AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘When you said there’s stuff you haven’t told me about your work?’ I continue. ‘Who do you owe money to?’
It’s the reason I’ve been lying here on my side, staring at the wall and the pile of washing shoved by the door ready for one of us to take down to the machine. While out on our walk earlier, we both skirted around the very things we’d engineered the walk to talk about, neither of us wanting to acknowledge the cracks growing between us. Then the catalyst is on my mind again –Darren. He’s gone silent on everyone, including Belle, these last few days. I’m relieved but unnerved – his intention, no doubt. The calm before the storm.
Rob turns over, rocking the bed as he does so. I feel his breath on my back. ‘If I tell you, it’ll change everything, Han.’
I turn over too, so we’re lying face to face. But there’s no resulting kiss as might normally happen when we can’t sleep, when we’re alone and naked and wanting each other. There’s no touch between us or shared look. Just fear in his eyes, reflected in my own.
‘You can tell me anything,’ I say, knowing the reverse isn’t true.
He sighs and turns onto his back. ‘A long time ago, before I left London, I had the chance to make some money. I was in a bad place emotionally and desperate for something – foranythingto change. At the time, it seemed like a smart move. I was broke and didn’t know what to do with my life. I felt like a let-down to my father.’
I prop myself up on my elbow, seeing Rob’s face highlighted from the glow of the street light through our curtains.
‘I was young and gullible, and to get myself out of one mess, I ended up in another.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Someone asked me to…to invest some money for them and…’ He hesitates, wiping his hands down his tired face. ‘Well, it wasn’t so much a choice, as it turned out.’
‘Nope, you’ve still lost me,’ I say. Thing is with Rob, I know that the more I push, the more he’ll clam up. I drop back down onto my back. ‘Did you make a bad investment? Lose their money?’
‘No, the opposite,’ Rob said. ‘And in doing so, I made a fair whack myself. A kind of commission.’ He goes silent for a few moments, but I don’t press him. ‘Naturally, they wanted me to do it again. And again. And again.’
‘Sounds like you were on to a good thing.’
I feel him move his head and, when I look across, I see he’s shaking it. ‘Not really. I didn’t like the…work. Or them. I left it all behind when I moved here. But now, they want me to do it again, these people.’ His voice quivers.
‘People?’
He doesn’t say anything.
‘Just say no, then. There’s no pressure. Business will pick up again.’
I didn’t know any of this, but then I think of how much he doesn’t know about me. How my past was tainted with time spent at the Cloisters, the tattoo on my thigh reminding me of it each and every day. Other people might see the cover-up spray of innocuous flowers I had tattooed over the top, wondering why I’d chosen to get inked, but beneath it, I still see the shape of Vaughn’s initials, the symbolic, crudely drawn crown above, indicating that he was king, that he ruled us all. It’s true – he did. And if I’m honest, he still does. ‘How can I help?’ I ask.
‘You can’t, Han. No one can. I need to square off this deal and then…and then…’
‘A fresh start?’
‘If they don’t know where I am, they can’t keep hounding me. As things stand, they’ve got me over a bit of a barrel.’
‘I see,’ I say, not really seeing at all.
We both lie in silence for a while, with me thinking how similar our pasts are, about how there’s still so much to unwrap between us, until I hear the throaty rasp of Rob’s breaths as he finally drifts off to sleep.
I’m woken by my phone – not my alarm, which I forgot to set anyway, but rather the shrill tone of its insistent ring. My hand fumbles around on my bedside table as I reach for it, knocking it on the floor in the process. It’s as I grab it, trying to focus on the screen, trying to see who’s calling, that I notice Rob’s side of the bed is empty – just rumpled sheets where he’d been.
‘Hello?’ I say, not awake enough to realise that the number, ending in three ones and a four, should have flashed a warning in my mind. Darren.
‘Do you remember when…?’ he begins. Then he leaves a silence, as if he wants me to fill in the blank. I draw my knees up to my chest, glancing over at the clock on Rob’s side. Six twenty.
‘What do you want?’
‘Just reminiscing, Hannah. Thought it might be fun.’
‘Leave me alone,’ I say. I get up and walk to the window, whipping back the curtains. I didn’t hear Rob leave our room. ‘I’m not giving you any money. I don’t have it, and I never—’
‘Oh, come on, Hannah. Why so cold with me? You weren’t always like this, if you remember. That’s what got me reminiscing, in fact. The evening we spent together.’
