“Are you threatening me?” Tim asks, wiping his hand across his nose while trying to sound tough, but his faint tremor gives him away as the coward he is.
“Fucking obviously!” Elton replies, pushing him towards the door. Tim goes to square up to him, but thinks better of it when Elton pulls up to his full height, which is likely a good few inches taller than Tim. He moves so fast that only the sound of the bell makes me aware of his retreat.
Elton makes sure it’s double-locked, keeping an eye out as Tim scurries down the road and out of sight. “I got that little driving licence idea from your mates,” he tells me, still scanning the streets to ensure Tim doesn’t return.
I slink behind him and wrap my arms around him. “Thank you.”
He turns and cradles me, placing a kiss on my forehead before running his hands down to my neck which still feels hot from Tim’s hands. He looks visibly pained as he tilts my head from side to side, taking it all in. “I don’t think it will bruise,” I say, trying to calm him. He’s shaking, so I take hold of his hands, tugging them away from my neck. “Take me home,” I say, pulling him closer.
I spend an hour clearing the rest of the bakery – Elton tries to stop me, but I wasn’t going to leave this place in a state and have to deal with it in the morning. I also needed a little bit longer to decompress, I didn’t want to take these feelings home with me.
As we head back to Elton’s car, I grab my phone from my tote to let Mum know I won’t be coming home, but we will grab Chip. I love that Elton likes having him around.
I have three missed calls from Jeeves, numerous texts asking if I’ve seen Elton, and one text making my heart sink.
I need to find Elton. Neive has been attacked.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Neive
I’ve tried him twice now but no answer. I need to get out of here.
This is stupid.
I don’t know these girls well. They are nice enough but I need to leave. I want to be home. I didn’t even want to come but Uncle Elton looked so excited for me when I said I had been invited to stay round Nova’s house. I couldn’t let him down. Bet he thought his loser niece is finally starting to make friends. Nova and Lila have been nice to me since I started at Westbourne Academy, they are the first real friends I’ve had.
I try to call him again.
He said he would pick me up if I wanted to go home, and I want to go home.
I feel like a bit of an idiot, but the minute they pulled out a bottle of gin Lila had taken from her parents’ cupboard, I had to leave.
I can’t drink, I’m thirteen. And, well, Mum.
Nova’s dad was downstairs, no way I was going to get in trouble because of Lila and Nova. I told them I needed to go, grabbed my bag and left, without much explanation. I may have just lost a few new friends but if they like me, they’ll stick around.
Now I’m standing outside, down the street from Nova’s house, desperately trying to get hold of Elton. I didn’t want them to see me standing at the end of her drive so I moved down the road, out of sight. Uncle Elton won’t like it, but he shouldn’t have made me go in the first place.
A car drives round the corner at a snail’s pace and pulls up next to me. The window rolls down. Unease fills me instantly. My eyes dart around. I’m alone, it’s late, no one knows where I am. These aren’t good circumstances.
A man leans out the window, arm hanging out as he flicks a cigarette onto the grass in front of me.
“Hey darling, need a ride?” the creepy perv asks. A shiver runs up my spine, chilling me to the bone.
White male, oldish – older than me, younger than Uncle Elton. It’s a huge age range, but it’s better than nothing. Brown eyes, black baseball cap. Brown tacky leather jacket. Not sure why I take note of these details, but something tells me they are important. Mum always says if it feels weird then it’s weird.
“No thank you, my uncle is picking me up. He’ll be here soon.” I turn away from him, praying he’ll hear an adult is on the way and leave me alone. I open Jeeves’s contact on my phone. He’ll come get me.
As I hit call, two hands grab my shoulder, pulling me backwards into a hard chest. The jolt knocks my phone from my hand, it hits the ground just as Jeeves answers the call.
I scream everything I can see, exactly how he taught me to.
“Black small car. Baseball cap. Shit clothes. Corner of Maple Street. Big bruise on his shin,” I shout as I slam my foot behind me, with unwarranted confidence it will hit something of note. All it earns me is a tighter hold and a hand over my mouth as I’m dragged backwards. My breath feels hot against his palm as my nails claw against his skin. I’m shoved into the boot of the car. My brain is fuzzing but I’ve discussed this scenario with Jeeves in great detail.
Stay calm. Look for an escape. Fight like hell.
I take a second to think about the useless information I manage to yell at Jeeves, hoping the call connected. At least I made contact and got out the street I was on. He’ll be able to do something with that. I’ve just got to keep my kidnapper busy until he gets here.
