Page 2 of Slaying for Santa
Shit. That woman is Rhonda. Kit’s batshit crazy ex-wife, and given the twist of pain contorting Libi’s face, her mother is hurting her.
I’m about to intervene and step around the hedge when another figure comes rushing out the door, and for a moment, it’s as if time slows.
Kitson Hall. Tillie’s big brother has aged like a fine wine.
He’s filled out even more since the last time I saw him, and certainly compared to the lanky guy that used to tease me when we were younger. Now he looks like he’s carved for sin with those broad shoulders and rippling veins running up his tanned arms like live wires.
Well strip me bare and fuck me like a whore, I think I have a lady boner.
Too bad he’s such a dick!
“Let go of her!” he growls, reaching out and snatching up Libi’s other wrist, tugging her towards him.
Poor Libi cries out as Rhonda spins and yanks hard, their daughter now the rope in their tug of war.
“Give me more money and you can have the little bitch!” Rhonda snarls, her nasally voice grating on my nerves.
“Stop! Mummy, you’re hurting me!”
Fucking hell. Can’t they see what they are doing to that poor child?
Libi screams and cries, and it isn’t until the police officers barrel out of the house too and rush for Rhonda that she lets go, only so she can run.
She doesn’t make it more than two steps before one of the officers leaps on her, both of them tumbling to the driveway, while Kit sweeps Libi up in his arms and those tiny little hands cling to her daddy like she never wants to let go.
Fuck it. I knew coming here was a bad idea. It was bad enough when I knew Tillie and Dale would be here to be a buffer. But staying here alone, with Tillie’s arsehole brother is a recipe for disaster.
I’ll end up killing him. Literally. Not even kidding.
As the chaos outside the house continues, I take a step back and start walking in the other direction, hitting call on Tillie’s name.
It rings for so long I’m about to give up when she finally answers.
“Hello?”
“Till… were you sleeping? Isn’t it like the middle of the day there?”
Tillie yawns down the line. “Yeah… but we were up all night, and now we are holed up in a shitty motel with a shitty heater as the shitty weather gets even shittier. There’s literally nothing else to do but sleep.”
“Speak for yourself,” Dale’s voice comes down the line likehe’s right next to her. “I could have been in the five-star hotel with the pilot, but noooo. Someone didn’t want to be alone.”
Tillie giggles at Dale’s dramatics. “Shut up and go back to sleep.”
“Hi Dale!” I call into the receiver.
“Hey bitch. Enjoying the Aussie summer yet?”
I snicker at Dale. “Well, the fact that I’m wearing a little black summer dress and you’re practically hugging a heater, I’m gonna say yes, I am enjoying the summer. What better way to spend Christmas?”
Tillie scoffs. “You don’t even like Christmas.”
“True, but if I have to choose between Christmas in the snow, or Christmas on a beach, you know which one I’m choosing.”
“Bitch. I’m going back to sleep to dream of a beach,” Dale whines.
“So… how’s Libi? Did you hug her for me?”
I sigh. “No hugs, no.”
