Taming the Bad Girl (12 page)

Lucy’s response.
Where did you get this
number??!

I swallowed dryly, trying to understand. Lucy
had said he didn’t bother her. That he was someone close to her, but how could
that be true? The guy was razing her for money and all of a sudden everything
clicked into place. The fact she was short of cash, so worried about losing her
job. Because someone was taking it all
off
her!

Anger raised its head and I dropped the phone on
the bedside table, clenching my fists. I shouldn’t have looked through it, of
course I shouldn’t, but now a plan was forming. Percy’s might not mean anything
to some but I knew exactly where it was.
A small café in one
of the less salubrious parts of town.
I knew of it only because of its
amazing tacos. Gabe and I had been there several times these last few weeks.

Lucy would no doubt go to meet up with this
fucker and I would go with her. Get this whole situation sorted once and for
all.

“Giles?”

Her soft tones interrupted my raving thoughts
and I strode out into the hall, grabbed the groceries and headed into the
kitchen. Lucy was emptying the coffee pot, next to the sink. I breathed a sigh
of relief.

“Coffee no good?”
I asked.

“No,” she said. “It smelled funny.” She turned
and I couldn’t help but notice that she looked distinctly pale. I dropped the
groceries and pulled her forward.

“You look rough, Luce. What’s up?”

“Oh, well, thanks for that,” she muttered.

I laughed, couldn’t help myself. It felt like a
huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I pulled her into my arms and
cradled her close. She smelled of soap and toothpaste and I breathed her in. It
was all different now I knew the truth. We could move forward, the two of us
and that was an amazing feeling. The future seemed sort of open now, so many
options….

“I’m feeling a bit
urgg
,”
Lucy said, interrupting my wandering thoughts. “Think I might go and lie down.”

Instantly my satisfaction was replaced with
concern. I held her at arms length and had to agree she indeed looked a bit
ropey. “Too many late nights,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one that
keeps me up late!”

“Well, you can call a
sicky
today,” I said, lifting her into my arms.

“I can’t! I’ve got loads to do.”

“Well work from home then. Use the laptop and
cryptocard
here. Just get some rest.”

I deposited her on the bed, tucking the duvet
around her. She mumbled something and buried herself deeper.

“You rest,” I said, but immediately her head
lifted and she shot me a look I couldn’t quite understand.

“Will you….”

“What?” I asked when it seemed as though she was
going to finish.

“Jump into bed with me for a bit and cuddle me?”

My heart leapt. It actually fucking leapt. She’d
never asked me to do that. Not once. So I pulled up the duvet, slipped of my
sneakers,
scooched
in beside her and gathered her up
in my arms. It occurred to me that maybe it was the time of the month or
something, maybe she was a bit weepy. So I stroked up and down her amazing hair
and peppered her forehead with little kisses.

“Go back to sleep,” I whispered. “I’ll stay
right here until you do.”

She nodded against me and wiggled her feet.
“Giles?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to talk soon,” she said.

“Oh?”

“
There’s
things…stuff I
should tell you.”

I smiled against her. Imagining how happy she
would be when I showed up tonight and sorted everything out for her.

Chapter Nineteen

Lucy: And all of a sudden things that seemed so important before
just aren’t anymore.

I rested just like Giles asked. Then I went to
the pharmacy around the corner from his place and picked up a test. My heart
hammered as I paid for it and hammered all the way back again. It said,
morning urine
, which was
gack
enough in
itself
, but I
thought I’d chance it. I wasn’t even surprised when the line showed up blue.
Somewhere between that bathroom and Giles’ arms everything had clarified. I was
pregnant. I was going to have a baby.
Giles’ baby.
It
just seemed right. Terrifying yes, but like it made sense.
Hardly
even surprising.

And now because of that it was time to get
things sorted out.

The text was the perfect opportunity and even
though I couldn’t work out why the text was showing up read—maybe I’d knocked
the phone—it didn’t matter. Alex and I had to talk for once and for all. For so
many years we’d done this back and forth, but now everything was different.

There was a baby to think about. It would need
things. And that took money. I could give no more away. Sat in Giles’s sitting
room, his spare key reflecting the light from the huge bay windows, I scrunched
up my face and tried to imagine what things a baby would need. Diapers and
clothes, but what else? A cot, I guessed, some toys?
Maybe a
pram?
It was something I had no knowledge of and I resolved once this
was done to write myself a list. Maybe Pam could help, if I swore her to
secrecy for the time being, though in truth she probably knew about as much as
I did.

When half five came around I texted Giles to
tell him I was at my place and that I’d see him later and jumped on the bus. It
was a five-minute ride to Percy’s, which despite being in a pretty rough
area,
sold
the
best
tacos. My stomach rumbled and I smiled. The baby was hungry.

The baby, I couldn’t help but stroke along my
flat stomach as I imagined it. Never had it been something I’d ever imagined
myself doing because babies were for other people. People like Pam who had a
man who adored them and the prospect of marriage and a nice house and big
family. I had Giles, and though I knew he wanted me I knew no more than that.

The bus bumped along the road and I imagined
what he would say. What he would do. Stand by me for sure, I didn’t doubt that.
But how?
Would our relationship continue? I sighed and
gripped the pole ready to get off at the next stop. What would happen would
happen. I could do no more than that. This, what I was doing now was the most
important thing. I’d think about Giles later.

There was an ATM a few doors down from Percy’s
and I nipped over to it quickly to withdraw some money. Keeping an eye out as I
did so. But all was well and two hundred dollars poorer I walked down to the
café ready to face the problem I’d run from for so long. No, run wasn’t the
right word.
Avoided.

It had always been my way.
Giles,
the men, Alex.
I’d avoided confrontations, avoided having to deal with
the issue. I’d treated Giles badly. I could see that now. Hell what man would
accept an unknown guy texting the woman he was fucking? Not many that was for
sure. And rather than explaining—mainly because of how ashamed I was—I’d kicked
him aside. And then, brokenhearted I’d gone off and fucked other men.
Convincing myself it was some kind of solace, when in reality…I paused, my hand
on the handle of the door…hadn’t I just wanted Giles to notice? To see what I
was doing and step in?
To tame my ways?

I sighed, the knowledge washing over me.

And now this.
Alex, the man I’d treated just as badly, so badly I was still
paying for it all these years later. Well, no more.

Time to get responsible, Luce.
Time to take charge.

I stroked my belly once again, hoping like hell
the baby was a girl, pushed my shoulders back and went inside. There he was, I
spotted him straight away and my stomach gave a nasty flip.

Alex James.
My high school
boyfriend.

Chapter Twenty

Giles: And then you think shit. And everything tilts.

“Giles, wait up.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

“Geez, already.
Walk and talk then. I just
wanna
know
where Luce is.”

I sighed, lengthening my stride so that Pam had
to trot to keep up. Her stilettos clacked as she moved and I looked down at them,
shaking my head. They had to be about five inches. Why did women insist on
doing that to themselves? I much preferred Lucy in flats, well, preferred her
in nothing in truth. “She’s ill.”

“Nothing serious obviously or you wouldn’t be
here.”

“Of course not,” I said, digging my car keys out
of my pocket. “She just woke up feeling poorly.”

Pam halted next to my car.
Taking
a deep breath.
“Woke up feeling poorly? A, with the English terms, B,
why?”

I unlocked the car and opened the passenger
door. “I don’t know.
Women’s problems probably.
Text her or something.”

Pam scowled. “I did already. She’s not answering
my texts. Which is weird, she usually does.”

I sighed again and dropped my briefcase into the
passenger seat. “Pam, as much as I’d love to hang around and discuss the state
of Lucy’s health with you I am actually on my way somewhere.”

“To see Luce?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.” Pam paused and shot me a grin.
“Everything going okay?”

“Yep.
It is indeed.”

“Well tell her to text me, ‘cause I was thinking
that next weekend you guys should come round mine.
The
painful double date
stylee
.
Gabe can cook. He
cooks so well. I don’t obviously, and he gets these cupcakes. Luce will die for
them.”

I grinned despite myself. “Who’d have thought
it, huh?”

Pam laughed and laid a hand on my arm, suddenly
all seriousness. “Me.
For a long, long time.”

It was a short drive to Percy’s, giving me
plenty of time to think, and I was early despite moaning to Pam that she was
holding me up. Lucy was early too, and I frowned. I’d planned to meet her
inside the café, talk to her before she met up with Alex. Give her my support.
Not meet her randomly in the street. But the moment her bus pulled up she
jumped out and jogged across to the ATM a few doors down.

Anger gripped me, knowing what she was doing.
Last time, Luce.
Last time.
And also because she was so clearly ill.
When she was
feeling a bit low she dressed down. I’d picked up on that. And standing there
in sweats,
Uggs
and a Hollister
hoodie
she was clearly feeling like shit. I cursed beneath my breath. We’d get this
over and done with and I’d take her home. Feed her something hearty and cuddle
her up.

The idea of a night in front of the TV came to
me. Just Luce and I curled up together.
Warm beneath the
duvet.
My heart squeezed and I shook ever so slightly as I entered the
café. I’d completely fallen for her. There was no doubt about that, and this
was the last step to making things right between us.

Once Alex was out of the picture, the thieving
bastard, Lucy would be mine.

I took a quick look about as I walked the grimy
linoleum to the
boothing
area. There weren’t many
people around. Not surprising on a Wednesday night at this time.
A few locals by the looks of it in casual clothes.
A wreck
of a man hunched over in a dirty combat jacket alone in one of the middle
booths and two elderly couples seated together. My guess was Alex hadn’t
arrived yet. Good. I would grab Lucy as soon as she came in, and we could have
that chat before he turned up.

I slid into my usual booth, tapping my foot,
waiting.

Mere moments later she
arrived.
I slid back along my seat, holding my
breath, waiting for her to look in my direction. Only she didn’t. She made her
way a little to my left, to a table about four or so up from me and off at an
angle.

I couldn’t work out exactly where she was going
until she turned slightly, shifting into my view, and then I saw, and I
watched, horrified, as she stopped next to the wreck, sighed and passed him
across a wad of cash. He nodded, shook his head and nodded again, before
sliding the money into his dirty jacket pocket.

What the fuck? I gaped, unable to believe what I
was seeing.
Unable to believe any of it.
Agog I
watched as Lucy turned to go, but the wreck reached out and pulled her sleeve.
I stood immediately, not even really thinking, ready to step in and plant him a
facer. Teach him exactly what someone gets for touching my woman. But the sight
that greeted me next was enough to make me pause.