The House by the River

Chapter 7

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Mark's POV

The ear piercing sound of Saint's voice somehow brought me back to reality. I felt like I was in a trance, like I was outside my body, watching what I was doing.

I cannot even remember now how it all started. I just knew that the sight of Earth, the handyman, being on top of Gun, almost covering his whole body, just triggered something in my brain and I found myself frantically looking for some kind of weapon in the kitchen.

Saint's POV

"I would like to take a shower now," I murmured to Perth who was lying beside me on the bed.

We were both sweaty from the passionate moments we had shared earlier. We had taken advantage of the absence of Cooheart who had joined Title and the others to take a swim in the river.

"We can shower together," Perth said with a naughty smile.

"No, we can't," I replied, "everyone will see us when we come out of the bathroom together and will jump to all kinds of conclusions."

"Let them," Perth declared emphatically. "They won't be making wrong conclusions."

"I'm not ready to let the others know about us," I said, almost in a pleading tone.

"Fine," said Perth with a sigh.

I got out of the bed and made my way to the door. The door of the bed was situated such that it was facing the doorway of the kitchen and if you turned your head you could also see the whole living room as well.

To my great horror, I saw Mark coming out of the kitchen, a giant butcher knife in his hands. I saw him raise it above his head. He was looking down at something on the floor.

I turned to look and saw Gun and the handyman on the carpet floor of the living room.

Good god in heaven, was Mark planning to bludgeon those two guys to death?

"Mark!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, "what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Gun's POV

It took some time before Earth could fix the broken door knob. He had to replace some parts and it took a while to assemble everything together.

When finally his work was finished, we both stood up.

"Thank you for fixing the bathroom door knob," I said. "Are my parents going to pay you when you get back to the city?"

"Actually, they have already paid me in advance," Earth replied.

"Wow, they must trust you so much," I remarked.

"They have no reason not to trust me," Earth replied, a hint of a frown appearing on his face.

Oh shit, I should not have said anything about the trust issue.

"Well, I guess I have to get going," Earth declared.

For some reason, I wanted him to stay a bit longer.

"Would you like to have something to drink before you go?" I offered.

"I would very much like to but I have another job waiting for me in the city," Earth replied.

I sighed as I followed him to the living room.

I honestly do not know how one of my shoes could have caught on something in the carpet, but it did, and to save myself from falling I grabbed the back of Earth's shirt, which made him turn around, but he had turned around too quickly.

In a split second, both of us were on the floor, Earth falling on top of me. Luckily I did not hit my head against the floor. I had instinctively raised my neck just as I fell on my back.

Our faces were just inches close to each other. My next instinct was to pull Earth's face down to mine.

I gazed at Earth's slightly opened lips and for a hundredth of a second I felt his lips on mine. That was all the time I could savor the feel of his lips on mine because suddenly I heard Saint's voice from just outside the door of his bedroom.

"Mark! What the fuck do you think you're doing!"

To Earth's great horror and mine, we saw Mark slowly approaching us with a butcher knife that he must have found in the kitchen. He already had it raised above his head, his eyes glued towards Earth and me.

I will forever be grateful to Saint for saving Earth's and my life.

In the next second Mark was on his knees on the floor, the butcher knife discarded, his hands covering his face. He was sobbing, his shoulders shaking as he did so.

Earth stood up from the floor, pulling me up with him.

"Thank you, Earth," I said, my voice a little shaky.

"I have to go now," said Earth, quickly making his exit, leaving me to deal with Mark.

I slowly approached Mark and knelt beside him.

"What was that all about, Mark?" I asked, somehow not being able to find it in me to be angry with him for what was obviously his intention towards Earth and myself.

"I don't know what came over me," he said between sobs, his hands still covering his face. "I feel like something, some spirit, possessed me to do what I did. If I had not heard Saint's loud cry, I do not know what might have happened."

Oh yes, I forgot all about Saint. He was still standing by the door, the look of shock and horror still very much evident on his face.

I stood up and walked towards Saint. I placed my arms around him, and ran my hands up and down his back to soothe him.

"You saved my life, Saint," I said gratefully. "I owe you my life."

"What's going on here?"

Perth's agitated voice made Saint and me break apart from each other.

"I think it's best that Saint is the one who explains to you what just happened," I replied, wondering why Perth would get so upset for nothing.

"He is going to explain things to me while we shower," Perth declared, grabbing Saint by the wrist and dragging him towards the bathroom.

"What the hell," I muttered under my breath. It wasn't like an urgent issue that needed to be explained right this minute. Perth could have always just waited for Saint to finish taking his shower. There was no need for Perth to take a shower with Saint just to get his explanation. Perth needed to learn the value of patience. He always wanted things to happen not just right now but yesterday.

But this was no time for me to worry about Perth and Saint. I brought my attention back to Mark.