Текст книги "Redemption: A Stepbrother Romance"

Автор книги: Jessica Ashe

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Michelle and I spent a few hours cramping Maisie’s style while she was trying to enjoy her date with Shaun, but when they started to watch a movie I insisted we go out for a walk to give them a bit of time alone.

Shaun found it difficult enough to relax around new people at the best of times, so he wouldn’t enjoy his time with Maisie if Michelle was hanging around as well. Hopefully if the two of them spent some time alone they would become friends.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Michelle asked, as she slipped on a pair of flats. “We’ll be leaving two horny teenagers on their own.”

“They’ll be fine. Shaun’s a good kid and Maisie isn’t anywhere near as aggressive as she makes out. Besides, we would also get some alone time, and I know I feel a bit like a horny teenager myself right now.”

Michelle smiled and bit her lip. She looked sweet and innocent, but I knew her well enough to know that was just an act as well. At least around me it was.

Michelle held my hand as we walked down my drive and then headed to the park nearby. We’d picked a rare night where it was warm enough to walk around without a jacket or jumper even after dark.

Whenever we walked past another couple or someone overtook us on the path, Michelle would clutch my hand a little tighter and move slightly closer to me. Even after eight years, she was still nervous about people coming out of the dark, and I couldn’t blame her. If only I had been with her that night, holding her hand like I was now, I would have been able to stop the attackers before they threw acid at Maisie and Michelle.

Michelle’s nervousness wasn’t entirely unwarranted. Not tonight. Tonight we had company. I’d noticed him as soon as we entered the park. He didn’t even try to be subtle these days. Superintendent Winston had been following us through the park for the last ten minutes.

“Let’s sit down for a bit,” I said, as we finally found an empty bench to sit on. I pulled out my phone and pretended to send a message while using the camera to zoom in and see if Winston was still following. The image quality was pretty bad, but I could make him out a hundred yards back. He’d stopped walking when we sat down and was now just hanging around looking conspicuous. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

“Everything okay?” Michelle asked.

Right now I wanted nothing more than to hang out with Michelle, but I couldn’t even do that without Winston getting in the way.

“Winston’s over there,” I said, pointing in his direction. “He’s following us tonight.”

“Why would he be following us? Have you done something wrong?”

“No, nothing like that.” At least, not this time. “He’s had it in for me for a while, but he hasn’t followed me for some time. I guess he’s decided to take a more personal interest in me again. Or maybe he just likes staring at that perfect little arse of yours. Can’t say I blame him.”

“Ew, I really hope not. That guy creeps me out.”

“So he should. Winston can’t be trusted.”

“I’m sure he thinks he’s doing the right thing.”

“No,” I said firmly. “He doesn’t. I can’t prove this, but I’m fairly certain he’s corrupt. Bought and paid for. Listen, if he ever approaches you or Maisie, you must not speak to him. Don’t say a thing.”

“Oliver, you’re kind of scaring me now. What’s going on? If you’ve done something, you can tell me about it.”

“It’s not like that. If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Maisie? I don’t want it getting back to Shaun.”

“As long as it doesn’t put her in any danger, sure.”

“I think Superintendent Winston was involved in the death of Shaun’s dad.”

“Holy shit,” Michelle exclaimed, just as an old couple walked past, causing them to glare at us. “That would explain why Shaun told us he was a bad man the other day at the police station. I thought that was weird.”

“I haven’t told Shaun about Winston, but he might have picked up on some of the details. I’ve been trying to keep it a secret from him, but he’s a bright kid.”

“So what happened?”

“Shaun’s dad was involved in something illegal. I won’t say what, but it wasn’t his fault. Anyway, he decided to go to the police. He told his story to Winston and immediately after he died in a car accident.”

“Oh,” Michelle said, as she looked over towards Winston. “That’s awful, but it could just be a coincidence. If Shaun’s dad had just made a big confession, then it would make sense that he might be a little agitated. That could have caused the accident.”

I shook my head. “It just doesn’t feel right.” I couldn’t tell her why I was so certain the car ‘accident’ wasn’t an accident. Do you know how easy it is sabotage a car so that it breaks down at high speed? Scary stuff.

“Just promise me you won’t talk to him. If he follows you or tries to talk to you, go and speak to Chief Superintendent Hodgson immediately. She’ll look after you.”

Michelle nodded and suggested that maybe it was a good time to go home. I’d probably freaked her out with the talk of Winston, but I had to warn her. Winston disappeared as we walked back towards him the way we had come and I didn’t see him again. He wouldn’t dare come onto my land, but that didn’t entirely calm my nerves.

Why was he back on my case again now? I could understand it when he was following me before. I was involved in the same gambling ring as Gary had been, so it made sense that he would have picked up my trail back then. But what about now?

I still thought Winston was involved with Carl. Maybe Carl had paid him to keep the police off his back. Not that it did Carl much good; he was locked up now and would be for some time. The accident that killed Shaun’s dad happened just hours after Gary confessed to Winston. What if Winston had called Carl to tell him what Gary did? I knew I sounded paranoid, but that explanation made as much sense as any other.

We made a suitable amount of noise as we walked in so as not to sneak up on the young couple. The two of them were sat apart on the couch when we walked in, but they had the guilty look of two young people who had just moved apart because their parents had come home.

Michelle went and plonked herself straight between the middle of them and asked what they were up to.

“Just streaming some shows on Netflix,” Maisie replied casually.

We sat there and watched television with them, but the show was mind numbingly tedious and I soon started yawning. Michelle did little better at hiding her disinterest, so after half an hour she told Maisie it was time to leave and I called my driver.

I hated this part of the evening. I understood why Michelle didn’t think it appropriate to stay over and leave Maisie alone in a hotel, but it was frustrating as hell. The whole point of telling Maisie and Shaun about our relationship had been to avoid the need to sneak around, but we still had to disappear during the day while Maisie and Shaun were training.

My house was huge, but I’d never seen the need for more than two bedrooms. As a result, all the rooms had been converted into recreation rooms and places to hang out. Maisie could sleep on the sofa a few nights, but she couldn’t do that all summer. Not when she needed all her energy for rugby training.

“Isn’t it silly to go back to the hotel?” Maisie asked. “You clearly would rather stay here and I can crash on the couch.”

“You need a good night’s sleep on a proper bed,” Michelle explained. “Anyway, you shouldn’t be staying over with someone you’re dating at your age.”

Maisie rolled her eyes. “You were both gone for over an hour. We could have done so much sex in that time.”

“Come on,” Michelle said. “Let’s get a move on.”

Shaun and Maisie walked to the door, not quite holding hands, but certainly standing closer than they usually did. I tugged Michelle back gently to give the two young lovebirds a chance to say goodbye.

“Don’t watch them,” I said. “Why don’t you say a proper goodbye to me instead?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to feel neglected.” Michelle wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me softly on the lips. I briefly forgot how close we were to the kids when my hand reached down and firmly squeezed her ass. She must have forgotten as well, because she didn’t bat my hand away.

This couldn’t go on all summer. Hooking up for a few hours of sex each afternoon was nowhere near enough for me. It always felt like we’d barely gotten started when we had to stop again.

Suddenly Shaun came running past me saying, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” before flying up the stairs. Michelle frowned and we both looked round the corner to see Maisie standing there in tears, before she fled outside to the waiting car.

Maisie wouldn’t speak to me in the car on the way back to the hotel. She did her best to stop crying, but the tears were still falling when she got to her room. I’d had my share of nights where I cried myself to sleep over boys, and the temptation was to let Maisie do the same, but she left the door open for me to follow her in.

“Do you want to tell me what all that was about back there?” I asked.

All I’d seen was Shaun running up to his bedroom saying he was sorry about something. My first thought was that he’d tried to kiss her and she’d blown him off, but she looked even more upset than he did.

“Not really,” Maisie responded through tears. I kicked off my shoes and sat up cross-legged on her bad and patted the space next to me so that she would join me.

“I’ll be honest,” I said softly. “Oliver is a convincing guy, so Shaun is bound to talk to him. Between what he finds out and what I find out, we’ll soon know the whole story anyway, so you might as well tell me.”

“He’s not interested in me,” Maisie said. “He made that pretty clear.”

“You two looked close when Oliver and I came in. I saw he had his arm around you on the sofa before the two of you darted apart when we walked in.”

Maisie smiled, although she was still crying. “You saw that?”

“Why do you think I sat in between you?”

“Yeah, you kind of cramped my style there.”

“That was exactly the intent. So what went wrong?”

“I really don’t want to talk about this with my sister.”

“You’d rather talk about it with Mom?” I asked. “Despite what you sometimes say, I do not have a heart of stone. I’ve had boy troubles in the past too.”

“Yeah, but now you’ve got the perfect man.”

“Oliver’s not perfect,” I replied.

“Name one thing that’s not perfect about Oliver,” Maisie said. “Oh, does he have a really small—”

“No,” I replied immediately. “Definitely not. In fact, maybe his flaw is that it’s… you know what, never mind. How about the fact that he lives in another country? That’s going to be a problem at some point. Plus, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re technically related.”

“Oh man, I can’t wait until you have that conversation with Dad. You have to let me be there.”

“Only if you tell me what happened tonight,” I replied. I wanted Maisie there when I told Dad anyway. He might not get so mad if she was there. It’s not like we were close anyway. I still hadn’t seen him once on this trip and there was a good chance I’d go home without seeing him. That was just fine with me.

“I kissed him,” Maisie said, looking down at her lap as she spoke. “Or at least I tried to. It was just going to be a little kiss goodbye. It’s not like we were going to start making out with you and Oliver just around the corner. That would be weird.”

“Uh, yeah, that wouldn’t be right,” I said, relieved that at least Maisie had no idea what Oliver and I had been doing at that exact moment. We’d only kissed for a few moments, but it never took long for me to get excited, and I’d felt a few signs of Oliver’s eagerness pressing against me.

“He ran away when I got close,” Maisie said. “I’m sure you saw that part.”

“Shaun’s a nice kid, Maisie, but he’s also shy and quiet. He’s not as forward as you. He was probably just scared. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never kissed a girl before.”

“That wasn’t it. I saw the look on his face as I moved closer to him. He cringed.” Maisie’s voice was shaking and the tears were coming faster now than they had done all night.

I’d never seen her this upset before. Not since she first saw her face after the attack. I put my arm around her, but it felt woefully inadequate.

“He saw my scars,” Maisie sobbed, “and then he ran.”

“I’m sure that’s not what—”

“That’s exactly what happened,” Maisie yelled. “Don’t you think I’ve seen that look a hundred times before? I know what it looks like when people are disgusted by my face. I know I pretend that I don’t care, but I do. I hate how ugly I am. I hate it.”

I couldn’t bear to look at Maisie right now. I couldn’t handle seeing her cry like this, but the last thing she’d want is for me to look away from her.

My own tears started falling down my cheeks. I don’t know if it was guilt or seeing her upset, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to be strong for her, but once again I had failed miserably.

“Anyone who thinks you’re ugly doesn’t deserve you,” I said softly in her ear. “I think this is all a misunderstanding, but if it isn’t then you can just move on and forget about Shaun.”

“I can’t forget about him,” Maisie said. “I’m his aunt.” She laughed and pulled away from me to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Do you want me to stay with you tonight?” I asked. “I can crash on the sofa. These rooms are far too big for one person anyway.”

“No, I’m fine. Honestly, I am. I just need some time to myself. Can you do me a favor though?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“When you tell Oliver about this, can you leave out all the crying? Pretend I was just angry, and not upset.”

“Will do.” I stood up and slipped my shoes back on. Maisie did look a bit better now. I knew from experience that sometimes a decent crying session did a world of good, but I also knew that sometimes it wasn’t enough. It never had been for me when Oliver had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me.

I’d been a bit older than Maisie was now, but not by a lot. Fourteen was plenty old enough to have your heart broken, especially with everything Maisie has gone through in her life.

“Maybe Oliver and I should spend less time together from now on,” I suggested. “It’s not fair to you.”

“Don’t you dare,” Maisie said. “You’re so much more chilled out now, and you’re always buzzing after you’ve had one of your dirty afternoons. No, I like this version of you.”

I smiled. “Yeah, me too. Night, sis.” I kissed Maisie on the cheek and headed back up to my room.

Maisie had been right; I’d changed since Oliver and I had started dating. I still acted a bit “mom-like” around Maisie, but it took a lot more effort to do it. I wasn’t so tightly wound anymore, I slept better, and I kept smiling without knowing why.

Things were good for me, I just wished Maisie had things as easy. Before bed a message came through from Oliver.

Spoke to Shaun. Everything will be fine. Will explain later. Pub tomorrow night?

Thank God for that. Teenagers could get into fights over nothing, but fortunately they could make up just as easily. It had taken Oliver and I eight years to get together after our fight. Now we were with each other every spare second; we had a lot of time to make up for.

I’d always thought that once Michelle and I put the past to one side and admitted how we felt, things would be simple. Easy. Fun. I hadn’t imagined Shaun and Maisie would make things so bloody complicated. They weren’t doing it on purpose of course, but teenagers had a habit of getting in the way.

I knocked on Shaun’s door and walked in. I let him keep a lock on his door, so him leaving it unlocked was a subtle way of letting me know I could come inside. He wasn’t crying, but then Shaun wasn’t really the crying type. He probably got that from me.

“What happened back there, mate?” I asked. At times like this, I always tried to act like a brother or friend. I only pulled the father card out when things got really serious, which was rare with a kid like Shaun. “Am I going to get an earful from Michelle?”

“She tried to kiss me,” Shaun said. He couldn’t look at me as he spoke, but that was fine. It’s not like I’d ever been all that open about girls with my mum.

“I kind of gathered that. You didn’t want to kiss her? I thought you two were getting along well.”

Shaun nodded his vigorously. “We are. I did want to, but her scars… on her face…”

Maybe I was being biased, but I couldn’t imagine anyone not thinking Maisie was beautiful. Her smile was only rivalled by Michelle’s, and that was something different entirely. I knew boys were obsessed with looks, but I thought Shaun was different.

“I raised you better than that, Shaun. She can’t help her scars.”

“I know,” he said quickly. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“I’m not supposed to know.”

“Know what?”

“How Maisie got her scars. But I do know.”

Shit. I’d done my best to keep negative stories about his father secret, but the information was out there if you looked for it. There were rumours in dark corners of the Internet, but someone was bound to have found it and told Shaun. Either that or he had overheard my conversations with solicitors and the police.

“What do you know?” I asked. I didn’t want to lie to the kid, but if I had a chance to redeem his father’s image then I was damn sure going to take it.

“I know Dad was into some bad stuff before he died. Don’t try to say otherwise, because I’ll know you’re lying.”

“Your Dad made some mistakes,” I admitted, “but they don’t have anything to do with Maisie.”

“My Dad’s the reason they were attacked.”

“Why do you think that?” As far as I knew, no-one had directly connected Gary to Maisie’s attack, so I had no idea where Shaun got that idea from.

“Winston told me.”

“Winston’s been talking to you?” I asked angrily. How fucking dare he come near Shaun. Shaun was a minor who lost his only parent. There had to be laws against a detective approaching him without my permission. That piece of shit, dirty cop would pay at some point. I’d make sure of it.

Shaun nodded. “He said Dad was involved in a criminal enterprise and that you were as well. That’s why Maisie was attacked.”

Jesus. He implicated me as well. If Winston was dirty, he might be trying to pin the blame on me and make me look like a bad witness. Bringing him down as going to be nigh on impossible.

“Listen, Shaun. Your father is not responsible for what happened to Maisie. I am. I think about it every day. It haunts me when I close my eyes. But whatever the case, her injuries are nothing to do with you. Nothing. You do not need to feel guilty in any way. Do you understand?”

Shaun paused for a few seconds and nodded. “I should apologize to her. She looked pretty upset.”

“Fortunately for you, I’ve got a lot of experience in the area of upsetting and then apologising to women, so you’re in good hands.”

Shaun smiled and let me put my arm around his shoulder. “Does Maisie know?” he asked. “About your involvement?”

Now it was my turn to feel like shit. “No,” I replied. “She doesn’t. I didn’t tell her back then because I wanted to deal with the situation myself. And because I was a coward. Now, I just don’t want her to hate me.”

“She won’t hate you,” Shaun said. “She’s kind of awesome. And she thinks the world of you, so I can’t imagine she would ever hate you. Unless you mess with her sister.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that would definitely put me in her bad books. Fortunately, her sister’s kind of awesome too.”

I let Shaun play some video games before bed, and sent a quick text to Michelle, before disappearing to my workout room to make a phone call.

“Hello, West London Police Station. How can I help?”

“Can you put me through to Chief Superintendent Hodgson, please?” I asked. “Tell him it’s Oliver Cornish.”

“Oh, certainly Mr. Cornish,” said the sweet female voice on the other end of the line who clearly recognized my name.

“Oliver, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Hodgson said when she picked up the phone.

“Hey, officer, sorry to bother you so late. Wasn’t sure you’d still be there.”

“Yeah, my schedule’s all over the place these days. What can I do for you?”

“It’s Winston.”

“Shit, what’s he done now?”

“He’s been speaking to Shaun without my permission.”

“Fuck’s sake. He’s getting desperate, I suppose.”

“Is there anything you can do at your end to rein him in?” I asked. “I don’t mind the police investigating me, and I’ve always fully cooperated, but it has to stop at some point. This has been going on for years.”

“I’ll do my best. I’m not technically his boss, but I go drinking with the man who is. I’ll have a word.”

“Thanks, detective.”

“Was there something else?” Hodgson asked, noticing that I hadn’t ended the call.

“It looks like I’m back in the England team,” I said. “Might be playing at the World Cup.”

“Yeah, so I heard. I was just waiting for the right time to try and bum some tickets off you actually. You don’t sound too happy at the prospect though.”

“Am I taking a stupid risk?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. By playing in a high-profile tournament. The last time I did that I attracted the attention of those scum who attacked Maisie.”

“They’re all behind bars now,” Hodgson insisted. “And they ain’t going anywhere.”

“There could be more out there.”

“We got them all, I promise. The first few we arrested blabbed like little babies and the rest came crumbling down. You’re perfectly safe to play in the tournament.”

“It’s not my safety I’m worried about.”

“You should be. Because if you don’t play and, more importantly, don’t get me tickets, I will come down on you like a tonne of bricks. Winston will be the least of your problems.”

I laughed. “Okay, I take your point.”

The last time I played for England in a World Cup, I’d put those I loved at risk. If I thought there was any chance of them being harmed again, I would pull out of the squad immediately.

I knew my fears were ungrounded. The betting ring had been shut down years ago. If only my guilt had disappeared with it. Maybe if I righted the wrongs of 2007 I could finally learn to live with myself. Whether Maisie and Michelle would ever learn to forgive me was another matter entirely.