“Max, I–” I broke off when I realised that I was speaking to dead air. He’d hung up on me. Not that I blamed him. At least he’d said he’d look after Verity. I collapsed back into one of my sofas and stared up at the ceiling rose. My mind was running through everything that had happened that morning, everything that Verity had said. I rubbed my chest absently, an ache had started there when I’d seen the tears in Verity’s eyes. Then I winced as Barbara jumped up and sunk her claws into my groin.
The time we spent together at school was a lifeline to me.
I was riding out a storm.
You were my calm in that storm for a while.
You were kind… at least you were kind up until you weren’t.
Something wasn’t right. I was missing a piece from this puzzle. But one thing was for certain – I wasn’t letting Verity get away that easily. Not this time.
Chapter6
Have you actually read this yet?
Verity
“Hey, V. You alive in there?”
The soft-spoken question cut through my thoughts, and I blinked to regain my focus. To my surprise, Mia was standing in front of my desk, her head tilted to the side as she watched me with a concerned frown puckering her forehead. Mia and Max had been looking at me like that a lot over the last few weeks, but I wasn’t about to tell them what was really going on. The last thing I needed was for them to know about my godforsaken mother and her ongoing harassment. I could deal with it on my own, just like I dealt with everything else. If they knew they’d tell Heath, and he was going to be bloody well shielded from this shit now. And anyway, Max and Mia had enough going on with the pregnancy. Mia’s stomach was almost comically huge now incubating Max’s giant baby, the poor woman.
But, despite all they had going on, Max and Mia had been on high alert about me ever sincethat Saturdayin London. Bloody Harry. I’d tried to brazen it out with them. Max was waiting for me at my cottage when I’d finally made it home back to Dorset. The poor guy could see that I’d been crying, and it was clear that he didn’t quite know how to handle me. He told me Harry had contacted him, saying I was emotional and that he was worried about me. I hid my surprise that Harry would even care enough to contact him, but Max did not hide the fact that he’d found it somewhat alarming that someone would be describing me as emotional. It didn’t help that I wouldn’t elaborate on what had actually happened between me and Harry – only telling Max that Harry was a complete dick, but I was fine. I think I managed to convince him that Harry had been exaggerating his concerns to further piss me off as part of his dickish behaviour.
“I don’t know, V,” he’d muttered. “The poor bugger sounded right worried.”
“Trust me, Max,” I replied in a monotone. “He does not give a fuck about me. He’s just trying to piss me off.”
After a further exhausting half hour, I’d managed to get rid of Max and drew on my ruthless self-control to tamp down my emotions. The next morning, I managed to start feeling strangely numb. However, this did nothing to alleviate Max’s concern. Luckily, I’d convinced him not to tell Heath about my run-in with Harry. The last thing I needed was for Heath to know that Harry York had been upsetting his sister again – he had been angry enough the first time. But Maxhadtold his wife, Mia. I loved Mia. She’d certainly done wonders for Max’s mood since she’d come into his life, and she was fantastic at running the office IT systems. When she first joined the company, Mia had been anxious and deeply introverted, not a surprise given her past. But she’d come out of herself over the two years, and I was so pleased for her. However, her newfound confidence, together with her and Max’s worry for me, had resulted in regular gentle cross-examinations over the last two weeks. In fact, it seemed that Max and Mia were becoming more concerned as time went on.
“Oh, sorry, darling,” I said with a start. “Didn’t see you there.” Mia moved into my office and leaned against my desk.
“Do you want to come over tonight? I think Heath’s coming for dinner.”
“Sorry, can’t tonight. And don’t let my brother keep eating you out of house and home like a stray dog.”
Mia sighed. “You know I’m here if you need to talk?” she said softly and I looked up, forcing a small smile which was all I could really manage.
“Of course I do.”
Mia frowned as she studied me, her head tilted to the side. “See, I don’t think you do. I think you’re used to just getting on with things and looking afterotherpeople. I’m not sure you’re so good when it comes to looking after yourself.”
“Mia, I’m fine. Honestly. I keep telling you and Max – Harry blew everything out of proportion.”
“Max didn’t think you were fine at all when he saw you after you got back, and, well, even before this you’ve not been yourself for months.”
“I’m just tired.”
Mia shook her head. “That’s bullshit.” I blinked at the swear word. Mia was certainly not as prolific a swearer as me. In fact, it was very out of character. “You haven’t smiled a real smile since you got back from London. Tired, my arse.”
I rubbed my forehead and made an attempt at a smile again, but it clearly didn’t convince Mia.
“Youwere there forme, Verity. All of you were.” There was a long pause. I opened my mouth to speak but she got there first. “It’s okay to need people you know. You don’t have to deal with everything by yourself. If you’d let us talk to Heath maybe–”
“Do not sayanythingto my brother,” I snapped, and she flinched slightly. I immediately felt bad as I knew Mia still wasn’t great with reprimands of any sort due to her past, but I couldn’t risk Heath getting involved in any of this shit. Having a twin was great until you wanted to keep something to yourself and work through it without the guy you shared a womb with shoving his nose into things. Luckily Heath had been distracted lately. So had Yaz – and I was really hoping that that was not a coincidence considering how long she had been secretly in love with my brother, and how long my brother had been stubbornly resisting something that would make him happy. The trouble was that Heath and I didn’t trust happiness. Not really. Not with how we grew up.
“I promised I wouldn’t tell Heath and I meant it, V,” Mia’s voice was a little hurt. I rubbed my forehead for a moment trying to summon up the necessary apologetic words, but they wouldn’t come. That numbness had settled over me again. To be honest, Harry really should be the least of my problems, but somehow the way he treated me in London had brought everything to a head. Maybe my horror that he would think so little of me was more acute in view of how much he had meant to me at school. Back then it hadn’t felt like I had many safe spaces. Harry and the library had represented one of the only places where I could really be myself. Being with him had been liberating. There were so many expectations in the rest of the school environment – but not with Harry.
“I’m sorry, Mia,” I managed eventually. “I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just… complicated. I can’t–”
