Repeating History (History #1) by Hanleigh Bradley Read Free Book Online Page A

drop it. I don’t want to keep dwelling on the past. He’s so close. My heart is racing. I want him to touch me again but every time he reaches for me I pull away.
    His voice is harsh, “I want to kiss you.”
    “You can’t,” I whisper.
    “I could,” is his only reply as he places a hand on my cheek. I don’t speak. I have no idea what I am supposed to say in response.
    “But you won’t.”
    “But I won’t,” he nods in agreement. He roughly drops his hand from my cheek and steps away from me. His eyes look remote and distant as he turns away. He closes my office door quietly behind him and I am left feeling bereft and empty, standing there in the sparse office with a tingling cheek. This is not supposed to be happening. I need to keep this professional. I pull out my phone. I need a drink. I need a friend. I send Mike a text;
    Had a bit of a shit day. Can I come over? X
    Sure. We’re going to be wrapping presents all night for Amelia.
    But you are welcome to join us. There will be wine. X
    Fantastic. I’m just leaving work now. I love wrapping presents.
    Is there anything I can bring; food? Take away? X
    Sarah says Indian would be great. See you shortly. X
    “Has my brother left already?” Maya barges into my office without knocking.
    “I can’t say that I know what your brother is doing,” I reply almost coldly.
    I think my words might have upset her, “sorry. I just thought he was with you.”
    “Why would you think that?” I ask her. She’s getting the brunt of my bad mood when really it should be directed at myself and perhaps her brother, but mostly me.
    “I thought I saw him come in here.”
    I consider denying it but that wouldn’t help my cause, “he left a few minutes ago.”
    “Oh. I thought he was going to give me a lift home.” Her face is disappointed, “we’re supposed to be going to our mother’s house for Christmas.”
    “Perhaps you should check his office,” I suggest.
    “Yeah...” Maya smiles happily a me, “have a good Christmas Clara.”
    “You too,” I smile back at her, I shouldn’t be taking it out on her, “I need to go.”
    “Yeah sorry for keeping you,” she follows me out of my office just as her brother thunders angrily towards us.
    “I’m waiting Maya,” he squares his shoulders angrily; at least I’m not the only one feeling this way. “We need to go.”
    “I was looking for you,” Maya’s responding posture is unafraid. She doesn’t take shit from her brother by the looks of it. Andrew hasn’t so much as glanced at me. His eyes are focused solely on his sister. He’s still angry with me. No matter how much he might want to kiss me, he still doesn’t like me.
     
    I follow Michael into the kitchen of his London town house where Sarah his wife is washing the dishes. They really are ridiculously domesticated. The house is so homely. They are so lucky to have each other. Sarah has short blonde curls that stop at the base of her neck, brown eyes and a wide smile. For a mother of a two year old, she is looks amazingly awake. There are no bags under her eyes or anything and I almost want to scream at her, how do you do it? Instead I give her a massive hug, “I’ve missed you.”
    “We’ve missed you too,” Sarah smiles as I pull away, “I want to hear all about living in Liverpool.”
    “There’s really not much to say,” I laugh bitterly. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to come see them.
    The school teacher in Sarah picks up on the lie immediately, “sure there isn’t and I’m Pocahontas.”
    “Liverpool was great, my job was good...”
    “But what happened with Stephen?” she’s on the pursuit of information and she won’t let up. There’s a reason she was always popular in school. I’m pretty sure it was because she was so good at getting information out of people. It made sure she always knew the gossip. We hadn’t been friends then. She’d always laughed when Andrew teased me. She’d apologised since