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?He's gone too fucking far, I'm going to kill him.” Alex stops, hands fisted by his hips. “I can't believe Mum let it come to this.”
“It's not her fault,” I protest. “She didn't know he was going to turn up at work. None of us did.”
“She should have fucking told you,” Alex shouts, his face red. “She's letting you walk into danger without warning you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. He's talking in circles. “What should she have told me?”
He stops in front of me, reaching out for my shoulders. His expression softens when he sees the anxiety written on my face. “Amy, babe, there's nothing for you to worry about. I'll sort this.”
He'll sort it? Sort what? “Are you going to pay him?”
“Money doesn't talk to psychos like him. There's only one thing he understands.”
“Alex, stop it.” Lara's voice is light, but there's steel in it.
“You can't reason with an arsehole like him. He only understands violence, Lara. I can talk to him until I go blue in the face, and he'll still be stalking her.”
“So what are you going to do?” Fear uncoils in my belly. “Hit him?”
Alex doesn't answer, grabbing his coat and slinging it on. “I'm going out.”
“Out where?” I grab his arm, but he shakes me off easily. “Alex, where are you going?”
“To see Digger,” he mutters, heading for the door. “He won't bother you again.”
* * *
Lara wakes me with a shake of my shoulder, and when I sit up and unfurl my legs she hands me a cup of steaming sweet tea. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I take a mouthful, the hot liquid warming me from the inside out.
“Is Alex back?” I feel disoriented; I don't remember going to sleep. It's as if I fell pretty much where Alex left me, the mixture of adrenaline and shock forming a lethal cocktail in my bloodstream.
“He went to your mum's,” she tells me. “I think Andie went over there, too.”
I bring my gaze up to meet hers. “Is he okay?”
Lara nods. “He didn't find Digger. Apparently he wasn't in any of his old haunts.” She takes a sip of tea. “Alex wants you to stay here, I'll make up the sofa.”
“I haven’t got my things here.” My voice is still heavy with sleep. A weariness takes over my body. “I need to go home.”
“Amy, it isn't safe. Alex wants to look after you. Just stay for tonight and tomorrow we'll make a plan.”
“What kind of plan?” I ask. “Who is he anyway? Nobody would be going this crazy about a loan shark.”
Lara looks down at her mug. Her voice is soft. “No they wouldn't.”
“Then who is he? Why's he following me?”
Max cries softly from their bedroom. We stop talking, but he manages to calm himself, his sobs thinning out to silence.
“He's not a nice man, that's all I really know. You'll have to ask Alex about the rest.”
“But nobody will tell me,” I say, frustrated. “I'm so sick of people treating me like I'm some kind of special snowflake. First Alex then Callum...”
“What's Callum done?” Lara leans forward, clasping her hands together. I remember our previous conversation, the one where I confessed that I liked him. That seems like such a weak word for how I feel.
“He kissed me.” If I close my eyes I can still feel the pressure of his lips against mine. The way his tongue pushed inside, claiming me when I was already his. God.
