to find her television.
I sat down at the kitchen table and thought about the gem.
Now, I’m not one to believe in curses, but still…
I headed into the living room, dismissing my vision as an artefact of getting carried away with curses and suchlike.
Besides, there was a greater evil waiting for me.
Monty!
CHAPTER 7
Day 3
I slept through the night without incident in the now tidied-up living room.
Monty didn’t smother me; a bookcase didn’t fall on my tits. I woke with a slight sense of anticlimax, the same feeling I got from most of my ex-boyfriends.
By ‘most’, I meant two.
Despite not being entirely hideous, I’d hardly ever got close enough to boys, or men, to form a functional relationship, and I didn’t want to just sleep around for the sex, because let’s face it, a girl can please herself infinitely better than a drunken five-minute fumble. And there’s less emotional fallout to deal with.
It might be an old-fashioned idea, but I wanted to stay chaste until I met someone who I actually loved. I thought it was love twice before, hence the exes.
The first was when I was nineteen. He was a social worker helping me to get my life on track. Looking back, I now know it was just infatuation and a response to someone who spent a lot of time with me.
The connection we shared built up from the circumstances. Naturally it didn’t last long after our first intimate moment. I just knew as I lay there beneath his sweating body that I was just a sex object to him.
The whole experience made me feel so hollow that I vowed to never do it again.
Until I did.
The second guy wasn’t so sleazy and obvious. I was travelling through Peru during a couple of years of backpacking around the globe. I kept bumping into this dude on my travels in the various hostels and camping sites.
It was funny, the whole travelling thing. The chances of running into the same people were higher than you might think—especially for thrifty backpackers. There are certain countries, cheap ones, that we go to, and naturally, there are only so many affordable places for accommodation.
Guy Number Two recognised me in a bar one night. One of the few places that played Western rock music among the native Peruvian watering holes. I’d spent most of the day trekking and was using cold beer as a restorative medicine.
As soon as I saw him ordering tequila shots, it was destined to happen.
Although it wasn’t as soulless as my experience with Guy Number One, however, as we lay entwined in the heat, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted.
Being super independent and seeing the world isn’t as great as many people make out.
It can be lonely and destabilising at times.
Which is why, as I woke for the second morning in Cordi’s place, I felt more grounded and safe than I had done in months, if not years.
Sapphire had left me a message on my voicemail sometime during the night to ask how I was doing. Luckily she got her door all fixed up, and there was no other damage.
Sapphire knew my situation, so it wasn’t that strange to her that I had to run. I returned her call, telling her I was okay and would be in touch soon.
As soon as we completed this case for Mr. Bellman.
It was funny how that took over my thinking, diminishing Ivanov’s threat. But after his impromptu kidnapping, his demands remained in the back of my mind.
I stood up from my sofa nest and opened the curtains. I briefly considered snooping around for that diamond again, but Cordi came through the door, looking bright and breezy as a woman who didn’t have an anticlimactic night.
“We’ll get coffee and croissants on the way. I’ve got us a meeting with the carer this morning.”
“Wonderful,” I said, wishing it wasn’t so early. I hardly ever woke before noon, so seven a.m. was the twilight zone for me. I never really knew what went on during these hours. And didn’t care enough to find out. I like sleep. More the better.
“What do we know about her?” I
I sat down at the kitchen table and thought about the gem.
Now, I’m not one to believe in curses, but still…
I headed into the living room, dismissing my vision as an artefact of getting carried away with curses and suchlike.
Besides, there was a greater evil waiting for me.
Monty!
CHAPTER 7
Day 3
I slept through the night without incident in the now tidied-up living room.
Monty didn’t smother me; a bookcase didn’t fall on my tits. I woke with a slight sense of anticlimax, the same feeling I got from most of my ex-boyfriends.
By ‘most’, I meant two.
Despite not being entirely hideous, I’d hardly ever got close enough to boys, or men, to form a functional relationship, and I didn’t want to just sleep around for the sex, because let’s face it, a girl can please herself infinitely better than a drunken five-minute fumble. And there’s less emotional fallout to deal with.
It might be an old-fashioned idea, but I wanted to stay chaste until I met someone who I actually loved. I thought it was love twice before, hence the exes.
The first was when I was nineteen. He was a social worker helping me to get my life on track. Looking back, I now know it was just infatuation and a response to someone who spent a lot of time with me.
The connection we shared built up from the circumstances. Naturally it didn’t last long after our first intimate moment. I just knew as I lay there beneath his sweating body that I was just a sex object to him.
The whole experience made me feel so hollow that I vowed to never do it again.
Until I did.
The second guy wasn’t so sleazy and obvious. I was travelling through Peru during a couple of years of backpacking around the globe. I kept bumping into this dude on my travels in the various hostels and camping sites.
It was funny, the whole travelling thing. The chances of running into the same people were higher than you might think—especially for thrifty backpackers. There are certain countries, cheap ones, that we go to, and naturally, there are only so many affordable places for accommodation.
Guy Number Two recognised me in a bar one night. One of the few places that played Western rock music among the native Peruvian watering holes. I’d spent most of the day trekking and was using cold beer as a restorative medicine.
As soon as I saw him ordering tequila shots, it was destined to happen.
Although it wasn’t as soulless as my experience with Guy Number One, however, as we lay entwined in the heat, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted.
Being super independent and seeing the world isn’t as great as many people make out.
It can be lonely and destabilising at times.
Which is why, as I woke for the second morning in Cordi’s place, I felt more grounded and safe than I had done in months, if not years.
Sapphire had left me a message on my voicemail sometime during the night to ask how I was doing. Luckily she got her door all fixed up, and there was no other damage.
Sapphire knew my situation, so it wasn’t that strange to her that I had to run. I returned her call, telling her I was okay and would be in touch soon.
As soon as we completed this case for Mr. Bellman.
It was funny how that took over my thinking, diminishing Ivanov’s threat. But after his impromptu kidnapping, his demands remained in the back of my mind.
I stood up from my sofa nest and opened the curtains. I briefly considered snooping around for that diamond again, but Cordi came through the door, looking bright and breezy as a woman who didn’t have an anticlimactic night.
“We’ll get coffee and croissants on the way. I’ve got us a meeting with the carer this morning.”
“Wonderful,” I said, wishing it wasn’t so early. I hardly ever woke before noon, so seven a.m. was the twilight zone for me. I never really knew what went on during these hours. And didn’t care enough to find out. I like sleep. More the better.
“What do we know about her?” I
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