Page 72 of Outlier

“Oh, Darrell!” cried Rebecca when she saw her new husband. “What’s happened? Baby, are you okay?” She walked to him, and her hands fluttered around his bloody face—there was no way Rebecca would risk blood stains on her dress, no matter how badly her new husband was hurt. “What have you done to him?” she accused Mike and then turned to glare at me. “What have you both done?”

“I knew this would happen,” Mum said in a hysterical voice. “I knew you’d come here and ruin everything. You can’t just be bloody normal and let everyone else live their lives? You have to sabotage everything. Just like you did myentire life. Just like you’ve always done.”

“Janet, shut up!” Gareth snapped, then turned to Mike. “Er… Mike, maybe you could put Darrell down for a moment, son?”

“Gladly,” Mike said gruffly, dropping Darrell abruptly so that he collapsed onto the floor, before staggering to his feet, looking wildly between Mike and me.

“That bitch kneed me in the balls and then Arnold bloody Schwarzenegger here punched me,” he said in a high whiny voice, which came out very nasal due to the blood still pouring from his nose.

“Oh my God,” said Rebecca, glaring at me. “You’d do anything to ruin my day, wouldn’t you? I just knew you’d be lying in wait to pay me back. I just knew that?—”

“Pay you back for what?” Gareth asked. There was some steel in his voice now that I’d rarely heard before as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Nothing, Daddy,” Rebecca waved him away dismissively, but I saw a flash of panic in her expression.

Darrell was slowly edging backwards again.

“Stay where you are, you piece of shit,” Mike snapped at him, halting his progress towards the exit. Then, ignoring everyone else, Mike strode over to stand right in front of me.

“Okay, love?” he asked softly.

I gave a shaky nod as he reached up to my hips slowly then gently pulled my skirt fully down. There was silence in the corridor now, and when I glanced around, I realised that they were all watching us.

“Let me see, okay?”

I nodded and his jaw flexed as he gently tilted my head to the side to look at my cheek, which was feeling tight and achy now.

“What else did he do, love?”

“He pinned me to the wall,” I whispered. “But he didn’t… er, he didn’t have the chance to… do what he did last time.”

Mike’s whole body tensed, pure and absolute fury flitting through his expression now.

“Last time?” he growled.

“Listen, Vicky’s always making up stories,” Mum started to tell Mike. “She’s not normal. She has mental health problems. Whatever she’s told you, she?—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Mike snapped.

I flinched with the force of his words and the anger behind them.

“I just saw this evil fucker assault your daughter. Her skirt was pushed up round her hips. She was fuckingterrified.” Mike was turned towards all of them now, yet again, shielding me.

I reached up and laid my hand on his arm, feeling the bunched muscles there trembling with suppressed rage.

“Mike, honestly, just leave it. I tried to tell Mum and Rebecca the last time it happened. It’s not really worth?—”

“You told them?” He turned to look at me.

“Well, yes, but?—”

“She told you?” he shouted at Mum.

Mum, very,veryunwisely, rolled her eyes. “Vicky was just trying to get attention and I?—”

“What the fuck did you do, boy?” I blinked in shock as I saw Gareth grab Darrell and shove him up against the wall, his face a mask of rage.

“Daddy! What are you doing?” Rebecca shrieked.