An Extract from 'The Reluctant Father' free on Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/948952

Two hours passed with still no sign of Sarah, and Graham was just about to leave when he saw her walk up the path with Tony. Tony had his arm around her waist, and they were giggling. They looked like they were having a great time which annoyed him. When Sarah turned the key in the lock and Tony leaned in to kiss her, Graham had to jam his fist in his mouth to stop himself from calling out. Then, when Sarah responded to Tony’s kiss, Graham looked away. The situation was certainly testing his patience and he didn’t know what was stopping him from getting out of the car and confronting them both.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds and Graham was pleased when Tony turned around and walked back down the path. But anger filled every pore in his body and against his better judgement, once Tony was out of sight he got out of his car, slammed the door behind him and raced up to the house. He tried to kick the door open with his foot, but it was locked and in frustration, he banged his fist on the door.

Who’s that? Sarah grumbled as she walked back down the stairs holding Jack in her arms. ‘We’ll never get Jack off to sleep with that noise.’ 

She passed Jack to her mother and answered the door. She was surprised to see Graham standing there, but even more surprised when he grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her into the front room. Ellie tried to stop him, but she had Jack in her arms and couldn’t do much, so she raced upstairs, placed Jack in his bed and rushed back down.

‘Get your hands of me!’ Sarah screamed, and realising that he was hurting her Graham let go of her arm. Sarah could see the concerned face of her mother as she stood in the doorway and she tried to smile at her mother to reassure her that she was ok, but her arm was hurting too much.

‘Can you see to Jack please mum,’ Sarah said, as calmly as she could.

Her whole body was shaking now, and she felt sick, but she was determined to keep her mother out of this.

‘I’ll be upstairs if you need me and If you do anything to hurt her Graham, I’ll call the police. Do you understand!’ her mother screamed.

Graham nodded and then gently pushed Sarah onto the settee and sat down beside her. Ellie gave him a look that said one wrong move and I’ll kill you myself and left, leaving the door slightly ajar.

‘Are you sleeping with him?’

His face was almost touching hers now and she could see the anger in his eyes. She could also see that his temper was getting the better of him and was afraid of what he would do next. But despite that, she managed to find some inner strength and said as calmly as she could, ‘Yes.’

‘Damn you’ he roared, as he pulled her off the sofa and pinned her to the wall.

She was shaking violently now and felt breathless under the weight of him. In that split second, all the pent-up anger she had been repressing since he had split with her erupted and she whispered sarcastically, ‘Every night.’

‘You’re lying,’ he scoffed.

Scared that his temper would get the better of him he pushed her away and walked across the room to the window. He desperately needed to put some distance between them.

Sarah’s body was shaking violently as a feeling of nausea swept over her. She had never been so scared of anybody as she had of Graham in that moment, and suddenly, her legs gave way from under her and she collapsed into a heap on the floor. Despite being afraid, she didn’t cry out. She hoped to god that her son hadn’t heard any of this.

Disheartened by the fact that his worst nightmare had come true, Graham put his hands over his face and groaned. He needed to get away from the house before he did something stupid. She hadn’t even tried to hide the fact that they were sleeping together, and it hurt like hell. When he felt calm enough to talk, he looked over to Sarah and was shocked to see her lying on the floor sobbing. He raced over to her, praying to god that he hadn’t done any permanent damage.

When Sarah felt Graham’s arms around her, despite his previous behaviour she felt comforted and after a while, she calmed down. Graham could feel her body shaking beneath him and he took his coat off and covered her with it.

‘Are you scared?’ he whispered.

‘Not sure, but - but - I can’t stop shaking,’ she finally managed to say.

‘Shock I should imagine. I behaved like a bloody animal, didn’t I? ‘

‘I think I need a hot drink?’ she said, trying to lighten the situation but failing miserably.

‘I’ll get you one.’

With that, Graham jumped up and walked towards the door whilst Sarah gently pulled herself up on to the settee. Graham glanced up the stairs as he passed through the hallway and was pleased to see that Ellie wasn’t looking down at him.

Graham watched in silence as Sarah slowly sipped the tea and was pleased when the colour started to return to her cheeks. He was ashamed of himself. When it came to Sarah, he couldn’t seem to hide his emotions, and it was making life difficult for him - and her. Some may have called him possessive he thought, as he pulled a strand of hair away from her face. After reassuring himself that she was back to her normal self, he moved off the settee and on to the comfy chair opposite.

‘Do you love him?’

The fight had gone from him now, there was nothing more she could say to hurt him… unless she answered yes.

Sarah looked over at him and said irritably, ‘I don’t know.’

She felt a little better now that he had put some distance between them, and although she knew that it was the jealousy talking, she didn’t like this side of him.

‘I fell in love once. Love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,’ she said, giving Graham an accusing look.

He knew that she was referring to him, but he didn’t bite back. He dare not.

‘Some people don’t realise what they’ve got until its gone,’ he said in his defence.

‘What do you want from me Graham?’

If he had something to say then he should say it and say it quickly, because she really wanted him to leave. She needed to feel safe again and she wouldn’t be able to feel secure until he had left the house and she had bolted the door behind him. Not because she thought he would hit her, but because she was afraid of her own feelings.

‘You!’ he whispered.

Sarah had been wanting to hear those words for a long time, but now that she had, his words felt hollow.

‘And you still love me don’t you Graham?’ she said sarcastically.

She had been in this position before and he had let her down, so what was stopping him from letting her down again. Graham smiled, hoping that she would see the sincerity in his face, but she remained calm, almost indifferent.

‘I’m serious… I love you.’ Graham said, frustrated by her coldness.

‘You’ve got a nerve. First you attack me for no reason and then you say you love me. Seriously Graham, you need help!’ 

‘Why don’t we start over?’ he said, wishing he’d thought of the idea sooner.

Sarah looked at him and frowned.

‘Start over?’