AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her hold on the knife grows stronger and she points it at me more poignantly as her bottom lip starts to tremble. The child in her arms cries softly again and she looks down at them with tears in her eyes. Finally, the younger child lifts her head and says through a sob, “Please, Mabel. I’m so tired.”
Mabel nods, tears wetting her cheeks.
“Okay,” I sigh again. “Come with me, let’s at least get you out of the cold.” When she looks at me unsure, I add, “You can keep pointing the knife at me if it makes you feel better.”
Mabel tries to stand, holding the little girl to her chest but her leg seems to give way and she grunts in pain. Both Harvey and I step forward instinctually, trying to catch the child but when Mabel sees this, she jabs the knife forward in warning to Harvey, that deep tremor in her hand back again.
“He isn’t going to hurt you,” I say softly.
Harvey steps back again with his hands held up in surrender. “I’m just trying to help,” he adds.
“Don’t touch us,” she hisses.
Understanding descends over me. “I promise you he won't touch either of you. But we need to get you both to the car and you seem to be hurt.”
“I can walk,” the younger girl says quietly.
“Stay close to me,” Mabel whispers to her but I hear it.
I don’t go to help her up when she tries to get to her feet again. I know she doesn’t want it. She manages and holds her younger companion close to her side, limping as we make our way back to the car. I know he’s not happy about it but Harvey heads to the front passenger side of the car and I sit in the back. Mabel slides to the middle seat, staying between me and her friend. Before we head off, I chance a glance to my side while the interior light is on and see that they are both wearing tatty and dirty clothes and they both have dirt smudged on their faces. The smell in the car indicates that they haven’t washed in quite some time.
Taking my phone out of my clutch, I dial the security office at the house. Lee answers on the second ring.
“Ma’am?”
“Lee, clear all personnel from the entrance and main living room in preparation for our return within the next ten minutes.” I look at Mabel, she’s watching me carefully, my knife still held firmly in her palm but resting on her thigh, no longer pointed at me.
“Ma’am?” His questioning tone makes me bristle, but not wanting to go into bitch-mode, I stay calm.
“It’s a long story. Just do it.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And can you wake Miss White please and ask her to meet us at the car?”
“Uh…” I’m pretty sure Lee and Guinevere are sleeping together. Otherwise, I wouldn’t send him to bang on her door in the middle of the night. “Yes…yes, of course.”
“Good.” I hang up.
Another look down at the girls next to me and for the first time I think, what the hell am I doing? I’m bringing children to my home. I don’t have a clue what to do with them.
12
HARVEY
My head is swimming. This had been the strangest and one of the most stressful nights of my life. Kids. There are children in the car, stressed and clearly vulnerable children. They must be protected. But also, one of them currently has a knife pointed at the woman I’m supposed to be protecting. The woman whose lipstick is still on my lips. I wiped most of it off, but I know some must still be there. I can feel it. I can feel her, my lips still tingling with her kiss. Fuck. I should not have done that. I don’t even kiss women I’m actually sleeping with, let alone one I should be keeping my hands well off of. I don’t kiss because it’s too intimate, it can make women feel there’s more to our interactions than there is. I haven’t kissed a woman since I was seventeen years old. Until tonight. Now, it’s my heart that needs to calm the fuck down and not read too much into it.
Jesus, man, prioritise. Kids, there are kids in the car, going to Annika’s villainous lair. Because they were running in the street at midnight. At least one of them is hurt. Shit, I need to make sure they’re okay. There’s a smell in the car that wasn’t there before, dirt and grime. I want to check both the girls over tomake sure they’re okay, but they are particularly unsure of me, a fact that makes my stomach sink. They arenotokay.
The guard on the gate does a double take when he peeks in the car and sees the two extra faces in the back. “It’s okay,” I hear Annika say in a soothing tone and I can just imagine Mabel tightening her grip on that knife. I need to get out of this car, I need to have eyes on them and Annika, I want her safe too. The realisation shocks me. I want to keep her safe, not because it’s part of the play, not to keep my mission on track, but because I don’t want to see her hurt and I don’t have time to unpack that right now.
We pull up as close as Dooley can get us to the front door and Guinevere is waiting in the open doorway in pyjamas and the same big thick cardigan I’ve seen her in. Once we stop, I open my door and head out to Annika’s, opening her door for her.
“Do not try to help them,” she warns me.
It goes against everything I want to do, all of my instincts but I nod.
“Guinevere, can you help me please?” Annika calls and Guinevere jogs on over.
