Missing Me (16 page)

‘Right,’ I said curtly. ‘Thanks.’

I rang off, feeling suddenly depressed.

‘Are you OK?’ Wolf asked.

‘I’m fine,’ I said.

There was a pause.

‘What would you like to do now?’ Wolf said.

I sighed. I should really call Annie back – she’d left so many messages – but I couldn’t face talking to her, or going home and seeing her face to face. In fact, right
now, I didn’t want to speak to or see anyone.

‘I don’t want to go home,’ I said.

Wolf smiled. ‘Me neither, but I kind of have to. My parents are giving a dinner party and I’m expected to be there for the pre-dinner drinks. It’s . . . it’s like . . .
well, I have to be there . . .’

‘Oh, OK.’ For some reason, the thought of having to leave Wolf now made me feel more depressed than ever. ‘OK, well, I’ll see you.’

‘You could come back with me.’ Wolf spoke so fast the words almost ran into each other. ‘To my house, I mean. For the drinks thing. We could hang out after.’

‘Oh.’ I flushed.

‘No, don’t worry.’ Wolf was blushing too. ‘That was a stupid idea, it’ll be so boring for you and—’

‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I’d like to come.’

‘Great.’ Wolf beamed at me.

We walked along the road. I’d assumed we were heading towards the tube station, but a moment later, Wolf stuck out his arm to hail a passing black cab.

‘Another taxi?’ I said, ‘Can you afford it?’

Wolf was still smiling. ‘I’m in so much trouble already, a few quid more won’t make any difference.’

The cab pulled over and we got in. Wolf chatted away, more animated than I’d seen him before. He asked me what music I liked and told me about a new band he’d seen the week before. I
noticed he didn’t stammer once. In fact, now I thought about it, he’d stopped stammering at some point earlier today. I relaxed as we chatted. After all the turmoil of the past
twenty-four hours, it was nice to talk about normal stuff.

However, as we pulled up outside his house in St John’s Wood, Wolf grew quieter again. It was a big house and our footsteps sounded loud as we crunched across the drive.

I was kind of hoping we could slip inside without Wolf’s mum or dad noticing. The thought of this pre-dinner drinks session suddenly seemed really intimidating and I was hoping that, if
they didn’t know I was there, I’d be able to make some excuse and stay out of the whole thing.

No such luck. Wolf’s dad was in the hall as we walked in. His eyebrows nearly shot up to his hairline as he saw me.

‘Who’s this?’ he barked.

‘My f . . . f . . . friend, M . . . Madison,’ Wolf said, not looking directly at his father.

I stood stock-still, feeling awkward.

‘Right.’ Wolf’s dad peered down his nose at me. ‘Well, she can’t come to drinks dressed like that. See if your sister can lend her anything.’ And he stalked
away.

My mouth fell open. I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt.

‘You look
great
,’ Wolf said. He sounded furious. ‘I’m so sorry. My dad is unbelievably rude.’

‘That’s OK,’ I said uncertainly. ‘I wasn’t sure about the drinks thing anyway.’

Wolf hesitated. I couldn’t work out what he was thinking. Did he want me to leave? Or was he wondering if he could persuade me into his sister’s clothes?

Embarrassment filled me – and irritation. I didn’t want to go to his dad’s stupid drinks party anyway – and I certainly wasn’t borrowing someone’s
clothes.

‘I’d better go,’ I said.

‘Wait.’ Wolf opened a door to what looked like some kind of library. I’d never seen so many books in one family home before. He beckoned me inside and closed the door.

‘Madison?’ He hesitated again.

‘What?’

‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

‘What?’ I stared at him, confused. ‘No, why?’

Wolf just looked at me. Was that sweat on his forehead? My heart raced with anxiety. I liked Wolf, but right now I felt really uncomfortable. ‘What about Esme?’ I said, quickly.
‘You hang out with her a lot. I thought you liked her . . .’

‘No,’ Wolf said. His eyes were still fixed on me – dark and intense. ‘I mean, of course I like Esme. We’ve known each other forever. But everything about her is
just so . . . so . . .
big
.’

‘What?’ I didn’t understand. ‘She’s really slim. I don’t—’

‘Not her body,’ Wolf interrupted. ‘I mean her hair . . . her laugh . . . her personality. It’s all so “out there”, filling up space . . . but you’re
different.’ He paused, still fixing me with his gaze. ‘I’ve never met anyone like you. You . . . you almost disappear into yourself.’ He moved closer. I froze. ‘As
soon as I met you, I wanted to know where you went . . . to follow you . . . God, I’m not making any sense. But I don’t stammer when I’m talking to you. And . . . and I think
you’re so beautiful. Ten times more beautiful than Esme. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.’

He stopped talking, his face really near mine now. He was flushed, holding his breath.

A million emotions swirled in my head. I couldn’t take in what he was saying . . . what he meant . . . but it was overwhelming. Scary. I felt sick.

‘No.’ I backed away, fumbling behind me for the door. ‘No. Sorry. No.’

I turned and fled out of the room, across the hall and away from the house. I didn’t stop running until I’d put two streets between me and Wolf’s mansion. Then I took out my
phone and spent a moment working out where I was. Just a couple of minutes from the nearest station. I ran straight there and got on a train. I was home in less than an hour. Annie was fluttering
by the door when I walked in.

‘Oh, sweetie, I’m
so
glad to see you. Are you all right?’

‘Hi.’ I forced a smile onto my face and headed for the stairs. ‘I’m good, thanks, but I have loads of homework.’

Annie frowned. ‘But it’s the summer holidays,’ she said plaintively. ‘I thought we might go to see a movie this evening?’

I gripped the stair rail. The usual annoyance was welling up inside me. The last thing I wanted was to go anywhere with Annie fussing over me. I had a sudden flashback to Wolf’s
dad’s sneering face as he’d looked at my jeans and T-shirt, then Wolf’s intense eyes when he’d looked at me and said I was beautiful. A shiver slithered down my spine. I
needed time
alone.
Time to go over everything he’d said . . . to make sense of it.

‘It’s
coursework
I have to do,’ I said, trying to sound as patient as I could. ‘Art coursework. There’s masses of it.’

Annie nodded. ‘OK, of course,’ she said. ‘I’ll bring you up a drink in a moment.’

I resisted the impulse to snap that I didn’t want a drink. She was only trying to be nice and the calmer I kept her, the sooner she’d get off my back.

‘Thanks.’ I went up to my bedroom and flung myself on the bed. Thoughts crowded my head. Natalia would still be on her train to Scotland. I hoped she was OK. I could see from my
phone that Esme had sent me a couple of texts demanding that we should meet. Wolf hadn’t called or messaged . . . Well, of course he hadn’t. I’d more or less run out on him.

My phone beeped and I snatched it up. Maybe that was him texting now.

I looked at the message:

I saw you, Madison. This isn’t over.

My heart thudded. The sender’s name and number had been withheld. But I was sure who it was. Declan Baxter. He was not only rich, powerful and a criminal.

He was threatening me.

I closed the message and sat, trembling, on the edge of my bed. How had Declan Baxter got my number? Presumably he’d taken it from Esme’s phone, quite possibly
without her knowing. It didn’t matter. What mattered was what I did now.

But how on earth did I work out what that should be? I thought about it for a moment. There was only ever one person I turned to when stuff got seriously hardcore: Lauren.

It wasn’t important that things had been a bit strained between us the last time we met. I mean, I was still upset that she hadn’t told me she was pregnant or explained the truth
about our birth father, but I knew Lauren hadn’t intended to hurt me. The bond between us was surely strong enough to survive a couple of well-meant deceptions.

I picked up my phone and called her.

‘Hey, Mo.’ Lauren’s voice on the other end of the line was immediately reassuring. For some reason I wanted to burst into tears on the spot. I tried to pull myself
together.

‘Is it a good time?’ I asked. ‘Are you still at work?’

‘Naah, I got home about half an hour ago. In fact, I just started my maternity leave. It’s ace. I’m gonna be able to sleep in and swim every day.’ I could hear the grin
in Lauren’s voice. It was like there’d never been any distance between us.

A tear of relief trickled down my cheek. I could feel my whole body sinking lower on the bed, my shoulders relaxing. I hadn’t realised how tense I’d been.

‘So . . . so can I come round?’ I said.

‘Absolutely, Mo.’ Lauren’s voice softened a little. ‘It’ll be lovely to see you.’

Feeling calmer and more cheerful, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. Annie heard me on the stairs and materialised from the kitchen.

‘Where are you going?’ she asked. ‘What about all your coursework?’

Jeez, I’d completely forgotten my earlier excuse to keep her at arm’s length.

‘There’s stuff for my art that I need at Lauren’s,’ I said. It was only a partial lie after all – and a well-meaning one. I didn’t want Annie to feel hurt
because I was confiding in Lauren rather than her.

To my relief, Annie visibly relaxed. ‘You’re going to see your sister?’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, sweetie, that’s wonderful.’

Irritation swelled inside me again. Why did she have to make such a big deal out of everything? I wanted to snap that it was perfectly normal for sisters to visit each other, but I held myself
back. Long years of dealing with Annie’s feelings meant I knew she’d get into a total state if I got cross – and I didn’t want to have to handle her in floods of tears right
now.

As I hurried to Lauren and Jam’s flat, I read the threatening text message again.

What did ‘this isn’t over’ mean? If I didn’t go to the police – and there was no point doing that without any proof about Natalia and the
Miriam Project
– then why would Baxter bother with me anymore?

This isn’t over.

I wanted to believe it was an empty threat. But inside I was scared. At least I was nearly with Lauren. She would listen. She would be sympathetic. She would know what to do.

However, when I arrived, I found Lauren’s flat busier than I expected. Jam wasn’t there – he was still at work – but Lauren’s adoptive mum, Lydia, and brother,
Rory, were both in the kitchen.

Lauren made a face as I walked in. ‘They just turned up,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t think they’ll stay long.’

‘It’s fine,’ I said. My stomach was still tied in knots, but I was going to be able to speak to Lauren soon . . . everything would be OK.

We sat in the kitchen and drank tea. Lauren and Lydia were chatting about the latest news on the baby and all the stuff that Lauren had bought: baby clothes and changing mats and a pram. They
were both really excited and clearly expected me to be excited too. I did my best but the truth was that Baxter’s threatening text was preying on my mind. I kept glancing at Rory. He was
sitting in the corner, looking bored. It wasn’t fair; nobody expected him to go all gooey over a pair of yellow booties.

‘That’s lovely . . .’ I said for about the fifth time. Lauren seemed like a different person, all wrapped up in baby stuff as she was. She was wearing the blue tunic
she’d had on when she’d announced she was pregnant. I’d never seen her look so happy or be so relaxed and chatty with her mum before. While Lauren showed Lydia how her new pram
folded up, Rory beckoned me over.

‘What are you doing here?’ I said.

‘Mum made me go shopping with her,’ he moaned. ‘We ended up just around the corner from here so of course we
had
to pop in.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘At least
I’m meeting Marcus later . . . d’you want to come?’

I stared at him. Was he serious? A few weeks ago I’d have given my right arm to be included in a night out with Marcus. I thought back to that wink he’d thrown in my direction the
other day and how it had made me blush with embarrassment. Then I thought of Wolf’s intense gaze and the way his voice and his words had made me shiver earlier. That wasn’t about being
embarrassed, at least only partly. So why had I shivered?

You like him.

The realisation hit me like a slap in the face.
Oh my goodness.

‘Madison?’ Rory was frowning. ‘So, d’you want to come out with us or not?’

‘Er, no. Thanks, but no.’ I knew I was blushing and turned away, worried that Rory would be able to see what I was thinking. I didn’t understand. Wolf wasn’t the best
looking boy I’d ever met and I hadn’t spent much time with him, either. I hadn’t even thought I fancied him. And yet . . .

‘Bye, Madison.’

I jumped. Lauren’s adoptive mum was standing over me, all ready to kiss me on the cheek. I hadn’t even noticed her walk across the room.

‘Er, bye,’ I said, feeling completely covered in confusion.

I sat down at the kitchen table as Lauren showed Lydia and Rory out. I suddenly remembered why I’d come here. As I looked at the threatening text message again, I pushed Wolf firmly out of
my head. It didn’t matter if he liked me or if I liked him back. I’d run away from him, which would have put him right off me and was probably a good thing under the circumstances. Now
I had to focus on what I should do about Declan Baxter.

‘Sorry about that, Mo.’ Lauren came back into the kitchen. ‘D’you want some more tea?’

‘No thanks.’ I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to waste any more time. ‘Lauren, I did it . . . I tracked down my birth dad. I met him—’

‘You did
what
?’ Lauren looked so shocked that I stopped talking. ‘What were you thinking, Mo?’ she went on, her eyes wide and anxious. ‘How did you find him
so fast? God, are you sure it was really
him
? Don’t you know how dangerous it is to go off and meet strange men you don’t know? He could have been
anybody.
’