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A Quiet Promise

A Quiet Love Novella

By L.H. Cosway

1.

Erin

We’d been living in our new apartment for a little over a month when Graham turned up.

I’d just gotten home from school, and I heard my sister’s laughter filter out from the kitchen, followed by her ex-boyfriend’s voice. A chill skittered down my spine.

I hated Graham. He was the entire reason Sloane and I had needed a fresh start—and now he’d followed us here.

My heart dropped all the way into my cherry red Doc Martens.

My sister was seven years older than me. She was also my legal guardian and had been ever since our father passed away when I was thirteen. About two years ago, Sloane had met Graham and fallen head over heels. At the time, she hadn’t known he was a small-time drug dealer. When they’d met, he’d said he was a construction labourer, but that had been swiftly discovered to be a lie. Sloane had forgiven him because he’d promised he was going to change his ways.

The trouble was, Graham was the sort of person who made a lot of promises he didn’t keep. And he always spent more than he earned. So when he’d become indebted to his supplier, some really scary-looking blokes had turned up at our house demanding money. I’d been at school when it had happened, but Sloane had been home alone. These three men had roughed Sloane up, broken her nose, and frightened her enough that she’d dug out her secret savings stash to pay off Graham’s debts. After that, she’d ended things with him, kicked him out, and began looking for a new job somewhere far away from our hometown.

A couple weeks later, she’d been offered a receptionist position at the prestigious Balfe Hotel, a five-star establishment along the north Dublin coast. Sloane had then found an apartment and enrolled me in the nearby secondary school, and just like that, we’d started a whole new life. This entire month had been like a breath of fresh air. I’d managed to fly under the radar at school, which was what I’d planned. I just wanted to finish out my final year and then hopefully find a job. I’d spent far too long living off my sister, and it was time I started to contribute.

I couldn’t believe that Graham had the gall to turn up here. His fuckup had landed my sister in the emergency room, followed by a trip to the Garda station to report the assault. The men who’d hurt her hadn’t been caught, and Graham had walked away from it all scot free. The fact that she was in there right now, giggling over whatever he’d just said, was infuriating. How had he even found us? More to the point, why had she let him into the apartment?

Slumping back against the wall, I exhaled a long breath and struggled to calm myself. I loved my sister, but she could be way too gullible and soft-hearted when it came to men. Graham wasn’t just a drug dealer; he was also a sleaze ball and a creep and the entire reason why I’d completely altered my physical appearance over the last two years.

What had started out as playful but unwelcome teasing became flirtation whenever Sloane wasn’t around. He’d make suggestive comments about my appearance, how much my sister and I looked alike, and that we were both his type.

It all came to a head one night when Sloane had been working late. I’d been home, hanging out in my bedroom, when I’d heard Graham arrive back. It had been evident he’d been drinking from the noisy way he’d clattered about the house. On instinct, I’d gotten up and locked my bedroom door. Some guardian angel must’ve been whispering in my ear because a few minutes later the handle had turned, followed by Graham calling my name. I’d turned off my lamp, kept quiet and pretended to be asleep, all the while he kept shouting for me, saying he knew I was awake and to let him in while hammering on the door.

He’d eventually given up and went to bed, but it was still the most frightening experience of my life. Even now I felt anxiety at the thought of being locked in a room, or any small, confined space.

When I’d told Sloane what had happened the next morning, she’d brushed it off, saying he’d just had too much to drink. After that, I’d made a plan. I’d ensure I was as physically unattractive to my sister’s boyfriend as possible.

I’d cut off my long, curly, golden brown hair and dyed it black. Graham had been obsessed with Sloane’s curves, so I’d gone to great lengths to lose weight and had dropped almost twenty pounds. It had given me a bizarre sense of relief to see the weight come off my hips, arse and boobs. I also started wearing dark, baggy clothing and had gotten my nose pierced since Graham often mentioned how much he hated facial piercings on women.

Yes, I looked nothing like my natural self, but that was the point, and it had worked. Graham had stopped making his flirty comments, and I could at least rest easy knowing he was no longer looking my way.

Again, my gut sank that he’d come after us. I really thought he was in our rearview mirror. I’d bet it was Sloane’s friend, Edel, who’d told him where we were living. Sloane had been texting with her back and forth, updating her on how we were settling into our new place. Edel wasn’t the best at keeping secrets, so it would only take a very small amount of pressure from Graham to get her to spill.

Biting the bullet, I steeled myself and went inside. Sloane’s expression flickered nervously when I walked into the room. She sat at the small kitchen table across from Graham. Two cups of half-finished tea were in front of them, while Graham had stretched across to take Sloane’s hand. Just seeing him touching her had my stomach in knots. Hurt pounded in my chest because this man had put us both through a horrible ordeal, and now she was sitting there letting him hold her hand. It felt like a betrayal. After all we’d done to make this fresh start, she was just going to invite right into our new place? But no, maybe I was wrong. Maybe she was afraid to turn him away and was coddling him until she could get him to leave. Perhaps he’d even forced his way into the apartment.

“Erin,” Sloane said. “Look who came to see us.” Her voice was light and wistful, and I instantly got a bad feeling.

I didn’t give Graham a single glance when I said, “Can we talk outside for a minute?”

Sloane swallowed thickly. “Uh, sure.” She glanced at Graham with a shy smile. “I’ll be right back.”

I walked out into the hallway, then out of the apartment before shutting the door behind us so Graham wouldn’t overhear.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself as though to self-soothe.

Sloane glanced over her shoulder then back to me. “I wasn’t expecting him to show up here.” There was a flush to her cheeks that made my stomach churn even worse. She was charmed by him coming to find her. This was bad.

“Why did you invite him in? Have you forgotten about what happened to you? Those men really hurt you, Sloane, and they could’ve done a lot worse, all because of money he owed—"

“Graham didn’t know they’d come for me. He feels awful about the whole thing.”