“Thanks, baby,” she purrs.
“No problem. Listen, I need to shoot, you want me to call you a cab?” I ask.
I see the question in her eyes and pray I’m not going to have a hissy fit coming my way. I can usually sense those women and avoid them at all costs, but I barely remember last night or how I ended up with this one, so I’ve no idea what I’m dealing with. Still, I could always knock on Shelly’s door for some help if I need it.
“Naa, that’s okay, I’m gonna bounce.” She smiles.
I feel sweet relief and pull my laptop out pretending to busy myself while she gets dressed.
“Well, I had fun.” She shrugs. “Maybe we could do this again?”
I glance up knowing this could go one of two ways. “No.”
She smirks. “Bye, baby.” Then leaves, and I clench my jaw. I was lucky, this time she was like me, obviously just in it for a quick fuck and no expectations—those women are rare, and I’m usually careful. A whole thirty seconds in Via’s presence, and I’m fucked all over again.
LIV
“Come on, it’s been two fucking days.”
“Ugh.” I shove my head under the pillow and try to block out Helena’s voice.
“How much alcohol have you consumed since Saturday night?” she asks with a tut.
“Leave me alone,” I complain, whining.
“Like fuck,” she responds. Helena swears a lot, but when she gets angry, her swear word to normal word ratio gets skewed heavily on the former side of the scale.
“Really? You’re going to kick my arse out of bed?”
“Yes. Stop sulking. The dickbrain isn’t worth it. Anyway, we have work tonight.”
I peek out from under my pillow at the wrong time. I’m staring straight at the window and only get a glimpse of Helena’s back before she rips open my curtains, and the light terrorises me. I’m momentarily blinded.
“God, it smells like a skunk had a bar fight in here,” she complains, opening all my windows. I drag my duvet tighter around my shoulders and snuggle back down under my pillow, barely lasting ten seconds before she rips my cocoon away from my body.
I lay still, knowing I can’t fight her anymore. She was good and gave me two days, two longer than she wanted to give me, I’m sure.
“Fine,” I grumble throwing my arm across my face.
“Finally, I’m getting through to you. I’ll wait in the living room, there has to be something compelling on TV. You go shower. Now,” she demands. I open one eye from under my arm and watch as she gathers up my duvet.
“What are you doing?” I croak.
She stops and frowns at me. “You think I’m leaving you alone with this baby? Umm, no. Now hurry up!” She stalks out of my room dragging my poor duvet with her.
The minute she’s gone, I sit up and search for my phone. I let out a relieved breath when I find it down the side of my mattress. Squeezing my eyes together, I’m not sure I want to look at it. I know I sent a text to Isaac while I was sharing my bed with JD yesterday. Dropping my head slightly, I peer down at the floor and yeah, there’s an empty bottle, I drank it all. “Sorry JD, it was good while it lasted… I think,” I whisper to the clear glass and rub the back of my head.
I can’t put it off anymore. I need to see what I sent and if he responded.
“I can’t hear the shower in there!” Helena shouts through the flat, making me chuckle.
“I’m getting there, now shut up,” I reply. I’m surprised I don’t have a raging hangover. A nearly full bottle of whiskey has made my memory blurry, but I don’t feel unwell, just tired.
Grinding my teeth I grab my mobile, but when I check it the battery’s dead, and I can’t decide whether I’m relieved or upset. Sighing, I plug it in to charge and go into my en-suite bathroom. It sounds fancy, but it’s not. Still, it has all I need, and while I wait for the shower to warm, I turn on my iPod dock and press shuffle. I step under the stream of water as Janet Jackson comes over the speakers with ‘Again’—it’s like she’s detailing my life story.
Closing my eyes, I duck under the water and sing quietly along to the words. I inherited my mother’s talent, but few people know that. Mum shines when it comes to singing. I’m not her, and I don’t want to be. I think when I was younger I wanted to be separate from my parents as much as possible because of the tight rein they tried to keep on me, so I never sang for them. Thankfully, they never picked up on my voice. My focus was always dancing anyway and I spent hours in Aunt Soph’s studio perfecting my routines. Nobody questioned whether I was good at anything else, seemingly one talent is enough in this family. I wonder what skills Isaac has these days, because I know he’s not a single source of talent.
On that thought, the music changes to Janet’s ‘Anytime, Anyplace,’ and I groan. I can’t help thinking about Isaac, he’s been in my thoughts for years, but his unexpected arrival a few
