Watching Over You

by Sherratt, Mel

  As an afterthought, Jean glanced up and down Warwick Avenue. The car he’d arrived in was nowhere to be seen. Ella must have been up to her usual tricks. Bang ’em and chuck ’em out, Jean called it. She sighed – young women these days. They might have more stamina than her but some of them had far less morals and convictions. Jean had only slept with George in her entire life.

  She wondered if anyone else in the avenue had seen them coupling outside. It seemed to Jean that Ella wasn’t bothered in the slightest if anyone did see her, the way she paraded around naked in her front window. Sometimes, Jean wondered if she wanted to get caught out. Or did Ella think that other neighbours would be watching her, peeping on her like she did? Maybe Ella was turned on by that thought.

  Jean moved back to settle in her chair again, hoping to get an hour or so of sleep. Sometimes her life was so mundane, but every now and then, she got a little slice of excitement.

  Ella flounced upstairs and closed the door to her flat with an almighty bang. She marched down the hallway and into the living room where she threw herself onto the settee face first. She began to pummel a cushion. Damn that stupid bitch. How dare Charley make promises she didn’t intend keeping! Didn’t she realise how hurtful it was?

  Despite being sore from her encounter with the barman last night, Ella made herself feel better the only way she knew she could. Spent after a couple of minutes of frantic masturbation, she sat up again but Charley was still on her mind. Why would she deny everything? They had a spark – whether friendly or something more meaningful she wasn’t sure yet. She’d spoken to her truthfully about her sex life last night. Ella didn’t want to come on to her yet but, once she’d been let down by a fella or two, she would be all hers – or rather, all Cassandra’s.

  A plan began to form in her mind for their night out.

  Don’t be so ridiculous.

  Ella covered her ears.

  She won’t go out with you. She has far better things to do.

  ‘La la la la la!’

  Who in their right mind would want to spend time with you? Look at you; you can’t even get a man to call your own, never mind setting anyone else up.

  ‘Go away!’ In a desperate attempt to rid herself of the taunts, Ella ran into her bedroom. She went into the walk-in closet, closed the door behind her. In the darkness, she slid to the floor and sat with her head in her hands. Maybe the voice would go soon. If not, she was going to get very, very angry.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ella had a hard time containing her excitement about the planned night out with Charley that following weekend. So much so that she’d logged onto One Night Only and gone out for sex on three consecutive evenings during the week. Continually thinking of the time they would spend together made her horny. She wasn’t quite sure what it was about Charley yet – was it purely the need to look after her, as any good friend would? Or was she missing signs that Charley wanted to take things further? Either way, she’d been disappointed when they’d failed to meet up again. Each time she’d caught her coming home in the evening and had asked her to pop up for a drink, Charley had politely refused, saying she had too much work to do.

  Lying awake on Thursday morning, Ella turned onto her back, wincing at a sudden pain in her stomach. She groaned. What the hell? Pulling back the duvet revealed a mass of angry bruising below her ribs, easily as big as a tennis ball. She tried to think back to the night before? Who had she met? Damien – that was his name, and, by the look of what they’d got up to, he certainly had been the anti-Christ.

  Carefully, she got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. It was there she saw the full horror of her injuries. There was another bruise on the bottom of her back and a few scratch marks. She touched her stomach gently, grimacing again at the pain. Think, THINK! How the hell had she got that bruise? Had Damien given it to her or had she somehow caused it herself? Had they got too rough or had she picked a fight with someone as she was often prone to do? Shit. She wouldn’t be able to find out, either – rules were rules on One Night Only. Unless individuals passed on details to each other, all contact information on the website was deleted once two people had met. And she hadn’t emailed him personally, just through the site. Unless she contacted the administrator to report him for bad behaviour, which she couldn’t do because she wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, she would have to live with not knowing.

  Naked still, she sat down on the side of the bath and switched on the hot water tap. Noticing another bruise on her elbow, she tried to cast her mind back again, but nothing. Ella hated that it was becoming a regular occurrence, getting so drunk she couldn’t recall anything.

  ‘Stupid fucking bitch.’ She slapped her face as hard as she could. ‘You know better than to lose full control.’

  It makes you feel better until the next time. You know there’ll always be a next time, don’t you?

  She spotted the red dress she’d gone out in scrunched up on the floor behind the door. She picked it up – there was a tear down its side. She looked again, trying to remember. But everything was blank.

  Suddenly, she turned off the tap and stepped into the bath. Then she switched on the overhead shower, turning the dial to cold. Sitting down, she let the water cover her, wash away her fear, take away her anger, cleanse her of evil.

  But the water didn’t do anything. Not that she expected it to – nothing seemed to calm her down just lately. Maybe she never would be at ease.

  She hugged her knees and began to shiver, wondering what would become of her if the blackouts continued.

  At the end of a long, but thankfully not too eventful, week at work, Charley logged off her computer at five thirty and rummaged under her desk for her handbag. There were only a few people left in the office but she and Lynne had wanted to finish off some case notes before they left.

  ‘Off so soon, Charley?’

  She looked up to see Aaron approaching her desk and smiled. ‘Well, it’s the weekend and all that.’

  ‘Any plans?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, I’m going out with the new neighbour tomorrow night.’

  Aaron clutched his chest and staggered backwards, blue eyes showing mock pain. ‘Tell me what he’s got that I don’t have.’

  ‘It’s a she, not a he.’

  ‘Oh, my.’ Aaron folded his arms. ‘So tell me what does she have that I don’t have?’

  ‘Nothing!’

  ‘I’m serious. I’ve been trying to get you to come out for months. You change addresses, make a new friend and all at once, I’m forgotten? Men have hearts too, you know.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’ Charley could see where his light-hearted banter was heading. ‘And I stole yours – is that what you’re going to say next?’

  ‘Well, I –’

  ‘You’re such a sweet talker. If you must know, I agreed to go out with her after too many glasses of wine. It’s only for a few drinks in Hanley. I doubt I’ll be out for –’

  ‘Stop right there!’ Aaron held up a hand to silence her. ‘You’re going into town?’

  Charley nodded.

  ‘For a drink – in a pub?’

  Charley knew he was winding her up. ‘So will you be there tomorrow night?’

  ‘I was going to give it a miss,’ he waved his hand to dismiss her comment, ‘but seeing as you might be there…Any idea where you’re going?’

  ‘No, but there’s hardly much choice now, is there? Not like when we were younger.’

  ‘Speak for yourself. I’m still young.’

  ‘You’re desperate, I’ll give you that.’

  ‘Look, do you want me to buy you half a lager and share my kebab with you later?’

  ‘Ha ha, very funny.’

  ‘What on earth are you two wittering on about?’ Lynne came bustling into the office, putting a file down onto the desk before sitting in her chair.r />
  ‘We’re going out tomorrow tonight,’ Aaron said, pointing first at himself then at Charley.

  Lynne looked up in confusion. ‘You mean both of you?’

  ‘Hmm-hmm,’ said Aaron.

  ‘As in. A. Date?’

  ‘Hmm-hmm.’

  ‘No, we are not!’ Charley laughed as he sauntered off backwards, making a heart-shape at her with his fingers.

  ‘The Exchange,’ he shouted before he left. ‘You’ll find me in The Exchange.’

  ‘He’s serious about you,’ Lynne spoke without taking her eyes from her computer screen.

  ‘It’s banter,’ Charley told her as she searched in her bag for her keys.

  Lynn bobbed her head up and pushed her glasses down her nose.

  ‘It is!’ said Charley.

  ‘I’m just saying…you could do much worse. He’s a nice guy and mad about you. Why don’t you give him a try?’ She laughed. ‘Something for the weekend, madam.’

  Charley tried to look shocked but laughed too. She thought back to her conversation with Ella last week. ‘I must admit,’ she said, ‘I do miss the closeness of being a couple.’

  Lynne shook her head. ‘I much prefer a cup of tea. It’s far less mess and besides, I’m too old for all that rolling around now.’

  Charley smiled. She knew that what Lynne had been through with her ex-husband would scar her for the rest of her life. It was no wonder she’d become somewhat guarded and protected over the years. She’d been through so much; age had nothing to do with it.

  ‘So?’ Lynne asked.

  ‘So?’

  ‘I want to hear all about it – every detail – on Monday morning.’

  ‘Give over!’ Charley hitched her handbag onto her shoulder. ‘Like anything is going to happen that quickly.’

  On Saturday afternoon, Ella lay curled up on the settee after taking a nap. Although annoyed that Charley hadn’t wanted to go shopping with her – and that she hadn’t invited her downstairs to share a bottle of wine while they readied themselves for the night ahead – anticipation fizzed up inside her. She hadn’t been out for a girlie night in ages. She cast her mind back…no, she couldn’t remember ever going on one, really. She didn’t need any long-term friendships now, though, not since she had found Charley. And besides, she didn’t want anyone to find out about Cassandra. The fewer people knew about her and One Night Only the better as far as she was concerned.

  Lately, it had become harder to keep Cassandra under wraps. Sometimes it didn’t do to cross her. Ella ended up in more trouble than if she’d been nice to her and let her out to play. Take last week, when she’d brought home the barman – Matthew, was that his name?

  Why do you want to hide me, Ella? I am a big part of who you are.

  Ella closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of Cassandra’s chides. This was her night out and she wasn’t going to let her spoil it. She had a chance to build up a proper friendship, something she hadn’t had in a long while. And besides, Charley needed help to get over Dan and move on with her life. She was going to see to it that Charley moved on. And she knew exactly how. Her plan wouldn’t fail. Afterwards, Charley would be hers and hers alone.

  Feeling the urges building up inside her again, she got up quickly and ran to her bedroom. It wasn’t time to get ready for at least another hour yet but she stripped, pulled open her underwear drawer and rummaged through it. The first thing to catch her eye was the red number – she’d treated herself to it only last month – a vintage-inspired corset in rich satin, with a lace-up back detail and heavy boning that she hoped would give her some curves. Ella loved its front hook & eye closure, putting her in control of exactly how much she wanted to reveal and when. She found the side-tie thong to go with it. Then she rummaged again. She had a padded plunge bra to match. That would do instead of the corset. It was only for herself anyway. Where was it?

  She found it at last, pulling them both on in a hurry. She knew that Charley wouldn’t be seeing any of her yet but she wanted to imagine how she’d feel wearing something so sexy, so naughty, sitting next to her. Or maybe she’d be better going commando, sit with her legs open. Thoughts of Alex in Rendezvous came back to her. She groaned in her eagerness, lying back on the bed to relive it all.

  Charley had been looking forward to the night out a little more as the week had gone on, but that afternoon, all her doubts suddenly came rushing back. She wasn’t sure she was ready to go out as a single woman, facing crowds of people in noisy bars, making a fool of herself again if she drank too much through nerves and…well, feeling old.

  She anguished over what to wear. Not too dressy; not too casual. Killer heels or comfortable wedge shoes. At least she had a natural glow from the weather they’d had recently, although the autumn coolness was in the air now that it was mid-September.

  But along with all the panic came a smidgeon of excitement. She was looking forward to going out. In the bedroom, she flicked on the closet light, stepped inside, and rummaged through her clothes. For the first time in ages, she felt full of life as she pulled on an outfit of dark skinny jeans and a sleeveless top before slipping into her shoes. She checked herself out in the mirror and grinned back at her reflection – not bad for her age, either. Bunching up her hair and piling it on top of her head, she wondered whether to clip it up or wear it loose. She pulled down a couple of strands for added allure, then let it all drop. She would leave it free.

  Glancing at the photo of Dan beside her bed, she reached over for it and ran a finger over the glass. ‘I do love you,’ she whispered into the quiet of the room, ‘but tonight I might have a bit of fun. I hope you don’t mind.’

  She put the frame back. It was silly, she realised, but knowing he would be pleased for her put her at ease. And Lynne was right – she could do much worse than Aaron. So maybe, if it was okay with Ella, they could head to The Exchange some time during the evening.

  Ten minutes later, she was blotting her lipstick when she heard a knock. She checked her watch: it was quarter to eight. Ella was early but she was ready. A final glance in the mirror and she went to answer the door.

  Ella stood there in a short black dress, the highest of red heels and a long-sleeved lacy cardigan. Her hair was loose too, shiny, and she looked fresh and younger with a little more make-up, ready for a night out.

  ‘You look amazing!’ Charley complimented her. ‘I feel so under-dressed now.’

  ‘Of course you’re not. You look divine.’ Ella held up a bottle of wine. ‘One for the road?

  ‘I –’

  Ella pressed her thumb and index finger together. ‘A teeny weeny one?’

  ‘Oh, go, on then. Why not?’

  She stepped through and Charley closed the door behind her.

  ‘I’m so excited about tonight, Charley. I haven’t had a good laugh in Hanley for ages. I think it will be brilliant, you and I going together. I thought maybe we could start off in The Exchange and then go further into town. There’s not much to choose from but I can show you where I hang around and maybe meet –’

  ‘Slow down!’ Charley held up her hand. ‘I’m having a job keeping up with you.’

  Ella grinned. ‘Sorry. It’s been a good week and I want to celebrate in style.’

  ‘Oh?’ Charley poured drinks while Ella stayed in the kitchen doorway. ‘Any particular reason?’

  They went through to the living room.

  Ella shrugged. ‘No, just life in general is going well.’

  ‘That’s always great to hear.’

  ‘How about you?’

  ‘Me? Oh, the usual stuff, as in nothing exciting has happened. I’m just deciding whether to do an evening course at Staffs Uni or if it would be too much alongside my work.’

  ‘What would you do?’ Ella stood in the window, looking out to the avenue.

  ‘I’m not sure whethe
r to go for something academic that would help me with my job or do something enjoyable.’ She laughed nervously. ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘Something that doesn’t demand too much attention?’

  ‘I suppose. I’d like to qualify in something but I’m not sure I have the energy to be a student again.’

  ‘I can imagine.’ Ella turned back to her. ‘All that partying…’

  ‘I meant all the revising for tests and exams.’

  Ella smiled. ‘I know. I was winding you up. Besides, I’ve never been to college or university so I wouldn’t have a clue what it’s like.’

  ‘Have you never wanted to?’

  A taxi pulled up outside, beeping noisily.

  ‘Blimey, an early taxi. Better get a wriggle on.’ Ella drained her glass. ‘Come on,’ she encouraged, pushing Charley’s glass up towards her mouth a little. ‘Down the hatch in one go.’

  ‘I’ll be drunk in no time!’

  ‘That’s the general idea. We’re going to have an unforgettable night!’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Twenty minutes later the taxi dropped them off in Hanley. Situated on the corner of Trinity Street and Marsh Street, the Old Victorian Telephone Building stood red and regal, almost out of place as traffic queued up against the lights at the crossroads. The Exchange was spread over two floors. Above the doorway, the words Telephone Building were scrolled on top of the brickwork. The plush entrance and stone steps almost made Charley feel like a little girl as she ran into the hallway.

  It was a popular venue, with the contemporary feel of a bar similar to one found in London or Manchester – high ceilings, wooden floors, and a laid-back atmosphere. Already it was filling up nicely for a Saturday evening, although it was still pleasant to stand near the bar. People were eating in the dining area, a thirtieth birthday party taking over the bottom of the room; there were pink and white balloons at three tables.

  They ordered drinks and moved over to the far end of the room.