Chapter 20 #4
“Her ex? What fucking ex?” I paced the floor of my hotel room as I shouted down the phone. What ex? There was no ex? She never told me about any fucking ex. Probably because I didn’t hang around long enough for her to tell me much about anything.
Images of Ashley, small, vulnerable, curled up all warm beside me, hot and sweaty from sex, water dripping from her in the shower, flashed like snapshots through my brain.
The thought of someone else seeing her like that, sharing moments like I had with her, touching, tasting and smelling her, made my head feel like it was about to explode.
Whoever the fucker was, he had to go.
Even kidnap and murder seemed like reasonable possibilities in that moment.
“Oi, hold your fucking horses. I don’t know what ex, she’s your bird.”
“She’s not my bird.” I bit back.
“Well, not if she’s back with her ex, she ain’t, no.” We were both quiet for a few seconds. “Sorry mate. I thought you knew. I thought that’s why you left.”
I let out a long sigh. My head was now pounding and my brain was in overdrive. I needed to get back to England and put things right.
I’d fucked up. Yeah, yeah, I know, it was what I did, but this time I’d fucked up massively, and possibly lost the best thing that had ever happened to me.
“Mac, I need to go. I’ll be home tomorrow and give ya a bell then. Give my love to George.” I never gave him a chance to say goodbye before I cut him off.
I called Len and asked him to get me on the next flight back to London, and to have a car waiting for me when I landed.
By ten the next morning, I was pulling up outside Posh Frocks. I pulled my cap down low and ran into the shop.
“Morning, Lorna. Ashley about?” I kept it casual and talked to the girl like I’d known her forever. We’d chatted a few times when I’d been waiting for Ash and I’d signed some stuff for her.
“No, she’s out on the road today. She might come back here later, but not until around four. I can call one of the stores she’s visiting today and let her know you’re looking for her?” she said with a smile.
I liked Lorna. She was a bit older than me, and wasn’t fazed by who I was.
“Na, that’s all right. I was hoping to surprise her,” I told her with a wink.
“Oh, so she’s not expecting you?” she asked and something in her tone had me questioning her.
“No, why’s that?”
She tilted her head sideways and folded her arms across her chest.
“I’ve no idea what’s gone on between the two of you, but I don’t think you’re her favourite person right now, Marley.”
“Lorna, I know I’m not her favourite person right now. That’s why I need to speak to her, and if she knows that I’m looking for her, she won’t see me so please, would you give me the chance to put things right? I fucked up and I need to speak to her.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that. I won’t say I’ve seen you, but you better put things right. She’s a good girl, Ashley is, and I’ve hated seeing her upset these past few weeks.”
“She’s been upset?” I asked, feeling bad for sounding so hopeful.
“Yeah, she’s been upset, especially when she sees that.” She nods her head towards the coffee table where there’s a copy of Hello Magazine. My ugly mug was smiling from the front cover, Alexis Kanchelski, some model I met in a club a few weeks back, wrapped around me.
“Fuck.” Is all I could say. I actually planned on her seeing it. I’d hoped that she’d see it and hate my fucking guts. That in turn would make it easier for her to move on and forget about me.
Well, job well done, Marley. Job well-fucking-done.
“Right, yeah. Well, like I said, I’ve fucked up and I need to put things right, so I’d really appreciate you not saying that I’ve been here.”
“She won’t hear it from me. Now piss off and put a smile back on that girls dial,” she ordered. I stepped in and kissed her cheek.
“I’ll do my best, Lorna. I’ll do my very best.” I promised.
I got Dave, who picked me up from the airport, to drop me off at home. My plan was to take a shower and drive back to Ashley’s flat and wait for her arrival.
The first I realise that there was a problem was when I couldn’t get my key in the lock. I called Ronnie, one of the doormen up to take a look. He called out a locksmith when he couldn’t do anything with it. The locksmith arrived and promptly told me that a key had been snapped off inside the lock.
He drilled it out, but ended up having to replace the whole barrel. I couldn’t stand the damage that it did to my front door, so ended up telling Ronnie to tell maintenance to order me a new one.
As soon as the door was opened, it was apparent that the place stunk.
“Bloody hell, mate. You forget to empty your fridge before you went away?” Bert the locksmith asked.
I was already pissed off at that point, so I bunged him a twenty quid tip and told him to invoice me for the bill.
Once I stepped all the way inside, I could see where the smell was coming from.
Sitting on my kitchen work top was the contents of my freezer.
Two chickens, a whole salmon, a loaf of bread, a box of ice poles, and a tub of ice cream.
I assumed that the freezer had broken, but why the stuff wasn’t thrown out, I had no idea.
To make things worse, the place was like a sauna.
The heating had obviously been left on the whole time I was away.
I go to call Maca to find out what the fuck had gone on when I realised I had no way of contacting him. I didn’t know his new number.
I grabbed a black sack and threw everything in it, then ran it down to the bins. When I got back up, I sprayed the place with what I thought was air freshener, but turned out to be furniture polish. Still, lemony pledge smelled a whole lot better than rotten chicken and fish.
When I walked into my bedroom, I was hit by another strange smell.
“What the fuck?”
I looked down to see what was causing the strange squelch under my feet and realised at once the cause.
My bed had been stripped back to the bare mattress, and the carpet had a two inch layer of water cress growing over it.
The carpet was wet, and when I pushed down on my mattress, so was it.
On the night stand next to the bed was the note that I left Ashley, along with the front door key I left for her, half of it snapped off.
Underneath what I had written, Ash, I assumed, had added…
WELCOME HOME
FUCKER!!!
I laughed. I didn’t actually know what else to do, so I stood on my water cress carpet and laughed.
Fuck. If I didn’t love that girl before, I definitely did then.
Yes, so fucking what. I admitted it. I loved her. I knew it a month ago and I sure as shit knew it now.
I took off my cap and scratched my head.
“Ah, Ashley Morrison. What are we gonna do with you?”