The Letters (Carnage #4)(18)

“Oh really? Since when did your balls get so big, Bertie Big Bollocks? Coz I’ve never met anyone that wasn’t at least a little bit scared of Frank or his psycho brother Fin, not to mention crazy f*cking Bailey. You must want your brains testing.”

My foot was tapping and my jaw was twitching. I was also giving myself a headache from grinding my teeth together. I wanted to knock my brother the f*ck out.

“I’m buying a house, I’m gonna ask her to move in with me. We’ll talk to her dad before then. Of course, whether I get his blessing or not, it’s gonna happen.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re buying a house but you haven’t asked her to move in yet? What if she says no?”

“She won’t.”

“Don’t you think she might wanna say in what type of house she lives in if she does say yes then? Does she not get to choose it with you?”

Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that.

“It’s got stables and it’s near her mum, she’ll love it.”

“I f*cking hope so, mate.” He clicked the nib of the pen he was holding continuously as he spoke, something else that pissed me off. I snatched it out of his hand, snapped it in half, and threw it across the room.

My phone rang.

“Speak,” I ordered.

“Cam?”

My heart bounced about inside my chest and my stomach went into free fall at the sound of her voice.

“Kitten?” I watched as my brother’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline when I said her name, so I raised mine and gave him a look that said, “Not one word, dick head, not one f*cking word.” He picked up another pen from the pot on my desk and started clicking it. I wanted to snap off his thumb.

“Fuck. Where the f*ck are you? Don’t you ever do something like that to me again, you f*ckin hear me? I’ve been worried sick. Where are you?”

I cracked my jaw to relieve some tension while I waited for her answer.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine. I should’ve called you last night. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

Worry? Fucking worry? The three times I’d woken during the night, I’d worn holes in her bedroom carpet as I paced and tried to think where I should start to look for her.

Apparently, I did pace.

I wanted to shout at her, but I didn’t want her hanging up on me.

This skinny little girl had me so twisted up in knots, I didn’t know which way was up any more.

“Where are you? I’ll come and get you,” I said calmly. I knew she didn’t have her car. It was still parked outside her flat when I’d left there that morning.

“No, no. it’s fine. I don’t need collecting.” She sounded panicked. Warning bells sort of went off, but I chose to ignore them.

I turned the chair around and faced the wall in my office so I didn’t have to look at my brother’s obvious pleasure over finding out this girl had me by the balls.

“You okay? I missed you,” I told her quietly. She said nothing. More alarm bells. I stamped on them till they shut the f*ck up. Shoulda gone with my gut.

“I stayed at yours last night. I needed to be able to smell you. I f*ckin’ hated sleeping in your bed and waking up alone.”

Robbie made a gaging noise from behind me. I spun the chair around, picked up the pot containing the pens, and launched it at him. My stapler followed.

She was silent. Nothing but the sound of her breathing was coming through the phone, but I could barely hear it over the sound of my own heart beating loudly in my ears.

“Georgia, you still there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m still here. Look, Cam, we need to talk.”

No, no we do not need to talk.

“But not on the phone. I need to see you in person.”

Fuck. I closed my eyes and tried not to voice the panic rising in my chest.

“Well, I just said I’d come and get you, but I only have an hour. I have a flight to catch at four thirty. I won’t be back until Monday.”

“Well, I’ll just wait and see you Monday then.”

Monday? Monday was forever away.

“I’d really like to see you now, Kitten.” I spun in the chair back away from my brother, who was still rubbing his forehead where the stapler had hit him. Serves the wanker right.

“Monday’s a long way off, and I want to show you how sorry I am for being such a prick last night.”

“Fuck Me!” my brother whisper shouted. “I’m gonna take a piss, I can’t listen to any more of this.” He got up and went into my bathroom.

“I can’t, Cam. You don’t have to keep apologising. You shouldn’t have behaved like a prick, and I shouldn’t have stormed off like a diva. Go catch your flight and give me a call on Monday once you’re home.”

Fuck my luck and f*ck those Russians. I raked my hand through my hair and let out a long sigh.

“If I could get out of it, George, I would, but something’s come up with some business I have going on in Amsterdam, and I need to fly over and sort it out. I only just found out myself I had to go.”

“It’s okay, you go and sort out your business and we’ll talk on Monday.”

Tell her you love her, tell her how you feel …

“I miss you, Kitten. Have a good weekend.”