15. Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs
Mike
“Order at the bar, you lazy sod,” Jimbo barked. “Bloody Ruby’s off sick again, so we’ve no waitress, and I’m certainly not shifting my arse to serve you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“No offence, love,” Jimbo added to Vicky.
“None taken,” Vicky told him. “I appreciate your candour.”
He nodded and lumbered off to get behind the bar again.
I sighed. “Well, I promised you not fancy . I think this place fits the bill.”
Vicky grinned at me, and I relaxed.
Bringing her here was a bit of a risk, but plain, non-nonsense food was definitely on the menu at The Badger’s. And looking at her now, it was worth it.
She was no longer sitting stiffly across from me and looking green around the gills.
I’d taken her to Buckingham Manor first and told her to change out of her itchy dress into whatever she found the most comfortable. She came back downstairs looking unsure and wearing leggings and a hoody with her hair up in a ponytail.
When I said “bloody gorgeous” to her and kissed the side of her head, she gave me the first smile of the evening.
I was now completely addicted to making this woman smile.
Margot, who had been almost beside herself when I picked Vicky up the first time, was clearly worried that we’d returned so soon. But when Vicky changed, and I’d coaxed that smile out of her, Margot’s excitement was off the charts.
“Have fun, kids!” she’d shouted after us as we left, like we were both still teenagers.
Margot was a pain in the arse, but she clearly cared a lot about Vicky. And from her almost unnerving levels of excitement about me taking Vicky out, it was obvious that she’d been worried about Vicky. Very worried.
“Is the food okay, love?” I asked, leaning forward so nobody else would hear me. “We can go back to my mum’s for something if you don’t fancy the stuff here.”
Vicky’s eyes went wide. “Your mum’s?” she breathed. “You’d take me to your mum’s?”
I shrugged. “Of course. Mum can cook anything you like, and her fridge is always fully stocked.”
“Your mum would be okay if you just barged into her home late on a Saturday night and demanded supper for you and a random woman?”
I glowered at her. “You’re not a random woman. Mum knows you. And she’d be beside herself if I took a lass home to her, believe me.”
Vicky cleared her throat. “I’m not good with… families. I don’t tend to make a very good impression.”
She tucked her hands under her legs and rocked very slightly back and forth before she seemed to catch herself doing it and stopped.
I got the feeling that she’d tucked her hands there to stop them from creeping up to her ears and giving her away.
Something about what she’d just said stressed her out. I thought about my first impression of her, and I internally winced.
“You already know my family,” I said gently, and she shook her head.
“I know Lucy, but I only met your mum a couple of times when I was a child. Seeing as I wasn’t speaking then, I don’t think you can say she really knows me.”
I thought back to those few times Vicky had been in the cottage and winced again.
“Vicky, listen. I’m sorry I was a bit of a prick back then.
I couldn’t understand why you weren’t speaking.
Mum told me that she didn’t think it was something you could help, but I just wrongly assumed you thought you were too good for us, seeing as we weren’t blue bloods like you lot.
I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about all that class stuff. ”
Vicky snorted. “You know I blanked Ollie’s cousins when I met them?” she said.
“Ollie’s cousins?”
“Yes, his cousins .”
“Oh! Right those cousins.” Ollie’s cousins had some of the bluest blood in the UK. “You blanked them ?”
“Didn’t say a word, apparently. My mother was really, really angry when she found out. My point is that I didn’t used to speak to anyone, blue blood or no.”
I smiled at her. “I’d like to have seen that.
” Then I let my smile drop. “I really am sorry, Vicky. All I understood was that the prettiest girl I’d ever seen didn’t want to speak to me or my sister.
I was already salty about not being one of the posh boys like my two best mates.
I’d overheard their school friends asking why they hung out with a townie when they came to stay in the holidays. ”
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at me. “You thought I was pretty?”
I grinned. “Baby, you were pretty then; you’re beautiful now. I was an idiot then and an even bigger one now, but hopefully, you’ll keep speaking to me this time—I like the sound of your voice too much.”
“I like the sound of your voice too,” Vicky said quietly as she let her hands loose from under her legs and rested them on the table in front of her.
“Mikey boy!” A large hand clapped me on my back, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
I loved my mates, but this was bad timing.
Vicky didn’t need any more stress tonight, and new people seemed to trigger stress for her, especially if Lottie wasn’t there as a buffer.
Our table was suddenly surrounded by four big blokes.
Vicky shrank back in her chair, her hands shot under her legs again, and I held back a sigh.
“Alright, boys,” I said, receiving a few more back slaps and various greetings. “Lads, this is Vicky.”
Jonny’s eyebrows shot up. “Ollie’s sister, Vicky?”
“Half-sister,” Vicky muttered automatically at her menu. It seemed to be an ingrained reaction whenever Ollie was labelled as her brother.
The boys looked at her curiously, no doubt a bit confused by the lack of eye contact.
“Oh, er… alright then, half-sister.” There was an awkward silence followed by the boys mumbling various greetings at Vicky.
She managed to glance up at them and give them a forced half-smile, but by the end of the introductions, the boys were frowning in confusion.
See, these were friendly salt-of-the-earth lads. They called women love and sweetheart and were used to warm interactions and banter.
I knew exactly what they were thinking of Vicky—cold, stuck-up, posh bird who thought she was too good to talk to a bunch of blue-collar blokes.
I didn’t think it could get more awkward, but then…
“So, you’re out with this one? Slim pickings in the big smoke, is it?” Mark said in a teasing tone, putting his hand on her shoulder as he pointed to me.
Vicky, already clearly wound up by the situation, wasn’t ready for any physical contact. She flinched so hard away from Mark that she almost fell off her chair.
I stood up suddenly to pull Mark away from her before he could make anything worse.
He put both of his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender.
“Woah!” he said, looking shocked. “Jesus, okay. I was just being friendly. I didn’t mean anything by it.” His face was flushed red, and he looked genuinely upset.
The rest of my friends were all scowling at us now. Most of them had taken a step back as if Vicky was an unexploded bomb, their body language closed—arms crossed over their chests, hands shoved in their pockets.
Vicky was still staring down at her menu.
I weighed up my options and thought, fuck it.
“Guys, listen,” I said. “Vicky’s a little different, okay?”
Vicky’s eyes shot from her menu to me, and I really hoped I wasn’t fucking this up.
This was hers to share, and I was being the typical bulldozer I always was. But I couldn’t sit there and let the guys treat Vicky like I had treated her when it wasn’t bloody necessary if they just had an honest explanation.
“She takes a little while to warm up to people, and she needs some warning before you touch her. And if any of you have a problem with that or upset her, then I’ll be dealing with you outside.”
“Mike!” Vicky snapped, and my heart sank.
Was she angry that I revealed all of that? I really should have checked with her first, but I couldn’t let all the awkwardness and misunderstandings carry on when I could see how upset she was.
“Are you threatening to physically harm your friends?”
My eyebrows went up. “Well… yeah, if they piss me off.”
Her eyes went wide. “You can’t do that. They all seem like very nice gentlemen, and they’re your friends .”
There were a couple of chuckles from the lads, which quieted when I glared at them.
Pete joined us from the bar then, carrying a couple of beers, his head tilted to the side as he surveyed the scene.
“They’re dickheads is what they are,” I told her. “And Mark shouldn’t have put his hand on you.”
Vicky sucked in a shocked breath. “He didn’t know I’d react like a freak, Mike.”
“You’re not a freak. And he can keep his hands to himself. I don’t care if?—”
“Hey, Vics,” Pete said in a soft voice as he crouched down next to the table so that he was eye-level with her, but still at a safe distance so she wouldn’t flinch.
Vicky stopped glaring at me to turn to Pete and then blinked in surprise. “Oh, hey, Pete,” she said in a quiet voice.
It was clear they knew each other.
“Mike’s a pain in the arse sometimes,” Pete said, and it would have pissed me off had it not coaxed a small smile from Vicky.
“He can be, but I still like him a lot. Even though he’s high-handed,” she told him.
“No accounting for taste. Listen, the hogs are doing okay now. We get regular visits, though, and Emily’s still putting down the food you recommended.”
Vicky’s face transformed from wary caution to unbridled enthusiasm. “How many babies did she have in the end?”
“We’ve counted four, but Jimbo thought he saw a fifth the other night. We spoke to Mrs. Gibbs about the slug pellets she was using, by the way, and she’s agreed not to put them out anymore.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Vicky said with real feeling.
I’d had enough of this. “What the fuck are you two talking about?”
Vicky turned to me, and I was relieved to see all her previous tension was gone. “Hedgehogs.”