She pauses before glancing around, like she doesn’t realise I’m speaking to her. It’s as if she can’t believe anyone would refer to her as a beauty.
“I was talking to the one behind you,” I say, my tone teasing. When her frown deepens, I laugh. “I meant you.”
She blushes, and I love the way the colour spreads across her cheeks. I place the napkin in her pocket.
“Call me for that coffee,” I say over my shoulder, making my way to the door, resisting the urge to turn and look at her expression.
Chapter Three
Bella
I slowly walk back towards my pokey little bedsit. It might be a shit hole, but it’s my shit hole, and I suppose I should be grateful to Marco for giving me an advance, even after my awful ability to get to work on time. At least I’ll get another month with a roof over my head.
As I round the corner, I hear an excited squeal and look up in time to see my boys. My heart immediately beats faster, and I pick up my pace. For the first time in what feels like forever, I feel genuine happiness. It’s been so long since I’ve even had a glimpse of them, that I’m too excited to notice Imogen. When my eyes finally land on her, my heart sinks. The whore that stole my world is holding the hand of my baby boy.
“Mummy,” Noah squeals, letting go of Imogen’s hand to run towards me.
“Noah,” she bellows, chasing after him.
He jumps into my arms, and I hold him against me tightly. I close my eyes and inhale deeply, committing his scent to memory. I squeeze him hard, wanting to make sure he feels all my love pouring into this one cuddle. When I open my eyes, I see Mason following behind, his head lowered, avoiding my eyes. It crushes me that my eldest boy, the one who made me a mum, doesn’t even want to acknowledge me.
I kiss Noah tenderly on the head.
“You better go, mate. I love you,” I whisper before sliding him down my body. He cries as I place him back on the pavement, and my eyes begin to fill with tears.
Imogen grabs his hand roughly, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention, the anger bubbles under the surface.
“There’s no need for that,” I snap.
I fight the urge to pick him up again and cover him in kisses, never letting him go. Unfortunately, I can’t, since their dad painted me out to be some raving lunatic. Apparently, I’m too mentally unstable to look after my own children.
Imogen looks me up and down with complete disgust.God, I wish I could wipe that smug look off her face.
“You gave up the right to care for these boys long ago,” she spits, and her lips curl with hatred. “Come on, boys, we have a special date with Daddy,” she emphasises the last words, pushing more of her venom in my direction.
Noah cries as she drags him away looking over his shoulder, and my walls crumble, the tears begin to flow. Mason doesn’t even look at me, and it makes me wonder what bullshit they’re feeding him for him to hate me so much.
I walk into my bedsit throwing my bag onto the bed. I’m angry. I’m angry at myself for letting one woman destroy my world, for letting her take what wasn’t hers. She doesn’t deserve my boys. She doesn’t deserve my life.Fuck.
And I’m angry at him for choosing her over me. For giving her my life so easily. For not giving me a chance to fight for it.
I open the fridge pulling out a bottle of wine, I go to grab a glass but what’s the fucking point? I lift the bottle to my mouth and take a long drink, slamming the cupboard door shut and the crockery rattles inside.
There’s a knock at my door.Not fucking now. I’ve just had to deal with one woman I hate, I don’t need another anal bitch to sprinkle shit on my fucking day.
I grab the door, opening it a little more harshly than intended, shoving the money at her and slam it again without so much as a word. Then I slide down the door to a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. I pull my top to my nose to inhale the scent of my little boy that lingers from our brief interaction.
The next few days pass in a blur. I can’t stop thinking about my boys and how seeing them a few days ago was probably more than a coincidence. Imogen is spiteful enough to have purposely brought them that way in the hope she’d bump into me. She never misses an opportunity to rub my nose in it, to kick me whilst I’m down.
I arrive for work early again. I’ve been trying to make more of an effort, after all, Marco didn’t have to keep me on, and he certainly didn’t have to give me an advance on my wages. Plus, it’s the only thing getting me out of bed every day.
The doors are locked, so I knock and wait for Marco to let me in. He smiles as he approaches, letting me know my effort hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Morning, beautiful,” he greets, in his usual chirpy voice. Marco is definitely a morning person. Me, however, I’m not an any-time-of-day person at the moment.
“Good morning,I suppose,” I grumble, making my way into the backroom.
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to smile once in a while.”
