Battle Lines. (12 page)

Chapter 12.

“Ouch… don’t.” Harry was holding an ice pack on the right side of his face. Amanda had to admit that the bruise did look menacing.

“I need to look at it.” She told him sternly. Amanda already felt guilty enough. “Hold still will you.”

“I can take care of it. Thanks all the same.” He told her. “You have already done enough.”

“Oh Harry I am really so very sorry. Truly I am.” Amanda said for about the hundredth time since their arrival at her home.

The car journey back had been awful. A nightmare may have been a more apt way of describing it.

Harry had been sprawled, passed out, on the back seat and Amanda had been sat huddled in the front seat staring sightlessly down at her tightly clenched hands.

She had not dared look up at Jake. He had been livid. Angrier than she had ever seen him before. How he had managed to stop himself doing something terrible to Harry she would never know.

He had ground his teeth all the way back. He had almost slammed into the back of a car, not once but twice and he had run through a red light.

Once back at her home he had carried Harry from the car and had then dumped him down hard on her sofa that had made Amanda wince. Then like a tornado he had gone.

A squeal of tyres a moment later after the banging of her front door had told her that he had gone.

“Will I be required to be Alan again?” Harry asked her.

“I hope not.” She paused. “For your sake more than mine. Tomorrow I’ll go over and own up. I’ll take the morning off and go over in the afternoon. Can you hold down the fort tomorrow?” She asked him.

“I guess I could.” Harry said.

“I shouldn’t have let it go as far as it did.” Amanda said now.

“Why did you?” he asked her.

“I just…” she shrugged her shoulders. “Oh Harry. You went too far. What got into you?”

“I don’t know. I guess I could see him getting wound up tighter than a guitar string.” He shrugged. “I was curious as to how much pressure it would take for it to snap.”

“Well done, you found out.” She chastised him.

“Yes I did.” Harry moaned.

“I did tell you to cool it. I warned you, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“He likes you.” Harry told her, laughter beginning to dance in his eyes.

“Who does?”

“Hah, who does? You know whom dear.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She told Harry, becoming flustered.

“Trust me, he likes you.” Harry told her.

“He is my brother.” She reminded him.

“I thought he was your stepbrother, no blood relation. Isn’t that what you said on the phone?”

“Okay stepbrother. He is still family.” Amanda told him. Harry looked at her and she stared back at him. “What?”

“What? Don’t give me those bambi eyes. It’s so damn obvious.”

“Harry you have it all wrong. You have no idea.” She told him.

“I don’t think so. He really likes you. He likes you a hell of a lot.” She heard Harry laugh and then wince. Served him right, she thought uncharitably and then felt bad.

“Jake hates me” she told him as Harry got up and walked over to the mirror to inspect the damage. Amanda still sitting on her bed. “He just doesn’t like the fact that I might have got my own life and that I do not need him for anything.” Harry turned then and regarded her for several moments before he walked out of her bedroom and across the small hallway into her bathroom.

“Amanda sweetie.” He called to her from the other room. “There was so much more to that scene than that.” Harry told her.

“No, there really wasn’t.” She called back.

“You should wake up and smell the pheromones.”

“Harry.” Amanda warned her employee. “Just remember you are not indispensable.”

“What about Alan?” he slung over his shoulder at her as he inspected his black eye in the bathroom mirror. Amanda had a feeling that Harry was rather enjoying himself, and she would not have minded if it had not been at her expense.

“Keep talking like that and see where it gets you.” She threatened half-heartedly.

“You don’t scare me.” He told her. “Not now anyway.”

“You should be.” She told him.

“Trust me, now that I have met Jake, I am more scared of him than of you.”

Amanda opened her mouth to give him a smart-alec response but then stopped and sighed heavily.

“And so you should be.” Amanda finally admitted. He was much more formidable than she.

“So where is the delightful Jake now?” Harry asked her.

“Jake has definitely left the building.” She sighed sadly.

Amanda hated the way it had ended. That look on Jake’s face when he had marched out of the door and slammed the door. He had briefly looked at her as he had walked passed her. That look he threw her would stay with her forever.

“Well, thank god for some small mercies.” Harry said.

“Oh Harry why did you goad him so much? You must have seen that he was close to losing it.” She asked him.

“I guess I love a challenge.”

“You would have been far safer to challenge a rattle snake.” She told him.

“Oh no.” She heard Harry exclaim and she ran to the door.

“What is it?” and then she winced as she saw the dark swollen skin. It was really bad and not all the bruising had come out yet.

“My car. It’s still parked at your mother’s.” he told her.

“Oh great.” She flung up her hands and then lowered them again.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go back to the office and ask Marsha if she can give me a lift in her car and then I will pick my car up and go home.”

“I could pay for a cab.” She offered. It was the least she could do.

“Yeah, why not.” Harry said.

“I hope you have learnt your lesson.” Amanda told him as she went to phone a cab from the home phone. She had not managed to charge her mobile. It was next on her list of things to do.

“I hope you have learnt yours.” Harry called after her.

“If you hadn’t goaded him like that then it would not have happened.” She told him sternly

“If you hadn’t lied then I would not have been put in a position to goad him.” Harry pointed out.

“But you didn’t need to be quite so obnoxious.” She said.

“It was kinda worth it.” Harry told her.

“What do you mean?” Amanda called up the stairs.

“The poor man thinks he has lost you. It made you look like a right fool, which serves you right.”

“Watch it.” She warned and picked up the receiver to phone for the cab.

“It was kinda fun, to be out of character. To be someone else. I can see why people become actors.” Harry said as he smiled and then stopped as he winced. “And it made you look like a right fool, have I mentioned that one already?”

“Do you want me to come in there and give you a matching left side?” Amanda asked as she dialled the number.

“Oh, no thank you.” He called to her and then quieter to himself as he looked at his reflection. “Besides… I have a feeling it won’t be long before Jake does that. I have got to look for a new job.”

Chapter 13.

Amanda spent most of the night tossing and turning worrying about poor Jake, though really she should have been worrying about poor Harry.

She had got up early, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t about to get anymore sleep, not any more than she had got anyway.

She had showered and dressed in a skirt and blouse and then she had taken a cab into town. She had a couple of contacts that she wanted to catch up with this morning. Which she was hoping would help boost her business.

Then after, she had a light lunch before catching the bus and then walking down the long isolated road to her mother’s house.

Hopefully she could smooth things over with her mother and, with any luck, she could then persuade her mother to smooth things over with Jake.

It was a clever plan. Who was she kidding, it was a cowardly plan at best and she knew it. But, the alternative was to face Jake herself and the truth was she just was not brave enough for that.

Amanda’s heart lurched in her chest when she saw Jake’s car in the driveway. Why couldn’t he have been in the office today?

He was probably working from home. She had been hoping to catch just her mother, that’s why she had come at this time, thinking Jake would be tucked away in his office, an office that had once been her father’s.

Amanda walked up the driveway to the front door and stood looking at it as she decided whether she was ready to face Jake. She raised her hand as though to knock on the door.

It hovered in the air. She could always come back, maybe tomorrow or the next day or even the day after that. There was always next month, possibly next year.

Perhaps it was best if she left it until things had cooled down a bit, and Harry’s bruising had gone down.

Amanda sighed, that was such a feeble excuse and she knew it. Still it was the only one she had.

So finally, she decided that today was not the day that she was prepared to poke a tiger with a stick. Amanda lowered her hand and stepped back from the door before turning around to head for the street once more.

“So you finally made up your mind then?” came that familiar deep voice, she could hear the mocking laughter in it. There was a generous sprinkling of it.

Great, that was all she needed. Amanda felt her heart racing in her chest and a sweat broke out on her skin. “If you are looking for mum you are out of luck. She’s gone out and won’t be back until tomorrow.”

Slowly Amanda turned and looked up towards the sound of Jake’s voice. He was casually hanging his top half out of the landing window directly above the door looking down on her.

Great. How long had he been watching, looking down at her? “From the time you were walking from way up the road.” He supplied the answer to her unasked question. “If you held your head up a bit when you are walking instead of looking down at your feet you would have seen me.” He told her. “You would have seen me last night too. I followed you home and you never noticed. I drove right passed you and parked up right outside your house just as you walked through the gate.” Yes, how remiss of her not to have noticed that.

Amanda watched the laughter dancing in his eyes. Even from his position high above her she could see it. Though his face remained impassive and closed.

“Well… I’ll come back when it’s… more convenient.” She turned on her heel determined to go. She really did not want to be in the house alone with him.

“You mean safer.” He remarked candidly. Amanda decided not to rise to his baiting, and that is what it was, she knew. Instead she was going to ignore it. Though, they both knew that he was right.

“I’ll see you around.” She flung over her shoulder at him as she began to make her way to the garden gate.

“Wait.” Jake called out sternly and Amanda looked back up at the window prepared to tell him that it was okay, that she would come back. But he was no longer standing there.

She urged her feet to move. To get out the gate and up the road before he had a chance to open the door but then the door opened and she had lost her chance. “Come in.” he beckoned, moving to allow her access.

“No, I should go.” She told him firmly as she held her hands together to stop them from shaking. “I have a ton of paper-work to do.” She began and then shrugged.

“In.” Jake told her curtly. She thinned her lips into a tight line.

“I said I will come back.” She told him through clenched teeth.

“Did you need me to come over there and carry you over the threshold?” He asked her as he raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe as he regarded her.

He would do it to, she knew that from experience.

“I am just gonna go.” She tried again but Jake took a step over the threshold and she knew that he would reach her long before she managed to get anywhere.

And it wasn’t as if they would be completely alone, the housekeeper he had hired would be there.

“Fine.” She gave in reluctantly and marched back up the driveway and over the threshold of the door so that she was standing in the small hall of the house.

She heard the front door clicking shut behind her and then Jake walked passed her as he walked towards his study which was situated by the stairs on her right.

“Did you want some tea?” He asked not looking round. Amanda shook her head and then realised that he couldn’t see that.

“No thank you. I won’t be staying long.” She said firmly.

“Good, the housekeeper’s not in either so we have the place all to ourselves.” He told her now as he stopped at his opened study door and turned to her. “I hope that you don’t mind that we are alone. Do you?”

He waved a hand to the open door as an invitation for her to come in. She swallowed down her fear and… anticipation and then walked past him and into what had once been her father’s study.

Jake had had it redecorated. The shades were darker giving the room a more intimate feel. Her nerves began to constrict. If there was something worse than being alone with Jake it was being alone with him in an intimate setting.

She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Not that it worked.

Her eyes swept over the desk at the far end of the room by the large window. A computer sat there with a phone next to it. There were pieces of paper strewn all over it.

She noted the high backed leather office chair and behind that another long desk that housed another computer, a fax machine and photocopier. There was a book shelf that ran the length of the wall from his desk to the study door.

The other side of the room looked more like a cosy living room. Two two-seater sofas in chocolate colours sat at opposite ends of an old fireplace facing each other. On the floor between the two lay a thick deep piled rug. It looked soft and inviting and Amanda had to fight the urge to take her shoes off and sink her toes into it.

Jake motioned to her to take a seat as he went to the cabinet to pour some drinks.

Amanda sat down, sitting upright and on the edge with her hands clasped in her lap in a defensive gesture.

She kept her eyes down as Jake walked over and handed her a glass filled with an amber liquid. She caught the smell of brandy. She really did not want to drink it but she was grateful to have something to do with her hands.

Jake sat himself down in the sofa opposite so that he could stare across at her. He studied her silently and she fought hard not to wriggle uneasily in her chair.

“So,” He said. One simple word, but his tone said so much and Amanda swallowed against the nerves that were rising up in her.

“I am sorry about… about… yesterday.” She began. There she had said it. Humble pie, yum.

“What is it you are apologising for?” Jake asked quietly.

“Alan sometimes doesn’t know how far he takes things. He can be…Umm” She said, staring down into the amber liquid sloshing about in the glass because her hands were shaking.

“Are you apologizing for… him?” He asked her incredously. Amanda certainly knew how it looked after what Harry had said yesterday.

“Yes.” She said quietly. What else was there that she could say? She was, after all, the little woman. Jake gave a snort in disgust. “Look.” She continued. “I know he can be a little over zealous. But, but…” But what? Her mind searched for something appropriate to say before she managed a weak and feeble. “He loves me.”

“He is no more in love with you as you are in love with him.” He informed her promptly. “How do I know?” he asked the question she would have asked him had she been brave enough. Damn him for knowing her so well. “There was no spark. No energy, no passion.” Amanda felt herself blush.

There really was nothing she could say to that. He was, after all, completely right. “I would even go so far as to say that the two of you are strangers sexually. Which does intrigue me somewhat, as you can imagine.”

“How dare you.” Her chin shot up defensively as she looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with angry outrage. “I am not going to discuss my sexual life with you.” She told him.

“Or lack of it.” He put in sardonically. “So, how is it that you have not managed to sleep with your husband of four years?” he asked her.

He couldn’t possibly know that for sure, could he? Amanda fidgeted in her seat. Play it cool. She tried to keep herself calm. Any little sign would give her away. He couldn’t possibly know for sure, he was just fishing. Nothing more.

“Jake I refuse to have this conversation. Alan and I are very much in love.” She said.

“So much so, that you can easily keep your hands off each other.” He derided her as he took a swig of his drink.

“Alan and I lead a very full life.” Amanda emphasized but she could tell by the look in Jake’s eyes that she did not fool him for one minute. “I love him very much.” She told him with as much conviction as she could muster, but it sounded weak and pathetic even to her own ears.

“Now we both know that that is not true Mandy.” He stated firmly, perceptively.

This was also an argument that she was destined to lose because she knew he was right. Amanda sighed and took a small sip of her drink and then throwing caution to the wind she drank some more.

The heat of the liquid burned her throat as it went down, but not unpleasantly so, it was obviously an expensive brandy. None of that cheap nasty stuff that took your breath away.

“Jake, I came here to apologize not to get into an argument with you.” She told him.

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have come here at all.” He said.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have.” She agreed. This had been a mistake, even if her mother had been here. She should have left well enough alone for now. She should have waited a while, until things had calmed down.

“You must have known that I would have certain things to say to you? I think I made my position very clear.” Yes, he had and both of her arms were still feeling the effects.

“Well, you are not totally blameless.” She threw at him, and she knew that she sounded childish.

“Me? What did I do?” Jake asked with a frown as he took another gulp of his drink. Without realising, she mirrored his movement and finished the last of her drink. Jake stood up and took her glass, refilling it and bringing it back to her.

There was rather a lot in it this time, she noted. She shook her head and went to say no but he pressed it firmly into her hands and so she had no choice but to take it.

She was already feeling the start of the effects of the drink she had just drunk, she was not used to hard liquor and a lightheaded feeling had already begun.

“You shouldn’t have hit him.”

“He deserved it.” Jake shot back. She took another sip of her drink and then shook her head.

“No one deserves that.” She shuddered at the memory of the bruising on Harry’s face.

“If you think I am going to apologize, if that’s what you came here for. Then you can rest assured I have no intention of doing so. Believe me when I say Mandy that an apology from me to him will never happen.” Jake told her firmly.

“You should see his face.” She threw back at him.

“Why don’t you tell me what is really going on?” he lifted an eyebrow at her. Her mouth went dry as she looked at him. A small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth as he regarded her with those intelligent steel blue eyes of his.

“I have no idea what you are on about.” She told him in a weak wispy voice, did that voice belong to her?

“Come on Mandy. Pride comes before a fall you know.” He told her.