Page 62 of Ravaged From Fate

Dad strolls towards the front door accompanied by Caspian. “I’ll see you at the clinic in the morning, Elsa.”

Where are they going?

I watch them in bewilderment as they head out of the kitchen, wondering what the hell those two men are going to talk about outside.

28

CASPIAN

I follow Elsa’s father to her porch, well out of sight and sound of the girl we’re both thinking of. I’m curious as to what he has to say to me, especially considering the multiple ways he tried to get a reaction out of me at dinner.

I might not know him for very long, but I do know Doctor James Barlowe is a man who doesn’t take to strange men with Elsa kindly.

This conversation is going to be interesting…

“Me turning up at my daughter’s door tonight was not an accident,” the good doctor tells me bluntly.

I don’t say a word. I wait for the man to finish his little revelation.

“I’m the town’s doctor, so I get all the town’s gossip whether it’s solicited or not. I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that Elsa has been spending time with a man. A stranger to East Springs that has no past and no reason to be here at all. It was very interesting to me, so I wanted to see this man for myself. Little did I expect him to turn out to be the man I saved from the gang members.”

“You didn’t save me.”

“You looked like you needed my help on that road back there. What were you going to do? Fight a car with his fists?”

“I could’ve dealt with things myself.”

James ignores me and continues with his original point. “I’ve known guys like you all through my long time here on earth,” he says. “Guys who think they can punch their way through life. In my experience, they usually don’t last too long.”

“I’m planning on sticking around.”

James points a threatening finger in my direction. I know I can’t engage physically with the man, despite my body telling me to do something about him and his words, so instead I take the verbal beating from him.

“If any danger comes to my daughter,” he says. “No matter how small of a danger it is and how little you have involved in it, I’m blaming you.”

“I understand.”

“You get me?”

“I get you, sir.”

The doctor stares at me. I really hope Elsa can’t hear any of this.

“Be good to her,” Elsa’s father eventually says in a quiet, reserved voice full of emotion. “Be good to her, that’s all I ask.”

And then he spins around and marches off the porch. I watch the man head back to his car across the road.

To be fair, I can’t blame the man. He’s simply just a father looking out for the main love of his life.

He thinks I’m a danger.

And he’s probably right.

29

ELSA

“What did Dad say to you?” I ask Caspian when he steps back into the kitchen, his shoulders lower than usual. The tall man simply shrugs, not answering me back in words in true Caspian style. I nod along. An expression holds a thousand words. “Man talk, was it? I just hope he didn’t scare you.”