Page 88 of The Taskmaster
ISAIAH
“Ithink you’re the bravest person I know,” I told her as I held her in my arms and soothed her to sleep.
She shivered, crying silent tears into her pillow as we lay together in the dark, and I wanted to do whatever I could to take the pain away. Her pain was mine to bear too.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now,” I hushed, rocking her gently and willing her to drift off to sleep. I wanted to make her see how tough she’d been, going through what she had and holding it inside for all these years. Using her drive to seek revenge for herself, her friend, and anyone else who’d been hurt, but doing so in a way that, in my opinion, was humane. Far kinder than what they deserved. And all the time she’d kept her secret inside. Never telling her parents, or anyone else. She was a better person than I was, and I felt so fucking protective of her.
I wanted to build a wall around her and never let anyone in. She was my home, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her safe. That included hunting down Q, and making him pay for what he’d done. Tolley had been right. This guy had been pulling the strings all along, and it wasn’t just one children’s home he controlled; it was many. He needed to be taken care of.
I wanted to tell her that she wasn’t alone, and I did, but I couldn’t bring myself to say why. Tonight had been about her story and her chance to talk. My story could wait. Mine was better told in the context of my life, anyway. As in, I wanted to take her to my apartment in the morning, show her the treasures I’d collected over the years, and explain the significance of each one as my story unravelled.
After tomorrow, she might decide that I was on another level to her. That I was a monster who couldn’t be redeemed. But it was a chance worth taking, because I wanted her to know who I was. I couldn’t hide it. Not anymore.
Last night, I had another first with Abigail. I held her until the morning, lying with her without sex even entering my mind. The connection we’d forged through the truths she’d told went far deeper than a sexual one. It was rooted in trust, honesty, and understanding that we were a part of something bigger. Something fundamentally evil and it wasn’t our fault.
I made sure she woke to tender kisses and a gentle embrace. Something I never thought I’d ever be capable of. But with her it was effortless.
We got ready and she seemed a little stronger than she had done the night before. I hoped my presence went some way to achieving that.
“I know I still have a lot of things to sort out. The nightmare isn’t over yet,” she said as she sipped her morning coffee. “But I won’t let the ghosts of the past tie me down anymore. I need to face them.”
“You don’t need to face them alone,” I assured her, standing to fetch her coat and slipping on my shoes. “That’s what I’m here for, to fight them for you.”
“Withme,” she corrected. “I don’t need you to fight my battles.”
But I’d been fighting battles all my life. It was all I knew. I couldn’t switch that off.
I drove her across town to my apartment. An apartment that no one else had ever set foot in, only me. I didn’t second guess my decision, but I couldn’t tell how she’d react. My kills were a lot different to hers. My players had gotten the ending they’d deserved. They weren’t victims, they were a blot on the world that had been wiped clean.
We pulled up outside the building I called home. It was in a remote part of town. The buildings surrounding it were mostly derelict, and if you had to describe it, you’d call it urban, edgy, maybe, industrial, definitely, and it suited me perfectly because I could be anonymous here. No one ever ventured out here.
I parked the car outside the front and shut off the engine.
Abigail peered out of the window, exclaiming, “It’s like something from a sci-fi movie. Do you really live here?”
“It’s practical, functional, and yes, I live here. It might not have the comfort some people want, but it has what I want.”
“Which is?”
“Privacy.”
She nodded, and we both opened our doors to step out of the car. I walked around to her side and took her hand as I led her towards the building.
It was a calm day, and as we approached the front door and I took out my keys ready to open my apartment and my whole life to her, I heard an almighty screech of tyres.
I unlocked the door, and she stepped in first. The screech grew louder as I held the door open, shielding her fromsight. And then it appeared. A black Mercedes with blacked-out windows shot onto the courtyard, close to where we were parked, and I knew what was about to go down.
Adrenaline coursed through me as a sick feeling of dread turned my insides to stone. I didn’t care what happened to me, but I had to protect her. So I slammed the door shut, turning the key in the lock to keep her in there.
She started to bang on the door, shouting for me to let her out, but I couldn’t. I had to get away from the door and the sound of her voice, because I didn’t want them to know she was here.
I stalked towards the Mercedes as the doors flung open. The rev of the engine drowned out her cries at this distance, and I was thankful. Two men climbed out of the vehicle, both dressed in black suits, wearing masks, and I took out a knife, ready to fight them.
“Nice try,” one of them said, sneering at me as he noticed my weapon.
They charged me, and I swung out, catching one on the arm, slashing through the fabric of his suit to cut him. He grabbed his arm, lifting his hand to reveal blood and cursed me, charging at me again, but I was ready for them.
What I wasn’t ready for was the third man I hadn’t seen get out of the vehicle and come up behind me. And as I felt the stab in my neck and I fell to the floor, the world turning black, all I could think was,thank God they hadn’t found her.
