Artifact

by Bowes, K T

He ejected a grumpy Jayden onto the front step with a door key and the code for the burglar alarm. “Make a drink; I won’t be long. Try not to do any damage.” Raff’s smart green saloon rumbled over the cobbles and headed back along Drury Lane to a garage which he rented for a small fortune.

  Jayden sighed and pushed the key into the familiar lock, having done this drill a million times before. “Don’t do any damage,” she repeated in a sarcastic tone. “Don’t touch the walls, don’t keep your shoes on and whatever you do, don’t breathe.” The house felt empty and silent, but the central heating clicked in the gravity-fed radiators, pumping hot water through the metal pipes and warming the huge house. Jayden bypassed the downstairs rooms belonging to the antique dealer and climbed the thickly carpeted treads, deactivating the alarm on the landing. Sumptuously decorated in period style, the flat exuded opulence. Jayden smoothed her fingers over the flocked paper and wondered if she might have succeeded as an interior designer. “No point mulling over lost dreams,” she whispered into the silence. “Fate had other plans for me.” She stroked the textured wallpaper with gentle, seeking fingers, feeling as if she had no right to be there in such grandeur; a farmer’s daughter with a chequered history.

  “Promised I’d be quick.” Raff found Jayden sitting in his kitchen still in her coat and boots, nursing a large glass of Merlot. He kissed the top of her head and gave her boots the most cursory of disdainful glances.

  “I’m cold.” Jayden stuck her tongue out and dared him to make her remove them. “I told you I didn’t want to come.”

  “Watch the carpets then,” Raff grumbled. “My cleaner’s already been this week.” He stole upstairs to the top floor to shower and change his clothes and Jayden trailed him, removing her boots and outer layers as she snuggled against a radiator in the hallway.

  “What’s for dinner?” she called as water slopped and slapped the floor of the shower cubicle. She shifted sideways in the bathroom doorway, her back leaning against the door jamb. The red wine felt dusky on her tongue and her joints and ligaments loosened in response to the alcohol.

  “Take away. Indian,” Raff shouted and Jayden groaned and looked churlish. She wrinkled her pretty nose in disgust.

  “You know I don’t like spicy food. Why invite me and then poison me?”

  “Oh Jayden!” Raff sounded exasperated, his voice muffled by a towel. “I’ll buy something you can eat. I’ve told you I need you here. It’s one bloody night!”

  “Why’s your brother even coming to Lincoln?” She swallowed another mouthful of wine.

  “No idea, he rang as I finished my shift and asked if he could stay.”

  “You don’t need me,” Jayden complained. “Just be honest with him. This is ridiculous! Don’t pretend I’m your girlfriend like you did with your parents, otherwise I’ll drop you on your ass. Your mother sent me cards and letters for months afterwards. She even tried to give me your grandmother’s ring!”

  Raff emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. It left little to the imagination; reaching as far as his knees and clinging to his powerful frame with the tiniest corner tucked in on itself. Jayden looked away and sulked. Raff nudged her with a wet toe and she grabbed at the towel, her eyes alight with mischief. He laughed and skittered away. “I can’t disappoint my parents again,” he stated, his voice lowering with anxiety. “It didn’t go so well for my brother. They want bambini to carry on the family line.”

  “Is he gay too?” Jayden asked in surprise. “You never talk about him.” It made her feel affronted on Raff’s behalf that he perhaps lived a lie because of a sibling’s confession. Raff poked his head around the doorframe, looking comical.

  “No. He’s the opposite, Jay. He denounced the Catholic Church and Father went absolutely loco. Father’s not a priest but he works for them in a non-clerical capacity, as did his father and grandfather. They brought us up in such a strict Catholic environment it caused a massive ruckus. Father didn’t speak to my brother for over four years. The old man took Mother and stomped back to the Vatican for three of those to lick his wounds and seek absolution. Vergine Maria must have stuck her fingers in her ears and refused to intercede for him.”

  “How old is your brother?” Jayden asked with only mild interest, her mind wandering to thoughts of the Virgin Mary’s intercessory role within the Catholic church. “I need someone to speak for me. My prayers aren’t getting through.”

  “Forty-two,” Raff replied with a smirk at her feigned boredom. He emerged from his bedroom, shirt undone to the navel and his hair damp. “And you’re an Anglican, aren’t you? You go straight to the source.”

  “Are you close?” Jayden ignored Raff’s doctrinal answer. Her pupils flared as she worked to bury some deep hurt which threatened to bust open her heart. Raff cocked his head and watched her wrangle, wishing he could access the real Jayden Mitchell. She hid the essence of herself inside a locked vault. A sticking point in their friendship; sometimes a tangible spirit of Fear wafted around her like mist.

  “No. Not really.” Raff fumbled with his shirt buttons. “He’d left by the time I got rid of my teenage acne and realised I batted for the other team. Fortunately, he dropped his bombshell after I started at university here. Otherwise, I’d have been dragged to Rome too.”

  “I thought your parents seemed sweet,” Jayden commented in a soft voice, so laden with yearning it tore at something in Raff’s chest.

  “They are; but they foster high expectations of their sons. Bambini is only one of those and neither of their sons is likely to produce for them.”

  Raff scrubbed at his head with a towel, scattering droplets like chicken feed. He recounted his family crisis and observed his friend, understanding her no better now than he had at the start. The moment dissipated like fog as Jayden ogled him in smart chinos and an expensive white shirt. “You’re a waste of a great body; that’s what you are!” She pouted and Raff did a rude sign over his shoulder and strolled back into the bedroom. Jayden smiled to herself, affirming her oath to celibacy with a wistful force of will. Anyone could look, but she knew love couldn’t be for her. Not now.

  A dreadful thought disturbed her sad musing. “Please tell me you haven’t invited Peter to this fake soiree?”

  “As if!” came the instant retort. Jayden heaved a sigh of relief.

  “Thank goodness. The last thing I need tonight is a showdown with your actual partner.” Peter hated Jayden’s guts with a tangible passion. The problems began the previous year even before Raff first introduced them. Peter’s hostility made dinner engagements impossible, fuelled by Raff’s naïve chatter about his friend, Jayden. When Raff plucked up the courage to put them together, he did it as though they were two strange dogs which he watched for signs of bared teeth and tail wagging. Peter’s nastiness didn’t decrease, despite Jayden’s obvious womanhood. Jayden found it easier to avoid the odious man, seeing Raff at his gym business and snatching moments elsewhere instead.

  Raphael Abbadeli made the perfect friend but even had a heterosexual relationship been possible, his vanity and self-obsession repelled Jayden. Besides, she’d sworn off relationships for life. “How are things with Peter?” She forced out the question, feeling as though she should ask but not wanting the answer. Raff’s silence spoke volumes, the increased tension in his relationship draining him of energy.

  “Not good.” Raff poked his head around the doorframe a while later, slapping cologne onto his shaved face and neck. “His temper tantrums wear me out. We got into a fight yesterday because I don’t want him to move in with me. I’m not ready but he can’t understand that.”

  Jayden’s brow knotted and she cocked her head. “Just keep asserting your needs until he hears you. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to move at your own pace.”

  “Tell him that!” Raff spat. “And don’t give me the counselling crap.” The head disappeared.

  “No thanks. I’ll pass.” Jayden lifted her glass, alarmed to see she’d slurped o
ver half of the luscious maroon liquid. “You’re big enough to fight your own battles.” She sat on the floor with her long legs tucked beneath her, running her own problems through a filter. Her ridiculous reaction to Raff’s surprise visit outside her front door clanged alarm bells in her brain. Extreme, it reminded her of her past and Jayden wrestled with her old friend, Terror. She worked through her rational thoughts, reassuring herself of her safety, both then and earlier. Raff posed no threat to her.

  “Do I look okay?” Raff emerged from the bedroom, his long fingers fumbling with an old fashioned cravat.

  “Fine. Are you giving him take-away for dinner or knighting him?” Jayden allowed the smirk to lift the corners of her lips and Raff sighed and stomped back into his bedroom, ripping the cravat from his neck. “You’re hot property, Raff,” Jayden conceded, calling after him. “And you know it. I don’t know why you bother asking me.”

  He emerged again without the cravat and scoffed at Jayden. “Yeah, sure. I’m real hot property, Jay. I’m the owner of a successful gym which I still run myself each day and I’m worth a fortune, hence the expensive piece of real estate at the top of a heart attack inducing hill. And all that means nothing to my parents, who expect me to produce a pretty wife and cute Abbadeli babies.”

  Jayden shook her head. “You’re a paradox,” she sighed. Despite living a life which trespassed outside the bounds of biblical acceptance, Raff proved surprisingly old fashioned. “And you’re preaching to the choir. Detest the sin and love the sinner. I shamelessly adore the sinner in your case and that’s what matters. You’re over analysing everything because you’re nervous. Put the heater on in the kitchen or I’m going home.” She shivered and drew her arms around her, knocking the empty glass sideways onto the carpet.

  Raff squealed and lurched for the glass, examining it for cracks and then scanning his expensive carpet. “Careful, Jay!” His voice betrayed hurt at more than her carelessness.

  “There’s no mess,” Jayden sighed. “And thanks for not inviting Peter. I hate how he infers I’m not a proper Christian because I love you. Ironic really.”

  She turned to face her friend and clambered to her feet using the radiator. “Do you think he’s after your money?” she asked and watched her friend’s eyes narrow. The small action provided her answer. “Sorry Raff. That sucks.” She reached out to touch his arm, not surprised when he brushed away her offer of solidarity and understanding.

  Jayden helped Raff prepare one of the sumptuous spare rooms on the top floor. They worked in silence and she watched Suspicion alight heavily on his shoulder, pursing her lips and feeling powerless. Raff arrived in the city five years before Jayden’s enrolment at the university, waving a wad of cash from inheritance money and a great business plan. He completed a four-year sports science and management degree and within two years after that; owned the ‘Fat Lads and Lasses’ gym and the house at the top of the hill. Jayden met him when she entered his gym on a trial visit, looking for a way to rid herself of the excess few pounds from poor dietary habits.

  Raff made her an exercise plan, forcing her to attend three times a week until the lumps and bumps disappeared. He changed the routines up at regular intervals, making Jayden grumpy and out of sorts. Attentive to all his clients, he took a particular shine to Jayden and their interesting friendship grew. He stayed on as her fitness coach and forced her to contort herself three times a week, berating her when she got slack.

  Jayden flipped out a pillow case and stuffed the pillow into it with difficulty. “Everything alright at work?” she ventured, hating the brooding silence.

  Raff nodded. “Yeah, thanks. Someone moaned today because I keep the sexes apart. He wants to have sessions where couples can work together.”

  Jayden’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in fear. “No! I like it the way it is. I only came to your gym because I can work out without being mentally undressed by the weirdos who watch themselves weight lift in the mirrors. Don’t change it, Raff. I love that the Fat Lasses stay downstairs and the Fat Lads go to the mezzanine.” She thumped the pillow on the bed and Raff watched her lips work in distress. He shook his head and clambered over the double bed, dragging Jayden into his chest.

  “I’m not changing it, Jay. They know the score when they join. It works and I don’t intend to change what I’m doing for one complaining husband who wants to see his wife wobble around on the treadmill twice a week. Stop worrying. It’s not broke so I ain’t fixing it.”

  Jayden nodded into his shirt, her voice muffled. “But what if they both leave?”

  “Then they leave.” Raff pressed his lips to the top of her head. “My waiting list is massive. Someone else will be grateful for his slot.”

  “You smell good for your brother,” Jayden sighed, inhaling expensive aftershave and pressing her face into his shirt. Raff’s muscular arms felt safe around her shoulders. “I’m sorry about Peter. There will be someone nice for you.”

  Raff nodded, his cheek against her hair. “Yep. Or a vow of celibacy. One or the other.”

  A knock on the front door made them both stiffen in anticipation and Raff took the stairs to the ground floor two at a time. Jayden walked down to the kitchen and waited as she heard male voices. The door slammed and she peered through the window in confusion. Two figures crossed the courtyard, Raff pulling his feet into loafers. His companion pushed a mean looking motorbike over the cobbles towards Drury Lane. She poured another glass of expensive Merlot and wished the evening over.

  Eduardo Abbadeli looked as easy on the eye as his younger sibling. Slighter of build and taller, he owned all of Raff’s distinguished good looks. Their shared genealogy coursed through them; only the crow’s feet at the outer corners of Eduardo’s perceptive eyes and the peppering of grey at the fringes of his hair betrayed his age. The same dark locks and blue eyes shone out at Jayden as she shook his hand, but she felt instant guilt when he produced a small brooch as a gift for her.

  “Oh you didn’t have to. But thank you.” She didn’t deserve it and glanced across at Raff with an unreadable look on her face.

  With gritted teeth, Jayden decanted a bottle of white wine, picking something irreplaceable with a heightened sense of vengeance. Raff gave her a horrified glance and she tilted her chin and poured a large glass for his brother. “Raff’s been saving this for your visit,” she said, seeing Eduardo’s eyebrows quirk up in surprise. He accepted the glass and gave Raff a secretive smile.

  “Not the Glenmorangie this time, fratello?” he asked and Raff shook his head.

  “I puked for a week after a night of your single malt,” he bit, saved by the ringing of the front door bell. He seemed pleased for the excuse to dive downstairs for the food delivery. Eduardo shed his heavy leather jacket and ran his hands through his glossy hair, making it stick up at the front. His eyes narrowed with exhausted.

  “Tired?” Jayden asked as she laid cutlery in front of him. Ed nodded, studying her and shifting sideways so she could set a water glass on the table next to his place. She caught a whiff of masculine aftershave; a musky, spiced flavour which reminded her of her father. It drew her back for comfort and she seated herself next to him on purpose, keen to shroud herself in fonder memories of happier times.

  True to his word, Raff did nothing to infer they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but Ed made his own assumptions. They ate, chatting about current affairs and the state of the economy with Jayden sharing little input. She pushed the food around her plate and yearned for the safety of her apartment and an early night. Eduardo’s phone bleated into the gentle atmosphere like a claxon and he winced in apology. “I need to take this,” he said, pushing his chair back against the glossy black-and-white tiles before rising. He hitched his trousers up one-handed and Jayden caught a glimpse of soft olive skin and tight abdominal muscles. Eduardo moved into the hall, blocking one ear to the sound of cutlery scraping across plates.

  “You’re doing great!” Raff hissed with enthusiasm, making a grab for Jayd
en’s hand. She slapped his fingers away.

  “As an accomplice to a lie!” she snapped and he flapped his hands, glancing towards the door with anxiety in his wide eyes. Jayden turned her face away and eavesdropped on Eduardo’s conversation with shameless interest.

  “It can’t be helped,” Ed said in a low voice. “I’m sorry my friend. Don’t worry about anything; I’ll take care of it.” He returned to the kitchen with disappointment in his eyes and Jayden gave him a smile of sympathy.

  “Everything okay, Eduardo?” she asked and he nodded and wrinkled his nose.

  “Call me Ed,” he replied, avoiding her question. “It’s what family call me.” His beautiful smile caused her heart to pound and she nodded and looked away in confusion. Multiple expletives coursed through her head and she glared at Raff with pure anger.

  Ed settled to the remains of his food, refusing the offer of more from the detritus of white containers. Jayden continued to make patterns with hers across the bone china dinner plate. Another round of hammering sounded on the door. “Ooh, is that dessert?” she asked in sarcasm, pleased to see Raff wince.

  “No.” He skipped downstairs, his back stiff. “It’s like bloody Piccadilly Circus,” he moaned under his breath.

  Even from the floor above, Jayden and Ed heard the rancorous argument which rose up the stairs. They both got to their feet, but the commotion reached the landing before they’d abandoned the spiced remains of their meal. Peter burst through the doorway, his eyes alight with venom. Jealousy fluttered above his head, snagging strands of his hair in gnarled claws. “Oh, I might have guessed you’d be here!” he snapped, his eyes resting on Jayden. His words emphasised her presence as usurper in his assumed kingdom. He turned to face Raff. “Why do you always wheel her into your plans? For pities sake, leave the woman alone! What’s wrong with you? Can’t you see what she’s doing?”

  Embarrassment settled on the room like a stifling blanket, overheating everyone except Peter, who continued to rage. Ed remained standing and his eyebrow quirked across at his brother’s ashen face, asking without words if he wanted intervention. Raff shook his head imperceptibly and Jayden watched as something snapped within her friend’s psyche. The noise and ready flow of testosterone sparked awful memories for Jayden and they spewed into her inner vision like a video rerun. Raff squared up to Peter, fury in his blazing eyes. “Leave Jay alone!” he shouted into the other man’s face.