Strangers (26 page)

“Will you tell Kate I’m sorry?
I had to come up with something quick and I wasn’t very fair to her.”

“Did you really upset her?” Lucy asked, her fingers in his pants.

Nick thought about Kate’s face.
He wasn’t sure he was going to get away with this.
“Yeah, I did.
I didn’t mean to.
She was pissed off with me.
If I were her, I’d be planning my revenge.”

He didn’t dare go further than that.

“How upset was she?” Lucy asked, her hands moving away from the place he most wanted her to touch.
He suppressed a whimper of disappointment.
“Did you make her cry?” she asked, clear disapproval in her voice.

Nick sensed he’d missed something else.
“What’s the problem?”

Lucy slumped on the bed.
“We’re all worried about Kate.
Richard was such a sod, pretending he’d marry her for a bet.
We thought they were perfect together and then he pulled that shitty trick.
What a wanker.”

Nick thought Kate was the idiot.
She’d only known the guy a few minutes.
And honeymoon in Hawaii for a week?
Crazy.

“You’re still feeling sorry for her about that?” Nick asked, sitting at her side.

“She’s just…well, unstable.
She’d hardly got over Richard before she jumped into another relationship with some guy called Hippo.
After Rachel found the note—” Lucy stopped mid-sentence.

“What note?”

“I’m not supposed to say anything.”

No words Nick loved more, other than “can I suck your dick”?
He adored secrets, wheedling them out by whatever means he could, some means more pleasurable than others.

“What note, Lucy?” Nick pulled her onto his lap and dropped his mouth to her neck.

And over the next thirty minutes, between groans and moans, Lucy told him everything.

* * * * *

When Kate opened her eyes, the morning sun shone straight through the window and hit her in the face.
She groaned and rolled onto Charlie, who lay beside her on his stomach, his face pressed into a pillow.
He turned his head and his eyes flickered open.
Kate watched who, what and where sink in before he gave a little grin.
He slithered down the bed, taking the duvet with him, and kissed Kate’s bare buttock.
Resting his chin in the hollow of her back, he slid his hands underneath her, until her breasts lay on his palms.

“I want to stay in bed all day,” Charlie muttered into her kidney.

“I thought we were going to see your parents?”

He withdrew his hands and rolled onto his back.
“That’s why I want to stay in bed.”

Kate twisted around to face him.
“And I thought it was because you wanted to see what I could do with my nipples.”

He gave her a smile soaked in lust and Kate shivered.

“What can you do?”

“Later.” She sat up.

“No, not later, now.” He pulled her down.
“You know better than to tease me.”

It was another hour before they were dressed.
Kate was wrinkled from the length of time she’d spent in the shower with Charlie’s mouth doing what her nipples had just done.
She wasn’t complaining.

Kate put on the green dress Ethan had rejected.

“You look so cute in that,” Charlie said.

“Really?”

“Well, you look cuter when you’re not wearing anything, but that might freak out my parents.
The color suits you, brings out the green tinge in your skin.” He slid his hands up her thighs, under the material.
“And it has the added advantage of being easy to whisk off.”

He tried to pull it up but Kate stopped him.

“You’re trying to put this off, Charlie.”

“And you’ll see why.”

He tried again to lift her dress, but Kate squirmed away.

“There’s a taxi waiting downstairs,” she reminded him.

“I don’t care.”

It was like dealing with a child, Kate thought.
She finally cajoled him into leaving with a promise of a treat later.
Now she’d have to think of something.
Not very difficult.
Charlie was up for everything they did in bed and out of it, and if Kate hadn’t felt the same, that might have made her uneasy.
So long as it was just the two of them, life was perfect.
Charlie was all she needed.

Now Kate knew what addiction meant.

* * * * *

“Not worried about someone seeing me now?” Kate asked, as the taxi stopped outside a dazzling white mews house.

“They’re vampires.
They only come out at night.” He unlocked the door.
“Take a look around.
I’m going to change.” Charlie headed for the stairs.

“Make it into someone good-looking and charming,” Kate called after him.

“Very old joke and not funny.”

She sat on the bottom step and lay back.
Kate’s eyes settled on the ceiling and as she let out a gasp of alarm, she slammed her hand against her mouth.
Overhead, angels and devils frolicked in a landscape of clouds and if she hadn’t already been on her back, she’d have fallen.

Kate had worked hard to keep her life as solid as she could, but she’d always known her existence was a delicate balance, a fragile layer sitting between difficult memories and unrealistic hopes.
Sometimes, fragments from the past she thought were gone, bubbled through into her mind—her mother’s face, her father’s hands, the knife, blood on the floor, blood on her mother.
Kate kept those memories buried under tons of rock, but occasionally they found a way out.

Charlie had turned her world upside down in a good way and now his house had sent it spinning off its axis.
Kate stared at the ceiling, examining the scene.
Now she knew why she hadn’t seen her father’s work in any gallery.
He was painting frescoes.

She heard Charlie bounding down the stairs.
He stopped short when he saw her lying on the bottom step.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m contemplating your fresco.”

Charlie looked up.
“Yeah, it’s kind of cool.”

“You have it done?”

“It was there when I bought the house.”

Thank God for that.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked.

“Eighteen months.
Why didn’t you look round?”

“Didn’t want to.”
Too distracted.

There was a long silence before he spoke again.

“No one has
ever
resisted the temptation to look around my house.”

Kate didn’t move.
“I just got stuck on the ceiling.”

“Why?”

She couldn’t think of a convincing lie.

“You know, you are sometimes so fucking deep, it’s like peering into the Grand Canyon,” he snapped.

Kate moved her gaze from the ceiling to him.
“Have you been to the Grand Canyon?”

“Yes, I have.
It’s a bloody strange experience because the more you look at it, the more you have no idea what you’re looking at.
Rather like you.
I have no idea what goes on in your head or what you want out of life.
Why won’t you let me in?”

“You don’t want to be in my head.
It’s not a good place.”

Charlie pulled her to her feet.
“Let me in,” he said gently.

She wanted to tell him to keep knocking, but the words lodged in her throat.
Finally, he shrugged and squeezed her hand.

“Car’s in the garage,” he said and led her there.

He opened the passenger door of a silver Lexus SC430.

“Nice car,” Kate said.

“Bit useless in London.
You’re lucky if you can do more than ten miles an hour.”

The moment they’d driven away from the house, Kate felt better, but Charlie’s mood deteriorated.

“Jesus, look at that idiot,” he said, as a car pulled out in front of him from a side road more than a hundred yards away.

Kate didn’t think the other driver had done anything wrong, but Charlie continued to find fault with every vehicle that came anywhere near him.
He maneuvered the Lexus as gingerly as if it were a clapped-out old banger in its death throes.
Kate guessed his actions stemmed from a reluctance to make the journey, more than an indication of how he usually drove.

“Can it go over twenty miles per hour?” she asked.

Charlie shot her a pained look.
“I’m trying to be a good driver.”

“Want me to take over?”

“No.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Still, no.”

“I’ve only written off two cars.”

His mouth twitched and he speeded up.

“So, how long since you saw your parents?” she asked.

“A while.”

“Why now?”

“Because.”

Kate reached out and put her hand on his knee.
“Why do you want me with you?”

“Dilution,” he murmured.

“Well, if you’re trying to deflect their attention from you to me, you ought to give me a few hints about what to expect.”

There was no answer.
Kate thought squeezing O-Positive out of a stone seemed simpler.

“How about we start easy and build up.
What are their names?”

“Jill and Paul.”

“What’s your mother like?”

Charlie stayed silent for so long that Kate wondered if he’d forgotten what she’d asked.

“Strict?
Cuddly?
Two heads?
A beak?” she asked.

“Don’t put your teaspoon in the sugar bowl.
There’s no telling what will happen.” His tone was so bleak, Kate felt a shiver of unease.

“Your dad?”

“Not an alpha male.”

Kate could see and feel Charlie winding up.
His hands gripped the wheel as if he expected it to be yanked away, his knuckles forming lines of well-defined white bony lumps.

“Want me to hold the wheel so you can bite your nails?” Kate asked.

He didn’t even smile.

“How did your parents die?” Charlie asked suddenly.

“Eaten by piranhas.”

He sniggered and Kate saw the tension in his shoulders ease.

“Amazon expedition,” she said.
“Boat overturned.
Lots of thrashing around.
People watching thought they couldn’t swim, but in fact they were fighting off razor-sharp teeth.
It was all over in minutes.”

Charlie laughed again.
She’d broken the spell.

“What really happened?” he asked.

“Ebola virus.
Not pleasant.”

“You don’t want to tell me.” He glanced at her.

“This is your day, Charlie, and I’m not ready,” Kate said.

When they stopped for petrol, she got out to stretch her legs and wandered across the forecourt of the fuel station.
Kate saw his back stiffen as he lifted the nozzle from the bracket.
Two teenage girls had scrambled out of an SUV, paper and pens clutched in their hands.
They stood fidgeting until he’d finished at the pump, then one pushed the other forward.
Kate felt an unexpected surge of pride that she was with him.
The next moment, the girls shot off in tears as Charlie stalked toward the shop to pay.

Their father reached Charlie before Kate did.

“You mean bastard.
Would it have killed you to write your name on a scrap of paper?”

Charlie ignored him and walked up to the desk.
Kate lingered by the door.

“Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you,” the man bellowed.

Kate heard Charlie’s “fuck off”, so she was certain the man had too.
She winced.

“You people think you’re better than the rest of us.
My girls nearly exploded with excitement when they saw you get out of that car.
They have your picture all over their walls.
They play your music all the time.
You only have what you have because of them and others like them.
You’re a selfish, thoughtless bastard.”

Charlie stepped away from the desk and walked past the man without a word.
He caught Kate by the elbow, but she spun out of his grasp, wanting to apologize for him if he wouldn’t do it himself.
As Charlie strode away, Kate walked forward.
The Asian woman behind the counter held out a sheet of paper and two Mars bars to the angry father.

“He left these for your daughters.”

The man picked up the paper.

“What did he say?” the woman asked.

“‘
Sorry, girls. Got out of bed the wrong side this morning, but shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Thank you for your beautiful smiles. Please forgive me
.’ He signed it Charlie Storm and put two kisses.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” the woman said.

The man harrumphed.

Charlie had driven up to the doors so Kate got straight into the car.
She fastened her seat belt and Charlie pulled back onto the road.

“Aren’t you going to tell me I’m a bastard?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Charlie.
Are you?”

“I feel like every time someone asks me to sign my name, they take a piece of me.”

“They were kids and their dad was right.
You only have what you have because of them and others like them.”

“Maybe I don’t want what I have,” he snapped.

“Then that’s your fault.
Not theirs.”

“You don’t know what it’s like.
They act like I’m some sort of hero.”

“Don’t whine.” She saw his mouth harden.
“Is it so hard to be someone’s hero?”

“I don’t want them to think of me like that.
I’m not worth it.”

“Then you’re in the wrong job,” Kate said.
“You can’t escape it, Charlie.
You can’t undo the fact that you’re famous.”

“Would you like me if I wasn’t?”

“I’ve already told you I don’t like you.”

He gave a short laugh and fell silent again.
A moment later, he said, “I left them a note and a couple of Mars Bars.”

“I know and they’ll love you forever.”

“Oh God.”

“If you’d bought me one, so would I,” Kate said.

“I’ll stop at the next service station.”

“It’s too late, now.
I’ve changed my mind.
You’ll have to guess what I want.
Twenty questions.”

“Does it involve licking?” he asked.

“No, that’s one.”

“Sucking?”

“Two.”

“Fucking?”

“Damn.”

Chapter Sixteen

Charlie switched off the engine, but didn’t move.
Kate looked out at the smart, double-fronted, pebble-dashed house.
Two Doric pillars supporting a flat canopy stood either side of a glossy, dark blue front door.
Twisted, tapered box trees grew in terracotta pots on each side.

“Are they expecting you?” she asked.

“No.”