I push back from her chest. ‘You’re not defending him?’
‘No. I’m not. I don’t give two hoots about him. I just want you to make sure your anger is in the right place, that’s all, for your own sake.’
I stare blankly, trying but unable to organise the multitude of thoughts and emotions locked inside my throbbing head.
Which child wouldn’t want revenge against a man who tried to kill someone so dear to them?
‘Shall we bake?’ she asks.
‘Pardon?’
‘Let’s bake something. Together, like old times.’
Bemused, I let out a short, snotty, tearful laugh.
We sing to the radio and blend cake mixture into the early hours of the morning. Sandy lets me scrape the last of the mixture from the bowl and she licks the wooden spoon.
It’s two o’clock by the time we sit down to eat our cream cakes with milky hot chocolate.
23
GREGORY
The last thing I needed was the man I’d trust with my life, the only man I’d trust with my life, going behind my back.
The door to the apartment opens, pushing the remnants of a crystal brandy glass across the hardwood floor. The floor lights break the darkness of the lounge.
‘Greg?’ Jackson shouts, panicked.
Then he sees me, sitting in the black, leather chair where I’ve been since I left the office, the remaining half decanter of brandy on the glass-top table next to me.
‘Are you hurt?’ he asks, assessing the broken glass at his feet and the hole I’ve punched in the plastered wall.
I turn to face the city and take a swig of liquor. ‘I told you not to take her.’
Jackson takes a brandy glass from the kitchen, fills it and takes a seat on the sofa. He leans forwards, resting his elbows on his knees, and drinks.
‘You going to fire me for the second time in three days?’
‘I ought to.’
‘Lara asked me to take her to Scarlett.’
‘And I told you not to.’
He sighs and rubs a hand across his face. ‘We’re both trying to help you.’
‘I don’t pay you to make my fucking decisions for me.’
‘No, but you do pay me to watch your blindside.’
‘Scarlett isn’t my blindside, Jackson; she’s all I can fucking think about.’
It’s true. I don’t know when it happened but every time I close my eyes, I see her perfect face, those captivating, green eyes with the lightest tinge of brown. Exquisite. The way two cute half-moons crease at the sides of her beautiful, soft lips when she smiles. The innocence of that perfect fucking giggle, so alluring, it could come close to infiltrating my iron heart. And in contract to it all her razor-sharp mind. Her quiet strength. Her levelness.
‘That’s exactly why she’s your blindside.’
I put down my glass and pull both hands through my hair, walking to the window to look down over the city.
