Scandal (Tainted #1) (12 page)

‘Half-decent!’ He was lucky he could find
anyone
to put up with him.

He laughed. ‘You’re touchy tonight, Blondie.’

Touchy was one word for it. Since she left the office with Sarah, it had felt like her stomach was infested with a swarm of bees. After their kiss last night, the argument, and his lack of reply to her email, she was hours past nervous. And then throughout the party he’d flirted, held her close, and even kissed her, which had set off a barrage of different nerves. Though maybe a lot of those had been lust.

After tonight, she didn’t think she had the willpower to say no to him, but she had to. Spending an evening with people like her parents had reminded her how not thinking about her actions had horrible consequences. Especially for a Simpson.

But she should make the effort to be polite, since he seemed to be showing concern for her safety. Despite the fact he’d followed it with an insult.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be cranky. It’s been a long day,’ she said.

‘Don’t worry about it.’

She relaxed into the seat and let silence wash over them. It wasn’t uncomfortable despite the thrumming attraction in the air. She looked out at the brightly lit city she called home. London was so different from the Cumbrian estate she grew up in – which had always been so quiet, the grounds so perfect.

Too quiet. Creepily perfect.

Here there were thousands of different people, all going about their lives seemingly without a care in the world. Alicia bet none of them had to think through every word and outfit and decision before they acted. Being her father’s daughter wasn’t easy – not when she had to live up to her sisters and make up for the shame she’d caused him in the past.

And now she was dating the Casanova of the sporting world, it was one more black mark against her character. And her family’s reputation.

She sighed and thought back to a time before she felt this pressure to succeed, this drive to please everyone. Back then, she was just a girl with dreams of growing older, marrying the boy she loved, and having her father walk her down the aisle with pride lighting up his smile.

It had happened so differently, though. Her father hadn’t been proud, he’d been livid. Her hopes and dreams had been ripped away, leaving her crushed, broken, and ashamed of who she was.

‘What’s wrong?’ Sebastian asked.

Alicia shook her head, more to clear the awful memories than answer him. She scrambled for something to distract him with. Her past was not a conversation she was willing to have. The wound was still too raw.

‘You said I owed you.’ After the interview with the flirty bitch from the
Independent
, she’d almost forgotten.

‘True,’ he said. He stopped the car at a set of traffic lights and turned to face her. ‘Did you ever learn how to play tennis?’

She frowned. ‘Of course.’ Her mother had loved to play and her father had built a court in the grounds of the estate. During the summers of her childhood, playing each other was the only time they’d spent together as a proper family. ‘Why are you asking me that?’

He pulled over at her street, then tugged up the handbrake. She blinked and looked around, seeing the building she stayed in. How did they get there so fast, or had she been so lost in thought she’d missed the whole journey?

‘I’m asking because my trainer, James, hurt his knee today and I need someone to play with tomorrow. It’ll be good to have an opponent with different moves than I’m used to.’

Her jaw went slack. He couldn’t be serious. A leisurely game was all she was good for. ‘I can’t play
that
well.’

‘Deal’s a deal, Blondie. I did what you asked, now you return the favour. That’s how these things work.’ He didn’t laugh or smile or do anything to hint he was joking.

‘Sebastian –’

‘I’ll pick you up at eight so you don’t have to get up too early. Relax, Alicia. You never know, you might have fun.’

Before she could protest again, he leaned closer. Her heart was in her throat and his lips were an inch from hers. She held her breath as want and need and fear tore through her until her muscles bunched so tight she was sure she would shatter.

He tugged the handle and pushed the door open with a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. ‘Sweet dreams, Blondie.’

Sebastian leaned forward and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her the way he had the night before. All she could hear was her own heartbeat.

Just before his lips touched hers, he moved and planted a soft, lingering kiss on her cheek instead. She wanted nothing more than to grab the strands of hair that had fallen loose from his swept-back style and move him to her mouth, but he pulled away too quickly.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

She blinked a few times, unable to believe what she’d heard. His voice had been so steady when she was almost gasping for the oxygen his proximity had stolen. Her face burned so hot she had no doubt it would be scarlet and Sebastian smiled at her, then put the car into gear.

The anger that followed gave her the strength to unbuckle her seatbelt and step out of the car. She could have done it more gracefully, with less stumbling, but she was getting madder by the second until reason drowned out. Slamming his door, she sucked in a breath to steady the rage, then stormed to the entrance of her building without a backward glance.

She’d barely made it into the foyer when she heard him speeding away. It didn’t occur to her until then that she couldn’t meet him tomorrow. She had to limit their time together, now more than ever if she couldn’t even be that close to him and not want to throw caution to the wind.

Alicia ran through the meadow until she reached the spot where Darrell had laid down an old, tattered blanket on the grass. She threw her arms around him and greeted him with a kiss. Tingles danced down her spine as his fingers dug into her hips, pulling her closer to the hard muscles of his chest.

For the first time since they’d started dating, she broke away, unable to hold in the news she’d discovered the day before. But Darrell didn’t look at her, instead, he took a step back. Her stomach gave a nervous flip. It had been doing that a lot today, but this was different. He was acting different.

‘I missed you,’ she said, but this time he didn’t say the words back. Her heartbeat spiked and she stepped forward, reaching out to him. He dodged her and shook his head. ‘Darrell, what’s wrong?’

All he did was cover his beautiful face with his hands. For the first time, she saw the red bruises over his knuckles. Surely he hadn’t gotten into another fight with his team mates? Her heart sliced in two for him, his pain becoming her own. He was a good rugby player but his family didn’t have the money the others did, and they hadn’t taken to him when he got asked to play.

‘Are you hurt?’ she asked, taking one of his hands.

He flinched away and shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I’m fine. Look, I didn’t want to do it like this, Licia, but I can’t keep leading you on.’

Her heart started to fissure, she knew because of the agony that ripped through her chest. He couldn’t break up with her, not after everything they’d shared. Not after what she’d just found out. He … No, she wouldn’t believe it.

Ignoring the stinging in her eyes, she asked, ‘Do what?’

‘I’m leaving. My dad got a job in Wales and I’ve asked for a transfer to one of the teams there. It was approved yesterday. We’re moving in a few days.’

The words didn’t make sense in that second, she didn’t want them to. Nor did she want to see the pain in his eyes. ‘You’re sixteen now. You can stay here with me.’

Darrell shook his head. ‘No, I can’t. I’m sorry. I should… go.’

He’d made it ten steps before it hit her that this was real. He was really leaving and she was just going to let him walk away? Alicia ran faster than she ever had and when she caught up to him, she grabbed his arm. ‘This can’t be the end. It can’t be! What happened to us? We were supposed to get married. Have kids! Grow old together! You promised.’

There were tears on his cheeks and she reached up to wipe them away, her anger draining a little seeing this was killing him as much as it was killing her. ‘I don’t understand why this has to be the end.’

‘We can’t have any of it, Licia. Your father won’t allow it.’

She was shaking her head before he finished. ‘He’s my father, it’s his job to want me to be happy. You make me happy!’

His voice softened. ‘You make me happy too, but I’m the son of a carpenter and he won’t have me as a son-in-law. Now that Jonathan’s gone, he needs someone he can be proud of to take over when he retires. That’s not me.’

The mention of her older brother only made the pain in her chest all that sharper. ‘How can we know until we tell him we’re together?’

Darrell blew out a breath, then ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know how he found out, but he knows. Who do you think put my dad forward for the job? He made it clear he wants me to leave too, or the deal’s off.’

Her mouth gaped. There was no way her father would do that! She was his daughter and now she was …

‘I don’t believe you.’

His expression crumpled. ‘I would never lie to you.’

Blinking against the burn in her eyes, she tried to wrap her head around what he’d said. She knew her father had thrown Jonathan out, could he be so cruel as to do something that horrible to her too? Jonathan had gambled away most of the trust fund he’d gotten on his eighteenth birthday and her mother had told her he turned to drugs and was stealing from them. She could understand why her father hadn’t wanted him in the house.

But what had
she
done to deserve this?

‘Licia, listen to me.’

Darrell pulled her into a hug and she let him, even cried into his shoulder. She’d been like this for weeks, the littlest things setting her off, and now she knew why.

‘I can come with you,’ she said between sobs. After all, he’d promised they’d be together forever and he wouldn’t lie to her.

He kissed her hair, then pulled back to cup her cheeks. With his thumbs he rubbed the tears away. ‘You’re only fifteen, your father will never let you.’

‘Only for a few more months. If you have to go, we can write to each other and on my birthday –’

He pressed his fingers to his lips. ‘I’m sorry, we can’t.’

More tears fell, and she tried to breathe through her nose to stop them – really tried to pull it together, but her heart was being crushed beneath her ribs and the pain was too much to bear.

‘You said you’d never lie to me. You told me we’d be together always.’

‘I meant it then, Licia. I wish it could have been true.’

She tried to swallow against the lump in her throat. She still couldn’t understand any of it – Darrell couldn’t leave. Not now. Not ever.

The news she’d been so excited about telling him earlier felt like the last shred of hope in this nightmare – the one thing that might have a chance of keeping him. ‘I’m pregnant.’

The blood drained from his face as he staggered away from her. Rolls of nausea washed over her as she watched the shock turn to fear. She’d been so sure this was what he wanted, for them to get married, have babies, and live in a little cottage in one of the villages surrounding her father’s estate.

Now she could see the truth. He had been lying. All those things meant nothing to him.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked, the hope in his voice worse than if he’d slapped her in the face.

Alicia nodded.

‘Shit. He’s going to kill me this time. Fuck!’ Darrell started pacing back and forth.

‘Who? What do you mean “this time”?’

‘Your father!’ he shouted.

Now she was the one stepping back. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

He laughed once. ‘Ridiculous? Do you call
this
ridiculous
?’

He jerked up his T-shirt and bared his stomach. She didn’t understand until he turned to the side and she saw it. Deep red marks – or the start of what looked like nasty bruises – covered his torso from his hips round to his back. She gasped and reached out to him, but he dropped his shirt and glared at her.

‘That’s why I’m leaving. Your precious father came to my house with a message. My dad has to take the job he was offered and I have to go with him. I fought for you, Licia, but he said a scumbag like me didn’t have the class to date you. I hit him and he fought back harder.’

‘When?’ was all that would come out of her mouth, she was too horrified at what he’d revealed.

‘An hour ago.’

Alicia glanced in the direction of the estate. Darrell was huge and tough, and her father wasn’t. She wanted to run to him, make sure he was OK, but if he did tell Darrell and his family to leave, how could she even bring herself to care?

But none of it made sense. She bit her lip so hard she could taste blood. ‘My father isn’t a thug, he would never –’

‘Wake up and look at the evidence!’ Darrell shook her by the shoulders so hard her teeth clattered together. ‘Your father will do anything to protect his precious family name without giving a shit who it hurts. You can’t tell him about the baby, he’ll come after me and kill me! You’re going to have to take care of it.’

Pushing out of his hold, she frowned at him. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m saying you need to have an abortion. Fast.’

Chapter Nine

Sebastian rang Alicia’s doorbell for what must have been the third time that morning. He’d arrived early but now she was ten minutes late.

He tapped out another text to her.

If this is payback for last night, Blondie, that’s fine. Point made. Now come on!

The second he hit send, he regretted it. Technically, she hadn’t agreed to come – and it wasn’t like he’d given her a choice.

Yeah, he should have maybe
asked
instead of bribing. But she’d looked so sad when he was driving her home and he’d had a weird urge to find out what had upset her and make her smile again. For that, they had to spend time together, so instead of saying she owed him a fun day out he’d insisted she play a few games with him.