Mercy

Chapter 21

My mouth opened but nothing came out; my breath was lodged in my chest as I looked at the man eyeing me like I was his last meal. Suddenly, the man was ripped away from me and thrown onto the floor. Liam. There he stood with the look of pure rage on his face. The breath I had been holding in released slowly only to let out a shriek when Liam began kicking the man that he had thrown to the ground. “L-Liam…” I choked out as I reached for his arm. He jerked his arm away from me a shot me a glare that made my heart stop.  The man let out a strained groan as Liam kicked him hard in the stomach. “Don’t you dare touch her again, got it?” He growled, kicking the man once again before he could answer. The other men in the room just stood there, letting the whole thing happen. None of them spoke up or tried to help the man that was now gasping for air. “LIAM! STOP!” I yelled again as I latched onto his arm. His muscles tensed as my handed gripped him; he slowly turned around and pulled his arm away from me.  The look on his face terrified me; there was a mix of anger and another expression I couldn’t place. He gripped ahold of my arm and started pulling me down the hallway; my short legs barely able to keep up.

“Liam please stop you’re hurting me!” I cried as I could feel the place on my arm already starting to bruise. He immediately let go of me; the anger on his face faded away as he looked at me with a look of concern. “Sam…I am so sorry…” He took a step towards me and automatically my body stepped away from him. I didn’t want to be close to him, I needed that space between us right now. My hand gently rubbed over my bruising arm. His faced turned sad as I moved away from him. I quickly looked away from him, unable to look at him any more I turned and started towards the back door. “Sam...wait…” He called out and I spun around quickly in my spot. “Don’t.” I yelled, my hand still rubbing over the sore spot he had left me with. “Don’t you dare…” I whispered as I turned around and headed out the door.

My head was cloudy and I hadn’t even noticed that I had walked so far down the beach that I could no longer see the house. I needed to escape I couldn’t be there right now, the burning on my arm brought back horrible feelings that I just couldn’t handle right now. I slowly ran my fingers over the hand shaped bruise on my arm; the horrible memories of my childhood washed over me and I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. I let myself sink into the warm sand, pulling my knees to my chest.  Should I just go home? What was all that about? Why did Liam grab me like that? Liam had always been so gentle and loving towards me. Then again I had never seen the side of him that I had just witnessed. I’m not sure how long I had been sitting there but the cool evening breeze shook me from my daze. Even though I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go back to the house I knew getting stuck out here after dark would be an even bigger mistake. Slowly, I made my way back down the beach. As I got closer to the house I could see everyone standing out on the beach next to a large fire.

“Hey Lace, what’s up?” I mumbled softly as I walked up behind her small tan frame.  Lacy flipped around her eyes as big as dinner plates. “Holy shit, Sam!” She yelled as she pulled me into a tight embrace. What the hell? I thought to myself as I gave her a slight pat on the back. She pulled away and grabbed my face in her hands. “Don’t you dare scare me like that again! What were you thinking? Liam…everyone…we have all been so worried about you! Where have you been?” I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as Lacy shook me slightly. I pulled her hands away from my face and gave her a reassuring smile. “Lace, I am fine. I just needed to take a walk.” I said softly. “A freaking four hour walk!? Why didn’t you answer your phone!?” She yelled; panic still laced through her voice. I calmly rubbed her arm as I spoke softly. “Lace, where exactly would I keep my phone?” I laughed motioning to my bikini. She let out a long sigh as she pulled me in for another hug. “Don’t do that again.” She said with a hint of finality to her voice.  The worried look rushed back to her face when she looked down and saw the hand print bruised into my skin. “Sam…” She choked out as she gently ran her fingers over the mark. I quickly pulled away from her and gave her a small smile. “I’m fine Lace. I just need to lie down.” I spoke softly and she began ushering me back up to the house. “Sam, did Liam do this to you?”  She whispered softly as we entered the house. I quickly pulled away from her, using my hand to cover the mark. “Listen…it was an accident. I don’t want to talk about it…I just want to go lay down.”  She gave me the ‘we aren’t done talking about this’ look as I made my way up the stairs. I stopped at the top of the stairs as I looked at the bedroom door.

This was Liam’s bedroom, should I stay in there or venture down to the couch. Part of me wanted to know what had happened earlier but the other part of me was almost afraid to see him again. I slowly walked down the hallway and pushed the bedroom door open. There sat Liam on the side of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees with his face in his hands. “I said go away…” He mumbled without even glancing in my direction. My fingers nervously fidgeted with the bracelets on my wrist, “Ok I’m sorry…where would you like me to sleep?” my voice was quiet and shaky. His head jerked up and he launched himself off the bed towards me. “Sam…fuck…Sam…” he mumbled as he pulled me into his arms, clinging to me like I would drift away. He buried his face in my hair as he spoke, “Sam…I am so sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you I promise I would never hurt you on purpose.” He rambled, his shoulders shaking slightly as his body molded to mine. I just stood there; the warmth and comfort his embrace brought me still shocked me. “It’s okay…” I whispered, my voice cracking slightly. He pulled away and held my face gently in his hands. “I mean it Sam, I would never hurt you…I feel so bad…” His eyes moved down to view the mark on my arm. His face twisted and his eyes filled with pain. “Baby…I…” His voice faded off as he brushed his fingers over the hand print causing me to wince slightly. He swallowed hard as he looked back into my eyes. “I know you didn’t mean to…it’s okay…and I bruise easy so it’s not all your fault.” I mumbled as my eyes focused on the floor. “I swear I just wanted to get you away from them…they aren’t good people Sam…” He very gently pulled me into his arms and buried his face back into my hair. For the first time since the incident I felt calm and I let my entire body collapse against his.