This Man (This Man 1)

‘Eight!’ he barks.

‘You’re supposed to meet me half way!’ The man is impossible.

‘I’ll see you at eight. ’ He hangs up, leaving me on one leg with my phone hanging from my ear. I look at my mobile disbelievingly. He can turn up at eight all he likes; I won’t be awake to let him in. And I seriously doubt Kate will be either. I sink my achy body back into my chair on a few sharp inhales of breath. I’m never running again.

‘Tom,’ I call. ‘We’re out tonight, you coming?’

He looks up with a dirty, great big grin on his baby face. ‘I shall decline graciously,’ He bows his head like the gentleman I know he’s not. ‘I have a date!’

‘Another?’

‘I can’t come. I assume you were going to ask me. ’ Victoria huffs without looking up from her drawings. I don’t dignify her sarcasm with a response, flashing my screwed up face to her back instead.

‘Yes! This one is definitely a keeper. ’ Tom nods with the biggest smirk on his face.

I leave Tom with his grin, returning to my computer. They’re all keepers.

I leave the office at six, heading straight to the shop to get some Radox and a bottle of wine, before making my way to the tube. I fight off the temptation to open the wine here and now. It’s Friday, I’m catching up with Kate tonight and spending the day with my challenging control freak tomorrow. Perfect.

I walk through the front door, finding a half-naked Sam walking out of Kate’s workshop, followed by a fully dressed Kate with a highly satisfied smile on her face.

‘Seriously?’ I splutter, as I try to direct my eyes anywhere, except on Sam’s fine physic.

He blinds me with his ultimate cheeky grin and turns to face Kate, giving me a rear view of his bare back and baggy jeaned arse. It’s then that I notice a lump of cake mixture at the nape of his neck.

‘You missed a bit. ’ I point to the offending smear of mixture.

Kate swivels Sam back around to face me and licks up the centre of his back towards his neck. He smirks at me. I laugh. What a pair of exhibitionists.

Making my way up to the flat, I hiss at the stabbing pains travelling down my legs with every step I take. I go straight to the bathroom to run the bath, pouring in half the bottle of muscle relaxing bath soak. Then I take myself to the kitchen to take care of special requirement number two; I pour myself and Kate a glass of wine. I gasp my appreciation as I take my first sip.

Five minutes later, I’m flinging every garment in my underwear drawer over my shoulder in a panic. ‘KATE!’ I know I put them in here, so where the hell are they? If this is Sam’s idea of a joke, I’ll wring his fucking neck!

Kate breezes into my room. ‘I’ve turned your bath off. What’s up?’

‘My pills,’

‘What about them?’

‘They’re gone,’ I turn an accusing eye on her. ‘I can’t believe you let Sam in here. ’

Her eyes widen. ‘I didn’t let him in. And anyway, your pills weren’t in there. I would have seen them. ’

I let out a frustrated yell and proceed to turn the rest of my drawers inside out and upside down. I know I put them in here. ‘Shit!’

‘Chill out, you can get some more. Are Tom and Victoria coming?’

I scoop up the contents of my underwear drawer and stuff it back in. ‘I already did that. And no, they both have dates. ’

‘Your organisation skills are shocking. ’ she moans tiredly. She’s right, they are, but I manage fine at work. It’s the personal side of my life that suffers. ‘Oh, is it Victoria and Drew’s date tonight?’ Kate looks at me with wide, blue eyes.

‘Yes!’ I meet her wide eyes with my own.

‘It’ll never work. Hurry up in that bath, I need a shower. ’

I grab my wine and head for the bathroom.

The water is glorious, and I wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner. I shave everywhere, and then reluctantly pull myself out before downing my wine and brushing my teeth.