Two-Faced (14 page)

‘Why haven’t you called?’ Mia asked, amused that Liam actually believed he was talking to Michelle.

‘Long story,’ he said. ‘Remember when we were supposed to be going out that night, but then I got offered that flat so we couldn’t go? Well, I took it, but I lost my phone while I was moving in so I couldn’t call to let you know. And you haven’t been at the library any of the times I’ve been round your way since, and I don’t know your address, so . . .’ Pausing, he exhaled loudly as if out of breath. ‘Anyway, I’ve found my phone now –
obviously
. And you’re the first person I’ve called. So, am I forgiven?’

Mia was smiling slyly. This was obviously the lad from the library and, as she’d suspected, he and Michelle were a lot more than friends – although why a man with as sexy a voice as this was interested in
her
, God only knew.

‘I’ll think about it,’ she purred flirtatiously, wondering how best to turn this to her advantage. ‘But you’ll have an awful lot of making up to do first.’

‘
Sorry?
’ Liam murmured, taken aback because that was the last thing he’d have expected her to say. ‘This
is
Michelle, isn’t it? I haven’t dialled the wrong number by mistake?’

For a split second it crossed Mia’s mind to tell him that he
had
got the wrong number, because then he would probably delete it and wouldn’t be able to get through to Michelle again. But she decided it would be much more fun to string him along for a while instead – maybe arrange to meet up with him. And if he was nice-looking enough, maybe she would keep him for herself.

‘It’s the right number,’ she told him now. ‘Why, who did you think you were talking to?’

‘I’m not sure,’ he admitted, still sounding a little wary. ‘Your voice sounds different.’

Remembering that Michelle had a wimpy little voice, Mia coughed for effect. Then, easily mimicking her, she said, ‘Sorry, I’ve had a bit of a cold. Is that better?’

Sounding relieved, Liam said, ‘Well, at least I can tell it’s you now. You had me worried for a minute there. Anyway, I was wondering if we could try again – as long as you’re up to it, obviously.’

‘Try what again?’

‘The
date
,’ he said patiently. ‘That film’s still showing at Cineworld if you fancy it. Or we could just meet up and go for a burger or something, if you’ve gone off the idea.’

‘I haven’t gone off it,’ Mia assured him, thinking that she’d quite fancy a night out at the pictures – depending what was on, of course: knowing Michelle, it was probably one of those deathly boring foreign films. ‘But can you remind me what we were going to see, only my head’s been all over the place with this cold.’

‘
Sceptic
,’ Liam told her, amused that she’d forgotten the title of the film that
she
’d chosen. ‘But if you’re not that fussed,’ he added hopefully, ‘there’s a new
Terminator
supposed to be coming out soon, so we could wait for that?’

‘Oh,
yeah
!’ Mia blurted out approvingly. ‘I definitely want to see that.’

Laughing now, Liam said, ‘God, you’re a mystery, you are. There’s no
way
I’d have thought you’d go for something like that – not with the stuff you like reading.’

‘Yes, well, I’m not boring all the time,’ Mia replied, taking a sly pop at Michelle.

‘You’re
never
boring,’ he corrected her, unable to see the funny look his words brought to her face as she wondered how
anyone
could fail to see that her sister had all the personality of a bowl of cold porridge. ‘Anyway, I’ll go along with whatever you want to do. I know how busy you’ve been with your school work, so I wouldn’t want to tire you out, or anything.’

Inhaling deeply when his soft teasing voice sent a little shiver through her body, Mia decided that she had to meet him. And what better time than now, with Michelle safely out of the way at school?

‘I’m, er, not doing anything right now,’ she told him. ‘So we could meet up, if you want?’

‘Really?’ He sounded pleasantly surprised. ‘Well, yeah, that would be great. I’ve just got a couple of things to do, but I should be free in about half an hour. Should I meet you at the library?’

‘No!’ Mia blurted out. She didn’t want him to come round to this area in case somebody saw them together and told him who she really was. ‘Sorry,’ she added quickly. ‘I just . . . well, I was wondering if I could come to you instead, only I’d love to see the flat.’

Liam was surprised. He hadn’t even thought to ask her round, because he’d assumed that she would think it too soon to be alone with him like that. And while he wouldn’t have thought twice with any other girl, he’d already decided that he would let Michelle set the pace of this relationship.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked. ‘I mean, you’re welcome any time, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.’

‘I’m sure,’ Mia told him, taking his words as confirmation of what she’d already suspected: that prissy little Michelle hadn’t got down and dirty with him yet.

Liam disconnected the call when he’d given Mia the address and whistled as he did a quick tidy-up to make sure there were no dirty underpants or socks lying around, or unwashed cups and plates stuffed under the bed or chair.

He liked living on his own, loved being able to chill out without his aunt constantly moaning at him to turn the music down or the lights off, or to get off the PlayStation because it was burning too much electric. Here he could do
what
he liked
when
he liked. And when he locked the door at the end of the day, nobody could barge in and disturb him unless he invited them to.

As it happened, his only invited-in visitors so far had been male – although it wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the two girls who lived in the room below. One or other of them was always at the door, using any excuse to talk to him and try to wheedle their way in. But Liam genuinely wasn’t interested, because all he’d been doing lately was think about Michelle. He didn’t know
what
it was about her, but she’d really got under his skin. And now she wanted to come round.

But only to see the flat, he reminded himself.

After straightening the bedspread and emptying the ashtray he lit a cigarette and stood at the window, praying that the guys who Davy was sending round would get here before she did, because he really didn’t want her to know what he’d been doing for the past few weeks.

This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to be indebted to Davy, because he’d known that he would end up paying more than rent in the long run. Finding Kedga hadn’t been a problem, because it was no skin off Liam’s nose to ask a few questions and pass the info along. He had no idea what Davy had done with that information, and he didn’t
want
to know, because he figured that Kedga and the other dealers who Davy had subsequently asked him to track down had brought whatever they’d got onto their own heads when they’d decided to bite the hand that supplied them. But he had to admit that the money Davy had paid him for those few jobs had come in really handy while he was getting his benefits sorted.

So, no, Liam hadn’t minded those jobs. But he should have known that it wouldn’t stop at that, and his involvement with Davy had quickly progressed from keeping an eye on the house to holding packages for his boys to collect. And having made the mistake of agreeing to do it once, it became a given, so now he was Davy’s in-house distribution service – and there was no way of getting out of it without losing his home.

Still, the money was good, so Liam was able to save for a deposit to put down on a flat somewhere else. He had nothing against Davy; he was grateful to him for letting him stay, and he actually quite liked him now that they’d had a chance to get to know each other without Ruth’s involvement. But he’d always vowed that he would never work to line any man’s pockets but his own. And he might not yet have decided what line of business he wanted to go into, but whatever it was, he was determined that it would be legit.

Mia’s taxi had just pulled up at the gap where the gate was supposed to stand. Getting out, she peered up at the house. It was a three-storey building, with rotten woodwork around every grimy window, huge chunks of plaster missing off the walls, and dark holes where tiles had fallen off or into the sagging roof. Still, she reminded herself; picking a careful course through the weeds and debris as she made her way up the path, it wasn’t the outside she’d come to see – it was the man with the sexy Irish accent on the inside.

The front door was standing open, revealing a long, wide hallway which had a filthy tiled floor and peeling age-browned wallpaper. Mia wrinkled her nose at the stench of eons of neglect as she made her way to the stairs. An old man in stained jeans and jumper and with a huge pock-marked nose peered out at her from a doorway to her left. She scuttled past and rushed up to the first floor.

A red-headed girl was standing in another doorway up there, wearing a shirt tied in a knot beneath her braless breasts, and short shorts with the button undone to reveal flesh and a flash of red panties. She narrowed her eyes when Mia walked up the landing heading for the stairs to the top floor and darted swiftly into her path.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘What’s it got to do with you?’

‘I live here,
actually
. And you can’t just walk in off the street and wander about. It’s not an office block.’

‘Piss off,’ Mia sneered, taking her hands out of her pockets to push the bitch out of the way.

Before it could get to that, Liam appeared at the top of the stairs and called down, ‘It’s all right, Gina. She’s here to see me.’

When the girl stepped aside, Mia grinned victoriously and gave her a sly dig in the ribs as she passed.

Liam was waiting on the small square landing outside his attic bedsit. Mia’s eyes widened when she got her first good look at his face and she just about managed not to let her mouth fall open. With his shiny black hair, long black eyelashes, and eyes as green as emeralds, he was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. And that smile . . .

Oh, God!
she complained to herself silently.
How the hell has Michelle managed to get this guy to fancy a minger like her? There’s got to be something wrong with him mentally.

‘You were quick,’ Liam said, waving her into his room and closing the door behind her.

‘I got a taxi,’ Mia told him, trying not to stare.

‘You look great,’ he commented, smiling down at her. ‘But then, you always do. Anyway, take your coat off and make yourself comfortable. I’ve got coffee and tea, if you want one?’

Mia murmured, ‘Coffee, please.’ Her eyebrows puckered in disbelief. How could he think that Michelle always looked great? He really
must
be mental. Either that, or blind.

She slipped her jacket off, hung it over the back of the only chair and looked around as he filled the kettle at the minuscule sink. ‘It’s a nice room.’

‘Yeah, it’s all right, isn’t it?’ Liam agreed, reaching into the cupboard for cups. ‘Not the greatest-looking house in the world from the outside, I know, but it’s only temporary, so I’m happy with it. Sugar?’

Pleased that he didn’t even know something as basic as whether his precious girlfriend took sugar in her coffee, Mia nodded. ‘Two, please.’ Then she sat down on his bed, crossed her legs and leaned back on her elbows. ‘So how come it’s taken you so long to invite me round?’

Taken aback by her uncharacteristic forwardness, Liam shrugged. ‘To be honest, I didn’t think you’d
want
to come just yet.’

‘How would you know if you didn’t ask?’ Mia replied, biting her lip sexily.

Liam gave her a funny look. He hadn’t seen her for weeks, and now that she was here there was something different about her. She’d never spoken to him like this before, for starters. But it wasn’t just that. She was wearing mascara, which was unusual; and she’d covered her cute freckles with foundation. And unlike the touch of gloss she’d had on her lips when they’d been going out that night, she was wearing actual lipstick today. None of which could have been for his benefit, because there was no way she could have known that he’d phone her at that exact moment. So had her previous shyness been an act? he wondered. And was this more forward self the real her?

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Mia asked, still giving him the sexy eye.

‘I don’t know,’ Liam murmured warily. ‘You just don’t seem the same.’

‘In a good way or a bad way?’ she pressed, confident that he would say
good
, because she was way more exciting than mousy little Michelle.

‘I don’t know,’ he said again, not sure he liked this new flirtatious side to her. Not that he hadn’t thought about how good it would be if she’d drop her barriers and let him get closer, because he had; but this just didn’t seem genuine somehow.

Mia gave herself a mental kick when it occurred to her that she needed to
act
like Michelle as well as talk like her if she were to convince Liam that she
was
her. She quickly sat up and rearranged her face into the soppy pitiful-cum-guilty expression that Michelle always had on hers.

‘I’m sorry. I was just so pleased when you rang, I guess I got a bit . . .’ Trailing off, she shrugged. ‘Well, you know – carried away.’

Liam immediately felt guilty. She’d obviously been making an effort, and now he’d embarrassed her.

‘No,
I
’m sorry,’ he said, passing her cup to her. ‘And I
would
have asked you round earlier, only, like I said, I lost my phone. But you’re here now – and it’s really good to see you.’

Murmuring, ‘You too,’ Mia gazed at the floor as if she was too shy to look at him.

In actuality, she wasn’t sure what to make of him. The lads she went out with were never this slow at coming on to her. If they fancied her, they made it blatantly obvious – and if she fancied them in return, she did the same. But this guy seemed to genuinely like her – or rather, to like
Michelle
. And that didn’t make any sense, because he was way too good-looking for
her
– and surprisingly cool. But then, he looked older than most of the lads Mia knew; and he had an air of quiet masculinity which she found really, really sexy. She’d thought Darren was sophisticated, but he was an absolute child in comparison – and nowhere near as fit. In fact, Sandra Bishop was welcome to that muppet because, right now, Mia really wouldn’t care if she never saw him again.