Page 13 of Resisting Mr Black

His long fingers stroke the scruff of his jaw. “I’m reconsidering.”

My eyes snap to his in surprise and I feel a tingle of hope. “Really?”

He doesn’t expand and before I can probe further, my mobile begins to ring.

I plunge my hand into my bag and yank it out, only to see “Magda calling” flashing in the display.

Shit!I can’t exactly ignore her with everything that’s going on.

I place my elbows on the desk and rest a palm against my forehead staring down at the laptop keyboard. “Hi, Magda.”

“Hello, darling,” she calls down the phone. “I’m just checking I’m still okay to pop round the flat this evening, so we can talk about the asbestos? Is six okay?”

Just what I want on a Saturday night.

“Yes, fine,” I sigh.

“Have you found another place to stay yet?”

I briefly close my eyes. I was hoping to put it off. “No. I was going to take a look tonight.”

“Okay then darling, I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

I drop my phone on the desk and heave another sigh as the very real prospect of becoming homeless bubbles back to the top of my priority list. Not that it wasn’t there anyway. I’d just blanked it out, the way I always do when things start to unravel.

“Who’s Magda?”

I lift my head to find him watching me carefully.

“It doesn’t concern you,” I reply with a dismissive shake of my head and turn back to my laptop.

“Who’s Magda? And why was she talking to you about asbestos and asking if you’ve found somewhere else to live?”

I draw back slightly into the chair. My shoulders tense at the realisation he already knows too much about my life. “You were earwigging my conversation?”

He cocks an eyebrow. “She was loud.”

He’s right. There’s nothing subtle about Magda.

I’m annoyed that he feels like he can question me about this, and that I feel like I ought to tell him.

“She’s my landlord. They’ve found asbestos in her shop below my flat and she’s had to close. Apparently, there’s a chance there could be some in my flat.”

“When do you need to move out?”

“Asap.”

“Have you got somewhere to stay?”

What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?“Nope. I only found out yesterday. Haven’t had a chance to look.”

“So, you’re living in a flat with asbestos in?” He sounds far from impressed.

“Potentially has asbestos in, and I don’t have any other choice at the moment,” I correct him.

He frowns. “Asbestos is extremely dangerous.” Now he’s bordering on telling me off.

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