by Beth Abbott
Invisible
Book One of
The Alpha Company Women Series
By Beth Abbott
Copyright © 2016 Beth Abbott
The reproduction or utilization of any part of this work is strictly prohibited except with the written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used completely fictitiously. Any similarity between the people, events or locations in this book and actual persons, living or dead, or real businesses, events or places is completely unintentional.
Dedication
To my amazing (and long-suffering) husband, for putting up with me for so many years, not least the last year when these books have become my obsession. Even after all this time, I still love you, millions!
To my three boys; words can’t express how proud we are of you!
To my BFF; you are the blonde to my brunette and the Ying to my Yang. You may be as mad as a box of frogs, but you’ll always be my kind of crazy!
I love you all to bits.
And to the men and women of the armed forces of the UK, US and all our coalition allies, past and present, and to all those struggling to bring peace to an insane world, I send my heartfelt thanks to you and your families, for the sacrifices you make so that the rest of us can sleep peacefully.
May your God bless you and keep you safe.
The Alpha Company Women Series
(Series 1)
Invisible
Anonymous
Concealed
Healing
Living
Impossible
The Stalwart Security Series
(Series 2)
Relentless
Shattered
Retribution
Deceived
Table of Contents
Invisible
Dedication
List of Titles
Chapter 1 Ellen
Chapter 2 Ellen
Chapter 3 Luke
Chapter 4 Ellen
Chapter 5 Ellen
Chapter 6 Luke
Chapter 7 Ellen
Chapter 8 Luke
Chapter 9 Luke
Chapter 10 Luke
Chapter 11 Ellen
Chapter 12 Ellen
Chapter 13 Ellen
Chapter 14 Ellen
Chapter 15 Luke
Chapter 16 Luke
Chapter 17 Ellen
Chapter 18 Luke
Chapter 19 Luke
Chapter 20 Ellen
Chapter 21 Ellen
Chapter 22 Ellen
Chapter 23 Luke
Chapter 24 Ellen
Chapter 25 Ellen
Chapter 26 Luke
Chapter 27 Ellen
Chapter 28 Luke
Chapter 29 Ellen
Chapter 30 Luke
Chapter 31 Ellen
Chapter 32 Ellen
Chapter 33 Luke
Chapter 34 Georgie
Chapter 35 Ellen
Chapter 36 Ellen
Chapter 37 Luke
Chapter 38 Ellen
Chapter 39 Luke
Chapter 40 Ellen
Chapter 41 Ellen
Chapter 42 Ellen
Chapter 43 Luke
Chapter 44 Luke
Chapter 45 Luke
Chapter 46 Luke
Chapter 47 Luke
Chapter 48 JT
Chapter 49 Luke
Chapter 50 Ellen
Chapter 51 Luke
Chapter 52 Ellen
Chapter 53 Ellen
Chapter 54 Ellen
Chapter 55 Epilogue – Three weeks later
Anonymous: Chapter 1 Danny
A message from the author
About the Author
Interview with the Author
Chapter 1 - Ellen
Ellen had once heard someone asked which superpower they would pick, if they were allowed to choose just one.
Personally, she thought, she would have chosen to be able to fly.
No more public transport. No more airline baggage restrictions. Heaven!
They chose Invisibility.
How dumb could you be? Assholes!
Invisibility wasn’t a superpower!
It was a finely-honed skill. And she should know. She was an expert at it!
People always made the mistake of assuming that to be invisible, it had to appear like nobody was there.
Ok, she would concede that as a concept, that was perfectly reasonable. However, as everybody knows, it’s not actually achievable. At least, not for normal, sane people, who don’t believe in wizards, fairy dust and unicorns.
However, invisibility as a state of mind, could be achieved quite easily.
Ok, she knew that most people would still be sceptical here.
But there was a great deal of truth in the expression ‘hiding in plain sight’.
Now that was a far more accurate description of what true invisibility was all about.
It was about making yourself so abstract, so devoid of all remarkable features, that you simply melted into the background.
That was what she did.
She was Invisible…
For the last 3 years 5 months and 4 days, she’d done everything in her power not to be seen.
Her clothes, her hair, even the expression she wore on her face. They all helped her blend in with the wallpaper.
If people knew she was trying to stay invisible, there would undoubtedly be the usual questions. Why would anyone want to stay invisible? How do you stay invisible?
Well, Ok, the ‘why’ she found that difficult to even think about, let alone speak of, as it just added to her loneliness and sense of isolation.
But, the ‘how’? Well, that was something she’d mastered.
Take her hair, for example. It was a non-descript mud colour – straight out of a bottle.
It had used to be a gorgeous honey blonde, with natural golden highlights, that shone bright in the sunshine. But as blondes aren’t invisible, it had had to go.
So, her hair was a now a boring crappy brown colour – all thanks to a well-known hair product.
Although, what baffled Ellen, was why anyone would actually buy this particular colour hair dye out of choice. Because honestly? It looked nothing like the picture of the glamorous woman on the box!
‘Warm Hazelnut’ it was called. Yeah, right! Still, she didn’t suppose anyone would buy it, if they gave it a more accurate description and called it ‘Shit Brown’!
In fairness, though, that might also have had something to do with the fact that she hadn’t used conditioner in, well, 3 years, 5 months and 4 days!
Then, of course, there were her eyes.
They were actually a bright cornflower blue, and were probably her best feature. Well, people used to say they were. Which was why she now wore brown coloured contact lenses, and heavy framed glasses, any time she left the sanctuary of her flat. The glass was plain, but nobody would know that.
Her thick golden lashes were permanently coated in cheap mascara to hide the colour, which was a bitch, because it irritated the shit out of her eyes.
Fortunately, her eyebrows were already a shade darker than her normal blonde hair, and with the frame of the glasses, they were hardly visible anyway.
Then there was her face.
Well, she used to be pretty…
Ok. So, Ellen wasn’t stupid.
In her younger days, she used to get more than her fair share of attention from guys, and more than a few nasty comments or looks from girls. But it had been so lon
g since she’d bothered to look at her face properly in a mirror, that she could have sprouted hairs on her chin, and she still wouldn’t have noticed.
There was no point. As long as there was no dirt on her face, she simply put her lenses in, put mascara on, and that was it. No need to look any further.
She supposed her face may have changed a bit over the years. After all, she was twenty-eight now, and she’d only been twenty-four the last time she paid any attention to herself. But she really didn’t care enough to look.
Last but not least was her body.
Well, she was 5ft 6”, so not short, but not tall enough to stand out too much.
She was still quite slim, which actually pissed her off, as it attracted unwanted attention, especially since she had a pretty decent sized chest.
But when she’d tried to put on weight when she first ran away, all she’d achieved was to increase her bra size, so Ellen had given that up as a bad idea, and settled on wearing the ugliest, most boring clothes she could find.
So, jogging bottoms and dark hoodies were now her ‘go to’ outfit.
She had to wear something a bit tidier for her job waitressing, but black trousers and a white blouse were hardly remarkable, and her boss, Gianni, let her wear a black cardigan over the blouse, as he was sweet enough to believe her when she moaned about being cold all the time. The cardigan was what helped her maintain the drab, boring image she chose to portray.
At first, she’d thought Gianni, or ‘G’ as he was known, was going to complain about it, because after all, the restaurant was his business, and he wanted his wait staff to look nice and presentable.
But when the protest never came, she suspected that he allowed her to get away with it because she always smelled so nice.
Ellen couldn’t help how she looked, as it was vital that she blended in with the wallpaper, but she’d be damned if she didn’t still take her hygiene seriously! She may not use the expensive shampoos and body washes that she’d used to, but she made sure she used the nicest smelling soaps and shampoos she could afford, because it also helped make up for the lack of expensive perfume she’d been used to wearing.
And G, God bless him, well, he was a man after all.
Ok, he was at least forty-five, a good fifty pounds into the ‘obese’ column of your average weight chart, and had a wife who basically carried his balls around in her fake Prada handbag!
But even he couldn’t help but sniff her, every time she walked past.
Yeah, he actually sniffed her.
Ellen used to think it was weird, but not so much anymore. She just took it for what it was… male appreciation! And it had been so long since she’d had any appreciation at all, she gratefully accepted whatever she could get.
Besides, G was so not trying to hit on her. Fran would castrate him for even thinking about it! No, G was one of the good guys.
He adored his wife and mum, and treated every other woman with respect. Ellen might work for him, but to G and Fran, she was family, and G was like an overprotective big brother.
Well, all except for the sniffing!
Ellen smiled to herself, picturing his pudgy face.
He was such a sweetheart, and without him and Fran, she didn’t even know if she’d be alive now.
G thought that Ellen had been running from an abusive partner when they met her. Bless him, she thought it played to the Italian family man in him, that he thought he was protecting her. It was so sweet.
Not that she’d given him that much information when she’d started working for him.
Ellen hadn’t been in town more than a few hours when she’d seen the sign in the chip shop window and she’d applied for the job on the spot.
When Gianni had asked what she was doing in town, she had blurted out that she was “just getting away from stuff” and he had happily filled in the gaps. He hadn’t asked any more questions, and had even said he would pay her cash in hand for a while to keep her going.
That was fine by Ellen.
Now she rarely needed to go outside in the day, and the money she earned, along with the tips they shared out, helped her to afford a small flat, quite close to the restaurant.
Ellen knew G would prefer her to be on the books, as he was basically an honest guy. He’d even hinted that he would pay her more if she was. But that would involve National Insurance numbers, tax records and bank accounts, which would require her to provide identification. That couldn’t happen, so he kept paying her in cash.
Ellen was one of the senior staff now, as many of the girls were university students, and they tended to only last a year before moving on. Her wages had gone up a bit since she started, but still, that wasn’t what was really important to her. She had more than enough money with her tips to cover her rent and bills, plus enough to make some small cosmetic improvements to make the flat homely, so she was more than happy with her lot.
Besides, she mused, she had what mattered most to her.
Invisibility!
Ellen checked her watch and found that she’d spent so long day-dreaming, she was going to have to run to work, if she was going to get there on time. She’d promised she’d be there to accept a delivery, as G was taking Fran into Birmingham to do some Christmas shopping.
“Shit! Fuck! Bollocks!”
She giggled as she swore under her breath.
Wouldn’t G and Fran be shocked if they heard her swearing.
Apparently invisible people needed to mind their language!
Chapter 2 -Ellen
“God, it’s bloody freezing out there!” Suzy hissed as she rushed in through the back door. “I swear, the milk in my boobs is frozen solid.”
“Oh, God, Suzy, that’s just gross!” Ellen couldn’t help but laugh at her friend and co-worker. The guys in the kitchen were groaning and making gagging noises like they were trying not to be sick.
“What?” Suzy laughed, grabbing her currently very large breasts. “You guys try carrying around a couple of liquid filled bowling balls, and then see how much you like sub-zero temperatures! I’m gonna have to defrost them before I feed Charlie tonight!”
Ellen rolled her eyes at Suzy, laughing at the way the guys blushed and skittered away to the other side of the kitchen. Suzy seriously had no filter on her mouth. If it went through her mind, you just knew it was gonna come out of those cherry red lips.
Ellen had absolutely no idea why they were friends.
While she tried to avoid smiling any time when they were ‘front of house’, smiling not helping with the whole ‘invisible’ thing she was working on, out back where Suzy was at her outrageous best, Ellen found she couldn’t help herself.
When she’d arrived in town, her mission had been simply to survive. To stay invisible, to blend in, and to make no attachments. She had succeeded for about six months, until this tiny blonde bombshell was hired at the restaurant where she worked.
Suzy had come in for the interview, a university student, looking for part time work to supplement her grants.
Within half an hour she’d left, not only with the job, but also with G agreeing for her to work exactly the hours and days she wanted, even though they weren’t anywhere close to what he was looking to fill!
But that was Suzy. She steamed in, bowled you over and was out the door, before you even realised that she’d been in, turned you over and wrung you out. But she always, but always, left you with a grin on your face, and thankful for her visit.
And almost three years later, Ellen was grateful to her for so many reasons.
Firstly, Suzy was so popular with the customers and so bubbly, that they all focused on her, and barely noticed Ellen. That was good. Really good!
Secondly, the tips, which were shared equally among all the staff, were always better when Suzy was working. Never a bad thing!
And to top it off, Suzy’s beautiful son Charlie was the only male Ellen had allowed to touch her since she’d become invisible.
He was just over six months
old, and on the odd night when their shifts didn’t match, Ellen would babysit for Suzy to give her mum the night off. When she held Charlie, or rocked him to sleep, she felt calm and peaceful. It was such a contrast to the way she normally lived, that it was wonderful.
Suzy was married to Matt, a gorgeous hunk of a man, who Ellen had met on a handful of occasions. He was in the army, according to Suzy, and was stationed overseas for long stretches, so Suzy relied on her mum an awful lot. Charlie had been a bit of a surprise, and the reason for a somewhat rushed wedding, but as they’d already gotten engaged, it had just been a question of bringing the date forward.
Babysitting for Charlie was Ellen’s very small way of thanking Suzy, for being the friend she never wanted, but was so thankful to have.
Suzy knew a little bit of Ellen’s story, well, the few parts it was safe for her to know, and did everything she could to watch out for her. They were a good team.
Charlie, the little cherub, looked to have inherited Suzy’s colouring and smile, but his stubborn chin and love of attention seemed to be all Matt. The guy was a force of nature. Loud, large and full of laughter, Matt was totally drool-worthy, but Ellen reckoned it was the absolute devotion and adoration he showed his wife, that had women sighing over him. He’d been known to get home from his overseas trips, burst into the restaurant and demand loudly ‘Where’s my woman?’!
The first time he’d done it, Ellen was serving a customer some soup, and the poor man nearly had it dumped in his lap! Her heart had very nearly stopped beating.
But hearing Suzy’s squeal, and watching her run across the room into her husband’s arms, had everyone ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’, and even Fran had tears in her eyes, knowing Suzy hadn’t seen her man for more than three months.
Now Ellen loved being there when he did it, as it gave her hope that maybe that sort of love could be for her one day, too.
Ellen didn’t feel a sexual attraction towards Matt, and certainly didn’t want him for herself. She just liked the idea of a Matt out there somewhere for her.