Read TouchStone for giving (The Story of Us Trilogy) for Free Online

say a silent good
    night to the stunning Alenka. You’re history, lady.
    Thenewly fitted bolt on my bedroom door slides into place; I feel safe and unreachable. Sleep casts
    a kindly shadow over my eyes and I fall into a much needed slumber.

    All his life Dan has struggled to find his place in the world; to discover that one thing that gives his
    life meaning, purpose and direction. He’d been forced to leave the boxing ring due to injury. He’d
    been asked to leave the army due to misconduct and now he’s being denied the one thing that matters
    in his life: his princess. He had found her and come within feet of staking his claim, and that bastard
    Stone came along and cocked everything up.
    “Fuck you Stone!” His words are a self-contained roar.
    He’s taken root on the staircase, yet again suffering the indignation of relegation, left for dead. The
    combatant has become the observer: watching, listening, waiting. He’s been sitting for almost an hour,
    following the movement of shadows as they turn from grey to charcoal black and creep across the wall
    like witnesses to his failure. He’s a dead weight and feeling the kind of disappointment that tears at
    his insides and comes to rest in his mouth like bad beer.
    The oppressive darkness smothers him and signifies his mood. He tugs at the knife tucked away in
    his waistband under his shirt and pulls it out; the blade catches the light as he twists it in the same way
    he turned the key but, unlike the key, this blade moves: west to east, or is it north to south? It catches
    his silhouette and the distorted image speaks to him. “You’ve had the wind knocked out of you Danny
    boy. It’s time to roll with the punches, take a breather. You’ve earned it.”
    With that he stands and descends, pausing only to check the occupants of 53a are not about to leave.
    He keeps moving, closes the security door quietly and makes the fifty yard walk over to his car,
    passing a uniformed man dozing in the front seat of a silver Rolls Royce.
    With his spirits lifted after his pep-talk, Dan puts his foot down and makes straight for Harrow
    town centre. It’s 1600hrs and it’s only a hunch, but he may be able to meet up with a couple of old
    ‘acquaintances.’ All that sexual frustration has to be channelled somewhere and it might as well be in
    their direction. He’s not in the habit of frequenting wine bars, especially not the kind where the prices
    are ridiculously high, but needs must.
    Once he seats himself on a stool at the bar, the young girl on duty recognises him. “Hello again,
    didn’t you come in a couple of days ago?” She hands him his pint of over-priced lager.
    “Yeah, moved into the area and just finished work; thought I’d have a couple before heading
    home.” He forces a smile and checks out the clientele. The bar is quiet and there is only a young
    couple who are so wrapped up in each other they hardly know what day it is. By the window a pair of
    forty something shoppers are sipping wine and emptying their purchases out onto the seat between
    them.
    “Elise usually comes in around four thirty, if you were hoping to catch her,” states the young
    bartender, placing glasses into a dishwasher.
    Dan looks up startled. The thought hadn’t crossed his mind. He’d already seen her once today for
    lunch and what a surprise that was, her knowing Stone and all. But, he has no intention of looking like
    some fucking stalker.
    “Yeah, thanks. I said I might call in.”
    She’s too busy to continue the conversation, which is just as well as Dan’s ‘acquaintances’ have
    just walked in. He plays it cool and ignores them, pretending to read the newspaper left on the stool
    next to him. Rather than finding seats, they hover by the bar. He’s got their attention and it only took
    thirty seconds. It takes another thirty seconds for one of them to find the courage to speak.
    “Hey, weren’t you in here a couple of nights ago mate?”
    It’s the