That’s what had happened now, only this, from a man I thought myself in love with and now he was ripping my heart into fragments I knew would never fit back together. Bile hit my throat, burning and bringing tears to my eyes which stung, just not as much as the pain I felt inside.
I breathed, forcing my head up high, things sliding into place. His cousin Ash, Marcus – I was the perfect target. Bait even, for whatever they’d planned. Info to sell to a hack, photos for the paparazzi. I didn’t know, but everything I’d felt was a sham.
I waited for the argument to stop, which it did, although I stopped hearing the words.. The other man, Ash I guessed, left, his car speeding off from outside the house. Then I left the bathroom, my heart pounding and suddenly I didn’t feel so safe anymore.
“Jameson. What you heard…”
“Have you been using me?”
“No. Not really.” He pushed his hand through his hair and looked exhausted. “I could’ve. But I haven’t. I didn’t tell them anything.”
“But is this why you got involved with me? Why you slept with me? This was to try and get money out of my family?” I could hear the hysteria growing. “This wasn’t about me, was it? You just wanted some scandal to sell to the papers…”
His arms were around me then, and he was pulling me closer into his chest. I felt safe even though I didn’t want to.
“No. Nothing like that. My family aren’t nice people. Marcus…” His words poured petrol on a flame.
“Why does it always come back to him? Why’s he fucking dictating my life like this?” The tears started. I tried to rub them away, but Tommy caught my hands.
“Marcus is involved in a fuck ton of shit, that he’s dragged my cousin into…”
“The money. The money he was asking for?” It started to make sense.
“Yes.” Tommy didn’t let go of me. “But I promise I’m not here now because I needed you because of what Marcus had done.”
“So why are you here?”
“Because of summer. Because of this…”
I nodded, then choked. I wanted to believe him so very, very much, but this was what Livi had always protected herself from, why she never gave her heart away to anyone. “I can’t do this, Tommy. You’re going to break what’s left of my heart and right now it seems like a huge con that I’ve given it to you in the first place.” I pulled away from his arms. “I need to go.”
“You can’t.” He grabbed hold of my arm. “It’s not safe. Jay…”
“Then drop me off at my car.”
“Stay here tonight. Where I know you’re okay.” His phone started to ring. “Just wait here. Let me take this.” But he didn’t answer the phone in front of me; something else he clearly needed to keep hidden.
I looked outside the window, the sky clear, stars pricking through. I could walk the kilometre and pick up a cab, or call home and ask someone to pick me up. I’d be home and I wouldn’t need to see him again. It would all be sorted, cleared up. No harm done apart from the scar that I knew I’d wear underneath everything, one he’d left and I’d let him.
I waited until he’d walked into his bedroom, and closed the door. I didn’t want to try to listen in on the hushed conversation, I’d had enough of all the secrets. I flung my bag over my shoulder and headed to the front door, opening it up and stepping into the dry heat of the night.
Tommy’s apartment was just off a main road, and at this time of night there would be taxis driving by every few minutes as they shuttled people to the clubs.
But I never got to the main road.
Before I could even take my phone out of my bag, a hand grabbed my neck from behind, another hand covering my mouth with a cloth, and the next thing I knew was darkness.
Chapter Twenty
Tommy
Ididn’t hear the door close shut, else I would’ve followed her. Not like the stalker I could probably become, but because I knew Ash was desperate, and as much as Jameson liked to think she was streetwise, she was still a princess who should probably have had security with her. Fuck knew she was worth a shit ton of money, none of which I gave a toss about. But I did give a toss about her, and that second when I realised she’d gone, I realised how much.
When I’d found out Leila had died, my world collapsed. The colour drained from it, washed away in an instant, and it had stayed that way. Until this summer.
Until I’d met a woman who saw the sunrise and knew it was a miracle, someone whose quiet love for life had started to shade that colour back in, inch by inch, day by day.
I phoned her. Walked after her. Tried to work out which direction she’d gone in. It wasn’t until I found her phone in the cindered grass verge that my heart decided to burst out of my chest.
