“Why the rush?”
“The rush, little brother, is because they slapped another one of our girls last night. Sending the boys on their own didn’t work, so one of us needs to go. Josh is still in Marbella, Teresa is due to have the baby any day and needs me close, so that, sunshine, just leaves you. Flight’s booked, and you need to be at City Airport by three. You fly out at four thirty.”
“For fuck’s sake, can’t this wait till Monday?”
“No, it can’t. I promised Krystal we’d get this sorted. We’ve always looked after our girls, and right now, they’re all too terrified to take a trip to the supermarket or to pick their kids up from school in case another warning gets delivered. Krystal said Marika’s nose was broken last night. These Russian’s are taking the piss. I want it sorted, today. Whatever piece of fanny you’ve got lined up can keep till next week.”
I was so pissed off by all of this, I was pacing. I didn’t pace. Not until I’d met Georgia, anyway.
“Georgia is not a piece of fanny. Don’t fucking talk about her like that,” I warned him before sitting myself down in my office chair—the “twirling” chair.
“Georgia? Frank Layton’s daughter? You still tapping that? Playing with fire there, bruv. When big bad Frank finds out, you won’t just get burned, you’ll get fucking cremated.”
“Fuck off, Rob. He’s the least of my worries.”
“Oh really? Since when did your balls get so big, Bertie Big Bollocks? Coz I’ve never met anyone that wasn’t at least a little bit scared of Frank or his psycho brother Fin, not to mention crazy fucking Bailey. You must want your brains testing.”
My foot was tapping and my jaw was twitching. I was also giving myself a headache from grinding my teeth together. I wanted to knock my brother the fuck out.
“I’m buying a house, I’m gonna ask her to move in with me. We’ll talk to her dad before then. Of course, whether I get his blessing or not, it’s gonna happen.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re buying a house but you haven’t asked her to move in yet? What if she says no?”
“She won’t.”
“Don’t you think she might wanna say in what type of house she lives in if she does say yes then? Does she not get to choose it with you?”
Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that.
“It’s got stables and it’s near her mum, she’ll love it.”
“I fucking hope so, mate.” He clicked the nib of the pen he was holding continuously as he spoke, something else that pissed me off. I snatched it out of his hand, snapped it in half, and threw it across the room.
My phone rang.
“Speak,” I ordered.
“Cam?”
My heart bounced about inside my chest and my stomach went into free fall at the sound of her voice.
“Kitten?” I watched as my brother’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline when I said her name, so I raised mine and gave him a look that said, “Not one word, dick head, not one fucking word.” He picked up another pen from the pot on my desk and started clicking it. I wanted to snap off his thumb.
“Fuck. Where the fuck are you? Don’t you ever do something like that to me again, you fuckin hear me? I’ve been worried sick. Where are you?”
I cracked my jaw to relieve some tension while I waited for her answer.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine. I should’ve called you last night. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
Worry? Fucking worry? The three times I’d woken during the night, I’d worn holes in her bedroom carpet as I paced and tried to think where I should start to look for her.
Apparently, I did pace.
I wanted to shout at her, but I didn’t want her hanging up on me.
This skinny little girl had me so twisted up in knots, I didn’t know which way was up any more.
“Where are you? I’ll come and get you,” I said calmly. I knew she didn’t have her car. It was still parked outside her flat when I’d left there that morning.
“No, no. it’s fine. I don’t need collecting.” She sounded panicked. Warning bells sort of went off, but I chose to ignore them.
I turned the chair around and faced the wall in my office so I didn’t have to look at my brother’s obvious pleasure over finding out this girl had me by the balls.
“You okay? I missed you,” I told her quietly. She said nothing. More alarm bells. I stamped on them till they shut the fuck up. Shoulda gone with my gut.
“I stayed at yours last night. I needed to be able to smell you. I fuckin’ hated sleeping in your bed and waking up alone.”
Robbie made a gaging noise from behind me. I spun the chair around, picked up the pot containing the pens, and launched it at him. My stapler followed.
She was silent. Nothing but the sound of her breathing was coming through the phone, but I could barely hear it over the sound of my own heart beating loudly in my ears.
“Georgia, you still there?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m still here. Look, Cam, we need to talk.”
No, no we do not need to talk.