I snigger and do as she asks, I take a good look at Hans. His black hair which is longer on the top and short on the sides has a curl to it, and is styled messy or he just can’t be bothered to brush it. His body is lean, but muscular. He is toned in all the right places. He’s a little hairy for my taste, with a goatee beard, and chest hair. I can see the appeal but he has nothing on my Noah and Juan.
He turns and starts to dish up breakfast and I smile over at Monica and under the counter I give her the thumbs up which makes her beam back at me. “Here you go ladies, eat it while it is hot.” We both thank Hans and start to eat. Monica goes over the top and moans with delight as she stuffs her face and I roll my eyes at her. I only manage a few mouths full.
I take a sip of my tea and turn my attention to Hans. “I hope you don’t mind me asking you this Hans, why are the press after you?”
He takes a big swallow of what is filling his mouth, “I don’t mind at all, I quit the band. I had enough of babysitting the kids, trying to keep them off drugs etc. But they want to lead the Rock and Roll lifestyle. I’ve been there, have the T-shirt and I don’t want it anymore.”
Well blow me down with a feather I wasn’t expecting that.
“So, why are you here if you have quit?”
He takes a sip of his drink and then answers me, “Mr. Blaise thinks he can talk me around, but my mind is made up this time. I will wait until the dust settles and then move on.”
Monica butts in with, “Hans wants to go it alone or work in the industry? Maybe Noah can help him out when he is found.”
I glare at Monica, my mouth opens, but soon shuts as a voice shouts out from the lounge, “Peppa, are you here?”
Monica rolls her eyes at me, “Yes, Lara we are in the kitchen!” I shout out.
Lara strolls in. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a French plait, her make-up immaculate, which adds to her beauty. She is dressed in a casual pink trouser suit without one hint of a crease showing. The matching black shoes and handbag, which she carries in the crook of her arm, completes the outfit. All she needed now is one of those small dogs she can put in her handbag and she would be a perfect footballer’s wife.
Oh god no, Lara married to a footballer, shoot me now.
Lara’s eyes scan the room and then she sighs, “Why have you not phoned me back? I wanted to warn you about Jacob but I guess I’m too late now as Hans is sitting there.”
Monica scoffs, “You think.”
Lara ignores her, “Anyway daddy needed help and phoned Jacob to come back on board and help at Devil Records. I know you have issues with him and I wanted to warn you that he was bringing Hans over. Daddy could have let him stay with them but he wanted to cause more trouble for you. I swear to you Peppa, I had no idea he was going to do this until five minutes before I phoned you.”
Monica opens her mouth to say something sarcastic, no doubt, but I give her the look that means ‘Shut the hell up.’
Hans moves out of his seat, picks up his plate and mutters under his breath, thinking no one will hear him, “I thought I had problems.”
Monica stands but leans in so only I can hear, “Are you going to be ok being left with rich bitch? I feel like getting my hands wet and helping a certain hunky singer to wash up.”
My hand instantly reaches up to land on her forehead and I smirk, “Are you feeling ill Monica? You never get your hands wet.”
I giggle when she slaps my arm and mouths, “You bitch,” to me.
I push myself up from the seat while saying to her, “I’m fine, we will leave you two to it.”
I walk over to Lara and take her arm in mine and walk her back into the lounge. I sit and she sits next to me. “Thanks for thinking of me Lara, Jacob being here when I came home certainly was a shock and he made his presence known. I don’t want him back in this house, if you can phone me if you have any reason to believe he is coming over here, I will be ever so grateful.”
She glares at me, “Will you answer it?”
I close my eyes for a second feeling ashamed of myself, “I’m sorry Lara, everything sort of nosedived after you phoned. Juan phoned to say another gig has been cancelled, then the police phoned to say someone had broken into the Café and when I returned home, I came face to face with Jacob. I should have phoned you back but my mind was all over the place.”
Her face scrunches up with confusion, “Why didn’t anyone one tell me about the Café? I’m an owner too, someone should have phoned me.”
“I don’t know Lara, maybe because I answered my phone first. There wasn’t a lot you could do anyway. We cleaned up the broken glass and boarded up the window.”
She shakes her head at me, “I’m miffed Peppa, I still should have been told.”
“I’m sorry.” I halfheartedly laugh, “We seem to be saying that a lot to each other lately.”
She lets out a deep sigh, “I better say sorry now then before I tell you my next bit of news.”
My heart skips a beat and I take a big breath in and out and focus on Lara, feeling my heart sink already from what is about to spew from her mouth, because it is more than likely going to cause me distress.
She closes her eyes and reaches for my hand and I let her hold it. “Daddy thinks I should go back to work, he says it will distract me from thinking about Noah and because the Café has been closed for the week, we are losing out on money. Oh Peppa, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, he also thinks you don’t care about the Café anymore. That you are more interested in getting your hands on Noah’s money. He told me to tell you he will double the price of what Café Net is worth, if you sign it all over to me and walk away from Noah.”
I don’t know where my head is after hearing that shocking news. I should feel something, anger, pain, hate but there’s nothing. It’s like I have resigned myself to the fact that Donald will try anything to destroy me and I want to shrug my shoulders and say, “Oh well do your worst.”
Monica’s screech makes me jump out of my skin and back into the room, “I flipping told you not to trust her. You are a low life scum bag, just like your father. You are supposed to be a friend, you’re no friend. I suggest you get out now while your face is still intact.”
Lara is fuming. Her face has turned a bright red, her body has gone rigid and I swear I can see steam coming out of her ears. She stands, looks at me and then at Monica. I'm expecting a shouting match to erupt but Lara calmly says, “Listen you witch, I’m trying to help Peppa by telling her what my father is up to. I won't let her sign over anything to me because I know she loves that place. I also know she loves my brother and it will shatter Noah if she isn’t here when he gets home. So, back off bitch. I’m on Peppa’s side too, why can you not see that?”
Monica squares off with Lara and I jump up to step in between them, but Hans beats me to it. He rests his hands on Monica’s shoulders, “Come on Rocky, let’s go and make everyone a nice cup of tea.”
She glances over her shoulder at him and something unspoken passes between them and she turns and walks back into the kitchen with him, but not without letting me know to shout if I need her.
Lara spins on her heels and strides across the room, I thought she was leaving but then she turns and makes her way back to me and slumps back down at my side. “Why does she hate me? I’m trying to make everything right again between us. I’m going behind my father’s back for Christ's sake, so you know what is going on.”
My resentment for her father starts to rear its ugly head, he is not only using Noah against me, he is using her too. And for the first time I can see how much this is affecting Lara. “I’m sorry about Monica, she is just trying to protect me, like you are. I’m really sorry your father is involving you in his hatred towards me. I hope our friendship is stronger than him and I will see you at 9 am tomorrow morning to open up our business.”
She sits there with an expression I can only describe as
well I didn’t expect that
. She’s not the only one either, the last thing on my mind is going back to work, but maybe it is the distraction I need.
Donald Blaise can kiss my white lily ass if he thinks he can get rid of me. Bring it on asshole, you just make me more determined to hold on and show you I’m not one to be walked over.
I smile evilly to myself at those thoughts.
“Peppa, thanks for believing in me.” I smile at her and as I’m about to say something her phone goes, “It’s daddy, I should go.” She stands and smiles down at me, “I will see you bright and early in the morning.”
I nod my head and she starts to walk away. A feeling of bitchiness I never knew I had explodes out of my mouth, “Oh Lara, please thank your father for me. Tell him Hans is lovely and he has settled in well, tell him he can keep his money because I have something worth more than anything he can offer me. Oh while you are at it, if you see Jacob let him know it was really good to see him again, but if he sets foot in this house I will call the police. Tell him I have video evidence that should shut him up. See you in the morning Lara.”
I rise from the sofa and I put on the fakest smile I can muster. She looks at me, blinks a few times, opens her mouth as if to say something but nothing comes out. She nods at me and I watch as she shuffles away. When I walk into the kitchen I find Hans and Monica sitting together looking at the newspapers.
Hans spots me first, “Viper has made the headlines. Monica told me that Juan is your boyfriend, they have been having a rough time lately by the looks of it.”
I walk over to them and lean over Monica’s shoulders to see a photo of a vexed looking Cruz staring back at me. “Juan and Noah are both my boyfriends. I wanted to get that out there in case Monica didn’t tell you that part.” From the look they gave each other he already knew that.
I wonder what else Monica has told him.
“I will know more when Juan comes by later tonight.”
Monica snaps her head to me, “Have you phoned Juan to let him know about last night? I’m sure he will want to know.”
I shake my head, “I will tell him later, no point in disturbing him.”
“Bloody hell, he’s your boyfriend Peppa. He’s not going to get mad at you for letting him know about the Café.”
I ignore her and point to Cruz’s picture, “So does it say what Cruz did? He loves the limelight. I’m surprised he’s not naked.”
Monica lets out a big sigh and shakes her head. I wish I could tell her why there is no point in phoning him but for now, I have to make do with her being moody with me. Hans’ finger falls to Cruz’s eyes and taps them, “His eyes look weird, they look sort of supernatural.”
My eyes bulge out of my head and rise to find his. I swear I see understanding flash in them, but it’s gone when he smiles at me and says, “Maybe it’s just the flash from the camera.” Monica laughs, slaps Hans’ arm as if to say
don't be silly
and Hans breaks eye contact to look at her. I quickly make an escape telling myself,
there is no way Hans knows what Cruz is.
Most of the day is spent watching Monica drool over Hans as we both sit and listen to him talk and play his guitar.
They also agree that it is a good idea that I'm going back to work. Monica also warned me, again, to watch my back where Lara is concerned. Monica’s phone rings out later in the evening and she has to dash out to see her sister, the baby wouldn’t settle. Hans asks her to drop him off at some local beauty stop so he can go for a run. He said it is his way of keeping fit and as it is dark, it is the perfect time to outrun the press.
A little weird maybe but who am I to judge.
I have a bath to pass some time and I curl up on the sofa engrossed in the book I am reading. I didn’t even feel the connection flare when I jumped ten feet in the air because Juan made his existence known, “What the hell is that smell?” Holding my hand over my fast pacing heart I glare at him and say, “A hello would have been nice, don’t creep up on me like that Juan. And what smell? I can’t smell anything.”
He moves my feet and slumps down on the sofa resting them on his lap. He sniffs the air, “I don’t know, it’s sort of a wet dog kind of smell.”
I scrunch my face up in disgust, “We don’t have a dog you know that, but we do have a Hans.”
His head snaps back to mine and his eyebrows come together with confusion, “Who the fuck is Hans?”
I open my mouth to speak, then I notice his face change as he recognizes the name and blurts out, “Hans, as in the lead singer from The Duel? The one Jacob used to lure Noah to the club?”
I nod my head yes, “The one and the same, and oh speaking of Jacob. He’s back.” Juan looks at me flabbergasted and anger soon shows itself on his face and his fangs drop down. I scoot back a little at the sight of them and when he registers what he has done, he quickly stands and starts to pace.
“I think you better tell me what’s been happening around here.”
So I do, I tell him about the café, Hans and Jacob, but I began to wish I hadn’t because it causes an argument to erupt between us. After Juan finally shuts up, I push myself off the sofa and make my way to bed. He watches me walk past him, neither of us saying a word or breaking eye contact and I turn back to look at him as I'm about to exit the door and say in anger, “I’m a big girl Juan. I have been looking after myself for a long time, long before you came on the scene. Maybe I feel your lifestyle as a Rock star comes first and the goings on in my life are insufficient. Oh, by the way, I need sleep as I’m going back to work tomorrow. Goodnight.”
I storm off and berate myself for being a bitch. I'm so riled up I couldn’t help myself. I get into bed and close my eyes. I’m too angry to cry so I wait, thinking Juan will join me and I can tell him I am sorry but he doesn’t come straight away. I stir slightly as I feel arms go around me a little while later and I hear whispers of a sorry. I think I said it back but sleep drags me back down.
My alarm goes off and I turn over to an empty bed. I can still smell the aftershave Juan wears, it’s a warm woodsy smell and it lingers all around me. I bring the pillow he rested his head on to my nose for comfort, as a sadness washes over me that we didn’t make up last night. I drag myself out of bed when the alarm goes off again and I get ready for a day at work, even though my heart isn’t in it.