Page 8 of Take My Hand

“Yep, I need the rush. I didn’t get to sleep until five this morning. Then I had to meet the delivery at seven.”

“Poor baby,” I said with no hint of sympathy.

“I heard you used to be just as bad.” I handed him the mug and watched as he took a sip, wincing at the heat and the sweetness, since as I’d overdone it on the sugar. “Shit, we really need to buy better tea bags.”

“No, we don’t.” I took a drink and had to agree it wasn’t great. “We get better tea bags, and the staff will drink more of it and then I’ll have to buy more and that will cost me money.”

“Shit, it’s a good job you’re a great boss because that’s just mean.”

I shrugged. “Times are hard, mate, and I have to save cash where I can.” The next sip was better as my taste buds started to adjust to it. “Anyway, who’s been talking about me?”

“Lucas Tandy.”

“Little fucker needs to concentrate on his own life instead of gossiping about mine.” Lucas Tandy and I had gone to school together when I lived with Mrs Powell, and he liked to make out that we were good friends. We were not, and he had no clue whatI got up to after I left Norford. I came back once a week to have dinner with Mrs P, God rest her soul, not to party with Lucas.

“I hear his wife caught him with Debbie Godfrey again.”

“Yeah I heard. She really needs to kick his arse into touch.”

“She’s pretty cute actually,” Marcus said with a faraway look in his eye. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a woman fifteen years older than me.”

I shook my head, despairing of him but knowing I’d been just the same. Although I never hooked up with an older women. “Steer clear of Alice Tandy, Marcus. That’s a whole load of trouble that you do not want to get involved in.”

He winked and pulled out a stool. “Maybe. I’ll see if she needs a confidence boost.”

“I mean it, Marcus. If Lucas decides to get nasty with you do not come to me asking for help.”

He held his hand up, palm facing me. “Okay, okay, I get it. No porking Alice Tandy.”

“Fucking hell, Marcus,” I groaned. “No wonder you manage to get a load of women with that charm and silver tongue.”

“Hey,” he said. “There’s nothing silver about my tongue, it’s pure platinum.” He wiggled his tongue around. “You ask Ella from last night.”

Rolling my eyes, I decided I would be much better off in my office dealing with bills. Moving into its semi-darkness, I opened the blinds and then rolled out the chair to sit down. The first envelope I opened was a bill, as was the second and the third. Finally, when I’d mentally cleaned out my bank account, I opened an invitation for the wedding of Amber a girl who had worked for me a couple of years before.

“Everyone is getting fucking married,” I muttered to myself, throwing the invitation to one side. It was for me and Maddy, which made me laugh. That was how good my love life was—people seemed to think that the only date I could get was my daughter.

I really needed to do something about it, for my own sake as much as anything. The long-term relationship I had with my right hand was beyond boring. Norford was a small town, and I had a seventeen-year-old in the next room to me. Options were limited. Maybe the stag party at the weekend was coming just at the right time.

Chapter Four

Maddy

Ifound maths to be boring at the best of times, getting easily distracted because it just didn’t hold my attention. I was good at it, but Mr Collard had one of those dull, boring voices that, if you hadn’t had a good eight hours sleep and a couple of pints of coffee, would put you to sleep. His drone on algebra usually resulted in one of our class taking a nap.

Today’s lesson was no different, except from one major thing. Zak Hoyland was sitting at the desk in front of me, leaning forward and giving me a glimpse of the waistband of his underwear. Now, where most guys in school wore Calvin’s Zak did not. His waistband saidOddballs.Seeing them, I found myself grinning. It just showed how rad he was, that he could get away with it.

“Hey.”

I turned to the whispered voice on my left to see Ana’s raised brow.

“What?” I glanced up to the front of class to see Mr Collard was writing on the board.

“Stop looking at his arse.” She pointed at Zak and shook her head.

“I’m not.”

“You so are.” She leaned across the small divide and pulled me closer by tugging on my jumper. “You’re looking at that fine arse and wondering what it would look like if it was pumping between your legs.”

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