He'll have to break all the rules to keep her, but first she has to break just one and let him in...
It's taken four years, but Anna Fray has finally put the past behind her. Mostly. She fills her days working in a bar and her nights watching bad ro...
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Eventually the thrum of bass faded into silence, and twenty minutes after that Emma and Callum burst through the office door with their hands stuffed in large, orange paper bags. A delicate living doll and her bedraggled cross-dressing companion.
"Heads up!" Callum called as he threw my own bag towards me. It landed with a heavy thud in my lap, spilling marshmallows and sugar-coated sweets onto the white sateen fabric pooled over my thighs.
"Kelly's gift for going through the CCTV," Emma said with a tired smile, unaware of the lie she'd told.
She perched on the armrest of the sofa, adjusting her white petticoat to try and hide her underwear while Callum flopped on the sofa beside me. The stale smell of beer and sweat permeated the room, and I knew I probably smelt just as bad. It was inevitable after a night shift.
My stomach still hadn't settled from seeing Mr R, so while they rummaged through their sweets, I picked at the fizzy jelly worms, sifting through the bag of E numbers and sugar.
"You alright?" Callum asked through a mouthful of marshmallow.
I pulled my cheeks into a smile, but I barely had the energy to keep it there. "I'm fine. Just tired."
I tossed my bag of sweets onto the table in front of us, alongside the discarded shredded wings. The thought of eating was making my stomach do flip flops.
"I know right, fucking Halloween," Callum said, wiping the sheen of sweat from his forehead. The cheap hair dye he'd used for his costume had started to leak, creating blood red tendrils that crept from his hairline. He propped his feet on the battered coffee table in front of us, kicking off the silver platforms he'd somehow spent the entire night in.
"Are you waiting for Atticus?" Emma asked lightly as she nibbled a piece of fudge.
"What? No. Why would you think that?" I asked with more venom in my voice than I'd meant.
Emma's soft brown eyes widened infinitesimally before flashing to Callum, wide and worried. The doll-like eyelashes she'd stuck on for the night accentuated the action.
"Sorry, just ever since it started getting darker in the evenings, he's been coming to walk you home, right?"
Callum nodded as he threw another lump of cinder toffee into his mouth. "A hottie with a heart of gold, that one. Hold onto him, Anna," he added as he chewed.
"He's not mine to keep hold of."
Callum scoffed. "Bitch, please."
Emma shifted again, demurely crossing her ankles as she leant towards me. "You honestly haven't noticed how he acts around you?"
The disbelief in her voice grated and itched like the cheap polyester fabric of the costume I wore.
"He just doesn't know anyone," I snapped. "He's like a lost puppy, and I just happen to be the bitch he's chosen to follow around."
