Author: Kirsty Moseley
“I’ll sleep in the chair, Angel,” I protested, grimacing at the thought of rolling on her or something.
“Please, Liam?” she begged.
Damn it, why can’t I say no to this girl? I sighed and kicked off my sneakers, climbing onto the bed with her. She snuggled into my chest and cried herself to sleep.
I woke really early in the morning to someone shaking my arm. I looked up to see two men standing there, both of them were looking at me sternly. What the hell? Oh crap, I’m going to get in trouble for sleeping in here!
“Liam James?” one of them asked.
I nodded and sat up quietly. “Yeah,” I whispered, trying not to wake Amber. Too late, she stirred and jumped as she saw the two guys standing there.
“Liam James, I’m arresting you on suspicion of Grievous Bodily Harm. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you,” he stated, as he took hold of my arm.
GBH? That as**ole is pressing charges?
Chapter 22
~ Amber ~
I sat up quickly. “What the hell?”
Liam put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t get up,” he said sternly. Jeez, the damn silly boy was being arrested and he was still worried about me?
“This is stupid! You can’t arrest him, it wasn’t his fault!” I cried desperately, looking at the two men who were watching Liam put on his shoes. Why the hell is he being so calm about this? Did he expect something like this to happen?
“There’s been a serious complaint, Ma’am. We need to investigate,” the man stated, not even bothering to look at me.
“Angel, everything’s fine. Don’t worry,” Liam assured me. Fine? How is this fine? He turned to look at the guy holding his arm. “Can I kiss my girlfriend goodbye? She’s just had a miscarriage,” he pleaded. The guy’s face softened slightly and he let go of his arm. Liam bent over and kissed me softly on the lips. “I love you, Angel. Don’t start to stress about me. You need to rest,” he instructed, stroking my face gently.
As he went to pull back, I panicked. I couldn’t let him go, I needed him. I threw my arms around his neck and refused to let go. “Please don’t take him, please? This wasn’t his fault, this was my fault, everything was my fault. I should have just stayed at his house. I shouldn’t have gone home, please?” I begged, gripping my hands into Liam’s hair, sobbing on his shoulder.
“Ma’am, you need to let go now,” the same guy stated. I tightened my grip on Liam, probably hurting him but he didn’t complain. “Ma’am!” the guy barked.
Liam rubbed his hands up my arms gently, unclasping my hands from his hair. When he was free of my arms, he pulled back to look at me. He was stressed and worried, I could tell by his eyes. “I love you,” he vowed, kissing me gently on the lips again.
“I love you too,” I whispered, not trusting my voice to speak again.
Liam stood up and the guy immediately pulled his hands behind his back, putting on handcuffs. Liam’s eyes didn’t leave mine as I felt my heart breaking all over again. I thought after losing the baby that nothing could be more painful. I was wrong.
I watched as they led him out of the room leaving me on my own. I felt sick. I couldn’t let them do this, this wasn’t his fault. I could press charges as well, then they would see that my father hit me first, and then Liam would get let off because he was defending me. But they wouldn’t let him off for that, would they? Defending me is one thing, but he went crazy, they’ll never believe that what he did was self-defence.
I put my hands over my face, trying to think of something. Either way, Liam was getting in trouble for this because my father had pressed charges, even if I pressed charges against my father, Liam’s charges would still stand. Self-defence or not, he was still going to be charged with GBH because he did do it even though he was provoked. I couldn’t take the risk that he would be let off. What if he wasn’t? What if he got sent to jail for this, and I lost him?
The only thing I could think of was getting my father to drop the charges. I grabbed my phone and called Jake. He answered on the second ring. “Jake, Liam’s been arrested,” I said simply.
“What the hell? No way!” he shouted, making me wince away from the phone slightly.
“Jake, look I’m due out of here this afternoon, so can you bring me some clothes ready for that?” I asked, trying to stay calm.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in like twenty minutes,” he agreed. I could hear him crashing around in the background, probably throwing all of my stuff in a bag or something.
“Thanks.” I snapped my phone shut, pressing it against my forehead, thinking. Was there any other way? I just couldn’t see another option.
My hands were shaking, I was scared as hell, but I dialled my father’s house number. It rang for a long time. Just as I was about to give up, he answered. His voice was thick with sleep; it sent a shiver down my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Hello?” He somehow managed to sound terrifying with one word.
“It’s Amber,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.
He laughed. “And what can I do for you, Amber?”
“I want you to drop the charges against Liam,” I answered, trying to sound confident.
He laughed again. “I’m not dropping the charges, that f**ker broke my nose! You should see what he did to my face,” he shouted, making me flinch. How is it that he still scared the life out of me, and he was only on the phone?
“Please, please don’t do this, please?” I begged, trying not to cry.
He sighed. “You want me to drop the charges?”
“Yes,” I answered, wiping the tears off of my face.
“Come to my house and we’ll talk about it,” he stated, sounding amused.
Go to his house? Oh my God, is he kidding me?
“Please drop the charges. You know you hit me first, please?” I begged, feeling the bile rise in my throat, he liked holding this over my head I could tell.
“Come to my house and we’ll talk about it,” he repeated.
I looked up at the clock; Jake would be here in about ten minutes. “Can I bring Jake?” I asked, knowing that was the stupidest question I’d ever asked in my life. Why on earth would I be allowed to take Jake? If he was anywhere near him then we wouldn’t need to worry about charges, because he would be buried by the side of some road somewhere.
“No. Leave that f**ker out of it!” he growled.
Oh God, can I do this? Can I really go there and talk to him? Was I strong enough? I knew the answer to that question. I would do anything for Liam, even if I had to kill my father myself to stop him pressing charges. No victim, no crime.
I swallowed my fear. “OK, I’ll be there within the hour,” I said quietly as I snapped my phone shut, trying desperately not to have a panic attack. I needed to be strong now.
I laid back down in the bed and tried to calm myself. I couldn’t be too freaked out when Jake came, otherwise he wouldn’t want to leave me on my own. I laid there, counting the foam tiles on the ceiling, trying not to think about anything else. I got to 867 before Jake ran into the room. He looked really tired and stressed. I would bet my bottom dollar that he didn’t sleep too well last night. He pulled me into a hug gently and I tried not to wince as it hurt my stomach and hips.
“Shit, Ambs, this is bad.” He shook his head, looking both angry and worried at the same time.
I nodded; I needed to get him out of here quickly. “Jake, I need you to go to the police station and see if there’s anything you can do for Liam. I’m not going to be released from here until this afternoon, so I can’t go,” I instructed, squeezing his hand.
He nodded, looking concerned. “You sure you don’t need me to stay with you for a bit? Are you alright?”
I nodded and smiled weakly. “I just need Liam to be OK. So if you could do that for me, Jake,” I requested, nodding towards the door.
He hugged me again. “OK. I’ll call you if I hear anything.” He kissed the top of my head and put a bag of my clothes onto the floor next to my bed. “If they let you out, call me and I’ll come and get you and take you home,” he said sternly.
I nodded and pulled him into another hug so I wouldn’t have to lie to his face. “OK. Please go see if you can do anything,” I pleaded.
“Right. See you in a bit.” He smiled reassuringly before turning and running from the room.
I gave him a minute to leave before I pressed the call button on the wall. A nurse came in within a minute. “Hi, how are you feeling today? You need some more painkillers?” she asked, smiling kindly.
I shook my head. “No, I want to discharge myself. My brother’s gone to get the car. My mom’s had an accident. I need to go,” I lied, swinging my legs off of the bed.
“Amber, you can’t just leave, you had surgery yesterday,” she scolded.
“The doctor said I could go home this afternoon. It’s only a few hours early,” I countered, grabbing the bag that Jake brought and starting to pull on my clothes, wincing slightly as I moved.
“Amber, you shouldn’t be out of your bed yet! Even when you get released this afternoon it will still be for bed rest for a couple of days,” she explained, frowning at me.
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but I’m leaving this hospital right now. You can’t keep me here against my will. I know my rights. I can discharge myself early as long as I sign a form to say I’m leaving against doctor’s orders so that I can’t sue you later,” I said sternly. She was starting to piss me off; I didn’t have time for this.
She looked at me a little shocked before she nodded. “I’ll go find a doctor,” she muttered, heading towards the door.
“Tell him to bring the forms with him, I don’t have time to wait,” I requested, biting my lip. I was anxious to get this done; I needed Liam out of trouble, now. I finished getting dressed and packing up my stuff and sat on the bed, impatiently watching the second hand on the clock tick round. Finally, after what felt like forever but was probably about three minutes, a doctor came in looking at me sternly.