Perfect Strangers

“Rhett, are you playing or what?” snarled Casper, who stood banging the cricket bat on the grass.

Walking towards the stumps, Trevor threw the ball to Kai. “You ready then shit for brains?” he asked Casper.

Without waiting for a response, he jogged then threw the ball over arm as hard as he could, hitting Casper straight in the shin. “What the hell was that?” he raged through clenched teeth and chucked the bat down then stormed towards Kai with his chest pushed out and his arms out stretched.

Jack jumped in front of Kai and pressed his palms into Casper’s chest. “Leave it man, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“This asshole, who do you think you are, huh?” he shouted over Jack’s shoulder.

“You’re the only asshole around here,” Kai shouted back and pushed his chest into Jack’s back, sandwiching him in the middle of them, “I don’t know what the hell Myla ever saw in you.”

Trevor ran over and dragged Casper back and Stan did the same to Kai. “Don’t let him goad you. Keep your cool,” he whispered as he walked away with his hand on Kai’s arm.

“I’m trying, Stan, but honestly? He’s pushing my buttons.”

“Yes, well Casper tends to do that to people. I was relieved when he left Myla, I never really wanted him as a son-in-law. Don’t stoop to his level, Rhett, you’re better than that.”

Taking in a few deep breaths in through his nose, Kai closed his eyes and pushed his anger out through deep, exhaled breaths, instantly feeling a sense of calm.

“I’ll swap places with you, you field,” said Stan punching him in the arm playfully before he walked away.

Taking up his place in the field, Kai watched Stan bowl the ball to Casper, he hit it full pelt straight into the sky and began running towards the stump posts, shouts rang out for someone to catch the ball. Finding his legs, Kai ran towards the ball with his arms outstretched as it approached him, “Catch it, Rhett.” Victoria yelled as she clapped her hands loudly together.

The ball was coming, he could see it within his grasp. Suddenly all the wind left his lungs when he was tackled to the ground. He went down with a deep thud. “Sorry, my bad. I thought we were playing Rugby,” laughed Casper, climbing off Kai.

“No problem,” gasped Kai standing to his feet, “I can see why a moron like you would confuse the two sports.”

“Let’s just move on to soccer, hey?” Said Clara in a bit to diffuse the mounting tension between the two men.

Jack sorted the teams even though Kai had protested loudly he wanted to sit this game out, but Casper was having none of it. “Come on pansy, are you going to let Grace down by having her team play one short?”

Kai could feel the bubbling of his anger working its way upwards from his gut. He knew he was on the verge of blowing his top in front of everybody, but he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t stop himself from the incident that was about to take place. As Casper dribbled the ball around Clara and Grace and swiveled his body to avoid Stan’s foot on the ball, Kai went charging like a bull in a China shop, heading straight for Casper.

He only intended to tackle him for the ball, but he brought his foot higher than he should of and as he reared it down towards the ball and threw everything he had behind it, his foot missed the ball, instead contacting Casper’s shin. The fierce snapping of bone could be heard and Casper screamed at the top of his lungs then dropped to the ground. Leaning over his whimpering frame as he rolled around on the ground, Kai smirked. “Looks like Jack will need a new best man now, hey, Casper?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The dress was coming along at a slow pace, and Myla was on the verge of a breakdown. She was hot and bothered and she could feel the dull thud of tiredness lurking behind the backs of her eyes as the hammer in her head, continued to pound away.

The blind hem she was sewing, was being made near on impossible with the bobbin and thread constantly jamming on her mother’s antiquated machine. “Bollocks,” she muttered when it jammed again. Frantically chopping the thread, she yanked the spool and freed the thread. “I’m still going to be making this when she leaves for her honeymoon,” she mumbled wiping her brow on her arm. Closing her eyes, she sighed and counted to ten before attaching the spool of thread back on to the machine, she picked up the hem to resume sewing when a loud bout of chattering caught her hearing followed by the slamming of a door.

They can’t be back already surely? Her question was soon answered when she spotted her mother stomping her way across the garden, headed in her direction. Her face was poised into a contorted grimace and her lips were pinched into her mouth. Myla’s stomach rolled with an uneasy feeling as she kept her gaze poised her way.

“You’re back early?” Myla questioned.

“The games took a nasty turn,” she replied with a dismissive flick of her hand.

Myla glanced behind her mother as she strained to look for Kai. Nasty turn? Oh god, where is he?

“Rhett?” She whispered, dropping her hold on the dress.

“He was the cause of it all, so yes.”

Myla gathered the dress from her lap and forcefully shoved it to one side. Standing to her feet she swallowed the egg-shaped lump that had forced its way into the back of her throat. “What do you mean? The cause?”

“Well, Casper and he decided to have a pissing contest, the ultimate result ending up with Casper in hospital with a broken leg,” she said and pulled out a drawer then rummaged through the contents.

Myla gasped and slowly sunk back into the seat. “Rhett broke Casper’s leg?”