Page 100 of Spiralling Skywards
I pulled my mobile from the pocket of my hoodie and called his number, a moment later, Tupac’s “Changes” started to play from the kitchen worktop. I ended the call as he reached for it.
“What did she want then, when she came to see you? What else did she say?”
He looked at his screen as he spoke to me, tapped a button, and then held the phone to his ear.
He looked back in my direction and raised his chin, as if to tell me to go on, but before I could speak, he held his hand up to silence me. Any other time his telling me to shut it would have pissed me off, but I was feeling a little sick anyway, which had nothing to do with the wine, and I pressed my lips together.
“I’ll give you limp dick, you cheeky bastard. Listen, how long till you get to my place?”
Then without another word, he hung up and walked out to the hallway. I couldn’t see from where I sat at the table, but I assumed he’d gone to open the front door. I topped up my wine and went and sat on the sofa so I could pull a furry throw over my legs.
The room smelt delicious, the burning wood and coal mixed with the fresh pine scent from the tree was like every happy Christmas at once, but none of it did anything to settle the unease I felt in my belly.
My heart knew he was in the room before I even laid eyes on him. She always was a traitorous little whore where he was concerned.
He was stopped in the doorway when I turned my head, his arms laden with presents as he simply stood and stared at me.
“Sarah. You look fucking beautiful sitting there in the firelight. Those flames match the colour of your hair.”
“Get in the fucking door, Shakespeare, before I drop something,” Luke called from behind him. They both placed the armfuls of beautifully wrapped presents they were carrying under the tree.
“You got anything else in the car?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, the turkey you told me to get. My overnight bag and a slab of beer. Oh, there are a couple of bottles of whiskey the Germans had delivered on Friday,” Liam told him, not taking his eyes from me.
“Nice! The good stuff?”
“A Sazerac Rye and an Ardberg Uigeadail.”
“Excellent. I’ll give you a hand.”
Luke headed back out the door, but Liam continued to stand and stare at me.
My heart felt battered and bruised after my brother’s earlier confessions and beat an erratic staccato in my chest as I watched him watching me.
I knew as soon as his hand twitched that it would reach for the back of his neck. The familiarity both bathed me in contentment and slayed me at the same time. He looked tired standing in the glow of the light from the Christmas tree but still oh so fucking gorgeous.
“I’ve missed you, pretty girl, so fucking much.”
I swear, my heart paused and didn’t beat again until he left the room a few seconds later.
***
“She came to your house? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this?” Liam came back through the door a few moments later and strode to where I was still sitting. “What did she want? What the fuck did she say to you? How does she even know where you live?”
Once again, I opened my mouth to speak, but Luke followed Liam into the room and answered before I could.
“She reckons she accessed company records and got them from my file.”
Liam sat down on the sofa next to me. Luke paced.
“What company records? There’s no records she’s got access to that hold your details. She’s talking shit. The woman’s a compulsive liar.”
He turned and looked at me. Eyebrows drawn together. I wasn’t sure if his expression was one of confusion or concern.
“You wanna drink?” Luke asked him.
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna need one now,” he replied, still without taking his eyes from me.
