Roman's Having Sex Again

by Nikki Ashton

  I nodded. ‘Would you hold the face of the man you hated while you kissed him?’

  She shook her head. ‘What the hell are they up to?’

  ‘No idea.’ I shrugged. ‘But before I speak to Roman about it, I’m going to find out.’

  ‘Just tell him,’ she said.

  ‘He’s not speaking to me, don’t forget.’

  ‘He’ll listen to this.’

  ‘But what does it prove? Caroline kissed her ex, so what?’

  Emma’s eyes widened. ‘It proves that she is up to something. What I have no idea, but it’s obviously dodgy. Think about it, she asks for a roof over her head, and he nicks Roman’s new client. That can’t be a coincidence. And imagine what Roman would say if he knew Jack had been in his house?’

  I exhaled, knowing that she was right, but I still wanted more to take to Roman. Something that would ensure that he’d listen to me, and not just tell me to go away and stop being dramatic. The way he felt about me at the moment, I wasn’t sure he’d ever speak to me again, anyway.

  ‘We need to follow them,’ I said, the idea growing in my head. ‘I need you to follow her.’

  Emma grinned and bounced in her seat. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a spy,’ she said, clapping her hands excitedly. ‘Dad owes me a few days off, I can do that.’ She fished around in her bag, finally pulling out a pad and pen. ‘Right, tell me what you know about her routine.’

  ‘Well, she takes Maisie to nursery on a Tuesday and Thursday, so that she can do “her jobs”, whatever they are.’

  ‘Okay, so that’s tomorrow sorted. What time does she take her?’

  I told Emma everything I knew and watched as she wrote it all down.

  ‘What about you?’ she asked, drawing a line under her notes.

  ‘Are you going into work as normal?’

  ‘No,’ I replied, with a thin-lipped smile. ‘I’m going to see what Jack Abbott is up to.’

  The next day, I pulled up in front of the cottage that Pippa shared with Jack, I had to wonder whether I was doing the right thing, and what actual difference it would make. So what if they were really together? So what if Jack had pinched Roman’s job, and the two things were connected? What difference would it make, other than Roman losing Caroline as a friend—it wouldn’t get him the Cromwell job back? Yes, I’d be happy about Caroline being out of his life, but would it matter if Roman and I weren’t together? If he never spoke to me again?

  Despite all those thoughts, I knew that I had to try and find out what was going on. I had considered that maybe they were simply in the process of reconciling, but something about the way she kissed him made me think that they’d never been apart, or at least had been back together for a while.

  While I was convinced it was all to do with getting at Roman, they were also making a fool out of my sister. Yes, part of me felt she deserved it, after taking money from Mum and Dad, but she was a foolish princess who believed herself to be in love. I wanted to sort this out for her and Roman. The biggest part of me, though, was doing it for selfish reasons: because I felt I needed something to redeem myself with the love of my life; because I couldn’t stand the thought that he might never speak to me again.

  What I hadn’t thought about was whether Jack would be home. I just hoped that he’d be at work, seeing as he had so much to do after stealing the French job. Plus, it was a Tuesday morning, Caroline’s day of ‘doing her jobs’ and I had a sneaky suspicion that Jack Abbott may be one of those jobs! I heaved a sigh of relief when there was no sign of his van.

  ‘Summer,’ Pippa gasped, as she opened the door.

  Her face lit up, and I couldn’t help but pull her into a hug. She had done the worst thing possible, but she was still my little sister and I loved her. I didn’t like her very much at the moment, but I did love her.

  ‘Hey, Pip,’ I replied. ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘God, yes. Come in.’

  She ushered me into the lounge, indicating for me to sit on the expensive-looking sofa that I’d sat on during my previous visit.

  ‘Can I get you a drink? Tea or coffee?’ She was angled towards a door, that I assumed led to the kitchen. ‘I’d offer you something to eat, but we don’t have much in until we go shopping later.’

  ‘Just water thanks.’ Caffeine wouldn’t do as I had a pounding headache. I suspected it was from all the crying that I done the day before, but the stress of the whole situation didn’t help either.

  A couple of minutes later, Pippa came back with a large glass of water for me, and a glass of orange juice for herself.

  ‘How are Ma and Dad?’ she asked, a blush touching her cheeks.

  ‘They’re fine,’ I replied. ‘They’re going to the caravan this afternoon. Spending a week or so there.’

  Pippa nodded and picked at the designer rips in the knees of her jeans.

  ‘I rang them, you know. To apologise.’

  ‘I know,’ I sighed. ‘You shouldn’t have needed to apologise, though, Pip. You shouldn’t have taken the money in the first place.’

  She opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again, before giving a quick nod of her head.

  ‘So,’ I said, breaching the silence that I didn’t have time for. ‘Where’s Jack?’

  Pippa looked at me and frowned. ‘Work, where do you think?’

  ‘Hah, the work that should have been Roman’s’

  ‘Please don’t start, Summer.’

  I held my hands up. ‘Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll shut up. He’s your choice, and we have to accept that, whether we like it or not. I came to see you, to check that you’re okay, that’s all.’

  Pippa’s shoulders relaxed as she moved back on the sofa, bringing her legs up.

  ‘I’m fine, just a bit bored with Jack being at work getting ready for France.’

  I bit back the sniping remark I wanted to make and nodded.

  ‘I bet. So, when does he go?’

  ‘Day after tomorrow.’ Pippa sighed heavily and pouted. ‘He’s going to be gone for at least two weeks, initially, which is shit.’

  Two days didn’t give me much time to figure out what was going on. Once Jack was in France, I’d have little chance of proving he was still with Caroline.

  ‘What are you going to do while he’s gone?’ I asked, my eyes skimming around the room—for what I had no idea.

  Pippa shrugged. ‘Don’t know really. I won’t even have a car, Jack’s driving his van over there.’

  ‘Pip, you can’t stay here for two weeks without transport. You’re at least five miles from the nearest shop.’

  ‘Jack’s going to take me shopping tomorrow, to get everything I need.’ Pippa’s eyes were focussed on her glass. She couldn’t look at me because she knew I’d see in her face how unhappy she was about the situation.

  ‘Why don’t you just come home?’ I said on a long breath. ‘Just while he’s away.’

  She paused for a few seconds, as though she was thinking about it, and then shook her head.

  ‘No, I’ll be fine. It’s only two weeks. I’ll spend the time looking for a job.’

  ‘Yes, about that. What did Mr. Devine say when you just upped and left?’

  Pippa worked as a secretary for a local solicitor, and while her boss, Mr. Devine, was lovely, I’d no doubt he’d be annoyed at her leaving without notice.

  ‘He wasn’t happy,’ she replied, a guilty blush touching her cheeks. ‘He told me that he had been going to sponsor me towards becoming a paralegal. He was going to tell me at the end of the week.’

  My mouth dropped open in a gasp.

  ‘Pippa, you have to go back. That’s a fantastic opportunity.’

  ‘No,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘My life is here now. With Jack.’

  ‘Jack and your designer shoes,’ I muttered, slamming my glass down onto the coffee table with some force.

  ‘Hey, what does that mean?’ Pippa asked, her brow furrowing.

  ‘All those bloody shoes you’ve bought. You
obviously used Mum and Dad’s money wisely.’ I knew my tone was bitchy, but she damn well deserved it and more. I thought she was being let off lightly after what she’d done.

  ‘I haven’t bought any shoes,’ she replied, her own tone hard and forceful. ‘I gave all that money to Jack for some materials. I certainly haven’t bought any shoes. You’re the one that spends stupid money on that sort of thing, not me.’

  ‘You gave all the money to Jack?’ I asked, my eyes wide with disbelief. ‘You really haven’t bought anything?’

  ‘No,’ Pippa said with a pout. ‘I just told you that.’

  My heart thudded hard as I thought about the boxes of designer shoes upstairs. If they weren’t Pippa’s, then they had to be Caroline’s.

  ‘I need the loo,’ I said, quickly getting to my feet.

  ‘Okay, you know where it is.’

  I nodded and rushed up the stairs.

  Quietly I pushed open the door to the bedroom where I’d seen the shoes. They were still there, neatly piled up, all nine boxes of them.

  I stared at them. I loved my shoes, and there would be no way that I would leave nine pairs of designer shoes with my ex-partner. Especially if I hated him as much as Caroline was supposed to hate Jack. I’d be scared he’d do something to them. Plus, if I was as hard up as she claimed to be, I’d put them on eBay and try and make myself some money. That way, I’d be able to put a roof over my daughter’s head.

  They were all neatly stacked too. What man would take the time to stack boxes of women’s shoes? Especially if they belonged to an ex. And why had he brought them from his other house to this one? Why didn’t he just dump them, or sell them? He evidently hadn’t given them to Pippa, otherwise she’d have said so when I mentioned them to her downstairs, surely?

  I moved over to the boxes and flipped one open. It was empty—so was the next one, and the next one. My heart sank: maybe he was selling them after all, and not keeping them for Caroline?

  ‘Why isn’t he selling them in the boxes then?’ I whispered.

  I looked around the room, but there was nothing that gave me any hint as to what was going on. I had no idea what I was looking for, anyway; I just knew something wasn’t right. It also struck me that the clothes rails were now also empty.

  Tiptoeing out of the room, I sneaked past what I assumed was the bathroom, and down a short corridor to another room: Pippa and Jack’s bedroom. It was clean and tidy, unlike Pippa’s room at home, where clothes were strewn everywhere; maybe Jack did have some positive influence on my sister.

  I opened the wardrobe and looked inside, and apart from some of Pip’s clothes that I recognised, it was half empty. Moving over to a chest of drawers, I searched them and found only women’s underwear. So, unless Jack had some sort of fetish, all his stuff was gone. There were also two cabinets either side of the bed, one side was full of make-up, a hairdryer and straightening irons, while the other was empty.

  Either Jack Abbott had never lived here, or he’d packed up an awful lot of stuff for two weeks in France.

  Knowing that something strange was going on, I ran back down the stairs, and into the living room, where Pippa was still on the sofa, looking out of the window.

  ‘I think we need to talk,’ I said.

  Pippa turned to me, and I saw then that she was crying.

  ‘Pippa,’ I said, softly. ‘Tell me what’s wrong.’

  ‘Oh Summer,’ she cried, ‘it’s been awful. I’ve been here all alone, without any money, barely any food.’

  ‘What the hell has Jack been doing?’ I rushed to her side, dragging her into my arms. ‘He’s not been here,’ she snivelled against my shoulder. ‘He brought me here, made some excuse about going back to Rickeby to finalise some paperwork and never came back. He only came back yesterday to get his things.’

  Her sniffs suddenly became full-on sobs, as she snuffled against my chest getting my top wet.

  ‘Oh Pippa,’ I said, soothingly. ‘Why didn’t you ring one of us, or tell me and Roman, or me now, when I first arrived?’

  ‘I didn’t know he wasn’t coming back when you and Roman came around, and I’m just so embarrassed.’

  She pulled away from me and wiped at her face with her hands.

  ‘He said last night that he was sorry, and he’d make it up to me when he got back in two weeks.’

  ‘But he left you here with no car or any money.’

  ‘He said,’ she replied with another sniff, ‘that he’d left me some cash by the bed, said to use it on food and taxis, but it was only after he’d gone that I went up to check and there wasn’t any. That’s when I saw he’d taken everything, all his clothes, everything. He’s not coming back, is he?’

  ‘The bastard!’ I hissed. ‘I take it you were telling the truth when you said you’d given him all of the three grand?’

  Pippa nodded, and started to cry again.

  ‘I feel such an idiot, Summer. It’s not as though the sex was that good.’

  I wrapped Pippa in my arms again and slowly rocked her until the tears subsided.

  ‘Okay,’ I said finally. ‘Let’s get your stuff together and get you out of here.’

  ‘Ma and Dad are going to go beserk, aren’t they?’ she asked with trepidation.

  ‘Probably not,’ I sighed. ‘They’ll just be glad you’ve come home, but please don’t do anything so stupid in future.’

  ‘I won’t, don’t worry. I’m off men for a while.’

  I gave a little laugh and shook my head; unlikely if I knew my sister.

  ‘What do I do about this place?’ Pippa asked, as she started to gather up a few of her things that were dotted around the room. ‘I think he rented it in my name.’

  ‘Yeah, probably,’ I said, snarkily. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll ask Roman to sort it.’

  Then tears pricked at my lashes. I couldn’t ask Roman as he wasn’t speaking to me. Before I could think anymore about it, Pippa dragged me into a tight hug.

  ‘You’re the best sister ever, you know that don’t you?’

  ‘Whatever, but just remember that next time I want to borrow your MAC lipstick. Anyway, let me call the ‘rents and tell them that you’re coming home.’

  ‘You won’t be able to here, there’s no damn signal,’ Pippa complained, pulling away from me. ‘To be honest, I’d rather you didn’t just yet. Let them enjoy the rest of their holiday.’

  ‘I won’t call them today, but tomorrow I will.’

  Pippa opened her mouth to speak.

  ‘No, Pip, they’ve been worried enough.’

  She nodded and left the room to pack her things.

  I fished my phone out of my pocket, and considered sending them a text, but Pippa was right, there was no signal. With a sigh, I put it back in my pocket and went to help Pip.

  ‘God,’ Pippa groaned, as we pulled into the drive of our family home. ‘How many alerts did you have? You should have let me just answer the damn thing for you.’

  She was right: my phone had been going off with voicemail alerts, texts and unanswered calls since we’d hit a signal spot a few miles away from the cottage, and I’d not had it connected to my hands-free.

  ‘You go in and I’ll check who it is.’ I guessed it was possibly the office. Stupidly, I hadn’t called in that morning, and with Roman on-site, they were all probably wondering where we were.

  I looked down at my phone and saw messages from Emma and—unbelievably—Roman. With my heart beating faster than was probably healthy, I bypassed Emma’s five messages and went straight to the first of Roman’s seven:

  Grumpy: Can we talk?

  Grumpy: Take it your lack of response means no. I’m sorry for storming out but felt hurt.

  Grumpy: You can’t ignore me forever xx

  Grumpy: Now I’m getting pissed off. Answer your phone. I’ve said I’m sorry xx

  Grumpy: I missed you last night, it was shit – I stayed with Mum & Dad shows how lonely I was without you. I love you so much and am sorry for being a
dick, now stop being damn precious and answer your phone xx

  I smiled at that one. How could one man be so sweet and yet so grouchy in one text?

  Grumpy: Seriously, baby, I’m getting worried now. I rang Emma and she said you’re following Jack Abbott!! WTF!

  Grumpy: Summer, please let me know that you’re okay. I’m scared shitless here that something has happened. If he’s hurt you in any way, I’ll fucking end him xx

  I saw that there were also eleven missed calls from him, so, without hesitation, I pressed the call button.

  ‘Summer,’ he answered breathlessly. ‘Oh God, baby, are you okay?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I replied, unable to stop stupid tears from falling. ‘I do trust you and I love you, and I know you wouldn’t hurt Alfie.’

  ‘Forget about that, I should have told you about the fight.’ His voice had a tremor in it: a mixture of relief and love. ‘Just tell me that you’re okay, and that he hasn’t hurt you.’

  ‘Roman,’ I said on a quiet sob, ‘I’m fine, honestly. I didn’t even see him.’

  ‘Oh shit, thank God.’ He breathed heavily, and I heard a muttered curse. ‘Where’ve you been, then?’

  ‘With Pippa,’ I replied. ‘He conned her Roman, took the money from her, and then left her at that cottage alone. She’s had barely enough food to eat, and no car, or money, but was too embarrassed to call us.’

  ‘Fucker!’

  ‘I know, but she’s home now. She’s just worried that he’s rented the house in her name.’

  ‘Tell her not to worry,’ he said, quickly. ‘I’ll sort that out for her.’

  My heart doubled in size, because I knew he would help, and I hadn’t had to ask.

  ‘There’s something else,’ I chewed on my bottom lip, hoping that I hadn’t got this wrong. ‘I think Jack and Caroline are still together. I don’t think they’ve ever been apart.’

  There was silence for a couple of seconds, and I expected Roman to scoff and tell me that I was being paranoid, or even just plain bitchy.

  ‘What makes you think that?’ he asked.