Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
CHARLEY
“Charley, can you email me the figures for the first quarter by the end of the day?” Miles’s voice disturbs my concentration. I’m working on the content for a new portfolio for our latest venue as marketing needs it by the end of the week.
“Today?” I look up at where my boss is looming over my desk, and the urge to recoil from him is strong. He doesn’t usually need the report until the end of the month after the quarter, so I had it scheduled for next week. It’s only the first week of April and I haven’t started it yet.
“That’s what I said.” His face twists into a cruel sneer.
I thought he was handsome once. Many think he is, but now when I look at him I can only see his rotten core and not the good looking facade he hides behind.
I gulp. It’ll take hours to compile the information from the different venues. Normally I plan two days for it.
“Of course,” I say through gritted teeth. There’s no way I’m going to fail, and even if I have to stay here until midnight, he will get the report today.
“Good.” If there’s any sincerity in the brief smile he gives me, it’s the pleasure he takes from the knowledge that he’s dumped a ton of work on me.
I’m pretty sure there’s no management meeting he needs them for urgently.
This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this, but recently it’s been getting worse.
I save my work on the new venue and open up the sales reports. I’ve got a long day ahead of me.
I work as quickly as I can, while still making sure there are no errors.
My desk phone suddenly rings, making me jump.
I stare at it for a minute. We all have work mobile phones so the desk phone hardly ever rings .
. . unless it’s someone who doesn’t know my number and has gone through reception.
It can’t be important, then, so I ignore it.
Reception can take a message and I can pick it up later.
The phone stops and I breathe a sigh of relief, which is short-lived as it starts ringing again almost immediately. I snatch up the receiver and answer.
“There’s a guy who wants to talk to you,” Sandra, one of the receptionists, tells me.
“I’m really busy right now. Can you take a message?”
“I tried that when you didn’t answer but he was really insistant.”
“Who is it?” She seemingly takes that as my consent, and I hear a click as she puts him through, no doubt just pleased to pass him over. Fuck. I’ll have to have a word with her later. “Hello?”
“Charley?” My heart stops as a familiar voice says my name.
“Gabriel?” My voice is a hoarse whisper. Time stops still and I can’t feel my arms or legs, or even the rest of my body. The hubbub of the rest of the office fades away and all I can hear is his voice.
“I’m sorry to call you out of the blue like this, and I had to find out from Pete where you worked, but . . . look, can I see you?”
“What?” My brain is scrambling with a thousand questions trying to make sense of what’s happening.
“Can we meet up?”
“Why? When?”
“As soon as possible. I’m in Manchester today. I’ll tell you why then.”
He’s here? In Manchester? I have no fucking idea what he wants but it’s all too much.
To make contact after nearly ten years and want to see me .
. . I need a run-up for something like that.
But more importantly, do I want to see him?
As the office comes back into focus after my initial shock, I look over to the corner, to Miles’s own office, all glass so we can see which victim he has in front of him. I remember what I have to get done.
“I can’t, Gabriel. I have a lot of work to get through today.”
“Surely you’re able to take a lunch break.” I hadn’t planned on it, maybe grabbing a sandwich and eating at my desk while I worked.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Please, Charley.” I’m taken back years, to when we were just kids.
I was never the daring one, reluctant to be dragged into Gabriel’s schemes—hanging back and coming up with all the reasons why we shouldn’t steal all the mince pies on Christmas Eve or cross the stream and enter the dark forest at the edge of the heath, in which according to local folklore an ogre lived in.
That is until Gabriel said, “Please, Charley,” and looked at me with his deep blue eyes full of mischief and merriment.
I couldn’t resist him then, and I know I can’t resist him now.
“Okay, I can meet you at twelve.” I give him the name of a small cafe a couple of streets away, which shouldn’t be so busy that we can’t get a table.
I ring off and get back to my reports, trying to compile the data even faster.
I’m almost grateful for the task, as it’s involved enough that I don’t have time to dwell on why Gabriel wants to meet up.
I spot Gabriel as soon as I walk through the door of the cafe.
How could I not. With his blond hair and model good looks he’s drawn my eye since the first time I laid eyes on him.
I was aged eleven, newly arrived in Larchdown to live with my uncle Pete after the death of my parents.
It was the summer holidays and I didn’t know anyone.
Pete ran the local garage, so I was left to my own devices with nothing but a bike and a new world to explore.
One day I was riding through the woods. I’d stopped at a fork in the path deciding which way to go when I heard a voice behind me.
“You’re trespassing. These are my woods.
” I’d snapped my head round and nearly fell off my bike.
Towering above me was a horse. I’d never been that close to one before and it looked huge.
On its back was a boy around my age. The afternoon sun struck his hair making it look like he had a halo of gold.
I was very into myths and legends back then and he was like a medieval knight, something from King Arthur’s court.
I could only gawp at him in awe. After a few seconds, when it was obvious I wasn’t going to answer him, he smiled broadly with a glint in his eye.
“I’ll let you off if you win a race?”
“A r-race?” I stuttered.
“Your bike against my horse. To the edge of the woods.” He didn’t wait for an answer but set off along the path.
I took off after him, pedalling furiously.
Occasionally, he would let me draw up alongside him, then, flashing me one of his brilliant smiles he’d take off again.
He won of course, a bike was no match for the speed of a horse, but he didn’t get too far ahead, which he could easily have done.
He pulled up triumphantly at the treeline, but he didn’t gloat. Instead, he waited for me to stop.
“You did well, so I’ll not have you done for trespassing.”
“Um, thanks.” I muttered, not sure what to make of him.
“I’m Gabriel, what’s your name?” Gabriel, that figured. Like some angel.
“Charley.”
“Would you like to come to my house? We can have some lemonade.”
“Where is it?” I looked around. I had no idea where I was, or the way home. All I could see was a load of fields, the woods, a few cottages, and in the middle of it all a massive stone house.
“There.” Gabriel nodded towards the house with a grin. No way! It was like a castle.
“I, no, I . . . um.” I didn’t know how to refuse. I was an orphan who lived with his uncle in a small stone cottage next to the garage. In my world, I didn’t get to go to houses like that.
“Please, Charley,” he’d said with a hint of something captivating in his voice.
It was like a lure, snagging my soul. I couldn’t refuse him.
And I never could again. I followed him everywhere that summer, learning that he went away to school and the rest of the time he was as lonely as me.
Every holiday we’d meet up again and it was like we’d never been apart.
I’d learned that horses weren’t scary, and Gabriel taught me how to ride.
Also how to play polo, which I enjoyed. We were close, best friends, right up until the year we turned eighteen when everything changed.
I haven’t seen him since, until now, and he still looks the same.
Like heaven has sent an angel. I push those thoughts away. Things are different now.
“Charley, you look well.” He stands. He almost goes to hug me and then hesitates.
“Hello, Gabriel,” I say flatly, and when I don’t close the gap and hug him it becomes awkward for a couple of beats.
But Gabriel was brought up in a world where he was taught to be charming.
So he beams me his customary smile of sunshine and gold, while I try to ignore the effect it has on me, and he gestures for me to sit.
“I just want to say thank you for meeting me at short notice and lunch is on me.” I nod my acknowledgement and give him my order.
I know the menu well enough to not need to look at it.
He goes off to join the queue to order. While he’s away I take a good look at him.
He looks well, very well. He’s filled out a little—though so have I—but he looks fit and toned.
His expensive jeans are hugging his thighs and I catch sight of the perfect curve of his arse.
I drag my gaze upwards as he returns to the table.
Of course he still has the wonderful complexion he’s always had.
He’s always been the most beautiful man in the room.
I’m blond as well, but with light blue-grey eyes and too many freckles to be handsome like Gabriel.
When he reaches the table he slides into the seat opposite me.
“So, how’s life treating you? You’re some hotshot in event management I see.
” Things couldn’t be further from the truth, but I’m not about to spill to Gabriel how I hate my job and my boss but I can’t quit.
Miles would make sure I’d never get a job in events management again, and I need to pay the rent on my flat. Nope, I’m not saying that.
“What is it you want, Gabriel?” I sigh and see his smile slip a little at my bluntness. He’s not used to it from me. But I’ve grown up a lot since I last saw him. There’s a lot he doesn’t know.
“I finally got the polo club going. Well, more than that, it’s the start of a whole equestrian complex with a restaurant and eventually a spa.” I can see the enthusiasm in his face.
“Well done, I’m happy for you. It was always your dream.
” I’m sincere, it was his dream. He would talk to me for hours about it, and I’d be more than happy to discuss it with him.
How it would work. Even how the old stable block could be utilised.
I smile at the memories of the time we sat in the hay loft while Gabriel talked at length of his plans, his arms flailing as he gestured to where everything would be while I sat listening, content to just be with him.
“We’re having the grand opening in a few weeks and a polo tournament.” He pauses while a waiter sets our plates down. “We’ve already had the restaurant hired out for a few events, we have one of the best chefs in the country on board, and we’re offering polo lessons.”
“It sounds perfect,” I say, taking a bite of my sandwich. I don’t know why he came all the way over here to tell me this.
“It is. Almost.” Gabriel puts down his panini and looks at me. “I need someone to run it with me. A centre manager. I want that to be you.”
Ah, so this is it. I shouldn’t be surprised as he’d always factored me into his plans, assuming I’d be there. This is the same. He hasn’t even asked me, he’s just stated what he wants, which riles me up.
“No.”
“You know it was always my dream. You have the skills and I need someone I can trust.”
“That’s it, Gabriel, it was your dream. You never asked what my dreams were.
I’m not going to take your handouts, or tag along on your coattails.
I’ve spent a long time building up my life, on my own.
” I had to. Mechanic’s nephews don’t get to go to university.
I had to work my way up through internships and day release college courses to get where I am.
“And how do you like it here? In this life of yours?” he asks. His tone is kind and he doesn’t sneer like Miles would’ve done. Why am I even thinking of that prick right now. But it does bring my life back into focus.
“It’s fine,” I mutter. I don’t sound convincing even to my ears. Gabriel looks at me intensely for a second. It feels like he’s reading my soul, except he can’t be, because if he could do that, he’d see the truth and it’d probably make him leave.
“Tell me three good things about your life, your job, living here,” he asks quietly. I drop my head, trying to come up with some truthful answers, but I’ve never been any good at lying.
“I’m not coming to work for you, Gabriel.” I pick at my sandwich, pulling bits of crust off.
“We’d be a great team. You’d be the boss, have your own staff. The pay is generous, and there’s a cottage. And you could play polo again.” I lift my head at the last part. It does sound tempting; I miss playing. But it all seems so fantastical.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because—” I falter. What can I say? Because if I come back I’ll never leave. Because there’s a part of me that’s still in love with you. Because I know you’ll never want me the same way, and if I have to see you every day, it’ll break me. I stand “Thanks for the lunch.” I turn to walk away.
“Please, Charley.” Again the words snag my core, calling me back.
I look back at him. His smile is gone and I see something else in his eyes.
A look I’ve never seen before. I don’t know what it is but I don’t give in to it.
I turn away again, and with leaden feet I walk away from Gabriel for the second time in my life.