“Mia! Mia!” A familiar voice sounds too close, and Holly is instantly between it and me.
“Hardcastle, you can sod off,” Holly snaps.
“Oh come on, Hols,” Hardcastle drawls. “I just want to know how Mia is holding up in her husband’s absence.”
“Just fine, thanks,” I reply, not looking at him so I don’t accidentally give him a good picture.
“Joanne’s had a breakdown in there, we’ve heard,” Hardcastle says, snapping another picture of me. “Can you relate to what Joanne’s feeling, Mia? Are you afraid things are going to go the same way for you?”
“Paulie, that’s pathetic,” Holly says, holding up a hand to block his camera. “Shove off, would you?”
“I’m merely concerned that Mia’s headed the way Joanne is,” Hardcastle says, his voice heavy with concern. “We’ve developed a special relationship after all these years, haven’t we, Mia?”
“In your bloody dreams, Hardcastle,” I mutter.
Our car pulls up, and Holly quickly ushers me to the door before rounding the back to climb in the other side. The driver scowls as Hardcastle blocks me from closing the door behind me.
“Ey, bugger off would ya?” The driver calls, but Hardcastle keeps his leg jamming the door open.
“Fucking move!” I snap, clenching my eyes shut as his camera flash goes off right in my face. “Get the fuck away from me!”
“Why did Archie leave you, Mia?” Hardcastle practically shouts in my face. “Is it because you can’t give him a baby?”
“Let go!” I try and shake him off the door, but he holds fast.
“Drive!” Holly barks, and the driver accelerates so Hardcastle loses his grip.
With a strangled yelp, he falls to the ground, and I slam the door shut. The driver guns the engine, and Holly and I both look out the rear window to see Hardcastle wriggling on his back in the street like a dying cockroach.
“That’s going to make the papers tomorrow,” I say with a frown, still blinking furiously to try and shift the glare in my eyes.
“No, it won’t,” Holly says, settling in her seat with an angry huff. “They’ll all be too pre-occupied with poor Joanne and her mental breakdown to be concerned about you running over Paulie fucking Hardcastle. That man’s asking for a beating, and I bloody hope someone gives it to him one day.”
8
DOMINIC
My father isthe very last person I want to see right now, and yet he’s the first person to cross my path. I wave him off with a glance at my watch.
“Not now, Dad. I’m stupidly late for the game.”
“Did something happen?” He asks, blocking my path. “You look stressed.”
I sigh heavily and run a hand through my hair. “Yes, something bloody happened. One of our sponsors pulled because of Archie’s continued absence.”
My father frowns deeply. “Which sponsor?”
“Atlantic.”
“The airline?”
“Yes, the airline.” My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see a message from Barry asking where I am. “Maybe you’d like to tell Archie exactly what he’s costing us the next time he calls you for a heart-to-heart. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
I move to step over the oxygen tank, but my father puts out an arm to further block my way.
“Dad, I don’t have time for this.”
“You will make time,” my father growls out. “I am still a part-owner of this club and these matters concern me as well.”
