Image of You (6 page)

Matt's arms tightened around me a little more and he wrapped his body around mine, cocooning me in his warmth.

"What happened, Kat?"

My mind replayed the scene over and over. The nightmares never seemed to fully do it justice. They were never terrifying enough. In the dream I didn't remember the cloying smell of his aftershave. Or the way his hands had dug into my soft skin, leaving bruises that took weeks to heal. The roughness of his beard against my face...

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to hide from the memories, memories that I had tried to bury.

"You can tell me... They say it makes it easier if you tell..."

"He tried to rape me... Pushed me down on the floor... I remember him trying to pull my knickers off, the press of his fingers against me. I fought. I tried to get away, told him to stop... But he wouldn't. I begged him to let me go."

Silence engulfed us again, punctuated only by the sounds of my quiet sobs. Matt drew in a shaking breath before speaking.

"Did he... You know? Did he succeed?"

"No." It was the one thing I clung to out of the horror of the memories. He didn't succeed. I won. I beat him. But the victory had always tasted bitter. It wasn't a victory I wanted. It wasn't worth the memories or the nightmares or the terror.

"You fought him off?" There was something in Matt's voice, some type of admiration that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"I grabbed a ruler that had fallen on the floor near me. I hit him with it. And when he got off me and tried to grab me again, I hit him again, and again. Until he stopped trying to grab me... And then Angela walked in and ruined my life for good..."

"Angela?"

"Yeah, your ex. She walked in, saw Mr Craigsdale covered in blood and decided I'd tried to kill the teacher..."

Matt started to laugh and then stopped when he realised that I wasn't laughing with him. "You're serious? But there's no way they'd believe that! How could they?"

"Because Craigsdale backed her up. When I tried to explain what he'd done, he said I'd fallen on the floor with some sort of fit. He'd tried to restrain me for my own safety and I'd flipped out. Beat him with the ruler repeatedly... He ended up with concussion, and I ended up expelled with a record for assault... Everyone believed him because he was the teacher. The adult... He wouldn't lie... And he had Angela who made out she had seen everything..."

"So that's why you started working for Brody... Changed your name to Katy Faulkner?"

I nodded and chewed my lip self-consciously. Would he believe me? No one else had. How could I expect Matt to believe me?

"I'm really sorry he did that to you..."

I didn't say anything, but I started to cry again. It wasn't because I'd had to drag up the memories, or even because I was feeling sorry for myself. It was because for the first time since it'd happened, someone actually believed me.

"How do you know I'm telling the truth?" I asked, finally scrubbing the tears from my face and taking in several deep breaths.

"Because I know what it’s like to have a secret that eats at you. One that you've tried to bury but it haunts you every night in your dreams."

"What secrets do you have?" The words were little more than whispers and I wasn't even sure if he'd heard me. When he didn't answer I decided that he couldn't have heard it, or maybe I had imagined I'd asked it.

I cuddled in against him, hugging his body with mine. "Stay with me..."

Matt nodded as he answered. "Yeah." He pressed his lips to the top of my head, and settled down in the bed.

My body felt lighter than it had in years. It was as though sharing the horror of what had happened that day had set me free. I wasn't tied down by it anymore. Not only that but someone had actually believed me. Matt hadn't laughed or told me I was crazy. He  hadn't sided with Craigsdale like everyone else had.

I remembered the look on my parents face when they had found out. So disappointed. It didn't matter how much I tried to tell them truth. As far as they  and everyone else was concerned I was a liar. Of course the little issue of no doctor being able to find a reason for this mysterious fit I'd had, didn't seem to count.

I closed my eyes. Let my mind drift over what I'd shared with Matt. Something special, unique even. Or was I just imagining it? Matt's breathing had deepened and I  knew he was on the edge of sleep. Would he still look at me with lust in the morning? Or now that we'd shared a bed for the night would I simply become another notch in Matt Henley's bed post? I hoped not.

Chapter Eight

The following morning dawned bright. The sun streamed in through my window pulling me awake. I stirred and turned, Matt's arm sliding around my waist as he murmured in his sleep and drew me closer.

I smiled. I couldn't help it, and I even felt silly doing it, but that didn't stop me from feeling happy. And I was happy. Happier and lighter than I'd been in years. I'd shared my terrible dark secret with someone else and they hadn't laughed at me. Or told me I was crazy. He had believed me. And after everything that had happened in the past, that one piece of belief was meant the world to me.

I wasn't a terrible person. I hadn't deserved what had happened back then. I'd believed the lies, believed that I was worthless. A liar. Scum. I'd believed that I had deserved what had happened that day.

Matt had changed that. I was still insecure in myself, and I didn't honestly believe that one night in his arms had suddenly changed everything. But it was a start. A good start.

"Morning, Kitty Kat." He rolled to the edge of the bed and stretched. I grabbed him but it was too late and he tumbled over the edge. The sound of him hitting the floor and his muffled swearing had me in fits of giggles.

Peeking over the edge at him I tried to stifle my laughing with my fist in my mouth. But the look on his face was too much. He reminded me of a cat I'd had when I was younger. Mr Snuggles contrary to his name never wanted anyone to touch him. He spent all of his time with a permanent scowl etched onto his small cat face.

Matt scowled up at me as he shifted up onto his hands and knees. "Your bed just tried to kill me... I may have to retaliate..."

I giggled again as he pounced back up onto the bed and pinned me beneath him.

"You wouldn't be laughing at me, now would you? That would be very bad for you..."

My laughter instantly turned to little gasps as he lowered his head and pressed his lips into the hollow between my shoulder and neck. He nipped and licked at my skin, moving down lower over my body.

Both of our phones chose that exact moment to begin ringing. I groaned as I wriggled beneath him, but he held me still for another moment.

"We'll continue this later, Kitty Kat, I plan on my punishment being the most delicious thing you've ever experienced..."

I shivered at his words. Opening my mouth to answer him my mouth went dry. The words refusing to come out. It was his turn to laugh and as he rolled off me I slapped him playfully.

"Careful, I might like that." He grinned at me as he stood and reached for his jeans.

Pulling the sheet around my body I stood and grabbed my phone. The office number flashed up on the screen and with a sigh I flipped the phone open, instantly answering the call. I'd ignored Brody yesterday, I couldn't afford to keep doing it.

"Finally! Where the hell have you been, Kat? I've been calling and calling."

"I know, look I'm sorry, Brody. Something came up, that's all. I was going to call you this morning."

"Yeah well no need." He hung up and I stared at the phone in confusion for a few seconds before there was a loud rapping on the front door of the apartment.

"Shit." I muttered as I grabbed my clothes and frantically began dragging them on.

"Who is it?" Matt asked as he leisurely pulled his jeans on.

"I'm pretty sure it's Brody." More rapping punctuated each of my words.

Matt shoved his phone in his pocket as it continued to ring and I shot him a quizzical look.

"Who is calling you?"

"No one important." A look crossed his face. A look I couldn't quite put my finger on. But I knew he was lying. Whoever was on the phone was someone he was actively trying to avoid. But I really didn't have time to deal with it right now.

Grabbing a jumper I pulled it on as I rushed to the front door and tugged it open.

"Right you need to get dressed and find Matt. We have a huge problem." Brody strode into the apartment and handed me a Styrofoam cup filled with steaming coffee.

"Do whatever you have to, get ready, but we need to be out of here and searching for Matt in the next half hour."

"Searching for me why?" Matt appeared in the doorway. He crossed his arms across his naked chest but that didn't do anything to hide the scratch marks there. Scratch marks I had left on him.

Colour flooded my cheeks and I sipped the coffee Brody had brought, keeping my head low in an attempt to hide from him.

"I see." Was all Brody said as he glared between Matt and me. "And when were you planning on telling me about this mess, Katherine?"

"Mess?" I stared up at him genuinely puzzled. Why was it a mess? People had sex all the time. It wasn't strange or unusual.

"Yes mess. What do you think the press will do with this? Your face will be plastered all over the media. Just like all the others. And what do you think that will do to the company’s reputation? Who will want to work with us when they find out our employees will sleep with just about anyone with an inch of fame?"

Shock made me stare at Brody with my mouth hanging open. He had never spoken to me like this. Even when I'd told him about my criminal record he hadn't seemed to care all that much. And now, this? It didn't make any sense.

Matt strode into the room and grabbed the front of Brody's shirt, lifting him from the floor until just the tips of Brody's shoes remained on the ground.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Speaking to her like that? We're both adults, entitled to a life of our own."

Brody turned pale, the colour leaving his face as Matt held him as though he weighed nothing at all.

"Look, I'm not saying you're not adults... But it is a mess... When the press get wind of it... They'll use it against you. This isn't something you can be reckless with. Think of your career."

Matt dropped Brody suddenly and strode from the room. "My career, everyone is always so worried about my career. All it turns out to ever be is worry over the cut they can get. I've found no one ever worries about me."

Brody watched him leave before turning back to me. I'd watched the entire situation with a sort of frozen shock. Brody shook his head and straightened his shirt.

"It's not just you two... There are other people in this company, Kat. I won't let you jeopardise their jobs for some fling with a rock star. I can't. I need you both to come in... The manager of the Monkey House wants your head after the other nights little stunt."

"Brody, if I hadn't brought him to the hospital he'd be dead. I did the right thing. The only thing."

The look in Brody's eyes was one filled with sadness. "And on any other day I'd gladly take your side, Kat. But not today... Not after this."

He turned and walked to the door.

"Brody?" I called after him. He gave me one last look over his shoulder before tugging the door open and disappearing out into the hall. I watched him leave and my stomach dropped. I didn't know why. But I had a terrible feeling that I was losing something. Something I hadn't even known I'd had.

Chapter Nine

Getting Matt to agree to go to the office had almost proved impossible. But once I'd explained about the manager of the Monkey House he'd agreed there was nothing else we could do but face the music.

Standing in the office and listening to the manager's angry tirade was something else altogether. Brody simply sat behind the desk listening patiently as the manager tried to make it look as though I'd simply stolen Matt from the club.

When he finally finished I stood to leave but Brody sat up a little straighter.

"What are you doing? This is your mess. You need to clean it up for your client."

"She's telling the truth, Brody. I needed to go to the hospital. I have the records to prove it." Matt answered before I had the chance.

The manager scoffed at his answer and sat back in his seat. "You would have been fine to perform, Mr Henley, but your personal assistant seems to be prone to hysterics."

"Look, I said we could come to some sort of arrangement. But after your behaviour here today, I'm not sure there is any point. You accuse both me and my client of some sort of misconduct. The only misconduct here is your clear dismissal of my client's well being. For future dealings I don't think we could trust you to have my clients wellbeing at the forefront of your mind."

Brody shot me a look, one filled with some sort of admiration and it lifted the horrible feeling I'd been left with, ever since he'd walked out of the apartment. He nodded and turned back to the manager.