Page 20 of Grit & Glamour

Chapter Eleven

“Why did you help me if you guessed what I wanted it for?” I ask Theo softly, as we approach the exit for one of my mother’s offices. She has a whole floor of the place for the business, which is one of the more boring ones she owns. There’s absolutely nothing fun about the sale of water coolers. But she does have a personal office in this building, if I remember rightly. One she barely ever uses thanks to her near-constant travels at the moment.

“You’re my friend, and I trusted you must have had a good reason,” he answers simply, after seeming to give it a little thought.

“A good reason for killing someone?” I ask, my voice sliding an octave higher from sheer incredulity at our conversation right now.

“Well, you do, don’t you?” he asks, and I think about it. I do have a reason, and I believe it’s a good one. I have to keep my brother safe, and he’ll never be safe with her around. What other option do I have?

“I don’t know if that’s even the point,” I admit, feeling trapped by the blanket of guilt washing over me.

“You’re not a bad person, Scar. Good people have to do bad things for good reasons sometimes,” he responds after a moment of silence.

“Is that what you tell yourself?” I ask him, but not in a baiting way. Genuinely curious. I park the car outside of the building in one of the many, surprisingly-vacant spots.

“I do what I do for a reason. Some are in it for the drugs, the money, or the lifestyle, but not me,” he answers, turning to face me as I also turn to look at him.

“If you’re not in it for the drugs, or the money, or even for the popularity—what are you in it for?” I question.

“My family,” he answers without hesitation. I blink, a little surprised at his answer considering what little he’d shared about his family to me.

“Why do you need to do this for your family?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“It’s mostly for my mum and little sister. My mum, after my dad went away, she wasn’t the same.” He pauses, and I can see the emotions straining in his expression. “We lost our home and had to move into a fucking two bedroom council flat in that damn block.”

“I’m sorry.” I knew it had been hard for him, but he’d stayed in our school the entire time, so I never really thought about what happened to them without his father’s money funding their life anymore. “How did you stay in our school?”

“One of my dad’s associates paid to keep me and Lisa in school. I’m pretty sure he must have paid him before hand, in case of an emergency kind of thing. If only he’d kept an emergency house for us too,” he jokes lamely, before opening the car door without turning away.

“At least you got a good education?” I offer hesitantly, before pushing open my own door and getting out of the car. I lock it once he’s out, and we head towards the building together.

“I didn’t. I spent most of my time in school not actually there, because I was busy trying to make money on the estate. It was only once I turned sixteen one of dad’s old associates hooked me up. And from there on out, everything got gradually better.”

He opens the door for me and ushers me through before him, before following me inside. A cold blast of air shocks me as we step into the building, and I shiver. Someone had clearly not told whoever set it that it’s already freezing cold outside anyway. We approach the main desk, and I try to force a wide smile.

“Hi, how can I help you?” The receptionist asks cheerily, as we come to a halt before her desk.

“I’m here to get something from my mum’s office, Carrington Water?” I ask. Her cheery disposition falters.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

Worried she’ll ask to see ID, I take a risk. “Yeah, she wants me to pick up a folder for her that she left here forever ago. She even let me use her car. Can you see it out in the front car park from here?” I ask, pointing down at the screen tucked behind the desk that shows a live recording of the entrance from the outside.

“What car?” she asks curiously, and I grin.

“Come look properly,” I gesture for her to come over with me to the glass door, and point out Theo’s car. “Totally worth running errands for her. She never lets me drive it otherwise.”

“Wow,” she comments, her eyes widening.

“I know right. So I really need to get this folder, or she will never let me drive that thing again. It’s okay for you to let me up there, right? I mean, it is my mum’s company,” I respond, watching closely for her reaction to everything I say. Any sign that I’m pushing too much, and I’ll have to ease off a little.

“Well if you’re sure. It’s up on the seventh floor, but I don’t know if you’ll find it in there,” she explains, still looking at the window at the shiny, black, luxury vehicle.

“I’m sure. She said it was in there, anyway, so I have to at least look,” I offer with a shrug. As she turns away from the car, her eyes finally seem to flicker over the bruise on my face. They switch to look over at Theo straight after. She doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the assumption in her eyes. I swallow any biting remarks.

“Head on up then,” she says with a smile, gesturing towards the lifts. “And take care of yourself,” she adds in a quieter voice, when Theo begins to stride for the lifts ahead of me. My annoyance at her assumption battles it out with my appreciation of her concern.

“Thank you. It wasn’t him, but I will,” I tell her quietly, flashing her a small smile, before rushing to catch up with Theo as he steps into the opening doors of the lift. I step inside hit the button for the seventh floor with pause.

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