Page 50 of Tears of Glass

Elijah may have broken it, but my heart wants him to be the one to put it back together again.

I just don’t know if he can.

Chapter Fourteen

I wake in a tangle of bedcovers, my hair splattered and damp against my face. I dreamed of him all night, hot and wild, part burning man, part man in the suit who could bring me to my knees.

I sit and try to gather my bearings. I’m in my own bed, which is nice. Tabitha and Lewis weren’t here when I got home. I reach for my phone and check to see if she answered my message the night before.

Eli Jones: Friend request.

Bugger. My stomach sinks as I stare at the screen. Eli Jones is the man I fell in love with. The artist, the man with five friends who drank alone in the kitchen of his castle of a family home.

Tears prickle my eyes. Why is this so complicated? Why can’t it be easy to walk away from him? I should have left, started new someplace else. I could have gone anywhere, but instead I’m still tangled with the Faircloughs, my heart still hurting. I would never leave Tabitha. Elijah knows that; it’s why he sent her to me in Brighton in the first place.

I hit accept and then scramble out from under the covers and pace for my small bathroom. It’s nothing like the wet room I had at Bowsley. Elijah would never have the space to do what he did to me there in my small tub with the overhead shower. But, hell, it’s mine and it’s vaguely clean, and sometimes that’s the best a girl can hope for. I begin to run a bath, the water comes out of my taps in a slow trickle, putting in extra bubbles before I leave the water to fill and go to make myself some rocket fuel coffee. My phone is flashing, but I make myself ignore it until I’ve got a cup of strong espresso in my hand.

Eli Jones: I’m glad we are friends again.

I roll my eyes and perch on the mattress.

Faith Hitchin: Facebook friends only. We both know it doesn’t count.

Eli Jones: It’s how it starts.

Faith Hitchin: Go away.

Eli Jones: Don’t forget 7:30 - could you wear that dress again?

Is he for bloody real?

Faith Hitchin: I burned it.

Eli Jones: That breaks my heart. You were hot—steaming—in that dress...

Faith Hitchin: So hot you got engaged to someone else.

I’m grinning even though I know I shouldn’t be. This is dangerous ground and I’ve got to keep myself together.

Eli Jones: Your words wound me.

Faith Hitchin: No comment.

Eli Jones: See you later, Sunshine.

I groan and drop my phone back down, falling onto my pillows and glaring at the ceiling. Faith, what are you doing?

Run. It’s safer that way.

I can’t. I’m frozen to the spot, waiting to see what’s going to happen next in this car crash of misfortune.

My phone beeps again and casting it a side-eye, I check it’s not him again. It’s not, it’s Tabitha telling me she will be home later and asking if her and Lewis stay here. I pick up my phone and contemplate how to tell her she needs to go to see her mother. I can’t find the words—I can’t encourage anyone to see that woman.

I’m not stupid. I learned enough about the Faircloughs when I was at Bowsley to know it’s Elijah’s grandmother, Connie, running the roost, but Jennifer Fairclough needs to develop a spine before she fucks up for good. Her daughter is eighteen and would rather stay with me— a near stranger—than with her mother.

At least my mum had the good grace to leave before she could mess me and my dad up any more. Although I suppose if she hadn’t left then I would never have been at the mercy of Aiden and my life wouldn’t have been ruined.

It’s been a long time since I ever even thought about my mum. She’s just not on my mind, never has been, although saying that neither is my dad.