AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Gareth, I... I don't know what to say! Are...are you sure of this?”
“Sure? Dammit Allee, no – I hate to lose you, not only because it means that I'll have to start writing my own damned releases again, but because I've enjoyed having you working alongside me.”
Allee laughed, the humour helping to disperse the emotions seething through the room as relief flooded her body. All was not lost! Yes, she would have to leave again, but at least she wouldn't have to start from scratch. Yes, she was running away, but she was also running towards something – hope.
She grinned at Gareth, “Well, I guess I've got a lot to do, especially if I have to move to Brisbane at the end of the week! I just hope that I get the job!”
“My dear,” Gareth grinned back, “by the time I'm finished with your recommendation, if they aren't pounding your door down and begging you to take the job I'll have to quit, as I'll have lost my touch!” Allee started to laugh, not quite the throaty chuckle from before she met Stuart, but not the coy titter she affected after she met him either. Joy bubbled up within her, and she felt like spinning around and singing out with the sheer force of it. “I think you've got some important work to do,” Gareth said. “After all, you need to find somewhere to live up there. You can't just bunk at the office, you know. I can take care of the new marketing releases that need to be submitted, you just make sure I have plenty of tea and come and save my sanity every hour or so.” Gareth winked, then waved Allee out of his office.
Allee turned to leave but darted back around Gareth's desk and kissed him briefly on the cheek. She then grabbed his empty tea mug, skipped back around the desk, and out the door, smiling all the way.
When Allee got home, her happiness had deflated as the enormity of her change in circumstance began to overwhelm her. She had yet to receive any confirmation she had been offered the job. Walking into an empty house when she was used to being greeted by Piddle yowling away set her spirits even lower.
Allee put the assorted junk mail and other letters she had collected on her way in down on the kitchen bench. Then she trudged through the house, room by room, checking that the windows remained locked, and made sure that the front and back screen doors were locked, the wooden doors dead-bolted, and the security chains secure. She also made sure that the windows were shuttered, drawing the curtains in the lounge, ensuring that there was no gap in the heavy drapes. Once this part of her evening process had been completed, Allee went into her bedroom.
A loud banging at her front door had Allee's heart in her throat in an instant until she heard Cass' blunt voice.
“Oi! Lemme in you great pillock, you've left the chain on!”
Allee ran to the front door to allow her friend in. Cass strode inside, still wearing the same outfit she'd arrived in that morning, her hair still a messy pile on the top of her head.
“Well,” said Cass as they walked towards the kitchen, “have you had time to think about what you're going to do?” Before Allee could answer, her phone rang. She reached for it, the Caller ID showing it was the phone number of her head office. She silently apologised to Cass as she answered, her voice husky with nerves.
“Miss Duggan? This is George Royland from Collective Media Developments Incorporated. We received a recommendation today for a job managing one of our Games Development offices in Brisbane. We'd like to offer you the position and would also like you to begin as soon as possible.” Allee went limp with relief. She hastily accepted the offer and agreed to start the following Tuesday. She ended the call and slumped into the wall, eyes closed, excitement, panic and relief all warring inside her.
“What was that all about?” demanded Cass.
Allee smiled. “That, my beautiful, wonderful friend, is my salvation!” The look of puzzled bewilderment that sat on Cass' face made Allee chuckle. She quickly explained to Cass the day's development, and by the end, Cass had a grin from ear to ear.
“Well then, you're going to be a busy girl, aren't you? Don't worry about packing this place up. I'll rope in Uncle Dom to help me with that, and we can ship your stuff up to you once you've found a place.”
“No, don't do that, or at least not for the furniture. Your uncle can have them and let this place out as furnished, or you can have a garage sale and get rid of it all, I don't care. I'll just want my clothes and the stuff I brought with me from Sydney. The rest can stay or go.”
“But what about the cost of it all? I mean, I know most of this stuff is second hand, but it's still in good condition. You’d have to kit yourself out with an entire house worth of furniture, not to mention appliances and kitchenware.”
“Honestly? I just don't want Stuart to be able to track me down again, or at least not that easily. He has friends in the transport industry, he could quite simply find out where my stuff was taken if I use a hauler.”
“Leave it with me. I get leaving the furniture, but you're going to keep the rest of it, even if I have to smuggle it to you piece-by-piece via carrier pigeon!” The ridiculousness of that image had both giggling before Allee remembered she hadn't eaten since midday.
“Dinner?” she asked Cass. She got up and opened the top of her fridge, pulling a frozen pizza from the freezer section.
“Thought you'd never offer,” came the reply, “and then we can get down to the business of fucking off Stuart!”
300 kilometres north of where Allee and Cass sat strategising, Stuart moved to the glass doors which led out to his atrium, lighting a cigarette as he passed through them. He inhaled deeply, feeling the nicotine hit soothing the furious maelstrom of his rage, rolling his head over his shoulders to release some of the tension in his neck.
It had taken him a while to track Allee down. He'd known she'd gone to Sydney and had been able to follow her quite easily there, but she'd managed to disappear. After several months, dozens of telephone calls and all his charm, he had discovered she had moved south. After another month he had her address.
He had riffled through her mail just to make sure he'd found the right place. He'd even met a couple of the neighbours, pretending to be an old friend of Allee's who had just dropped by for a surprise visit, not realising she'd be at work. That conversation had netted him information about her workplace. Unfortunately, because he couldn't make it back to Melbourne for another fortnight, he had to satisfy himself that Allee had no clue that he'd found her, so he could take his time in exacting his revenge.
He had made her, taking a naïve, unrefined girl with no sense of fashion or elegance, and created his ideal; a demure, polished and refined lady in public who would pander to his every demand in the bedroom. How dare she ruin all his hard work, his time, his money, his pride in his ability to mould her. Allee had humiliated him, and that was completely unacceptable. She would pay for her impudence. Oh yes, she would pay, and he would enjoy every minute of the torment he was planning.
Allee should never dared to cross him. She should have known better. He was going to enjoy the next phase of his plan immensely.
Chapter Four
It was Allee's last day working with Gareth in the marketing division of CMD Inc. She had spent the past three evenings packing everything she wanted in Brisbane, leaving the rest of the house for Cass to organise over the weekend. Gareth told her that she would not be going without some fanfare. There was a neat little stack of gifts and several cards. Allee was touched that so many people had noticed her efforts.
“Allee, my dear girl,” began Gareth, getting to his feet, a plastic champagne flute filled with fruit punch in his hand. “In the short time that you have been here, you have become a vital member of this company and an irreplaceable collaborator to me. I think I can speak for all of us here when I say thank you for all you have done. You are a remarkable young lady, and we will all miss you. Especially me because I must write my own damned releases again!” Gareth toasted Allee amidst the laughter from his closing sentence, and she had to wipe away a tear. She would genuinely miss working with Gareth, he reminded her of her own father.
