Love You Better (35 page)

35.

T
his is driving me nuts.’ Smith nipped Effie’s earlobe and dropped more kisses into the crook of her neck.

It had been five days since they’d kissed in Lou’s flat, and as he ran a finger down the length of her spine, she stifled a moan, remembering how it had felt to finally have him after so long. She hadn’t fully realised until then just how much she’d wanted him, and as they’d lain on the floor, naked, with their limbs entwined, she’d fallen asleep with a smile on her face.

‘Tell me again why we have to keep this quiet?’ he asked.

‘Because it wouldn’t be fair on Lou and Mickey to steal their thunder.’ She looked up at him as he sighed and put a hand on the wall behind her. ‘And we’re supposed to be chaperoning.’

‘I’d rather take you home and skip it altogether.’

She hooked her fingers into the front of his jeans and pulled him closer. ‘It’s only for a few hours.’

He sighed again and looked down at her. ‘And then we can go public? I can’t handle being around you and not being able to touch you. Not now.’

He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose, and she grinned.

‘I promise.’

The open-air cinema screening was later that evening, and Lou and Mickey would be on their first official date. Or, to be more accurate, their second first date. Lou had spent all of last night pulling clothes from her wardrobe, wailing that she
had nothi
ng to wear. Effie had never seen her so panicked, but Lou’s nerves about their double date provided a great distraction, and she hadn’t picked up on the goofy grin Effie had been wearing for days. The only thing that seemed to be keeping her from having a breakdown altogether was knowing that Effie and Smith would be there to act as buffers. It wouldn’t be fair to turn up and announce that they’d finally got together and have Lou and Mickey end up as gooseberries.

He kissed her again, and she had to stop herself from giving in to what he wanted. Since they’d woken up on Lou’s living room floor, they hadn’t spent more than a few snatched moments together. Mickey was living at Smith’s, and she was living with Lou. Until they got back together, there was nowhere for them to go, and it was killing her just as much as him. He’d covered her body in kisses that went from being heart-stoppingly tender to downright filthy in turns, and when he’d lain on top of her, she’d realised that nobody else would ever have really stood a chance, whether she married the person or not. Nobody else was like Smith, or even close, and she wondered why she’d stayed away from him for so long. Even when things were at their best with Oliver, there was simply no comparison. Nobody else could hold her in a way that was so gentle and fierce all at the same time. She’d had a taste of him after far too long, and she was impatient for more. They only had five minutes of their lunch break left, and neither one of them had so much as mentioned the idea of eating. She grazed his bottom lip with her teeth as they kissed, and he stopped.

‘You are . . .’ He shook his head and exhaled loudly.

Effie smiled up at him. ‘What?’

‘Fucking Amazing. With a capital A.’

It was a surprise her lips hadn’t fallen off with the sheer amount of kissing she’d indulged in. They felt raw, and she was steadily working her way through her tub of lip balm, but it
was so worth it.

‘I reckon we can spare ten minutes,’ he said, tearing his lips away from hers as they stood on the pavement outside Lou’s flat after work.

Effie shook her head and laughed. ‘No, we can’t. Lou’s going straight from work, and I promised I’d meet her for a quick drink for some Dutch courage first. You need to take the bike home
anyway
.’

‘Screw the bike. I’ll leave it here, or I just won’t drink tonight.’ He leaned in to kiss her again, but she ducked away, grinning.

‘Behave.’

‘I would, but you make it so damn hard.’ He crossed his arms and leaned against the bike, grinning back at her. ‘Fine, have it
your wa
y.’

‘Go take your baby home.’

He grabbed her and pulled her in for another kiss, unbothered by the people walking past.

‘I’ll see you there.’ He pulled on a curl before tucking it behind her ear.

Effie nodded. ‘With bells on.’

Her cheeks hurt with the permanent grin that had fixed itself onto her face, and she pulled at them as she walked away from Smith to head upstairs. When she opened the front door, she heard the distinctive roar of his engine as he left to take the bike home, and she looked up at the clock. Thanks to their pavement kissing, she was running late, but she simply smiled. She was certain that tonight would go the way Lou wanted it to, and she couldn’t wait to see her face when she told her about Smith. The night ahead held possibilities, and all of them were good.

She threw her bag on the sofa and took her shoes off before pulling a pair of jeans and a vest top from her suitcase and
laying
them out. She grabbed a butterfly clip and twisted her hair up,
pinning
it back from her face as she hurried to the shower. There’d be no time to wash it now – not unless she wanted to leave the house with a full-on Afro.

Effie hummed as she showered. She felt giddy, almost bordering on hyperactive. When she thought about everything that had
happened
between Smith and her, and Oliver and her, it seemed impossible that she’d ended up happy at all. But she was.
Deliriously
so. She was aching for him already, and he’d only just left. She turned the shower off and shook her head, the grin still fixed to her face. She felt like a lovesick teenager.

In less than twenty minutes, she’d showered, dressed and applied the least amount of makeup she could get away with. Considering they’d be sat outside in the heat, she didn’t want to end up sweating and leaving with half of it down her face. And besides, there was little point in wearing anything beyond eye makeup these days. The constant kissing meant lipstick was definitely out of the question. A quick glance at her watch made her relax a little. She’d made the time up and wouldn’t be more than ten minutes late at most. Considering that Lou was often late herself, she could probably afford to move a bit slower. She smiled as she checked her reflection one last time. She couldn’t move any quicker if she tried. She had way too much energy to burn.

She pulled the front door to the flat open and stepped out into the hallway, bumping straight into someone coming up the stairs. Her bag dropped from her hands, and the contents scattered across the carpeted floor.

‘Oh, god. Sorry,’ she said, closing the door behind her and crouching down to pick up her things. ‘I wasn’t looking where
I was going
.’

The embarrassed smile slowly fell from her face as she looked at the hand holding her purse out towards her. She looked at the fingernails, pale pink with perfect half crescents by the cuticle, and the long fingers on the end of a strong, male hand. The platinum band across the third finger made her breath catch in her throat. It matched the one she used to wear. Her eyes flicked down to the shiny brogues on his feet and the smart, tailored navy trousers on his legs. He stood up slowly, taking her purse with him.

‘Hello, Effie.’

She swallowed as Oliver’s voice bounced off the walls around them, and closed her eyes. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. He didn’t know she was staying at Lou’s. They hadn’t spoken since she was in Ibiza – how could he?

‘You’ve ignored me for weeks. The least you can do is say hello.’

Her legs shook as she slowly stood up, trying to ignore the way the entire world had shifted right beneath her feet.

‘Oliver.’

‘Hey, baby.’ He smiled, and she just managed to hold back the wince at the sound of him calling her
baby
. She wasn’t his baby, and she hadn’t been for a long time.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I came to see you, obviously. One of your neighbours let me in as he was leaving.’ He held her purse out to her, and she stared at it without moving. ‘Take it.’

Her hand shook as she took it from him.

‘I had to see you.’

His blue eyes were as cold as ice as he looked her up and down, and a wave of revulsion rocked her to the core. How had she never noticed the way they stared so intently before?

‘I—’

‘Shh.’ He put a finger to her lips, and Effie closed her eyes, shuddering. After the sweetness of Smith on her lips, Oliver’s touch made her feel sick to her stomach. ‘You don’t have to say anything.’

He dropped his finger, and she stood perfectly still, barely breathing.

‘I thought we could talk.’

‘I can’t. I’m on my way out. Lou’s just behind me.’

Oliver tilted his head, looking at the door behind her and raised his eyebrow. ‘No, she isn’t. If I’ve understood correctly, she should have left work by now, and I
think
she’ll be on her way to Old Street to meet you.’

Effie opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. How the hell did he know that?

‘Facebook.’ He shrugged with a smile. ‘I’ve had to keep tabs on you somehow.’

‘But—’ She shook her head, confused. She’d blocked him on Facebook when she was in Ibiza.

‘Lou really should check her privacy settings.’

The air rushed out of her, and she looked down at the floor. Lou had updated her status about their plans, and Effie had seen it just before she’d left the office. Even though there was no way Oliver could have seen her name tagged in it, Lou had referred to her
bestie
. It wouldn’t have been hard to put two and two together.

‘I had to make sure you were alright, for one thing,’ he continued, his voice oddly neutral and lacking any emotion whatsoever. ‘I mean, you haven’t contacted me at all, and at first I was worried. When you said you wanted a divorce, I thought you were having some kind of mental breakdown, but then I drove by your office last week, and lo and behold, there you were. Looking perfectly fine and not so mentally confused after all. Which made absolutely no sense, seeing as you didn’t come home.’

‘I told you I wouldn’t.’ She kept her eyes on his feet, not wanting to look back at his face. ‘I told you I want a divorce.’

He gave a wry laugh. ‘I thought you were joking. I know you don’t seriously think you could go up against me.’

So what did he want then? Why was he standing outside Lou’s flat, blocking the stairs? There was nothing he could ever do or say that would make her go back. Not for anything in the world.

‘If you think I’m divorcing you so you can shack up with that little shit, you’d better think again.’

Her head snapped up as his voice hardened, and she looked at him as he screwed his face up.

‘I’ve seen you two together.’

He made a noise somewhere between a groan and a sob, but it was so full of jealousy and anger that Effie instinctively stepped back, her hand finding the waist-high lock on Lou’s door.

‘You’re my
wife
. How could you do this to us? To
me
?’

She heard the throb of her pulse in her ears as Oliver shook his head. The vein in the middle of his forehead bulged angrily, and she quickly looked down at the floor. Her keys were right by his feet. The last time she’d seen that vein, he’d kicked her to pieces in their hallway. Her breath quickened as she looked past him to the stairs his body was blocking. Could she slip by him, if she were quick enough? Lou’s flat was on the first floor. If she could make it downstairs, she could get help.

‘Look.’ He turned his palms face down and took a deep breath before slowly letting it out again. ‘I get it. You were angry with me because I shouted at you in the car, but I forgive you.’

Forgave her? For what? She hadn’t done anything wrong.

‘Let’s just put this all behind us and go home. I’ll even overlook this
thing
with you and Smith.’

Effie shook her head, looking past him at the stairs again. She needed to get away from him. He was delusional, and despite his efforts, she could hear the fury in his voice. It was exactly the same as it had been in the car after Smith’s barbecue. She’d picked up on it early enough to get away from him then, and she had to do the same now.

‘I’m not going to let you leave here without me.’ His voice was clear, and with his cut-glass accent, the threat sounded even more menacing. He stared right at her. ‘Understand?’

The sound of the letterbox for the communal door downstairs opening and closing distracted him for a second, and he turned his head to the stairwell.

Go! Now!

Effie bolted, trying to knock him out of the way as she made for the stairs, but he caught her wrist, just as she was about to put her foot on the first step.

‘Let go of me.’ She tried to shake him off, but his grip was vice tight, and he yanked her back, pushing her up against the wall.

Her heart rammed in her chest as she panted, with his face merely inches away, towering above her. His eyes had gone from being ice cold to blazing with anger, so hard they’d almost turned a darker shade of blue. His forearm pressed against her chest, pinning her to the wall.