Читать книгу The Secrets Of The Shadows - Helen Phifer - Страница 13

Chapter 4

Annie woke to the smell of frying bacon and her stomach groaned, she was starving. Throwing the duvet back she swung her legs out of the bed, sitting on the edge for a minute in case she was mega hung over. She stood up and felt fine, no pounding head or churning stomach – Annie 1, alcohol 0. She got dressed and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Her hair was much better, it was now a short, shoulder-length bob and suited her much better than the half a skinhead she had been sporting last year. Wetting her fingers she ran them through her hair and scrunched it up and then she squirted some toothpaste onto her finger and rubbed it all over her teeth. At least she wouldn’t smell and she was excited to see Will and make it up to him. Last night was the first night they had spent apart since she had moved in with him.

Going downstairs into the kitchen she was greeted by a bright and breezy Alex who was making bacon and egg butties. Jake was nowhere to be seen.

‘The big guy’s in bed, he can’t move his head and has been up all night throwing up. Tequila obviously doesn’t agree with him as much as he thinks, but you my dear look fabulous so you can gloat over him all day if you want.’

‘I’d love to but I’ll save it until he’s back at work. I’d love a quick sandwich if it’s okay and then I’m off to go and see Will. I think I have a bit of grovelling to do.’

Alex grinned, ‘Well just don’t grovel too much and remember he was at fault as well.’ He handed her a sandwich made from two thick slices of freshly baked bread. Annie took a bite and groaned, ‘Thanks Alex, you know how to look after a girl.’

He began to laugh. ‘I do indeed.’ He looked in the direction of the stairs. Annie stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. As she turned to leave he shouted her back – he had her phone in his hand.

‘Where did you find that?’

‘Under one of the bar stools, it must have fallen out of your pocket.’

She thanked him then went out the front to get in her car to go and see the man of her dreams.

Annie reached Will’s house and parked up outside; she loved where they lived, it was so pretty. She had always liked the idea of living in a country cottage with a porch covered in sweetly smelling roses and honeysuckle around the door and his house had it all. She hoped he was still in bed so she could climb in next to him and show him exactly how sorry she was. She jogged along the gravel path and pulled the key from her pocket. The door wasn’t locked which wasn’t like Will. He was the king of telling people to ‘Lock it or Lose it’, the force’s burglary motto. She opened the door and stepped inside. It reeked of stale beer, and her eyes fell on the table and the photo of them both which was face down. Her stomach began to churn, she hadn’t felt this way since she’d left Mike and she knew something was wrong. Call it a woman’s intuition or a copper’s instinct. A loud snore came from the direction of the living room and she forced herself to move towards it.

She wasn’t too sure what she had expected to see but it definitely wasn’t Will lying next to a practically naked Laura, who had her arm thrown over his chest and her legs wrapped around his. The pain which shot through Annie’s heart made her gasp out loud. Deep down her worst fear had been that it would end like this. She had managed to forget about Will’s reputation as a womaniser because he had changed since he’d fallen in love with her. Tears welled in her eyes and as much as she wanted to grab skinny, blonde Laura’s hair and drag her off the sofa and throw her naked into the front street – she couldn’t do it. Will murmured something into Laura’s ear and that was it, Annie turned to run out the house and out of Will’s life forever, but she tripped over his shoes and clattered into the wall. Will’s eyes flew open and he looked in her direction, confused. Annie stared back at him, composing herself as she turned and walked out, slamming the door shut behind her.

Will felt the warmth from the body next to him and was shocked to see Laura. ‘Fuck me Laura, what are you doing?’

He shoved her and she rolled off the sofa onto the soft rug below. He fumbled to get up, his head swimming. His stomach lurched and his mouth filled with bile. Still he ran for the front door, noticing the picture frame he’d knocked over last night and had been too drunk to bother picking up. A loud screech as Annie’s car sped off was enough to make him puke all over the hall floor. When he finished retching he threw open the door to make sure that it had been her car and that she wasn’t still sitting outside. She was long gone and he stood on his front porch mentally begging her to come back. He turned to go inside and noticed his elderly neighbour watching him. He remembered that he was almost naked. ‘Sorry Mrs Jones.’ He went back in and shut the door. Laura was standing there, with her clothes on now. ‘I should get going, can you ring me a taxi – my phone’s dead?’

He pointed at the phone next to the overturned picture. ‘Ring one yourself. What were you thinking, what was I thinking, did we?’ He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

She shook her head, ‘I don’t know, I can’t remember.’

‘Phone your taxi then wait outside, you can shut the door behind you.’ He walked to the kitchen to get a pint of water and four paracetamol, he felt like shit. Hangovers at his age weren’t so much fun anymore and he had just royally fucked up his life. He wanted to cry but instead he took a roll of paper towels to mop up his vomit and then went upstairs to bed. He dialled Annie’s number but it went straight to voicemail. Not able to do much else he shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, one in which he hadn’t just broken the heart of the woman he loved and ruined his whole life.