End Point

Chapter 16

Ellis was curled up in a ball on the bed, the blankets heaped over her. She was hugging a pillow tightly to her chest, even in her sleep. Adam could still see the tear tracks on her face.

He stroked her cheek gently before he silently slipped out of the bed. He was not wearing any weapons, having taken them all off when he had been trying to calm her down, and he did not put any on now. He knew that he would be hard pressed to not kill anyone as it was. If he had any weapons on him... somebody was certain to die.

He glanced back at Ellis. His Ell. He could not leave her here, bu neither could he wait anymore. With a nod to himself he did what he had to do.

...

"I was waiting for you." Ash said quietly. He was sitting cross legged on the floor in the ceter of the sparring room they had set up in their base, but now he stood up.

Adam walked up to him, and punched him straight in the face. Ash did not even try to stop him.

Then the next hit came, then another, then another, and still Ash would not fight back.

"Fight, damn you!" Adam yelled in frustration.

Ash glared at him, his mouth set in sullen lines.

"My fault. I should have been there, and I freaking wasn't!" Ash snarled.

Adam suddenly stopped. "It wasn't you." he breathed, some of his anger evaporating.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Ash said angrily.

"How the hell should I know?" Adam shouted, his anger back in full force.

"It was me." James said quietly from the doorway. Adam whirled around to look at him.

"You son of a bitch. I told you to stay away from her." Adam was not shouting, but his voice had a cold hair raising fury now.

"I know! GODAMNIT! I know! I thought she was just faking everything. I thought..." James stopped. He was about to say that he had thought that Ellis was having an affair with Ash, but he realized that telling Adam that right now might be tantamount to suicide.

"So you what? Just grabbed her in the dark?" Adam asked menacingly, coming closer.

"It was supposed to be a hug. Maybe from Ash. But she freaked, and then I just held on, not knowing what to do." James replied, but his tone made it clear that he was not defending his actions.

"Just held on my foot; she has bruises on her wrists." Adam said icily as he walked even closer to him. "Faking it? Do you know what it took for her to be able to trust me? How long it was before I could touch her and not have her flinch?" Adam snarled, before hitting him. Every hit, every punch was punctuated with more curses, but James would not fight back.

Adam was having none of it.

"Fight me or I swear to God, Chan I'll find a way to get to Mikki the way you..." Adam had not even finished the sentence when James punched him. Then it was really on.

...

"What are they fighting about? And what happened to you?" Vince asked Ash as he observed the fight. He had just entered the room and was completely out of the loop.