Grantley
We arrived back in the UK at just after one in the morning, with our body clocks thinking it was only 8 p.m. I knew I wouldn’t sleep for hours, so I was relieved when Barney told us Alexi had given me a midday call time. At least I might get some sleep before I had to go be Addison Yates.
“Well, that’s one fucked up story,” Barney said after I’d explained what had happened in Ohio. “What you gonna do about her?”
“Call the police.”
“Grantley,” Phoebe said, placing a hand on my arm. “You need to think about it and talk to Marcia first.”
“No, Phoebes, I don’t.”
We’d been having the very same discussion since we’d left my dad’s house. I wanted to go to the police, but Phoebe thought I should hear what Marcia had to say first. She was worried that it all coming out might hurt my career.
“There will be a huge amount of publicity, Grantley,” she said. “Is that something you need right now, especially as you’re looking for some more serious projects.”
Barney looked at us through the rear-view mirror. “Phoebe has a point. You don’t need that shit.”
“But, she can’t get away with it,” I protested.
“No one says she has to,” Barney replied. “But there’s more than one way to catch a ‘gator, and I reckon Marcia knows every fucking one of them.”
“Where does the old witch think we’ve been, anyway?” I asked.
“I told her you were on location. She’s been sleeping or drunk most of the time, so hasn’t questioned it.”
“Won’t she find it odd, us coming back at this time of night? And the fact that I’m with you?”
“You’re not going home, Phoebes.” I kissed her temple, inhaling her scent at the same time. “I want you with me.”
“Don’t worry, Phoebe.” Barney let out a deep chuckle. “I gave her a sleeping tablet with her dinner. She’ll be out for hours.”
“Oh my God, isn’t that dangerous, giving her pills with alcohol?” Phoebe asked, gripping my arm.
“So,” I snorted at the same time as Barney said, ‘No’.
“I swapped the vodka for water, she was asleep before she realized.”
Our deep laughs mingled together while Phoebe gasped.
“You two are terrible.”
“No pretty girl, she’s the terrible one. In fact, she’s the fucking evil one. I’m surprised her body didn’t go into shock with the introduction of water anyway.”
“I have to say, I’m shocked,” Barney said, shaking his head slowly, his smile over my water joke fading quickly. “Never thought she’d go this far,” he mumbled.
“It’s no big shock. She’s a lowlife drunk and junkie and nothing she does surprises me.”
When we got to the hotel, we were shocked to see Marcia waiting for us in the suite. She was pacing up and down, screaming at someone on the phone. From the conversation it sounded as though one of her clients had failed to turn up for an audition and was getting the choicest of Marcia’s language.
“I’m telling you, you little bastard, turn up for tomorrow’s audition or I will drop you quicker than a hooker drops a puss ridden cock.”
“Nice.” I grimaced at the visual and flopped down onto the sofa, pulling Phoebe down with me.
“Oh you’re back,” Marcia growled, ending the call and throwing her cell onto the coffee table. “So, what the fuck happened? Did you and Daddy Dearest have a warm and loving reunion or did you punch the twat into next week?”
Barney rolled his eyes and nodded toward Phoebe. “You want a drink, honey?”
“A tea would be lovely,” she replied.
“Anyone else?”
“Whiskey.” Marcia snapped.
“Grantley?”
“Nothing for me, thanks buddy.”
As Barney walked toward the kitchen, I turned to Phoebe. “Are you letting him make your tea? You didn’t let me.”
“Barney makes lovely tea and I don’t think you would.”
“Oh is that so?” I asked with a grin.
“Yep.”
As I watched her cute little face break into a smile, I couldn’t help but snatch a kiss. That’s how I’d been all the way home, wanting to kiss and touch her – I’d even suggested joining the Mile High Club, but she hadn’t been up for it. Good job really, because some poor bastard definitely had bad guts. It wouldn’t have been the most romantic of liaisons, me fucking Phoebe with the smell of shit permeating the air.
“Will you two quit acting like high school kids and tell me what the fuck happened.” Marcia sank down onto the opposite couch and scowled at us. “Is your dad taking the kidney?”
“Nope he isn’t.”
“The fucker feels too guilty?”
“Nope not at all,” I replied. “But it’s a long story.”
“Well go on then,” she cried, throwing her arms into the air. “Fucking tell me.”
“No fucking way?” Marcia squawked. “What a fucking cunt.”
I’d told Marcia the whole story and her reaction was pretty much what I’d expected. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head as she gripped the edges of the throw cushion on her lap. I was like a son to her, and this was momma bear about ready to rip Sue-Ann’s head off.
“Get the bitch out of bed now and throw her out,” Marcia demanded.
“That might be a problem,” Barney replied. “I gave her a sleeping pill. Didn’t want her upsetting Grant on his first night back.”
“I don’t care. Still throw her out.” Marcia threw the cushion to one side, grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the coffee table and took a long slug.
“Marcia just calm down,” I said, rubbing at my temple. “We need to decide what to do.”
“What I’ve just said, throw the fucking cock-sucking whore out.”
“Believe me, it’s tempting to do that right now, but I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Grantley wants to call the police,” Phoebe added. “But I think it might harm his career if he does that.”
Marcia stopped mid-swig of her whiskey and eyed Phoebe.
“What?” I asked.
Marcia put the bottle down, folded her arms over her chest and grinned at me.
“I do believe your little missy there has some brains.”
“I’m not stupid,” Phoebe complained, copying Marcia’s body language. “And I care about Grantley. I don’t want to see all his hard work go to waste because of his bloody, putrid mother. The publicity from this could be damaging, especially as he’s looking for more serious roles.”
“Wow, I like your thinking girly.” Marcia laughed. “She really does have balls, doesn’t she?”
Pride filled me as I watched Marcia smile at Phoebe. The woman who had done more for me than any other person, who protected me like a mother, who fought my corner when no one else was interested, actually liked my girl. I’d never given a shit before what she’d thought of past dates or girlfriends, but now that she actually seemed to like Phoebe, I realized it mattered. It only hadn’t mattered previously, because they hadn’t mattered- the women I’d dated and even lived with, weren’t important to me - not like Phoebe was.
“So, what do you suggest I do?” I asked, pulling Phoebe under my arm and hugging her to my side.
Marcia inclined her head and looked at me. “You really like this girl, don’t cha?”
“Who, this girl?” I pointed at Phoebe. “Nah, not particularly.”
“Hey you.” Phoebe slapped a palm at my stomach. “That’s not nice.”
I grinned and kissed her hard, and when I heard her let out a satisfied little sigh, ‘Little Dick’ woke up.
“Alright, alright,” Marcia groaned. “Cut it out.”
“This is what I had to put up with all the way back from the airport,” Barney offered.
Still kissing Phoebe, I gave him the middle finger.
“Grantley, stop with the damn kissing. We need to talk about your fucking mother.”
Reluctantly, I pulled away and turned to Marcia. “Okay, I’m all ears. What do you think we should do? I’d be happy to call the police, but I understand what you’re saying.”
“It’s gonna be a shit storm if you do,” Marcia said. “Because once the press finds out about this, they’ll dig into every other thing she’s ever done. They’ll get onto your prick of a father-.”
“Hey, no.” I held my hand up to stop her. “My dad is not to blame in any of this. I found a few things out over the last couple of days.”
“What, how to abandon a six-year old kid and still have him worship you? Yeah, great fucking lesson kid.”
“It was more than that, Marcia.”
“Well go on, I’m all fucking ears.”
“He’s not my dad.”
I rushed the words out, hoping that if I said them quickly enough the pain in my chest wouldn’t start up, just like it had a million times since I’d walked into his house.
“You’re fucking kidding me?”
“Seriously?” Barney asked.
I turned to him and nodded, slamming my lips together in a thin line. “Yeah Barney, seriously.”
“So what he found out and left? Still a shit trick if you ask me.”
“It wasn’t quite like that,” I replied. “He wanted to take me, but Sue-Ann said she’d get him arrested for kidnapping and threaten to tell the authorities that he abused me.”
“Wowzer, that cunt of a mother of yours just keeps getting better and better.”
“Yeah, she really does. The point is, Dad wanted to take me even though he knew I wasn’t his. She then told him we were moving to Florida with my biological dad. Social media wasn’t a big thing then, so he cut himself off from me and lost touch.”
“How you feeling, buddy?” Barney asked. “You okay with it all?”
I shrugged. “As good as I can be. It’s going to take time, but I’m positive about our relationship.”
“That’s good, real good.”
Barney looked a little shell-shocked and I knew he must have been thinking about his relationship with his own father. Their argument the day his dad died haunted him, which is why he’d always pushed for me to keep faith with Sue-Ann. I guess even he had to now admit that she was a lost cause.
“Okay,” Marcia said on a sigh. “This is what I think we should do. We don’t say anything until I try and find out about this clinic she said you’d be going in to. Then tomorrow night, when I have more information we decide what to do. If the clinic appears to be in on her fucked-up plan, well you have no choice but to call the cops. Either way, I’m getting her on a plane out of here tomorrow.” She picked up her iPad and started tapping at the screen. “I’ll sort a flight now. I take it she isn’t going First Class?”
“No way,” I replied, vehemently. “Not a chance. She can go in the hold with the animals for all I care. Or maybe put her next to the john, right where she can smell shit for the whole flight.”
“Aren’t you worried she’ll go missing, if the police become involved?” Phoebe asked.
“She’s got no money, no friends, and no fucking brains, so no,” Marcia responded, while tapping away.
“She must have some brains, to come up with this plan.”
“Either that or someone is helping her, Phoebes,” I answered. “Which is my guess. She doesn’t have the brains to pull something like this off.”
“Grantley’s right,” Marcia said. “She’s gotta be the fall guy, but I’ll find that out. There, that’s it. She’s booked on a flight. Has to be day after tomorrow, but it’s an eighteen-hour trip with two lay overs, leaving Manchester at six in the morning.”
“Nice,” I replied, giving Marcia a grin and a wink.
“And you ain’t taking her Barnabus,” she growled. “She gets a damn taxi.”
Barney shook his head. “If you say so.”
“I do,” Marcia snapped. “And if I find out you did, I’ll cut your fucking balls off and feed them to my neighbor’s dog.”
Barney and I winced as Phoebe giggled.
“And on that note,” I said. “I’m off to bed.”
“I’m not sure I’ll sleep,” Phoebe said, turning to me.
“Me either, but who mentioned sleeping?”
As Marcia and Barney groaned, Phoebe gave a sexy little moan and now ‘Little Dick’ was well and truly awake.