Today I have great pleasure in bringing you Chapter One of wonderful Tied Up with Love by Ameila Thorne
What They Say:
We’re from KMW. Do exactly as you’re told and you won’t get hurt...'
Being grabbed off the street, blind folded, tied up and thrown into a van was not what Izzy expected to happen when she stepped out the door that morning. But when an accidental kidnapping at the hands of the sexy Ethan Chase and his 'Kidnap My Wife' sexual fantasy business leads to just that, Izzy seizes the chance to turn her misfortune into a brilliant new job opportunity…
Since then, life has been one big tangle of new client meetings, fake kidnapping pick-ups, and handling the temperamental, but drop dead gorgeous 'bad boy' Mr Chase. But, as liberating as being tied up in Ethan's life is, Izzy knows the time is fast approaching when she must make some decisions and take charge of her future. The only question is: will Ethan allow himself to be a part of it?
Chapter One
Izzy
watched as the grey van skidded round the corner and tore down the street
towards her. The driver definitely seemed to be in a rush. The van had blacked
out windows, a foreign plate and was being driven really badly. It careened
across the empty road, mounted the pavement right in front of her and stopped
just before hitting a lamppost.
She was
standing outside a recording studio and for one deliciously exciting moment,
Izzy thought someone famous might step out, with mirrored shades and a huge
entourage. Admittedly, the recording studio was generally used for making
advertising jingles, but allegedly Chesney Hawkes had once been there.
Izzy inched
closer. Nothing exciting ever happened in her sleepy little town of Greater
Chessingburyford. Maybe today…
The van
doors were suddenly thrown open and out stepped the biggest man she had ever
seen in her entire life. His elf ears were huge and stuck out into comical
points, his enormous eyes were magnified behind thick rimmed glasses. He looked
friendly, kind of sweet, like a big puppy. So it came as the biggest shock in
the world when he yanked a cotton bag over her head, threw her over his
shoulder and bundled her into the van.
Izzy heard
the van door close, plunging her into darkness. As the van took off, Izzy’s
brain finally caught up with what had just happened. She had been kidnapped.
She was
lying on the floor of the van – it was dusty and
she could see a pair of black boots out the bottom of the bag. The legs
attached to them knelt by her side.
‘We’re from
KMW. Do exactly as you’re told and you won’t get hurt. Put your hands in front
of you.’
Izzy
obeyed, suddenly feeling a sick wave of panic consume her.
Rope was
tied around her wrists, and although it wasn’t tight it immediately chafed her
skin.
KMW? Who
the bloody hell were they? Like KGB or FBI? What did they want with her? More
importantly, what were they going to do with her? Would she be beaten and
tortured? Would they kill her once they were finished?
Her throat
was dry but she managed to find her voice. ‘What do you want?’
‘Someone
wants to see you. We’re taking you to Oakwood House now. It’s in the middle of
nowhere so no one will hear you scream,’ Black Boots said.
Izzy heard
herself take a deep shuddering breath.
‘I don’t
have any money.’
‘I don’t
think it’s your money he’s after.’ Another male voice, which somehow Izzy
associated with the huge man who had abducted her. He laughed and the lewdness
of it sent shivers down her spine.
‘Leave it
out Gizmo,’ Black Boots said.
Strong
hands were suddenly around her arms and she was pulled up and sat in a chair. ‘When
we get to the house, we’ll take you in and down to the basement. It’s been
requested that you’re tied to the bed. After that you’ll be left alone.’
Izzy felt
physically sick, her heart was racing in her ears, cold sweat prickled down her
back.
‘She’s
shaking,’ Gizmo said.
‘I know,’
Black Boots said, with a note of worry in his voice. ‘Look we’ll be there in a
minute. We need to gag you.’
The bag was
pulled from her head and she blinked in the muted light, getting her first
glimpse of Black Boots. He was young, maybe early twenties. He was good looking
and had brown eyes and warm skin of Mediterranean colouring. He proffered the
bandana and she flinched away from him. Gizmo, she noted, was calmly reading
the paper.
‘Please,
let me go. I’m rubbish in bed, your boss or client will be very disappointed.’
Black Boots
narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. ‘You don’t know what this is about, do
you?’
Izzy shook
her head.
‘Crap, he’s
supposed to tell you. We say it time and time again, they have to tell them.’
‘We’re
here,’ called the driver and she looked over to see the back of a shaved head
in the driver’s seat. Izzy felt the van come to a halt.
Black Boots
pushed his hair from his face and sighed. ‘Dave asked us to bring you here, you
don’t need to worry.’
‘Dave?’
Izzy asked and Black Boots nodded. Who the bloody hell was Dave?
The door to
the back of the van was suddenly thrown open, bright sunlight temporarily
blinding her. As she opened her mouth to speak, Black Boots slipped the bandana
in her mouth and tied it round the back of her neck.
Gizmo stood
up and ducked to get out the van, then turned round and in an easy movement
lifted her carefully back over his shoulder again.
She had
never been as scared in her life as she was right then. She had read about this
sort of thing in the papers, but never thought for one moment it would ever
happen to her.
They were
quickly inside and she had a chance to see dark wood flooring before Gizmo was
carrying her down some stone stairs. He walked into a dimly lit room and laid
her on the bed. Black Boots knelt on the bed next to her and lifted her arms
above her head to tie them to the headboard.
Something
snapped inside of her, there was no way she was going to let this happen. She
lashed out with her feet, kicking Gizmo in the side of the face. He leapt back
with a wail, she elbowed Black Boots in the nose and blood spurted from it
satisfyingly. She leapt up and ran but only managed to get two feet before
Gizmo had grabbed her and dragged her, kicking and wriggling back to the bed. Black
Boots quickly held her feet down while Gizmo tied her hands proficiently to the
headboard.
‘Jesus,’
Gizmo rubbed his head. ‘Anyone would think she doesn’t want to get shagged.’
Black Boots
touched his nose. ‘This is exactly why she should have been told. I don’t get
paid enough for this.’
Izzy
wriggled against her restraints, pulling on the rope so hard it made her wrists
sore.
‘Good luck
to her husband, that’s all I can say, she’s going to skin him alive,’ Gizmo
said.
There were
footsteps on the stairs and Black Boots looked towards them. ‘Why the hell
didn’t you tell her? That’s part of our agreement. She’s petrified.’
‘I did,’
said a voice, veiled in the darkness.
Izzy
strained her eyes to look at her kidnapper and slowly he emerged into the
light. A thin, scrawny looking man with glasses peered at her.
‘Who the
hell is that?’
‘Your
wife,’ Gizmo said.
‘No she
bloody isn’t.’
Black Boots
looked back at her, his tanned cheeks suddenly going pale. ‘That’s not your
wife?’
Scrawny Man
shook his head. ‘I’ve never seen her before in my life.’
They all
stared at her. Maybe there was some little ray of hope. They’d clearly
kidnapped the wrong person and now she would be set free.
‘Hang on a
minute,’ Scrawny Man said. ‘If she’s here, who the hell has got my wife?’
‘No one,
there are no other teams. Your wife is probably still standing at the pick-up
point. Or gone home, bored of waiting.’
‘Bloody hell,
I’ve paid four hundred pounds for this and you can’t even pick up the right
woman. I bought Viagra and everything.’
‘Look,
Ethan will be in touch with you. We’ll arrange a full refund or an alternative
date but right now we have the very small matter of abducting a complete
stranger off the street to deal with.’ Black Boots gestured to Izzy in
exasperation and Scrawny Man nodded.
‘Right, of
course. If the press get hold of this I want full anonymity.’
‘The press
won’t get hold of this – besides, you’re not
actually doing anything wrong.’
Scrawny Man
nodded again. ‘I better call my wife.’
Izzy
watched as he retreated back up the stairs. Gizmo and Black Boots continued to
stare at her.
‘What are
we going to do now?’ Gizmo asked.
‘I can’t
believe you grabbed the wrong woman.’
‘Me? You
told me it was her.’
‘The boss
is going to kill us,’ Black Boots said.
‘We could
not tell him.’
‘How do you
suppose that’s going to work? We let her go now, she’ll go straight to the
police. The police will come straight to Ethan with your description, you’re
hardly inconspicuous.’
Gizmo
paled. ‘I’m not going back to jail, no way.’
Izzy moaned
against her gag and Black Boots approached her like she was a caged wild
animal.
Carefully
he removed the bandana from her mouth.
‘Please,
let me go. There’s obviously been some terrible mistake. I promise, I won’t go
to the police. I won’t tell anyone.’
Black Boots
looked back at Gizmo. Gizmo shook his head, ‘She’s seen our faces. There’s no
way I’m letting her go.’
‘Are you
insane? We’re not criminals. What are you going to do with her, kill her and
dump her body where no one will ever find her?’
Izzy’s
heart, which had been slowing when she realised she wasn’t the intended target,
started galloping again.
‘Please. Please
don’t hurt me.’
‘We’re not
going to hurt you.’ Black Boots leaned over to untie her from the headboard. But
as she sat up Gizmo marched over and pulled the bag back over her head.
‘What are
you doing?’ Black Boots said.
‘We’ll take
her to the boss, he’ll know what to do.’
‘Jesus,
Gizmo, we’re just making this situation worse.’
But Gizmo,
it seemed, wasn’t to be talked out of this. He picked her up and threw her over
his shoulder again. She saw the stone steps and then the gravel outside, and
she was back inside the darkness of the van a moment later
*
The van
journey was quite short but Gizmo and Black Boots were silent.
They surely
weren’t going to kill her.
But she had
seen their faces, she knew the van’s number plate off by heart. Why would they
let her go?
How had it
come to this? Her day had started so normally. Since being fired from her job
two weeks before, she hadn’t had to get up too early, but her beloved cat Pete
had woken her up demanding to be fed. She’d studiously ignored the first
trickle of bills that had arrived on her doorstep. There were bound to be many
more to come. She’d fed the cat, fed herself the remains of the cereal, gone
for a run and spent three hours applying for different jobs. Bar maid,
waitress, secretary, cleaner, bin man – or in her case, bin lady – sports coach, carpenter and driver’s mate, she’d applied for them all. She
came across well on the phone, she had good experience and was never sick. She
worked hard and most people seemed interested until they asked the fateful
question. ‘Why did you leave your last job?’ Being fired for breaking her
boss’s nose was not a selling point. Most people rapidly lost interest after
that.
She’d
wandered down to the college to see if there were any more free courses she
could sign up for but she’d already done most of them. She’d just been on her
way to meet her Aunt Sophie for coffee when Gizmo and Black Boots had crashed
into her life.
The van
stopped and she heard them climb out, leaving her alone in the darkness.
‘WHAT?’
roared a voice nearby as no doubt their boss, Ethan, was just informed they had
kidnapped the wrong person.
‘WHAT?’
roared Ethan even louder as he was no doubt told she was still tied up in the
van with a bag over her head. He sounded like a man not to mess with and Izzy
found herself shaking again.
She heard
running footsteps and the van door was thrown open. The bag was yanked from her
head and she looked into the fierce blue eyes of the most freaking gorgeous man
she had ever seen. He was huge, not quite as big as Gizmo in height but
certainly the same broadness. He had curly dark hair and the same Mediterranean
skin tone as Black Boots, which made the azure blue eyes stand out even more. In
fact his eyes didn’t belong in someone so dark and they made him look interesting
and unusual. He stared at her for a moment. Was he checking her out? Izzy
nearly laughed at this crazy thought – she was dressed in tatty leggings, an oversized hoodie and battered
knee high boots, there was definitely nothing sexy about her, but the look in
his eyes was undeniably hunger, as if he wanted to eat her.
He moved
forward to grab her and Izzy flinched away from him.
‘I’m not
going to hurt you, I promise. I’m Ethan Chase. I’m so sorry about all this. Let
me make you a cup of tea and I will explain everything.’
He took her
arms in surprisingly gentle hands, pulled her to her feet and helped her down
from the van.
Her legs
were shaking and she wasn’t sure if she could stand.
‘Are you ok
to walk? Here, let me help.’
Before she
could answer, Ethan swept her up into his arms and carried her like a baby into
his office. Gizmo and Black Boots were standing to one side, looking sheepish.
‘Get out,
both of you.’
They
hurried out and Ethan placed her in a chair. He knelt next to her and started
to undo the rope around her hands. The office was a mess. There was a big desk
with a phone that was ringing quietly. Paperwork was strewn everywhere, in
piles on the floor, even on the big comfy sofa in the corner. There was a very
swish looking computer with some kind of diary on the screen and mouldy coffee
cups in various degrees of decay were all over the floor, windowsills and on
top of the filing cabinet.
Sunlight
was spilling through the open door and Izzy looked out at the fields and trees
stretching as far as the eye could see. She tried to pick out landmarks so she
knew where she was, but apart from a distant church, it was a landscape of
green.
She would
escape. She was a fast runner, she knew this. When she went jogging, she could
run for very long distances and barely break into a sweat. Gizmo and Black
Boots were lurking by the van but she could run in the other direction, leap
over that fence and be down the hill before they could get anywhere near her.
She looked at Ethan. He was very strong though. The shirt he was wearing did
seem to be bulging at the arms. Even his exposed tanned forearms were muscular.
The element of surprise would help her. With her hands released she put her
head in them and pretended to cry.
‘Now,
there’s no need to cry, I know it was scary for you, and I’m really sorry for
that…’ he leaned in to comfort her and she punched him as hard as she could in
the face, sending him sprawling on the floor.
She leapt
out of her chair and ran through the door.
‘Jesus, not
again,’ Black Boots said.
‘Gizmo,
stop her,’ roared Ethan.
She ran
towards the fence, but her legs were shaky with the adrenaline that was
coursing through her and she couldn’t run as fast as she needed to. Gizmo
lumbered towards her, she swung her fist in his direction but he caught both
hands and threw her over his shoulder again. She fought against him but with
one strong arm round her legs she could do very little to stop him. He plonked
her back in the chair again, grabbed the rope that Ethan had taken from her
hands and tied her to the chair.
Ethan had a
blue ice pack pressed to his eye, making him look like an obscure pirate. With
his thin lips and his dark eyebrows slashing downwards across his forehead, he
was definitely pissed.
‘Now you
will listen to me…’ Ethan started, his voice sounding like a growl.
‘HELP!’
Izzy screamed. ‘SOMEBODY HELP ME. HELP!’
Ethan
rolled his eyes and moved into the little kitchen. As Izzy continued to scream,
she watched him pour two mugs of tea and put a splash of whisky in one of them,
then he came round and sat on the desk in front of her. He waited patiently for
her to stop screaming, but if she screamed for long enough someone was bound to
come.
After
yelling for help for a good minute or two with no sign of anyone coming to her
rescue, Izzy flopped back in the chair, exhausted.
‘Finished?’
Ethan said.
Izzy nodded
in defeat. He clearly wasn’t going to hurt her, and with her not being the
intended target she might actually get to go home tonight with all her fingers
still attached.
‘Good. Now
you’ll listen to me. We’re a company called “Kidnap My Wife.” We offer a
service to couples who want to spice up their sex life by staging a kidnapping.
We agree a time and place with the couple for the wife to be waiting at, we
turn up in our van, kidnap the wife and take her to our house down the road
where the husband is waiting. What happens next is a variation on a theme, the
wife can be tied to a bed, or a chair, the husband normally acts out some kind
of fantasy for him or her, and they end up having sex. It’s all above board and
legal and hugely popular. We’ve been operating for about five years now. With
the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey
our list of clients has gone through the roof. It seems all women like to be
tied up and threatened. Claire Reynolds was our client today, you look a lot
like her I’m afraid and were in the right place at the right time. She must
have been running late. You have my complete and utter apologies. I can assure
you this type of thing has never happened before.’
Izzy
blinked at him. It all sounded very plausible. She looked around the office for
any evidence to this and sure enough she could see several headed sheets of
paper with the ‘Kidnap My Wife’ logo on the top.
‘Now I’m
going to untie you, you’re going to drink this tea and we can talk about some
kind of compensation before I take you home.’
He knelt
next to her and untied the rope with skilful fingers. The bruise on his eye
looked painful.
‘I’m sorry
I punched you,’ Izzy said, quietly.
He didn’t
say anything as he shoved the cup of tea into her hand.
She went to
take a sip but the smell of whisky was strong and she pulled a face.
‘Drink it.’
Ethan glared at her and she quickly took a big gulp. The whisky burned the back
of her throat but at another scowl from Ethan she took another big sip.
‘Here.’ He
passed her the ice pack. ‘Put this on the back of your hand, it will be sore
tomorrow.’
She obliged
and watched him go back round the other side of his desk. He shifted a big pile
of papers from there onto the floor and sat down watching her.
‘So how
much to make you forget about this?’
Compensation?
That hardly seemed fair, yes she had been terrified but it had been a genuine
mistake. All three men were going to have bruises to show for their accidental
brush with her. Surely that made them even.
‘Shall we
say two thousand pounds?’
Izzy choked
on her tea and she saw the small smug smile of satisfaction from Ethan, knowing
she had been bought.
Two
thousand pounds. Bloody hell. That would give her spending money for her trip
to Australia. If she was careful, it would pay for her bills and her food too,
for the next five weeks until she left.
Ethan
rifled through the papers on his desk until he found the cheque book. He
quickly filled it in and offered it across the table towards her.
She looked
at the three zeros, shining temptingly with their wet ink. Why shouldn’t she
take it, she had been traumatised after all. But a small business like this,
two thousand pounds could be the make or break of it. What if this money was
the difference between paying their bills and putting food on their table? What
if giving her money would bankrupt them? She wouldn’t take it.
The phone
rang incessantly between them and suddenly an idea formed in her head. It was
mean and underhand but right then she didn’t care.
‘I don’t
want your money.’
Ethan
looked confused by this.
‘I want a
job.’
His
eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you kidding?’
‘That’s the
deal. Take it or leave it.’
‘I’m not
giving you a job.’
‘I’m sure
the police would be very interested in my story. Taking you to court and suing
you for traumatisation would be long and messy. Poor Gizmo out there could end
up behind bars again. The papers get wind of this and it’s all over for your
company.’
His eyes
flashed. The cheque was crumpled in his tight fist. He stood up, towering over
her. ‘That’s blackmail.’
She stood
up too, though this did nothing to diminish the height difference between them.
‘That’s
correct, it is. I’m good though. I can type a hundred and twenty words per minute,
I did events management as part of my business studies degree, so something
like this is perfect for me. I have years of secretarial experience in various
different roles. I work hard, I will be here nine to five every day to answer
your phone. I’ll clear up all this mess and establish some proper system round
here. You’re obviously good at what you do to run this company for five years
and still be standing, but I’m guessing you’d be better suited in the field. If
I’m here dealing with the paperwork and the phone calls then you can have two
teams out doing the kidnapping. You and Baldy in one van and Gizmo and Black
Boots in the other. And most importantly I can implement procedures that will
assure this kind of thing never happens to anyone else ever again.’
Izzy could
see the vein in his neck pulsing away but he didn’t say anything so she pushed
home her trump card.
‘I’ll be
going to Australia in just over five weeks, so even if you hate me being here,
in five weeks I’ll be gone.’
‘How long
are you gone for?’
‘Six weeks
initially, maybe longer. I may get a job out there so I’m not sure if or when
I’d be coming back. I wouldn’t expect you to hold my job open for me when it
could be months before I return.’
‘You’ll
need good references.’
Izzy shook
her head. ‘No references.’
He narrowed
his eyes.
‘You gave
Gizmo a job despite his criminal record, you can give me a job on face value
too.’
‘Gizmo is
my brother. I don’t know you.’
‘Six
weeks.’
‘Three. Then
if I’m not happy you leave without a word.’
‘Fine, but
you’ll still pay me for those three weeks. Six hundred pounds a week.’
‘Three
hundred.’
‘Four
hundred and fifty or I walk out of here now and go straight to the police.’
He glared
at her, breathing heavily through his nose. ‘I want you here at eight-thirty
tomorrow morning.’
She nodded,
barely able to believe her luck.
‘And you’ll
dress a lot smarter than you’re dressed now.’
She nodded
again.
‘Now get
out of my sight.’
She hurried
out the door into the warm welcome sunshine and Gizmo straightened from leaning
on the van, ready to catch her again if need be.
‘Gizmo,’
Ethan called over her shoulder. ‘Take her home.’
Gizmo
opened the van door for her chivalrously and she ran towards it before Ethan
could change his mind.
‘Wait.’
Ethan appeared in the doorway. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Isabelle
Franklin.’
Ethan
nodded and walked back inside, slamming the door between them.
*
The Frog
and Sausage was warm and cosy, with little booths under turret type roofs and
winding stairs that led to further seating areas. It was one of Izzy’s
favourite places in the world. The food was amazing, the customers friendly and
laidback and right now she was sitting next to a roaring fire listening to the
rain howling outside.
It didn’t
sit right with her, blackmailing Ethan into giving her a job. She just wasn’t
that sort of person. Being underhand and conniving was not part of her make-up.
She would just have to prove to Ethan that she was a hard worker and that he
hadn’t made a mistake in hiring her.
The door
slammed open and amongst the leaves and rain that blew in, so did a bedraggled
yeti, hair like a bush, struggling with her umbrella. The yeti forced the door
closed, dumped the now broken umbrella in a stand near the door and planted a
wet kiss on Izzy’s cheek before sitting down at the table and taking a big glug
of cider.
Izzy smiled
at her. Bex always made a dramatic entrance. Bex swept the tangle of blonde
hair out of her face, ran her fingers through it and seconds later the
effortless beauty that Bex so easily pulled off had returned. Izzy always
thought that Bex could be a supermodel, being so tall. She had big pouty lips
that many women would pay good money to have, flawless skin, big blue eyes and
a great pair of breasts. She was stunning. Unfortunately the fashion industry
didn’t see beauty in size twenty women, which was their loss, Izzy thought.
‘Good day
at the office?’
Bex
shrugged. ‘My teeth fell out when I was with a visitor. It was hardly the
professional image I was going for.’
Bex’s job
was as far removed from the glamour of the catwalk as it could be. Working for
The London Dungeon as one of the historical characters meant she spent most of
the day wearing filthy clothes and looking as ugly and hideous as she possibly
could be.
‘I’m sure
teeth falling out works quite well with what you do, adds to the gore.’
‘When your
fake black teeth fall out leaving behind a perfect set of white gnashers, it
kind of lacks the authenticity my job requires. I couldn’t find my teeth this
morning so I had to borrow someone else’s and of course they didn’t fit and
kept falling out. For the most part I managed to hide it, but during one big
speech they fell out, straight onto the floor. The visitors all just burst out
laughing, I was gutted. I had to quickly pick them up and put them back in, but
they were already covered in ten tons of fur and dirt. It felt like I was
chewing on fluff for the rest of the day. But I did scare the crap out of a few
grown men and made a few children cry so yes, it was a pretty good day.’
‘You’ll
miss it when you leave.’
‘Yes I
will. How was your day?’
Izzy felt
the smile stretch on her face. ‘I’ve got a job.’
‘That’s
fantastic, well done Iz, doing what?’
‘Have you
heard of a company called, “Kidnap My Wife?”’
Bex’s face
fell. ‘Isabelle Franklin, what have you got yourself involved in?’
‘It’s
nothing dodgy. It’s a fantasy role play thing. We kidnap men’s wives and take
them to some big house and the husbands tie them up and have sex with them.’
‘How is
that not dodgy?’
‘It’s not,
the wives know about it. Think Fifty
Shades of Grey on a lesser scale.’
‘So people
pay to be kidnapped and tied up?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what’s
your job in all of this sordidness, you better not be the one being tied up.’
‘No – office work,
answering calls and all that.’
Bex was
clearly still not happy about it. ‘Who do you work for?’
‘Ethan
Chase.’
Her eyes
widened. ‘Ethan Chase? Oh god honey, you don’t half pick them. Couldn’t you get
a nice sensible job in a library or somewhere safe like that, working for some
eighty year old man that loves poetry and bird watching?’
‘What’s
wrong with Ethan?’
‘What’s
right with him? His family have a terrible reputation, if you’d grown up round
here you would have heard of him. He’s a total womaniser too, different woman
every week. He lays on all the charm, wines and dines them and they’re putty in
his hands. Then he shags them and never speaks to them again.’
‘Well
that’s ok then, I don’t plan to sleep with him – just work for him.’
‘Or under
him.’
‘Bex…’
‘Is he
fit?’
Izzy
shrugged. ‘If you like that sort of thing.’
‘And what
sort of thing is that?’
‘Big,
muscular, blue eyes that look inside you.’
‘So yes
then. Just don’t be another notch on his bedpost. My friend’s sister went out
with him. He took her to dinner, shagged her and she never heard from him
again. She did say he was like a god between the sheets though and if she had
the chance to do it all over again she would in a heartbeat.’
Izzy stared
at her glass, not quite sure what to do with this information.
‘Good with
his tongue too, if you know what I’m saying.’
‘I think
everyone in this pub knows what you’re saying. He’s my boss. I’m not going to
sleep with him. How awkward would that be once it turned sour – which it sounds
like it would do. And he would have to be a complete idiot to sleep with one of
his employees. Rule number one, don’t mix business with pleasure.’
‘So you’re
not attracted to him at all?’
‘No.’ That
was a lie. She knew it and Bex knew it.
‘Does he
have a nice arse?’
‘I hadn’t
noticed.’ Though Izzy knew Bex had seen her blush. Thankfully she was
momentarily saved by the arrival of a cowboy, wearing jeans over beaten brown
boots, a blue shirt rolled at the sleeves and a black Stetson.
‘Mmm, now
that’s a rump I’d like to get my teeth into,’ Bex said, her eyes suddenly dark
with lust.
She stood
up and stalked over to the unknowing cowboy, sank her talons into his behind
and nipped at his ear. To his credit, he only jumped a little bit, then he
whirled round and gathered her close, kissing her so deeply it was almost
pornographic.
‘Put her
down,’ called Brian the landlord as he plonked a pint down on the bar. ‘You
don’t know where she’s been.’
Bex parted
from her conquest and he whispered into her ear. Bex giggled. ‘Give me half
hour.’
He
whispered in her ear again and her eyes widened. ‘Ten minutes then.’
Clearly
satisfied with this response, he dipped his hat in Izzy’s direction and walked
back out.
Bex stared
after him for a moment, and then finally recovering herself she re-joined Izzy
at their table.
‘I’m in
love with my fiancé, did I ever mention that?’
‘Only a few
thousand times. You should have asked Gabe to join us for a drink.’
‘He’s gone
home to sort a few things out.’ Bex ran her tongue across her teeth unconsciously
and Izzy tried to block out from her mind what exactly Gabe had gone to sort
out.
Izzy
quickly changed the subject. ‘So apart from the womanising are there any other
reasons I shouldn’t work for Ethan?’
‘Well
rumour has it he’s a drug dealer.’
‘Come on, I
don’t believe that for a second.’
‘I’m just
saying what I’ve heard. Whenever things get stolen in this area, everyone
points to his family. They’ve never had any money or real jobs but they all
live in nice houses. He’s got a hell of a temper.’
Izzy had
already borne witness to some of that, she could cope with grumpiness.
‘Quite
violent, I hear.’ Bex took another big gulp of cider.
‘With
women?’
‘No, I’ve
not heard that, but he’s got into quite a few punch ups in his time.’
‘Maybe
wrong place, wrong time.’
‘Wrong man
more like. He hit a policeman when he was younger.’
Although
Izzy was not surprised about this, she still felt like she needed to defend
him. ‘I prefer to judge people on the type of person they are now, not who they
were in the past. We all have a history, ours is hardly squeaky clean.’
Bex had the
good grace to blush, but it was only fleetingly. ‘A leopard never changes its
spots.’
‘You’re so
cynical for someone so young.’
‘And you’re
so naïve for someone so old.’
‘Eight
months Rebecca Dale, eight months older than you does not make me old.’
‘Look, your
decrepitness aside, the whole Chase family is a bad lot from what I hear, one
of them went to prison.’
‘Gizmo.
Ethan’s brother. He’s been in prison.’
‘Sexual
assault. I’m sure it was.’
Izzy felt
affronted on Gizmo’s behalf. ‘That definitely wasn’t Gizmo. He’s not the type
to do anything like that.’
‘So rapists
are all a type are they, tall, white, brown hair, evil look in their eyes?’
‘No, but
Gizmo is … kind of innocent.’
Izzy had chatted
to him when he had driven her home earlier and it had become obvious very
quickly that he had a sweet childlike naivety. He loved Ethan with a fierce
loyalty that was incredibly endearing. He loved his job, loved the frost on the
trees that clung to the bare branches like fur. He loved his dog Sampson so
much that there were fifteen photos in Gizmo’s wallet
that Izzy had seen. After ten minutes in the van with his exuberant enthusiasm
Izzy had fallen a little bit in love with him too. There was no way he could be
a rapist.
‘Of Mice
and Men, that’s all I’m saying,’ Bex said.
‘He’s not
stupid Bex, nor is he violent.’
‘You always
like to see the best in people.’
‘And you
always like to see the worst.’
‘I’m a
realist.’
‘I’m an
optimist.’
Bex smiled.
‘And that’s why I love you. Just be wary of him, both of them, and if they lay
one finger on you – you tell me and
Gabe, we’ll sort them out.’
Izzy
decided, then and there, that she wouldn’t tell Bex how she had met Ethan and
Gizmo in the first place.
Bex fished
around in her bag and pulled out a pot of green cream. She stuck her fingers in
and scooped out a dollop which she rubbed into her hands. It stank of a
peculiar combination of coriander and green tea. Bex was always carrying these
homemade concoctions around with her, but her skin always looked radiant and
blemish free so it must have some benefits. Bex had made cures for dry skin,
spots, scars, burns and chapped lips to name but a few. Izzy was sure she
probably had a truth telling ointment and one for eternal life somewhere up her
sleeve. Five hundred years before, Bex would have been burned at the stake.
‘Do you
have anything for sweat spots?’ Izzy sniffed at the green gloop.
‘Where are
the spots?’
‘On my bum.
I bought some new jogging pants and I wore them once and they made me sweat so
much I came out in spots. Most of them have gone but one little bugger
remains.’
‘You’re
such a classy bird, I do wonder why you’re still single. Please tell me you’ve
done something about your scary bikini line. Last time I saw it, it was like
some kind of terrifying swamp monster was trying to escape from your pants.’
Izzy
blushed. ‘Admittedly I have let things lapse a bit lately. It’s hard to find
the motivation when the only person that sees it is me.’
‘And me. And
to be honest darling, that’s not something I ever want to see again. Come on
then, show us your spot.’
‘I’m not
pulling my jeans down in the pub for all and sundry to see.’
Bex stood
up and frogmarched Izzy into the nearest toilet. ‘Drop them.’
Izzy rolled
her eyes. She had known Bex since before she could walk. There were no secrets
between them. Izzy unzipped her jeans and slipped them down a bit so Bex could
inspect the spot.
‘Bloody
hell, Iz, that’s huge. It’s got a life of its own that one. It probably has its
own brain cells, its own thoughts. We should give it a name. Bert.’ Bex prodded
it and Izzy winced. ‘Hello Bert.’
Just then
the toilet door swung open and a very glamorous women walked in. The Frog and
Sausage had a very strict dress code. Jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, trainers,
wellies and the occasional cowboy hat were all welcome. This lady looked like
she’d come straight from Ascot with her tailored suit jacket and matching silk
dress.
She took
one look at Izzy with her bum out and Bex bent over to inspect the spot up
close and hurried back out again.
Bex burst
out laughing and Izzy groaned.
‘I’m going
to the loo whilst I’m in here, get another round in will you?’ Bex handed Izzy
a tenner.
Izzy walked
out into the pub and saw Ethan with the Ascot Lady. His eyes caught hers and
Izzy felt something shift inside her.
‘I just
walked in on two lesbians about to have sex.’ Ascot Lady was saying, pulling
her jacket tighter around her as she looked around The Frog with disgust. ‘It’s
obviously some kind of sordid gay bar. I’d like to leave.’
Ethan still
didn’t take his eyes off Izzy and Ascot Lady turned round to see what he was
looking at. ‘That’s one of them,’ she hissed.
Great. Just
great.
Ethan put
his arm round Ascot Lady’s shoulders and ushered her out. He glanced back over
at Izzy as he walked out and she was sure there was a smirk on his lips.
*
Tied Up With Love is out on February 14th
but you can pre-order your copy here http://amzn.to/1xJPpra
