that music would make mefeelsomething. I didn’t want to feel anything. I just wanted to be numb; to not be scared all the time.
“Alright, love?” the porter asked me as he wheeled me back down the corridor to the ward.
“I’m fine.” I whispered the lie easily, then turned my head to the side to look at the walls and doors of the wards as we whisked past.
I’d expected to be wheeled back to the overcrowded emergency department, but instead the trolley turned into a different wing of the hospital and then finally into a private room containing Rafe, Mrs Clayton and Lily.
“The results?” snapped Rafe at the porter, expecting instant feedback on a scan I’d had only minutes before.
“Don’t look at me, guv’nor,” the porter said. “Expect they’ll let you know in a bit. I just move the patients.”
Rafe huffed out an annoyed breath and then turned to me.
The fuzzy memories of Rafe holding me in the back of Mrs Clayton’s car filtered through my mind: his strong arms around me, his deep voice telling me how everything was going to be fine, how he had me now, how he wasn’t going to let anything hurt me. The thread of fear in his tone had thrown me. I’d never heard Rafe scared before. Was hescared of my father? Of what my family could do? He was right to be. I knew that better than anyone.
I couldn’t deal with Rafe at the moment, so I closed my eyes to shut him out and turned to Lily and Mrs Clayton instead.
“I told you not to come to any of Dad’s houses,” I said, my voice hoarse. Mrs C’s face was pale, and Lily’s eyes were red-rimmed as if she’d been crying.
“Young lady, I will not follow illogical orders,” said Mrs Clayton in her no-nonsense tone.
“We were terrified, hun,” said Lily, her voice trembling. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
