Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Topaz and you? Bosom fucking buddies now, are you?”
“She’s nice, like I said.”
“Nice and fired if she doesn’t watch herself.”
Big brown eyes challenged me. “You wouldn’t fire her. She’s too good.”
“I’d fire anyone with questionable loyalty. No second chances.”
“I get it. You’re still angry. No need to rub it in my face every five seconds.” She stood to leave.
Her comment pricked harder than it should have. I felt it flare in my gut. “You have no idea how fucking angry I am.”
“Keep me on bar for the next ten years if your stupid little power trip makes you feel better, it won’t make any difference.” She smoothed down her skirt. Deliberately. Spreading her thighs at just the right angle for me to see her bruises. “It’s a good job I came back. You keep good staff unmotivated, that’s going to change.”
My eyes narrowed. “What shit are you talking now?”
“Topaz. The pretty green-haired girl who brings you coffee. Seems you don’t even acknowledge she exists. That’s not a good management style, Andy.”
“Here we go.” I felt my heartbeat in my temples. “And what the fuck do you know about management style?”
Arms folded, smug smile. “I’ll bet you don’t even know her name. Her real name. When was the last time you spoke to her, properly?”
“Topaz told you all this crap, did she?”
“No,” she said. “I just know you.” She stalked to the door, swinging her hips in triumph.
“Emily Alice Gladwin. Her birthday is on June 22nd, a Cancerian, I believe. She’s twenty-three, lives in Elephant and Castle with her mum and stepfather, the same stepfather she’s had since she was a toddler. She has two younger sisters, half-sisters. Phoebe and Kate. They have hamsters, a cat too, Pickles. She’s been working here two years and three months. This is her first main job, before this she worked part-time in the same shop as her mum.” I watched Faye’s eyes widen. “Oh, and she wants to be a writer. I’m sure she told you that already during your cosy little heart to heart. Maybe you can give her some tips? Call up good old Vincent for some writing advice? I’m sure he’d be pleased to hear from you. Did you actually manage to say goodbye, or did you bail on him in the middle of the night, too?”
Her face bloomed like a slapped arse. “Stop it.”
“Fucking hell. You did bail, didn’t you?” I couldn’t resist a bitter laugh. “That really is your modus operandi, isn’t it? Faye Devere, disappears in a puff of smoke when the going gets too fucking tough for her. No grit, that’s your problem, no sense of commitment.”
“You have no idea what happened in Italy, Andy. No fucking idea why I left.”
“At least I’m not the only one you mugged off. Did you drop him right in the shit, too? Or was that just me?”
She turned the doorhandle, but her eyes stayed on mine, simmering. Something else, too, the thin line of her lips quivered for just a heartbeat. “You can be such a spiteful prick, Andy. I really don’t know why I came back here.”
I’d pushed it too far, and I knew it, but my ego stormed on ahead of me. “You know where the fucking door is, Faye. Don’t let me stop you.”
She didn’t. She stormed right out and didn’t even give me the finger.
***
Faye
“Such a pretty bird. My Magpie. My beautiful Magpie.”
He taps the crop underneath my chin until my eyes lift to his.
“Smile for me, pretty bird.”
My smile is hollow. Sad. Vincent doesn’t care, though, just as long as I’m smiling.
“You know it’s all a show out there, don’t you? It’s theatre, Magpie, nothing more. They don’t mean anything to me. Not like you, not like my precious bird.”
The gentle caress of his fingers on my cheek, and I’m kissing them. He pushes his thumb into my mouth.
“Show me what you want, sweet bird.”
I suck on him, my eyes hooded as I stare into the darkness in his. My lips make slurping noises, little suckles that make him gulp. I watch his throat move.
“This is what matters... Only us... This is what’s real...”
A tear spills down my cheek and I don’t make any effort to hide it. I can hear the revelry so close, the rhythmic waltz of sex and pain.
“Is my pretty bird going to sing for the crowd? You break so beautifully, my sweet Faye. Such an exquisite gift. It would be a crime to keep you all to myself.”
The crop on my skin, tickling along my collarbone, and down, to my naked breasts. I keep sucking on his thumb, and he groans his approval. It’s the sweetest sound. The only sound. “I know what you need, hungry girl.”
He pulls away, wiping his thumb across my lips. A moment before the camera clicks. My eyes are heavy with tears. “Such beautiful sadness,” he whispers. “You look magical. Truly magical.”