Page 58 of Fake Rocks
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Saff
Irolled over in bed and reached for Tris. Force of habit, I guess, until I realised.
He wasn’t there.
He would never be there again.
He lied to me.
Given our whole relationship was really built on the basis of a lie, I supposed it was rather hypocritical of me.
My head ached, from the amount of alcohol I’d consumed last night upon returning home and from the whole situation. I spent most of the night in floods of tears, alternating between hating his guts and hurting from his deception, to wanting to forgive him and find out what exactly had happened.
Automatically, I reached for my phone, seeing a raft of messages from Tris following the curt missive I’d sent him the previous evening. I deleted them without even reading them. I couldn’t handle it. Not now. Maybe not ever.
I dragged my body out of bed and grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie, before heading downstairs.
The door to Jonas’ office was open and I could hear voices, one of which was Col’s. I froze, looking around the kitchen to check for any sign of Tris.
“I’m not sure I’m happy about you finishing the work,” Jonas was saying. “We asked if there was anything we needed to know about before you signed up to this contract and you failed to disclose something potentially damaging to Saff’s reputation.”
I winced. I could damage my reputation perfectly well on my own, I didn’t need anyone’s help. Although Tris had fixed that. He’d gone some way to fixing me as well, taming me, if you will. It wasn’t fair on his uncle to lose out on something which hadn’t really been his fault in the first place. I felt I had to intervene.
“Jonas, wait,” I said as I went into the office.
My suspicions were confirmed as I saw Col’s face. He was pale, his eyes tired and I wanted to know if he’d seen Tris. Or did I? I was pretty sure I never wanted to see that liar again.
“Saff, it’s fine, I’ve got this.” Jonas held up his hand. “When was the last time you ate? Why don’t you go and get some breakfast?”
“I don’t want breakfast.” I crossed my arms around my body, trying to warm up. “I don’t want you to do anything hasty.”
Jonas glared at me. “The omission of a criminal record is fairly shady.”
“But it’s not Col’s record, is it? It’s Tris’. He’s the bad guy in this.”
Col hung his head. “I may have said he shouldn’t bring it up.”
“There!” crowed Jonas. “They were in it together to get the money from us.”
In my heart, I sensed it wasn’t true. Col seemed genuine, hard-working, supportive. All the things I thought Tris was.
“Mr Barnes,” began Col. “When I got the job here with you, I had no idea who Saff was or who you were really. I thought I’d got lucky with a fantastic job in a great part of London and if I did good, you’d give me some similar contacts who I could do the same for. Honestly, I had no intentions of ripping you off.” He paused, tilting his head to one side. “Or that you’d use my nephew for your own gain.”
He was absolutely right. We’d used him. Not the other way around.
The thumping in my head increased as I looked to Jonas for support, for what to say next.
Jonas drummed his fingers on the desk. I could almost hear the wheels of his brain whirring as he thought about his next move. “I guess it would be difficult to get someone in at short notice to finish the work you’ve started,” he began. “Although there is one condition of you finishing this.”
He looked at me and I immediately knew what he was about to insist on.
Col visibly relaxed. “Of course; name it and you’ve got it.”
“Tris is not to set foot into this house again. He’s done enough damage.” Jonas glanced over towards me. “Is that okay with you?”
I nodded my approval. It was the right thing to do.
