Page 1 of Arran's Obsession

Chapter 1

Genevieve

From the shadowed cemetery across the road from my flat, I concealed myself behind an old stone wall and watched the two men at my door. Sweat trickled down my back, from fear, but also the hot August night, a heatwave blanketing the city.

“Sweets, this is my spot. Move your ass on,” a voice ordered from behind me.

I jumped and spun around.

On the steps of the church, a woman fixed the hem of her ultra-short dress. Her gaze narrowed on me, then she huffed, her pink bobbed hair swinging. “Oh, it’s you. What the fuck are you doing out here dressed like that? Thought you were turning tricks.”

I returned my gaze to the Victorian crescent of flats that curved inwards around the hill, pretty from the outside with neat stonework and windows that overlooked the centre of town below, but that reeked of mould and with walls that shook.

The flat I shared with my dad and brother was halfway along, at the top of the building. The whole place should’ve been condemned fifty years ago. Maybe that’s what the strangers were here to do.

“I went for a run.” I explained my sports bra and shorty shorts. The half-drunk bottle of iced coffee in my hand. “Cherry, did you see those men arrive?”

The sex worker neared, the fruity scent of her e-cigarette preceding her. Together, we watched the upstairs hall window, my flat entrance visible beyond.

They were thugs, definitely. Thick-necked and dressed in black. Probably not burglars considering they were knocking and not booting in the door. No one was home, so they were shit out of luck if they were after money.

“Sketchy as,” Cherry decided. “Don’t go up there. Your dad home?”

I shook my head, and strands of my blonde ponytail caught on my sweaty neck. “I haven’t seen him in a week.”

One of the men thumped on the door again, the sound ricocheting in the heavy night air and across the rows of houses that descended the hill.

Cherry shifted beside me. She’d owned this patch for as long as I’d lived here, though caught shade from more than one of my neighbours for her work. After one particularly shitty comment from Mrs B in the flat below ours, I’d made a point of asking Cherry her name then chatted with her whenever I passed. I didn’t envy what she did for a living but bet your ass she outearned my food courier job.

A job I’d be late for if the men didn’t leave soon.

“They were outside half an hour ago. I don’t usually miss a thing but I had a client. One of your neighbours must’ve let them in the street door. Probably that daft cow with the little dogs and the stick up her ass.”

The second of the goons stooped and collected a piece of paper from a briefcase. He pinned it to my door.

Cherry hissed and jabbed her vape towards the street. “Bailiffs. See the red writing? That’s an eviction notice. I should know, I’ve seen my share. Your old man’s been stiffing the rent.”

My stomach twisted with anxiety. Every month, Riordan and I paid Dad enough money to cover the bills. The government did, too, with disability benefits. Keeping a roof over our heads was vital—we’d been homeless once.

“He can’t have. He’s…”

“Run off with the cash. You said yourself he’s MIA. Come on.”

I swore, earning a throaty chuckle from the woman at my side. Surely Dad hadn’t done that. He went on benders with some frequency but he always came back.

My phone chimed in the pocket of my tight shorts where it was wedged uncomfortably with my keys. I pulled it out and sat cross-legged behind a tombstone beside the graveyard’s mossy path, hiding the light in case the men somehow spotted me, then silenced the chime—my work alarm. I’d already done a six-hour shift over lunchtime and was due to head back out for the late-evening slot. If I couldn’t get into the flat, I’d be doing it without a shower and in my skimpy running clothes.

Not ideal for a job that took me in and out of busy restaurants then to customer’s homes. I was asking for trouble.

Paging over to my phone app, I called Dad. No answer, just like every other time I’d rung him in the past week. Then I tried Riordan. My brother’s phone rang out, no answerphone. Jerk. I tapped out a message to him.

Genevieve: Some men have stuck an eviction notice on our door. Have you seen Dad?

No reply came.

“For fuck’s sake,” Cherry cursed. She swiped at a line of liquid running down her inside thigh then flicked it into the bushes. “Last guy came like an elephant.”

Gross. I gave her a sympathetic grimace, my stomach curdling. “Make sure you don’t get knocked up with a baby elephant. I hear pregnancy’s a bitch.”

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