The James he knew who was his best friend in school was gone. This James didn’t care about anyone but himself.
“Mariah wait,” Ed said hastily. “You can’t leave with him.”
James turned fast and looked at Ed with hate in his eyes.
“I am sure you want to destroy this for me too, just like you and your family killed my mother.”
“What?” Mariah gushed in shock and everyone else around them.
“What do you mean, they killed her?”
“Exactly that. They worked her like a slave till it killed her.”
“So, you turned into a criminal because of my family?” Ed asked aghast. “James, your mother died from pneumonia.”
“You killed her,” James hissed, pushing Ed near a table and he went sprawling down. He followed him with fists propelled. They wrestled on the floor. “And I should have killed you all, burned that nice house of yours down to the ground!”
James’ threat caused Ed to fight back as all he was doing at first was to block James’ blows. He did what he learned at the academy, moving fast to restrict James, although he was thicker and tougher, he was faster.
A siren interrupted the fight and police walked in.
“We heard about the trouble here,” one of the officers stated then his facial expression turned to surprised.
“Detective Spanner?”
“Please take this man away, he attacked me and threatened my family,” Spanner said, letting go of James who was pinned to the floor.
James was handcuffed and taken away. He cursed on his way out, swearing vengeance.
“This won’t stick and I will come back for you Spanner, mark my words!” James swore.
Mariah was in shock.
“Will you come with me Mariah?” he called to her.
“I will make sure your arse rots in jail, James, even if it’s the last thing I do,” Ed said determined.
Mariah shook her head.
“No, James, I can longer be friends with someone like you.”
“Bitch!” James tried to wrestle the two officers down to get to Mariah, but Ed jumped in.
He hit James so hard on the face that he blacked out. The police officers dragged him out of the building. Mariah quickly asked for ice pack and she hurriedly took it to Ed. The guests who watched the fight ensue started clapping.
Ed grinned at them and took a bow.
“Thank you and please enjoy the party.”
He took the ice from Mariah.
“Thanks.”
“You are welcome,” Mariah said quietly.
“I never thought that he was like that. I heard the rumours but he had always been nice to me, even saved me from a bunch of thieves one night but I never thought…”
Ed looked at her then shook his head, grimacing with pain. It had been a while since he had been in a fight.
“Let’s get a drink and I will tell you all about James, then call both of us a cab.”
“Okay,” Mariah nodded following him to the bar.
“But there is no need for that, James drove us here in my car – are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Ed said with a smile. He drowned the shot of whiskey he ordered, he walked towards the door.
“But you can give me a lift home just to make sure, and also, to get to know me better?”
“I would like that,” Mariah glowed. Swallowing her cocktail fast and stepping away from the bar to follow Ed out, a big smile on her face. “I’d really like that.”
***
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