Puppet Master

Chapter Thirty Two

Tori rolled out of the way quickly as Nate’s full body weight pummelled into Jayden, who crashed into the glass table behind him, grunting from the impact. Nate held him by the throat in the circle of broken shards of glass that surrounded him, and struck Jayden’s stomach with relentless pulverizing blows.

Although Nate was of a larger build than Jay, there was not too much between them, he could’ve fought back easily, in fact she’d seen it on occasion before. What startled Tori most about the scene in front of her was that Jayden wasn’t even trying at all.

Every muscle in his body was loose, and relaxed, which looked to be lessening the impact, yes, but sent anxiety uncoiling and crawling its way through Tori’s stomach.

“Nate, stop it!” she heard her screams, from another dimension than she was entirely used to, “Please stop it!” Her fingers grasped at the thin material of his shirt, using every ounce of body weight in trying to pull at her older brother’s bulky muscular form, but his flailing fists made it difficult for her to hold on for long enough to achieve her goal.

“Nate please!” she begged, tears rolling down her cheeks in frustration.

She felt Shannon’s slender arms enclose her, pulling her away from the brawl with a struggle of their own.

“Nate, I think that’s enough,” Shannon said resolutely, holding a weeping Tori close to her chest.

Nathaniel stilled, pulling his best friend’s face up to his own by the material of his t-shirt, so that Jay’s body hung almost limply from his arms, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my fucking sister, Jay?” He sounded more like an animal than a man, a growl underscoring each syllable as the anger churned through him.

One of Jay’s eyes had swollen shut, and blood was pulsing from a cut on his lip, but he closed his eyes and shook his head as he prised Nate’s fingers from his shirt, and pushed him back into the corner of the sofa. “It’s not what you think man - it’s not like that at all.”

Jayden stabled himself, rubbing his hands across his face, and wincing slightly at the contact with his tender skin, before he noticed Shannon holding Tori, and rose to his feet to take her into his arms, murmuring soft words into her ear. “Hey, hey, babe, look I’m okay, it’s okay, shhh.” His words were punctuated with tiny kisses to the top of her head as her sobs subdued, soothed by the contact with his body so close to her own, safe inside her harbour. Whether it was right or wrong to feel like that, whether or not he deserved it.

Shannon shifted uncomfortably underneath Nate’s intense scrutiny, suddenly without the purpose of holding Tori to keep her in the room, she felt like a spare part. But Nate’s dark slate eyes skated over her from head to toe, and she nervously plucked at her clothes, staring at her feet and the mess around them, as she began to mutter, “I’m just going to get something to clean up this ...”

“What are you doing here?” Nate muttered himself, almost inaudibly, brushing broken glass from his clothes. Shannon stayed silent, not knowing who he was speaking to. It had been a long time, after all, since he’d said anything at all to her.

Three years, nine months and two and a half weeks to be precise.