Loving Alex (12 page)

I wake wrapped in James’ arms, it’s
early and despite it still being summer the late August days are drawing in
very gradually, from both ends. It only seems a few weeks ago that the sun woke
me at five, now as I glance at the clock I see that it’s gone seven and
although light it’s really rather dull out there.

I peel myself out of James’ arms
and use the bathroom. Slipping my robe on as I walk back into our bedroom I
lift the blind slightly, it’s raining – no wonder it’s so dull, a typical
British summer! I glance at James who has shifted but is still very much
asleep. Lying on his back he’s breathing so gently, his arm outstretched where
I left it, his curls anyhow.

Walking to the kitchen and make
tea and black coffee. It’s a big day for me today, although nobody knows why.
Part of me is scared absolutely terrified, worried and another part of me can’t
wait!

I take the drinks upstairs to
our room and place James’ coffee on his bedside table, I remove my robe and
climb back into bed and sit up against the pillows, as I turn on the TV James
stirs beside me, “Morning.” He croaks.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” I
smile.

“What’s the time?”

“A little after 7.30,” I bend
towards him and place a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“Come here.” He pulls me down
towards him, dragging me back down into the bed, holding me so close. We lie,
facing each other, “What are your plans today?” He mutters as he kisses my
neck.

“Well, I have an appointment
this morning and then I’m seeing Nial this afternoon, you’re still coming
along, aren’t you?”

“I said I would, so I will. I
don’t want you going there on your own.” He brushes a stray hair from my face.
“Where are you going this morning?”

“It’s private. I’ll tell you
later, when I’ve been.” I don’t like being secretive at all but this is a
surprise and no doubt if I were to tell James where I was going, what I was
planning he would insist on coming with me or stop be going altogether. I don’t
want that, I want to go and I want to go on my own.

“No, tell me!” He pushes me onto
my back and kneels above me, tickling my waist, I laugh not because I’m
ticklish but because of the stupid faces he’s pulling at me as he tries to
extract the information of my morning appointment which I flatly I refuse to
tell.

He gives up after a few minutes
and after hearing something that attracts his attention on the morning news.
Reaching for his coffee he takes a drink before sliding his long legs to the
side of the bed and out into the bathroom leaving me sitting there all on my
own, contemplating the day ahead. I need to chat with Muriel, something was
wrong yesterday, she was totally
off
. I haven’t a clue what the problem
is, I just hope it’s nothing that I’ve done!

I eventually shift myself and go
through to James who is standing in the walk in shower, his huge body so well
developed and toned, shaped in all the right places, that wonderful arse is
facing me as are the broad shoulders and muscular back. He turns, his eyes
closed as he rinses shampoo from his those curls. “I’ll still never get over
why he fell for me.” I say aloud, not thinking.

“Sorry,” he shouts from the
shower, “I didn’t hear you.”

“I didn’t say anything!” I look
through the steamed up glass.

“You did! You just said
something about
“why he fell for me”
. You did Alex, I heard you!” He
turns the shower off and looks at me from behind the glass panel.

“Sorry, I must have been
thinking, I didn’t mean to speak.” I hold my head down, looking at the floor
and turn towards the basin and squirt some toothpaste on my brush when I feel
his arms around my waist, he leans forward and kisses my neck, my jaw. Little
drops of water fall from his hair and run down my chest, under my robe and
across my breasts.

His lips brush across my ear and
he whispers so quietly, “I love you Alex, don’t ask me why, don’t try to
understand me, just love me back!”

I turn in his arms and look up
at the unshaven handsome face, the full lips and dark eyes.

“I do love you James Aconi, I
really do!” I whisper looking directly into his eyes, not moving my gaze one
little bit.

He wraps me in his arms and just
holds me so closely, “I’m never, ever letting you go!” He mumbles. We stand
there just hugging, I feel so safe in his arms, his huge arms, my face resting
on his chest, I hear his heart beating, it’s strong, like him, reliable, like
him. Eventually I force myself to pull away from him, I have to, my gorgeous
man needs to get on and I have things I need to do today.

I clean my teeth, once I’m done
I step into the shower, as I wash my hair I hear him shout “Going to get
breakfast.” I open my eyes and see that he’s left the bathroom. Finishing what
I need to do in the bathroom I dry my hair and dress in a comfortable skirt and
blouse before going down stairs.

“Bagel’s!” He announces as I
walk through to the kitchen, he’s mooched through the cupboards and found that
they’ve all been re-stocked, courtesy of the Tesco delivery man yesterday.
Standing by the island in his white shirt and black trousers, I notice that his
double cuffs are held closed by the Union Jack cufflinks that I gave him.

“Please. I could do with more
tea.” I start about making tea and coffee whilst the domesticated James toasts
the bagels, “Jam or cheese?” He turns to me.

“Marmite!” I blurt “I fancy some
Marmite, there’s some in that cupboard.”

He screws his face up, “Okay, I
can’t stand the stuff but if you insist?”

“I do, and it is good for you!”
I smile at him sweetly, repeating what he frequently tells me.

He looks at me and frowns as he
reaches for the black jar from the cupboard, removing the yellow lid he scrapes
a knife over the surface and spreads the dark brown extract over my bagel, “Is
that enough?” He asks, holding the side plate at arm’s length, presumably so
that he can’t smell it.

“Great. Thanks” I take the bagel
he’s just spread for me and tuck into it, delicious.

We sit eating our bagels,
“Remind me what time we’re meeting Nial today.” He asks with a mouthfull.

“Two. I’ll come to the hotel and
we can drive round together. Is that okay?” I suggest.

“Yeah. You’ll need to be with me
for about twenty past one, just in case we get stuck in traffic.” He takes
another bite of his bagel and lifts his coffee.

“No problem. I’ll be in London
anyway this morning so I’ll just get a cab over to you.” I finish my breakfast
and sit watching him.

“Why not Archie?”

“For the same reason that I
don’t like Archie taking me to my therapist – its private!” I tap the side of
my nose at him to indicate that he shouldn’t ask any more questions.

“Where are you going Alex?” He
asks again, his tone insistent.

“I’ll tell you when I get back.
Now, haven’t you got to go?” I feel like I need him to leave, if he stays he’ll
just keep going on and on about where I’m going.

“Umm. I’ll see you later. Don’t
get doing anything stupid!” He kisses me, takes another drink of coffee, picks
up the keys to the hired Jaguar and walks towards the front door, I follow him.

“As if I would! I’ll see you
later Bossman.” I grin.

He frowns as he leaves, “I mean
it, nothing stupid!”

Once James has gone I sort what
I will need for this afternoons meeting with Nial, checking through the folder
that was given to me I see the date that Maggie financed fifty per cent of the
business on an agreement, other than this there is very little information in
the file, just a few scribbled notes regarding the clubs worth.

I am just about to call for a
taxi when Muriel arrives. She lets herself in and huffs down the hallway to the
kitchen.

“Morning Mrs. Drake.” She grumps
as she walks past the living room door.

“Morning Muriel. Are you okay
today?” I’m half expecting her to quit after yesterday.

“I’m fine!” She snaps back.

I wander through the kitchen and
see her at the kitchen sink, she’s rinsing the plates we used at breakfast and
loading the dishwasher, she has her back to me as she busies herself with the
dishes.

“Did you have chance to think
about what we spoke about yesterday?” I ask, feeling like I’m taking the bull
well and truly by the horns.

“I did Mrs. Drake, and I’m fine
with you, really. Just having a bit of bad time at home and I know I shouldn’t
bring my problems to work, but well yesterday it all just got a bit on top of
me, you know?” She explains.

“I know about bad days. But,
please try not to bring them to work, that’s one thing that I never did when I
was going through my problems, I never took any of them to the library. Partly
because I didn’t want anyone asking questions!” I cast my mind back to the time
I worked at the library, how often I’d go in with bruises, never on show, but I’d
know they were there.

She spins around holding a glass
and that’s when I see her face for the first time this morning.

“Whatever’s happened?” I gasp at
the reddish bruise under her eye. It’s not big but clearly someone has thumped
her.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she
dismisses my question, “just a misunderstanding, that’s all.”

“That must have been
some
misunderstanding! Let me make a pot of tea, leave the dishes and we can have a
chat before I go.” I offer her the chance to talk to someone, although I don’t
know if I would have wanted to talk if someone
had
seen my bruises, well
not while I was still with Lewis anyway, but the least I can do is offer.

“I’m fine Mrs. Drake, honestly.
It’s nothing.” She runs her fingers over her eye.

“Well, if you’re sure. But
please stop for a few minutes and at least have a cup of tea.” I insist.

I reach for my crock tea pot and
add a couple of tea bags. Whilst the kettle is boiling I call for a taxi to be
here at ten fifteen.

Once the tea is made Muriel and
I sit and chat about this and that, despite the more relaxed atmosphere she’s
reluctant to talk about herself, I can’t take my eyes of that bruise, she
doesn’t seem like the sort of person to get herself into that sort of situation
and I can’t imagine her standing for an abusive partner, although look at me –
I did, for bloody twenty-two years!

I see the time and decide that I
really should be getting ready to go, “You know Muriel, if you ever want to
talk you’ve only got to say.” I offer her the opportunity.

“No, it’s fine Mrs. Drake, it’ll
all sort itself out.” She starts to clear away the mugs and teapot from the
island. “Where are you off to this morning? Somewhere nice?” Her head’s down,
avoiding eye contact, presumably so that I don’t focus on that bruise.

“I’ve a personal appointment
this morning and then I’m going to Henry’s this afternoon.” I pull my paperwork
together as I won’t have time to come back home before I meet James and go off
to the club.

“Henry’s? As in the nightclub?”
She looks up at me.

“Yes, that’s the one!”

“I didn’t know that you had an
interest in that place! I thought it was just the hotel.” She says flippantly.

“Maggie had a few business
interests, more than a few in fact but most of them I don’t think she really
got involved in, I’ve no desire to become involved either but, well they’re the
sort of businesses that can just sit there and just do their thing I suppose.”
I laugh.

“You’re a lucky lady Mrs. Drake,
having all this!” She looks serious, I could swear she was jealous, if only she
knew how I’ve spent the last twenty-two years then maybe she would look upon
this, me, differently!

“Oh, I don’t know about that
Muriel. I mean, it’s nice not to have to worry about anything, but, well I
suppose it, oh I don’t know. Anyway, I need to dash, I think my cabs here. I’ll
see you tomorrow.” I grab my things and walk the length of the hall, as I reach
the front door I call back “Anna’s back on Saturday.”

“Okay Mrs. Drake!” She calls
back.

I leave the house, climb into
the back of the black cab and give my destination to the driver.

“Are you sure you’re okay Alex?” The
tall, thin bloke at the other side of the counter asks me.

“I’m fine, honestly.” I rummage
through my bag for my purse, I feel hot. Really hot and a bit woozy.

“Alex, you look at little pale.
Why don’t you sit down while you do that. Chaz, she’s going!” The bloke calls
out to his colleague.

The next thing I’m aware of is
the tall thin bloke and Chaz sitting beside me as I’m sprawled on the floor.

“Can we call someone for you?”
Chaz asks.

“No, no definitely not. I’ll be
fine, give me a few minutes, I’ll be okay, honestly. I’ve been through worse.
Can I sit up now? Please?” I feel very conspicuous lying on the floor.

Chaz and the thin bloke move
aside and I drag myself onto a chair in the front of the tattoo studio. I reach
out with my debit card to Chaz who has done a most excellent job, I hope, of
covering the L.D brand on my back. I’m currently sporting a melolin style pad
under my bra strap which is on the loosest fastening, but from what I can see
he will have done the artwork beautifully.

Chaz hands me the payment
machine, “Can you enter your PIN please Alex?”

I tap the keypad and hand the
machine back to him.

“Now remember. Don’t scratch it,
it may well feel itchy once the scab starts to form, only a light scab. Don’t
pick it, if you do it could make the design look faded. Don’t swim or soak it
until it’s fully healed anything up to ten days and then if you go in the sun
make sure you use a good sunscreen, or even sun block.”

“Thank you Chaz. You’ve been
great.” I smile as I stand from my seat.

“Where are you going to?” Tall
thin bloke says. “You’re not going walking around town are you?”

“No. I’ll just get a cab.”

“Going home?” He asks.

“No, I’m meeting someone.”

“Take it easy!” Chaz says
seriously as he wanders into the back of the studio with his next client. I
look at him and smile. “Seriously, Alex – you’ve just passed out, don’t get
doing anything too strenuous this afternoon!”

“I won’t. Don’t worry – just a meeting.”
I wince as I move out of the padded chair and out of the studio.

Once on the footpath I look out
for a black cab and soon find one to flag down.

“Reid’s hotel please.” I say to
the driver as he pulls away from the kerb.