Chapter 4
Ed stared between the bright red mess on his hands and the lunatic woman in the kitchen doorway. His hangover had come roaring back with a vengeance thanks to that bloody alarm, which had thankfully now fallen silent. He winced and tried to focus on what was happening. ‘Who the fuck are you?’
‘Harry?’ the woman exclaimed. ‘Oh my God, you scared me to death! What the hell are you doing here and how did you get in?’
Ed glared at the woman. ‘Not Harry. Ed. Who are you?’ he demanded again.
‘And where’s Matt?’ He looked past her towards the front room, expecting his cousin to appear any second.
There was no way he could still be asleep after that racket.
There was no sign of him. Just as well because if he did show his face, Ed had some particularly choice words for him about his terrible taste in girlfriends.
Okay, so he hadn’t let Matt know he was coming home, but what kind of madwoman launched an attack without at least checking who someone was first?
Pretty much every kind of woman who found a stranger creeping around in the middle of the night.
The truth of that didn’t make Ed feel any better.
He curled his fingers to ball his fists against the immediate urge to apologise, the stickiness of his palms distracting him.
He stomped over to the kitchen sink to try and wash it off.
What the hell had she sprayed him with, anyway?
He reached for the tap then realised he couldn’t turn it on without getting the red dye everywhere.
He glared back over his shoulder at the woman, who was still gaping at him like a fish from the across room.
‘I’m sorry if I scared you, okay? Now can you at least make yourself useful and turn the taps on for me? ’
The woman blinked a couple of times, closed her mouth then opened it again. ‘You’re not Harry.’
Ed gritted his teeth against a surge of impatience.
‘No, I’m not. We’re identical twins. It’s a thing.
’ He nodded his head towards the sink. ‘Taps, please?’ The woman took a hesitant step forward, froze, then glanced back over her shoulder towards the front door.
She was clearly still spooked by their unconventional introduction.
Ed couldn’t say he was much of a fan of it, himself.
Still, she was only a wisp of a thing and the idea he’d frightened her did not sit well with him at all.
He forced a smile. ‘If it would make you feel safer, why don’t you go and fetch Matt and let him deal with this? ’
She frowned at him. ‘Matt? Chloe’s brother? The one who’s working on set as a carpenter?’
The last sentence didn’t make any sense to him, but Ed had enough to worry about for now. ‘And your boyfriend, I’m assuming, if you’re sleeping here…’
The woman’s brows edged further down, more a scowl than a frown now. ‘I don’t know what kind of gossip you’re trying to stir up but you can pack it in, right now! I’ve barely spoken to the man other than in passing.’
‘So what are you doing in his house – our house – in the middle of the night, then?’
That frown morphed into a full-on glare.
‘This is my house – well, technically it’s the production company who are renting it for me – but I can assure you that no one else lives here.
’ Her eyes widened and she shot a glance towards the front door and then back at him again.
‘Do you have a key? Is that how you got in?’
Ed hadn’t thought things could get any more confusing, but apparently he was wrong. ‘Of course I have a key, I live here.’
‘Well, that’s the first I’ve heard of it! I’ve been living here for six weeks and it was empty when I moved in, I can promise you that.’
‘Matt wouldn’t give up on this place of his own free will, not after he’s poured so much of his heart into it.’ Exhaustion hit Ed like a wave and he raised his hands to rub his tired eyes.
‘Stop!’
He froze with his hands inches from his face, the bright red on his palms blurring in front of him. ‘Bloody hell!’
‘Move out of the way and I’ll turn on the taps for you.’
Ed stepped aside as instructed and the small woman hurried over and twisted the taps.
Though there was nothing funny about their current situation, he was faintly amused by the way she held her fingers under the stream of water, checking the temperature as though she was worried it would be too hot or too cold for him.
It was a simple, instinctive kindness and Ed found himself warming to her.
He still didn’t understand how she came to be living there, or where Matt was, for that matter, but she was clearly as confused as he was.
‘Thank you,’ he said when she moved out of the way and gestured for him to return.
He held his hands under the tap, wincing as the water turned blood red as it ran over his skin and down the sink.
It seemed to take an age before the water turned clear again, and although the stickiness had gone his palms were still badly stained.
He grabbed the bottle of washing-up liquid and poured out a generous amount.
He scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed again, but it made no difference.
With a sinking feeling in his gut he turned to look at the woman over his shoulder. ‘What the hell did you spray me with?’
‘It’s for self-defence, so when someone attacks me it marks them with a permanent dye. It makes them easier to trace.’ She had the grace to look slightly abashed.
‘Technically it was you who attacked me,’ Ed pointed out with a smile he wasn’t really feeling. He turned off the taps and reached for a tea towel to dry his hands. Whatever she’d used on him didn’t look like it was coming off any time soon.
‘Technically, I could call the police and report you for breaking and entering.’ The woman folded her arms across her chest, her entire posture turning defensive.
‘Technically, I didn’t break anything and I had no problem entering because I have a key.
’ Good God, why couldn’t he keep his big mouth shut?
He was too tired and too grumpy to be rational, but picking a fight wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
Ed took a deep breath and tried again. ‘I’m sorry again that I frightened you, but I’ve been travelling for the best part of forty hours and all I want to do is get to bed and try and sort all this out in the morning. ’
The woman nodded. ‘I’ve got a really busy day tomorrow so I need to get back to bed.
’ She unfolded her arms and held out her hand.
‘If you hand over your key I’ll agree to forget all about this.
You’d better give your brother a call and warn him you’re on your way over so you don’t give anyone else a fright tonight. ’
It took a few moments for his tired brain to process what she was saying. ‘You’re kicking me out?’
A noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff escaped her lips. ‘What did you think I was going to do, invite you to bed down in my spare room?’
It was on the tip of his tongue to point out that her spare room was actually his bedroom, but some tiny shred of self-preservation stopped him. ‘I can’t call Harry, I’ve lost my phone.’
The woman rolled her eyes. ‘That’s a you problem, not a me problem.’ She tipped her fingers in a gimme gesture. ‘Key, please.’
Exhaustion washed through him and suddenly Ed didn’t have an ounce of energy left to argue the toss with her.
He dug a hand in his pocket and yanked out his key ring and slapped it down on the table.
‘Help yourself.’ Without another word he marched out of the room and grabbed his suitcase from where it was still standing near the front door.
He made a point of slamming the door closed behind him.
Petty? Him? Abso-bloody-lutely.