Page 70 of Caught in the Middle

Chapter Twenty Four

The next morning, it wasn't the daylight that woke Lucy up, but the stinging sensation on her face. As she peeled her head up off the pillow, she realised her wound had congealed to the satin cover, and everything from last night came flooding back to her.

She fought back the tears and clambered to her bathroom, to face the state she was in.

Mascara streaked down her face, and the wound looked red and fresh.

She was an absolute mess, both inside and out.

As she turned around to head back into the bedroom, close her eyes and try to never wake up ever again, Emma was standing in the doorway of her en suite. Lucy jumped in shock, she hadn't even heard her come in.

Emma looked perfect, in her satin dressing gown, the dramatic makeup of the night before had been carefully wiped away. 'Mmm, that looks pretty bad,' she said, expressionless.

Her reaction surprised Lucy. Why wasn't she shocked that Joey Leonardo had struck her across the face?

Emma rummaged around in the bathroom and found some saline and cotton buds. 'Let's just clean that up for you - I heard he forgot your name.'

'Yeah,' Lucy croaked.

'So? What's your point?' Emma snapped back, dabbing the solution onto her stinging cheek.

'But... he hit me,' Lucy managed feebly.

'Because you were a fucking idiot. You called him out in front of his business associates. Have you never briefly forgotten someone’s name before?'

Lucy thought about it as Emma continued to clean up her face.

'Suck it up, and buy yourself a new dress, honey.'

After Emma left, even though her face looked better, her heart felt heavy. She tried to think about what she would do had this happened to her when she was at university.

Well, of course, she would call the police.

But you don't simply call the police on Joey Leonardo.

She wasn't sure that she was scared of him as such... just one incident didn't make him a monster.

It must have been ridiculously embarrassing, now looking back in (sober) hindsight, to have a girl who basically is no better than your butler show you up in front of all your guests.

As Lucy sat on the bed in her towel, she felt almost sorry for him. And that need to set things straight came flooding back to her.

So she forced herself to get up and dressed, and hope she'd find him in his office to apologise

.

And hopefully, he'd forgive her.

She forced herself to put on her shortest skirt and highest heels. Makeup wise, there wasn't much she could do to cover a huge gash in the side of her face, but she managed to dull down the redness, and not make it look so shocking.

Walking down towards his office was nerve racking. She hated saying sorry at the best of times, and was known for being incredibly stubborn. It was almost painful for her to admit that she was wrong, that she had done something she shouldn't have.

She consciously touched her face before bracing herself to knock. Of course, he would also apologise to her for being so violent, although she was pretty sure that he didn't mean to cut her face open. Alcohol does strange things to people - she of all people should know that.

Anyway. Time to man up.

- But just as she brought her hand up to knock on Joey's office door, she could hear voices inside. She paused, and went to turn around. He was probably in a meeting, she'd come back later.

'...get rid of Oliver's girl too, will you. She's become more trouble than she’s worth.'

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