Chapter 16 Mia
MIA
Darkness has well and truly fallen, but Dom still hasn’t come by. It shouldn’t make me feel this sad, but it does. I don’t understand what he had to do that was so important right then and there.
Char brought me home and fussed over me, washing the blood off my skin and rinsing it out of my hair. She insisted on helping me get dressed, as though I was bound to faint at any moment.
“It’s just a bump on the head, I haven’t lost any limbs,” I’d told her, and she’d told me to shush and that I needed looking after.
She made me some dinner and I picked at it, not feeling nauseous exactly, but my stomach was in upheaval all the same.
“Where is he?” I mutter as Char stacks the dishwasher and puts the kettle on.
“Who knows, he said he had something to take care of.”
I look over at her, and she’s pointedly not looking at me. I was still foggy at the hospital, but now my brain is mostly functioning again and her meaning settles in.
“He hasn’t,” I snap. “Oh my god, tell me he’s not going to beat the shit out of Paulie Hardcastle.”
Char straightens up and wipes her hands on a tea towel. “He never said that exactly. He simply implied that-”
“He’s going to beat the shit out of Paulie Hardcastle.” I tip my head back with a groan. “Fucking hell, this is the last bloody thing we need.”
“Dominic might have a very diplomatic way of dealing with it.” Char gives me a pointed look. “You shouldn’t assume he’s just going to go and use his fists.”
Tank starts yapping, and in the distance, we hear the door opening.
Char gestures with an open hand. “See? He’s here. No time for beating the shit out of someone.”
I frown as Tank growls. “But he doesn’t have a key.”
Tank comes scurrying in, growling and huffing. And a few steps behind him… is Archie.
“Hi babe,” he says with a smile.
“You are fucking kidding me,” Char exclaims, rounding the counter. “How dare you show your face here!”
Archie chuckles and rolls his eyes. “Nice to see you too, Char.”
“Don’t you give me any lip!” Char is up in his face now, Tank behind her growling and snuffling, like an army of two defending me from my returning husband. “You have no right to be in this fucking house.”
Archie is completely relaxed, his hands in his pockets, and he looks down at Char with a non-plussed expression. “This is my house in case you’d forgotten.” He looks over Char’s head, at me, and gives me a crooked smile. “I missed you.”
“Are you joking?” Char’s going to kill him, I know she is. “Get out!”
“Char, it’s alright.”
She turns to look at me, eyes filled with rage, and I wave a hand.
“Really, it’s alright.” I give her a smile and nod.
She spins back to face Archie and I can feel the anger rolling off her.
“Fine.” She scoops up Tank in her arms, who’s still rumbling and huffing at Archie. “I’ll take the baby for a walk.” As she passes Archie, she glares up at him. “You hurt her, and I’ll skin you alive and make jerky out of you.”
Archie laughs as Char storms off down the hallway, and he regards me with a soft, loving expression until the front door slams, signalling Char’s departure.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I ask.
He sighs, his shoulders slumping in that stupid way they always do when he’s done something he shouldn’t have. “Babe, look-”
“Stop calling me babe. Where have you been?”
His smile drops ever so slightly, and he takes a few sauntering steps towards me. “Mia, I know you’re angry-” He cuts off as his eyes narrow. “What happened to your head?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does, oh my god.” He takes a few hurried steps towards me, but stops short when I back away. He scoffs. “What, you scared of me?”
“I don’t want you touching me.” I fold my arms over my chest. “Now, tell me where the fuck you’ve been.”
“I thought you’d be happier to see me.”
I slam a hand into the counter, wanting to throw anything I can get my hands on across the room at his stupid face. “You’ve been gone for weeks! Not a word, not a text, fucking nothing!”
His mouth shifts into a crooked smile. “Were you worried about me?”
“I swear to god, if this is how it’s going to be you can get out, I do not give a singular fuck. I am not doing this.”
He holds his hands up and sighs. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I was in Spain.”
I tap my fingers on the counter and shrug. “Right. And?”
“What do you mean, and?”
“What were you doing in Spain?”
Archie rubs the back of his neck. “I… I was trying to build a better future. For us, babe.” He gives me a shy smile. “I was thinking of you the whole time.”
I laugh bitterly. “Oh yeah? That’s nice. What did the big-titted slag who likes red lingerie have to say about that?”
Archie’s face drops, and I can practically hear the rolodex of excuses flipping over in his brain. “Mia, listen, that was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” My head starts to throb, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You’re such a bad fucking liar.”
“I’m not lying! I promise!” He makes to move closer to me again, and I duck out of his way, around the kitchen counter. “Babe, come on.”
“You know what, I don’t even want to know what happened anymore, because I don’t care!
” I hold my hands up to ward him off, and shake my head.
“I don’t fucking care, you hear me? You’re going to come back here and play fucking games and not tell me where you’ve been, spin some story about mistakes and fucking futures.
No, I’m not doing it Archie. You can fuck right off and get out of my house. "
“Mia, please.”
“My father fucking died!” Angry tears burn my eyes, and I do not want to cry in front of him, I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. “Do you hear me? He died, and you weren’t here!”
“Babe, I’m so sorry.”
“No, you’re not!” I dash the tears away with the back of my hand before they can fall. “You’re never sorry, not really, you’re only ever sorry for you.”
“And there it is.” Archie runs his hands over his head with a strangled laugh. “You just cannot resist taking a dig at me. Even when you’re saying you’re sad and upset, all you can think about is taking me down.”
“I want a divorce.”
Archie’s face betrays genuine shock. “You don’t mean that.”
“Of course I do.” I hold his gaze, keeping my hands on the counter, ready to move away. “I’m done. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to do it anymore. This marriage is over.”
“Who is he?”
I laugh out loud, the sound so cynical it hurts me to hear it. “Oh my god, you are unbelievable.”
Archie’s expression becomes menacing. “Who is he? I want to know.”
“Get out.” I point in the direction of the door. “I’ll have your shit sent to wherever you’re staying, but you’re out. Get.”
“This is my house, you can’t just-”
“This is my fucking house!” I curl my hands into fists, my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands to stop myself throwing something at him. “I bought this house with my money. I furnished it with my money. I do not need you, or your money, or your fucking name, now get out of my house!”
“Is it my dad?”
My jaw drops, and new, fresh tears sting my eyes. “You utter fucking bastard.”
Archie laughs, his mouth twisting into a cruel grin. “Holy shit, Mia. I knew your daddy issues were bad, but this is a lot even for you.” He ambles closer to me, enjoying the hurt he’s causing, his stance casual. “They all warned me, you know, about you. Everyone warned me.”
“I guess you should have listened then.”
“So who’s better?” Archie is close to me now, so close I could reach out and touch him. Or stab him. “The father, or the son?”
I sneer at him. “Only you could disappear to Spain for weeks with another woman and come back asking me if I’m shagging your dad.”
He growls out a breath, his jaw tense. “Fuck’s sakes, Mia I told you that was a mistake, and she’s long gone now.”
“Well, she’s smarter than I am, that’s for sure.” I move away with a heavy exhale. “I’m not shagging your dad, not that it’s any of your fucking business.”
Archie’s face darkens. “It’s Jordan then, isn’t it?” He hisses out a breath through his teeth. “I fucking knew it.”
“Oh my god!” I exclaim over a laugh. “You just cannot help yourself, can you? You cannot comprehend a man just caring about someone he doesn’t want to stick his dick into!”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
I point a finger at him. “You need help. Go to therapy, and stop projecting. And when you’re ready to tell me what you did and who you did it with, go and jump in the fucking Thames because fuck knows I do not care. I am so done with you Archie, so fucking done. Now get. Out.”
The front door opens and Char strides in with Tank on a leash. They both give Archie almost the same look, and Char bends down to remove Tank’s leash.
“There you go, there’s a good boy.” Char ruffs up Tank's jowls, then stands up to scowl at Archie. “You’re leaving now.”
Archie looks from her back to me, and I think he considers arguing for a moment. But in the face of both of us, he loses his nerve. He won’t say all those awful things to me in front of someone else. That’s for when it’s just us, when he can claim I’m crazy to everyone later.
He holds up his hands, and backs away. “Fine. I’m gone.”
“Not fast enough for me.” Char watches him back to the door, and when he takes too long she snaps her fingers. “Quick step now, thank you!”
With a grunt, Archie turns and hurries down the hallway, pursued closely by Char, the latch slamming home loudly as soon as the door closes. When Char emerges back in the kitchen, her face is flaming red.
“The bloody cheek,” she mutters, then looks at me. She rushes to my side, and takes my hand. “You alright, sweetheart?”
“Just the usual Archie Graves mindfuck victim complex, I’ll survive it.” I hang my head, exhaling heavily.
“Did he tell you where he was?”
I huff out a laugh. “Barely, to be honest. Said he were in Spain, building a future for us, supposedly. Wouldn’t tell me who she was, where exactly he’d gone, what he’d done, why he’s back. Nothing. He just can’t bring himself to be honest with me.”
“Because being honest with you would mean admitting he’s done something fucking wrong,” Char mutters, and shakes her head. “ I don’t know what he’s expecting, waltzing back in here like that. Barry is going to skin him alive, and that’s just for a start.”
“He accused me of sleeping with Jordan.” I don’t want to tell Char about the other accusation, about the vile look on his face as he taunted me.
Char lets out an incredulous laugh. “Jordan? He’s actually lost it now. I don’t even know why I’m shocked. I don’t think Archie could ever conceive of being friends with a woman, all he sees is an assortment of walking fleshlights.”
I can’t help but giggle, pressing a hand to my mouth. “Truer words were never spoken.” I meet her eyes and sigh. “I told him I wanted a divorce. Should have seen the look on his face.”
“Seven years of bad behaviour have told him you’ll never leave.” Char shrugs. “But, you know, good. Good for you, darling.” She puts an arm around my shoulders, and gently presses her head to mine. "Life can only get better from here, ey?”