Текст книги "Down London Road"

Автор книги: Samantha Young

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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

30

The whispering of hushed but agitated voices seeped into my consciousness, thankfully pulling me out of a murky dreamscape of wet leaves, blood and pounding footsteps. My sore eyes fluttered open, the blur of colour focusing quickly to reveal that I had a busy sitting room.

Olivia and Cole still sat beside me, Joss was on the armchair, and Braden was perched on the arm of it, his fingers massaging the nape of her neck. Cam and Mick stood by the fireplace with an older man I didn’t recognize, and Mum was seated on the other armchair.

They were all staring at me.

I was staring at Mick.

The air around him crackled, and although I could tell he had calmed somewhat, he had the aura of a man back from battle. There was a lot of pent-up energy around him.

My eyes travelled down his arm to his hand.

Bruised knuckles.

I swallowed hard.

‘He won’t be bothering you again, baby girl.’

Our eyes caught and I felt my fear disintegrate. ‘He wasn’t expecting you.’

The corner of Mick’s mouth quirked up. ‘No. That he was not. I had … words with him.’ He glanced quickly out of the corner of his eyes at the man I didn’t recognize. ‘He’s gone back to Glasgow and he knows if he comes back I’ll forcefully remove him.’

‘What do you have over him, Mick?’ I asked curiously, my voice raspy from sleep deprivation and pain.

He sighed, his eyes darkening. ‘It’s not what I have over him. It’s what I know about him. I know which buttons to push.’

I shook my head, confused.

‘Let’s just say his dad was quick to violence as well.’

That information froze me in place for a second.

Murray Walker had been abused? Now, didn’t that make a whole lot of sense? A cycle of abuse. Of course.

I turned to Cole and brushed his hair back off his face. I may not have saved him from Mum’s quick hands, but I’d saved him from Dad’s brutality. It was a small kind of consolation.

At the thought of Mum, I focused on her. ‘We woke you up?’ I asked blandly, not really giving a crap if we had or not. My father’s attack had brought back my initial feelings of betrayal and anger when I first discovered she’d hit Cole.

Fiona’s anxious eyes searched my face. Let’s not forget this was also a woman who had known that Dad beat me as a child and had let it happen for far longer than she should have.

I stiffened.

Was that what I was doing with Cole? I knew Mum hadn’t hit him since I confronted her in the kitchen, but did that really matter? He still had to live in an environment where I was nervous about leaving him alone in the flat with her. Was it selfish of me to keep him here because I feared losing him? If only she hadn’t threatened to go to the authorities if I took him …

Resolve forced its way into my bones and my eyes narrowed on her. I was a little tired of threats.

‘I wanted to make sure you were okay,’ she muttered before her eyes flickered over everyone. Her hand instinctively went to her unwashed hair. It was a rare moment of self-consciousness, and she followed it by pulling her robe more tightly around her frail body. ‘Now I know you’re okay, I think I’ll go back to bed.’

I watched her silently shuffle away, a difficult decision weighing on me despite everything.

‘Jo, this is Dr Henderson,’ Braden informed me quietly, dragging my thoughts from Mum to the distinguished-looking older man in the room, who now took a step towards me. I was acutely aware of Cam standing beside him, but I still hadn’t acknowledged his presence. There was too much going on and I was really too tired to think clearly on that subject. ‘He’s going to examine you.’

I smiled wanly at the doctor. ‘Thank you.’

His kind eyes dropped to my lip. ‘Where would you like to do this, Jo? Somewhere private?’

‘My room will be fine.’

Dr Henderson followed me silently down the hall to my small bedroom, and there he checked my cut, which Joss had already protected against infection, and then inspected my stomach and ribs. There was slight bruising around my ribs that made him purse his lips.

‘It seemed he wanted to frighten rather than maim entirely, Miss Walker,’ Dr Henderson murmured with a hint of anger. I was guessing it was directed at my dad. ‘He could have caused some internal injuries if he’d kicked you any harder. As it is, I think your ribs are just bruised, although it’s possible there could be a hairline fracture or two. You’re going to feel some discomfort over the next few weeks. There’s nothing I can do except advise you to take ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation and to ice the injured area as well. I’ll also write you a line for work. It would be best if you take at least a week off. You don’t smoke, do you?’

I shook my head. ‘I quit a few months ago.’

‘Good. That’s good. If you feel any shortness of breath, or the pain worsens, or you feel any pain in your abdomen, contact me.’ He held a business card out to me and I took it gratefully.

‘Thank you.’

‘Now, I’m going to leave you to rest. Get some sleep.’

Persuasion was not necessary, and I crawled into bed carefully, closing my eyes to the sound of my bedroom door shutting. I wriggled out of my jeans, hissing at the pain in my ribs. With a kick, my jeans fell out of my bed on to the floor and I pulled my duvet tighter around me.

For the first time in a very long time I felt absolutely safe. How could I not when I had a small army out there in my living room, willing to defend me until the last breath? I’d been so frightened last night, so panicked, but they had taken most of that away – Joss, Braden, Uncle Mick, Olivia, Cam and Cole.

My family.

Tired muscles melted into my comfy mattress, and my eyelids drifted closed. Deep sleep claimed me for the first time in days.

It was the heat that woke me up.

Agitated, I threw off my covers and my eyes shot open with the pain as I let out a garbled cry.

‘Johanna.’ Cam’s voice was suddenly there.

My blinking, bleary eyes met his. He was sitting on the floor of my bedroom, his back against the wall, his knees drawn up, his hands dangling listlessly over them. Dark circles plagued his eyes, eyes that were lidded but still brimming with concern.

I rolled on to my elbow, clutching my ribs. It was light outside. ‘What time is it?’ I asked, my voice cracking on the words. I felt icky and warm and my mouth was dry.

‘It’s eight o’ clock in the morning. Sunday.’

Oh, God. I’d slept for an entire day. With effort I processed Cam’s ragged appearance. ‘Baby, have you not slept?’

Something sparked in his eyes at my question. ‘I’ve drifted in and out. I didn’t want to leave you. Look what happened Friday night.’

‘Not your fault.’ My lips thinned and then I hissed at the sting. I’d forgotten about my lip.

‘I want to hit him again.’

My eyebrows shot skyward, his words waking me up. ‘You hit Murray, too?’

‘I would have killed him, but Mick thought that might be a bad idea.’

‘Ah, Uncle Mick. A man of rationality. He’s such a buzz kill.’

Cam’s lips twitched. ‘Glad to see your sense of humour is still intact.’

I grimaced at the waking aches and pains. ‘It’s about the only thing that is.’

He leaned forward. ‘Can I get you anything?’

‘Glass of water.’ Nodding, Cam got to his feet. ‘Where’s Cole?’

‘In his bed. Joss and Braden offered to come by and take him to the Nicholses’ for lunch later.’

‘Good.’ I closed my eyes again.

A minute or so later, Cam was shaking me gently awake. ‘You need to drink something.’

Reluctantly, I let him help me sit up, and I had to stop myself from leaning in and pressing my face against his neck. We still had way too much to discuss before we could even think about cuddling.

I took a big gulp of the ice-cold water he’d brought me and thanked him. And then before I could say anything, he gently nudged me over and got into the bed beside me, his arm coming around my shoulder to draw me against his chest. ‘What are you doing?’ I mumbled, but I didn’t really protest.

Cam sighed heavily, his fingers brushing through my hair. ‘I’ve been through hell and back in the last few days, Jo. Just let me hold you.’

Tears pricked my eyes. ‘I know you didn’t sleep with her.’

‘It looked bad, though, and you weren’t in any state to think anything else but the obvious.’

My fist clenched, curling into a tight ball. I hadn’t even realized I’d done it until Cam pushed his fingers against mine, forcing me to relax my hand. His thumb rubbed soothingly over my palm where my nails had bitten into the skin. ‘I’m almost afraid to ask this, but … why was she there?’

I felt his hesitation and my heart automatically lodged a complaint with a bang, bang, bang against my chest. ‘Cam?’

He turned his head and pressed his mouth against my forehead, breathing me in. When he pulled back, he replied softly, ‘She turned up late at the flat, distraught and a bit drunk. I let her in. She threw herself at me.’

It was decided. I hated her.

‘I pushed her off, told her nothing could happen between us and I thought it was best she leave, but she broke down crying and I felt like a bastard. I couldn’t just throw her out.’

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. ‘She’s still in love with you?’

‘She doesn’t know me,’ he answered, sounding irritated.

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’

‘We sat talking for ages, going around in circles until she started to sober up. She asked to use my shower and crash for the night. By then we were on the same page and I felt bad for her, so I said yes.’

It took me a moment but I asked, ‘Same page?’

Cam shifted away from me tentatively, and only so he could look me in the eye. His haggard face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and the ache in my chest intensified for him. I lifted my gaze from the soft, sexy curl of his upper lip to his eyes and my breath caught at his expression.

It was vulnerable and raw and open …

He was naked and bleeding for me.

‘I told her something I should have told you ages ago.’ He cupped a large hand around my neck, drawing me closer. ‘I’ve never met anyone as quietly brave and strong as you. I’ve never met a woman so unassuming, so kind and so selfless. You are a complex lady.’ His mouth curled up at the corners. ‘And you are smart, and passionate, and funny, and exciting, and you blow me fucking away. When I first saw you, I wanted you like I’d never wanted anyone. When you first tore me a new one, I wanted to know you. And when I got to know you, when I stood across a kitchen and you told me not to kill a spider because it didn’t say much for us as a species if we killed something because we feared it, I knew. I knew that I would never meet anyone as beautiful or as compassionate or as determined. I’ve known for a while that I was in love with you, Jo. I’ve known and I should have told you.’

Tears streamed down my cheeks and Cam’s thumb did its best to catch them all. My chin trembled as I asked, ‘Why didn’t you?’

He quirked an eyebrow at me. ‘Maybe for the same reason you didn’t tell me.’ He leaned in to place a very careful but sweet kiss on my mouth. When he pulled back he continued. ‘Last week, the Saturday we met Blair and I went quiet on you?’

‘Yeah?’

‘It wasn’t about Blair, baby. It was about you. About us.’

‘I don’t understand.’

Cam’s hand slipped down my arm, his knuckles caressing my skin in soothing strokes. ‘When we bumped into Blair, it was a shock and it was strange. When she and I dated I thought I was in love with her. We were together three years and I didn’t take it well when it ended. But standing there, looking at her, I didn’t feel anything but a distant familiarity. There was no hurt or love or anything but a friendly gladness to see her.’ His eyes darkened. ‘As we were standing there I got stuck in this thought … the thought of me walking down Princes Street ten years in the future with some faceless woman on my arm, and bumping into you when you weren’t mine any more. Because everyone leaves eventually, I thought.’ He huffed in what seemed like pain and his grip on me tightened. ‘It winded me. No, it floored me. I think I’ve been in love with you since that moment in the kitchen, but last Saturday was the first time I realized how crazy I was about you. What I feel for you …’ Cam sucked in a breath and I found myself reaching a hand up to his face, my heart pounding as I watched this man – this strong, irreverent man – overcome with emotion … emotion for me. ‘It’s all-consuming,’ he breathed, leaning his forehead against mine again. ‘It’s almost debilitating. It’s too much. It’s … I can’t even describe it, but being with you is … there’s this intensity inside me all the time, this … constant pull, desperation … it’s like you’re branded on me or something. And it bloody well burns.’

‘I know,’ I whispered soothingly, my tears falling faster. ‘I know. I feel it, too.’

‘You never told me that, though,’ he answered a little harshly. ‘You always kept something of yourself hidden from me, and I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell if you felt the same way. That’s why I got drunk on Saturday night. That’s why Nate came around the next morning to talk to me. He convinced me you felt the same way.’

‘How did he do that?’

‘I asked for his opinion about you and he said, “You’ve nothing to worry about, mate. That girl thinks you’re ‘it’ and I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think it.” ’

I suddenly remembered Cam’s attitude once Nate had left. It was like someone had flipped a switch inside him. Gone was the quiet, subdued, moody man from the night before. In his place had been a seducer. The rough sex against his desk … I remember thinking at the time that it had felt like a claiming. Now I didn’t think I’d been too far off the mark.

Relief, intense relief, washed through me and I rested my head against his warm chest. ‘You told Blair this?’ I murmured against his skin.

‘I told her I was in love with you and that I didn’t think it was a good idea to renew our friendship.’

Another tear fell, splashing his skin.

‘I hope those are happy tears.’

I sobbed now, the well of emotion inside me too much to contain after everything I’d been through. ‘I love you,’ I cried, holding him tighter. ‘So much I want to kill you sometimes.’ I hiccupped attractively.

Cam laughed softly. ‘The feeling is definitely mutual, baby.’

‘So what now?’ I sniffled.

‘Now? I endure the agonizing wait for those ribs to heal up so I can have my wicked way with you and show you just how much I fucking love you.’

I grinned through my tears. ‘I feel your pain.’

Cam grunted in response.

We lay there in silence for a moment and then I pulled back to look up into his gorgeous face. ‘I think I have to leave Mum, Cam. I don’t know how I’m going to bring myself to do it.’

Another soft kiss grazed my lips and I tugged him back to me, ignoring the pain so I could kiss him, long, hard and deep. We finally broke apart, panting.

God damn these stupid ribs.

‘We’ll worry about all that later,’ Cam said. ‘For now, let’s just get you on the mend.’

‘Can I tell you I love you again?’

He nodded slowly, his expression earnest. ‘I’ll never get tired of hearing it.’

31

‘So any word from the mysterious Marco?’ I asked Hannah, leaning against her bedroom wall, watching as she taped a poster of the lead singer of one of the biggest indie rock bands in the world to her wall. My girl had good taste.

Hannah blew air out between her lips, stepping back from the wall to analyse the poster. ‘I’m helping him with a paper for school, so I’ve seen him quite a bit.’

‘I detect from the tone that nothing of import has happened?’

She looked at me over her shoulder. ‘I think there might be some sexual tension between us.’

The matter-of-fact reply caused no small amount of snort choking on my part. ‘Sexual tension?’

Turning fully towards me now, Hannah stared at me with the nonplussed expression of an academic facing a theory she found baffling. ‘Well, I fancy him, so I don’t know if it’s me projecting those feelings into the situation or if the tension between us is due to the fact that the feelings are mutual.’

I thought of the tension between me and Cam before we started dating and then studied Hannah. The girl was stunning and way too built for a fifteen-year-old. A teenage boy’s Kryptonite. I smirked. ‘He’s feeling it back.’

Her eyes brightened with hope. ‘You think?’

‘Definitely.’

Pleased, she began to hang up another poster, grinning like an idiot. ‘So how’s your ribs?’

‘Unfortunately still sore.’ It had been a week since the attack, and after spending seven days of bed rest in the flat, I’d begged Cam to let me attend Sunday dinner. Seeing my desperation, he’d agreed it was time I got out of the flat. Considering I had to go back to work tomorrow, I was counting it as a practise run. Leaving the flat with Cam and Cole in tow, I was surprised to find that I was still a little nervous and jittery being out and about. As we got on the bus, I found myself glancing back on to the street to make sure Murray Walker’s face wasn’t in the crowd.

Cam caught me and deduced what I was doing. The clouds that gathered in his eyes made me feel loved, but it upset me that part of the blackness in their depths originated from his feelings of helplessness over the whole situation. Basically, he felt guilty that he hadn’t been there to stop it, which was sweet but silly and irrational. As it turned out, we both needed comforting about the whole ordeal. I’d taken his hand to let him know I understood, and he had kept me close beside him to let me know he understood.

Our relationship had changed in the last week. Our confessions of love had brought us both the security we needed. I didn’t think it would cure either one of us of our possessiveness, or the flare of jealousy we felt when an ex-partner was mentioned, but knowing that we trusted each other had made us stronger.

It had also made me horny as hell, and not being able to do much about it was killing me.

Assuaging my frustration was the knowledge that it was killing Cam, too.

‘Done.’ Hannah stepped back and we gazed around her newly poster-decorated bedroom. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think Elodie’s going to kill you.’

‘She said I could.’

‘She said “a poster”.’

‘Well, I just heard the permission part.’

‘Come on, you,’ I grinned, gesturing to the door. ‘Let’s enjoy dinner before Elodie discovers your bedroom’s been transformed into a groupie’s paradise.’

Before I could exit Hannah asked quietly, ‘Are you really okay, Jo?’

Looking back at her over my shoulder, I was warmed by the concern on her face. ‘Baby girl, I’m fine. In fact, you know what? I’m more than fine. I’m great.’

‘But your dad …’

Needing to vent, Joss had told Ellie what had happened to me, and Ellie had told Elodie and Elodie had told Clark and apparently Hannah overheard the conversation between her mum and dad. I reached out for Hannah’s hand, giving it a squeeze. ‘I know it must be difficult for you to understand because you’ve got such an amazing dad. I could let the fact that my dad doesn’t care who he hurts, including his own children, get to me. Or I could find what he can’t give me somewhere else. I have Uncle Mick. And I have family in all you guys. It doesn’t change what my dad did, but you know, it goes a long way to helping me get over it.’ I smiled reassuringly at her. ‘Some people are born with family, and others have to make family.’ I shrugged. ‘I can live with that if it means I get to spend time with you sarcastic buggers.’

Hannah laughed, the sadness fading from her eyes. She squeezed my hand back, and I led her to the dining room, where our family was waiting:

Cam, Cole, Uncle Mick, Olivia, Joss, Ellie, Braden, Adam, Elodie, Clark and Declan.

What a beautiful sight for sore eyes. I smiled at Cam across the room as he pulled out a chair for me.

Once we were all settled around the table and the others were chatting loudly, Cam leaned over me. ‘How are the ribs holding up?’

I looked into his concerned eyes as I held a roast potato to my mouth. ‘Just as they were when you asked me that question twenty minutes ago.’

‘Well, excuse me for being a concerned boyfriend.’

I made a face at him, and we shared another silent conversation.

You just want to know if we can have sex yet.

Cam’s lips twitched around his mouthful of food.

Damn right.

Amused and turned on in equal measure, I searched for distraction from Ellie, who was talking about the bridesmaids’ dresses for Joss and Braden’s wedding.

‘I saw these beautiful fuchsia gowns on this Spanish wedding designs website. I was thinking –’

‘That I’m out of my mind if I think Joss will have the colour fuchsia in her wedding,’ Joss finished for her drily.

Braden and Adam immediately began working diligently on their meal and I wondered just how many times they’d been pulled into a disagreement about the wedding between the bride and the maid of honour.

‘Why don’t we go more muted on the bridesmaids’ dresses?’ I suggested, throwing Ellie a pleading look.

Ellie looked so adorably disheartened I wanted to hug her. ‘But fuchsia is such a romantic colour.’

Clark’s eyebrows dipped together. ‘What colour is fuchsia again?’

‘Pink,’ Joss bit out.

Braden snorted, and apparently unable to help himself, he gave his wee sister an incredulous look. ‘You’re really trying to get pink into our wedding? My wedding … to Joss?’

‘It’s not just pink,’ Ellie argued as if they were idiots. ‘It’s a luxurious pinkish purple magenta colour.’

Joss raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s pink.’

Ellie pouted. ‘You’ve not taken on any of my suggestions for the wedding.’

‘Ellie, I love you dearly, I do, but you are all sweetness and rainbows and I am everything that is not that.’

I ventured forth with another idea. ‘What if we go for something in a metallic for our dresses?’

Ellie stewed over that for a moment and then her face brightened. ‘We would all look good in champagne. I think even Rhian would wear champagne.’

Rhian was Joss’s best friend from university and the two didn’t get to see each other as much as they used to because Rhian lived in London. They kept in contact all the time, though, and they were to be in each other’s upcoming weddings.

‘Hmm.’ Joss swallowed a piece of chicken and shrugged. ‘I could work with that.’

Everyone stopped eating to look at her. She glanced up, her eyes round at all the attention. She grimaced and shot Braden a dirty look. ‘What? I can compromise.’

He laughed. ‘It’s just the first time I’ve heard you actually agree about something to do with the wedding.’

‘That’s because our wedding planner sucks. No offence, Els.’

Ellie rolled her eyes. ‘Well, you could plan it yourself, you know.’

‘I only agreed to marry him under the condition that I didn’t have to do that.’

Cam swallowed a chuckle beside me.

Braden narrowed his eyes on his fiancée. ‘Why don’t I plan the wedding, then?’

All of our eyebrows rose at that suggestion.

‘You?’ Joss gaped.

‘Me.’ He shrugged and took a sip of water before adding, ‘We have the same taste, so you know you’ll probably like what I decide. And I think I can get it done faster than you two squabbling mares.’

‘But you’re so busy as it is – I can’t ask you to do that.’

He shrugged again and gave her a ‘So?’ smile.

‘Then I’ll help,’ Joss announced determinedly. ‘We’ll do it together.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’

‘But –’ Ellie’s crestfallen opposition to being ousted from the plans was cut off by Adam as he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. He pulled back and they had one of those silent conversations that seemed to be all the rage these days. Whatever passed between them, Ellie’s shoulders slumped and she nodded, giving in.

‘I’m glad that’s sorted.’ Elodie beamed at us all. ‘If I’d had to deal with one more phone call asking me to referee, I was going to scream.’

‘Hear, hear,’ I murmured, ignoring Ellie’s look of betrayal.

‘So, Mick, Olivia’ – Braden sharply changed the subject – ‘Jo tells us you both found flats.’

Olivia nodded. ‘On Jamaica Lane. And Dad’s just round the corner. We move in soon. It’ll be nice to get out of that hotel. Oh, and Dad’s got his first job lined up, thanks to you, Braden.’

That was the first I’d heard of it. ‘Really, Uncle Mick? Where?’

Mick appeared more than a little pleased as he replied, ‘Doing a couple of show homes for a new development in Newhaven. Starts in two months. Gives me time to get a team together.’ He eyed me down the length of the table. ‘How about it, Jo? Do you feel like packing it in at the bar and the estate agency to become an apprentice?’

My fork clattered to my plate in shock. Was he … did he … was Uncle Mick really asking me to work for him? ‘Eh?’ I answered intelligently.

‘I asked if you wanted to work for me. It’s a risk for us both, what with it being a new business, but I have every faith I can do this. I’ve done it twice before. So will you trust me? Will you come and work with me?’

‘As a painter and decorator? With you?’ Oh, my God, Uncle Mick thought I was good enough to work for him?

I know it may not sound glamorous to some – an apprenticeship to become a painter and decorator. But it took skill, and patience, and it was something I genuinely enjoyed doing. It would be an actual career, something I’d never thought I would have.

Because I didn’t think I was good enough at anything to have one.

My old insecurities whispered and cursed in my ears, causing a flight of nervous butterflies in my stomach. Those insecurities wanted me to say no, so sure that it would only end in failure.

And it might. Not just because of me, but because, as Mick said, it was a new business. I could give up two secure jobs for this one and then have everything fall apart. Could I really be that selfish? Cole needed me to think logically about these things –

I felt Cam’s hand slip into mine under the table and when I looked at him his eyes told me everything I needed to know. I shoved back the insecurities, the second-guessing.

The butterflies were a little harder to get rid of, but despite them, I nodded at Uncle Mick, a wondrous smile forming on my lips. ‘I’d love that.’

A few hours later I was still stunned by Uncle Mick’s offer. Sitting at Cam’s desk in his living room, listening to Cole laugh at Olivia as she trash-talked Nate over a video game, I was still half in that moment back at Elodie and Clark’s.

Cam, Cole, Olivia and I had come back to Cam’s to meet up with Nate and Peetie, who’d stopped by with beer, takeaways, and the latest fighting video game.

Olivia had quickly fallen into a surprising camaraderie with Nate and the two of them were now throwing PG-rated (I was still aware enough to give them hell if they swore in front of Cole) comments at each other as they beat the crap out of each other’s virtual counterparts.

‘Dude, you suck!’ Olivia grinned as the annoying commentator bellowed, ‘Knockout!’

Nate threw her a look of mock offence. ‘Give me a chance, Yank. I haven’t played this game before.’

‘Neither have I.’

‘Aye, but you have smaller fingers. They’re faster and more agile across the buttons.’

Olivia burst out laughing. ‘Even your excuses suck.’

‘Dude,’ Cole agreed, shaking his head in disappointment.

‘Och, now.’ Nate gestured to him in dejection. ‘Don’t you be “dude-ing” me.’ He narrowed his eyes on Olivia. ‘You’ve been here ten minutes and you’ve already managed to undo months of hero worship.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Olivia answered cheerily. ‘I did the kid a favour. He would have found out the truth eventually.’

Lips twitching, Nate turned back to the television. ‘Right, Liv. Prepare to die.’

‘You’re on.’

I wondered when the grown-ups were finally going to allow Cole to play. Eyes on my wee brother, though, I could see he was enjoying himself just hanging out with the guys and listening to Olivia’s banter with Nate. I actually suspected Cole might have a small crush on Olivia, but I would never embarrass him by asking.

As they laughed with one another, I stood up and quietly left the room, heading to Cam’s bedroom for a moment of peace so I could wrap my head around the fact that in a few months’ time I would be starting a new career.

A career.

Shaking my head in wonder, I closed Cam’s door and then crept across the room to carefully lie on his bed. Getting comfortable, I kicked off my shoes, my mind whirring with new plans as I lay there.

My eyes snapped down from the ceiling at the sound of the door opening, and I wasn’t surprised to see Cam slip inside the room, shutting the door behind him. He smiled at me as he came over and settled beside me.

‘You all right?’

I nodded, reaching up to stroke his cheek. ‘Just needed a moment to process.’

He cozied up to me and I rolled into him, enjoying the feel of his arms around me. I breathed in the smell of his aftershave and rubbed my forehead against the bristly line of his jaw.

‘Today’s a good day,’ I murmured, content.

‘Well, I don’t know if I’m about to make it better or worse.’

Remembering the last time he’d said that, I tensed in expectation. It had been just before I discovered Uncle Mick and Olivia in his sitting room. Hopefully, whatever he was about to say would be as nice a surprise as that one. Fingers crossed. ‘Okay,’ I answered warily.

Cam took a measured breath. ‘You said last week you thought you needed to leave your mum and you didn’t know what to do.’

‘Aye.’ My good mood fled at the thought of it.

‘I think I have a solution, but I don’t know how you’re going to react to it.’

I waited.

Cam’s hand cupped my hip and he murmured above my head. ‘Move in with me. You and Cole.’

At the life-altering suggestion, I jolted back and instantly flinched at the sharp pain in my side. Clearing my expression so he didn’t think I was wincing at the thought of living with him, I gazed up into Cam’s suddenly uncertain face. ‘You’re asking us to move in with you?’

‘Yeah.’ He gestured to the room. ‘There’s plenty of space. It means you’ll not have to worry about Cole being left in the flat with your mum, but it also means that you can check on your mum anytime you want to.’

‘But Mum’s rent … her disability won’t cover it.’

‘Keep paying it. We can use the place as extra storage as well.’

‘I can’t afford to pay two rentals.’

‘You won’t have to. I pay rent on this place anyway. I’ll keep paying it. We’ll just have to chip in on food and utilities together.’