Page 38 of The Story of Us
“Porge?”
“Marls?”
“I am so sorry for everything.”
“I know you are Marls, let’s go to sleep.”
I slept soundly the entire night with my brother there to look after me; when I woke in the morning he was gone but I now felt like I was done with the crying and ready to face the world again.
My Mum was sitting on a stool at the bench top, flicking through a magazine when I walked into the kitchen, the radio was playing and my Mum instinctively lent across to turn it off as I came into the room. “Morning, its fine Mum, leave it on, please.”
She beamed. “Are you sure George?’
“I’m positive Mum, what time did Marley go?”
“He left about five, he had a flight to catch, they’re on a chat show or something in Ireland tonight.” I proceeded to make myself a coffee, aware of my Mums eyes on me.
“Thanks for looking after me Mum, sorry for all the trouble.”
“Georgia, you’re my daughter, looking after you will never be any trouble, I’m your mother, it’s my job to look after you.” I give her a cuddle and a kiss on the cheek. “You’ve had a lot of calls here and at the shop and someone called Cam dropped your keys off, Ash bought them over with her; they’re on the hall table.”
Shit, Cam, I would have to get in touch with him and explain where I’d been all week. I nodded as my Mum reeled off the messages, they were mainly from the girls at work, then she said, “Sean has called a couple of times a day, every day, he begged to come and see you but your Dad and Bailey were having none of it, but what do you want George? Do you want to see him? If it’s going to set you off again, then I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
She watched me, waiting on an answer as I sipped some more of my coffee. “Seeing him won’t set me off, I don’t think anything will set me off like that again, I don’t know why I reacted like that but, it won’t happen again.”
“I do,” my Mum stated. “Because you bottled everything up, you can’t do that George, you need to open up a little bit, let us all back in, we love you and we all want to help you move on. Who’s this Cam? Ash said he’s really nice.” Oh shit, how do I explain this one? “He’s really nice Mum but I don’t know if he’s for me.”
“Why, you need to move on Georgia, you really do; Sean’s not spent the last four years sitting around moping, he’s in the paper nearly every day with a different girl on his arm, all of them stunning… slutty looking but stunning.”
“Mum! I said I was ready to see him, I don’t want to hear about his love life or the women he’s shagging and as for Cam, well Bailey’s not happy, he knows him and has told me I’m not to see him again.”
“Bailey said that?”
“Yes Mum.”
“Why, why on earth would he say that?”
“Because it’s Cameron King Mum, the bloke I went out with Saturday night is Cameron King.”
My Mum’s mouth actually fell open.
“Oh shit, fucking hell Georgia, your Dad will go berserk.” I let out a long sigh, my Mum just swore, that meant it was bad, very bad if it had made my Mum swear.
“Yes Mum, that’s pretty much what Bailey said but he didn’t swear.”
I looked at my Mum pointedly; I would have got into so much trouble for swearing like that. “Well, I’m sorry George, I’m just saying it like it is, I understand the attraction, Cameron King is bloody gorgeous but you need to stay away from him, he’s a dangerous bloke to be around, he’s involved in all sorts, he runs all these raves that the kids go to out in the middle of a field.” What was she on about?
“Mum, Cam runs a perfectly respectable wine bar, why would he be organising raves?”
“Because of the drugs Georgia, he organises the raves so his people can sell their drugs to all the kids, your Dad thinks I don’t know about any of this stuff but of course I bloody know I’m not stupid.”
“What has this got to do with Dad?”
“George, really, you are not stupid enough to think that our lifestyle is provided by your Dad’s building firm and a couple of car fronts are you?” I look at her, totally confused.
“Well he’s got the clubs and the pubs and the gym and the houses he rents out.”
“George, they’re all a front, well most of them are. Your Dad has many sources of income, all of those you just mentioned plus he’s got a couple of brothels and a sex shop in Soho, he’s into all sorts George, your Dad is a bit of a wheeler and dealer and it’s made him very rich, I thought as you got older, you would have worked all this out.” Shit, no I hadn’t, how stupid was I?
