Sail Away- Nathan Sykes

Chapter 7: This is all my fault

********>Monita’s POV<************

A hand pulled me back savagely and pushed me against a tree. I wrestled to get free as Diego pushed his body weight against me and pushed me to the ground where he pinned me in an eagle position.

I had the worst possible things running through my mind at once, half of them I knew to be true. He grinned and bent down to kiss me instead I spat on his face and screamed out. A group of maybe four others came out of the trees smiling making me feel worse in the stomach.

“Get your filthy paws off me Diego!” I shout angrily trying to knee him in the groin. It wasn’t working, his body kept me on the earthy soil.

“Just a kiss,” he said kissing my neck, “And maybe something else,” he said as his hand trailed down my arm. I struggled to get free finding tears come into my eyes.

“Diego…” The man didn’t finish his sentence as Griffin came into view and kicked and then pushed him into the fast flowing river. He screamed as he fell down the waterfall and into the pool below. I could hear them shouting from below.

Griffin moved forward swiftly and kicked Diego hard in the stomach, sending him off me for a moment and into the air. Two men pounced on Griffin taking hold of his arms and receiving punches and kicks though they didn’t give in as easily as the man below.

“GRIFFIN!” I shout out as the finally got a hold of him and the third man set it on himself to punch Griffin until he was bleeding from gashes and a broken lip.

“Don’t worry about him,” Diego said frustrated as his hand went back to touch my face.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” I shout at him squirming to get free of his grip. He brought his hand up and hit me hard across the face and my head whipped to the other side. I tasted blood on my tongue as another hit came across my face. Then Diego let my arms go and pulled my hair so I was standing close to his frame.

“Let Griffin GO! Please! PLEASE!” I shout out watching as the men continued to beat him, one of them let go of his arm and went to find a branch to beat him.

“And what would you do?” Diego whispered coming to a stop close by my ear, his dark eyes never straying from mine in a cold stare. I shuddered,

“Anything, anything please!” I say shaking as he grinned. He loosened his grip on my hair and I let out a small breath that I’d been holding. Instantly he recoiled and pushed me hard to a tree, I slipped and hit my head on an exposed rock. Moments later I saw red blur my vision, but I saw well enough to note James tackle the man while Percy and Tom attacked the trio beating Griffin.

God this is all my fault… I think watching the scene unfold.

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**~<><>< Nathan’s POV ><><>~**

We trudged back, Griffin with his arm on a splinter and leaning on James and Percy who were struggling between the two of them under his weight. They’d taken off his shirt to check his wounds and dark purple bruises had made his tanned body patchwork. Monita on the other hand was leaning against me gently and walked in silence. The two girls had soon gotten the idea that she didn’t want to talk about it but Ava would occasionally ask something getting nothing but a glum silence.

“We’re nearly there,” I tell her and gave her hand a squeeze. She groaned and sighed. Why isn’t she happy to get back?

“Thanks for trying Nath,” she whispered back looking up briefly, enough to show the dark bruises under her big brown eyes. It made me furious that someone could so much as think about harming a girl like her.

“You know Monita it’s not your fault,” Ava said and Monita ducked her head down again. “I mean every new girl had a go with Diego once or twice before they realised that he was in all these gangs and that he was abusive,” she continued patting her back. “I mean, even if you did have it a little more than most girls would with him… A lot more really, he likes to boast about…”

“I think that’s enough,” I say quickly and she looked up at me bemused. Carly pulled her away shaking her head, but winked at me. What on earth is wrong with these people! I think angrily, why couldn’t they be sympatric to her and Griffin and not go on about how she’d done it with the guy who beat him and her up! Wait… She was talking about that…

I looked back down at Monita who was staring at her feet as they walked on. She slept with him?

“We’re here,” Tom shouted from the front with Danny. Danny had been very quiet about everything, still watching her carefully with every move though. I was starting to wonder if he had dated her as well. It would make sense.

We carted Griffin and the others into the rubber duck and Percy dropped us off before swimming away quickly leaving Tom and Max to help half carry him onto the boat. Captain stood watching as everyone pilled off, Monita last with her head bowed. Griffin stumbled slightly, but came to a stand on his own. Slowly he lifted his head and he and Monita meet Captain’s eyes.

They were a piercing grey blue as they store at them angrily. They then turned to look at us. His eyes slowly feel on mine and store hard into them, like he was reading your soul. It was really creepy and unnerving.

“Monita…”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Griffin said strongly as he went to stand in front of her. He got a dark glare from Captain and bowed his head and stepped back.

“Monita. First you take them out past curfew,” Captain said in a deep booming voice that sent chills down your spine. “And then you bring Griffin back like a bloody rag doll… His arm’s broken and you’ll have to do his work as well as your own until he’s fixed,” he continued like Griffin were an instrument and she a piece of meat. “Go clean him up and then do your duties, we’ll talk later…”

“It was Diego and his mates,” Griffin put in, “Monita can’t do all the work as well as my shifts by herself, she’ll turn into an emotional wreck and she’s hurt as well!” he continued.

“I don’t mind doing some of the work,” Jay put in. Captain snapped his frozen glare from Griffin to Jay who took a step back, but held onto his stare.

“I can cook,” Tom put in smiling,

“And I can drive the boat and clean,” I say motioning to the blue boat tied to the yacht.

“Fine,” Captain said turning, “But Monita we’ll talk later.”