Stanton Bliss(18)

“You’re right. I wouldn’t.” I sneer. “You’re pathetic.”

“He doesn’t mean to hit me.”

I scrunch up my face in confusion. “So, he does hit you?”

“He just loses his temper.”

“Why?”

Fake tears well up in her eyes. “Because I won’t leave Robert for him.”

“What the hell?” I cry. “What are you f*cking saying?”

“We have been…” she hesitates as if thinking of her wording, “involved for a long time. I could never leave Robert because I was scared Joshua would find out.”

“So, the rape story was a lie?” I yell. I can’t believe this bitch. Who makes up stories like that?

She shakes her head. “No, he has raped me in the past and he does hit me. But only because he loves me.”

“He hits you and rapes you because he loves you? Have you gone completely mad? Are you listening to what you are saying at all?”

“He so desperately loves me. So much so that he can’t stand the thought of me going home to Robert. He has even threatened to kill me, to kill himself if I don’t see him.”

I don’t believe this. She is defending his behaviour. She’s in a domestic violent relationship with him.

“I love him, Natasha.” Her eyes search mine.

I stand still on the spot as everything I thought I knew falls into place.

This was my gut feeling.

I shake my head in disgust.

“You are a lying, two faced bitch.”

Her face falls. “Natasha, please understand.”

“No!” I shout back. “I understood when you told me the lies. I understood when you kept Joshua and I apart, knowing all along that we were not cousins.”

“Natasha, please. My marriage to Robert is over. It doesn’t need to be bought up.”

I fake a smile. “Fuck you. My understanding is over. Get out of my life.”



I pace back and forth along the side of the pool at mine and Joshua’s house. I’m panicking. I don’t know if I am doing the right thing or not, but I am not covering for that bitch one minute longer. I’ve just sent Joshua and Cameron a text telling them that I need to see them both immediately. They were relaxing by the pool at Cameron’s house.

Sorry to be the party pooper, boys.

They come through the gate together, and I know instantly that Joshua knows something is wrong, I can read it on his face.

“What’s up?” Cameron asks.

I fake a smile and gesture to the seats by the pool, watching them as they both sit down.

I continue to pace back and forth as I try to regulate my heartbeat.

“What’s wrong, Natasha?” Joshua asks.

I turn to face them and swallow the bucket of sand in my throat.

“So…” I pause. God, I’m going to sound like a stalker. A creepy troublemaking stalker.

“So what?” Joshua asks with agitation, obviously annoyed at my procrastination.

“You know the other day when I was sitting by the pool with your mum and Nicholas?”

They both frown and shake their head. “No, but go on,” answers Cam.

“Your mum’s phone was on the table next to me.”

They both sit still.

“Anyway.” I keep pacing. I already hate this conversation. “She got a text and I went to hand it to her, but I saw it was from someone called Deidre.”

Joshua frowns.

“It said: I have told her everything.”

“Who’s Deidre?” Cameron frowns and Joshua shrugs.

Of course they don’t know who Deidre is because she doesn’t f*cking exist.

I keep pacing as I try to get my wording right in my head. “Well, it played on my mind. I kept thinking, who has she told everything to? That statement… It just doesn’t make sense, you know?”

Joshua lays back on the chair as he listens patiently.

“And then, remember, we went to the restaurant, and I wanted to ring Mum, so I borrowed your mother’s phone.”

Cameron frowns.

This is the awkward stalker part of the story. “I was kind of worried about your mum.”

“Why?” Joshua frowns.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I can’t even put my finger on it. I just was.”

He stares at me.

“This is going to sound evil, but I went through her call register and she had been speaking to Deidre at all times of the night for hours.”

Joshua sits up. “Who is this Deidre?”

I blow out a breath. “Promise me you won’t be mad at me?”

“Why?” Joshua says flatly.

“I memorised the Deirdre’s phone number, and when we got home I checked it against the numbers in your phone.”

“And?”

“Deirdre is James Brennan.”

“What?” Joshua barks.

“And the phone call she got at lunch today was from Deirdre, so I followed her outside to eavesdrop, and I heard her tell him she loved him,” I blurt out in a rush.

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” Cameron spits.

I shake my head nervously. “She saw me.”

“What did she say?” Joshua questions angrily.