Chapter 11
Rahat
I avoided Andrea spotting me by paying a visit to Carina’s neighbour in the attic apartment, and asking to use his private fire escape.
He’d been more than happy to oblige, considering we hooked up a time or two.
Though I was sure to tell him I was now taken.
If that was still the case when Rex woke up.
I stood on the pavement and watched the taxi pull away, after a warning from the driver to be careful and the promise he'd be back in half an hour to collect me.
Even on a Thursday night, the South Bank was bustling with energy around me.
The murmur of music, mixed with voices and laughter, drifted down from the Founder's Arms. Warm light spilled from the pub across the pavement.
I tried not to think of Rex. With any luck, I'd be back before he woke up and we could put this whole mess behind us.
That's if he ever forgives me for what I've done.
I pushed the thought away, turned my back on the pub, and walked along the riverside path. I couldn’t think about Rex right now. If I did, I might not be able to keep walking, and I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Priya.
A group of women were celebrating on one of the party boats.
It was strung with lights and music carried across the water on the wind.
I briefly wondered if it was a birthday party or a hen do, and realised that it didn't matter.
Not to me. London was doing what London did.
Going about its business, some people partied while others suffered.
Although, I guess that could be said for any city in the world.
I turned away from the river and headed to the print works.
It sat back from the road behind a rusted iron fence.
Its brick face remained unlit, making it look foreboding against the brightness of everything around it.
I hesitated for a moment, before reminding myself that I chose this.
I would tell Adam to fuck off and leave me alone.
There were things I'd learnt all those years ago that could easily get him sent back to prison again, and I wasn't afraid to reveal them.
I took a deep breath, pushed my shoulders back, and stepped through the open gate.
The side door was unlocked. Inside, the building was open plan.
The machinery it once held was long gone, and the floor was just a bare concrete expanse.
A single work light cast a hard white circle at the far end of the room.
The lights from outside were gone with only some small windows towards the top of the wall to let them in.
Even the sounds of people going about their evenings and having fun was muffled by the walls.
"You came," Adam said as I walked towards the light.
His voice came from somewhere to my left, so I stopped walking and turned towards it.
Adam stepped out of the shadows. He hadn't changed much.
He was still nice to look at. The beard was gone, and the wavy brown hair was a little bit longer, less tame.
But those piercing blue eyes were more clear in their menace now rather than in mere mischief.
Though he looked very pleased with himself.
Or with me for coming. Most likely both.
"Were you giving me a choice?" I asked as he moved further into the light before stopping six feet from me.
His hands were in his suit jacket pockets, and his shoulders were relaxed as if he was making an effort to be non threatening. He tilted his head to the side. "You're looking well," he said. “Colorado suits you."
I bristled at his words. They were calculated to show he'd been watching me longer than I'd known.
"Get to the point, Adam. What do you want?"
He pulled his hands from his pockets and held them up in mock surrender. "I'm getting there." He turned around as if surveying the room, as if he could take or leave this conversation. "Do you know what I thought about my first year inside?" he asked. "You did know I was in prison. Didn't you?"
I declined to answer. Even if I told the truth and denied any knowledge, I doubted he'd believe me.
"I thought about the work," he said. "Your work and that last sequence you were finishing when we last met." He ran his hand over his head and smiled. "I've known some brilliant people in my time, Rahat. Properly brilliant people. But I've never met anyone like you."
"I'm not interested in being flattered."
"It's not flattery if it's the truth." He shook his head. "You always hated being told how brilliant you are."
Not always, I thought, but kept from saying anything out loud. Rex always said it to me, but with him, it brought a smile to my face and warmth flooding through my body. With Adam, it felt like a ploy. "What do you want?" I asked again.
"The same thing I've always wanted." He took a slow step towards me. "For you to stop pretending that what we were doing was nothing. That I was nothing."
"You assaulted me."
"I lost my temper," he said. "I thought about everything that happened in great detail, and I realised that I crossed a boundary that shouldn't have been crossed. I'm sorry for that."
My shoulders tensed. "It's too late for sorry."
"Is it?" he asked. "You came alone just as I'd asked. You left your new friend, Rex Colton and came to see me." He took another step closer. "Somewhere in that brilliant head of yours, you know this isn't finished. You came back to me."
I think it was at exactly that second that I realised how insane Adam was, and how much of a mistake it was for me to come. He thought he'd won something. He was right about that. Yet again, I'd been a fool. But he was wrong to think he'd won me, and I told him so.
"Am I?" He tilted his head again. "Then say it."
"I just did."
"No. Say it like you mean it."
I opened my mouth to speak, but Adam was in front of me before I could react.
He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me backwards, bringing tears to my eyes.
The next thing I knew, his hand closed around my wrist and he spun me to face him before landing a blow to my cheek.
He grabbed my hair again as I went down and slammed my head into the concrete.
My forehead cracked against the ground and bright light burst across my vision.
"You know exactly how this works," he said, his breath hot against my ear before he slammed my head into the ground a second time.
Pain bloomed in my head, in my nose and cheeks.
I'd made a stupid fucking mistake, and all I could think about as consciousness faded, was Rex and how I'd betrayed him to do it.