My mouth was open but my lips and tongue would not cooperate into forming words. For every step he took towards me, I took several back, clattering back against the door, which had closed behind me.
“Aw, come on, honey. We don’t bite. Unless you want us to.” He gave me a cheeky wink as he released one of the women, stretching his hand out to me.
I shook my head, my hands fumbling for the door handle in a blind panic. I didn’t dare remove my eyes from where he was.
“Who did you come with?”
I found the door handle, falling through the open doorway. “Paul.”
He stopped in his tracks, his facial features changing in an instant. He actually wasn’t that bad looking for his age. “You’re Kyra?”
My breath caught in my throat and I nodded.
“I can see why he’s not been himself lately. Please forgive me. I’m his father, Roger.”
I gave him a weak smile as I continued to back my way to the front door.
He chuckled and followed me. “Not the best introduction.”
“I…should probably get back to the car.”
“Don’t be silly. Come in here and have a drink. Paul is talking to his mum upstairs. He’ll be down in a minute.”
My jaw dropped as I took in his words. “His mum?”
“Yes. My wife. You know, it usually takes two to make a baby.”
My eyes flashed to the kitchen door, which was slowly closing on the two women who were watching us intently.
He looked behind him and then back at me. “Ah. I’m guessing Paul hasn’t told you about our family business?”
“He said you do holidays and stuff.”
A wry smile played across his lips. “Is that what he called it?”
Leisure and entertainment I remembered were his exact words. I pieced those words together along with the fact his dad was getting it on with two women in the kitchen whilst his mum was upstairs.
Holy moly! I began to panic. They’re swingers! My eyes flickered back to Roger once the penny dropped with a mind spinning realisation.
“You just figured it out, huh?”
I nodded as I held my hands up. “I think I need to go.”
“Don’t be daft. Come on.”
“No. Really. I need to go.”
I ran back across the shiny floor, cursing my choice of wearing stupid flip-flops. Still, I’d thought it was only a car ride home. Slamming the heavy doors shut behind me, I debated taking his car since he’d left the keys in it, but I didn’t know the key code to open the gates, nor did I fancy being arrested for theft. Not tonight anyway.
I attempted to run across the gravel only for the stones to keep lodging themselves between my toes and under my feet. I stopped, ripping the useless shoes off before stepping onto the grass. Power walking my way under the darkening tree line, I tried to ignore the sound of Paul shouting to me in the distance.
“Kyra!”
I broke into a run as I tried to hide the hot tears that sprung from nowhere.
“Kyra!”
A dawning horror struck me as I realised I was in the middle of God knew where with no way of getting home. I could call Molly to come and get me but I couldn’t be doing with the interrogation. Not wanting to let this on to Paul, I marched on, determined to make my way out of those gates and keep them as a barrier between me and him.
The sound of padding on the grass behind me told me he’d caught up with me. Before I knew what was happening, he grabbed my arm, swinging me round to meet him.
“Kyra—”
I yanked my arm free, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Don’t touch me.”
“Kyra, please. I can explain—”
“Explain what? Your dad feeling up two women in the kitchen whilst your mum is upstairs?”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated? Is that what you call it? Because to me it looks like they’re swingers.”
He looked down at the floor, staying silent.
“Holidays and stuff? Leisure and entertainment? Wow, you must have really had a good giggle when I bought that one. This is your family business? That you’re supposed to be taking over?”
He nodded, avoiding eye contact with me.
“Have you been sleeping with other women whilst we’ve been sleeping together?”
His eyes flashed to mine, widening. “No.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“I haven’t. I promise. It wouldn’t normally have stopped me but—”
“I beg your pardon?”
He closed his mouth, then ran his hands over his face.
“You dirty bastard. You better not have given me AIDS or anything!” I turned from him, continuing my persistent walk to the gates.
“I haven’t. We’re all tested every three months. Everyone is monitored very closely.”
I stopped in my tracks, disbelief hitting me like a freight train. I turned round, rage oozing from every part of my body. “Oh, well, that’s okay, then. We’ll have one massive orgy because the doctor says we’re all clean. Wayhay!”
A pained expression flashed across his face as he stepped towards me. “Ky…”
Not knowing what to do with my boiling temper and sheer frustration, I threw one of my flip-flops at him and screamed at him to leave me alone.
He jumped to the side, dodging it by millimetres. “Where are you going?”
“Home. Alone.”
“Let me take you.”
“You are kidding me, right? You are fucking kidding me?”
“You’re miles from nowhere. Come on, don’t be daft. You don’t even know where you are.”
I snorted. “I know exactly where I am. At some fucked up house of horn or whatever you call it. I bet you’ve got some purple room of passion or whatever in there, haven’t you?”
He smirked at my sarcasm and shook his head.
“You know what, you were right earlier. You shouldn’t have come down to London. In fact, you shouldn’t have ever come anywhere near me. Is that what this was?” I motioned between me and him. “You wanted me in your sick little club?”
He hesitated for a second, which was all the reply I needed.
My lips curled into a snarl as I boiled over. “Well, here’s your answer!” I threw my other shoe at him, smacking him square in the face.
He barely blinked and just stood staring back at me, completely blank.
Fishing my phone from my pocket, I brought up Google Maps, which dealt me some unwanted news. I was fifteen miles from home—ten of which were these country roads. I sighed and continued my relentless march. I was not giving in.
“Kyra, let me take you home, please.”
“Let me think about that. Err…no.”
“You’ve got no other way home. Just let me make sure you get home safe.”
“If I have a choice between sharing a six-foot space with you or walking for the next eight hours, I think I’m making it obvious which one I prefer.”
He sighed. “Kyra, please, come on, be sensible.”
I whipped round, my hand reaching out and slapping him across the face before I could even think. “Leave me alone. From now on you are nothing more to me than my boss. Do I make myself clear?”
He nodded, the dimming twilight bathing half of his gorgeous face with a magical glow.
“Outside of work hours, I want nothing to do with you in any way, shape, or form. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Right now is outside of work hours so piss off back to your orgy or whatever and leave me alone.”
I blundered back into the trees, debating calling my ex, Simon, for a lift. I knew he would gladly help but he would also expect me to repay him in kind. I sighed as I walked faster, trying to take the evening chill from my skin. Part of me wanted to give in and accept Paul’s lift but my stubborn side would not allow it. I dared to look back and was partly relieved to see he’d gone.
As I tried to busy my mind from the encroaching darkness and the gnarled branches trying to reach out to me, I heard the crunch of tyres on gravel behind me. I sighed when I realised he wasn’t giving in with taking me home. I ignored him as I heard his engine rumbling away behind me.
“Kyra, get in.”
I carried on walking. The gates less than thirty feet away.
“Get in the damn car before I pick you up and put you in.”
I reached the gates, debating my options. I decided scrambling up and over the pillars was my best option.
“You can’t get out unless I let you out.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m pointing out the obvious to stop you being so damn stubborn. Get in the car, Kyra.”
I shot him a glare, which told him where to stick his idea of me getting in his car. Turning my attention back to the red pillars, I worked out a decent run up would give me enough power to jump up before climbing up and over.
I was so busy thinking about this I didn’t even register his footsteps behind me. All I felt was his arms around my stomach in a vicelike grip before he picked me up and sat me in his car.