Redemption (16 page)

I thought back to the time I visited Maisie in hospital after the attack. Back then, she’d just been a terrified kid who couldn’t understand what had happened to her. Michelle had never left her side, but she hadn’t been a patient at the hospital herself. Michelle must have been hit by the acid as well, but she’d never told anyone. She blamed herself for what happened and the burn on her arm was her way of punishing herself.

I heard a loud, drawn out yawn behind me, so I spun on the spot, still holding pillows and a duvet in my arms, coming face-to-face with Maisie.

“So that’s where the spare bed stuff is,” she said, taking the duvet and pillows from my arms.

“Uh, actually they’re for—” 

Maisie walked into the living room and jumped when she saw Michelle. Michelle must have heard Maisie outside because she had leapt over to the chair and was desperately putting her jacket back on.

“No point in covering up your scar,” Maisie said casually. “He’s seen it.”

Michelle looked over at me accusingly. “I didn’t want to interrupt,” I said. “Sorry.” 

Michelle put the jacket on anyway. “You said you had gone back to the hotel,” she said to Maisie. 

“I said I was on my way back, but then we decided to play a few more games. I didn’t want to call the driver this late, so I decided to crash on the sofa.”

“They were just playing games,” I said. “I heard them.”

“As you will note, I came down here to sleep on the sofa, so we don’t have to have ‘the talk’ about boys again.”

“I think it’s best we go back to the hotel,” Michelle said. “We can’t both sleep on the sofa.”

“You know,” Maisie said, “for such a big home, you really don’t have many beds.”

“I prefer to use the rooms for fun stuff,” I said. “Games, mini movie theatres, fitness equipment. General entertainment.”

“Bedrooms can be plenty entertaining,” Maisie joked.

“You see what I have to deal with?” Michelle asked, half-joking, half serious.

“I don’t envy you,” I agreed. “She’s a handful.”

“She’s also right here,” Maisie said. 

Shaun walked into the living room having found another set of bedding, but looking somewhat confused to find all of us in the living room. 

“It’s okay, Shaun,” Michelle said. “We’re just going to call a cab and head back to the hotel. We’ll see you tomorrow at training.”

I gave the girls some cash for the taxi and watched my dreams of a perfect evening walk out the door into a car. 

Perhaps it was for the best nothing happened tonight. Michelle must have known I’d see her scars at some point, but they were obviously a big issue for her. Something would happen between us eventually, and it might be best we do it without the influence of alcohol. I needed Michelle to feel comfortable with me. Comfortable enough to undress and let me touch her everywhere. 

The right time would come at some point. I’d never been a patient man, but I would be for her. I’d waited eight years for Michelle; I would wait another eight if I had to.

He saw it. Oliver had been standing in the doorway staring at my arm, and no doubt horrified at my deformity. I knew I’d have to show him eventually, but I planned to do it with the lights off.
 

That was how I always had sex when I was with a new man.  
I’d insist on the lights being off, and if they felt the bumpy skin on my arm I would distract them with an impromptu blow job. It usually worked a charm. By the time they would see the scar, they’d been expecting it anyway and would usually keep quiet about it.

But Oliver got a good long look at it without any kind of a warning whatsoever. No doubt he would now find himself conveniently busy all the time, and I could expect to see a lot less of him over the last couple of months we were here.

Maisie kept quiet in the car for the entire ride home. She probably thought she was in trouble, but I couldn’t find much she’d done wrong. The plan had been for her to leave much earlier and have one of Oliver’s drivers take her back to the hotel, but staying up late was hardly that big a crime. Kids her age did a lot worse.

Maisie acted so grown-up, I often forgot she was only fourteen. She couldn’t have been more different than me when I was her age. I didn’t have her confidence until I was… hell, I still didn’t have her confidence. I couldn’t even show the burn on my arm, whereas Maisie had to walk around with a burn on her face. That said all you needed to know about the difference between us.  

Maisie wanted to go straight to her hotel room, but I insisted she come and hang out in mine for a bit.

“Am I in trouble?” she asked, as I threw my shoes off and collapsed down on the bed.

I motioned for Maisie to come and sit down next to me, which she did reluctantly. Now she looked every bit the sulky teenager. Strangely, I kind of preferred her that way.

“You and Shaun seem to be getting on well,” I said.  

“He’s cool. But we’re only friends. And we’re not having sex,” she added pointedly.  

“I know. I trust you, Maisie. We’ve talked about this before, and I remember explaining that you should wait until you’re ready.”

“And I agreed,” Maisie said.

“And you also said that you wouldn’t be ready until you were twenty-one.”

“I don’t remember saying—”

“I
distinctly
remember you saying that,” I added with a smile.

Maisie laughed. “Yeah, okay, let’s go with that. Twenty-one.”

I put my arm around her and gave her a hug. Maisie put her hand on my right arm and ran her fingers over the burn. She was the only person allowed to touch me there, but it still felt weird.

“Talking of conversations we’ve had before,” Maisie said, “you don’t need to keep this covered up. It’s not something you should be ashamed of. And anyone who thinks less of you is not worth knowing. Christ, how many times have you told me that?”

“I don’t keep it covered up because I’m embarrassed about how I look. I’m embarrassed that this is all I got when you have it so much worse.”

Now it was Maisie’s turn to hug me. It should have felt weird receiving a comforting hug from my little sister, but given that she was bigger than me it didn’t feel all that strange.

“Oliver’s going to feel even more guilty now,” Maisie said. “He’s always blamed himself for what happened to me, but now he has to blame himself for your injury as well.”

“Did he ever explain that to you?” I asked. “The reason he feels guilty?”

Maisie shook her head. “Not really. I think it’s just a man thing. You know, he wasn’t able to protect his ladies, or something like that.”

I laughed. “We’re his ladies now are we?”

“I can think of worse men to be looking out for us, can’t you? He’d walk over hot coals for us and Shaun.”  

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You’re right there.”

“Did you have fun tonight?” Maisie asked.

“I did,” I said truthfully. “I really did. It’s a shame it had to end.”  

“Don’t wait so long before doing it again. You need to go out more often.”

“Is this just your way of saying you’d like more time alone with Shaun?”

Maisie smiled and shrugged. “Wouldn’t complain. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to hang a sock on his door if we’re doing anything.”

“You need to stop watching all those college movies. Okay, I need some sleep.”  

Maisie went back to her room and I got ready for bed. There were no messages from Oliver, but despite my inclination to panic and think the worst of people, I decided not to worry about it. Maisie was right. Oliver was one of the good guys. He wouldn’t be put off by my arm. We’d have other dates at some point. I just hoped that for both our sakes we didn’t leave it too late.

I’d never put so much thought into a date before. I didn’t want to wait before seeing Michelle again, but I knew that just going out for a meal would not work. We’d done that. We’d gone out drinking, we’d flirted, we’d talked, but still nothing had happened. Michelle was scared. Scared of what I would think about her arm. It was my job to put her at ease.

“Go and buy a bikini,” I told Michelle when she showed up with Maisie at training. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Go and buy a bikini,” I repeated, as if it were a completely normal request to make at ten in the morning. “I’m only working until lunchtime and I have the afternoon off. Maisie doesn’t need you to watch every training session.”

“Why a bikini?” 

“Because this afternoon you and I are going to spend a few hours up in the swimming pool on the roof of your hotel.”

“There’s a swimming pool on the roof?” 

“Yep.”

“We can go hang out up there, but I really don’t want—”

“Me to see you in a bikini because of your arm,” I said, finishing the sentence for her. “Too late, I’ve seen it. Now, I’ve just emailed you the address of a small boutique place that I like. I know the owner, so drop my name and he’ll look after you.” I shoved about £200 into her hand. “That should cover it, but if not, just tell him I’ll pay the rest later.”

“£200,” Michelle exclaimed, after counting it. “I’ve never spent more than $40 on a swimming costume. What sort of bikini do you want me to buy for that much?”

“Preferably a small one.”

Michelle stared at the money looking uncertain, but at least she hadn’t rejected the idea out of hand. 

“What will we tell Maisie?” she asked.

“I hate to break it to you, but Maisie barely notices us anyway. As long as you’re here to pick her up she won’t mind.”

“Okay,” she said finally. “Okay. I’ll go there now. What time do I meet you up by the pool?”

“One o’clock.”

When Michelle walked away I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew I had to act confident and sure of myself, but I’d been expecting Michelle to make no end of excuses. It was happening. Today was the day. This had to work. If I couldn’t break down Michelle’s barriers today, then I didn’t think I ever would.

-*-

I slipped a few quid to the appropriate hotel staff to make sure Michelle and I would not be disturbed in the pool. They arranged to close the pool and only let Michelle through. I resisted the urge to get flowers or do anything overly romantic. Wild gestures were easy, and besides that they stood a good chance of scaring Michelle off completely.