“Oh no you don’t missy. My office, now,” she says pointing to her office door, her eyes narrow on me as her other hand holds her phone to her ear. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
But I’m getting confused as to who she is talking to.
I point at my chest in question and her eyes narrow into slits. How the hell can she look out of them? She points to me and then points to her office door, yes, she’s talking to me. I do as she wants and wait for her in her office. I jump as she shouts. “Want to tell me why that arsehole is going to be seeing the light of day?” Who is she talking about? I’m on edge now as I try to remember if I have done anything for her to want to talk to me about and I try to work out who the hell she’s talking to.
“Listen here, you little shit. You promised me that he wouldn’t be able to get out, that he’d been a complete arsehole while he’s been inside. Tell me, Sharon, how does that fucking prick manage to get out?” She screams again, her voice shaking as she does. Sharon is Pen’s solicitor, I’m seriously wondering what the hell is going on right now. She’s never been this shook up before, it’s seriously worrying.
It goes silent right before her heels click against the floor; they’re getting closer to the office and my body tenses as I wait for her to come in. My heart races. My palms are sweaty, I rub them against my leggings, but I can’t get them dry. I lift my head when the energy of the room changes, Pen’s here. Her eyes are filled with tears and her hands are shaking; it looks as though she’s about to drop her phone.
“Pen, what on earth is going on?” I whisper, scared as to what the answer is going to be.
“My ex-husband has been released from prison. That arsehole was serving a life sentence, he’s killed while he was inside and all of a sudden new evidence has come to light and he’s been released.” She walks behind her desk, taking a seat in her chair she leans her head against the table. “I don’t understand how they can just let him out.”
“Pen, surely that can’t be right? New evidence comes to light, that doesn’t mean that he can be released does it?” I have no idea how the justice system works but that doesn’t sound like its justice to me. That sounds like someone has made one hell of a mistake.
“That’s what I’ve been on the phone to Sharon for, I’m in the same mind as you, I mean the man’s been convicted of murder and one piece of evidence just sets him free, that can’t be right. Sharon has no idea what’s happening but she’s going to look into it.” She places her palms on her eyes, her fingertips shaking as she does so.
“Where is he now?” She must be in contact with him since she’s found out that he’s released especially when her solicitor has no idea what's happened.
“He’s here in London, at our old house. I took all the money and left him the house, I needed all the money to have a fresh start, to get away from him and make a life for myself.” Her voice is still shaky. “He wants to see me and that’s not going to happen. I’m hoping he’ll be back behind bars before the night’s over. If not, I’m calling the news channels, the newspapers, posting on every social media site there is. There’s no way that bastard is going to live a life on the outside.”
“Pen, you need to calm down. You’re getting worked up and it’s not going to help anything. Sharon’s checking things out, wait for her to get back to you before you decide what to do next,” I say calmly. Right now one of us needs to be.
“Nat, he was convicted of killing Annalisa.” My eyes widen, and my mouth drops open. Oh fuck, no wonder she wants him to stay behind bars. “Yeah, he was the arsehole who sold my daughter the dodgy drugs, he also sold them to others who thankfully didn’t die.”
“Pen, I’m so sorry.” My eyes burn with unshed tears, everything is happening at once and it’s really taking its toll.
She nods, she’s getting herself under control. “Nat, are you going to tell me what’s been going on with you? I thought for a while you were finally taking steps in the right direction, you were happy and smiling and now, it’s like having a bloody teenager around again. You’re moody and withdrawn so spill it, what’s happened?” She’s getting back to her bossy self; her arms are now crossed as she leans back in her chair waiting for me to answer.
As much as I’d love to spill my guts, I can’t, not today, not when she’s dealing with her ex-husband. She doesn’t need to be burdened with my shit as well. “I’m fine,”
“Cut the shit, you’re not fine,” she fires back seeing straight through my lie.
“Honestly Pen, I’m fine, just tired.” I lie through my teeth and pray that she leaves it as that. She looks at me not saying a word and I stare back at her, my head held high. She sighs, good she’s bought it. “So, what am I meant to wear to this bloody thing tonight?” I ask changing the subject and my eyes narrow when her face lights up. “Pen…” I groan. “What the hell are you up to?”
“You’ll find out, come with me upstairs, I have an outfit picked out for you already.” She rises from her chair gracefully, I follow her upstairs, not looking forward to tonight whatsoever.
Stef and I shared a taxi, she was meant to drop me off at Piccadilly Circus but instead we both got out at Leicester Square, it’s not that far of a walk for me to go but I’m in a dress that has me very exposed. It’s not revealing or anything sexy, it’s very reserved and that’s why I’m scared. My clothes are like my shield, when I’m wearing them, I’m someone else, I’m the prostitute, I’m able to be confident and self-assured. Now, I’m vulnerable and self-doubt kicks in, the shoes I’m wearing aren’t helping either. I’m in a pair of ballet flats, I told Stef I’m wearing them because I had a blister. The truth is, Pen told me that I need to wear them. That the client is short and it’s not good to make the client look bad or for them to be uncomfortable. Never mind me, as long as the client is happy that’s all that matters.
I arrive at the bar and there’s no one waiting outside for me, that’s strange, maybe they don’t realise that they’re meant to wait for me, maybe they’re inside already? “You look beautiful.” That sexy voice calls out and my eyes immediately close. “Natalie, you’re always stunning though, you always take my breath away.” That Irish accent of his always sets my pulse racing.
“What are you doing here?” I ask through clenched teeth as I turn around and face him, what is it about this man that gets me so angry but yet at the same time makes me want him so badly?
His arms are outstretched as though he wants me to walk into them and hug him. “Nat, I’m Richard, everyone calls me Richie for short.” His arms fall down to his side as he stares at me. Those fucking green eyes of his, I wish he’d close them and stop staring at me.
Betrayal hits me, he set me up? “You’re a fucking arsehole. Didn’t you hear me the last time I saw you. I told you to leave me the hell alone. Are you incapable of listening?” My mind races, did Pen help him set this up? She was way too eager to help me get my clothes sorted for this evening, she was the one to pick my outfit, she must have known it was him, but I never told her about him, the only one who I told about Richie is Stef and there’s no way that she would’ve done this.
He walks closer to me. “Natalie, I did listen to you, I fucking listened to every single word you said.” His voice is deep and his accent thick. “Every day I’ve missed you.”
I shake my head, I’m not listening to his fucking bullshit, I’m not letting him do this to me yet again. “Don’t, just don’t. I’m going to go home now, and I never want to see you again.” I’m angry. How fucking dare he do this to me again?
He holds his hands up in surrender. “Please will you just spend the evening with me? My friends are waiting on us.”
I don’t budge, I cross my arms over my chest and wait for him to say whatever it is that he hasn’t yet said, that he’s dying to get off his chest.
“Natalie, please will you stay?” His fingers cup my chin and his thumb caresses my cheek. “Please,” he whispers.
“Fine but piss me off and I’m going
,” I warn him, I seriously must have mug written across my bloody forehead, why am I giving into him so easily?
He pushes his luck by wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my head. “You smell divine.”
I pull away from him while muttering “You’ll need divine intervention by the time I’m finished with you.”
“Babe,” he says, and I spin around and my eyes widen, as that the fucker smiles at me. “Let’s go inside before they send out a search party.”
I take a deep breath and follow behind him. Music gets louder, the closer we get to the door. Nerves hit me as he opens the door, I’m about to meet his friends. I’m bloody crazy going along with this, I should have walked away as soon as I saw it was him that had hired me, instead I’m a glutton for punishment and all that happens is I get hurt, no one else, me.
“Oh, my God, is this her? Is this Natalie?” The woman speaking has an even heavier Irish accent than Richie.
“Mary-Anne, what are you playing at?” he asks angrily. Jesus, his accent is thicker and sexier than ever.
Wait! Mary-Anne? Shit, it’s not just his friends. Mary-Anne is his sister. I remember him telling me about her when we first met. I seriously can’t believe him, why is he doing this to me? My life isn’t some game.
“Shush you.” She waves her hand, and Richie’s eyes close in pain. “I’ve been wanting to meet her for months. My brother told me about that first date you had—he was smitten at first sight.” Mary-Anne’s smile is wide. She looks so happy as she glances between Richie and me.
“Really?” That’s so fucking weird, I mean her brother was dating someone else and yet she’s been wanting to meet me for months? I’m confused. Did he not tell her about Jessica? That can’t be right, if he told his sister about me after one cup of tea, he had to tell her about Jessica—they were dating for a couple of months.
“Yes, I knew that Jessica wasn’t the girl for him.” She gives him a dirty look and I feel awkward standing here. “No, I told you all along what the problem was, you messed up, you should have fixed it.” She’s angry, and I have no idea why, but whatever it is it’s making Richie blush.
“Richie, shall we get a drink?” I suggest, anything to get away from whatever spat these two are having.
The arsehole puts his hand on my waist and leads me towards the bar. “My sister doesn’t get out much.”
“How about you remove your hand before you lose it?” I say yet again through clenched teeth.
He laughs but does move his hand from my waist. “I’m sorry about Mary-Anne, she doesn’t think before she speaks.”
I shrug as I lean against the bar. “Don’t need to apologise to me. She seemed nice…” A bit over the top but nice. “However, she’s mad at you and maybe you need to sort that out?”
“She’s always mad, she’s got Colm still living with her and he’s a pain in everyone’s arse. She wants him gone but he’s got nowhere else to go, he’s burned every single bridge he has. Mary thinks that I should be doing something.” Whenever he talks about Colm, he gets angry, whatever’s happened between them Richie isn’t forgiving him anytime soon.
“About that drink?” I ask, and the bloody arsehole pulls me into his arms and hugs me. “Get the hell off of me.” I try to push away from him, but the fucker has a tight grip on me. “Richie, seriously let me go.”
He does as I say, and lets go of me, and I walk over to an empty table trying to get away from him. He’s messing with my head so much tonight, I hope we’ll be going soon I don’t think I can take much more of this. “I’ll get you a drink,” he says softly, he sounds defeated and I really hope that by the time I go home he realises that me and him aren’t going to happen.
Two hours later and I’m still sitting at this table, I’ve had two drinks and had Mary-Anne talking my ear off the whole night, that and having Richie keep pulling me into his arms. I’ve been hugged more times tonight than I have been in my entire life, it’s pissing me off. “Natalie, are you okay?” Richie whispers against my ear, sending goose bumps throughout my body.
“How much longer do we have to be here?” We’ve all watched on as the happy couple cut their cake, they’ve been toasted and congratulated all night long along with being photographed more times than the bloody queen.
“We can go home now babe. Let’s say our goodbyes and we can leave.” He holds his hand out for me to take and smiles when I do so.
“Aww, you’re not leaving, are you?” Mary-Anne cries, coming over and pulling me into her arms, what the hell is wrong with this family and them hugging people?
Richie takes a pen and piece of paper out of his pocket. “Yeah Mary, we’re leaving. Shauna and Mike won’t even notice that we’re leaving,” he tells her as he scribbles something down on it and shoving them back into his pocket when he’s finished. “Besides, you should probably be going soon too, you’ve a flight to catch in the morning.”
“Are you still okay to give me a lift?” She asks pulling him into a hug, her voice sounds as though she’s about to cry. She must be flying back to Ireland tomorrow. I look on as they whisper to each other, whatever they’re saying is private, so I turn and grab my bag off the table and exit the pub, giving them privacy.
The door opens and I glance in that direction, glad that Richie’s finally finished. “Okay, I’m going to go home now, I would say thanks for a great evening but we’d both know I’d be lying.”
He laughs at me. “You may have had a shit evening, but I had a great time.” He walks up to me, his hand reaching out to touch me, but I move out of his way. “Natalie, I meant what I said that it was a mistake to walk away from you.” His hand goes into his pocket and he passes me that piece of paper. “My number. Call me?”
I shake my head; we’ve done this before. “Goodnight Richie.” I turn and walk away, not wanting to listen to any more lies.
“Natalie, it’s true. I’ve made mistakes in my life, some worse than others, leaving you that morning and never coming back is the biggest regret I have.”
I turn back to face him, angry that he’s saying this. “I’m not anyone’s sloppy seconds, Richie. You just broke up with your girlfriend, don’t come crawling to me.” I have a big fake smile on my face as I turn back and leave him standing in the street.
As soon as I get far enough away the tears come, I’m so stupid, I want to go back to him, I want him to throw his arms around me again as he has done many times tonight. My mind is seriously messed up, I’m confused as to what I want. A part of me wants him, has always wanted him but then the other part of me tells me that all he does is hurt me, he’s not worth the heartache. My hand balls up into a fist and my fingertips touch something rough, looking down I open my hand and see that bit of paper Richie gave me. I shove it into my pocket and carry on walking away.
Chapter 12
My doorbell ringing wakes me up, rolling over in bed my hand grabs for my phone. Glancing at the time, I groan. Ugh, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning, what type of arsehole wakes someone up on a bloody Sunday morning at nine?
“Natalie, I’m not leaving until you answer this damn door,” Penelope shouts and I groan, of course it’s Pen, that woman never sleeps. She pounds on the door and I throw my covers off of me and climb out of bed. “Natalie?” She pounds on the door again.
“I’m coming,” I yell out, why does she have to shout so early in the morning? I rush to the door and open it before the neighbours get grumpy because of the noise she’s making. As soon as my hand touches the door handle, I’m yanking it open. I come face to face with a pissed off looking Penelope.
She walks into the house and straight into the kitchen, I close the front door and follow her and I’m surprised she’s putting the kettle on. I take a seat at the bar and wait for her to turn and face me, to tell me what’s wrong with her. Of course, she just can’t come out and say whatever it is, she makes two cups of tea and places one down in front of me and the other down in front of her as she takes a seat oppo
site me.
The cow takes a sip of tea before looking at me. Hurt slashes through her eyes. “Natalie,” she says, and I close my eyes, nothing good ever comes from starting a conversation by saying my name, it’s like a death sentence.
“Penelope,” I return with a smile, I may as well try to lighten things up.
She shakes her head, nope, she’s not in the mood. “Natalie, I’m deeply hurt. I have asked you on several occasions what has been going on and you’ve brushed me off each and every time. I was a fool and believed you when you told me you were fine.” Tears gleam in her eyes.
I close my eyes as pain hits me in my chest. “Pen…” I whisper, mad that I’ve upset her, I never intended to.
“Why Nat? Why didn’t you tell me that things have gotten worse?” The disappointment in her voice hurts. “What is it going to take for you to finally trust me?”
My eyes widen, trust her? “Pen, God, I do trust you. You’re the first person I trusted since my mum died.” I need her to realise that I do trust her, that me not confiding in her isn’t because I don’t trust her.
The hurt that she had is slowly fading from her eyes. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
I shrug. “I didn’t want to be any more of a burden to you than I already am.”
“You are not a burden. Don’t you dare even think that, I love you like I love Annalisa. Natalie, I may not have given birth to you and I know that you have a mum already but to me you are my daughter, you could never be a burden to me, not ever,” She says fiercely.
“I love you too. You’re my family Pen, there’s no doubt about it, you’re stuck with me for life,” I reply with a smile, happy that I have told her how much she means to me, she’s done so much for me and I’ve never showed her that she’s appreciated and I’m hoping by expressing how much she means to me she understands how much I love her.
The Scars Of Life (The Working Girls Book 4) Page 10