by Sofia Grey
“Fuck off. And keep the fuck away from us, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.” Jonno was actually quivering with anger. I stepped back, just in time to avoid the door being slammed in my face.
“Nice to see you, too,” I called in a loud voice. “Have a great evening.”
It took even longer to get a response from Joshy-Boy. I was on the verge of going to talk to the girl on Reception again when I heard the door unlock. Clad only in jeans, his hair sticking out in odd directions and a flushed look on his face, I felt sick as I guessed what he’d probably just been doing. With my wife.
I didn’t give him a chance to speak. Brandishing the flowers, I spoke rapidly. “I’d like to talk to Suki.”
“What if she doesn’t want to talk to you?”
“She’s here, isn’t she? I want to see her.”
“Bite me.”
Pushing past him didn’t seem like a great idea, bearing in mind our last encounter. And I knew losing my temper was probably the worst thing I could do. Sucking in a deep breath, I gazed at the ceiling for inspiration. Remembered the flowers in my arms.
“I’ve brought these, as a peace offering.”
He had the audacity to raise his eyebrows. “That’s the best you can do?”
I had to grit my teeth for a moment. “Whatever you may think of me, Suki is still my wife. And I would very much like to talk to her for a few minutes.”
“Oh no.” He gave me a lazy grin. “Like I said, she—”
“Please.” I fixed him with a pleading stare. “I thought she was dead, drowned. And I realised I can’t live without her. If you won’t let me in, I’ll just sit here, right here in the corridor, and wait for her to come out.”
He was shaking his head. In desperation, I played my final card. “I don’t mind if you’re there as well. We can all sit down together and talk. Just talk. Nothing else, I promise you.”
We stood facing each other, neither giving way. And then a hand appeared on his bare arm. My heart surged, excitement and hope lurched into my throat as Suki murmured something I couldn’t catch. I felt like whooping in delight when Joshy-Boy stepped angrily to the side and she appeared in the doorway.
I drank in the sight of her. Clad in an oversized t-shirt and what looked like a pair of men’s boxers, her hair was dishevelled and her cheeks flushed. She looked as sexy as I’d ever seen her. I knew in that moment I couldn’t ever let her go.
Her gasp of shock when she looked at me was heart-warming. “Your nose… Oh, my.” I sensibly didn’t say anything, just looked pointedly at Joshy-Boy and then back to Suki.
“Can we talk, for just a few minutes? Please, Suzu?” I kept my voice low and enticing, noting the flash of disgust across the other man’s face. He thought he’d taken her from me. He’d soon find out where her loyalties rested.
17.3 Suki
I know Josh said he’d punched Gabe—he looked as though he’d run into a truck. Face first. I’d never seen him look in such a state. And this quiet plea to talk to me… He sounded almost penitent.
Josh moved a discreet distance away, not crowding me, but able to move to my side if I needed him. I gave him a little smile to acknowledge this. In contrast to Gabe’s eagerness, Josh looked almost sick with worry. Surely he didn’t think Gabe would be able to talk me round? I sat at the table, Gabe slid into the seat opposite, laying an enormous cluster of flowers in front of him.
“These are for you. To say… I’m sorry.” He leaned forward, speaking earnestly in a low voice. I was sure Josh wouldn’t be able to hear him. “I’ve been a prick, I know that. And I can’t begin to apologise for hurting you. I am so sorry.”
I just stared at him. If he thought flowers would be enough to make me go running back to him, he could think again.
He seemed to measure my silence, placing his hands on the small table, palm up. “I don’t know if you heard, but a woman drowned in the River Maas today. For a few terrifying, unbelievable minutes, I feared it was you. And I couldn’t live with myself.” He paused, closed his eyes a moment, and then gazed at me. “I knew then that whatever had happened between us, we could fix it. We’ve been together for ten years, Suzu, I know you like nobody else. And I know you love me. This”—he gestured to the room— “this is just a blip. It’s unimportant. And it means nothing compared to what we have.”
His voice continued, warm and tender. “Suzu. Every minute that you’re apart from me, it feels like I’m being crucified. I know I’ve not been easy to live with these past few weeks. I’ve had some problems to deal with, stuff I didn’t want to burden you with. And I should have talked to you, shared it all with you, like we used to.”
His hands crept closer, inching towards me. “Please, Suzu, give me a chance, darling. I love you so much it hurts.”
I felt mesmerised. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. When his fingers closed gently around my forearms, I didn’t jerk free. I just sat there and stared, mute. I could sense Josh’s misery, even without looking.
“Remember the first time we came to Spa together? We were staying in that crappy little hotel next door to a 70’s revival nightclub. The music kept us awake all night. And every time we heard Abba we used to look at each other and say Spa.” His thumbs stroked my wrists. “When I won that first time at Monaco, and you whisked me away in a helicopter to get away from the fans—we went and celebrated in that little seafood restaurant by the beach. You had squid for the first time.”
I forced a smile. He was clever, picking up on the good times. But he’d always been able to do that. “I promise it will be different from now on. Whatever it takes, whatever you say we need to do to make it right, we’ll do it together. We’ll even go to counselling if you think that would help.” He waited, I sat frozen. A little sigh from him. “I guess you’re not going to make this easy for me, and you’ve every right to do that.”
This was horrible. I had loved Gabe. I couldn’t have stayed with him for so long if I hadn’t. And until a couple of weeks ago, I had no inkling things could change so much or so rapidly.
Josh’s phone chirruped, I saw him glance around for it. It had been trilling for a few minutes, someone was keen to speak to him. He grabbed it now and turned his back on us. I strained to hear him over Gabe’s impassioned speech. Josh snapped into his phone and then tossed it on the bed, before turning back to watch us.
Gabe was smiling at me. “Suzu, I’ll do anything you ask, if you’ll come back to me.”
“Anything?”
“Whatever you want, darling.” He sounded sincere. I swallowed, trying to find the words.
“I need some time. This hasn’t been an easy decision for me. I’m not sure at the moment what I want to do.” I let him continue to hold my wrists and he nodded, listening intently. I couldn’t look at Josh. I had to focus on Gabe and make him believe me. “We need to talk.” I forced a small laugh. “I’d really like my passport back, I feel like you’re holding it for ransom.”
“You can have it.” He raised my hands one at a time, pressing kisses on my fingertips. “Come back with me—I changed hotels. We can talk some more. In private.” He looked directly at Josh, standing there stone-faced. “You can have your passport. Come with me now, Suzu.”
I looked down at my t-shirt, smiled and looked bashful. “I need to shower and get dressed. Give me your new address and I’ll come over in half an hour.”
He beamed, relief oozing from every pore. “I’ll wait. I don’t mind waiting.”
“No, it’s okay. I need to go and speak to Anita first. Where are you staying now?”
“The Metropole, room 74.” He kissed my fingers again. “I’ll wait in the lobby for you. We can drive back together.”
I made a split-second decision. “Okay.”
17.4 Josh
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He’d waltzed in here, brandishing a bunch of flowers and professing undying love—and now Suki was going back with him. My stomach cramped. She saw him out of my room, a
ll smiles and relaxed while I stared at her, terrified she’d changed her mind. Leaning against the closed door, her back to me, I heard her give a little sigh and my insides all twisted up some more.
I had to be wrong. Please, God, let me be wrong. “Suki, please tell me this is not what it looks like.”
She turned slowly, her face stricken. Why could I not read her, now when I needed it more than ever? “Josh, I need you to trust me.”
I’ve never trusted a woman my entire life. I don’t know how to. I held my tongue and tried to swell the rising tide of panic.
Suki glanced down at her clothes, Anita’s t-shirt, my clean boxers. “Where are my things? My jeans and stuff?”
Why hadn’t she answered my question? I licked my dry lips. “They’re hanging in the cupboard. They should be dry by now.” She nodded, distracted, running fingers through her hair. “What time is it, Josh? I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“What are you doing, Suki?” I know my voice was hard. It shocked her. Her eyes widened and she moved towards me, placing a finger across my lips. I could only gaze at her, agonized at the thought of her going back. To him.
“Trust me, please.”
I moved her hand out of the way. “Trust is something I don’t do very well.”
“Me neither,” she snapped, and then looked immediately contrite. “Come here, cowboy.” She stepped into my arms, after a moment’s hesitation I held her close, burying my nose in her hair. It smelled of my bed, of our lovemaking. “I need to get my passport back; I’m stranded without it. And I’d really like to get some of my other stuff, my phone and my laptop. This might be the way to do it. I won’t make him any promises, tell him I need some time and then as soon as I’m out of there, can you take me to the airport?”
My knees sagged with relief. I closed my eyes as I waited for the frantic pounding of my heart to calm down. Suki was still talking. “He has to stay here until after the race. I’ve got time to go home and pack up my essentials, then find somewhere else to stay for the time being.”
“Me,” I blurted, without even thinking. “Come and stay with me. I’ve got an apartment in London.”
There was a long silence. “My job is in Manchester. I need to stay in the North West, Josh.”
Fear assailed me. “If you stay in Wilmslow, he’ll find you. Won’t he be ever so slightly pissed off when you run out on him?”
“You don’t say.” She burrowed into my embrace. “I know I haven’t thought it all through yet. I’m just focusing on the next half-hour.”
“You don’t think I’m just going to drop you at the airport, do you? I’m coming with you.”
“Thank you.” She sighed, and then pulled back a little, cupping her hands around my face. “There’s something else I want your help with too.”
***
Twenty minutes later, she stood clean and fragrant before me, dressed in her own jeans and a borrowed clean t-shirt of mine. Still with my boxers underneath though. I was pleased to note her finger was bare of its rings.
Suki leaned back against the wall as I drank her in with my eyes. Jokingly, I placed my forearms on the wall on either side of her head. “You can’t get away now,” I teased, completely unprepared for the fear that splashed across her face. “Hey, what did I say?”
She tugged my arms down, her hands shaking. “Please, don’t do that, Josh.” With a groan I recalled her telling me how he pinned her against the wall and hurt her.
“God, Suki, I’m sorry. I never thought.” I knew how to make it right though. I spun around, so that I leaned against the wall, Suki standing free before me. “This better?”
Weaving her arms around my neck, she pulled my head down and pressed her lips against mine. “Yes, much better. I forgot to ask—I guess that was Jon on the phone earlier?”
“Yeah.” I lost myself in another kiss. “He was trying to warn us Gabriel was on his way.” Far too soon, we had to break off. I picked up my bags and rang Jon. He was going to go down and distract Gabriel for a couple of minutes, to give me time to fetch my car. I wanted to follow Gabriel, just in case he didn’t take Suki straight back to his hotel.
When it came to that fucker, I didn’t trust him an inch.
17.5 Gabe
I felt numb. The kind of unthinking, unfeeling paralysis that leaves everything except motor functions impossible. Sitting on a chair in the lobby area, I breathed in and out and waited for my brain to spark back to life.
She’d been with him. He’d fucked her. She glowed. She looked satisfied in a way I’d never achieved in our ten years together. I’d hired him for this very thing, but never believed she’d succumb. God. Suki. I sank my head into my hands as pain and anger tore through me. I forced a state of relative calmness and reached for my phone. I had maybe fifteen minutes left before she reappeared, just enough time to do a few things.
I’d almost finished when a familiar voice spoke. “What are you still doing here, Gabe?”
Jonno. With an exaggerated sigh, I pressed SEND and put away my phone, then looked up to meet his glare. “And that’s your business because…”
His scowl grew more pronounced. “I’m hoping you didn’t find Suki?”
I knew he was trying to intimidate me. I rose to my feet, shoved my hands in my pockets and rocked back and forth on my toes. “I’m sorry, did you say something of interest?”
“We have unfinished business, you know. You were behind that incident in Paris. It won’t be long before I prove it.”
I yawned now, looking truly bored. “God, Jonno, you have such a vivid imagination. And such lousy taste in women.”
“It would take very little for me to add a second break to your nose. Don’t tempt me.”
Suki chose this moment to appear, wearing another outsized t-shirt underneath her canvas jacket. She clutched her handbag in front of her, looking awkwardly at Jon and back to me. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, darling. We’ll be off now.” I fashioned a smile for her and reached to take her arm. I couldn’t miss the way she glanced again at Jonno. They nodded politely at each other before she walked outside with me. My car was parked right at the front of the hotel—I’d snagged a space for disabled drivers—so we didn’t have far to walk in the rain.
“You aren’t wearing your rings.” I caught a glimpse of her hand as she fastened her safety belt, settling into her seat with the bag in her lap. She coloured slightly under my gaze but didn’t reply straight away. The rain was coming down hard again, I moved out into the light evening traffic and tried to summon my earlier state of near-calm. We flashed from streetlight and back to darkness as we crept through the town, Suki’s face alternately visible and then in shadow as we moved along.
“So, Gabe, you wanted us to talk.” Her voice sounded steady. Only her fingers, with their death-grip on her bag, gave her away.
I made her wait. Stopping at a set of lights, I glanced again in the rear view mirror. There was the same silver Audi that had pulled out from the hotel behind me. As I pulled away, I hung a sharp left without indicating. So did the Audi.
“I think your boyfriend is trying to follow me.”
She flinched, hugged her bag a little closer and stared at the dashboard. “Why do you say that?”
“Suki, give me some credit.” I cruised down the street heading out of town, keeping under the speed limit and watching the Audi. It hung back sufficiently far that I couldn’t make out the driver clearly, or the passenger. I’m sure there were two in the car. I dragged my attention back to Suki. “You fucked him.” I stared at her, hard, before resuming my view of the road ahead. “You. Fucked. Him. And now he’s going to pay the price.”
CHAPTER 18
18.1 Josh
“He’s seen us.” Jon’s grim assessment matched mine. He glanced at the laptop perched on my knee. “How will that thing cope when we’re out of town?”
I shrugged. It wasn’t something I could predict. The live feed from my camera was clear at the
moment though, pointing roughly out of the windshield of Gabriel’s car from its position in Suki’s handbag. “As long as we’re getting pictures and sound, we can afford to hang back a bit, let him think he’s given us the slip.”
Jon nodded his agreement and eased back, dawdling as another car shot past us. There hadn’t been much conversation to listen to so far. Gabriel’s chilling threat sat in the pit of my stomach. I knew I shouldn’t have let her go with him. I wished I’d hit him harder, put him in hospital.
Jon turned to say something, but Suki began to speak and he quieted. We listened intently.
Suki sounded nervous, and no wonder. “I thought your hotel was in Spa? We’re heading on the Balmoral road out of Spa.”
“We’re not going to my hotel.”
I could see the road whipping past on the screen, he appeared to be driving fast along a quiet road. Too fast. The rain was making the roads slippery. I wondered if Suki would have the chance to get out at some point.
“So where are we going?” There was a long silence. “Gabe, I asked—”
“We’re going to find somewhere private for a little talk.”
“We can talk here. Why don’t you pull over and—”
“And have you leap out and run away? I don’t think so, darling.” We heard a clunking noise. “The doors are locked. You only get out when I tell you.”
“That’s the A27 motorway ahead,” murmured Jon. “I’ll move a bit closer, he should be confident now that he’s ditched us. And I don’t want to lose him.”
Suki must have realised the same, she started talking rapidly. “Are we getting on the motorway? Where are you taking me? Sarpay? Sart-Lez-Spa?” She paused and then continued, sounding amazingly calm. “This is the N629. Where are we going, Gabe?”
Jon gave me a tight smile. “Let’s hope she can keep up the directions.” I nodded.
“Do you know the area, Jon?”