The Scandals of Life Read online

  Lloyd was so sweet today, he brought me to the Harvest Gala. I swear posh people invent as many ridiculous galas as they can. Anything for a toff party, that's for sure. The thing about Lloyd is he lives in Oxford, so he doesn't mingle with any of my other clients. It's different going to his neck of the woods. It's less over the top and in your face than it is here. Although, they're posher in Oxford, I think it's because they have the college and think all brainy people are posh. It was a quiet event, if Nat was there she'd die of boredom.

  As I walk further along the street, I can see someone outside of my house. I never have visitors unless I know they're coming beforehand. The only people who do visit are Pen, Jess, and Owen. Although I doubt Owen will be visiting anytime soon. I quicken my pace but soon come to a halt when I see who the hell it is standing outside my house banging on the door. Valerie! What does she want? I should call the cops but I can't be bothered with the hassle. Instead I walk past her and walk to the front door.

  "You're ignoring me?" she screams at me and, God, she's loud. "Bitch, I asked you a question, are you ignoring me?"

  You'd think she'd get her answer if she actually thought about it for a second. I mean she asked me a question and I didn't answer so that should prove to her that I am indeed ignoring her. I search in my bag for the keys to the house wishing that I had taken them out beforehand so I wouldn't have to listen to her shit.

  "You're a home-wrecking whore. Whose marriage were you destroying today?" She's still shouting but thankfully I find my keys. "Do your neighbours know that you're a whore? Do they know that you sleep with men for money? Do they?"

  I spin around and face her. “Well if they didn't they do now and just so we get one thing clear. I don't sleep with anyone for money. Now if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave," I say calmly, and I'm actually surprised that I didn't deck her. She's called me a bitch, a whore, and a homewrecker. None of them are true, well actually I can be a bitch and she's yet to see me as one. If she keeps pushing me it won't be long until my claws come out. I turn back around and put my keys into the door.

  "I'm fucking talking to you." She grabs hold of my arm and forces me around to face her. "Listen hear, you dirty tart! You think you can take my husband and I'll let you get away with it. What's so special about you anyway? You're nothing but a slapper!”

  I've had enough of her shit, I'm not even going to get into an argument with her. There's absolutely no point, she'll only continue to say the same shit as she is now. I turn back and open my door, finally able to make my getaway.

  "What the hell are you doing here, Valerie?" That angry voice sparks something inside of me, something I wished it hadn't. Hearing James' voice makes me realise that I still love him and I hate myself for it. "Stef..."

  I spin around yet again. “Don't! There's nothing you can say. So, do me a favour, take her and get the hell off my property. Go away and don't come back, either of you. Valerie, this is the last time. You come here again and I'll call the cops. I've had enough of the crap you're doing and don't bother denying it, we both know you broke my window." I turn and walk into my house, locking the door behind me. I don't stop, I walk upstairs and into my bedroom, wanting to get out of this dress.

  God, seeing and hearing James is messing with me. A part of me wanted to run into his arms and kiss the ever-loving shit out of him. The other part wanted me to punch him in the face. I went with the more civilized approach—I told him and that cow of a wife of his to do one.

  "I can't believe you’re here. What the hell, Valerie?" I hear James ask and I look and see that my bedroom window was left slightly open. I try my best to ignore it and I start to get changed.

  "Why are you here? You said it was over between the two of you. You're a useless, lying piece of shit, aren't you, James?" Valerie screams at the top of her lungs."Always a fucking piece of shit, you’re disgusting. Fuck knows why we were married for so long. You're a cunt, you useless fucking bastard."

  What the hell? Wow, she's talking to him as though he's something on the bottom of her shoe. I'd tell her where to go, the stupid cow.

  "Val, what are you doing here?" he asks, he's not shouting at her in fact he sounds desolate.

  "Seeing that whore of yours. She's ruined our marriage!" I pull on my linen pyjama bottoms and a vest top and sit on my bed listening to the argument happening outside.

  "Val, you and I both know that's not true. Stef had nothing to do with why our marriage broke." James is talking as quietly as he can but not quiet enough as his voice is drifting up towards my room.

  "Yes, she did. Why the hell are you lying?" I hear a slap and I gasp, quickly looking out the window I see the bitch slapping James and him just standing there taking it. He's not even trying to ward of the attack. He looks resigned to it, like he's waiting for her to end and move on to something else.

  "You're a joke. Such a piece of shit. You're not even a man, look at you standing there. You're disgusting." She's belittling him. Yes, he cheated on her but this level of abuse isn't right. "Are you going to cry? Cry like the pussy you truly are. Everyone is talking about us, how you slept with that slut. You hired a fucking escort, James. We’re the biggest scandal to hit the scene since Marsha slept with the butler."

  I can't listen to this anymore. How dare she? Who the hell gives her the right to treat anyone like this, to treat a human being with such little disregard? Grabbing my handbag from the bed, I call the cops. I tell them what's happening and they tell me they're sending a unit now. I get to the bottom step and I can hear screaming again. Gosh, does that woman never shut the hell up?

  Opening my front door, I'm shocked to see James' head bowed as Valerie throws punch after punch to his torso. "You're a bastard. I hate you. I should have killed you when I had the chance." She's in his face screaming.

  I do the only thing I can do to stop this, I get in the middle of them. My back to James' front standing face to face with Valerie. "Stop, just bloody stop."

  "Me? You're the one that needs to stop. He needs to stop seeing you and come home to our family. To our baby." She looks me dead in the eyes, she's making out as though I'm stopping that from happening. "Leave him alone, he's a married man."

  "I haven't seen that man in over a month. I had no intentions of seeing him and you should know that I haven't seen him since you're always here, vandalising my property."

  "Valerie, just go home," James pleads and if she has sense she'd do as she's asked.

  She gives him a dirty look, there's no point in standing out here letting this go on any further. "Just go inside," I tell him, "the cops are on the way.”

  "Stef..." He looks to Valerie and then back to me. “You'll be coming inside too?" he asks gently, he keeps glancing at Valerie as though he's waiting for her to attack him.

  "Yes, now let's go." I take his arm and pull him towards the house.

  "Oh no, you don't." I turn around and see that she's pulling at James' other arm, I let go instantly and bat her hand away, she's pulling so hard that she could hurt him. I don’t want to play tug-of-war.

  "Let go of him," I tell her, batting her hands away again.

  "No, he's mine." Oh my God, this woman is delusional. She pulls once more and I hear a pop.

  I look in horror as James' eyes go wide but he doesn't say a word. She's dislocated his shoulder by the bloody looks of things and he doesn't say anything. That's not right! What the hell is going on? “Fuck,” he whispers. “Shit.”

  "James, are you okay?" I'm so worried about him, that bitch has just pulled his bloody arm out of his socket.

  "Ha-ha, that's nothing. He's a pussy, he'll cry about it when he's in private." She rolls her eyes, I think there's something wrong with her. Who the hell does this?

  "James, we need to get you to the hospital." I'm still in shock, I mean, why are they acting as though this is normal.

  "Stef, I'm fine. I'll sort it after." His eyes pleading with me. I want to wrap him up in my arms and hold him but then I look t
o his bat-shit crazy wife and remember why I won't do that. He's a cheating arsehole but he doesn't deserve being treated like this.

  "Yeah, he's fine. Now, can we go home now?" she asks, her mood has changed, her eyes on James' arm. She's realised that she's hurt him and now she's trying to be nice.

  "No, you're not going anywhere," I tell her, the police are on their way and I'm making sure this bitch doesn't get away with hurting him.

  "What? James, tell her we have to go." She's pleading with him but there's a hint of anger behind those eyes.

  "No, James is going to go inside and I'm going to give him some pain medication. You are staying out here." I dare her to argue with me, I'm not a man, she swings for me I'm going to swing back ten times harder.

  "You..." she starts but is silenced by the deafening sound of sirens. Her eyes widen as she takes in the squad car. "You," she says accusingly, her eyes drilling into me.

  I smile. "Me," I tell her, she's not getting away with it.

  "Ms Wiley?" the cop asks as he takes in the scene in front of him.

  "That's me." I raise my hand slightly. He asks for all our names and we tell him although Valerie’s a bit more stubborn than James and me.

  "Can you tell me what's going on? We received a disturbance call," he asks softly, probably realising he may have a hostile situation on his hands.

  "I came home from work and was accosted by her." I point at Valerie. “She started shouting in my face and wouldn't let me into my own home. Then James came and I managed to go inside but I could still hear her. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and slapping him, that's when I called you. Then, she punched him and I think she's dislocated his shoulder."

  "Sir, are you okay?" James just nods. “We're going to need to take your statements. Sir, would you like me to call an ambulance? You really need to get that seen too, if you're pressing charges having that on file will help." He's sympathetic towards James but James looks ashamed. It's not often you come across a woman hurting a man.

  "I'll drive myself, thank you." I get why he wants to drive himself, I just don't think it's wise. "I'll be okay," he says quietly to me.

  "I'll drive him. Will you be able to take our statements there?" I ask, not wanting that bitch to get away with this any longer than she has to.

  "Yes, we can. I'm going to call my colleges to take Ms Hartley to the station." Thank God, she'll be out of our hair and hopefully James can get his arm sorted out.

  "Is it awfully sore?" I ask as I open my front door. Five fucking hours spent in poxy A&E to tell us what I already knew. His arm is dislocated, they had to put it back in place and the whole way through I held his hand and he didn't make a sound.

  "No, the drugs have kicked in." We walk into the sitting room and he takes a seat. “Stef, I want to say thank you for today. You didn't have to do what you did but I'm very grateful. I'm sorry that Val has been harassing you."

  "It's not your fault." He gives me a look. “Okay, yes, it is your fault but you didn't ask her to do all the crap she's done."

  "I know but I feel responsible, she's not well, she hasn't been for a long time." He leans forward. "Stef, I've missed you so fucking much. God, you don't know how much."

  Is he trying to make me cry? I can't listen to this. He's trying to break me all over again. I won't let him. "James, don't." My voice cracks, I shouldn't have invited him in, I should have sent him on his merry way but I would have been worried about him all night if I had.

  "Stef, can I explain to you? I know that what I did was wrong. I should have been honest and upfront from the very beginning. Things would have been very different if I had been. Please let me explain?"

  He doesn't deserve me to give him my time, he doesn't deserve to ease his conscience. But I need to hear it, to understand why he led me on, why he thought I deserved to be made into the other woman. I nod, not trusting myself to speak right now.

  "We got married too young, that's not an excuse, it's just what it is. Both of us barely eighteen, I loved her back then. I really did, but she began to change. I saw a side of her that she had kept hidden from me, a side to her that I hated and despised. She cheated throughout our entire marriage and I know that two wrongs don't make it right and I shouldn't have done it either. For that I'm sorry, more sorry than you'll know but I don't regret it. Never, I would never regret you."

  Oh God, he needs to shut up!

  "See, Val has a temper, just like you saw out there. She got pregnant and I knew instantly it wasn't mine; I haven't slept with her in over two years. What does that tell you about our marriage other than it being a farce? I found out pretty quickly that she had been sleeping with my brother. It didn't hurt. I was disappointed in my brother for sleeping with her, after knowing what I had endured during the fourteen years we'd been married. I don't believe in divorce or I should say I didn't. I had thought if I tried hard at my marriage it would work but that notion ended about three years ago. I started getting my affairs in order, started getting as much evidence as possible so that Val couldn't contest it. I found pictures of her and Matthew together. The day she told me she was pregnant I filed for divorce. She had gone too far, I had had enough of her shit. The day after you met us in Camden Market, the divorce was finalised."

  "Wait, you filed for divorce over a year ago?" I'm in shock. He's talking in circles but I'm managing to keep up, I thought they were still married when we we're together.

  "Yes, beautiful, I filed before I had even met you. I needed to make sure that I had everything in order so she couldn't get anything from me." He gives me a sad smile. “The first time I hired you, Val was six weeks away from her due date, I wanted to go out and have a bit of fun." He shakes his head. “God, meeting you, that was something I never expected. I didn't think I could love anyone after being with Val, living through what I had. But you come along, with your genuinely bright smile and the ability to brighten my day with just one smile."

  "James..."

  He holds up his hand to stop me. “I fell head over heels in love, I tried my hardest to get the divorce finalised but Val was being Val. She was threatening the life of her and the baby. Telling me that if I left her she'd kill them both. I had no choice, I couldn't have that happen, even if she was lying. I couldn't take that risk and in not taking that risk I hurt the only person who means anything to me. I hurt you."

  I cry, I let the tears fall, if only he knew how much I’ve hurt since we broke up.

  “I’m not giving up on us, Stef. You’re it for me and I’m going to fight everyday to get you back. I know that I hurt you and I vow that it’s never going to happen again. I love you.” He gets up and walks over to me, his hands on my face. “I love you so much.”

  He leans in and softly kisses me on the lips, more tears fall as the man I love looks on. “I’m going to call a taxi, I’ll be back tomorrow, Stef. Thank you for letting me explain.” He presses one more kiss against my lips and walks out of my house, leaving me even more confused and having no clue as to what I’m going to do.

  Chapter Six

  It's been three days since the day James told me he wasn't giving up on us. So far, he's made true on his word. Monday morning, he arrived with a bouquet of flowers and a cup of coffee. He handed them to me with a kiss on the cheek and told me he'd see me tomorrow. Tuesday morning, he showed up dead on eight o'clock, a bag full of shopping and he filled my fridge with food. Something I've not had since I lost the baby. I eat whenever I'm hungry but that's not very often. I know I should be taking care of myself, I just don't have the energy.

  Which brings us to today. He texted me twenty minutes ago and asked if I would spend the day with him. I agreed even though he hurt me and made a fool out of me. I know that I should have kicked him out but I love him and he seems genuine about everything that has been going on. I'm not ready to hand my heart over to him again but I want to talk some more and see what else he's hiding from me. There's more to this whole situation than what he's let on and today I
'm going to find out what that is.

  I pull on my jeans and my woolly jumper. It's freezing out there today, wherever we're going I hope they have heating. I'm not working today, so whenever I get home I'm putting on my jammies, snuggling up on the couch and watching films. I'm debating whether to wear heels or not. I never usually go out of the house without heels but in this weather I don't want to break my neck. I go with my trainers hoping that I don't stick out like a sore thumb, wherever the hell we're going.

  Thirty minutes later and he's at my door, I open it and he's standing there with a big smile on his face. His brown eyes are sparkling. It's not something I've seen from him. Yes, I've seen him smile—genuinely smile—but I've never seen him this happy. He hasn't shaved. His stubble has a tinge of ginger running through it, his brown hair is short but long enough so that I could run my fingers through it. He's dressed down today, wearing jeans, a jumper, and trainers on his feet. I smile because I definitely won't stick out like a sore thumb.

  "Morning, beautiful, you look gorgeous as usual." His voice deep and rough, like he's not long awake.

  "Morning, come on in. I'm just finishing my coffee." I hold the door open wide to let him in.

  "Any chance you've any more left? I'm gasping for a cuppa. I woke up late." He looks sheepishly at me; I knew he hadn't long woke up.

  "Of course, sit down and I'll grab you some." He walks out of the kitchen and into the sitting room as I boil the kettle. I have one of the rapid boil ones and it doesn't take too long, so I remake myself one along with making him one. "So where are we going today?" I ask walking into the sitting room and handing him the cup as I take a seat next to him. I put my coffee on the table and look at him.

  "Well, I want to spend the day with you, and I think that we need to talk too. I assume you have questions you want to ask. So, I thought we could get that over and done with first and then we could go off and do something?" He looks hopeful. I can tell he's hoping that the conversation we're about to have is going to go smoothly and that I'll still want him to be around afterwards.