Right then...lets see what happens next, shall we? :) ...
Pete stared down at Allie for a long moment, the pain ripping through his chest making him feel sick.
I don't love you.
He'd by some miracle survived a coma but he was almost certain that hearing those words come out of her mouth again would more than likely kill him.
"You don't mean that," he whispered to her, shaking his head and ignoring the tremors he could feel shooting up through his arms as he held himself above her.
"Please, don't make this harder, Pete," she sobbed, pushing at his chest. "Just go,"
"I'm not leaving you," he told her.
"I'm not giving you a choice," Allie shot back, looking up into his eyes with so much pain in her own that he had to fight not to look away. "This…" she gestured around them with another sob. "Pete, it's over."
"No," he told her, his voice coming out louder than he thought it would and echoing through the tub. "You're not doing this. It's a fucking joke, Allie, nothing happened, why the fuck can't you believe me?"
"How can I trust you right now?" she whispered. "Your own brother think's you're lying so how the hell can I…"
"Because it's me," he told her through gritted teeth. "You know me, yeah? You know me better than anyone else, just like if this situation was the other way around, I wouldn't even think twice about…"
"Oh don't you dare make yourself into the martyr here," Allie snapped through her tears. "You'd go fucking insane if this situation was the other way around and if you actually have the audacity to tell me otherwise then you're really not the man I thought you were."
"Alright, fine," Pete laughed bitterly. "I'd hit the fucking roof and I'd probably beat the bloke to shit, but y'know something?" he narrowed his eyes at her. "I'd get over it pretty quickly n' all because I know you. And at the end of the day that's what matters here,"
"Ok, say I believe you," she shrugged. "Say that for one second I'm a big enough mug to think you're not bullshitting me…what were you doing at Shannon's house?"
"Gemma," he blurted out, not thinking.
"What?" Allie narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess, you're shagging her as well?"
"Shut up," Pete hissed, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out the other interesting bit of paper work he and Shannon had come across last night.
"Look at this," holding it over her face, he watched her bright green eyes scan over the paper quickly. "D'you know what this is?"
"It's a house in Portugal," she shrugged. "What the hell does that have to do with-…?"
"It's Gemma's house in Portugal," Pete told her. "Or at least it will be once the £50,000 deposit goes through,"
"Oh, so Steve and Gemma are moving abroad?" Allie sighed. "Oh so that's why Shannon was upset and ended up sleeping with you," she laughed and slapped her forehead. "Gosh, why didn't you say so before? I mean, what's a quick round of comfort sex between in laws?"
Pete shook his head and started laughing, much to her annoyance.
"You think this is funny?" she hissed.
"No, you fucking idiot," he laughed. "I'm not laughing at the situation, I'm laughing at you…I swear to God, how the fuck I put up with you sometimes,"
"You're turning this on me?" she snapped. "You really are a piece of work, y'know that?"
"You and me both sweetheart," he smirked at her, shaking his head again before tightening his hands on her wrists when she tried to get up again. "Do yourself a favour and quit the drama queen act, will ya? This'll take a lot less time if you shut your trap for two minutes,"
"We found two tickets last night," Pete sighed. "One for Gemma and one for some bloke who we've never fuckin 'eard of before. They're one way tickets, so whenever she's goin', she ain't plannin' on coming back."
"Am I supposed to give a shit?" Allie raised an eyebrow.
"That's what we were doing last night," he shook the piece of paper emphatically. "We weren't doing…that," he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "We weren't even really talking and when we were, d'you what we were talking about?" he stared at her.
"We talked about you, about how much I'd changed since I've been with you, about how happy you make me, about how Shannon's actually fuckin' jealous of us for having the one thing she wants,"
"But you-…"
"Shut up," Pete snapped at her. "I went to see 'er behind your back to get 'er to piss off. I didn't want 'er messing around with you again, especially not now we've got Poppy to worry about as well. When I got round there, she was pissed out of 'er tree, alright? She starts dropping bottles and falling all over the place so I couldn't just leave 'er. So we started talking and yeah, alright, we drank as well and that's when we found this," he pointed to the paper in his hand. "So we kept looking for shit on Gemma, I know Shannon was doing it because she wants Steve back but personally, I just can't deal with seeing my brother get fucked over by two different women in a space of a year."
"I don't…"
"I said shut up!" Pete snapped. "It got to about three in the morning and we crashed. Not in bed, not even on the sofa but in the middle of a pile of glass on the fuckin' living room floor. Steve walks in to drop Ben off, sees us and flies off the handle," he looked at her seriously. "How many times have you come in from work and found Lara lying asleep with her 'ead on my shoulder drooling all over me?" he laughed. "Nothing ever 'appened then, so why the hell would this be different?"
Allie started up at him, her eyes unreadable as she swallowed hard and bit her lip.
"I'm trying to 'elp Shannon sort out 'er family, not fuck up my own," he told her earnestly. "Allie, you and Poppy…you're everything to me." His voice cracked slightly and he looked away from her obviously embarrassed. "Last night, Shannon was showing me all these old photos of 'er and Steve and in this box, there was one of you and me at their wedding. And she asked me, if someone 'ad said to me that night that four years down the road, I'd be married to you with a kid, what would I have said?"
"What did you say?" Allie whispered, still not looking at him but her tone was much softer.
"I told her that I probably would 'ave shit my pants and run away screaming like a girl," he smirked down at her watching as the corners of her mouth tugged up slightly into an almost smile. "I was 22 and lookin' to get laid, marriage was pretty far from my mind..."
"And then I just told her I loved you." he shrugged. "I ain't exactly good with words, especially when it comes to all that touchy feely bollocks, but…" Pete sighed and shifted slightly, his arms were staring to ache but he couldn't move off of her yet for fear that she'd get up and do a runner.
"I didn't really care about family or being with someone before I met you," he told her. "I 'ad girlfriends but it was mostly about getting laid, none of the rest of it mattered,"
Allie's eyes darkened and he realised that maybe this wasn't the best way to go about making her understand, although the smaller part of his brain was doing a little happy dance over the fact that regardless of whether she'd just tried to kill him with a bottle of bubble bath, she still felt enough for him to get bothered by the thought of him with other girls.
"My point is," he told her, moving on swiftly. "Is that I changed when I met you because you were too good for me at the time. I didn't know how to be with girls like you…girls that actually had an IQ higher than their bra size, girls that knew how to piss me off and didn't mind doing it, girls that had the ability to make me search the 'ole of fucking Kensington for a café just so I could talk to 'em."
Against her will, Allie smiled, remembering that day he had come to find her in Sloane Square, his handsome face holding the same cocky grin he always had as he stared through the window at her.
"The night of Steve and Shannon's wedding…I remember looking at you talking to my mum, to Dave, dancing with Shannon…getting me and Steve up to dance and trust me, that was a fucking feat and a half…we Dunham's take pride in our inability to form any kind of rhythm."
She giggled softly and the sound made his heart swell.
"I remember looking down at you on that dance floor, you 'ad that green dress on and you looked so perfect, even when I was treading your feet into the ground and I knew, I knew right then and there that any hope I 'ad of getting out of this unscathed was long fucking gone,"
He leant down and rested his forehead against hers, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't pull away or try to hit him.
"And then when I told you I loved you and we were together for the first time," he closed his eyes and bit back a groan remembering how she had felt underneath him, the love mixing with the lust in her eyes as the soft moan of his name on her lips echoed through the room when he had pushed inside her for the first time.
"I knew that there was no way I could go the rest of my life without that," he felt his insides tighten as his mind replayed the night over and over. "How the hell could you think for a second that I would risk any of that?" he asked her fiercely.
"I just…" she sobbed quietly, shifting in the bottom of the bathtub and staring up at him. "I didn't know what to think…I got scared, I thought you didn't want me anymore."
Pete shook his head and tightened his grip on her wrists, meeting her gaze head on so she could see the determination in his eyes.
"There isn't anyone else I could ever want," he hissed. "You're it, you fucking idiot. I'm in love with you; the only person I ever want that with is you."
"Steve made it sound like you were…"
"Of course he did," Pete snorted. "He's a prick. If that'd been me I wouldn't 'ave walked out…at least not without killing someone first,"
"Why didn't you just tell me this before?" Allie asked him with a frown. "You let me think that…"
"Oi," Pete snapped. "I didn't let you think fuck all, you were too busy throwing shit at me and smashing up people's cars to listen to what I 'ad to say,"
"You're not seriously blaming this on me?" she snorted, glaring at him.
Oh fuck, he thought. Just when it had looked like they were getting somewhere…
"Allie," he shook his head.
"I thought you were cheating on me," she shouted. "And you're going to sit there and tell me that it's my fa-…"
She was cut off when Pete rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath as he reached up and switched on the cold tap, causing a torrent of cold water to hit her in the face.
"Fuck!" she shrieked as shoved him off of her, sitting up too quickly and smacking her head on the faucet.
Against his will, Pete laughed, quietly at first then louder until he fell back against the far end of the bathtub, holding his stomach.
"Are you…" he looked up at the blonde, her hair plastered to her head, her white dress shirt sticking to her chest as she rubbed her hand gently over her forehead. "Are you alright?" he started laughing again.
"Piss off," she muttered, glancing at her hand to check for blood from her head before attempting to pull herself out of the tub. "What the fuck are you playing at?"
"You punched me in the nose," he shot back. "And you wouldn't fuckin' shut up, I 'ad to do something,"
"And you thought drowning me would be the answer?" she snapped, slipping and grabbing onto his leg for support.
"Oi," Pete chuckled lightly, grabbing her hips and pulling her down to him so that she was straddling him, her hands pressing against his chest as she stared at him warily. "Come 'ere,"
He picked a soaking wet strand of hair off of her face and tucked it behind her ear, his hand cupping her face and wiping away the tears which had mixed indistinguishably with the water from the tap.
"You're a right fuckin' liability, you are," he grinned at her, the same cocky grin he'd worn the first time she'd laid eyes on him. "What the fuck is wrong with you, eh? I thought I was meant to be the mentally unstable one in this relationship," he laughed.
"Do you think if I go back to bed and sleep for a while, when I wake up there'll be a possibility that none of this happened?" she asked, still rubbing her head.
"Nah," he shook his head. "But there is one way to fix all this…"
"Yeah?" she snorted. "How?"
"Tell me you believe me," he whispered with a shrug. "Tell me that we're ok and that this is as stupid as it feels,"
Allie stared at him for a long moment, feeling utterly stupid. How the hell could she have blown this more out of proportion if she tried?
Biting her lip, she reached out and traced the fast developing bruise around his eye with her fingertip.
"I believe you," she nodded. "And I don't hate you," she told him quietly, making him laugh again.
"I should fuckin' well hope not after all this," he gestured to the war zone that was their bathroom and then to his eye. "Where the hell did you learn to punch like that anyway?"
"I watched Million Dollar Baby with Dave and Swill," she shrugged. "There must be a lot of subliminal messaging in there,"
"I blame my brother for this," Pete told her, leaning his head back in the bath and grimacing as he felt the water pooling underneath him.
"Yeah, I do too, funnily enough," she snorted. "I guess one divorce is never enough in your family, huh?"
"Nah, its just Steve," Pete smirked. "He always was a bit of a drama queen,"
She laughed and played with the buttons on his shirt, wrinkling her nose when she realised that he'd been wearing the same clothes for 48 hours now.
"So does he know?" she met his eyes. "About Gemma?"
"No," Pete sighed. "How the hell are we meant to tell him now?" he snorted. "Ere, bruv, good news that you got the wrong end of the stick with me and Shannon, bad news is we worked out that your birds been cheating on you,"
"It's a mess," Allie shook her head.
"It's a fuckin' disaster," Pete rubbed her forehead gently, trying to ease the red mark which was coming up. "Why can't anything ever be simple with us?" he looked up at her as she raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Nah, I'm fuckin' serious; every time we're 'appy someone comes along and fucks it up. First it was your cunt of an ex-boyfriend, then Matt, now Steve," he shook his head. "Next person who pisses me off or tried to fuck with us, they don't get the benefit of the doubt. I'm just gonna kill 'em."
"I love you," Allie told him. It was somewhat out of the blue but she needed to say it; she needed him to hear it. "More than anything, you know that, don't you?"
"So I'm not a worthless piece of shit?" he raised an eyebrow. "Or the biggest mistake of your life?"
Allie closed her eyes and cringed, the moment those words left her mouth in a fit of pure fury coming back to her.
"Can we make a rule that you don't listen to anything I say when I'm angry?" she smiled tightly. "I didn't mean that, I just…" she rolled her eyes. "It was either yell stuff I didn't really mean to hurt you or mow you down with my car,"
"And the Porsche is too nice to get blood all over it, yeah?" Pete smirked.
"Exactly," Allie told him. "See, I knew there was a reason I loved you,"
Laughing up at her, Pete pushed himself up so that she was sat in his lap and gently brushed his lips over her forehead.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest, not being able to recall another time in her life when she felt this stupid. "I'm so sorry,"
"I know," Pete told her, kissing her nose gently. "And I love you, too," smirked. "Even if you are a right fuckin' psycho when you're angry,"
She smiled and leant into him, inhaling the smell of his skin and closing her eyes for a long moment. Who the hell was she kidding packing her bags and threatening to leave? There was no way in hell she could ever live without this man.
"Come on," Pete nudged her upright, placing his hands on her hips and lifting her slightly. "Let's get you out those clothes before you catch pneumonia or something, the last thing I need after a day like today is the stress of figuring out where to hide your body," he joked. "I'll take you down to the doctors anyway," he frowned. "I want that checked out," he pointed to her forehead. "It wouldn't surprise me if you've gone and given yourself concussion, I mean did you 'ear the fuckin' thud that came outta that tap when you smacked it? It sounded worse than that time Bovver cracked his-…"
Pete jumped slightly when Allie shoved him back down into the bathtub, her hands pressing against his chest as her mouth attacked his, slowly at first, taking her time as she tasted him and then getting more impatient, her tongue brushing over his equally eager lips.
He let out a groan of frustration when she pulled away, his eyes widening and the muscles in his throat working over time as she reached down and quickly unbuttoned her white shirt, shrugging it off of her shoulders and tossing it across the bathroom.
"What're you…" he shook his head, trying to regain control of his body as she ran her hands up over his stomach to his chest.
"Saying sorry," she smiled, picking up his hand and gently kissing his fingers.
Pete's eyes darkened as his eyes swept up and down the smooth body he knew so well, the pale pink lace of her bra setting off the alabaster tone of her skin which hadn't seen the sun for months. Her knew the look in her eyes and didn't need to be told what to do as he sat up and peeled off his own shirt which was no way near as wet as hers had been, grabbing her hips roughly and pressing his bare chest against hers.
"Oh," he smirked. "Alright then," he nodded, pushing his hips up into hers, watching as she bit her lip and moaned loudly.
Their mouths met again and this time, Pete took control, one hand moving up into her hair to cup the back of her head, the other one stroking down her body, over the unfeasibly taut surface of her stomach given she'd only given birth a month ago and back up, brushing her ribs and making her shiver against him.
He tugged impatiently at her jeans, unbuttoning them and sliding his hand inside, his heart pounding when she moaned and wriggled against his hand, her lips making for the smooth skin of his shoulder, biting down gently and making him hiss.
Removing his hand, he cradled the back of her neck as she kissed her way over his jaw to his lips, holding her there.
"Allie," he grunted, trying his best to be tender and gentle with her; but it was difficult with her sitting on him like this, her hands tracing his chest while her lips moved achingly slowly over his. Pete couldn't remember ever wanting anything more than he wanted her in that moment.
"It's ok," he whispered. "If you want to stop…I-I know you're worried and if you're not ready yet then-…"
He stared into her eyes as she pressed a finger against his lips silencing him. He kissed it gently and she smiled, rubbing her hand down his face.
"I'm ready," she whispered back, kissing him softly. "I want this,"
"Thank fuck for that," he told her, smirking against her mouth before crushing it beneath his, showing no mercy on her body as he pulled her down flush on top of him and made quick work of her bra.
"Oi," he whispered in her ear, needing to tell her this now because he knew in a few seconds, his ability to think would be gone. "Just for the record," he kissed her earlobe. "You're gorgeous,"
He felt her smile against his cheek and then went back to kissing her shoulder as he pushed the bra straps down her arms, his hands skimming the surface of her naked back as she whispered his name and nipped his earlobe with her teeth.
Pete closed his eyes tightly as she kissed down to his chest, shifting his hips slightly and growling in frustration when he realised how little control he had being underneath her like this.
He needed her beneath him, needed to be able to see, touch and kiss all of her, to know that she was his and his only. Forcing her away from him, he picked her up and focused on not losing his footing in the slippery bathtub; trust Pete to kill them both just as he's about to get lucky for the first time in months. He'd been aiming for the bedroom until she had bucked her hips against his and then with a growl, he'd attacked her mouth and quite happily settled for the floor.
He laughed lightly to himself when Allie climbed on top of him once again, apparently needing to be in control as much as he did.
And she'd actually thought he'd give this up? He thought with a smirk as she ran her hands down his stomach to unbutton his trousers.
No way in hell.
One week later
"The hip bone's connected to the knee bone, the knee bone's connected to the…wrist bone…"
"Thank fuck you never got into medical school," Pete laughed at Swill who was half bent over Poppy's crib singing to her and waving around the bright orange Nemo toy that Dave had brought her back from Australia.
"Yeah, come on mate," Dave rubbed the back of his neck from where he was lounging on the sofa with the newspaper. "How many blokes do you know with their knee comin' outta their wrist?"
"Yeah, well is like Dunham said, I ain't a fucking doctor, am I?" the young man shot back at him. "And besides, she don't care, do ya love?" he reached into the pram and shook the infants hand gently.
"Ere, I bumped into your brothers missus yesterday," Ned piped up from outside. They had opened the huge doors which led out to the pool area to let some air in at which point Ned had proceeded to piss and moan non stop about how he wished he had his trunks with him. After a barrage of shouts telling him to shut up, he'd settled eventually for dipping his feet in.
"Oh yeah?" Pete raised an eyebrow, looking up from his marking. "Which one?"
"The new but not necessarily improved version," Ned smirked. "Walking down Marble Arch lookin' like a right ponce,"
"I swear she used to be pretty sound," Dave frowned. "Back when she was tryna help you straighten the ol' joints," he pointed to Pete's knee and grinned. "Right before she started helping Steve straighten his joint n' all,"
Pete groaned in disgust as Swill laughed and shook his head.
"What's the deal there then?" Ned asked.
"You're asking the wrong bloke," Pete shrugged. "I aven't spoken to Steve in a week,"
"What, you mean since 'Shannon-gate'?" Swill grinned.
"I can't believe your missus thought you'd done the dirty with 'er," Ned laughed. "That's just plain wrong that is,"
"Boys, don't even fuckin' joke about it," Pete shook his head. "Do you 'ave any idea how long it took me to convince the fuckin' idiot that nothin' was going on?"
"Yeah, I 'eard she threw a bit of a strop," Ike raised an eyebrow.
"Strop?" Pete snorted. "Mate, try a fuckin' full out mental break down. Last time I saw someone overreact that badly was when you lot put those gay porn magazines in Bovver's bedroom for a joke that night he brought some bird back,"
"That was fuckin' brilliant," Swill laughed loudly. "I've still got the scar from where he threw that plate at me,"
"So how long did it take you to calm 'er down?" Dave asked.
"About an hour," Pete laughed. "I 'ad to pin 'er to the bottom of the fuckin' bathtub and hold her there so she'd listen to me,"
"I never 'ad the Sloane Ranger down as that type," Ike frowned. "She's usually pretty chilled,"
"Ah," Pete pointed his pen at them. "Therein lies the fuckin' danger...she might act all chilled and slot in nicely with the lads, but she's still a bird underneath. And all birds, no matter how fit, are fucking psycho's at the end of the day."
"I still can't believe you let 'er twat you one," Swill grinned, pointing to the bruise on Pete's nose.
"It ain't fuckin' funny," Pete sighed. "That's the closest I've ever come to dying,"
"Weren't you in a month long coma?" Matt smirked, walking into the room with Benjamin, each of them carrying a few beers and handing them out.
"Yeah, but I'd take that any day over being locked in a bathroom with Allie when she's pissed off," Pete shook his head.
"She's alright now though, yeah?" Dave narrowed his eyes. Even though he'd told all the boys what had happened, Dave was the only whom Pete had confided in about how much it had scared him; about how close he had actually come to losing Allie for good.
"Sweet as a nut, mate," Pete smiled.
"So I take it you're getting laid again then?" Swill raised an eyebrow. "After all that tell me you at least got some angry make up action,"
"What'd you think?" Pete smirked smugly.
"You did n' all, didn't ya, you cheeky git!" he laughed.
"So where's Allie now?" Dave grinned. "Still chained to the bed?"
"Fuck off," Pete laughed. "Nah, I think her and Shannon 'ave gone out for coffee or something this morning,"
The boys looked at him in shock and he shrugged.
"Oh come on," he laughed. "You know what birds are like, one minute they 'ate each other the next they're kissin' each others arses,"
"So you reckon Allie's alright?" Swill cringed slightly, remembering how cold Pete used to be with Matt back in the days when he thought something was going on there.
"Yeah," Pete frowned. "This is Allie we're talking about, knowin' 'er she's probably say in some poncy restaurant with Shannon yapping on about shoes."
"Nothing in this one,"
Shannon looked up at the resigned looking blonde as she say behind Steve's desk, sifting through the drawers. Paper work lay out in messy piles in front of her, her hair pulled up into a loose bun as she scanned them carefully.
Knowing that both Steve and Gemma would be out at work today, Shannon had asked Allie to help her dig up more dirt on her. The plan tickets she and Pete had found last week were dated for 8 days time and she had been surprised to see how calm Gemma appeared when she opened the door to her this morning; she most definitely didn't have the look of a woman whose future escape plans were in jeopardy.
"Nothing here either," Shannon sighed, pressing the lid back down onto the large box and drumming her fingers on the top of it. "Shit, this is hopeless,"
"No its not," Allie told her. "We've got the whole afternoon to keep looking and we've only been here for an hour so shut up and hand me another box,"
Smiling gratefully at her friend, Shannon placed another box on the desk and gulped, eyeing the sharp letter opener Allie was twirling in her fingers with a sense of dread.
They hadn't really spoken about what had happened last week with the exception of a fast, muttered apology when Allie had picked her up this morning.
Glancing up, Allie followed the older woman's worried gaze to the blade in her hand and fought the urge to laugh out loud.
"If I was going to use this, don't you think I would have done it already?" she raised an eyebrow, her voice seeming to come out of nowhere and making Shannon jump.
"What?" the American squeaked out. "Oh, that…no, I was just in a daydream…"
"Right," Allie nodded curtly, placing the blade down on the desk and going back to flicking through the papers.
Shannon swallowed hard and turned back to her side of the room, stopping half way there and turning to face the petite blonde with a loud sigh.
"Look, I know this isn't the most comfortable subject in the world," she tucked her hair behind her ears. "But I'm really sorry…for everything that happened, or didn't happen actually."
She saw Allie's jaw drop slightly and cringed, realising what she'd said.
"No, no, no!" she laughed. "I'm not sorry that it didn't happen, because it wouldn't…ever. I'm just saying that it didn't happen. But I'm sorry that you thought that it did…"
To her surprise, she watched as Allie's mouth curled up into a smile, the light laughter coming from her mouth not sounding manic in the least, the letter opener still safely on the desk.
"Shan, it's water under the bridge, ok?" Allie shrugged. "In fact if anyone needs to say sorry, it's me, don't you think?"
Shannon stared at her with her eyes half bugging out of her head, completely lost as to what was happening.
"You're my friend," she continued. "Pete is my husband…I should have trusted you both and I should have known better than to fly off the handle like that. I acted like a total bitch," she smiled. "I'm really sorry for everything...y'know...like trashing your car,"
She cringed slightly as she nibbled nervously on her nails.
"By the way, I talked to my insurance company and it's all sorted," she smiled lopsidedly. "It was easier than I thought to convince them I'd had some kind of post-natal seizure,"
"Hey after what you did to Pete, I'd happily sacrifice my car," Shannon laughed.
"Oh right, that," Allie blushed. "It was one little punch," she laughed. "It's not my fault he bruises like a little girl,"
"Just one punch my ass," Shannon smirked. "What about his shoulder then, huh?"
"Oh…uh...that wasn't from the fight," Allie blushed, suddenly getting very busy sifting through the papers in front of her. "That was from…uh…something else,"
Shannon grinned knowingly and bit her lip to keep from laughing as Allie turned even redder and pretended not to be aware of Shannon's gaze on her.
To say her and Pete had got a little carried away that night in the bathroom would be something of an understatement…in just over two hours they'd managed to rip the iron towel rack out of the wall and dented the gilded wall paper with enough fingernail marks to make it look as though someone had set a tiger loose in there.
"I really am sorry though," she looked up once more. "I should have known better than to flip out like that,"
"Like you said," Shannon smiled. "Water under the bridge,"
Smiling back weakly through her embarrassment, Allie went back to looking for anything with Gemma's name on it, feeling mildly guilty for snooping through Steve's stuff like this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Twirling around on the large leather chair, she read through the bills in her hand, casting a quick glance out of the window and feeling her stomach sink.
"Oh fuck," she whispered.
"What?" Shannon piped up. "Did you find something?"
"No," Allie replied, spinning around again and shoving the papers back into the box. "The only thing about to get found is us," she hissed. "Gemma's car just pulled up and Steve's with her,"
"Oh fuck," Shannon echoed her earlier sentiment, shoving things back into their respective folders and grabbing her bag. She heard the front door open and turned a desperate glance on Allie who was frozen to the spot, her emerald eyes wide as saucers.
Scanning the room, Shannon knew there was no way both of them would fit under the desk and so reaching out, she grabbed the young woman's hand and tugged her into the corner of the room, crouching down behind the huge book case and peeking through the gaps, both of them cringing when the office door swung open and two sets of feet appeared.
"I have to be back at work in half an hour," Gemma hissed, her trainer clad feet nearing Steve's and making Shannon grimace.
As though sensing her discomfort, Allie took her hand and squeezed it gently, a small gesture which Shannon was sure she would never know how much it truly meant.
"Well, we'll have to be quick then, won't we?"
Both women turned to stare at each other silently, the unfamiliar voice carrying through the room.
"Fucking hell, you weren't lying about the geezer having it good, were you?" he laughed. "How much is this place worth?"
"Don't know," Gemma replied uncaringly. "But if you think this is something, you should see his brother's place."
"That the one in Chelsea?" the man asked.
"Sloane Square, don't you know?" Gemma laughed, putting on a posh accent. "Saying that, money doesn't by taste, you should see the girl he's married to,"
Allie gritted her teeth and squeezed Shannon's hand hard enough to coax a faint hiss of pain from her.
"What, is she a monster or something?" the man laughed.
"No, total opposite," Gemma snorted. "All pretty smiles and glitter but no fucking brains," she shook her head. "And you should see the way she follows him and his mates around like some puppy dog, its pathetic. If you ask me the only reason he's even with her is because he got her pregnant,"
"Fucking bitch," Allie muttered, loud enough to draw the couple's attention away from their conversation.
Shannon frowned and clapped her hand over the blonde's mouth, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
Silence filled the room for a long moment before they carried on talking, apparently dismissing the faint noises as nothing.
"So what're we doing about these tickets then?" the man asked with a sigh. "You know we're fucked if you've lost them,"
"I haven't lost them, James," Gemma snapped.
Behind the book shelf, Allie and Shannon stared at each other in horror. What were they supposed to do now? Did they jump out and start shouting or did they sit here and bide their time?
"Well, you need to get it sorted, Gem," James shot back sarcastically, perching on the edge of the desk. "Because you know what'll happen if you don't."
"He's not a bad bloke, y'know?" Gemma spoke softly. "It wasn't about this when I first got together with him,"
"Yeah well, I guess in that case we're just lucky that you have a habit of going for blokes with more money than sense, isn't it?" James snorted.
"Don't make this worse than it is," she snapped. "You don't know how hard this has been…"
"Aw," James cooed. "Is this the part where you tell me that it's more than I think and that you're in love with him and if it wasn't for me being such a screw up you'd happily stay here and play happy families?"
"You're such a bastard," she whispered.
"No, I'm not, Gem, I'm a fucking realist, there's a difference," James told her, pushing himself upright again. "We're in the shit, you have the ability to do something about it, now given this was your idea, I don't get why you're having a sudden rush of guilt,"
"Because when Steve finds out about this its going to destroy him," she hissed.
"Oh come on, Gem," James rolled his eyes. "Enough with the dramatics, yeah? Just get the tickets sorted,"
"And what if I can't?" she screeched. "What if they're lost or…"
"Or what?" James pressed.
"Oh fuck, what if someone found them?"
"You're joking, right?" he shot back. "How can you not fucking remember where you left them?"
"I do remember," she snapped. "But they're not there now so that means someone must have moved them…"
Pressing her fingers to her lips, Gemma shook her head and tried to think. There was no way Steve had found them, things were too normal with them at the moment and surely if he'd found them he would've said something to her.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when James grabbed her hard and turned her to face him.
"I don't care what the hell you think happened to them," he snarled. "But do yourself a favour and find them pretty fucking sharpish because I swear to God, Gem, if we don't get out of here soon…"
"I know," she shouted, shoving him away from her. "I know, alright?"
"Do you though?" James laughed. "Do you actually know what'll happen to us if we don't leave soon? Do you realise what I'm giving up to come with you? Things were over between us a long time ago, alright?"
"Yeah, well that didn't stop you getting me pregnant, did it?"
Behind the bookshelf, Allie and Shannon stared through the small gap with open mouths.
Oh. My. God.
"And how do I even know its mine, sweetheart?" James shrugged. "You've been with this Steve bloke for six months, it could be his,"
"Its not," Gemma muttered.
"Are you sure about that?" he asked her seriously. "Don't tell me you've gone all Virgin Mary on me,"
"I'm two weeks gone, James," she snapped. "And I had sex with you three weeks ago," she shrugged. "I haven't slept with Steve in over a month…you do the math. And besides, moving away and starting over was your fucking idea so don't you dare stand there and tell me…"
"Alright," he muttered. "I told you that this was what I wanted, ok? I'm not changing my mind…its just if we go, we can't mess about here, Gem." He shook his head. "You're not the only one leaving a family behind,"
Gemma nodded and sighed, leaning back against the desk.
"Ok, so what are we going to…"
Suddenly, the sound of Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' filled the room and behind the bookshelf, Allie stared in horror at her mobile phone as Pete Mobile flashed up on the screen along with the photo she had taken of him passed out at Ben's birthday last year covered in face paint.
"Fucking Lara," she hissed, fumbling to switch it off even though she knew full well the damage was already done.
Without warning, the bookcase was yanked back and Shannon yelped in surprise, grabbing onto Allie's arm as they stared up at Gemma and James who regarded them both in horror. With the song still blaring through the room as Allie gave up trying to switch it off and simply stared blankly at the two faces above her.
"Shannon?" Gemma whispered shakily.
"Right," the American raised an eyebrow, standing up and bringing Allie with her. "So I reckon we've got a fair bit to talk about, don't you?"
I'm not sure what I make of this chapter. I think I got a severe case of writers block half way through it and as I was writing it before I went off to NYC, I think I finished it in kind of a hurry which would explain the crapiness. :( Give me some nice reviews and make me feel better...please? xxx