“But . . .”
“But nothing, Steph. You would never be a hassle and yes I was busy with work, but I’ve brought it with me. Now as you seem to be struggling to keep your eyes open, you sleep and I will work, but I will be here if you need me, okay?” He cupped her face and tilted it so that she had no choice but to gaze up, his eyes fixed on hers.
“Yes,” she said nodding at him, determined not to ask where his wife was or if he had been with her and what he had told her in order to come over now.
“I will have to make an early start in the morning to get to Manchester, but I will be back here tomorrow night, okay?” he asked again.
“Yes,” she repeated as he released himself from under her.
“Now go and get into bed.” The words almost came out as an order.
“I can’t get comfortable in bed.”
“Fine.” He disappeared into the bedroom for a few seconds and reappeared with a pillow and the soft touch throw fromacross the bottom of the bed and made her a makeshift bed on the sofa.
“Sleep,” he definitely ordered her now.
Steph fell asleep almost immediately and as Jon turned on his laptop he pulled out his phone and Eddie’s business card, quickly punching the number into his phone.
“Eddie, it’s Jon, Steph’s boyfriend,” he opened with.
“Hi. Is everything okay?” asked Eddie with a hint of concern in his voice thinking a call on a Sunday afternoon from your baby sister’s new boyfriend was unlikely to be anything other than bad news.
“Steph has had another run in with that idiot Simon after he followed her from the supermarket in her car. I was wondering if you could find her a new one,” he said without sharing any details of what had happened yet.
“Yeah sure, what is she after?”
“She doesn’t know she’s after anything yet, but you’d probably know better than me what she’d like, so just get it and let me know how much.” He hoped not to sound too cocky. A weight settled in his stomach, partly at her being hurt but also that he couldn’t answer Eddie’s question about the car Steph would want. He wanted, no, needed to know everything about her, and he didn’t. Not yet.
“Jon . . .” The other man’s use of his name broke his thoughts. “Is she okay? I mean did he lay a finger on her?” asked Eddie more concerned now.
“I haven’t got all the details of what happened, but she has a few bruises on her face and her head got cut,” he told Eddie honestly.
“Bloody hell! I would be more than happy to give him a taste of his own medicine,” said Eddie.
“Yeah me too and if the opportunity presents itself then I am up for it, but I think that’s why Steph was reluctant to get in touch.”
“Mmm, well, we will keep this between us. Dad would worry and Jason would find Simon and do him over good and proper; he is completely over the top where Steph is concerned,” he told a confused Jon. “So, leave the car with me and I will get on it in the morning.”
Jon was sittingat the table a couple of hours later still poring over the figures for his new business deal, struggling to make sense of them when Steph began to stir. She made her way across the room and squeezed onto his lap, brushing his hair back off his furrowed brow.
“Problems?”
“I don’t know. This just doesn’t quite make sense,” he explained as he kissed her on the lips. “How are you feeling?”
“A bit groggy, but okay.” She smiled. “Do you want me to look over the figures?”
“I would be very grateful if you would because there’s something amiss. I will make dinner while you take a gander.” He stood her up with him then sat her back down at the table.
She was skimming through the papers and the details on his computer screen and frowned. She sat back in her chair as she became aware of Jon moving around in the kitchen behind her. She got up and grabbed a notepad and her calculator. As she tapped away at her calculator and jotted figures down on her pad she frowned again.
“You’re right, there is something missing from these figures,” she called to him.
“What?”
“Ah, now that is the question isn’t it?” she asked. “This is a bit shoddy. Who has prepared all of this, the company you’re looking to buy?”
“The figures came from them and then Dave has put together the overview,” he explained.
