Getting a Life (New City Series Book 4)

by Stefanie Simpson

  Rebecca urged him off her. She lay flushed and breathless, and she reached for him. “Let me return the favour. Will you show me how?”

  Arthur finished undressing as she watched and slipped to the floor as he sat. “You don’t have to…” He swept her hair to the side as he watched her perfect mouth open and slid her mouth over his cock.

  He gripped the bed with his free hand. There was nothing sweeter than the feel of her tongue gliding over and tasting him.

  “Rebecca,” he groaned, closing his eyes as she sucked.

  She let him go. “Is that all right?”

  “Perfect.”

  She smirked and explored him with her hands and tongue. She felt around his balls, and he lay back, letting her play with him. Her fingers teased him everywhere, tormenting him.

  “Suck me, please.” He couldn’t take it the torture of it.

  Wetting his lips, Arthur gazed at her face as she fingered the precum and cautiously tasted it. Her eyes met his, and he wanted to laugh at the desire in them.

  “Minx.”

  Her mouth descended, and she sucked, mouth tight, taking him as hard and deep as she could until he hit the back of her throat.

  The draw of orgasm didn’t take long, pulling up from his feet, down his spine, pleasure spiralling until hot cum hit her mouth. He cried out and shuddered.

  She made a surprised sound and stilled, she swallowed and licked him as he came down. When she released him, she stared.

  “Are you all right?” He reached for her.

  She climbed up and lay over him. “Yes, I liked it, but it tastes weird,” she whispered and giggled.

  Arthur laughed as she snuggled into him.

  Later, when they got around to unpacking, she put the two framed photos she had on a side table. Where they belonged.

  On Monday, Rebecca went to work, bleary-eyed and not in the mood for rashes and inoculations or Mr Palton who always came in and chewed her ear off for an hour.

  Gladys – the senior administrator, and Dot – the receptionist and seventy, if a day – looked her up and down as Rebecca brought them their cups of tea while she stifled a yawn.

  “What’s this?” Dot eyed her.

  Rebecca yawned again. “What?”

  “Have a good birthday then?” Gladys asked in a thick Jamaican accent.

  Rebecca liked Gladys. She had a strong motherly way about her but took no shit from anyone. Her kind of strength was something Rebecca longed for, and she clung to it. Not that unlike Stella.

  Dot narrowed her all-seeing eyes. “Oh, I think it was, by the lack of sleep she got.”

  Rebecca felt herself burn and sipped her tea.

  Nav, one of the trainee GPs came in. “What’s this?”

  “Rebecca had an interesting weekend.”

  “Ooh, birthday girl, do tell.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  “I bumped into Arthur.”

  Everyone stared. She’d told them about him on a works-do a few months ago and cried.

  “Oh my days.” Nav sat down.

  “Yeah.”

  “And?”

  “It was a setup. He never thought I’d stolen anything and thought I’d left. I moved in with him.”

  No one spoke for five minutes.

  “What’s going on?” Dr Michaels asked. The main doctor, he was a sod but needed to be.

  “Rebecca bumped into Arthur,” Nav said.

  “No, really?” He scowled down at her and the light reflected off his head. “Anyway, get the phones switched on.”

  Everyone went to work.

  Arthur picked her up at six. He sat in the waiting room while she was finishing up in the office and nearly fell over herself when he stood up.

  “Hi.” He beamed, and her legs went weak.

  She turned, and everyone watched. Gladys with her brows raised, Dot squinting, and Nav with a knowing smile.

  “Anyway.” She drew the word out.

  “Oh no,” Gladys said, “Introduce us.”

  “Fine. Everyone this is Arthur, Arthur these reprobates and troublemakers are my colleagues.”

  “Delighted.”

  “Hmm.” Gladys looked him up and down. “We’ll see.”

  “Gladys!”

  “I’m looking out for you, you’re too innocent.”

  “I doubt that,” Nav mumbled, and Rebecca stuck her fingers up at him. “See.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Arthur chuckled to himself as they went to the car park.

  “What?”

  “I like that they care about you.”

  “They’re nice.”

  They sat in the den after dinner and watched TV. Rebecca curled up next to Arthur, his hand absently running up and down her arm and she jumped when her phone rang.

  She stretched and picked it up before dropping it.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “No. I’m not answering it. I won’t let anything ruin this.” Yet her phone kept ringing.

  Arthur picked it up as a tear fell down her face. “Kathy, who’s Kathy?”

  “I can’t Arthur, I can’t.” Her legs went from under her, and she collapsed onto the settee. The name of her family liaison officer froze her heart.

  “Let me.”

  She nodded, hand over her mouth.

  “Hello.”

  Her heart pounded in the silence as her ears rang and she sank lower as he spoke.

  “I am, yes. I found her. No.” Moments of quiet punctuated his words. “I see.”

  He sighed and handed the phone over, and she drew in a breath to steel herself in and took the phone. The familiar voice went through her. The past she’d put behind her hovered on her tongue and in her throat.

  “Rebecca?”

  “Yes.” She forced the word out and nearly vomited at the sound of her liaison officer’s voice.

  “I’m sorry to call you out of the blue. I’m surprised you gave me your new number, but I’m glad you did.”

  “Is it Mark?”

  Kathy cleared her throat. “D.I. Edwards got in touch with me, Ashley is in some trouble.”

  Her cousin, the reason she was attacked and had to testify. Anger, hurt and fear clawed through her at the sound of the name.

  “What?” Her strangled voice caught in her throat.

  “She was attacked.”

  “What has it got to do with me?”

  Arthur took her hand, and it centred her.

  “You’re named as her next of kin, and she’s asked for you.”

  “This is a joke. Me? After what she did?”

  Kathy sounded weary on the phone. “I know, and I told Ashley you’d not be interested, but she’s ready for things to change.”

  “No, they’ll pull me back. I can’t.”

  Arthur’s voice made her jump, and she looked up, her vision blurred, and a tear fell with her heart empty and numb. “I’ll come with you.”

  She trembled as she stared, horror inching up her legs through her body. As she looked at him, her panic lessened. She was safe.

  Safe. Such a small word for such a big thing.

  “How bad is it?”

  “She’s in hospital. There’s a lot you don’t know about what’s happened since you left.”

  “I don’t want to.” She handed the phone to Arthur.

  Rebecca stood and stumbled to the little downstairs bathroom and threw up, retching loudly.

  “Are you all right? Silly question.” Arthur joined her a little later.

  She waved behind her, and he gathered her hair up and helped wash her face when she was done.

  He picked her up and carried her to bed, and she fell into the cool sheets in a daze.

  “Talk to me.”

  She shook her head.

  “Hey. We’re in this together. Both of us. It matters, and I need to know where you are so I can help. Cling to me.”

  With a sigh, she shifte
d to look at him. “I hate them all. Not because I’m angry and betrayed at people I love, but because they were selfish and cruel. How dare she do this after everything? Going back… I swore I’d never.” Her voice broke, and Arthur held her.

  “I’ll be with you, you’re not alone, never again.”

  Rebecca barely slept and rang work in the morning.

  They drove up to Manderly after packing, subdued and uneasy, and as familiar roads and infrastructure came into view, memory flooded. There was no glaze or nostalgia, but old fear and hurt.

  They booked into a chain hotel on the motorway turn off and headed to the hospital.

  Arthur had all the information from Kathy, and they met her at the ward during visiting hours.

  “Thank you for meeting us.” Arthur held Rebecca around the waist so she wouldn’t fall.

  “You’re technically still my case, so it’s good for continuity I work with Ashley too. Rebecca? You okay?”

  All the blood fell out of her head, but she wasn’t sure where it went as she didn’t feel her legs. She started sweating. “I…”

  “It’s okay, Arthur is with you, and I’m with you. Ashley is in no state to hurt you, and there is no one else here. Tracy is in custody.”

  “Tracy?” Rebecca blinked.

  “As I said, a lot happened.”

  “Mark didn’t do it?”

  “No.”

  “Is Mark not in prison, is he free?”

  Kathy levelled a flat expression at her.

  “Oh my god. We have to go, we have to go.”

  “Mark is sober.”

  Rebecca sneered. “That doesn’t erase what he did, and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m safe. How dare you. Let’s get this over with so I can leave.”

  In her heart, she knew Ashley was merely a person conditioned into that life and was her once, but it was hard to separate it out. The room spun, and for the first time, Rebecca thought that maybe she wasn’t as okay as she thought.

  Ashley lay in bed, looking as she ever did, but older and weary. She opened her eyes at the movement around her. “You came.”

  Rebecca said nothing. Kathy stepped back, and Arthur moved the bench, so they could sit.

  Ashley fidgeted in the silence. “I wanted to say some things to you, and I glad you’re here. I’m sorry. For what I did, and it doesn’t make it right, but I regret it every day. Though I got mine.”

  “So I see.”

  “Mark got clean when he was inside, and even Tracy seemed to be sorting herself out, but it didn’t last. I went to see him a few times, and when he got out, he moved back in. Your dad-”

  “That man is not my father,” Rebecca said through clenched teeth.

  Ashley opened and closed her mouth. “He’s not doing well inside. Tracy stopped going to see him and started using again. Things got strained. Mark and her kept fighting, and I was in the middle. I said to him we should leave. We were together.” She chewed her lip.

  Rebecca watched her with a cold unease and fought the impulse to run. Sweat prickled on her back.

  “Tracy was drunk, and we all had a few beers.”

  She knew Ashley meant they were off their faces on the strongest and cheapest shit they could afford. She remembered it well.

  “Mark was skint, and he started dealing again. Staying sober was hard. We got into a fight, and he hit me, not the first time, and Tracy got involved. It’s like I really saw what it was, and I was trapped by it. I started to understand what it was that I’d done. I thought about you.”

  “Ashley, I’m sorry about what happened. I am. But why should I care? Hmm? Why should I do anything for you? After what you did to me? No.”

  “I want what you have. A better life.” She choked. “You got out, got money, everything.”

  Rebecca leant forward, pushing back her fury. “I worked for it. I yelled and kicked and forced my way out. You know what, there were people all around me, poor, working-class people that I envied because all I wanted was to be safe. I’ve been very lucky, but here’s the difference, I didn’t use and hurt people along the way. You didn’t have to be like them, but you were.”

  “Not everyone has a choice. I wasn’t strong enough.”

  Rebecca leant back. “Sorry. You’re right.” She folded her arms.

  “Help me get out. I can’t go back. Mark is siding with his mum. She’s been charged. Mark is still in the house. I can’t go back. Can’t.” Ashley closed her eyes.

  Rebecca covered her mouth and understood. “Arthur.”

  “We’ll take her with us.”

  At the hotel, Arthur watched her. Slow-burning unanswered anger lay under her in a way he’d never seen. He worried. “Talk to me.”

  “I can’t do this. I’m allowed to not be strong.”

  He knelt in front of where she sat, taking up her hands. “Your strength is beautiful but quiet. You don’t have to do anything. I can do this and be there for you.”

  “Go on.”

  “If we take her, he’ll follow. He will. His license is up, he can go where he wants. Let me speak to a solicitor and ask about a court order to keep him at bay from the two of you.”

  “It’s not that easy. As far as the law is concerned, it’s a done deal. He’s served his time and is all better.” She shook her head, balling her fists into his big, comforting hands.

  “Well, I can ask, right? If we can help Ashley and she’s with us, that helps you as well.”

  “I don’t know if we can trust her, and I don’t know if I want her in our lives.”

  “What about ARC? Can they help like they helped you?”

  “Danni might help, she was amazing when I contacted her.”

  “Okay, then you do that. I’ll speak to my solicitor. We won’t have her in the house, we can find her a place, and keep you both safe. Trust me. Are you okay?”

  “No. Arthur I’m not. I was so sure I was fine but coming back I see how bad it was. I feel it. All the times when I was made to feel like shit in Chadford are nothing to this. I know objectively what I feel and why, but the reality of it is too much.” She looked at the ceiling.

  “Then when we get home I think you should get some help.” He cupped her face.

  “Arthur, make me feel better.” She pulled at his shirt. “Make it go away for a while.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  Frustration and anger warred across her face. “Give me this.”

  He nodded, barely moving his head, and she kissed him hard with greedy tongue and firm lips, he gave in to her rough and angry need, and he let her take. She pulled at his clothes, and he soothed her, but she didn’t want to be soothed as they fell to the floor.

  Her face was red and set, her teeth nipped his mouth. She straddled him, eyes locked as she slid down onto him. He lay, holding her hips as she rode him furiously, fingers digging into his chest.

  She threw her head back. “It’s not enough.”

  He flipped her over and brushed her hair from her face. Settling her leg high, holding it up as he leant on an elbow, he nodded before taking her hard. She clawed his back, teeth biting into his shoulder as he let go. He held nothing back. His knees burnt on the carpet, sweat broke out, and she was sad and beautiful.

  Her vice-like grip squeezed as she came, and he roared as he followed.

  Collapsing on her, he held her and whispered how much he loved her. When she cried, he withdrew and picked her up and took her to bed.

  “I love you too,” she whispered and fell asleep in his arms.

  Twenty

  pothole

  “You don’t have to do this.” Arthur put their cases in the car boot.

  “It’s fine.” She slid into the car and turned to him. Her stomach turning. “Really. It’s okay.”

  He kissed her and started the car.

  They ended up staying for more than two hours before Ashley was discharged, and they sat in a reception loung
e waiting for the papers and medications in awkward silence.

  “Do you want a tea?” Arthur’s soft smile nearly made her cry.

  “Please.”

  He went to the café around across the corridor for drinks when she felt the prickling in her spine. She turned to the lifts behind them as they opened and saw him. Mark.

  Young-old. A hard life of waste and dissipation had aged him. Ashley made a noise and virtually crawled up the wall.

  Rebecca stood, her body working independently of her mind.

  Mark’s eyes went to his, and then to Rebecca. The tattoo on his neck still visible.

  She nearly threw up.

  “Well, there you are.” He looked her up and down.

  No one spoke or moved.

  Rebecca was sure she was still breathing but didn’t feel her body, and then as she stared at him, he seemed so much smaller than she remembered. The monster that plagued her through her early teens was nothing.

  “Why are you here?” Her voice was flat.

  “Hey, Becky.”

  “What do you want?”

  Next to her, Ashley reached for Rebecca’s hand, cold and shaking.

  “I think you know. You did a bad thing, we could’ve been so fun, but you, you had to fuck everything up and be a little goody two shoes, but bitch, that’s not how it’s going to be now. And to think, I just came for her, but I get the two of you? My lucky day.” He looked Rebecca up and down.

  She stared, the words hovering on her tongue of all the things she wanted to say to him and didn’t when she was too young to know how. How often in life would she get to say the unsaid? The closure and last word. All she saw was hate and cruelty and danger that lurked, but the girl he knew was gone; she wasn’t weak.

  That version of Rebecca was buried in the past. She was different. Stronger. Loved, and she loved. She found kindness again, sweetness. She’d found what she needed.

  “Leave. Leave us alone and don’t come back. I am not yours. I was never yours. These are the consequences of your actions, not mine. You are nothing other than a weak man child, pissing on things you own to ruin them, but not me. Never me. You can’t have her either. There’s nothing for you here.” It wasn’t the clever tirade that would leave everything neat, but the power was in her eyes; in the cold, hard stare she gave him with her back straight and heart steady in defiance. She refused to cower again.