Chapter 11
The effects of the previous night’s drinking were clear.
Duncan was a bleary-eyed mess, with bags under his eyes and a stagger to his walk.
Not to mention his fingers were pressed into his temples, the way he always did when he was struggling.
He was so distracted he didn’t even notice Kieron and Bex there until Kieron cleared his throat.
‘Good morning?’ Kieron said, his eyebrows raised. Duncan’s head snapped around towards them, but rather than responding to Kieron, or even acknowledging that he was there, his gaze went straight to Bex. His whole body jolted, as if her presence had given him an electric shock.
‘What are you doing here?’ he said.
Bex felt her throat tighten.
‘Kieron was just making me breakfast,’ she said.
‘The lawyer was late, and so we had time…’ She trailed off, unsure why she was explaining herself to him.
She didn’t need to explain anything. Yet she didn’t want him to think she and Kieron had been sitting there, simply enjoying each other’s company.
Even though that was what they had been doing.
‘Duncan,’ Kieron said, standing up and walking over to shake his hand. ‘I wondered when I’d see you. I hear you’re the one who put the dogs in the kennels for me. I appreciate that. I don’t know why my uncle used to keep them in the house. Horrible habit.’
‘Right,’ Duncan said, his eyes flicking to Bex.
She didn’t know how much of last night he remembered, but it was clear he was aware she knew the dogs had not been in the kennels.
‘Well, I’ve just come to get them some food,’ he said. ‘It’s still up here.’
‘Right, well, don’t let us interrupt you,’ Kieron said.
Duncan moved slowly towards the fridge, pulling out the packets of raw meat Fergus had insisted on feeding the animals.
A strange, static tension filled the room, and Bex couldn’t help but wonder if Kieron could feel it too.
Her plate was still in her hands, and part of her wanted to move over to the sink so that she could wash it up, but that would mean moving closer to Duncan, or at least drawing his attention back to her, and that wasn’t something she wanted to do.
Not here. Not like this. And so she remained standing there, silent, waiting for the moment to pass.
‘You might as well take enough for a while,’ Kieron said as Duncan went to close the fridge. ‘You know, so you don’t have to bother yourself coming up here.’
Duncan grunted in reply as he opened the fridge back up. As much as Bex wanted to believe it was the hangover alone that was causing him to react in this way, she suspected it wasn’t the case.
Finally, after what felt like an age, Duncan’s arms were laden full of food. For the second time, he closed the fridge, then turned back to face them.
‘Well, I should leave you two to it,’ he said.
‘Sorry if I interrupted anything,’ he added as his eyes locked on Bex’s.
Her throat was bone dry, but she refused to break his glare.
Her entire body was torn. Half of her wanted to run over and wrap her arms around him, and the other half wanted to scream at him for being such an impossible idiot.
Couldn’t he see that she was hurting just as much as he was?
The silence had reached an unbearable level of tension, and she was certain Kieron was about to say something when Duncan finally swivelled on his heels and left.
As the kitchen door slammed shut, the tension roiled from her body, and it took all her restraint not to let out a sigh of relief.
How did he do that to her? How was it so hard to be near him and not be with him?
Whatever job this was the lawyer had for her, one thing was clear.
She needed to get it done and get out of here as soon as possible.
And as for the possibility of her and Duncan ever being friends?
Well, it was safe to say that was definitely not going to happen.
‘Honestly,’ Kieron said, taking Bex’s plate from her as he gave a roll of his eyes. ‘I will never understand why all the village women are crazy about that man. He’s practically a neanderthal. I mean, he can’t even string a sentence together.’
‘Right, of course,’ Bex said, not even hearing what he was saying as her eyes remained on the door Duncan had just walked through, wishing she didn’t want to run straight after him quite so much.