Broken Wings

Part Forty Seven - "I'm scared"

A/N Thanks for all your lovely messages. Glad you are enjoying. So this is probably the most intimate chapter I've ever written, not graphic, but if you are of a weak disposition...ha ha. Love to know what you think of it, I hope it does the story justice. Thanks again, MZxxx

Chapter Forty Seven

Usually counselling, talking, therapy – it all made things clearer, Julia left the office feeling in control. But today she was a mess. Was life really this confusing for everyone? She had lived a life where other than a few friends she didn't nurture or cultivate relationships, she couldn't believe that people did this all the time, it was so exhausting.

She ran with the dogs, nervous energy was productive and she didn't even complain to herself when she had to carry them both home.

The pasta she'd cooked congealed on the plate as she couldn't face it. And the previously ice cold wine warmed in the glass in front of her.

TV distracted, but at ten o'clock, she got her latest text message from Aaron.

I'm going to be free in an hour...then I need to get back to my hotel. Listen out for my call about quarter past eleven.

The little calm that she'd attained dissolved there and then.

"What's the rush?"

Aaron stopped in this tracks, he'd stormed out of the last meeting, then saw the time. He had thirty minutes to get back to the hotel. It was a tight deadline.

"I'm expecting a call...back at the hotel."

Tom reached for him, stopping him by grabbing his arm as he made to leave, "we've got to sort through that list by the morning. We can do it over dinner in the hotel?"

Aaron shook his head, "as much as I like you, Tom, we've spent three days virtually on top of each other. We can maybe catch up in the morning?"

tom lifted an eyebrow, "so who are you and what have you done with my client and friend?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, "I haven't slept, barely eaten in days and I need a shower..."

"And the call?"

He grimaced, knowing he was giving too much away, "yep, a call. Can I go now?"

Tom nodded, but as he crossed the foyer of the building to his hire car which had pulled up at the door, he called out, "is this the lodger? Again. Is that what this is?"

Stopping dead, he took a couple of deep breaths, if he turned around, he was likely to ruin his friendship, Julia was SO much more than that. She was more than a lodger and she wasn't someone taking his time and energy, that was what Tom was eluding to, and he'd happily take the bastard out for suggesting it. Instead he gave a calming shrug and continued to the car.

The hotel was top end, and he had a sew view from his suite of rooms. But he was unaware of any of it as he threw his suit onto a chair and headed in just his underwear to the bathroom. He wasn't lying, he hadn't showered for three days, he had spent a lot of that time in a smoky horrible police interrogation room. Before he spoke to Julia he needed to be clean. He needed to wipe away the shit of the last few days. Literally. The rest of his life was the hell hole he professed, and if they didn't trace the hacker then he could be in seriously deep shit. But as he washed away the grime of the day, he managed to file all that away. He had to give his undivided attention to the woman he had abandoned.