Deep Water by Mark Ayre (best big ereader TXT) 📕

Wasn't it?

Then Ollie said, Mum.

They had been talking about dispersing to get ready. A minute after Ollie's slip up, Abbie had made her excuses and left. Walked out, she thought. If Tony was right, she'd fled.

Bobby's smile.

Oh, it was all coming now. How long had Abbie lived, cloaked in misery and telling herself it was okay? Not lived, but existed. She'd told herself it was fine.

It wasn't fine.

Oh, shit, it wasn't fine.

She began to bend, to put her head in her hands. More tears were coming, but she stopped them and stood straight. An existential crisis was coming but now was not the time. Alice's life was in danger. Abbie had to put her focus on saving the birthday girl.

What came next, well... that was for later, wasn't it?

She turned and sighed at what she saw.

This was what happened when you allowed in emotional turmoil. It was unprofessional. It stopped you from noticing things that otherwise never would have slipped past.

Abbie never missed an oncoming attack. Never. Except when she was too busy unpicking the implications of her empty life to focus on her surroundings.

She turned and sighed at what she saw. Had enough time to twist, to put her back to the swinging metal chair.

Then it hit her.

Holding in the shout as pain shot up her spine, Abbie went down. By the time she landed, Gray had the metal chair back in the air. Damn, the guy was an ox.

With a whoosh of air, the chair came again. Abbie rolled. Dodged the worst of the blow. Metal caught her shoulder, and this time there was no containing the yell of pain.

Now on her back, Abbie's mind whirred. Reacting as each blow came would only end one way, and it wasn't with victory. She needed a plan.

Gray had twisted the chair. Holding it at the top, legs pointing down, he changed tactic. Rather than swinging again, which, let's face it, had to be knackering his arms, he raised the chair and brought it down legs first, presumably hoping to skewer her.

Abbie knew what she had to do. A slip up would mean death.

Twisting onto one arm, Abbie slotted herself between the legs as the chair clanged onto the rock. Abbie rolled onto her back, looking at the grinning Gray, expecting him to lift the chair and attack again.

He didn't. Abbie heard rushing feet and knew Ariana was coming.

Then Alice's youngest living daughter was there, wearing a sleeveless white top, tight leather trousers, and black, heeled boots. She looked fierce. Might have looked beautiful, but the grief-crazed eyes conspired to ruin the effect.

Gray kept the chair fixed in place. Releasing a battle cry, Ariana began kicking Abbie's side between the chair legs. Her boot moved with surprising speed. To get so many kicks in, Abbie's attacker had to sacrifice some power. No matter, if she hit enough times, the pain would soon mount up.

Abbie twisted, moving towards the chair legs furthest from Ariana. As she went, she released her arms, moving them towards her assailant.

Who kicked her stomach, kicked her hand, kicked her chest. This last caused Ana to roar with insane triumph.

Then Abbie caught her boot with one hand, grabbed the ankle of her planted leg with the other, and yanked.

With a scream, Ariana went to the ground. Instinctively, Gray released the chair to tend to his lover.

"No," said Ariana. She knew what Gray abandoning his post would mean.

Gray returned, but Abbie had already launched the chair. The metal back slipped through Gray's finger as his weapon sailed from the balcony and into the sea.

Gray stared after the chair as though he couldn't quite believe what had happened.

"Don't just stand there."

This was Ariana. She was rising, but not as quickly as Abbie.

Gray faced his adversary as Abbie raised a boot and kicked his stomach.

He stumbled, but so did she. This close to the edge, Abbie teetered and almost went over. Heart pounding, she pulled herself back from the brink as Gray came again. Still off-balance, Abbie couldn't dodge his next swing and took a fist to the jaw. She ducked his arm, and this time he almost went over the edge. In normal conditions, Abbie would have spun with the blow. Used it to get some momentum and to escape her assailant's range. Upon landing, she could have sprung into action and launched her counter attack.

Not today. As the blow forced Abbie to the side and towards the ground, she focused not on her counter-attack but on not sliding over the edge. She did this by coming down on all fours right in front of Gray.

He kicked her in the stomach. With a roar, she rolled towards Ariana, who kicked her back towards Gray.

This was bad.

Abbie tried to rise. Gray grabbed her top, lifted her in the air, and hurled her to the ground. She came to her knees and crossed her arms in front of her face and chest as his next boot came.

His kick split her arms and caused another shout of pain. Then he was on her. He lifted her up, threw her down. Kicked her onto her front. As she pushed herself up, he grabbed her under the arms and yanked her to her feet, her back pressed to his chest.

Abbie wriggled. Gray released her for a second. Long enough to punch her stomach. Then he had her again and was pulling tighter than ever. She kicked the floor, and Gray took two steps back, then stopped. The wind whipped across the balcony. Abbie wondered where Alice was.

There were more pressing concerns.

Ariana was facing Abbie, who was still held by Gray. As Ana stepped forward, she revealed an eight-inch blade, sharp enough to effortlessly pierce Abbie's chest plate and end her life.

“You’re working for Louis," said Ariana. Her eyes were still the eyes of an unbalanced woman. She no longer looked furious. Now more upset. As though Abbie and Ana had been great friends, and Ana could not comprehend why Abbie had attacked her. “You