Fragile Truths (9 page)

She closed her eyes and a shiver racked through her, “On Don Knight.”

“Fuck!”

I was out of the house before Bella had said his last name.

Frankie

‘You’ll enjoy having sex with me, Joey… I’m very bendy.’
I laughed loudly at Phoebe in
Friends
as she danced up to Joey on the TV screen.

Gulping back more wine, I pulled an impressed expression and regarded the half full glass. My Dad had been right, this was good stuff. I leaned forward, picking up the bottle for a refill but groaned when an inch filled my large glass before the last drip rolled out, “Ahh damn.”

The landline rang and I reached across the table for the handset, smiling as I saw Maggie’s number scroll across the screen, “Hey, babe.”

“My bitch!” she sang in my ear. “What ya’ up to?”

“TV, takeaway and wine, perfect Sunday night.”

“I hear ya’. You want company?” She asked slyly and I chuckled.

“Nope.”

“But…”

“Nope.”

“You bitch,” She growled. “I need deets, girl. Come on, you love me.”

I laughed at my best friend’s hungry need for information. “Okay,” I conceded slightly. “He was large, speared and very, very goooood.”

“Ho – fucking –hum, girl.” She squealed down the phone in excitement and I couldn’t hold back the shudder as I remembered the feeling of him sliding inside me, the metal ball of his piercing sliding against my inner walls in exquisite pleasure.

I pulled a fresh cig from the packet, grumbling at myself over my habit as I popped it in my mouth and lit it. “You found your bag yet?” Maggie continued.

“No,” I answered but I had a sneaky suspicion where it was, however there was no way I was going back to collect it. I had phoned up the bank and reported everything lost; the locksmiths were coming in the morning to replace the locks. I would rather be out of pocket than have to face the random again.

“But that’s a good excuse to go back, Fran.”

I rolled my eyes at her nudge then frowned as the entry phone buzzed, “Gotta go babe, someone at the door.”

“Okay but listen, meet me for breakfast before work then you can tell me the nitty gritty.”

“Jesus Christ, Mags,” I grumbled as I stubbed out my smoke in the ashtray and headed for the phone in the hallway. “It was sex, that’s it.”

“No Fran,” she argued. “It was goooood sex.”

I laughed and shook my head at her, “Yeah. Bye.”

I picked up the other phone as I terminated the call with Maggie, “Fran?” Rolling my eyes and blowing out an exasperated sigh I grumbled something at Gray through the phone, “Let me in, sweetheart, please. I just wanna apologise.”

What had started as a lovely relaxing evening was going downhill rapidly and I sighed as I pressed the door lock button and buzzed him in then unlocked him the apartment door.

“Hey.” He smiled guiltily as he walked into the lounge, holding up a bottle of wine as though alcohol would excuse his previous behaviour, “Peace offering.”

I smiled through gritted teeth when I realised he would be here for a while and took the bottle from him, I’d need the oblivion alcohol would give me through his painful visit.

“You didn’t have to, Gray. I’m okay.”

He shrugged then gestured to the bottle with his chin and helped himself to a glass from the cupboard, holding it in front of him greedily. I unscrewed the cap, happy with myself how easy it broke open. I don’t know what it was with screw cap wine bottles but I always struggled with them, fiddly little buggers that always made your palm burn with the rough edge.

He smiled when I poured him a full glass, then myself one as Gray picked up my glass for me and pushed it in front of me to fill it. “I am sorry Fran, about what happened in the office.” He placed his glass on the table without taking a sip and slumped onto the sofa, much to my irritation as I got comfy in the chair opposite him.

“I said it was fine, Gray.” I took a large gulp and watched him over the rim of the glass as I tried to get a reading on his mood. He had scared me a little earlier and I was hoping he was now past that and had calmed down. “But…” He tilted his head and nodded for me to go on. “Well, is everything okay? You seem a bit distracted lately.”

He sighed and ran his hand through his thick hair, his eyes sad as he regarded me. “I…”

He broke off as his face contorted into a pained expression. He was obviously struggling with something so I waited for him to continue in his own time as I finished my wine and poured another; I suspected he was going to be here a while and I needed to get drunk to help me through the long hours.

“I need a favour, Fran.”

I nodded to him but he tapped his fingers on his knee in agitation as he watched me warily, his eyes observing every mouthful of wine I took. I had a feeling he was a little disgusted with the way I was downing the stuff but sod him, he had a habit that far outweighed mine.

“I… uhh, well I’ve got myself into a bit of trouble,” he confessed and I frowned at him.

“What kind of trouble?”

He sucked on his lips and screwed his eyes shut as shame marred his handsome face, “£80,000 worth of trouble.”

I choked on the last mouthful of wine and stared at him in shock, “What the hell, Gray?”

“I know,” he grimaced as he stood up and paced across the room. “I… it was stupid.
I
was stupid. I thought I could deal with it, that the more I played I’d win it back and everything would be okay but it didn’t and I slipped further and further into…”

I exhaled heavily as my head started to swim, I think maybe I’d had too much wine so I placed the glass on the table and turned to Gray, “I haven’t got that sort of money, Gray. I can’t...”

He shook his head rapidly and rushed over to me, crouching before me as he took both of my hands in his. “I don’t need money, Fran. I can…
you
can clear it for me without money.”

I gulped as the room spun. God, how much had I drank? “I don’t see how…”

“The evidence, Fran.” He blurted out quickly as I slumped back in the chair and rubbed at my blurry eyes. “Stay awake, sweetheart. I need you to tell me where it is. That’s all I need, then everything will be okay, my debt will be paid and they’ll let me live.”

“What?” I shook my head rapidly as my body exploded with heat and Gray seemed to make less and less sense. “I don’t understand.”

He started to grow angry as I slipped into a haze. I blinked as his palm shot across my face, “FRAN! Stay with me. Tell me where it is.” He yelled feverishly, “Please.”

“No… you – know… I… won’t...” I tried to lick at my dry lips but my tongue felt thick and heavy inside my mouth and refused the command. “I… You can’t have it…” I managed as my head started to shoot lightening across my temples and my blood seemed to ice over inside my veins. “Gray, I… I don’t feel…”

“Shit!” Gray hissed as he punched the side of my face to keep me awake but it was a wasted effort.

I heard the front door open again as I slipped into the darkness.

Tate

As I had started to climb from the car, I saw the pathetic scrote Frankie was engaged to climb the steps and disappear into her apartment building. “Shit!” I mumbled as I slid back into the car and waited.

I’d sat for two hours outside her apartment, watching the shadows through her window like a sad bastard. I knew I’d have to have her again as soon as I faced her and it was that knowledge that had held me back. I needed to stay away from her, I was no good for her, but at the same time I wanted her with a debilitating need. I needed to feel the softness of her hair through my fingers again, craved to feel the soft touch of her skin under my fingers, taste her delicate unique arousal on my tongue and hear her moans of ecstasy again and again.

Grayson – fucking – Proctor moved across the window, his hands rubbing at his head in frustration and my internal alarms shot to life. He was agitated and on edge, the way his stiff posture and frantic hand movements screamed out his distress worried me. I’d heard things about him on the grapevine, his addiction to gambling and habit for whores being some of the many things I didn’t like and I’d recently been getting closer to paying him a visit. Why the fuck would someone cheat on Frankie? Christ, she was fucking everything; beautiful, sexy, witty, gentle, passionate and recently discovered, wild hot in bed.

My lungs squeaked when I spotted two hefty guys climb from a car and mount the steps into the apartment block. Their familiarity caused me to stumble desperately from the car and propel myself across the road, racing up the steps after them.

The foyer was empty apart from a doorman who was slumped against his desk, blood from a bullet hole in his forehead seeping across the top of the desk and dripping slowly on to the floor.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I exclaimed as I banged at the elevator call button. My legs twitched as my heart strived to rip through my chest with the fear. Each hair on my body was raised in alarm and my blood curdled with unease.

Slamming my fist on the wall, I pushed at the stairwell door and climbed up them three at a time, my terror giving me the energy to sprint up them with my need to get to Frankie.

The third floor was eerily quiet and I swallowed back the dread as I flung myself through Frankie’s door to hopefully catch them off guard.

Stupid! These were Knight’s Guards. I should have known they were expecting me, already spotting me outside in the car.

Before they took me out quickly and efficiently I managed to observe several things. Grayson’s wide dead eyes on the floor beside the coffee table that was splintered in two, his thick, already congealing blood flowing smoothly from the gaping slash across his throat, his tongue thick and protruding as his mouth hung open in a silent scream. Frankie’s unconscious body draped over one of the men’s shoulders, his filthy paws on her uplifted backside as his smug grin fixed on me, and the long black baton in the other guys hand just before he swung it straight at my temple and sent me to join Frankie.

11
^th
January 2014

Frankie

I couldn’t work out what had woken me first, the dire thirst or the throbbing headache. Shit, every part of my body ached. How much had I drunk last night?

My lips were dry and cracked and my throat refused to let me swallow without a thousand knives tearing at it. That wine my father had given me needed a toxic warning on its label.

I managed to open my eyes and stilled. The room was dark, too dark and I felt the sudden rush in my veins as my blood tried frenziedly to keep up with the rising thump of my heart. I would kill Gray; he knew never to turn the lights off.

I couldn’t move. Fear froze me as my mind screamed in terror.
Shit.

I could feel my chest rising and falling profoundly as I tried to contain the encroaching panic attack. I knew the arse had done this on purpose, his payback for me ending things.

A light slithered across my eyes behind my eyelids and I sighed in relief. I reluctantly opened them again, hoping and praying I didn’t find Gray beside me on the bed. I know I’d had too much to drink and look where that landed me last time – on some random’s knee in a clubs office.

I was dreaming. Thank God.

I tilted my head and looked at the huge lit window on the wall. It reminded me of one of those police two way mirrors but instead I could see through it.

Two men, both vaguely familiar, were stood looking through at me. One, the tall immaculate dark haired guy, stared at me with an almost hungry expression. As his eyes lifted to mine and he realised I was awake and observing him, he grinned at me. However, there was something in him that made me shiver. His grin wasn’t a regular, welcoming smile. It was cruel, twisting his face into something malevolent and dark. His eyes glinted with vice and he licked his lips as if imagining what I would taste like when he devoured me.

I shifted my gaze to the other guy. “She’s awake.” He mouthed simply and I frowned.

He was more familiar and I flicked through hazy memories to place him but I was too befuddled to find him. He was tall but not as tall as the other man. His head was covered with a shock of short bright blond hair but his bright blue eyes called to something deep inside me.

“That she is.” The dark haired one said in return, “And so is he.”

I didn’t like this dream; there was something quite sinister and not right about it. Turning my head back to the room I peered around but it was still too dark to see anything other than shadows that made no sense whatsoever.

My neck twitched as an itch ravaged over my skin and I reached down to scratch at it. Resistance hit me firm as my arms remained above my head. I shook them, quite harshly as I tried to get to the ever increasing tickle but they held tight. I shook harder when I realised they were bound above me, rigid shackles around my wrists were holding my arms above my head with no flex.

“Frankie… Ssshhh,” A soft whisper curled around the still heavy hair as I rattled on my restraints feverishly. I gasped when I realised it was in the room with me. The nickname hit a flicker somewhere deeper in the recesses of my mind but once more shrivelled under the haze of my hangover.

“Hello?” I whispered back. What the hell, Fran? Hello?

“You okay?” The strong masculine voice asked and I squinted as I turned back to the window. Were they talking to me through a speaker somewhere in the room? But they had both disappeared, the emptiness of the corridor greeting me harshly with whitewashed walls and clinically clean paintwork but at least providing me with some light to focus on.

“Who’s there?”

“Frankie,” he continued without answering my query. “Listen to me.”

I didn’t have any choice really. No other sound could drown him out because everything else was still and silent. “I’m going to get you out of here, but until then I need you to remain calm. Can you do that?”