Fifty Shades of A Rose in Bloom (Wattys2015)

Chapter 45

APOV

"Not yet!"  Christian barked.

Leila's eyes widen with shock, and then she seems to crumble.  Her face falls and her eyes fill with tears before she turns and runs away to some place unknown.  I see Taylor motion for Sawyer to follow her.

Cross-takes a step closer to me, his face full of righteous indignation, which causes Christian to pull me closer, and Taylor to grab his arm.

 "Isn't it sacrilegious to give Elena the honor of a Catholic service considering her lifestyle?  She's spending eternity in purgatory for her sins.  She can't be absolved.  You've caused everyone here that repeated those prayers to speak blasphemy.  I hope you enjoy burning in hell."

Christian pushes me behind him as he steps toward Cross.  "If that's the case, you'll be joining Elena when your time comes.  Keep talking about my girlfriend and family like that and you may find yourself there sooner than you want.  Not that it's any of your business, but my mother planned the service.  Would you like to tell her how you feel about her efforts?"  Christian's voice is cold, and sharp, cutting like a knife, daring him to say something further.

"Oh I very much would like to tell your mother exactly what type of woman Elena Lincoln was"

I watch Christian and Gideon go at it with one another.  Both throwing verbal punches at each other.  But what I wasn't watching for was Grace who has now entered the tent, confusion marring her face, and cloudy her red-rimmed eyes, as she watching her son verbally attack another man.  Then shock takes over as she hears the details of their barbs.

I try my hardest to get one of their attention.  I clear my throat but that didn't seem to get their attention.  I even tried coughing as loud as I could but my voice is unable to carry over theirs.  And in a loud roar Gideon said,

"You let that poor priest stand up there and pray for Elena to be sent to God, thanking him for what she brought us.  She doesn't deserve it!"  He stopped to take a breath.  I watched in horror as the tears rolled down Grace's face.  This has to stop someone needs to do something.  I'm tempted to pick up one of the chairs and sling it into the others but before the thought even had a chance to escape my mind another roar rang out but this time it wasn't from Gideon, nor was it from Christian.  This roar came from Grace's own lips.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Christian and Gideon both stopped and blinked at each other.  It was Gideon that first broke eye contact with Christian and looked over to where the second voice was coming from.  He didn't seem shocked.  No, if I had to guess he seemed pretty pleased with himself.  Almost grateful that Grace heard what he has said.