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“Sorry.
My sister – the most se
lf-absorbed woman in the world. Come on in, you’re freezing.
Didn’t she text you
? Or call you?”
Tim closed the door behind me and held out his hand to take my coat.

“I haven’t checked my phone since I lef
t my house.
I didn’t hear it…”  I put down the bag with the wine in and scrambled through
my handbag to locate my phone.
Sure enough
, a message was waiting for me.
It had been sent ten minutes prior.

I have to cancel tonight. Ethan called!
Meant to text you earlier, sorry. Xx

My throat was swelling
up in a lump of disappointment.
The thought of walking back through the dark cold to my ho
use was more than I could bear.
I felt my body shake again, a mixture of cold and anger seeping through me.

“Claudia, do you want a cup of tea?” Tim led me to the kitchen.

I pick
ed up my bags and followed him.
“I bought wine,
do you fancy sharing a bottle?
I need something stronger than tea, after walking here.”

“As long as you don’t make me watch a chick-flick.” Tim produced two glasses from a cupboard and proceeded to pour tw
o generous glasses of red wine.
“Do you want to t
ake these into the living room?
I’m sure we could find something non-chick-flick to watch.”

I nodded.
I was angry at Jade, but at least Tim wa
s being hospitable.
I decided I’d stay for one drink and warm myself
up before walking home again.

Tim flicked through the TV channels, randomly stopping for a few moments on certain programmes before continuing his search for something he liked the loo
k of.
After a few minutes, he switched the TV off.  He turned to me and smiled.

“Nothing good on.”

“That’s OK, I’ll head home soon.” I felt bad for disturbing his evening.

“You don’t have to.
My pa
rents are out for the evening.”
He shifted his weight along the sofa, moving closer to me.

“I’ve
taken up enough of your time.” I felt uncomfortable, nervous.
I put down my wine glass, wanting to leave now.

“Claudia, you can take up a
s much of my time as you want.”
Tim caught my wrist on the hand nearest him, not with enough force to hurt me, but wi
th enough grip to make me stay.
My pulse was pounding in my ears, everything about the moment felt wrong.

“I told you, I’m not looking for a boyfriend.” I tried to say the words firmly, to make him see sen
se.
I tried to shake my wrist loose from his grip, but he held on, his fingers wrappin
g around with increasing force.
He moved closer, leaning his chest over mine, pushing my weaker bo
dy from vertical to horizontal.
I held my breath.

“I know you don’t want a boyfriend, but what about just for tonight, two people, caught in a moment; what about
making the most of right now?”
His mouth clamped down on mine, the power of hi
s kiss becoming almost violent.
One of his hands started wandering over my body, the other clumsil
y fumbling with my belt buckle.
For half a second I was paralysed with fear and then m
y survival instinct took over.
I pushed him with all my might, forced him to let me up.

“Get off of me!
Don’t touch me!” I realised I was screaming at him and he
looked shocked by my reaction.
He shrunk away from me, pulling his hands in to himself and making no attempt
to restrain me or calm me down.
I grabbed my handbag and coat and ran from the house, his voice echoing along the street as my footsteps pounded away.

“Claudia, I’m
sorry, I misread the situation. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt you.
I’m sorry…”

Chapter 24

As I ran, my brain starte
d to rationalise the situation.
At the time, I’d been convinced Tim was about to rape me and escaping from that situation was the only
plan I’d been able to focus on.
As the cold air circled me, I realised it was possible he hadn’t been trying to hurt me,
he just wanted more than I did.
He’d stopped as soon as I shouted at him, he hadn’t sto
pped me from leaving the house.
Yet, I w
as angry.
Angry at Jade,
angry at him, angry at myself.
She’d abandoned me, forcing me into a situa
tion I wasn’t comfortable with.
He’d assumed I was the kind of girl who had one-night stands, he
clearly didn’t know me at all.
I was angry at myself, for al
lowing the situation to happen.
I kept running, trying to outrun the feelings of shame and humil
iation that were following me.

Tiredness caught up with me before I’d
managed to escape my emotions.
I was faced with a long walk home in the dark as I didn’t know the bus
routes for this area very well.
I didn’t want to wait in the dark for a taxi to pick
me up, so I just kept walking.
Cold, wet tears spilled down my cheeks and I hugged my arms aroun
d my body to try to keep warm.
I groaned as I realised I’d left my sc
arf and gloves at Jade’s house.
My hair whipped around my face wildly as an icy blast of air caught it, leaving strands s
tuck to the tears on my cheeks.
I knew I must have looked a state and I was grateful that the streets were deserted so that nobody would see me.

I was reminded of the day I’d
been to visit Molly and Derek.
I’d been in a similar emotional freefall that day – this time there would be n
o Marty waiting for me at home.
A fresh onslaught
of tears spilled down my face.
I saw headlights in the distance, on the other side of the road, and put my head down, eyes glued to the pavement, t
o avoid the driver's attention.
The car ra
ced past and I was alone again. I looked up to the sky.
Hardly any cloud cover tonight – just the dark night contrasting wi
th the icy glare of the stars. I shivered.
I’d hoped to see clouds – then I would know Marty was up there somewhere.

I heard ano
ther car coming from behind me.
Involuntarily, I tur
ned around to see where it was.
It was signalling to
pull up to the kerb next to me. Slowing down.
My rational side told me I’d be incredibly unlucky to have any more bad incidents tonight, but my instinctive side started
working on a self-defence plan.
One hand reached into my bag, pulling the lid off the small canister of hairspray I kept in there and held the can ready to spray in the driver's
eyes if anything bad happened.
I mentally kicked myself for not buying a pepper spray, but then I hadn’t planned t
o be walking alone in the dark.
The other hand dipped into my coat pocket and located my house keys, getting ready to use the sha
rpest key as a makeshift knife.
I had no trust left for tonight.

The car pulled to a smooth stop next to the
pavement where I was standing.
I heard the smooth buzz of
the window as it slid down. My heart pounded.
I turned to face the car, keeping as far
back from the door as possible.
Perhaps the
driver just needed directions. Nobody was out to kill me.
I took in as many
details of the car as I could.
Red, convertible
, two doors, clean, black hood.
I couldn’t see the make or model in the dark and to be honest I wouldn’t have been able to tell in daylight either – my
knowledge of cars was limited.
T
his one looked expensive to me.
I saw the silhouette of the driver’s hand reach up a
s he put the interior light on.
He leaned over to talk to me and I recognised him at once.

“Claudia? I thought that was you. Are you OK?” Sam Acton, eyes filled w
ith concern, was staring at me.
A fresh wave of tears washed down my che
eks.
“No, you’re not OK, I can see that, what happened?”

I c
ouldn’t speak, I felt immobile.
I watched as he unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of
the car and walked over to me.
I d
idn’t feel afraid, just frozen.
He bent at his knees slightly, bringing his eyes level with mine, and produced a
tissue from his jacket pocket.
I didn’t move my hands to take the tissue, so he dab
bed at the tears on my face.

“Are you hurt?” I could see the panic in his eyes and I wanted to tell him I was fine, but I still co
uldn’t speak. I just shook my head. “God, you’re frozen. What happened?
I s
hould take you to the hospital. Or the police.”
He looked
at a loss as to how to help me.
Finally, my voice came back to me.

“I’m fine.”
I saw the relief sweep across his features.

“You’re cl
early not fine, what can I do?”

“Nothing.” I didn’t ne
ed the police, or the hospital.
I needed Marty and nobody could get him for me.

“Where are you walking to?”

“Home.”
My teeth had started chattering and I could feel my legs shaking.

“Let me drive you there.” He put his hand on my shoulder to guide me towards the car, but I flinched
violently away from his touch.
I heard a huge sob echo around the silent street and it took me several seconds to real
ise the noise had come from me.
Sam had immediately moved his hand away from me, but the reaction I’d had to his touch had
caused his mouth to fall open.
“What happened to you?”

“Just…nothing.” I didn’t know how to explain to him.

“Claudia, please.
Let me drive you back to your house.” Sam was using a soothing tone, the sort of voice you would use on an injured child. “I can’t jus
t leave you here on the street.
I won’t touch you, I promise.”

He opened the passenger door of his car
, keeping his distance from me. I bit my lip.
I could taste blood.

“Your dad wouldn’t forgive me if I left you here, I won’t let anything bad happen to you, trust me.”

It was the mention of my dad that mad
e my legs move towards the car.
Shakily and robotically, I positioned myself i
n the seat and put on the belt.
Sam closed the door and walked around to the driver’s sid
e.
He got into the car, put his seatbelt on, turned the heating
up and the interior light off.
He drove smooth
ly, carefully, saying nothing.

I could hear my ragged breathing star
ting to even out in the warmth.
My thoughts started to thaw out and untan
gle.

“How did you know it was me?” I stuttered the words out.

“What?”

“On the pavement, why did you stop? How did you know it was me?”

“Oh, I was going the other way, drove past, noticed your hair and height, thought it was you and decided to drive back
and check.
There aren’t that many petite redheads with bright red
coats in this town, you know.”
He smiled briefly at me and then looked away.

“So, now you’re driving in the wrong direction.”

“What?”

“From where you were heading.”

“Yes.
I was only on my way home, don’t worry.”

“I
’ll give you money for petrol.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.
That’s what you’re thinking about?”

I looked out of the window.
W
e were nearly back at my house.
“I don’t know what I’m thinking.”

He risked a sideways glance at me. “Now that you’re talking, are you going to tell me what happened tonight?”

I sighed.
“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you start by telling me why you were walking around those dark
streets on your own?”
He signalled to turn into
the road that led to my street.