‘Revoked membership,’ I whisper. ‘He got too excited.’
He directs his cold eyes back at me. ‘He takes what he wants and leaves a trail of shit behind him,’ he snarls, his words punching all the air from my lungs. I notice Jesse stiffen from head to toe. ‘He fucks them all and fucks them off.’
Turning my gaze back on Jesse, I find his eyes are still black, his frown line a burden on his forehead. ‘Why?’ I ask. I don’t know why I’m asking this. It’s not going to make a jot of difference. But I feel I deserve some sort of explanation. He fucks them all – once – and fucks them off.
‘Don’t listen to him, Ava.’ Jesse steps forward. I can see his jaw is tense to snapping point.
‘Ask him how my wife is.’ The nasty piece of work spits. ‘He did the same to her as he did to all the others. Husbands and conscience don’t get in his way.’
And that’s all it takes to tip Jesse over the edge. He turns and flies at the man like a bullet, taking him clean from John’s grasp and to the parquet floor on a loud crash. Sam yanks Kate back and there are a few gasps, as everyone watches Jesse kick ten tons of shit out of the man.
I’m not compelled to scream at him to stop, even though he looks like he could possibly kill him. I walk out of The Manor and get into my car. Kate flies down the steps, racing towards me. She jumps in but doesn’t say a word. When we reach the gates, they open without me stopping. I’m surprised – I was preparing to ram them down.
‘Sam,’ Kate says when I look at her. ‘He said we’re better off out of here.’
I hadn’t considered, until now, that all of this is news to Kate as well. She seems ever the laid back, take it in her stride, Kate.
I, however, feel like I’m freefalling into Hell.
Chapter 37
I walk through Kate’s front door and straight upstairs to the flat like a zombie.
Bless Kate. She makes no attempt to try and extract more information from me. Instead, she lets me fall onto the sofa in a tear stained heap and brings me a cup of tea.
My eyes widen when the front door slams. Kate runs out to the banister. ‘It’s just Sam.’ she reassures me as she comes back into the lounge.
‘He has a key?’ I ask. Kate shrugs it off, but this small snippet of news has me smiling to myself. Will she take it back in light of this new found knowledge?
My phone rings again and I reject the call…again.
Sam steams into the lounge, looking as nervous as he did at The Manor. We both look up at him as he does a little tennis spectator impression, flicking his eyes from me to Kate and back again a few times.
Stalking over to Kate, he all but hauls her out of the lounge by her elbow. ‘We need to talk.’ he says urgently. I crane my neck around, watching as he practically throws her into her bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
I lie on the sofa, my tea resting on my stomach, and close my eyes. They don’t stay shut for long. Mental images of Jesse are imprinted on my brain, and with my eyes closed, there’s no other visual distraction, so they are all the more clearer. I’m never going to be able to sleep again. My phone starts again. Reaching down, I stab the reject button, staring up at the swirly artex ceiling of the lounge.
I’ve never felt pain like this before. It’s excruciating and way beyond fixable. He owns a fucking sex club? Why? Why couldn’t he be a banker or a financial advisor? Or…a hotel owner… I knew there was something wrong, something dangerous. Why didn’t I take a few moments to try and gather my senses? I know exactly why – because I wasn’t allowed to, I wasn’t given a chance to.
I sit up when I hear Kate’s high shrill travel across the landing, followed by Sam’s placating tones trying to calm her down. She flies out of her room with Sam in tow. He’s struggling to pull her back.
‘Get your fucking hands off me, Samuel. She needs to know.’
‘Wait a minute…Kate…arhhhhhh! What the fuck did you do that for?’ Kate retrieves her knee from Sam’s groin, leaving him in a folded, groaning mess on the landing, before barging into the lounge and punching me with her blue stare.
‘What?’ I ask, apprehensively. What do I need to know now?
She throws Sam a filthy look when he appears at the lounge door grasping his groin. I’m left wondering why Sam’s looking so apologetic when it’s Kate that’s just kneed him in the balls. She points at the chair aggressively, silently demanding him to sit. He limps over, lowering himself on a painful hiss.
‘Ava, he’s on his way over.’ she tells me calmly. I don’t know why she chooses this tone. It’s not going to calm me – not at all.