Stanton Box Set

She frowns. “You want me to babysit Adrian.”

I smile and nod. “Exactly, thanks baby. I will make it up to you later.” I jump up and start pulling on my clothes in a hurry. I need to leave before Murph gets here. I give her a peck on the cheek and dart towards the staircase, pretending not to see her disgruntled face.

We pull up out the front of Ross’s house and both sit in silence as we weigh up the situation. I slowly get out of the car and Ben follows me up the path in silence. He’s going to be sorry and begging for mercy by the time I’ve finished with him. That’s if I don’t kill him first. I don’t know if I have ever been so furious in my life.

Knock, knock, knock.

Ross opens the door and his face lights up.

“Joshua, nice to see you.” He looks around for Adrian and I continue to glare at him. “Come in,” he gestures with his hands.

My eyes flick to Ben and I murmur the words. “Guard the door.”

We exchange nods and he steps back into his position. I walk in and close the door behind me. Time to pay, fucker.

He’s odd. I rub my eyes as I try to remember what he has just told me. Is it Adrian’s birthday or something? I hear the sound of people talking downstairs and I get up and shower. I suppose I had better get to my job, whatever that is. Fifteen minutes later I enter the kitchen to find a very annoyed Adrian speaking to Cameron.

“Well, why would he summon me over here and then frigging take off?” Oh shit, I need to think quickly.

“Hi Adrian.” I smile and his eyes flick to me.

“Hi Tash, where did your nutjob boyfriend go?”

“Um, I asked him to go and get something from the shop for me.” He and Cameron both frown at me.

“Joshua doesn’t shop, Natasha,” he snaps. Boy, he’s angry.

“Um no…I ahh…I needed something specific.” They both frown at me again. Oh shit, what am I going to say?

“Um, he went to get me my pill prescription for me.” They both frown and look at me as if I’m crazy.

“He doesn’t particularly want a baby and I told him no sex until he got my tablets for me…you know taking one for the team and all that.” Oh shit, that was the lamest excuse in the history of lying. Josh is going to kill me.

Adrian shoots his eyes to Cameron and they both burst out laughing. Cameron holds his hand up and Adrian slaps it in a highfive.

“What the hell have you done to Joshua Stanton? He’s like a fucking lovesick puppy.” He puts on a fake Aussie accent. “No sex for you, Joshua, until you get me my pills,” Adrian says to Cameron as he points his finger at him.

I roll my eyes and flick the jug on. Josh is right. I’m a totally shit liar.

Chapter 27

An hour later I hear Joshua’s deep voice echoing throughout the house. He’s home. I bound up to the bedroom to change into my swimmers which are still hanging on the towel rack in the bathroom before I go and find him. I am trying to tie up the top when I notice something on

the bottom of the shower that wasn’t there when I had a shower an hour ago. I pick it up. It’s Josh’s T–shirt. I hold it up to see why it is in the bottom of the shower and to my mortification it is covered in blood. What the hell. Who has he been fighting? I head downstairs to find out what in the hell is going on. I hear Adrian speaking outside on the phone to someone and Joshua and Cameron are in the kitchen deep in conversation. I sneak closer to try and eavesdrop. I hear Cameron’s voice rise.

“How bad is it? Do I need to go around there? Does he need a doctor?”

I try to act casual and waltz toward the kitchen. I hear Joshua’s hushed voice as I walk closer.

“Don’t tell Tash—she’ll go postal.”

Hmm, he plans on keeping it a secret. How do I play this? Adrian comes through the back door in a huff, obviously pissed off about something, and I smile and link my arm through his as we walk into the kitchen.

I walk in and smile at Josh. “Hi baby, did you get my pills?”

I kiss him on the cheek and he raises one eyebrow at me. “Your pills,” he repeats. Silence falls on the room. I do an over–accentuated nod.

“Yes you know how I needed contraceptive pills and you went to get them so we could have sex without producing an heir.” He frowns at me and I bite my lip to stifle my beaming smile. It’s so fun making him squirm.