Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (18 page)

"They look unnatural and demonic."

Jazz gasped and Harvey gulped back laughter. Destiny started giggling.

"I'll be in the living room," I said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Harvey said. "I came to give you this."

I looked at the plastic carrier bag he was holding. "What is it?"

"Cornbread. You said you've never had it."

"So you've found somewhere that sells it?"

"No. Homemade cornbread is much better than any you can buy."

"You baked it?" my mum asked, beaming.

"No, my mom made it. My brother was in town two days ago on a business trip, so she sent it through him. But I do know how to bake it. I'm just too lazy to do it."

My mum took the bread from him. "So what do we eat it with? We're having a curry tonight. Can they go together?"

"Sure."

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" my mum asked predictably.

Harvey looked at his watch. "I'd love to, but I really can't. Maybe some other time."

"Okay, I'll hold you to that. I'm having a barbecue on Sunday. You're very welcome to come."

"Thanks for the invitation." Harvey looked at me. "Can I speak to you for a minute?"

I was all too happy to get out of the kitchen. I followed him outside. The temperature had dropped a little but it was still bright, although it was now past seven o' clock.

Harvey raked a hand through his hair. "This is weird, but I just had to see you today."

I rubbed my arms as a chill ran over them. I wasn't sure if it was from the slight breeze that was blowing or from Harvey's words.

We were both quiet. I needed to say something to diffuse the atmosphere. I couldn't let myself fall for Harvey. I just couldn't. "How has your first week at News24 been?" I asked.

"Crazy. They didn't ease me in, that's for sure." Harvey dug his hands into his pockets. How he managed to look like a sharp corporate tycoon and a bad boy at once was beyond me. It was a heady combination: power and danger.

I wondered whether to tell him that I was doing another driving test on Monday. Nah. I didn't need the pressure.

"How has your week been?" Harvey asked.

"I didn't do any lone sightseeing, if that's what you're wondering. I've been feeling a little lost with having no activities to plan."

I waited for Harvey's smile and felt rewarded when his lips curved. "I have to go to a business dinner tonight," he told me. "I wish I had a date."

How could Harvey be short of dates? Maybe it was because he was still new in the country. I gave him another month maximum. He'd have women beating his door down.

"I would've asked you to be my date if I'd checked my schedule sooner."

I didn't know what to say to that. How about a change of subject? "Thanks for the cornbread."

"Yeah, just ignore what I said," Harvey said smiling. "I'll see you on Sunday."

"Are you coming to church?"

Harvey looked like the thought had just occurred to him. "I might. I was talking about your mom's barbecue, though."

"Oh. See you on Sunday, then."

***

During the service on Sunday, I had a vision about Travis. Again. I was sick of seeing him in my visions. I almost wished they'd go back to being about monsters and ethereal creatures.

He was on his way somewhere. He parked his car and got out before dropping to the ground, suddenly. I didn't know what had caused him to fall, but he lay motionless and didn't get up again.

Although I didn't see myself in the vision, I knew I was in it. I was waiting for him, looking for him, wondering where he was.

I blinked away tears when it ended, angry that I'd allowed the vision to disturb me. I shook my head. I wasn't going to think about it.

"Are you okay?" Jazz whispered.

I nodded.

She smiled and gave my knee a squeeze. She probably thought I was upset because Pastor Eddie's sermon was hitting me hard. I left as soon as the service ended. I didn't remember that my mum was having a barbecue until I got home and found the house swarming.

I went straight to my room. I just couldn't pretend to be okay today. I knew I shouldn't let my visions torment me, but sometimes they really got to me.

I was crying when Jazz and Destiny arrived an hour later. I looked up as they entered my room, and looked down again when I saw that Harvey was with them.

"You left church without us," Jazz said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I wondered why Harvey thought he was welcome in my room. "I'll be down in a minute."

They took the hint and left. A few minutes later, though, Harvey was back. He placed a paper plate on my table. I looked at the hot dog and barbecued chicken. "Thanks."

"Can I ask why you're crying?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"I hate to point out the obvious, but you're crying, so you're not fine."

I needed to blow my nose. I got out of bed and retrieved a packet of tissues from the top drawer of my dresser. "I need to get out of here."

"You do?"

"Yes."

Harvey removed his keys from his pocket. "Let's go."

I hesitated for a split second before nodding. "Okay. Let's go."

We managed to get out of the house without my mum or any of her friends noticing. It took me three attempts to get into Harvey's car because I was wearing a skirt that didn't give much room for long strides when I walked, never mind climbing into an X6.

"Why were you crying?" Harvey asked as he drove.

"I'm worried about someone," I told him, knowing it sounded silly.

"Who?" he asked.

"Travis." That sounded even sillier.

He turned onto the motorway. I assumed he was headed for The Parks in Oxford. I was glad. The more distance we put between us and London, the better.

Twenty minutes later, he took an exit and turned onto a country road. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"To one of my renovation projects." He stopped outside a pretty little cottage, and backed up into the driveway. "Usually, on Saturday and Sunday, I come here and lose myself in manual work."

We got out of the car and Harvey unlocked the door to the cottage. "I've almost finished this one," he told me. "But I'm behind my schedule."

Our footsteps echoed around the empty cottage when we walked in. "It's beautiful, Harvey."

The stark white walls could use some colour, but the old-world architecture gave the place an unusual character.

"You should have seen this place when I bought it," Harvey said. "It was in shambles. It was going to be demolished."

Harvey led me from room to room, telling me about all the things he'd had to rebuild or repair.

There was a magnificent white table in the dining room, with six matching chairs around it. I ran my finger along the intricate carved pattern on the back of one of the chairs. "Where did you buy this?"

"I made it."

I looked that the table again, and the chairs with their patterns and soft cushioned backs and seats. "You made this dining set?"

"Yeah, I made all the wooden furniture in the house." Harvey shrugged like it was no big deal. "You paint. I build furniture."

"Are you joking?"

"No."

Harvey bent to look at a spot on the floor that had a tiny scratch. He inspected the four legs of one of the dining table chairs. I watched him, fascinated. It had to take incredible creativity to build a set like this.

"Ah," he said. "I didn't sand this one off properly."

He opened the patio door and carried the chair out. I walked over and looked out. All kinds of tools were littered around on the patio. Harvey picked one up and started smoothing out the bottom of the chair leg. His muscle-bound arms flexed as he worked. I watched guiltily. Harvey had the kind of body that could only come from long hours of some sort of exercise.

"Do you swim a lot?" I asked him, remembering the first time I'd seen him in Gym21.

"No." He looked up briefly before focusing back on his work. "The debate team was going and they invited me since I was going to be debating with them in the final." He grinned as he worked. "I remember you and Jazz coming into the men's locker room. You looked really uncomfortable."

I'd been
very
uncomfortable. Especially when he'd appeared before me in his teeny swimming trunks. "So you don't work out or anything?"

"No. Why?"

"Just asking."

Of course, Harvey didn't seem vain enough to consciously build his muscles. He got his body from manual labour.

Eventually, he stood up and tossed the tool aside. "All done."

He took the chair back inside then showed me to a room that he hadn't started working on yet. The room was absolutely derelict. There were gaping holes in the walls, parts of the ceiling were missing, the concrete floor was uneven.

"The whole house was like this when I bought it," Harvey told me.

"So, how on earth did you manage to restore it to what it is now?"

"I have an assistant that helps me out."

"I'm really impressed."

Harvey kicked a piece of the ceiling that had fallen in onto the floor. "Are you okay now? Travis isn't worth crying over, but you already know that, right?"

Harvey thought I was upset because I missed Travis? Nothing could be further from the truth. "I'm over him. I was already pretty much out of love with him when he did what he did. He did humiliate me, though."

"Well, that's good," Harvey said. "Not the humiliation, but the intact heart."

I knew he was thinking about the woman who'd hurt him. "Your heart's not healed yet?" I asked lightly.

His face closed up. He still wasn't over her. That much was obvious. "She must've been something."

"Yeah, I was going to propose to her the night I caught them," Harvey said. There was no emotion in his usually hyper-expressive eyes. "She didn't have the decency to just tell me that she wanted to break up. I had to catch her with another guy. In our bedroom."

Okay, that was bad. "At least you found out before you married her," I said, trying to put a positive spin on things. "Have you been with anyone else since?"

"Yeah, but I've found that women can be very judgemental. I prefer to keep my cards close to my chest." Harvey looked at me, his eyes boring into mine for a long moment. Then he turned and walked out of the room. "We'd better get back. Kale will be wondering where you are."

"Was Kale there?" I asked.

"I assumed he would be."

"I don't think my mum invited him."

"Oh, we don't have to rush back, then. What do you want to do?"

"You can work on that room if you want. I'll sit in the garden."

"Okay."

I went outside to the back garden and sat in the shade. A few minutes later, Harvey brought out a pencil and a wad of A4 printer paper. "I thought you might want to draw."

"Thanks."

He retreated into the house. Soon, I heard all kinds of noises coming from within the house. Bangs, and the whirring of electronic equipment. I started drawing. I didn't usually like abstract art, but I was in an abstract kind of mood today.

About an hour later, Harvey came out with a box of pizza. I turned over my abstract pieces, not wanting him to see. He dropped to the ground beside me, jostling the pencil out of my hand. I knew he did it on purpose.

"Sounds like you've been working hard," I commented.

"Yeah. I must stink. Sorry."

"You don't."

Harvey rapidly inhaled a slice of pizza. "Did you draw anything?"

"Not really."

I watched him eat. Wondering about the woman he'd wanted to marry. Wondering whether there was more to the story.

He looked at me suddenly, and I quickly averted my eyes. I picked the olives off my slice of pizza.
Focus on Kale. Blue eyes.

"Changed your mind about kissing me?" Harvey asked.

"No!"

Harvey was giving me the bad boy smile now. "Then stop staring at me." He grabbed the handful of olives I'd discarded and tossed them into his mouth.

"Eww!" I couldn't watch him chew them.

"You can have the rest of the pizza," he said. "I'll get back to work. Let me know when you want to leave."

Two hours later, I went to check on Harvey's progress in that Godforsaken room. It still looked terrible. You wouldn't know that Harvey had already put three hours of work into it.

Harvey stopped hammering something on the floor. "You ready?"

"Yes."

He was covered in dust and filth. "Give me two minutes."

He disappeared out of the room, and I heard his feet on the stairs. When he returned, he'd changed his clothes.

I gladly escaped his car when we got to my house. I needed to take cover from his effect on me.