Page 40 of Ordinary Girl

I hesitate for a second, but then I climb on behind him, pull on my helmet and reach for the grab rail as we speed off. I hang my head and close my eyes, and I don’t open them until the bike stops and I see that we’re parked on the driveway of a smart, two-storey house on a neat suburban street.

“Where are we?” I ask, frowning as I pull off my helmet and look around.

“My place.” Joel climbs off the bike and strides toward the front door, stopping to look back at me because I haven’t moved. “Come on.”

I reluctantly follow him through the front door into a bright and airy hallway that smells of citrus and fresh air.

“What’s the matter?” he asks, throwing his keys into a basket on the sideboard next to the door. “Not what you were expecting?”

“Do you live here alone?” He must be married. Or live with someone, surely?

“Yeah. Why?”

I look at him, and then take another glance around me. “It just doesn’t feel like somewhere someone like you would live.”

He arches an eyebrow. “Someone like me?”

I just shrug. He knows what I mean.

“Come through to the kitchen.”

I follow him into a spacious, modern kitchen with white units and a picture window that looks out onto a small but tidy back yard. This can’t be his house, it just can’t be.

“Do you want a drink?” he asks, opening the fridge and taking out two bottles of beer. And I don’t really want anything from him but I take the beer he offers me anyway.

“Thank you.”

He leans back against the counter and takes a swig of beer. “What did you think was going to happen today, Ana?”

“I needed answers.”

“We’ve told you everything we know–”

“You’ve told me everything you think Ineedto know.”

His eyes bore into mine. “You need to stop this. Okay?”

“Stop what?”

“Fighting us.”

I fall back against the wall, my shoulders sagging. I’m too tired, too defeated to keep this up now. Maybe it would be easier if I just gave in.

“When we tell you you’re not safe out there, Ana, we’re not telling you that to scare you. We’re telling you that because it’s true.”

I stare past him, out of the window. “Why didn’t you take me back to Dag and Freja’s?”

“Because they’re not home.”

“You could’ve taken me to the clubhouse.”

“But I didn’t. I brought you here.” He takes another swig of beer before slamming the bottle down onto the countertop and striding toward the door. “I need to make a few calls. Go sit in the living room, put the TV on, read a book…”

“You have books?”

He looks at me, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Don’t even think about leaving. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I watch him go, raking a hand through his hair as he walks out of the room. I hear him go upstairs, hear a door close, and even though I could quite easily walk out of here now, I don’t. And not because he told me not to, but because, for some reason, I don’t want to…

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