“Stacey,” he says, breaking the silence. “What are you doing here?” He looks puzzled by my appearance, and his greeting certainly isn’t what I was expecting. I thought he may have been pleased to see me.
“Um, I just…” My voice trails off as I see someone appear at the end of the hallway, behind Jake, and my gaze travels to the figure behind him.
Recognition of who it is slowly sweeps over me.
No way.
It can’t be.
Jake wouldn’t do this to me, would he?
The figure slowly starts to move forwards and my blood runs ice-cold through my body. I freeze and take in the scene before me.
Caitlin is in Jake’s house.
Why the fuck is she in his house? I don’t understand.
Her beady eyes zone in on me and she starts to smirk. My mouth drops open and tears sting the backs of my eyes.
Don’t cry, Stacey. Don’t give her the satisfaction, or him for that matter.
I blink furiously, and my gaze travels back to Jake. Any words that I may have wanted to say to him have left me, leaving me speechless.
I can feel the blood pounding in my ears and my whole body begins to tremble.
I frantically try to think of some sort of explanation for what I am seeing, but there isn’t one.
“Trust me,” Jake whispers, breaking my frantic thoughts.
I scoff at him in response. Trust him? That’s all he has to say to me? Is he for real right now? He’s got the bitch that stabbed me in his house, and I’m supposed to trust him?
I start to slowly back down the steps until my feet hit the gravel of the driveway.
“You bastard,” I whisper back to him. They are the only words that I can say to him before I turn and run. I run as fast as I can, ignoring the pulling of my side as I pick up my pace.
The taxi that brought me here has gone. Lydia and Martin must have seen Jake answer the door and then decided that I wasn’t going to be coming back with them. I can’t blame them, I thought the same myself, to be honest.
I manage to run to the end of the road before I need to stop. I clutch my side as it aches, and I try to catch my breath. My mind races.
Why is Caitlin at his house?
It doesn’t make any sense.
I thought that Jake hated her as much as I do?
Are they back together?
That last thought alone makes tears cascade down my face. I start walking as I realise that she could leave his house at any moment and come after me.
I have my phone on me, so I try to call Lydia, but it goes to answerphone.
“Fuck,” I say out loud as I try Martin’s number instead. Martin’s phone rings but he doesn’t pick up, so I start walking in the direction of the flat as fast as I can manage.
Multiple questions enter my head on the way back to the flat, and none of them can be answered.
It takes me nearly half an hour to reach the flat and I am exhausted by the time that I get there. I climb the steps and reach the front door, banging on it loudly, hoping that Lydia and Martin didn’t stop at a bar or anything on their way home. I didn’t bring my keys with me which was a bloody stupid thing to do. I continue to bang the door, each knock louder than the last.
“Alright, I’m coming,” I hear Lydia shout from the other side. Thank God for that, she is home. She unlocks the door and I can see she is about to bollock the life out of the person banging on the door, until she sees that it is me.
“Stacey? Why aren’t you with Jake?” she asks as her eyes go wide.
“He’s a fucking bastard. That’s why I’m not with Jake.” I march into the flat, past Lydia, and go into the lounge. There is still a bit of wine left in the bottle that we had opened earlier, so I pick it up and take a swig. Lydia comes rushing in the room after me.
“What are you talking about? What’s he done?” She searches my face for an answer, but she would never guess what has happened in a million years.
“He’s got Caitlin there,” I say, taking another mouthful of wine.
“You what?” she says, frowning at my words.
“Caitlin is in Jake’s house. I saw it with my own eyes.” My whole body is trembling with shock and anger.
“Caitlin? In Jake’s house?” Lydia seems just as confused by my words as I was when I saw Caitlin in Jake’s hallway.
“Yes, Lydia. Jake opened the door, and then Caitlin was stood behind him, in the hallway.” I sigh and flop down on the chair, throwing my phone onto the coffee table as I do.
“But… But… That doesn’t make any sense.” Lydia takes a seat on the sofa and stares at me, aghast. Before either of us can say anything else, my phone starts to ring on the coffee table. We both lean forward to see who it is, but a part of me already knows that it will be Jake before I see his name on the screen. A part of me wants to hear what his explanation would be, but the other part of me is so mad that I wouldn’t trust myself to not completely lose it with him.
“Are you going to answer?” Lydia asks me.
“No. I may want to hear his excuses, but that’s all that it would be. Excuses. There isn’t any way that he can get out of this one, Lyd.” My heart plummets as the adrenaline coursing through my body starts to wear off, and the phone stops ringing. “How could he do that to me, Lyd? How could he have that woman in his house after what she has done?”
“I don’t know, Stace.” Lydia shrugs her shoulders and I can see that she is disappointed by this turn of events. She was so pleased that Jake and I were getting back on track, and now this has happened.
My phone beeps to signal that I have a text message, and I wearily lean forwards to pick up my phone. Of course the message is from Jake.
Trust me.
I scoff and put the phone back on the table. It’s the exact same words that he said to me when I was stood on his doorstep. My mind is all over the place and my heart is shattering into millions of tiny pieces.
“What is it?” Lydia asks.
“It’s a message from Jake. It just says, ‘trust me.’”
“Trust me?”
“Yeah. I mean, really, how the bloody hell can he ask me to trust him after what I have just seen? I’ve been so stupid, Lyd.”
“Oh no. There is no way that you are blaming yourself for this,” she scolds me. She knows me well and knows how my mind works.
“I thought that things were good between us, even with everything that has happened. I had fallen for him again, Lyd. I’ve fallen for him so hard, and it fucking hurts.” I choke on the last word as I let the tears spill down my cheeks.
Lydia comes over and nudges me so that I move over, allowing her to sit in the chair with me. She hugs me, but I take no comfort from it.
Jake has destroyed me. A part of me now wishes that I hadn’t remembered just how strongly I felt for him before the attack.
I may not be certain of a lot of things right now, but there is one thing that I am certain of, and that is the fact that it is going to take me a hell of a long time to get over Jake Waters.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Stacey
At some point last night, Lydia and I fell asleep on her bed. I don’t recall what time it was, I was too distraught over what I had seen earlier that evening.
My head is pounding as I groggily sit up and check the time. It is only eight-thirty in the morning. I feel awful. I am about to get up to go and get a glass of water for my dry mouth, when someone starts banging on the door. The bang on the door jolts Lydia awake and she jumps to a sitting position beside me. I look at her and wait for her to come around somewhat. The door bangs again and we both look at each other puzzled.
“Who the hell is that at this time of the morning?” Lydia asks out loud.
“No idea,” I answer. “But if it’s Jake, then he can just bloody well stay out there.” Lydia starts to get out of bed, putting her dressing gown around her as she goes.
“I’ll go and see.” With that, she plods out of her bedroom and
walks down the hallway to the front door. She disappears from sight and I strain to listen to who it is. I half expect Jake to come barrelling in here. I sit with my knees clutched to my chest, waiting to see what happens, and then Lydia’s voice breaks through the silence that surrounds me.
“Stacey, there is someone here to see you,” she shouts.
It better not be Jake. I told her I didn’t want to see him.
Reluctantly, I get out of bed. I don’t have to worry about wearing a dressing gown as I am wearing a pair of leggings and a baggy jumper. I tentatively walk down the hallway, psyching myself up as I go. I round the corner and see that there is a man stood in the doorway. It’s not Jake. It’s a guy that I have never seen before. I give Lydia a questioning look when the guy starts to speak.
“Miss Paris?” he asks me.
“Uh, yeah, that’s me.” I feel slightly nervous as I answer him.
“I’m D.C. Sykes,” he says as he flashes his police badge at me. “I’m here to speak with you regarding the incident with Caitlin Carter a couple of weeks ago. May I come in?” I nod, and Lydia moves to one side, allowing room for the officer to pass through.
My eyes go wide as he passes, and my gaze meets Lydia’s. She just shrugs at me and closes the front door.
“The door on your left is the lounge, we can sit in there,” I say, managing to find my voice. D.C. Sykes nods and leads the way to the lounge. Lydia and I follow him, and he opts to sit on the chair. I slowly take a seat on the sofa and wait to see what is about to happen whilst Lydia stands awkwardly in the doorway.
“Come and sit down, Lyd,” I say to her, and her eyes shift to D.C. Sykes as if she is looking to him for an answer. I quickly cotton on to her thinking and I ask the officer a question. “Is it okay if Lydia stays with me for this conversation?”
“Of course,” he answers. I turn to Lydia and pat the sofa beside me. She quickly sits down, remaining quiet, and I clasp my hands together to stop myself from fidgeting. “I won’t keep you long, Miss Paris, and I apologise for the early call, but there has been a development that you need to be made aware of.”
“Okay,” I answer. A development? I am intrigued, and I want to hear more.
“Miss Caitlin Carter has made a full confession about her involvement in the attack on you. We will still need a statement from you, but with her confession, she will be prosecuted anyway.” As he stops talking, I feel like all of the air has left my lungs. I’m not sure that I heard him right. Maybe I am dreaming?
“I’m sorry, did you just say that she confessed?” I ask.
“Yes. Last night. She also admitted to stalking you.”
“That’s great news,” Lydia pipes up.
I stare at the officer as I process his words.
Prosecuted.
Stalking me.
Full confession.
“I’m sure that this is a lot for you to take in, Miss Paris, especially as this is the first time that I am meeting you to discuss it.”
“Uh, yes, it is a lot to process. I was actually going to the doctors today to tell them that I have regained my full memory about everything.”
“Well, that’s good,” D.C. Sykes answers. “It must be a relief for you.”
“It is,” I say as I sit there in shock at what I am being told.
“Would anyone like a drink?” Lydia asks.
“A coffee would be great. Black, two sugars, please,” D.C. Sykes answers.
“No problem. Stace?” Lydia gives me a nudge to get my attention.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Lydia gets up and leaves the room. “Um, D.C. Sykes, I’m struggling to understand why Caitlin would come to you and confess. Didn’t she say that she stabbed me in self-defence? Why would she have a sudden change of heart? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, you would need to thank Mr Jake Waters for her confession.” Now that was not the answer that I was expecting.
“How do you mean?” My eyebrows knit together at his words.
“Mr Waters invited Miss Carter around to his house last night with the excuse that he wanted to talk to her. What Miss Carter didn’t know was that Mr Waters was wearing a wire. An officer and myself were parked close by and we were listening to the entire conversation. Miss Carter made her full confession as well as admitting to threatening you on a previous occasion, and she admitted that she has been following your movements for the last few weeks.
“Once we had acquired all of the information that we needed, we arrested her. Miss Carter is now in custody and she will remain there until she is sentenced.” Lydia returns to the room at this moment and places our drinks on the coffee table. She is unaware of what I have just been told as she sits back on the sofa, next to me.
D.C. Sykes takes a sip of his coffee as I digest what he has just said.
Jake did all of this?
He did all of this for me?
He invited that woman into his home just so that he could get a confession out of her. This is why he told me to trust him.
How could I have gotten it so wrong?
“Um, D.C. Sykes, where is Jake now?” I ask.
“He said that he would be at work if we needed to contact him further as he gave a full statement last night. I do have to say that we were a little worried when you showed up at his house. Luckily, it didn’t impact on any evidence that we obtained.”
“Oh my God.”
“What? What did I miss?” Lydia asks, clearly wondering why the hell I am asking where Jake is. I don’t answer her. I am in a daze.
Jake was setting her up. My assumptions have been way off the mark on this one.
I stand up and wordlessly, I leave the room, going to the hallway to put my trainers on. I do a quick check of my face in the mirror. I don’t look too bad, all things considered. I go to my bedroom and run a hairbrush through my hair before returning to the lounge to get my phone off of the coffee table.
I turn to D.C. Sykes. “Thanks for coming to let me know about Caitlin. I will come to the station later to give my statement, if that’s okay?”
“Sure. I will be there until five o’clock, so if you can make it before then, that would be great.”
“Will do.” I then turn to walk from the living room, but Lydia’s voice draws my attention.
“Where are you going?” she asks me.
“I just need to be somewhere.”
“Say hi to Jake for me,” D.C. Sykes says, clearly being able to read my intentions. “And tell that son of a bitch that he owes me, big time.” A massive grin spreads across his face as I nod my head. I then leave the flat, grabbing my bunch of keys on the way out. I still can’t drive my car, so I walk along the street as fast as I can. I could have asked Lydia to take me, but I need to be on my own for this. Also, with Caitlin in custody, I have no need to worry about her coming after me.
I am on autopilot as I walk to the other side of town, and I reach the Waters Industries building twenty minutes later. I walk into the foyer and march straight towards the lifts, and I get thrown a few funny looks due to what I am wearing. I guess they don’t see many girls come in here dressed in leggings and a baggy jumper, but I don’t care.
All I care about is seeing Jake.
I press the button for the lifts and one opens immediately, so I get in and press the number for Jake’s floor. Before the doors have a chance to shut, six more people get into the lift. Each one of them presses a different button and I curse the fact that they couldn’t all be going to the same bloody floor. I tap my foot impatiently as the lift keeps stopping and starting.
Once the other six have vacated the lift, I take a look at my reflection in the lift doors. My cheeks are flushed, and my hair has gone a bit fly-away from the walk here. Unfortunately, Jake is just going to have to excuse my scruffy manner today. My appearance is irrelevant right now. The urge to see him far outweighed my desire to put on make-up and nicer clothing.
The lift stops, and the doors open on Jake’s floor. I walk out and m
arch in the direction of his office doors. I walk past his PA, who is sat at her desk, talking on the telephone. She abruptly ends her phone call and shouts out to me as my hand goes to the handle of Jake’s office door.
“Oh, Miss, I’m afraid that Mr Waters is with clients. You can’t go in there.” She looks flabbergasted, and I make a mental note to apologise to her later.
“Oh yes I can,” I say, and I open his office door before she can stop me.
I walk in and see that he is sat at a large table to my left, with four other men. Jake is sat with his back to me, so he has no idea that it is me who has just barged in here. The four other men who are sat on the opposite side of the table to Jake, all look at me with wide eyes.
I just stand on the spot like an idiot, waiting for Jake to turn around.
He seems to take forever to do so, but when he does, he stands up and fixes his gaze on me. His eyebrows are slightly raised, suggesting that he is shocked to see me here. He steps around his chair and stands there, putting his hands in his trouser pockets.
He’s waiting to see what my next move is going to be.
I don’t keep him waiting long.
I start to cross the room, keeping my eyes fixed on his caramel pools. I don’t give a shit that there are other people in here. I take a few deep breaths to steady my nerves at how Jake will react. Adrenaline is spiking through my body, and I pray that he won’t tell me to leave.
The closer I get to Jake, the more I am convinced that he can hear my heart pounding.
As I reach him and align my body with his, I can feel the heat emanating from his body. He hasn’t told me to leave so far, so I take that as a good sign. I reach up both of my hands and I put one on each side of his face. I can feel the slight stubble and the softness of his skin beneath my fingertips. I push up on my feet, so that I am stood on tiptoes, and I close the space left between us.
My face tilts up and I press my lips to his. I kiss him gently to start with, unsure of whether he will tell me to stop or not, but when he doesn’t pull away from me, I move my hands to the back of his neck.
The Complete Perfect Series Page 32
