Bound Angel Bound Demon (24 page)

Chapter Forty Four

Gary called Steve. Steve said he would drop everything and come over to discuss what was needed, anything for a friend of Alex’s. Gary arranged for Briggs to pick him up and bring him over.

Gary
waited for Ray to come up to the office so he could sit in on the meeting with Steve. Alex had decided to leave them to it, she’d written down everything that was needed, some details that Gary didn’t quite understand, but Alex said to give them to Steve and he would.

Gary had decided to say it was something
that Alex had been working on before she died so as not to confuse matters. Alex said she would go to Marie’s and then meet him back at home, but if he needed her, she would know and she’d be right there.

He was determined to do this part on his own
, try and get back on track, he didn’t want her thinking that he was a wimp and couldn’t do anything without her.

Ray
came into the office and gave him a hug, then stood back and looked at him.

“Well
, I have to say, you look well enough, you’re getting through the worst of it, Marie has been a big help then?” said Ray.

“Marie
has been great, she gave me the kick up the butt I needed,” said Gary handing Ray a whisky.

“So Alex left
some plans for this place then?” said Ray watching for Gary’s reaction to the mention of her name.

“
She’d been working on them for a while, just never got round to putting them into action,” said Gary trying not to catch his eye.

Ray began to read through
what Alex had written, down, “This is great, makes perfect sense really. I’m sorry mate, pity, this might have been useful. . .” Ray stopped. “Sorry my mouth runs away with me, as well you know.”

“
It’s fine, I thought the same thing myself when I read them,” he wasn’t lying this time, he wished Alex’s plans had been put into action sooner.

“Are you sure you’re alright?
It’s like you’re hiding something from me,” said Ray.

Gary knew Ray would question him like this but
he remained guarded, he wasn’t about to tell him the truth.

Just as Ray was about to
ask Gary another question, Briggs walked in and nodded to both Ray and Gary, and then showed Steve in.

Steve was a large man, looked
to be in his thirties, with dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and very attractive. Gary thought that there was no way that he and Alex were ever
just
friends.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Alex, she was a gr
eat girl, always made me smile,” Steve said, shaking Gary’s hand.

I bet she brought a smile to your face, and more than that,
Gary thought.
He needed to stop this
,
why was he so jealous for God’s sake?

Ray offered Steve a drink and showed him o
ver to the table which they had never really used before for meetings.

Steve sat down and Ray handed him the details Alex had written
down. Steve read through them.

“This is brilliant, but then I would
n’t expect anything less from Alex, she was at the top of her game, she created the best security systems I’ve ever seen,” said Steve with a smile.

“She
’s planned everything down to the parts and labour,” said Steve. “I can have this completed in about two weeks, you have all the infrastructure already here, so there won’t be too much disruption either.”

“That’s great, when will you be able to start
? So we can advise our clients and move our staff out while the work is on,” asked Ray.

“Let me make a few calls first
,” replied Steve. Ray said he could make the calls in the room next door, and Steve went in there to sort out the details.

Ray looked again at Gary, “What’s the matter, I thou
ght this was what you wanted?”

Gary looked away from Steve, “What
? Yes it is!” he said.

“Then what’s the matter?”

“There are so many things I didn’t know about Alex, that time we were living apart while she was a university, and I was, well you know what I was doing, and this Steve seems to know her very well,” said Gary trying not very successfully to hide his jealousy.

“Gary
, she loved you, what she was like with you is all that matters, don’t go over
what ifs
and don’t be jealous of that guy,” said Ray with a hint of a smile.

“I’m not jealous!” said Gary.

Steve came back just as Gary was about to continue.

“They can start this
weekend, but if that’s too early. . .” said Steve.

“No
, that will be great, the sooner the better,” answered Ray.

“So
, did you and Alex hang out at university a lot?” asked Ray giving Gary a quick glance.

“Well, yes we were great friends
, always there for each other,” said Steve.

Gary
gave Ray a look telling him to shut up.

“I bet you were more than just f
riends!” said Ray.

Steve looked at Gary and then back at Ray, “What
? No. Friends and that was it,” answered Steve.

“You’re telling me you h
ung around with Alex, a beautiful girl, and never once made a move on her?” asked Ray. Gary was ready to punch Ray, but waited for Steve’s answer.

“She’s not
exactly my type. I’m gay, it was always men all through university, I never once looked at Alex like that. We shared a flat and she would always be home alone while I went through, well God knows, how many boyfriends,” Steve said laughing.

Ray
grinned at Gary.

“
Alex was dedicated to her studies, and she always said there was one person for her but she’d let him slip away, so the only thing left was her career,” said Steve.

Gary put
his glass down and smiled at Steve, “Thank you.”

“I’m just going to be following Alex’s wishes
, she did all the hard work!” answered Steve.

“No
, I mean, I never really knew anything about what Alex did after we left school. I went off on my travels and she went to university, I just thought she wasn’t interested, I’m learning more about that now than I did when she was alive,” Gary looked at the window.

“So you’re the one
! She never told me your name but she always talked about you. That was when she wasn’t sorting out some kind of mess with my latest boyfriend. I was all over the place back then, but listening to her talk about you, made me think there had got to be a
Mr Right
for me out there, instead of a
Mr Right now
!” Steve laughed again.

Ray stood up
, “Well I think we’d better get moving and start arranging things at our end. Ready for our man Steve to start work, don’t you Gary?”

“Yes
, thank you again Steve, and it was very nice meeting you,” said Gary, and shook Steve’s hand.

Steve thanked them both and left, Briggs was waiting outside to
take Steve back to his office. Once the door was shut, Gary turned to Steve.

“Don’t
ever do that again, it wasn’t funny, I nearly smacked you one,” said Gary.

“Sorry
, but I was trying to lighten your mood, you were jealous of Steve and now you know the truth,” said Ray.

Gary didn’t
reply. Ray was right as usual.

Chapter Forty Five

Alex was at Marie’s, she wanted to leave Gary to it, give some control back to him. Plus she’d had a funny feeling there, she’d sensed something was not right but wasn’t sure what exactly. At first she’d put it down to travelling using Gary’s body, but it was something more than that, and she thought she’d talk to Marie about it.

Marie
listened to what had happened. She looked concerned.

“What is it?” asked Alex.

“It could be that you were having after-effects of taking over Gary, but I think you might have been sensing something in that building,” said Marie.

“Like what?” Alex was
really anxious now
; did she need to get back to Gary and risk people seeing her?

“I don’t know, you could be picking up on what happened to you there
, maybe the house is holding on to the pain,” said Marie.

“Or
?” said Alex, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“Another spirit.”

“What do you mean
? I didn’t see another ghost! Wouldn’t I have if there was one?”

Marie looked at Alex
calmly. ”You’re right, I’d have thought you would have seen something.”

“Anyway, Gary must be getting his con
fidence back,” said Marie changing the subject.

“You could say that
. He’s beginning to accept me, in more ways than one,” Alex began to laugh.

“Well, I don’t want the details
, but I’m glad for you Alex, I was worried, but true love always shines through.”

Alex
looked at Marie, Marie was always alone, never even mentioned a boyfriend, and yet she was so into love.

“Marie, can I ask you somethi
ng?”

“Ask away
.”

“Why hav
e I never seen you with someone? Someone who is
your
true love!” asked Alex.

“There was someone once
, he loved me in all my weird and wonderful ways, but he had to leave, and that was that,” said Marie.

“You can’t just
stop there. I need more details. What was his name, how long were you together?”

Marie went quiet for a moment. “His name was Nick, I me
t him when my mother was still alive, he was at one of our monthly meetings for all things magical, if you get my drift.”

Alex nodded.

“We got talking, and we both had the same interests, and so on and so forth, and we fell deeply in love.” Marie gave a little smile as though she was remembering something very special.

“And?” a
sked Alex.

“He had to go away, he said he would return one day
, and I’m still waiting” said Marie wistfully.

“He went away
. Why? If you were so deeply in love, why did he leave?”

“Something happened to him
, and . . .” Marie stopped, not sure what to say next or how much to reveal.

“Marie, you can tell me anything you know
.”

“I know
, I just don’t think I’m ready to talk about it, all you need to know is that he went away because something changed in him and he was worried he wouldn’t be able to control it and would hurt me, so he went away. But he said he’d return one day when he knew it was safe, and to this day I’m still waiting.” Marie got up and went to the kitchen and began to wash up.

Alex knew
not to push any further. “Do you want any help with that?” she asked.

“I’ve got it
thanks, shouldn’t you be getting back to Gary? It’s getting late” answered Marie.

Alex knew
she’d opened up an old wound and Marie needed to be alone. “If you’re ok, I will, but. . .”

Marie t
urned to Alex. “It’s ok Alex I just need some time alone,” Marie hugged her. Alex gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then disappeared.

Marie
sat down at the kitchen table and began to cry.

Chapter Forty Six

Gary was home when Alex appeared. He was wearing his linen trousers and white V-neck shirt. He was drinking again, Alex was worried that he might be drinking a bit too much, but didn’t want to hassle him about it, he’d already been through so much. Alex sat down beside him and gave him a soft but lingering kiss on the lips. Gary felt alive each time Alex kissed him, he would never tire of the feeling.

“How
was your meeting?” asked Alex.

“It was good
, Steve is starting work this weekend, the men you suggested for him to use were happy to drop everything to help, you’ve made a good impression on a lot of people,” said Gary, sounding a bit strained.

“What’s the matter
, has something happened?” asked Alex.

“No I’m fine, it’s just listening to Steve today talking about you and what you were
like at university. . . ” said Gary.

“He didn’t say something bad did he
?” asked Alex.

“No
, he had nothing but nice things to say. He also mentioned he was gay, that was more to let me know you two were never an item, which by the way you could have told me.” Gary smiled at her, “I keep finding things out about you that I should have known already, it’s made me see that our whole relationship has only been about me,” said Gary. He took another sip of his wine.

Alex put her hand on his arm
to stop him, and looked him straight in the eyes, his beautiful eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle.

“Gary, I knew all I needed to know about you and I was happy
, the same as you were about me, but we had all the time in the world to get to know each other. It wasn’t all about you. Look how long you took to show me the real you, in the end, I think found out that we’re both the same and want the same things and that’s all that matters.”

S
he took his glass and placed it on the floor. She began to kiss him and he began to relax, all he wanted was this moment, he loved this woman and she was correct, the past didn’t matter right now, the future was what was important.