The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (19 page)

I yawned and rolled
my neck after my mostly sleepless night.

I had noticed the
bruised cheekbone on Lucas this morning but I was too frightened to ask how it
had got there, I already had an inkling and the knowledge made me feel ashamed
and guilty. So I had chosen to ignore it and hoped he wouldn’t mention it,
which he didn’t, and I loved him all the more for that.

The line started
moving and we all walked into the dull and drab room, its many tables filled
with more miserable bastards.

Ryan waved and
smiled widely and I grinned at him as I leant in to kiss his cheek. “Hey
gorgeous” he greeted as he palmed my cheek.

I nuzzled into it
and closed my eyes in contentment as I inhaled his familiar scent. “How are
you?” I asked as I took the seat opposite him.

He nodded. We both
knew the answer to my question but neither of us was willing to acknowledge it.

“So, what’s new
Kay?”

I shrugged and
pulled a face “Not much, still the usual shit.”

He smiled and nodded
but tilted his head “Now the truth.”

I rolled my eyes and
sighed heavily. “You forget I know you better than you know yourself, love” he
divulged honestly and I chuckled with a nod.

His eyes dropped to
where my thumb was flicking against my finger and he looked sad “You know I
wish I was there for you baby, whatever it is you need to get Mason onto it.”

He knew before I had
even told him. He always did where I was concerned, like he said, he knew me
better than I knew myself.

“He’s found me” I
disclosed quietly.

He swallowed heavily
and closed his eyes in pain and anguish as he placed his hand over mine on the
table.

“Listen to me, Kay.
You don’t belong to that bastard, whatever he tells you. Your relationship with
anyone should always be consensual. You understand me, baby?”

I nodded but refused
to look him in the eyes. “I know you, you think because he was your master for
a few years that you now belong to him but you don’t, baby. You belong to
yourself and nobody else… ever!”

I regarded him
quietly before I gave him a sad smile “You don’t belong in here Ry, but you’re
here.”

His face contorted
in rage but he brought it under control quickly “And what Kay, you think you
deserve what that piece of shit deals out? Is that it?”

I shrugged and
nibbled on my lip, knowing what Ryan had done for me could never be repaid and
the guilt of that hurt more than anything Diablo could do to me.

“Kay! We both know
why I’m here and we both know it was the lesser of two evils but Diablo… he’s
something else baby, you need to get rid. You know what I’m saying, Kay?”

I swallowed heavily
and looked at him as a tear slid down my cheek “I don’t know what to do Ry. I, I’ve
met someone… and I’m so scared that he’ll… that Diablo will…”

“Then you know what
needs to be done.”

He wiped at my tears
with his thumb and leaned into me and placed a gentle kiss on each of my eyelids.
“You know how much I love you, Kay and you will know it until the day I die. I
would never do anything ever again to hurt you but you need to take control,
finally stop this happening in your life. I know your frightened baby, but do
you love him?”

I nodded without
hesitation “And does he love you?”

I nodded again,
knowing the truth of it through to my soul.

“Then grab it Kay,
take what he gives you and fucking consume it. You deserve it baby. After what
I did…”

   I grabbed his tight fist and held it
tight. “Stop, right now Ry. We were both young and well… you were stupid...” I
winked cheekily.

He barked out a laugh before seriousness
covered his face. “You need me to do it and I will Kay, you know this.”

I nodded and sadness
enveloped me as the guard called time. “I miss you so much” I whispered against
him as he hugged me tight. “And I you, love, but you heard what I said, if you
need the signature, it’s yours.”

I nodded again, “Always,
Ry.”

He grinned at me as
he always did, “Always, Kay.”

I didn’t drop his
hand until I was so far away it fell away between us and he held my eyes until
the very second I rounded the corner and disappeared from his life for the next
fortnight.

The walk through the
long corridors of the prison towards the exit seemed to take forever and I desperately
needed the gulp of fresh air the outdoors offered.

My chest and throat
were always tight, every time I left him in this bastard shit hole and it tore
through me constantly, knowing I had to leave him here to basically rot.

I would always love
Ryan and I knew he would always love me, more than anything. He had already
proved he would put my life before his own and the knowledge of that never
seemed to get any easier.

I didn’t realise I
had stepped outside until the rain beat heavily down on me, its relentless
misery matched my own and I accepted its sadness and let it mix with my own as
I stared at the puddles on my way across the car park; their cruel reflection
showing me just how corrupt and grotesque I was.

I finally looked up
and stuttered to a halt as Lucas leant against my car, his hair plastered to
his handsome face as the rain poured down on him.

We stood immobile
just staring at one another and I wasn’t sure if I was scared of his reaction
or if I was angry he had followed me.

“What are you doing
here?” I asked without emotion as I pulled my car keys from my bag.

He lifted a wet
eyebrow at me “I could ask you that very same question.”

I narrowed my eyes
on him and pursed my lips “What business I have here has nothing to do with you
Lucas, and if I’m honest I’m not really sure I like the fact that you followed
me like you don’t trust me.”

He barked out a
bitter laugh, his face tight with anger and I lifted both eyebrows at him. I
really wasn’t in the mood for this, it always hurt me too much to leave Ryan
and I couldn’t be dealing with Lucas’s umbrage as well.

“Like I don’t trust
you…” he mocked then shook his head in amazement, “You told me you were working
at a bar. Don’t tell me Red, the inmates wanted a piss up.”

My anger was
surfacing and I bit back the harsh reply I wanted to toss at him and attempted
to open my door but Lucas refused to move. “Just let me in Lucas please, I’m
not in the mood for your childish behaviour.”

He inhaled deeply
and I noticed his fists clench beside him. “Are you gonna fill me in then?” he
barked out the question and I snorted but ignored him as I persisted on my
mission to enter my car.

“Will you just
fucking move.” I spat at him.

He pinned me against
the car underneath his heavy frame as his face came within inches of mine “You
lied to me, Red. I have a thing about the women I love lying to me.”

I smirked as my
temper sliced straight through my subtlety. “Don’t tell me Lucas, some poor sap
of an ex lied to you and now you have a fixation about women lying to you” I sneered
back at him.

He reared back as
though I had slapped him and narrowed his eyes on me. “What the hell is wrong
with you?” he hissed.

I gave him a
humorous laugh “Me? Me? You are the one that turned up here out of the blue,
you are the one that obviously doesn’t trust me, you are the one needing an
appointment with the school anger management team and you are the one who
obviously needs to pick a better choice in the women you fall for!” I exploded,
not really filtering anything that came out of my mouth anymore.

He scrunched up his
face and sucked air through his teeth in anger before he pushed off me and
turned away but then spun back, his eyes dark and furious “Nice, Red. Just tell
me who it is who’s obviously more important than me.”

Oh my God, how
childish!

“Ryan will always be
more important than you will ever be Lucas, always, so you need to stop with
the jealousy because I will never give him up for you!”

“Ryan?” he scoffed
and pulled in a heavy breath, “And who the fuck is Ryan?” he snarled.

I shook my head
sadly at his possessive behaviour.

“My husband” I told
him as I climbed in my car, started the engine and pulled away, leaving a
stunned Lucas staring after me.

He was still stood
immobile, the rain pelting down on his hard and angry body as I pulled out of
the heavy gates of the prison yard.

Chapter 22

Lucas

This fucking whisky
bottle was rapidly becoming my best friend and I nodded my head at it in
greeting as I unscrewed its lid and decided to leave it off, already finishing
the first measure and moving on to another.

It didn’t last long
though as the glass went sailing across the room and shattered all over the
music system. “Sweet fucking Jesus” I roared to nobody in particular.

‘My husband. My
husband. My husband.’

“Arghhhh” I cried as
my arm swept the contents of the cabinet on the floor. The place settings on
the stupid overlarge, underused dining table followed and smashed across the
floor.

Red was fucking
married! She hadn’t said
ex
-husband so I presumed she was currently a
married fucking woman!

Who the hell was
Ryan and why was he currently residing at her majesty’s pleasure?

I was arguing with
myself in my head as I approached my study and flipped open my laptop. I had
not done this in a long fucking time, but what was the point of being head of
IT at NSC when you couldn’t use their system to hack a classification or two.

Firstly, I needed to
find out the name of who Red had visited at the prison, so my first point of
call was Bellmarsh Visiting orders list.

Oops! That was easy
and I scanned the list until a name, Kayla Winters, popped up next to a name;
Ryan Winters.

Winters? Seriously?
Kayla Winters - Layla Summers!

I then Googled Ryan
Winters.

Holy shit!!!!

There were tons of
newspaper clippings, internet news sites and court reports about him but there
was one that grabbed my attention.

Ryan Winters, 18,
of Redgrave Road, Sheffield, was today convicted to 18 years imprisonment for
the murder of Tony Reed, 28, also of Sheffield, at Sheffield Crown court today.

It came to light
over the previous two weeks high profile case that Winters stabbed Reed a total
of 12 times over numerous parts of his body.

Winters gave
statement that Reed had raped and brutally beaten his wife, Kayla Winters, also
aged 18. Winters had murdered Reed in a fit of rage when he came home from work
and discovered the violent act.

During the court
case Winters refused to accept remorse and told the judge and quote ‘I would do
anything to protect Kayla, and I would kill that bastard over and over again if
I had to…’

Judge Ralf Treybourne
had simply nodded and in today’s sentencing he said and quote ‘Mr Winters, this
case has been very difficult for me to sentence due the grounds you give
justification for your actions. However, we all acknowledge and the evidence
has been clarification, that your wife was indeed subjected to a highly
distressing ordeal but, and this is a very large but Mr Winters, you took
matters into your own hands instead of letting the law deal with Mr Reed and
because of the method of Mr Reeds death, I have no other choice but to sentence
you to 18 years imprisonment with a minimum of 12 years to be served.’

Winters wife,
Kayla, then proceeded to scream and weep from the stands to which Winters
turned to her and blew her a kiss, and then winked before he was escorted back
to the holding cells.

Kayla then had to
be restrained and sedated all the while shouting ‘He didn’t do it…’

I’ll let you
distinguish your own thoughts from this, but I can tell you it came up during
the case from the prosecution that some evidence in the case didn’t hold and it
was suggested that it had in fact been Kayla that had stabbed Reed.