6. Chapter 6
6
Layla
I scrub the toilet bowl like it’s never been cleaned. The smell of bleach overwhelming, the sound of the toilet brush scrubbing barely resonates in the chaotic-ness of my mind.
It’s been two weeks since Luca’s crash. It’s been two weeks of pretending I’m fine, and it’s been two weeks of nursing many glasses of wine while I push down the vivid memories of the car crash that killed my parents.
Trauma is a strange thing.
I’d thought I was okay, well, as okay as I can be. But one moment, one heartbeat, and I’m back in that car wreck, trapped and staring at the twisted, broken bodies of my parents. The sound of the loud equipment being used to cut me from the car, the sound of metal screaming against the pressure of the machinery.
I pour more bleach, even though it has plenty, shaking my head as the memories fight at me.
The nightmares are back, and its hell. My screams wake Katy, the first night she came running into the room with a shoe raised in her hand ready to rain hell over whoever was attacking me.
Except there was no one, just the demons of my memories. No shoe would help me.
I stand and arch backwards, my muscles screaming from having spent the last hour deep cleaning the bathroom. I flush the loo, wash my hands, and put away the cleaning products and head back into my room.
Cleaning gives me a sense of control, but my room is spotless. Already having been given the treatment when I woke last week unable to get back to sleep. My eyes fall to the cuddly bear that had been given to me by the firefighter who saved my life that day, but instead of the kind firefighter, it’s Luca Knight I think about.
Who is he? What does he do? How dangerous is he?
There was coverage of the crash on the local news, for a day, about how two men had fled before police arrived on the scene…but then nothing. It was like it had never happened. Did they have something to do with that? They obviously have contacts.
Power.
No one from work has noticed the missing antibiotics, no one noticed anything out of place. I’ve gotten away with it, which makes the whole thing even more exciting.
Yup, cart me off to the asylum.
“Layla?” Katy's voice breaks into my hazy brain, I glance behind me. “Jesus, I was worried you’d gone deaf, where did you go?”
“Sorry, what did you say?”
She kicks at the door frame where she’s been lingering waiting for my reply. “I have something that will make you feel better.”
I can’t think of anything that will make me feel better, but I raise my eyebrow as she skips into the room and leads me to the bed and pushes me on it, before leaping excitedly. The whole thing bouncing as she gets comfortable and then pulls something from behind her back.
“Look.” She thrusts a glossy piece of paper into my hand, it looks elegant and posh, but she’s floundering it around so much that I can’t make out what the damn thing says.
“Stop bloody flinging it about.”
“It’s a spa day.” She squeals. “I won a competition, which is weird because I can’t remember entering one.” She shakes her head thinking, then grins again. Katy is organised in some aspects of her life, but a complete floozy in others. “But look. A full day at the World of Spas. You know the place we’ve wanted to go for ages.”
“Holy shit! That’s awesome.” I rip the piece of paper off her and look at the curved scripture and pictures of people being pampered and looking glamorous.
“It includes two free treatments, champagne, lunch, the works.”
“That’s awesome Katy, you’ll have a great time.”
She grabs the piece of paper out of my hand and tuts whacking it over my head. “Duh! It’s for two and obviously you’re coming with me.”
I’m relaxed. For what feels like the first time in years. Last night we chose our treatments and drank vast amounts of wine, giggling over TV shows and bingeing on chocolates. Today we lie floating in the pool as the saltwater holds our bodies up and we nurse our hangovers.
Closing my eyes, I let out a contented sigh, and let the water take me where it wants me to go. I feel like I’m flying, weightless and at the mercy of the water.
“I’m going to continue my spa adventure. Are you coming?” I ask Katy, who’s floating beside me, her eyes closed. She moans an incoherent response, which I take as a no.
I paddle to the side, saying my farewell to a barely conscious Katy, and wrap the biggest, fluffiest dressing gown round me, desperate to see what all the hype is about. The spa is split into different zones, and I’m keen to visit them all.
I towel dry my hair and bunch it on my head breathing in the different aromas of oils they used to massage my scalp, lavender and rosemary adding to my feeling of zen.
It’s peaceful, calming music coming through hidden speakers. Stopping by the map, I pour myself a cup of water from one of the many water fountains.
Six zones are sprawled over the floors with a spiralling staircase connecting them: Fire and Ice, Salt, Herbal, Minerals, Nature. Deciding my route, I head down the spiral staircase smiling at a young couple.
Entering the mineral zone made up of four individual rooms, some showers, and a shower walk—whatever the hell that is—I hang up the fluffy robe, and shiver as the cold air hits my bare skin. I’m in one of Katy’s bikinis, not having anything for myself to wear.
Thankfully my boobs just about fit in the cups, and with dim lighting, I’m not as self-conscious as I usually would have been about people seeing the jagged scars on my stomach.
I open the door to the steam room, where I’m engulfed in warmth and the sweet smell of blossoms. The light bounces off the tiny blue pearlescent tiles that cover the floor, walls, and ceiling, creating rainbows. The room’s four white loungers, which curve with the shape of your body, are empty, but I head into one of the two small alcoves with a seat made from the same tiles as the rest of the room.
My muscles relax into the curves as I sit, the tiles warm my body and I close my eyes to the large mural of a pink flower that’s on the wall in front of me.
A second after closing my eyes the door opens, and through the steam Katy appears, my moment of peace gone.
“There you are, I thought I saw your arse sashay into here.”
“Shh, you’re ruining my chill.”
Katy plops down next to me, lying back.
“I have a confession to make,” I say slowly. “I think this is the most relaxed I have ever felt. God, I needed this.”
She smiles. “Well, if anyone deserves it it’s you, babe. Can I ask you something? It’s been playing on my mind, and I know you said drop it, but—”
“Hmmm.” I shut my eyes again to the steam billowing around us.
“You had another nightmare last night, are you sure you’ve told me everything? Because you know you can talk to me.”
I try to stay relaxed, and not tense up. “What do you mean?”
“So, Pete…you know Pete.”
I do know Pete. Pete is a police officer, and if my insides could fall out my vagina, I think they would. My stomach twists. “Pete seemed to suggest that it was a car chase. With,” she glances round, but we’re in here alone. “Some London crime family. You know the Mafia.” She whispers the last word.
“The Mafia? Having a car chase in Kensington High Street? Really Katy, you have such a crazy imagination. Those true crime podcasts don’t help.”
She tuts. “Well Pete, he says that London is full of it. Organised crime. He works for the Met, Lay. He’s on this task force that deals with drug dealers, shady shit goes on all the time. You know the whole system is corrupt.”
“Okay.” I don’t really know what else to say.
“Well, it’s on your route home, and you’ve been all out of sorts since it happened, your nightmares…You said you just missed it,”
I stare at her, my heart beating wildly in my chest. The spa music does anything but calm me right now. I lean forward, my hands gripping the edge of the tiled seat and take a deep breath in and then groan as I release it. “You cannot repeat what I’m about to tell you,” I say, sitting up and twisting towards her. She zips her mouth, locks it, and pretends to throw away the key. “I’m serious, Katy.”
“Cross my heart—”
“I don’t know who they are, but I was there.”
“What do you mean you were there?”
“I was there, I pulled them out the car, and then it exploded and before I knew it, I had a gun in my face and was suggesting I take them to the doctor’s surgery and administering first aid to the hottest man I have ever laid my eyes on.” The words, unfiltered, fly out my mouth. “I’ve been wanting to tell you all week, but they told me not to tell anyone.”
Her mouth moves into an O shape.
“And, well, when you have a gun shoved in your face, and someone throttles you, I just kinda thought I’d better keep my mouth shut!”
“Holy shit. Pete said they’re looking for witnesses,” she says in a hushed tone.
“I know, Katy. But these are dangerous people. They threatened Grandad. I can’t risk it.”
“It’s like a movie. Who were they? The Mafia, like Pete suggested?”
“I don’t know. One was called Luca, the other Roman. And I know I shouldn’t, but I cannot get Luca out of my head.” I look at Katy’s shocked face. “Like fucking hell, Katy. He was hot.”
“You need to tell Pete.”
I snort. “I’m not telling anyone, and neither can you. They're dangerous.”
“And hot.”
“You have no idea.”
“But you’re okay though?” she asks, reaching over and grabbing my hand. “Apart from the nightmares?”
“I will be, it’s just bubbled up again, temporarily.” I hope.
“You can tell me anything, Lay, you know that. I will never judge, I love you.” She squeezes my hand. “You should have told me last week. You’ve been a right old crabby bitch. So, tell me from the top, I want a play-by-play.”
I laugh and wipe at a rogue tear. The weight that has been holding me down for the past two weeks has lifted. Finally. I fill her in on the full events of the evening, and by the time I’m finished, she’s gaping.
“I’m speechless. And that never happens.”
“Maybe I need to look into organised crime for an extra source of income,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
Katy laughs then relaxes back into the tiles, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Nah, you’re too sweet for that, besides your conscience would explode. I, on the other hand, I’d own a brothel.”
I snort out a laugh.
She’s quiet and contemplative. Katy eventually asks, “Did you call citizens advice?”
“Not yet, I will though. You’re right, I can’t go on like this.”
“Hallelujah. Finally.” She shifts, knocking my shoulder. “Maybe you hit your head the other night too.”
“Alright.” I pinch her arm, and she laughs, batting my hand away. “I won’t move Grandad though. I refuse to do that. I’ll check the will and take it from there.”
“Well, that’s progress anyway. So back to the dark and mysterious Luca. Have you seen him since?”
“Why would I see him?
“Come on, aren’t you a little bit intrigued. He’s probably got an amazing cock.”
“Jesus, Katy.” I laugh and she snorts in a giggle. “I bet he has though. The things I’d do to it, I swear when I replay back that night, when he pushed me against that sink, I could feel everything. And I mean everything.” I waggle my eyebrows, and she laughs. “I keep imagining he kissed me, and I wrapped my legs around him and we did the dirty right there in the room with his friend watching.”
“I knew it! You’re not the prude you portray. That’s filthy!” She pushes her tongue into her cheek and makes a crude sign with her fist, and we both fall about in a fit of giggles.
“Oh, God, you’re right. I did need this.”
“Of course, I’m right, but I’m also melting. I’m going to check out that shower walk thing, you coming?”
“Nah. I’ll meet you later.”
“Okay, no touching yourself in here thinking of Luca’s cock.”
“Too late.”
“You dirty bitch.”
I stifle a laugh.
“I have no idea what the time is, but if I’m not by our loungers I’ve realised I’m running late and had to leave. So, I’ll see you at the house.”
“I still can’t believe you’re ‘pretending to work’.” I grin and she rolls her eyes.
“I’m ‘working from home’,” she says, with air quotes.
“Your arse is going to get found out one day.”
She wiggles her arse as she sashays out of the steam room. The glass door closes, and with it my eyes drift shut, another big deep sigh escaping as I relax back into the warm tiles.
The sound of a throat clearing destroys my zen and fear ripples through me. Oh Shit. My eyes fly open and take in the huge shadow that is now covering me in my little cubby hole.
He tuts, but I don’t look at his face, no, I start at his feet. His bare feet, attached to his lean legs, and to his strong and powerful thighs, and please, oh, God, please don’t let this be who I think it is. My skin is all goosebumps even though I’m hot. I take a slow perusal up over his navy-blue Ralph Lauren swim shorts and my eyes track over those mouth-watering V muscles that are like a homing beacon to the goodies underneath.
A peppering of hair on his stomach disappears under his shorts, but I can’t linger. I can’t face the abs that I’m sure he has that go along with the bits . Instead, my gaze jumps to his face, and I see his raised eyebrow and eyes that are so ice-cold and dark that fear grips my chest in a vice-like hold. Making it hard to breathe.
My memory had done Luca no justice. But here he is, in all his unclothed goodness.
What are the chances of him being here?
“Fuck,” I finally say aloud. I’ve just told someone when I was explicitly told not to.
He’s going to kill me, this is it.
This is where I die, in the pearlescent room that smells like blossom.
My blood will be the thing coating the walls instead of the rainbows and condensation from the steam. How was he so silent? He’s a sodding bloody ninja. We had been in that room for a good ten minutes, and he hadn’t made a peep.
Flight instinct takes hold telling me to get out of this steam room, away from him. I stand up quickly, fighting the fuzziness of a head rush and step past. Thankfully he lets me, my sweaty skin brushing against his hard muscles, but he doesn’t stop me.
“Layla.”
I freeze mid grab to the glass door, pausing.
Why the fuck am I pausing?
He’s going to kill me.
I yank the door open, the coolness a welcome jolt to my flushed blazing skin. But I don’t get a chance to leave, his hand wraps around mine which is still holding the door half open, and his other grips the base of my neck. He spins me around my body at the mercy of his strength and I’m in such shock that I can’t even make myself react.
Fight or Flight.
There’s a third one: freeze.
And I’ve frozen.
I’m spun around, my face flaming, a mix of fear, excitement and - dare I even admit it - lust overwhelms me as the sensation of warm water runs through my stomach, up to my chest, along with a shiver.
What the hell is my body doing?
Tendrils of my blonde hair fall across my eyes and stick's to my sweaty cheeks. He pins me against the tiled walls and the door closes, along with my chance of escape.
He leans forward, his lips close to my ear and the deadly whisper of his voice coats my body in fear. “Didn’t I make myself clear, sunshine?”
I am so dead.