The First Mistake(44)

‘So, where’s the big money angle? Cos me and my Jimmy would be up for some of that.’

I looked at her and rolled my eyes. She and Jimmy barely made it through the month, but maybe that was all the more reason to invest.

‘Well, it’s all about the fine wines,’ he said. ‘Their values increase and decrease, and you just have to know when’s the right time to buy and sell, much like stocks and shares I suppose. But this is much more of a dead cert than the London Exchange could ever be.’

‘So, we’d be buying wine?’ asked Maria.

‘Yes, but not to drink.’ He laughed. ‘You’d keep it in a safe place, in optimum temperatures, until you wanted to sell it. All of my clients make over a two hundred per cent return, minimum.’

‘But who would we sell to?’ she asks, her expression confused.

‘Well, you’d normally sell it to the highest bidder, and because I’ve always got clients who are looking to invest large sums of money, I’m normally able to outbid anyone else because I’ve got people lined up who want it.’

She gave me a nudge in the ribs. ‘So, we wouldn’t really need to do anything, your “hot guy” would do it all for us.’

‘O-kay, it’s time to go,’ I said, not wanting Maria’s loose tongue to reveal any more secrets.

She wound her window down as she got in her taxi. ‘You two lucky ducks go and have a fun time,’ she said, blowing us kisses. ‘Go give each other multiple orgasms.’

I turned to Thomas, wide-eyed and laughing. ‘I am so sorry. She has an alcohol threshold that should never be crossed.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he laughed, pulling me towards him. He took my breath away as he kissed me, his hands entwined in my hair. He almost knew to support me as my knees threatened to buckle. ‘So, what about it?’ he whispered into my ear.

‘What about what?’ I asked, breathlessly, not wanting him to stop.

‘Let’s go give each other multiple orgasms.’





18


I was too busy being kissed as I fished for the keys in my bag to notice that the front door to the flat was ajar. It wasn’t until I went to put the key in the lock that my blood ran cold.

‘Come on, what’s taking you so long?’ said Thomas as he nuzzled my neck, seemingly oblivious to Tyson’s frantic barking.

‘Look,’ I blurted out, not even thinking that I might alert whoever was in there. ‘It’s open.’

Thomas looked up and instinctively walked around me, so he was between me and the door. ‘Call the police,’ he said authoritatively, holding an arm out to stop me moving forward.

‘Don’t,’ I said, my breath catching in my throat as he pushed the door slowly open. ‘Someone might be in there.’

In a split-second panic, I ran through the items that a burglar might take that could never be replaced; the necklace from my dad, his wedding ring, framed photographs of us on the mantlepiece. I could see them all so clearly, being carelessly shoved into a holdall, their value so paltry to anyone but me. The very thought was enough to cause a ripple of pain through my chest and my bottom lip to wobble.

‘Just call the police,’ Thomas repeated, and I nodded, adrenaline rushing through me, making my hands shake. I could barely hold the phone in my hand, let alone make a call.

‘Please be careful,’ I begged as he stepped into the darkness, whilst I waited on the front step, holding back tears.

The seconds turned into minutes as I watched lights going on one by one. When Tyson’s barking and whining eventually subsided, I knew Thomas must have reached him. I allowed myself to believe that if they were okay, it was okay. That maybe I’d just left the door open. Again.

I realized I’d been holding my breath when Thomas came back with a worrying grimace on his face.

‘I’m really sorry,’ he said, as my heart sank. ‘You’ve been burgled and it’s a bit of a mess. Tyson’s okay, a bit shaken up. Looks like he was shut in the kitchen – he’s nearly scratched the door to ribbons.’

Sobriety hit me like a sledgehammer.

He pulled me into him and kissed the top of my head. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘I haven’t called the police yet,’ I said. ‘I was hoping it might be a false alarm.’

‘I’m afraid not,’ he said. ‘Tyson’s barking might have scared them off eventually. But I doubt they’d make such a mess and not take anything.’

‘Is it definitely safe?’

He nodded. ‘It looks like they came and went through the front door.’ He ran a finger down the door frame and I could see that it was splintered a little.

‘Bastards,’ I spat, before cautiously following him inside.

Nothing can prepare you for how it feels to have your home violated. To see all your personal possessions, things you’ve worked hard for, strewn across the floor. Every drawer was pulled out and upturned and every cupboard emptied in an attempt to find . . . what? It was a normal two-bedroom ground-floor flat, pretty basic, nothing special. But it was mine, and to know that someone had been in there, rifling through my letters, trawling through my underwear drawer and helping themselves to whatever took their fancy, made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.