Forever Scarred (12 page)

She moved the food around her plate, thinking she would throw up if she actually consumed anything. He wanted her to sleep with him or he was going to foreclose on the loan. He would see her out of a job and left with nothing if she didn’t agree to his disgusting arrangement. He wouldn’t even leave her with any self-respect. The thought made the bile rise in her throat and she had to place a napkin over her mouth.

One of the men at her table leaned forwards.

“Are you okay Lucy? You’ve gone awfully pale.”

Lucy removed the napkin and grabbed hold of the jug of water in the
centre of the table. She poured a full glass and gulped it down.

“Dehydrated I think. I was sweating like a pig lugging those logs around earlier.”

There was a general laugh from her friends and everyone agreed that it had indeed been hard work. The conversation continued and there was speculation about the rest of the day but Lucy barely heard what was happening around the table. Her mind was consumed with the thought of Carter Freeman and how she was going to keep herself out of his clutches.

She suddenly saw Geraldine crossing the dining room and she shoved back from the table, excusing herself quickly from her work
colleagues.

“Hey, Geraldine.
I left my laptop in my room and I’m just too tired to go back up there at the moment. Do you think I could use one of your computers to look something up? I think I forgot to make a transfer into my bank and I’m going to be charged if I don’t sort it out.”

Geraldine nodded immediately.

“Do you want to do it now or later? I can arrange for you to have some privacy in the office if you want to look at it all tonight.”

Lucy shook her head.

“Now would be better, I don’t want to take the chance. You have no idea of the fees banks charge even if you only a day late with a payment. It’s all Carter’s fault. If he hadn’t sent me out here three days early I wouldn’t have forgotten to do it.” She thought she sounded plausible.

Geraldine smiled.

“Yes, of course. That man has a lot to answer for. Come, I will see if we can open up the one in the kitchen quickly. Patrick won’t mind if you sit in there for a few minutes, he’ll only be looking up recipes on the internet anyway.”

Lucy followed Geraldine out of the dining room, through one of the passages into the scullery and then on into the kitchen where they had all eaten on the first night.

Patrick was up to his elbows in flour and Ellen sat in a chair at the end of the table alternating wafting herself with a fan and chopping up carrots. She smiled up at Lucy as she walked in.

“My husband is a slave driver.” She waved the small knife in front of the carrots. “I was in the middle of all that office work and he drags me away in here.
Says that working my brain is too stressful at the moment.”

Patrick gave a laugh.

“Oh yes! It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you hate the office work and I am just saving myself from you being miserable later…What can we do for you Lucy?”

Lucy moved around the table.

“Geraldine said I might be able to use the computer in here. David wore me out earlier and I couldn’t be bothered to walk back up the stairs to use my own. I need to check something on my bank account. I will get charged if I haven’t transferred the money and what with coming over in such a rush, I can’t remember if I have done it.”

Patrick nodded towards a computer sitting on the huge dresser that ran the length of the wall.

“You’ll have to forgive me. I was looking up some new recipes. If you can just save that website into my favourites then go ahead.”

Lucy touched a few of the buttons and then took a quick glance over her shoulder to see that the others were not looking.

She quickly logged into her bank account and then onto her pay slip pages. Everything was in order. Her current account held a little more than she needed as she wasn’t spending any personal money this week, so she quickly transferred the extra to ensure that the mortgage and debts were covered for another month and then she opened up the pages containing the details of her outstanding loan agreement.

The terms and conditions were pages long and she was never going to have time to go through it all now, but one or two things leapt out her immediately.

She was over a barrel with the timings of the payments. There was no get out early clause and no transfer deal available. She sighed deeply and wondered if she knew anyone who would be able to understand these things at a glance. She had read the documentation when she had agreed the loan but she hadn’t had any other options than to agree. There was no other company that would accept her amount of unsecured debt.

She sighed and closed the pages again
. At least she had given herself some breathing space. Another month of mortgage and loan payments covered meant that she had a little time to gather her resources before she was either forced to give in to Carter Freeman’s odious demands or find herself another job.

She flicked the screen back to Patrick’s recipes.

“Thanks. Just as well I thought of it. I would have been in trouble otherwise.”

Ellen put down the knife and looked up at Lucy. Patrick had disappeared into the scullery and the door had closed to behind him.

“Are you okay Lucy? Do you need any help?” Ellen’s tone was sincere.

Lucy shook her head, not trusting her voice for a moment.
She swallowed before she spoke, hoping she would sound somewhere near normal.

“No, no, everything is fine. I just hate paying bank charges if I don’t have to. Right, well I had better get back to the others. I wouldn’t want this afternoon’s activities beginning without me.
I might miss getting unbelievably hot and sweaty again!”

She rolled her eyes and Ellen laughed loudly, holding her swollen belly as it rose and fell with her chuckles. She winced slightly and stopped laughing
as the baby gave her a jab with an elbow or a foot.

“Do I tell Joe how keen you are
when I see him later?” She grinned as she rubbed a hand over her stomach.

Lucy smiled down at her
and shook her head quickly.

“Perhaps we had best keep it between ourselves for the moment. I’ll break it to him at a later date.” She gave Ellen a quick wave and returned to the hall where the
last of her work colleagues were just beginning to file outside.

She tagged onto the end of the group not really thinking of what they would be doing next but going over every option in her head to get out of the trap that Carter Freeman had laid for her.

Chapter Nine

“So, have any of you used this kind of equipment before?” David’s eyes cast around the group. Two people put up their hands a little nervously and David brought them to the front of the group.

Joe took them to the side and began asking them some quiet questions.

David carried on explaining to the remaining group as he showed them the harness and equipment.

“We will be taking turns on the zip wire. There is a safety harness and Joe will be at the bottom to attempt to catch you. I say attempt because it’s down to you to slow yourself down
with this brake. There is also an auto brake that slows you down as you get near the bottom of the run but this is the thing that actually stops you.” He demonstrated using the red lever just above the handles. “It’s not a problem if you don’t use it, you just get wet but as Mr. Freeman will assert, the river water is pretty chilly, so let’s avoid it if we can.” There was a general slightly nervous chuckle around the group and Freeman turned a deep shade of purple.

Everyone gathered round
listening quietly as David showed them all how the equipment worked and then Joe selected one of the more nervous women to double up on the zip wire with him. It took a moment to harness them both in and then they were off, the woman screaming all the way as they plunged down into the ravine.

David laughed
a few moments later as he looked over the ravine edge to see Joe standing on the bank of the river with his finger stuck in his ear waggling it to and fro, obviously trying to get the hearing back in it. The woman was laughing and flapping her hands, clearly trying to apologize to him.

David turned to the group again as the harness and pulleys suddenly reappeared at the top of the wire.

“So who’s next?” There was much cajoling and banter from the group as another hapless victim was shoved forwards. David was pleased to see how the group was opening up to one another. He could see the difference in their attitude already and hoped that their peacock of a boss could see it too.

He worked through the rest of the group. Some of them hit the water at the bottom but none looked as though they were worried about it. Freeman waited until he was last and then took hold of the bars and jumped off the edge seemingly without a care in the world. David noticed that he stopped himself a few feet from the water’s edge.

Two hours and several descents later even the most nervous person in the group was happy and confident enough to leap over the edge of the ravine without a care in the world. The ensemble came whizzing back up to the top for a last time and unable to resist having a go, David worked on the wire tension for a few moments. He disabled the auto brake and stood at the edge of the ravine. He noticed that Joe was shaking his head as he pulled a few of the people back from the cable run in, then he waved his hand in the air as a signal that it was safe for David to go.

David leapt into the air and the zip wire screamed as he came down faster than anyone would have believed possible. Joe stepped back out of his way and watched as David hit the water with an
almighty splash. There was a sudden odd cracking sound. David sank under the water and then came up spluttering.

“Shit! I broke my leg!” He
groaned as the water dripped from his face. He hopped up and one or two of the guests gasped in shock as he made his way lopsidedly to the bank. “Bugger, ‘scuse me ladies, but I haven’t broken it for a while and it’s a flipping nuisance.” He dragged himself up the bank and sat on the edge as several of the group came forwards to help him. He waved them away as one woman shouted for someone to call an ambulance at the sight of his twisted limb. Then David stuck his hand inside the waistband of his trousers and fiddled with something at his thigh before he leaned forwards and pulled at his boot.

His leg came out of the bottom of his trousers
and the whole thing flopped backwards at the knee joint.

The man nearest David
immediately slumped towards the ground in a faint and was caught just before he hit the floor by the man behind him.

Freeman came forwards and stood with his hands on his hips.

“Oh bloody funny! You nearly scared us half to death with that trick.”

David frowned up at him.

“What trick? It’s no laughing matter. Joe has only just got round to fixing my other set.”

Freeman suddenly reached forwards and dragged David up by his shoulder. David was immediately off balance and nearly toppled to the ground again, but Joe came and steadied him.

David’s trouser leg wafted limply beneath his thigh and there was a collective gasp from the group.

“You
really do have a false leg?” Freeman stepped back and immediately cursed. “Shit! I can’t believe I am being shown this stuff by a bunch of flipping cripples. How in God’s name do you even think you are qualified to run this course?”

David had regained his balance
but he still leaned on Joe for support.

“Of course I am bloody qualified
. I spent nearly ten years getting qualified. Having false legs doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly not able to do my job. You didn’t even notice until I bust the damn thing.” He defended himself angrily.

Jessica came up to David and before David could protest, suddenly reached down and pulled up his other trouser leg.
She let out a gasp as she saw the metal ensemble inside his trouser leg.

“You have two false legs!” She accused and began to shake her head. She turned to Freeman. “This is ridiculous Carter. These men can’t do this job in their state. I think we should leave.”

But one of the other men in the team suddenly spoke up.

“Well I for one think it’s perfectly clear that they do their job wonderfully. And actually if you think about it, it’s probably just as well he does have false legs or one of them really may have been broken.”

The man who had almost passed out, though still pale, was now standing again.

He took a deep breath
and moved to the front of the shocked crowd.

“Yeah!
I agree with Frank. Not sure what came over me. It was the knee thing I think. Looked awful from where I was standing. Freaked me out for a moment.”

David gave a quick laugh.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot that it looks pretty grim. Freaks me out too if you really want to know.” He turned to Joe. “Would you mind nipping to your cabin to get my spare one? And please get the right leg. I don’t want to look a complete idiot trying to walk around with two left feet.”