He continued to watch and there was no doubt in his mind, they were having an affair. Matty would be devastated when she found out. After a few minutes they embraced again, and Ethan left her and returned back along the path the way he had come. Josh stayed hidden in the bushes until he had gone, then headed back to camp and reported what he had seen to Camilla.
***
That evening, Camilla pulled Shelly aside.
‘I hear you’ve been spending time with Ethan. What’s going on?’
‘Um... nothing’s going on.’
‘Don’t lie, Shelly, you’ve been seen spending time with him alone. Now tell me what’s going on.’
Shelly burst into tears and Camilla decided a softer approach was required.
‘You’re not in trouble, I just need to know what’s going on.’
‘I’m in love with him,’ she replied, unable to look Camilla in the eye.
‘So, you’ve been seeing him behind Matilda’s back?’
Shelly nodded.
‘Has he said anything unusual to you?’
‘What do you mean?’
Camilla took a deep breath as she wondered how to get her to open up.
‘How long has this been going on?’
‘A few months; it started not long after I got here. He was nice to me, made me feel welcome, and special. Please don’t make me stop seeing him.’
Camilla sighed, unsure how to handle this potentially dangerous situation.
‘Look, Ethan can’t be trusted, and he’s done this before. I can’t stop you sneaking off with him, but all I can say is this. Be careful. Don’t tell him I’ve spoken with you, and let me know if he says anything strange to you, or asks you to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.’
Shelly nodded her agreement and Camilla dismissed her.
***
Josh told Damion about how he thought Ethan was having an affair with Shelly.
‘Have you told Camilla?’
‘Yes, she said she’d have a word with her about it.’
Damion stormed over to Camilla to find out what was going on.
‘It appears he’s having a relationship with Shelly. I’m not sure what he’s playing at, but she thinks she’s in love with him and that it’s reciprocated.’
‘The little brat. I’ll give him some unreciprocated,’ he said, then stormed off again.
‘Damion, come back here, don’t you do anything stupid!’ Camilla called after him, but he ignored her.
He found Ethan alone while Matty was putting their children to bed.
‘A word please,’ he said, and grabbed him by the arm and led him into the woods.
‘What do you want?’ Ethan spat at him.
‘I want to make sure you don’t hurt Matty. That’s what I want.’
‘Why? Are you in love with her? I’ve seen the way the two of you giggle when you’re together.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Matty’s less than half my age. She’s a friend, and I like to look out for my friends.’
‘You’re jealous of me, Damion. You’re an aging old man who could never get a girl like Matilda.’
‘You’re deluded if you think I want your wife. What’s wrong with you?’
‘Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m young, charming and can have any girl I like. I mean that’s what life is all about isn’t it. Procreating, spreading seed to produce the strongest of the race. You don’t belong here Damion and you don’t deserve Leonora, she’s too good for you. And before you ask, yes, I’ve had her too!’
Damion couldn’t stop himself as his fist flew out and punched him on the nose.
Chapter 40
Damion and Leonora headed down to the beach.
‘What happened to your hand?’
‘I punched Ethan.’
Leonora gasped. ‘But why?’
Damion told her about Ethan’s affair with Shelly.
‘Well, he’s a good-looking young man, I can see how she could be easily swept away by him.’
‘He also said he’s slept with you.’
‘Well, he lied to you Damion, there is no way I’ve slept with him. I’ve known him since he was a baby for God’s sake. Surely you didn’t believe him.’
‘No, of course not. He wound me up, that’s all. I was angry with him for cheating on Matty, and he found a way to make it personal to me.’
‘Damion, you have to remember it’s not cheating here. We are free spirited, there are no rules to bind us to one person.’
‘I know, but he’s sneaking around and Matty would be hurt by his actions. I don’t trust him, Leo.’
‘He’s still young, Damion, please don’t let him get to you. You’re bigger than that.’
It was typical of Leonora, not taking sides. She found a way to see the best in everyone, no matter how bad they were. Just this once though, he would have liked her to side with him, to rant and scream and agree with him, but it wasn’t in her nature.
‘Camilla was livid that I punched him. It was worth it though, to see the little punk bleeding everywhere.’ He laughed as he remembered it.
‘You are incorrigible. Maybe Ethan was right, and you don’t belong here.’
Damion felt as though he’d been punched in the stomach. What did she mean by that? He let her words slide, assuming she was joking.
‘Well, you won’t have to put up with my wicked ways for much longer. Apparently Alice has agreed to come to London to meet me, so we’ll be heading back tomorrow.’
‘That’s great, I’m pleased you’ll finally get a chance to meet her. It will be good closure for you. How long will you be gone?’
‘Probably no more than a couple of weeks. I’d like to meet her and spend some time with her, especially since she’s coming all the way from New York.’
‘I’ll miss you, Damion.’
He looked into her eyes and noticed a tear rolling down the side of her face. He wiped it away gently with his thumb. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ She turned away from him.
He stroked her hair, then gently turned her face so she faced him.
‘Hey, tell me what’s going on? It’s unlike you to be so emotional.’
‘I’ve seen how your eyes light up when you have an upcoming trip back to London. I know how you’d love to move back there, to show Molly and Ben off to their grandparents.’
‘Only if you came with me. I’d never leave you and the kids.’
‘You know I’ll never go back, but it’s selfish of me to stop you going.’
‘You know I never go for more than two weeks at a time.’
‘I know, but it’s still not fair on you, or the kids. They’d love to explore the outside world, to meet their grandparents, and possibly their half-sister.’
‘Leo, you’re scaring me talking like this. I won’t leave you, I love you too much.’
‘And I love you too, Damion, more than you will ever know.’
Chapter 41
A week later, Alice packed her bags while Charles was at work. He had told her if she went to London, then she wasn’t to come back, and it would be over between them,
The slap in the face had been a wake-up call for her. She couldn’t understand people who stayed in abusive relationships and knew if it ever happened to her, she would walk, immediately. But she hadn’t. Charles insisted it was an accident and had been so apologetic, she’d believed him. Ever since, he’d treated her like a princess, always the perfect gentleman. He’d even stopped making a fuss about her seeing her friends.
But she’d had enough of his moods and his control over her. The opportunity to go London was too good to refuse and she was excited about it. She’d stay with Jenna and Luke tonight and fly out the next day with Dave.
Charles didn’t know she was leaving. She’d been too afraid to tell him in case he tried to stop her. Instead she left him a note on the kitchen table.
‘Charles, I’m sorry, but I’ve gone to London to meet my father. Allie.’
She left it short and brief, not wanting to be melodramatic. He’d given her an ultimatum, but she didn’t care. Despite the way Charles had treated her sometimes, she still loved him. The good times far outweighed the bad. But it wasn’t the life for her. She needed to spread her wings, not settle down.
Luckily, she hadn’t accumulated much, her entire life existing in a backpack. She took one last look around the beautiful apartment, then stepped out of the door to new adventures.
***
The next morning Alice woke up with a horrific hangover. She had partied hard the previous evening with Jenna, Luke, and her friends. They’d had a leaving party for her in a bar across town, where Charles would never think to look for her. She was worried how he would take it when he found out she had moved out.
He might have been able to guess she was staying with Jenna and Luke, but she hadn’t heard from him. She still had the phone Dave had given her, but she’d never told Charles about it, so he had no way of contacting her.
At 9.00 am Jenna received a phone call from the bar downstairs informing her Charles had called the previous evening, trying to get hold of Alice. Luckily Jenna had predicted this and had lied to the bar staff, telling them Alice had already left for London, and to pass on the message. Alice wanted to explain to Charles why she was going but Jenna absolutely forbade it.
‘Look, you didn’t listen to me when you moved in with him, but you’re going to listen to me now. You are not to contact him!’
‘But I still love him. Surely I owe him an explanation.’
‘No, it’s like a Band-Aid, you’ve just got to rip if off. Call him from London if you like, but not before you leave. You know how persuasive he is, he’ll try to stop you leaving. If he truly loves you he’ll let you go, and be waiting for you when you return.’
Alice stifled a sob. She knew Jenna was right, but she so badly wanted to see him, to cuddle him and feel his warmth. Jenna disappeared into the bedroom and Alice heard her making a phone call. After a few minutes later she came back out.
‘Dave’s coming around now to take you to the airport.’
‘But our flight’s not until this afternoon.’
‘I’m sorry Allie, but I don’t trust you not to contact Charles. I have to go to work now, so I’m unable to keep an eye on you. Dave will take care of you and prevent you from doing something you might regret for the rest of your life.’
***
Dave and Alice sat in the first class lounge at JFK. Alice was used to lounges, having always travelled first class with her parents when she was a child. They found a comfortable sofa and sat down with a beer each.
‘So tell me some more stories about my father.’
‘Well... he’s smart. Very smart. Won a scholarship to Cambridge to study law.’
Alice smiled. She’d always found schoolwork easy and wondered if she had inherited this from him.
‘He’s always been a loyal friend, always had my back. I was naughty at school and Damion was my saviour. I once got into trouble for eating in the library, and Damion, who was the Head Boy, told the headmaster he was eating too. The headmaster then said he couldn’t give the Head Boy a detention, so I got off as well.’
‘He was Head Boy ? Is that like a class president?’
‘Kind of, except he wasn’t elected by his classmates, he was given the role by the teachers.’
‘And what’s so wrong with eating in the library?’
‘Oh, in English schools it’s very wrong, believe me!’
‘That sounds pretty lame. What else did he save you from?’
‘I was hoping to keep my naughty school days to myself, I have a reputation to uphold you know.’
‘Too bad, I want to hear all the sordid details. Go!’
‘Okay then, here’s another story. We’d been to a school party one weekend, and I still had a partial bottle of vodka left. So, I poured some into a hip flask and took it to school on Monday. At lunchtime, I chugged some back and I didn’t feel a thing. So I had some more, and some more, until it was all gone. Then, when we got to class, suddenly everything became hilarious. I burst out laughing at anything anyone said. Damion managed to calm me down, so I held my giggles back. Then a giant belch leapt from my mouth before I could stop it.’
Alice screeched with laughter. ‘What happened then?’
‘Everyone turned and glared at me. I remember one girl giving me the filthiest look. Damion stood up for me though, telling them I had eaten a bad prawn at lunchtime and wasn’t feeling well.’
Alice laughed again. ‘Did they believe him?’
‘Hey, everyone believed Damion. He was the straightest dude at school and everyone loved him. If he said something, people listened.’
‘So what happened next?’
‘Well, my bladder was about to burst, so I got up, announced to the class that I needed to go to the loo, then used the wall to walk in a straight line out of the classroom. I fell asleep on the toilet for the rest of the class.’
‘That’s hilarious. With your pants down?’ Alice laughed as she imagined it.
‘Sure were. Thankfully Damion came and saved me after the class ended. He dragged me along to the next class, where I sprawled my arms out on my desk, and slept. When the teacher asked what was wrong, Damion told her I wasn’t feeling well, and she believed him! He was such a good friend.’
‘You sound like a real character. What else?’
‘Nothing, that’s it.’
‘Oh come on, I want to hear more about my superhero father while laughing at your escapades. Give me something juicy!’
‘Okay, one more, but you mustn’t tell anyone.’
‘My lips are sealed.’ Alice pulled a pretend zip across her mouth.
‘I was smoking a joint behind the bike shed when I saw Anthony, one of the prefects, coming towards me.’
Dave noticed Alice’s blank look, so he explained. ‘Prefects are appointed by the teachers. They’re like little school police, patrolling the grounds and other things which I won’t bore you with. As Damion was Head Boy, he was in charge of all the prefects. Anyway, Anthony started heading towards me, so I stubbed out my joint and walked away from him. He called out to me, but I ignored him and kept on walking. I saw Damion up ahead, so I picked up my pace a bit. When Anthony caught up to me, he was out of breath, as if he had been running. He said he’d seen me smoking and I was to accompany him to the headmaster’s office.’
‘Oh no, what happened?’
‘I denied it of course, but I was shitting myself, knowing I had a bag of weed in my pocket. Luckily, Damion arrived and asked what was going on. Anthony told him he saw me smoking, so Damion agreed to take me to the headmaster’s office. Anthony carried on his patrol and Damion took me on his own. On the way there, Damion let me use the loo, so I ducked in and hid my weed under the cistern, ready to collect it later.’
‘Did he know what you were up to?’
‘Of course. Well, I didn’t tell him outright, but when I said I needed the loo, he would have figured it out, or at least suspected something. I’ve told him about it since.’
‘You sound like a right terror. You’d probably be in jail if it weren’t for my dad!’
‘True, bet you can’t wait to meet him.’
Dave was right, Alice couldn’t wait to meet her superhero father.
Chapter 42
Charles arrived home that evening, tired and grumpy, having lost $100,000 playing poker. He usually won, but occasionally he had massive losses like this. He’d try to recover his money, but today it hadn’t worked. The more he tried the more he lost.
He entered his apartment and instinctively knew Alice wasn’t home, the lack of human presence deafening. She’d better not be out partying with her loser friends again. I’ve almost had enough, he thought.
He headed into the bedroom to change out of his suit, his usual poker playing attire. He liked to emit a successful image at all times, even when he was playing a mug
’s game. He knew he was addicted, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was his job, he told himself, and it was better than working from nine to five like most of the other losers in the city.
He pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and headed into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of red wine, annoyed that Alice didn’t have dinner prepared for him. A note on the side of the table caught his eye.
He picked it up and read it, then breathed a sigh of relief. Oh thank God! he thought. The bitch had been driving him crazy and he wasn’t sure how much more of her he could take. She’d been getting on his nerves, with her insolence and constantly wanting to do things. He wasn’t sure of the implications, but it was now out of his control.
She’d earned him a lot of money, but keeping her hidden had become a struggle. Initially he’d been told he would only need to keep her for a couple of weeks, but it had dragged on and had worn thin on him. He’d done his best, he told himself, and he now wanted his life back.
Martin Bickford-Smith had been controlling him for too long. He’d hoped that when he’d been killed in a car accident five years ago, that would have been the end of him, but he kept coming back. He’d now replicated his brain into a younger version of himself. Charles knew all about that, having been one of the first prototypes.
Ten years previously he’d been down and out, living on the streets and addicted to drugs. Martin had approached him, cleaned him up, and offered him a place to live, in return for allowing him to experiment on his brain. Initially, Martin did some work to erase the part of his brain that made him addicted to drugs. Charles, whose real name was Jed, had been astounded how simply it worked. He’d been hooked up to some electrodes and some headphones. Martin had told him the process was controlled by a computer program. Apart from a mild headache, he didn’t notice anything. One day he’d been a drug addict, then next day the cravings had disappeared like magic.
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