The Letters (Carnage #4)(4)

But I know.

I know Georgia inside out. From the twenty-year-old girl with sad eyes who walked into my wine bar almost thirty years ago, to the stunningly beautiful, mostly vibrant woman she is now, I know her like no other. Every tear, gasp, and sigh. Every curve, bump, and crease. Every twitch of her lips and thought that crosses her mind, I know and can read them. We talk without words. I can look at her and know when someone is making her uncomfortable, when she’s had too much to drink and it’s time to go, or when someone’s pissing her off and it’s time to step in. I know all of this because we’re a team, united. There is so much more to her than the public could ever conceive.

“Mum looked so beautiful in her wedding to you. I like that dress better than the one she wore to her other wedding.”

“Me too, Treacle, me too.”

“Hope I’m as beautiful as her when I grow up.” She yawns her way through her sentence. I kiss the top of her head again.

“You already are. Don’t you worry about that. You, your sister, and your mum are the best looking girls in the world.”

She nods her head, her eyes now closed.

“Ollie Chalmers said that me and Lu were the fittest twins he’s ever known, but it’s not surprising coz our mum’s a MILF.”

What the actual f*ck?

I’m paying six grand a term, per kid, to send my girls to a school where they get told shit like this? I’ll be on the phone with that stuck-up headmistress first thing Monday morning, and who the f*ck is this Ollie kid anyway?

“How old is this Ollie kid, Kiks? Do the boys know him?” I choke out because I’ve forgotten to breathe. She doesn’t answer, so I give her a nudge.

“Whaaaat?” she whines.

“This Ollie, how old?”

“Same age as us, fourteen he’s in the same tutor group as George, and they play in the same football team.”

He’s only fourteen, but I still wanna punch the little f*cker.

I listen to my daughter’s breathing change as she drifts back to sleep.

“I love you,” she mumbles

I kiss her forehead this time.

“Love you, too.”

I climb from her bed, and as I reach the door, she calls my name.

“Daddy?”

My heart feels like it grows too big for my chest. That shit never gets old. No matter how big of a man I think I am, when my little girl calls me daddy, game over.

“Yes?”

“You looked very handsome in your wedding video … Mum said so, too.”

“Thanks, Kiks,” I tell her with a smile.





CHAPTER 2


Cameron

I make my way downstairs quietly, the sun is coming up and the birds are starting their dawn chorus. I wanna shoot them.

I was a fourteen-year-old boy once, I know exactly how their filthy little minds work. I need to get Harry on board with this, and make sure he tells that little toerag Ollie to stay the f*ck away from my girls—all of them. What the f*ck is he doing eyeing up my wife anyway? He’s fourteen for f*ck’s sake.

I take a few deep breaths and stick my head inside Georgia’s office door. Her earphones are off and she’s curled on her side facing me now, obviously asleep. Her mouth is slightly open, and I’m instantly hard as I watch her.

I go to the kitchen and make us both a coffee. Taking them back to her office, I put them down on her desk next to the two empty bottles of wine I failed to spot earlier. No wonder she was such a mess. Georgia, wine, and memories of Sean are really not a good combination and nearly always end in tears.

There’s a stack of letters sitting next to the empty bottles, and I pick the top one up. It’s addressed to Georgia when she still lived at home with her parents. I lean over her to make sure she’s still sleeping and slide the letter from the envelope.

Oh shut up, like you wouldn’t have a look!

It’s handwritten on a plain piece of paper.

-

Let Me Know...

Should I wait for you?

Or let you go

Shall I hang on to our love

I need to know.



My heart, it's yours

For as long as we live

It beats fierce and strong

And has so much to give.

Just let me know…

-

Fuck!

I know what this is. Georgia has had a crate of stuff sitting out in the garage for years. It had all of Sean’s stuff in there, including a load of shit she never looked at. Letters, tapes, diaries. She has always put off going through it, obviously, she’s decided now would be a good time to make a start.

I slide the first note back into its envelope and pull out another.

-

I f*cked someone else tonight, George. I hope you’re happy with that! Hope you’re pleased, hope it’s what you wanted, coz I just feel like shit. It didn’t have to be like this. It shouldn’t have been her who woke up in my bed this morning, it should’ve been you. It should be you every morning, but you chose this. You chose to behave like a spoiled selfish little cunt, and now I’ve gone and done exactly what you accused me of in the beginning. Well f*ck you, Georgia. Fuck you!

-

Shit! It should make me happy that Archangel Sean wasn’t quite as perfect as Georgia seems to think he was, but this will break her heart. No wonder she was such a mess earlier.