Loving Alex (10 page)

“Great, so we’re still on
track?” I ask.

“We are, and as long as there
are no further questions it should all go to plan. Do you have any plans?” She
asks.

“Maybe.” I’m deliberately vague.

“Right, I see. Well, is there
anything else I can help you with today?”

“No, that’s all. I just hope and
pray on a daily basis that he keeps his head down and does or says nothing. I
had a call last night from his business partner, apparently he’s even told him
that
my
inheritance is his and that he’s going to be wealthy! He didn’t
tell the guy that I was divorcing him?” I recount the conversation I had with
David last night.

“Oh, I see and I can understand
your concerns. If there is anything I can do to help, please call won’t you?”
She sounds concerned, and rightly so.
I
know what Lewis is capable of,
most people don’t.

“Can you help to get him
sectioned, put away for the next few weeks so that he can’t do anything or say
anything?” I laugh, knowing full well that would be just too easy.

“No, Mrs. Drake, we can’t
condone false imprisonment!” She laughs, clearly understanding my concerns and
my joke!

We both laugh and end the call on
a light note. Before I leave the study I call Nial Redmond, my fifty per cent
partner in Henry’s, the nightclub that Maggie invested in.

“Hi Nial, its Alex Drake. You
said to call you about arranging a meeting.”

“I did. How are you Alex?” His
voice is deep, like James’ but there’s a seductive soothing tone to it.

“I’m good thank you, really
good. Are you free tomorrow? I can come along to Henry’s anytime, just to have
a natter. I don’t want to interfere with anything in particular, just meet you
and see how things are. I’ve very little information on or about Henry’s, I
just want to know a little more about it, and you.” I perch on the desk,
looking out of the window as I chat to Nial.

“That would be great. Look, we’ve
got a guest DJ tomorrow night D.J ‘B’ he’ll be setting up in the afternoon, or
his crew will be anyway, why don’t you come along then? They’ll be doing sound
checks and stuff but the office is sound proofed, won’t affect us.” His
soothing voice continues to reverberate through my phone.

“Great, what time’s best for
you?” I ask.

“I’m there all afternoon, well
from around mid-day. Shall we say two?” He suggests, I can hear him flicking
through what sounds like a book, maybe a diary.

“Fine. And I want to come along
again one night as well, hopefully for a bit longer this time!” I tell him, my
last visit to Henry’s lasting only an hour or so, a result of the spat that
James and I had.

“Not a problem, we’ve always got
a VIP table spare, house rule, always one spare, we’ll get you pencilled in.
Anyway, Alex. You did say you wanted to be called Alex didn’t you?”

“Finally, someone other than
James who’s happy to call me by the name I prefer!” I mutter.

He laughs “So Alex, if you don’t
mind me asking, what happened last time. I know James, I’ve known him ages, he
didn’t upset you did he? I’ll have him if he did!” His tone changes, become
firm.

“No, no, nothing like that!
James and I are, well a couple I suppose. When we came along last time we
hadn’t been together that long, I didn’t know he was bringing me to Henry’s and
he didn’t know that I owned half of it, he apparently pulled “
some strings”
to get us a table in the VIP area and felt very embarrassed that he had pulled
strings to get the owner into her own club! Understandable I suppose, but we
had words – no harm done!” I explain, the thoughts of the evening still very
painful, the night before I miscarried, something that I will remember for as
long as I live.

“Ah yes. I did hear!” His tone
has changed again, becoming concerned.

“You heard what?” I press.

“One of his
old flames
caught up with him I suppose, for want of a better description.” He’s quiet.

“And?” I hope that James told me
the truth about
just kissing
.

“Nothing I don’t think, just
messing around or so I was told.” He clams up, probably told me too much
already!

“Right. Okay, well I’ll see you
tomorrow, at two.” I say.

“Sure, Alex, and if ever James
messes you around again you let me know. From what I hear you’re great and I
won’t stand by and let you get hurt, you understand! I’ll see you tomorrow.
Bye.”

Well, that was a strange end to
a phone call, he’s read the riot act about James and hung up! Odd man.

I look at my phone, confused at
the call as the doorbell rings. Leaving the study I walk into the hall and
straight into Muriel, she’s got to the front door very quickly considering she
was in the utility room, supposedly ironing. There’s something about Muriel
today, has she been listening to me?

“I’ll get it Muriel, it’s only
Tesco with the groceries.” I stand whilst she skulks back to the utility room.
Once she’s gone I open the door and greet the delivery man with this blue
crates full of blue and white stripy bags, good Lord I didn’t realise quite how
much I’d ordered, there must be twenty bags of food and other bits and pieces.

The driver informs me of things
that have been substituted and one or two items that are out of stock, nothing
vital amongst that lot apart from my coconut body butter – damn. I’ll have to
make what I’ve got last a few more days until I can try and get it from
somewhere else. I sign the sheet on his clipboard and once he’s gone and the
door is shut I trudge the bags to the kitchen before starting to put the
packets, boxes and frozen food away, there’s a ton, I’m sure it will last us a
month, at least. How many packs of strawberries did I order?

It’s eleven by the time I’ve
finished unpacking the groceries, I would have liked a drink before I head off
to see my therapist, I just don’t have the time. I take a bottle of water with
me, from my newly replenished fridge.

I pop my head around the door to
Muriel, who still looks
off
. “Muriel, I’m off now, I won’t be back
before you leave, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Fine Mrs. Drake!” She snaps.
She really does look disgruntled today, she’s very matter of fact most unlike
her.

“What’s wrong Muriel?” I ask,
standing firmly in the utility doorway.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing!”
Her tone is bordering on acidic!

“But clearly there is!” I say
firmly. “If you’re not happy working for me you must say, I won’t be offended,
but to be honest I can’t work with an atmosphere. Let me know tomorrow if you
want to stay, or at least if I’ve done something wrong!”

“Umm.” She mutters.

“Look, Muriel. You’re clearly
not happy, so finish that ironing and go home. Have a think about what you want
to do and let me know when you come in tomorrow. And, whilst we’re talking
about this, were you in London yesterday because I’m
damn
sure I saw
you?” I have a sudden rush of confidence, of assertiveness and lay my cards on
the table and feel, well I suppose I feel good by coming out with what I think,
something I’ve not done much of before.

She just looks at me
ah ha!
Caught you!
She really can’t argue, I
knew
I’d seen her. She doesn’t
answer and I don’t have the time to play
silly buggers
.

“Well, I really do need to go.
We’ll talk tomorrow.” I’m matter of fact as I turn and grab my new bag. I make
sure I’ve got my phone and keys and leave the house. I walk to the end of the
road before hailing a cab to take me to Harley Street, having a good drink of
my water on the way.

I spend the next hour discussing
various issues, mainly around my past, with my therapist. She is
so
understanding, the questions she asks, the support she gives just makes me feel
so much better with myself. As our session comes to an end she asks me if I
have thought any more about my scars, and I tell her what I’ve planned to do
about the smaller one and that I will consult with someone about the larger
scar but personally I feel it’s too large to do too much with. I explain that
as long as it didn’t look so clearly like an iron I would be happier. She
places her hand on the top of my arm as I leave and confirms Friday’s
appointment.

I leave my therapists office and take
a cab to the hotel, arriving at just after one. Sam the concierge tips his hat
as I enter the front doors, “Mrs. Drake.” He’s bright and cheery.

I wave at Roger as I walk past
the security desk and through the staff only door making my way up the staircase
to James’ office. I knock lightly on the door marked General Manager and walk
on in.

The scene that faces me as I
enter is one that I certainly didn’t expect, James has his fingers firmly stuck
in his curls, his face is thunderous, he looks so angry, I’ve seen him worked
up and cross, but never like this. He looks like he’s fit to commit murder.

“What the hell’s the matter?” I
raise my voice. He just looks at me, I swear if there was a punch bag in this
room he’d be knocking seven shades of….well, hold that thought.

“The fucking bastard’s struck
again Alex, that fucking husband of yours needs his balls removing with the
bluntest fucking knife you can find. Why the
hell
did you hook up with
him in the first place? He’s deranged, totally and utterly, stark staring
fucking bonkers. The guys a complete nut case!” He yells at me, now standing
and pacing around his office.

“Don’t shout at me! I’ve done
nothing wrong! James, what’s he done now?” I shout back at him.

“Go and have a look at the Audi.
It’s FUBAR’d!” He spits, his arms outstretched in the general direction of the
carpark.

“FUBAR’d?” I have no idea what
he’s talking about.

“Fucked Up Beyond All Repair!”
He yells at me.

“Do. Not. Yell. At. Me!” I shout
loudly.

“I’m sorry.” He walks around the
desk his arms outstretched and pulls me close. “I wanted to call you but I
didn’t want to tell you before your appointment.” His tone much calmer, still
angry but quieter.

“Tell me
what
James,
you’re confusing me. What the hell has he done?” I speak slowly and firmly,
just in case my lover isn’t understanding me clearly.

“Come on baby, I’ll show you.”
He takes my hand and leads me down the staircase through the foyer and out to
the car park, there in the General Managers space is James’ pride and joy, well
it used to be mine until I gave the damn thing to him.

The soft roof has been slashed
so that it barely resembles the once soft top, across the bonnet someone has
painted the word
bitch
and the rest of the paintwork looks like it has
had acid thrown over it, the paint stripped in parts showing the bare metal.

“Oh my God!” I throw my hands to
my mouth and gasp, “Lewis?”

“Yup. My thoughts exactly, and
he’s not at home is he?” He looks at the car and then again at me.

“No, well David said there was
no answer from home, I would have thought he couldn’t go far, but…..well, he’s
vindictive enough to do something like this. Have you called the police?” I
look at the once beautiful car now destroyed, FUBAR’d as James so eloquently
put it.

“Yeah, they’ve been, taken
photographs, checked outside Amici, there’s no damage to the bistro, thank God.
There’s some CCTV in the place opposite Roberto’s so they’re talking to the
shop owners, but he’s slippery that one, that fucking bastard of yours.” He
hisses.

“James, he is not mine! Have you
spoken with the insurance company yet? Can it be fixed?” I’m stunned and
horrified, Lewis can have a pop at me but to start going after other people in
my life, where will he stop will Anna be subjected to his sadistic tendencies
next?

I hold James’ arm, I can tell
he’s absolutely devastated and so very angry, he’s shaking.

“I think they’ll respray it, new
roof, but it’ll never be the same again will it? It’ll always be damaged. Cars
are never the same once they’ve been trashed like this!” I swear there’s a tear
in his eye, he looks so angry and at the same time forlorn like a little boy
whose favourite toy has broken or disappeared.

“Can Benito do anything, and I
mean legally?” I know what I’d like Benito to arrange, what do they call it in
the movies
eliminating
or
rubbing out
? But I draw the line at
killing someone off, although deep down I know that would be the preferable
option, get rid of the bastard in the same way you’d tread on an ant!

“Don’t know.” He runs his
fingers through is hair again, his head down, he looks so pale, physically ill.

“Did you find it, or Roberto?” I
ask, dreading the thought that the aging gentleman would have stumbled across
this in front of his restaurant this morning.

“Me, Roberto doesn’t open up
until around ten, I got there about twenty minutes after I left home, there
were a few people standing around it - gawking, you know some were smiling,
bastards, others were genuinely shocked, none had called the police and I don’t
think any of the gawkers had seen anything, they were mostly retailers opening
up their own stores for the day.” He walks around the now wrecked Audi, visible
distressed and so very, very angry.

 I follow him and grip his arm tightly, “We’ll get it
fixed and then trade it in, get a new one. Yes?” I try to calm him down. It’s a
car, yes a beautiful one but it’s only a car, it can be replaced.

He looks at me, those dark eyes
look so full of sorrow. I pull him close, putting my arms around this big man
who for a little while appears to be just like a five year old, so terribly
upset at the destruction of something so precious to him.

I pull him gently back into the
hotel. “Is someone going to come and pick it up? Did you drive it here?”

“The Audi garage is coming for
it, I thought it would be best if they sort it, especially as its new, rather
than a standard body shop, and yes I drove it here – lots, and lots of looks!”
He laughs “I bet they all thought I’d been messing around with someone’s wife!”

“Umm, well you have really
James.” I laugh. We’re in the corridor by the side of the orangery and he pulls
me close wanting a hug. He just holds me, his face buried in beside my neck.

“I love you so much Alex,” he
whispers, “the quicker we can get you moved on with your life, the better, for us
all.”

We make our way back to his
office, “So when are they coming for the car, the garage?” I ask as we walk
back to his office.

“Should have been here by now,
they said they’d be here more or less straight away, I’ll give it another half
an hour and ring them.” His head’s still down, still looking so angry but at
the same time so sad.

“Presumably they won’t know how
long it’ll take until they see it?” I ask.

“Yep, you’ve got it.” His tone’s
clipped. I’m going to have to extract the information bit by bit, we’ve been
here before, I know the drill.

“So, we’ve no car until then?”

“No. None,” He looks at me “Hire
car?” He suggests, opening up a little.

“Yes, shall we sort something
out? Four seats though!” I smile. It’s
not
the end of the world.

“Yeah. Anyway, how did this
morning go, with your lady?” He says as he sits in his big swivel chair.

“Fine, great in fact. I’m back
on Friday. She thinks I’m
coming along
nicely. I’ve told her I’m going to
see that guy about my back, the big scar anyway and I’ve already sorted the
smaller one out.” Something that I’d not mentioned before.

“Have you, you didn’t say
anything to me? When?” He looks directly at me, leaning back in his chair his
hands resting on the leather covered arms.

“Tomorrow, and wait and see,
it’ll be a surprise.” I smile, not giving anything away, it will be a surprise
although I’m dreading it.

He looks at me totally confused.

“Anyway James. We were going to
have lunch, I’m not really hungry and
that,
” I point in the direction of
the car park, “has totally killed what little appetite I had.”

“Mine too. As soon as the garage
has been for the car shall we go and get a sandwich, we can go to the little
pub at the end of the street….I need to get out of here!” He’s still clearly
seething.

“Fine with me. Muriel was
funny
this morning.” I say for no reason.

“In what way?”

“Just sort of
off
. I’ve
told her if she’s unhappy working for me she needs to think about it and let me
know tomorrow, but I can’t have that sort of atmosphere at home, especially
when Anna gets back. She was really, really….well, I don’t know quite how to
describe it apart from
off
. And I’m sure she was listening outside the
study door when I was talking to Shauna and then Nial.” I stand and pace around
his office flapping my hands as I articulate my conversation.

“You spoke to Nial this
morning?” He looks up.

“Yes, just to arrange to meet
with him, I’ve never properly introduced myself, apart from the night he ran me
home – when you, you….well.” I stop before I rake up the past, saying something
that I just might regret.

“When are you meeting him?” The
anger on his face replaced with a sudden interest in when I’m meeting Nial.

“Tomorrow, after lunch. I’ve got
something I need to do in the morning, well a couple of things actually, and
then I’ll go there for about two I suppose. Why?”

He looks worried again, rubbing
his bloody fingers through those gorgeous locks he looks directly at me “I
don’t think you should see him on your own. I’ll come with you!” He states
flatly.

“Why? What is he, some sort of
axe murderer? I’m only going to see him to say hello, I’ve no intention of
getting involved in the running of the place, but when you’ve a fifty per cent stake
in something you need to at least know who the other partner is!” I continue to
pace around his office, watching The Bossman as he frets and worries over his
car and my meeting with Nial.

“I agree, I really, really do.
But I know Nial, and well. Alex, he’s a playboy or at least he used to be! Bed
anything with a heartbeat and a pulse at one point, and I mean anything!” He
looks so serious.

“And you’re not?” I snap, “Come
on James, it’s so bloody obvious. I mean, an exceptionally good looking bloke
like you not settled down with some young beauty, it’s as obvious as, well, the
nose on your face! And anyway, doesn’t it take one to know one?“ I could go on,
tell him what Gia told me, about the girls ringing all the time, but I won’t
drop my newly acquired aunt in the proverbial.

“I’ve changed,” he stands,
clearly agitated and takes a few paces before plonking back down in his chair
again, “my days of a different girl every night are long gone, finished when I
went state side - truthfully. But Nial, I’m surprised he didn’t try anything on
when he gave you a lift home!”

“I’m probably too old for him.
Anyway, if you want to come along, you can do tomorrow can’t you?
I’ve
nothing to hide! Well not yet anyway!” I smirk.

He looks at me frowning,
ignoring my comments and starts to flick through some paperwork.

“Are you going to call the
garage?” I ask

“Huh?” He looks up from his
desk.

“The garage! – to check they’re
coming for your car!” I speak slowly as it appears he’s not heard me.

He stops what he’s doing and calls
the Audi dealership, he’s informed that the low-loader should be with us by now
as it left a while ago, London traffic is blamed for the delay and shortly
after he ends the call Roger rings him on his extension to tell him that the
driver from Audi is here. I stay in his office whilst he goes to sort his car
out. I sit quietly for a few minutes just thinking about Lewis, the total and
utter waste of space, the bastard, how can he possibly live with himself,
knowing what he’s done over the years, what he’s doing
now
. I hope the
police get something from the CCTV, from anything.

I’m interrupted from my thoughts
as James returns looking grumpier than before, “They say it’s going to be a few
weeks by the time they’ve stripped it and done whatever they have to do, then
they have to order the roof and can’t do any of it until the insurance have
given the go-ahead!” He whinges as he stamps his way back to his chair, what’s
happened to the car is terrible, unforgivable but the way James is reacting now
you’d think the world had ended! Or maybe it’s me, am I just so used to
heartache that I manage to move on quickly?

“Give them until tomorrow and
get their estimate, we can pay for the work to start before the insurance
agree. Okay?” I try my level best to placate him.

He huffs, “Shall we go and have
some lunch? I could murder a pint.” He grumbles.

“A pint? Fine with me.” I’ve
never seen him drink beer, only wine and fizz!

We leave the hotel and stroll
down to the little old pub, I order a bacon and brie ciabatta and he has
comfort food, a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with slices of beef and a rich
gravy, v
ery healthy?
I don’t think so, not that my bacon and brie is any
heathier! We sit in a corner of the pub chatting quietly about organising a
hire car, meeting with Nial tomorrow, which he still insists on coming to, when
I look up directly at Lola.

I nudge James’ arm, “Lola’s in
here.” I whisper.

“What?” He looks towards the
bar.

“That’s not Lola, she’s at the
hotel.” He disregards my comment.

“
That
is Lola! She’s
wearing a cardi over her uniform, look!” I say firmly, “I’ll go over and say
hello, prove you wrong!”

I stand and walk towards the
fair haired young woman, as I get closer I can clearly see that it is indeed
Lola.

“Hi Lola. How are you?” I ask.

She looks up at me, shocked I
think and fumbles around with her bag, “I…I’m fine Mrs. Drake. Just taking a
break.” I don’t know if she really is on a break or simply wagging an hour,
she’s certainly behaving like she’s been caught out!