Blood poured down his chin and dripped onto the powder blue shirt he wore.
The door swung open seconds before Grey had the chance to reach out and open it and Riley stood framed.
“I want to know where my brother…”
Riley’s voice faded as he took in the sight of Grey and the blood. The cops however weren’t as lax and Stuart held his hands out in front of him as they surrounded and cuffed him.
No matter what happened next, it had all been worth it just to see the look on Grey’s face.
Chapter 12
Ellie winced and pulled the dress on over her head. It was the best one she had, the only one she had.
She’d have loved for nothing else but to curl up at home. The pain in her healing back was excruciating and each time she had lifted her arms in the diner had brought a fresh wave of agony.
But Kelly had come through for her and Ellie desperately needed the extra money the job promised. Sweeping her hair up, Ellie studied her appearance in the mirror and decided instead to let her hair fall free. The dress was a little low on the back and with her hair down it prevented anyone from catching a glimpse of her red and bruised skin.
Ellie sighed and turned from the mirror, disgust washing over her once more.
What was the point? Hair up, or down, makeup or not, pretty black dress… None of it would change the fact that she was fat.
Most of the time Ellie didn’t let it get to her. She had tried to get comfortable in her own skin and the death of her father and her mother’s stroke had shown her there was far more to life than looks. But it didn’t stop her from every so often wishing she could look different.
Diets made no difference and no amount of exercise seemed to have an impact on her soft wobbly tummy or full rounded hips. Plus it was agony to try and run on a treadmill when your breasts spent all their time trying to find a way into your eyes or up your nose with each stride you took. She’d been told to strap them down but all that had ended with her practically passing out through lack of oxygen.
Grabbing her handbag, Ellie winced again as she stretched her arm a little further than she’d intended. Stepping out onto the landing, she poked her head in the bedroom door to her mother.
Rosalind sat up in the bed, the pillows propped behind her holding her upright and in place. Ellie hesitated, there was something in the look her mother gave her that made her consider staying home.
“I have to go, Mom. Selena is here and she’ll sit with you.”
The look in her mother’s eyes was unchanged and Ellie moved into the bedroom and took the seat next to her.
“We need the money. I wish I could stay at home, God, do I wish I could curl up here next to you and not go out.”
Ellie paused and reached out, taking her mother’s withered hand in her own. Her skin felt paper thin and her pulse weakly beat against Ellie’s fingers.
“Are you feeling alright?”
Rosalind didn’t respond but Ellie leaned over and lifted her mother’s hand to her lips.
“I wish things were different, I really do.”
There was a slight tensing in Rosalind’s fingers and for a second Ellie felt hope spring up in her chest. But when there was nothing else, she knew it was probably just an involuntary muscle spasm. Selena had told her often enough in the beginning that any movement her mom made wasn’t planned.
Ellie stood and headed for the door. Every time she had to leave she felt bad, but it wasn’t as though there was any other way to pay the bills.
Swallowing back her guilt, Ellie’s mind reminded her of the letter from the bank. No, she would go to work and she would earn enough to keep her mother comfortable in her own home. The rest didn’t matter as long as she could do that. After all she was the cause for her father’s death and her mother’s stroke. If she had kept her mouth shut, life would have been better for everyone.
* * *
“I can’t put you out front with the guests, you’re not their type.”
The party manager’s voice was shrill and cut through Ellie as she stood awaiting her judgement.
“I thought you said she was suitable, Kelly? I don’t have an outfit to fit someone of that size.”
Kelly stood in behind a screen and Ellie could just make out her shadow as she changed. She popped her head around the edge and stared Ellie up and down before switching her attention to the manager.
“Nikita, I thought she would be alright… I mean I know she’s not the usual… type. But I know she’s a hard worker and she really needs the work.”
“I really do,” Ellie said, colour suffusing her cheeks as realisation sank in about what the women seemed to have a problem with.
Kelly stepped out from behind the screen and Ellie’s eyes practically fell out of her head. She had only ever seen Kelly in the diner uniform and while Kelly liked to wear her skirt extra short, it still covered everything important.
This outfit on the other hand left very little to the imagination.
In fact, Ellie was almost certain the tiny gauze-like strips of material that covered Kelly’s nipples and crotch probably couldn’t be considered an outfit.
“Wait, that’s what you’re wearing?” Ellie said, her mouth going suddenly dry at the thought of exposing that much of herself.
“Yeah, all the girls do and the tips we make…” Kelly giggled, “well, let’s just say it’s pretty darn obscene.”
“Out on the floor, Kelly, now,” the party manager said, her tone a warning. She turned back to Ellie, her lips pursed as she stared Ellie up and down.
“I don’t think I can wear that…” Ellie said, her hands clammy and her stomach flipping uncomfortably.
“No way. You’d look like some sort of deflated hot air balloon if you did. I suppose if you carry the trays out to the refill table it won’t really matter what you wear.”
Ellie didn’t know if she should feel relieved or insulted. She followed the other woman down the hall to the steamy kitchen and when she paused in front of a trolley of trays Ellie came to a halt too.
“Carry these out and set them on the table just through there. I don’t want any gaps on the tables and I don’t want any delays for the girls, is that clear?”
Ellie stared at the wide and heavy-looking trays. Some of them were already filled with food while others had plates and little pieces of cutlery in them.
“Who’ll be helping me to carry them?” Ellie asked, but she had a sinking feeling that she already knew the answer.
“Help? You don’t need any help, you’re a hefty girl with thick arms—you’ll be able to manage them in your sleep.”
The manager smiled and it wasn’t a pleasant look.
She could just walk away. If she left now she would keep at least a small amount of her dignity intact.
“What are you waiting for? Get to work, I told you I don’t want the girls left waiting. When they wait, the guests wait.” The manager’s voice had lifted several notches, something Ellie thought would be utterly impossible.
She stalked away, her heels clicking on the tile floor as she barked orders to the others gathered in the kitchen.
Just leave, Ellie. Walk away now and save yourself a lot of heartache.
The voice in the back of her head was of course right and yet Ellie knew she couldn’t just walk away. Selena had stayed on to look after Rosalind and Ellie knew that if she left she might not be able to afford the few hours Selena had done.
No, she had no choice but to swallow her pride and get on with it.
Reaching out, Ellie wrapped her arms around the first tray, the heat from the metal scorching along the bare skin of her forearms and hands as she struggled to lift it.
Struggling, Ellie managed to take it in her hands and pulled it in tight against her chest. The tray was almost too heavy and Ellie’s muscles screamed at her for release but that wasn’t what brought tears to her eyes as she staggered forward to the door and the room beyond.
The lacerations
and welts across her back stretched with the pressure of lifting something so heavy. The feel of them reopening had tears dripping down Ellie’s cheeks.
“I can’t go home, I can’t fail Mom.”
If she went home she wouldn’t be able to afford to keep paying for the home care. What was a little pain if it meant looking after her mother the way she deserved?
Ellie pressed her back against the swing door, agony searing into her as she pressed the door open and stepped out into the room. Several girls stood around the table, all of them wearing the same multi-coloured scraps of fabric as Kelly, and all of them impatient.
“Get a move on, fat ass!”
Ellie’s face flushed as she carried the tray to the table and set it down before turning to get the next one.
“I need the shrimp.”
“Where are the canapés? I can’t go out there without the canapés.”
“We’re all out of champagne.”
A chorus of voices drowned out the thoughts in Ellie’s mind. If it continued like this it was going to be a very long night.
Chapter 13
“What the hell were you thinking?”
Stuart wanted to bury his face in his hands and drown out the sound his brother was making. Spending a night in the cells and most of the day wasn’t conducive to rest. To make it worse, Riley hadn’t stopped ranting since they had left the cop station.
Grey had decided not to press charges, which surprised Stuart to no end. It would have been the perfect opportunity to get him out of his way and yet…
“Riley, I told you, he got a little of what was coming to him. And anyway, I was simply telling him he could take his job and stick it. I was merely doing it with flair.”
“Flair? Is that what they’re calling it now? You assaulted him in his own home. You’re just lucky he didn’t press charges.”
Stuart shook his head and swallowed down the painkillers he had dug out of the medicine cabinet.
“I think that’s a little weird, don’t you? He had all the evidence he needed to have me charged and I certainly wasn’t going to deny it.”
“That’s the other thing, Stuart, why weren’t you going to deny it?”
Riley paused in his near-constant tirade just long enough to shoot Stuart a confused look.
“There was no point and anyway, if he pressed charges I wouldn’t have denied breaking his nose but I would have claimed it was in self-defence.”
Riley studied his brother and sighed.
“I don’t understand you at all. Sometimes I think you’ve grown up, that after everything that happened you’ve learned to leave that reckless side behind you. And then you go and do something like this? What made you go over there like that anyway?”
Stuart hesitated. How much could he really tell Riley? Ellie’s story was her story to tell, not his. The last thing he wanted to do was spread it around. She’d told him in confidence and it didn’t seem right to break that connection they’d made.
Thinking of Ellie brought up the memory of the night before. The taste of her, the feel of her skin beneath his hands. It was enough to make him want a cold shower. She was irresistible and of course the fact she already had someone in her life was a problem. But it was a problem that Stuart didn’t want to care about. And yet he did.
“It was that girl from the diner, wasn’t it?” Riley said, hitting on the one thing that Stuart wanted to keep to himself.
“Why I went there doesn’t matter. All that does matter is that Grey is bad news and I want to be the one to get rid of him.”
“That’s not possible, Stuart. The man is too well connected. To get rid of him you’d need to know who is bankrolling his political aspirations.”
“That can’t be too difficult to figure out. The office he has in town is the one he uses for all his political campaign planning. There has to be something there that’ll give me a direction to go in.”
“You? You’re not doing this on your own anymore. What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t turned up with the cops when I did last night?”
Stuart shrugged and grinned.
“Then I guess you’d be down a brother. Might have made trying to get Holly on your side a little easier. You could have declared your love for her by saying you sacrificed one of your own.”
Riley’s expression was anything but friendly.
“That’s not something to joke about, Stu. You and I both know you weren’t getting out of there last night if I didn’t turn up.”
“That’s why I called you in the first place. I knew I needed some form of leverage and anyway, if you hadn’t turned up I’d have told him I’d spoken to you, told you exactly what I planned on doing. He wouldn’t have been able to touch me.”
Riley seemed unconvinced and shook his head as he turned to the mirror and straightened the tie he wore.
“Just promise me you won’t go doing any more stupid things—that any more crazy plans will be run by me first.”
Stuart nodded and lifted his fingers in the scout’s salute.
“Scout’s honour.”
“Where are you off to tonight?” Stuart said, eyeing the expensive suit his brother had changed in to since they’d arrived back at the house.
“Where am I going? You’re coming too.”
Stuart shook his head and lifted his hands.
“Not a chance, you’re on your own. I have some business I need to attend to anyway.”
The image of Ellie as she moaned in pleasure flashed through his mind once more and Stuart swallowed hard.
“Business? Not tonight, Stu. Anyway, you’ll want to come to this party.”
Stuart was suddenly suspicious and watched his brother through narrowed eyes.
“Why? Why would this be a party I’d want to attend? You know how much I hate rich people parties. That’s not going to change.”
“Grey will be there and maybe you’ll learn something about some of his partners.”
Stuart closed his eyes and groaned.
If Grey was going to be there then it would be the perfect opportunity to see the man in action. It would at least give Stuart his own baseline for how deep Grey’s connections ran in the town.
“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea…”
Riley laughed and turned to his brother.
“You’re telling me you’re not even in the least bit interested in seeing the state of Grey’s face after what you did to it last night? Not curious in seeing how he explains how it happened? There’s a free bar.”
“Fine, but I’m not staying for the whole thing,” Stuart said, the thought of a free bar and Grey’s face when he saw him there making the thought of the party a pleasant one.
“Great, I’ve had a suit laid out for you.”
“I’m not wearing a suit.”
“Stu, you asked me to trust you when it came to your line of expertise and while I’ve been sceptical of your methods for the most part, I have. Now I’m asking you to trust me… Wear the suit.”
Stuart stared at his brother. He was right, Riley had shown more belief in him during the last few days than he’d ever shown before in their lives. It wouldn’t be such a terrible thing to show some gratitude and wear a suit…
Fine, but only because you asked so nicely.” Stuart grinned and headed for the stairs. “I’m going to grab a shower and wash the stink of jail cell off me before we head out.”
“Don’t take too long. The sooner we get to the party the sooner we can leave… This sort of thing has never been my favourite type of gathering.”
Riley’s words had Stuart pause on the large sweeping staircase.
“What do you mean by that? You love parties.”
Riley smiled and shook his head.
“Just get dressed. You’ll see what I mean when we get there.”
Suddenly curious, Stuart didn’t waste any time in hurrying up the stairs and into the room he was using as his own. If Riley didn’t like the party then there had to be a
really good reason for it. And Stuart couldn’t wait to find out what that reason was.
* * *
Stuart shifted uncomfortably in the back of the limo and fidgeted with the tie he wore for what felt like the hundredth time since he’d put it on. Suits were not his thing. In fact Stuart wasn’t sure he could even remember the last time he’d worn one.
The car pulled to a stop outside one of the many mansions that lined Cliff Road. Stuart didn’t wait for the door to be opened, pushing it open himself and stepping out into the humid night air. The only good thing was the smell of the fresh sea air that drifted past in the breeze.
The sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs told Stuart they were very close to the sea itself and he made a promise to himself that the moment it turned boring at the party he would escape and investigate just how close.
“If anyone asks you if you punched Grey, the answer is no.” Riley stepped up behind Stuart and leaned in over his shoulder as he spoke.
From the corner of his eye, Stuart watched as his brother straightened his cufflinks before moving towards the steps up to the house, a smile plastered on his face.
It amazed Stuart that his brother could pretend so easily. The parties had never been something Stuart enjoyed, since they were always boring and stuffy. Talk inevitably came back around to how much money they were all making and the best way to invest.
The only thing Stuart had ever been interested in investing in was his own security company. Of course now that he was back in Breaker’s Point and he had money in his account he could set the wheels in motion for something that was all his own.
But for something like that, a reputation for smashing clients’ faces into glass table tops might not be the best thing.
Stuart sighed and started up the steps after Riley. The house was more than impressive: all white marble pillars and polished floors. As far as Stuart was concerned, however, it had no personality and it reminded him of the inside of the family mausoleum.
Stepping into the main hall Stuart stalled, his eyes widening as he took in the sight in front of him.
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