Cressie shouted over the group. “Oi, old bitch!”
“Ha-ha, little child.” Rebecca grinned.
“I thought we were here to dance, and this is your tune.” It was, the first beats of the provocative song got up, and she laughed. Arthur had watched her dance to it agog when they were all dressed up after the reception ball. It was everything she wasn’t, and she loved it.
“Right then, I need my ladies for dancing.” Pete grabbed Cressie, and crooked his finger at Rebecca with a predatory gleam, before pulling her along.
She turned to Arthur. “Do you mind?” he shook his head. He remembered watching her dance to it in that velvet dress. It was the first time he’d been happy in weeks. She looked so hot when she danced to it, laughing the whole time.
He turned and watched her go, her hand in Pete’s and realised there was no hope. How many times had he said to himself, as long as she’s okay, but alive, he didn’t care. Talk about get was you ask for. Now she was with someone else. He downed his drink. He watched the three dance. Pete was all over them. Cressie paired off with some guy, and Pete put his hands around Rebecca’s waist and whispered down to her. She looked around the dancefloor, and laughed. She gave Pete a dirty look and danced away from him.
Arthur watched in confusion as the guy started dancing with another woman. Rebecca laughed harder and she nodded. The song changed and she left the dancefloor.
“Ladies and gentleman, the challenge is on.”
Everyone looked up and over to the dancefloor. He was dancing with two women now.
Arthur leant over when everyone settled down.
“Are you okay with your boyfriend doing that?” he looked so concerned.
“Pete?” she smiled. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“But you two seem…” She looked Arthur right in the eye and leant forward.
“Seem.” She said it with a raised brow and Arthur nodded.
“So you’re not…” she shook her head. He closed his eyes and breathed. He couldn’t take much more.
She was smiling when he opened his eyes and he shook his head blinking hard. He took a very slow breath.
John and Rob were chatting away with a couple of girls, the others seemed occupied, but Stella was looking at Arthur. She stood up and joined them, moving Rob and John up, so she could sit next to Arthur. Rebecca’s heart sank, just as Arthur’s rose.
“So, what you do?” Stella’s eyes gleamed, she could sniff out successful men.
“I’m retired.”
“Retired?” Rebecca looked confused.
“I sold the business. I had an offer, an interesting one before mum died when I went to London. I knew it was time, so I just sold up after she had gone. I mean I made sure it was a good deal for the company more than for me. I couldn’t do it anymore, I didn’t want to, not for a long time actually. I’m still on charity boards, and do all the committee stuff, but no more office.”
“Don’t you miss it?”
“No, actually, I don’t.”
“How do you fill your days?”
“I look for you.” He said it so matter of fact she had to look away.
“I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be.” He would have said more, but their attention was turned to the dancefloor. Pete was kissing one girl, with the other still grinding up against him.
Rebecca laughed. Arthur was watching her. “He’s the company,” she gestured to the group, “manwhore. He keeps getting dared to do more and more outrageous or impossible things every time they go out. Tonight, two women.”
He thought it odd that she said they, not we. Stella leant over Arthur, her full and enticing figure pressed up against him. “Yeah, one of the impossible ones was getting into your knickers, if I remember.” She grinned at Rebecca.
“No one said he succeeded, and let’s be fair, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge for him if it was you though, would it?”
Stella smirked and began asking Arthur questions. Rebecca sat back. The tension in Arthur when Stella had told him about Pete was palpable. She retreated a little. She couldn’t go against her, she was manipulative and mean, she’d only lose. Not unlike Victoria, not as posh, but more openly spiteful.
“Drinks?” she said it meekly and went to the bar. She doubted anyone noticed she’d gone. She carried a tray back, and put it on the table.
Pete was trying to probe the second woman’s stomach with his tongue as she looked back. He opened his eyes, looked at her and winked. She laughed despite herself.
People had shifted from the bench, and spread out, and she’s lost her spot next to Arthur. She picked up her drink, and perched on the end of the bench on the opposite side of the table. She just looked at her drink.
When she looked up, Stella was laughing, but he only smiled. He looked round and saw Rebecca. She looked dejected. They needed to sit down and talk. He saw what was going on, and of course, Rebecca would retreat. He had found her, she was well, and single. Nothing would get the way of things, nothing would stop him, unless she said she didn’t want him. Her reaction told him that she did. His heart wouldn’t slow down. All the months of fear melted away, he felt about three stone lighter.
He caught her eye, but she looked at Stella who was still laughing, and she glanced back down. He pulled out his phone and text her to come back over. He watched her picked up the phone and smile. She came back round to his side of the table.
She leant against the rail, looking down at Pete. Arthur left the table while Stella was in midsentence.
“What’s up?” she shivered as Arthur’s voice buzzed in her ear.
“If Stella decides something, she decides it.” She shrugged, but kept her eye on Pete.
“Don’t I get a say?”
“She’s very persuasive.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“You’re free to do what you want.”
“Am I?” she carefully masked her face and turned to him. He looked at her mouth. “I’ve just found you again, I’m not going to sleep with Stella.”
“Bold words.”
“You’ll protect me.” There was amusement in his eyes.
She sighed, reached up, and leant on him, so that he could hear. She was close to him, his hand went to her waist, it felt so natural, and he tried to focus as she spoke. “I don’t like them, they’re Stella’s group, I hang on. She’s the leader, alpha female, you know. Pete is the only one who is my friend here, he knows about you, about who I am. He understands. We have this flirty friendship, it keeps these fuckers off my back, gives them something to gossip about that isn’t important. We’ve let them think what they want, it makes life easier for me.
“Stella likes me to be weaker, subservient, she makes out I’m a small damaged creature, upon whom she has bestowed her pity, and I should be grateful. I don’t contradict her because, I kind of feel I don’t deserve to be thought of in better terms.” She shrugged.
She turned back to watch Pete thoroughly enjoying the two women. She could still feel his hand on her, the intense presence he had, the nearness.
“I think maybe that it’s time that changed.” She laughed at his words, and tried not to notice the look in his eyes, but she shivered anyway. “Tell me about your life.”
“I got a job doing admin at a medical practice in Downly.”
“You’re still in the city?” he looked pissed off. “I’ve searched for you everywhere, found no record of you.”
“You know Silverton wasn’t my name. I went back to Rhodes.”
“Go on.” He seemed impossibly weary.
“I wanted to leave, but couldn’t make myself. Chadford is the first place I’ve lived and been happy. It was hard to let go, but Downly is not really in the city. It’s close, but its own place. I usually avoid the centre. I didn’t know we were coming here tonight. The past few months, I’ve just wanted to get out. I had a fair amount left in the bank, and my job more than covers me. I thought I’d go trav
elling, just backpacking. See some of the world. I thought it might do me some good. What?”
There was a half-smile on his face. “Since you’ve been gone, I’ve been hanging out with Joe. He keeps telling me I need to start letting you go. I thought, now that I’m retired, I could do the same thing, travel a little. I’ve been putting it off though.”
“How is he?”
“Okay, worried about you, working hard, dating some, not having much luck.”
“Will you text him?”
“Sure.” She watched him text Joe.
“Are you going to do anything about Maddie?”
“Yes.” He looked grim. “What they did to you was vile. But they saw what they put me through, a person they both claim to have a relationship with, they have known that this was killing me, and said nothing.”
“Do you see them?”
“Victoria keeps coming round to ‘make sure I’m okay’, she’s being kind, pretending that she gives a shit, hoping that I’ll give up on you.”
Pete appeared looking a bit annoyed.
“What’s this? A fail?” Stella laughed. He pursed his lips.
“They didn’t fancy a threesome, after I put all that work in.” He gave a dramatic sigh.
“Ah, poor baby.” Stella pouted, “Hey, I know,” she made her voice loud so everyone could hear, “why don’t you shag Rebecca, she’ll make you feel better.” Pete looked pissed off, but there was a gleam when he spoke.
“Why don’t you fill your big gob with a cock, and suck it Stella, it’s pretty much all you’re good for.” Rebecca bit on her lips so she wouldn’t laugh. Pete grinned at Stella’s shocked face.
No one said a word, until the tension was broken by one of the women that Pete had been dry humping on the dancefloor. His gorgeous smile was turned to her, but with a predatory edge, she sat on his lap and whispered something. His eye looked up, the other girl was leaning on the rail.
He necked his drink.
“Right then, you ugly bunch of hoes, I’m off.”
The girl stood, and pulled Pete along. He paused at Rebecca. “Have a nice night Pete.”
“You know me, always have a good time.” She saw the hollowness behind his eyes. He looked at Arthur, sizing him up. “You fuck with her, I’ll fuck with you, I don’t care who you are.” All the while, he smiled. He kissed Rebecca’s cheek before he left, a moment of doubt and hesitation before he went.
“He really cares about you.”
“He does.”
“Ever been tempted?”
“I am human, there is not a woman on earth who could be immune to his charms. But he knows I’m not really interested, I told him about you, he understands.”
“Oh?” she smiled and turned back to the dancefloor, deciding not to answer.
“Wanna dance with the birthday girl?”
“Love to.” Arthur still couldn’t believe it, she wasn’t with Pete, but he was pretty sure the guy wanted to be, she was safe and well, and now he was dancing with her. Maybe he’d completely lost his mind, she couldn’t be real, he couldn’t really have found her.
They moved to beat together, the music was a little too trendy for him, but she was loving it. She’d put her hands above her head, grabbed her hair and turn around, it wasn’t anything overtly sexy, but there was something about when she did it that made him want to hold on to her. She was smiling as she looked at him, her nose crinkling.
She put her arms around his neck, and he crushed her to him. He spun her round, she smelled the same, still wore the perfume he bought her. He made himself set her down. Someone wolf whistled and waved them back. She sighed.
“We’re pretty done here. Ready?” one of the others, a cooler than thou fucker, who had barely condescended to speak to her did his best at looking disinterested.
“Um, no, I want to hang out with Arthur.”
Stella sighed. “We’ve bought you a cake, and pressies.”
She turned to Arthur. “You want to come back with us?”
“Sure.” Rob and John wanted to go somewhere else, so Arthur said goodbye, and the others piled into a couple of taxis with Rebecca and her friends.
Arthur wasn’t sure how, but they had been separated in the process, not everyone was coming back with them. He nervously watched as the other taxi went out of sight ahead of them. Stella was sat next to him.
“So, Rebecca’s never mentioned you. I mean she never talks about herself much. Seems like something went on between you, the way you greeted her.”
He hated the feeling of her looking him over, like she was devouring him.
“You know that cock Pete told you to go and suck?”
She smiled and leant to him. “Yes?”
“Not going to be mine sweetheart, back off.”
Her face soured, and Cressie, the other side of them, put her hand over her mouth.
Arthur took out his phone and text Rebecca asking her to save him from Stella.
When she opened the text, she laughed.
It was a fair drive out to Downly, a small town that had merged with Chadford when it reached city status, to its inhabitants it was still a controversial matter.
Arthur mused that this generation he was surrounded by, who were a good ten years younger than him, were too young to remember the merger, and the uproar, and probably gave less of a shit.
The surroundings changed. Gone were the wide city streets and pavements and the infrastructure, it became narrower, smaller, more suburban, it was a bit like Nattleton, but not as nice, more affordable.
He saw everyone pile out of the other taxi as they pulled in. They went up in dribs and drabs, but Rebecca waited for Arthur.
“Hey.” She smiled, and he relaxed. He followed her, keeping his eyes on her arse in those jeans, his gaze went up her nearly bare back, covered only by crisscrossed little straps. He wanted to get his fingers under there.
The flat was bigger than he expected. The door opened to a large open plan room. The carpet was a thick dark shag, and all the couches and furniture white. The open L-shaped kitchen was white and glossy, and the tiled floor as dark as the carpet. The hall opposite the front door, led straight down, and the two bedrooms and bathroom were off it.
A bottle of whiskey and a bottle of vodka were brought out, and drinks poured. The whiskey was cheap, but he didn’t care.
He sat in an armchair, as all the other seats were taken. He watched Rebecca undo the little buckle of the shoes she wore. Thin stiletto heel, with numerous thin straps that went all the way to her ankle. He’d never thought of himself as a man who liked shoes, but he couldn’t take his eye of her taking them off. She clocked him, and blushed. She leant forward as she undid the other one, and he got a better view of her breasts pushing at the cups of the top she wore, what there was of it.
She groaned and closed her eyes as she put her feet flat. There was only relief in the sound, but he ground his teeth at it.
She grabbed a large cushion from the couch making someone move, and she flopped it on the floor in front of him.
She knelt down, leaning on one hip, curling her feet beside her, massaging her feet absently. She put her arm on the seat, right next to him, and yawning leant her head on her hand.
He noticed her toenails were painted red, and he remembered the red swimsuit, and a dozen other happy memories.
He sighed and sipped his whiskey, cringing at the taste. She was laughing. He paid attention to the room, when he realised he was staring too much.
Cressie brought out the cake, and everyone had some, it was okay, but he missed her cakes, and biscuits, and everything that she ever did.
“Okay, presents!” Cressie seemed to be the only one who cared. Stella was making a point of not looking at him, and the others looked uninterested, until a couple of gifts were brought out. They eyed each other with knowing smiles, he had a feeling whatever was in those presents would be a joke.
She opened the one from Cressie first. I was a pretty scarf. It seem
ed Rebecca was surprised and delighted. The second one she looked nervous over, as if she had felt the change in the mood too.
He sat forward, and he felt her take a deep breath as she opened it on the coffee table.
She opened it to find a large boxed vibrator. The room broke into laughter and she wondered if they thought she might cry, or run off embarrassed. She wouldn’t have been that bothered if not for Arthur. Fabulous.
She looked unimpressed as Stella giggled still. “Oh, don’t be a prude.”
“Prude? I was just wondering if you put any batteries in it.”
She looked over the box feigning interest, but she knew Stella didn’t buy it. At least Cressie did her best to look as though she weren’t in on it.
Arthur gave mental fuck you to Stella, leant forward, and whispered in Rebecca’s ear. “Just laugh when I lean back, and pretend I said something rude.”
She blushed and laughed when he leant back, mainly to do with hearing that deep velvety sound buzzing in her ear, she had missed the sound of his voice so much it made all the hair stand up on her arms when he directed it at her. Her laugh took the smug look off Stella. Rebecca leant back, her side pressed into Arthur’s leg.
He couldn’t resist the next thought that came to him, he leant forward, and picked up the box, his hand rested on Rebecca’s shoulder. He looked it over. Then casually dropped it down.
“If you’re going to buy stuff like that, you might as well get a decent one not this crap.”
He sat back after pouring himself a top up. He didn’t move his hand from her bare shoulder, and ran his fingers in little circles. Rebecca leant her arm along his thigh and put her head on it, seemingly content just to be near him. The others chatted, caught up in how great they thought they were, load of tossers, he disliked them intensely. He felt so old next to them. He closed his eyes and tried to keep himself under control, she was so close to his crotch it was killing him.
He just wanted to be alone with her, not to do anything, well, perhaps a little, but they really needed to talk.
If he asked her to go home with him, she’d be say no, and if he took her to her room, she’d be mercilessly ribbed over it.
He feigned sleep instead, sleep was so appealing to him.
Getting a Life (New City Series Book 1) Page 16