Daddy's Here(34)

“Please,” I muttered, getting ready to shout for Jake. “Don’t do this.”

“I wouldn’t shout if I were you,” he replied, reaching into his pocket. “Things might get messy. Let’s just walk out of here together nice and slow, shall we? A car’s on the way ready to pick us both up. Should be here any minute.”

“I’m not going,” I said, glancing past him to see the bathroom door opening slowly. “Leave me alone.”

“It’s not your decision,” he replied, a sneer forming on his lips.

“No,” Jake said from the doorway. “It’s mine.”

The man spun round to face him as Jake let the bathroom door close behind him. “Stay out of the way, Jake,” the man said. “Tony’s running out of patience.”

“She’s staying with me, Adrian,” Jake replied. “Now I’ll give you a chance to leave. Go and tell him he’s not getting her.”

“You’ve lost it,” Adrian said. “Step aside and let us go. Worry about your own neck.” As he spoke, he suddenly lunged at Jake but he wasn’t fast enough.

Jake sidestepped him, sticking out an ankle and tripping Adrian as he ran forwards. As he began to fall, Jake landed on his back, slamming his head straight into the tiles underneath him.

He lifted his head back up, took one glance at the closed eyes and blood dripping from his lip and then let it fall forwards again. “Come on,” he said, getting to his feet. “Before he wakes up.”

We headed out of the bathroom together, him leading the way. A car was approaching from the distance but Jake seemed to spot the danger at once, taking my hand and turning down an alleyway. “We’ll cut round to the train station,” he said, stepping over a pile of rubbish.

“But we haven’t got any money.”

“We have now,” he replied, pulling a wad of notes from his pocket.

“Where did you get that?”

“You didn’t think I was just playing pool for fun, did you?”

“You won all that?”

He nodded. “Come on.”

We got to the end of the alley and then he led the way back to the train station, watching all the time to see if the car reappeared. Once in the station, he headed for the ticket office, stopping to turn to me at the last second. “Does your father know about Ben?”

“What? No, why?”

“Because he might tell Tony where you’re going.”

“I never told anyone where he ended up.”

“Good. Hopefully you’ll be safe there.”

It was the first time I’d thought about Ben in some time. The thought of what Jake had done to me in the clothes shop and on the train weighed heavy on my mind as he bought the tickets. Had I cheated?

Could you cheat when you weren’t in a relationship with someone? I didn’t think you could but it didn’t stop me feeling guilty about it and I vowed not to do anything else with Jake, no matter how insistent he was, not until I found out what Ben felt about me. God, what a mess, I thought as we climbed onto the waiting train. What a mess I’d made of my entire life.





TWENTY-SIX



JAKE





I needed to let her go. I knew that. Sitting on the train on the seat opposite hers, I struggled to look at her without all the old emotions bubbling up, the ones I’d stamped on for so long.

I leant back on my seat and closed my eyes. If she stayed near me, she’d get hurt. There hadn’t been a single person I’d been close to who hadn’t gotten hurt sooner or later. It was better to keep people out, to go back to my old ways. I could vanish again once I’d made sure she was safe in Gladwell. I could lead them on a chase far away from there, leave a trail of breadcrumbs so they thought she’d gone somewhere else. Better that than the alternative.

I shouldn’t have done that thing on the train. It was a mistake. I’d lost control for a brief moment but I wouldn’t do it again, or so I thought. But then the sight of her naked in front of me in the dressing room had made it impossible to ignore the call of my body. The way she’d looked so lovingly up at me as I slid into her mouth, it was an image I struggled to shake off. She looked so vulnerable but so hungry for me at the same time.

In a way it was lucky the shop assistant had appeared when she did. Otherwise I had no doubt I’d have gone too far, I’d have fallen for her, something that could only end in pain for both of us.

It was jarring enough to be experiencing emotions again for the first time in years. All I’d known for a very long time was aggression and emptiness. But she’d shown me what it felt like to be happy, a feeling I’d long forgotten.