Gus sighed. “Mate, your family’s as fucked up as mine.”
“Yup.”
Gus ate his lunch in silence while I continued to scan the street. When he was done, we exchanged a look, and he nodded before sliding out of the van and jogging across the road.
He slipped down the back of Mia’s shop. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, nerves stretched tight until he reappeared a few minutes later.
“She’s fine,” he said. “Still in a piss with you, mind.”
I expected nothing less. “She’s okay, though? Nothing’s happened at the shop today?”
Gus’s expression hardened. “Like what? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I filled him in on the details from last night that didn’t involve me stripping his sister’s clothes, laying her face down on my bed, and fucking her until she ripped a hole in my pillowcase.
He let out a low whistle. “You’re sure it’s the same car?”
“Positive. I’m pretty hot on vehicle recognition. You learn pretty fast when you let the wrong helicopter land on your ship.”
“You’ll have to tell me about that one day.”
“Uh-huh.”
Gus sighed. “I know the copper who took the break-in report. I can tell him everything you told me, but he can’t do shit unless you or her, preferably both, report it.”
“How do you know this copper? Didn’t bone him as well, did you?”
Gus’s lips twitched. “Maybe.”
I wanted to rib him more, but Gus’s sex life was the least of my concerns. “I don’t think she took me seriously, which was probably my fault. We had other stuff going on at the time.”
“Dare I ask what?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“No, of course not. And judging by her mood, I’m guessing it’s not a quick fix, so I’m the lucky one who gets to talk to her about this.”
“Sorry, man.”
“Aren’t you always?”
I couldn’t tell if he was taking the piss, or fed up with my bullshit for real, so we went back to work and didn’t talk about it for the rest of the day. He didn’t mention it when I let him go early, and I headed home with a bundle of nervous energy in my gut.
Fuck it. I hit the gym, pretty sure Mia wouldn’t be there as she worked late on Fridays to prep for her wedding bookings. And I got lucky, the place quiet, save a few bodybuilder goons getting their disco pump on.
I hit the weights hard, blasting metal music to drown out the grunts and groans coming from the other benches. My mind emptied of everything but the push and pull of lifting, and for a blissful hour, I was calm.
It didn’t last, though. I emerged from the gym to find the van had three flat tyres, all caused by ugly slashes too vicious to have been an accident.
Disquiet burned in my chest as I stared at the damage. A stiff breeze cooled the gym sweat on my skin, and the creeping sensation of unwelcome eyes on me was horribly familiar.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mia
Roses, roses, roses. One day I’d get sick of the smell clinging to my fingers, saturating the air I breathed, and being the central theme to ninety percent of my work, but that day wasn’t today. The shop was stuffed with pink and white blooms, my orders were full, and despite the last twenty-four hours, I felt at peace.
The day passed in a flash, and by the time evening rolled around, I was only halfway through my working day. I locked the doors, put the radio on, and poured myself a weak white wine spritzer to help me tackle the mountain of wedding prep I had ahead of me.
I blitzed through the buttonholes first, then the flower girl crowns, and the bridesmaid’s bouquets. When they were done, I took them out to the refrigerated vintage van I’d finally got round to buying after weeks of angsting over the cost. It was old, with glass panels on the back doors, but I’d hidden most of the scuffed paintwork with the shop logos and advertising, and it was probably my favourite thing in my life right now.
Despondency threatened the work buzz keeping me going, but I shoved all thoughts of Luke aside. I didn’t have time to get angry all over again, but I couldn’t deny that screaming at him, flaying us both with the truth, had ripped a load off my back I’d been carrying since I was seventeen. He’d needed to hear it, and I’d needed to say it. What happened next was up to him.
If past experience was anything to go by, I expected silence—a long silence—and I already missed him so much it hurt, but I couldn’t chase him down, couldn’t force him to unravel the mess in his convoluted soul. This time, it had to be him.
If I could just stop picturing his stricken face as I’d left, I’d be golden.
Life was never that easy, but I was busy enough to push it from my mind. To narrow my world to flowers and crap nineties pop music. The bridal bouquet took me an hour, then I moved on to the church flowers, and the table pieces. Luke flashed into my mind more than once, and my phone buzzed a million times, but somehow I managed to ignore it all.
It was dark when I took the last of my wares out to the van. With it fully loaded, I’d drive home, and then on to the wedding venues in the morning while my Saturday girl opened the shop.
The courtyard was dark, but the security light came on as I got closer to the van. I peered over the top of the overflowing box in my arms, waving the key fob vaguely towards it. The van unlocked, flashing the lights, and revealing reams of battered roses spilling from the broken back door.
* * *
“I don’t care about the police right now!” I pushed past Gus to get to the backroom fridge. “I have to replace everything that’s ruined for the wedding tomorrow.”
“Fuck the wedding!” Gus shouted. “This is serious. Luke’s tyres were slashed tonight too. That’s why I’ve been calling you all evening. You can’t ignore this anymore.”
The mention of Luke turned my stomach, and guilt that he’d been caught up in whatever this was surged in my veins. “What have Luke’s tyres got to do with me?”
“Mia.”
I pushed past Gus to the fridge and wrenched the door open, scanning the mostly empty boxes for anything I could use to get me out of this bind.
Gus followed. “Mia.”
“I know,” I snapped. “I know, all right? But I have to get this done.”
“I’m calling the police now.”
I nodded. “What about Luke? Is he okay?”
“He’s pissed off, and so am I.”