Fury - Page 78

“Yeah. I…err…. I just came to talk to you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Indie. I went to the Dog on the Tyne first,” I continued.

“So, why are you here?”

He didn’t want to know. I shouldn’t have come. I should have just forgotten about it all. About the feelings that raced through me every time I woke up. About the enormous hole in my chest. About the feeling of loss, much bigger than losing my father.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”

I turned, retreating through the hallway as quickly as possible. My cheeks burned with heat; my eyes burned the same. Footsteps thundered behind me, heavy boots picking up speed. I knew it was him. I knew he was coming after me. But I couldn’t turn just yet. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the tears to back the fuck off. I didn’t cry. Not in front of the man who didn’t want me anymore. The man I’d left behind and then swooped back in, hoping to pick up where I’d left off. I was an idiot, stubborn, hot-headed. But I recognised when I’d made a mistake. Only now, that was too late.

Fingers wrapped round my arm.

“Heidi,” his voice was brusque.

I stopped. But I didn’t turn around. Not of my own accord. Those fingers squeezed a little tighter, a tug on my arm and then a pull, till I stood in the hallway, one end blocked by the door and the other by Fury’s vast frame.

“I’m sorry,” I started, staring up into those dark eyes, over that beautiful face, my heart leaping in my chest.

He smelled good. A hint of leather, soap, mint and that light aftershave he always wore, the tiniest of spices mixed with something flowery, much too gentle for him.

“Heidi,” he said again, his voice softer now. “What are you doing here?”

“I dunno. I just thought….”

“That you’d just turn up after running away.”

“I didn’t…”

“You did, Heidi. You upped and left. Vanished. I looked for you. Went to your hotel, in case you’d gone back there and changed your mind. I waited for you. Hoped for you.”

“I’m sorry. I was scared, Fury. And now Gordon’s charged, and the investigation is complete, I have nothing to be scared about.”

“He’s on bail, Heidi. He can still come after you.”

“Why would he? The Police were the ones to find the evidence, not me. They found the Wills, family members are testifying. I’m nothing to do with it anymore.”

“If you’d asked Heidi, I would have run with you. I would have come. But you didn’t ask. You just ran. And now you’re back like you can just pick up from where you left it. Doesn’t work like that, doll.”

I bit my lip, focussing on the pain rather than his words. I knew all this. I knew there was a risk coming back here, that maybe he had moved on, changed his mind.

“That woman in there,” I watched him, watched his eyebrows pull together in the middle. “That’s who you are with now?”

Fury scoffed, not quite a laugh.

“That woman in there is my sister, Heidi. Jasmin. There is no other woman. There was only you. And you left.”

“So, what now?” I asked.

“What now? You expect to waltz in here and expect everything to go back to how it was? I mean, if you want a fuck, then I don’t mind getting my end away. But that’s all it was, anyway, wasn’t it?”

I bit my lip, the burn back behind my eyes, and this time my throat was swelling with it.

“I’m sorry I came.” I shrugged my arm from his grasp.

Then I left again. Striding towards the front door, not looking back, wrenching it open and out onto the street. The steps from the door onto street level slowed me as I negotiated each steep stone ledge, and then I was on the path. The taxi was long gone, the street deserted apart from a few battered parked cars, Fury’s truck and a scatter of Harley’s nestled against it. I kept walking, never looking back, tears falling down my cheeks. Big, treacherous, salty tears streaking my face and clouding my vision. But not my hearing. An engine revved behind me, wheels squealing to a stop, hands grabbing me. I looked around, my head wheeling from side to side, my eyes not focussing properly, wet from tears and blind from fear. Masked faces, grabbing me, moving me, lifting me. I might have screamed. I wasn’t sure. But something heavy hit the back of my head. Confusion. Pain. Black.