Mia
Screw the refuge and screw the bed and breakfast.
I was going to stay in a house with a goddamn gate, an alarm system and a motherfucking Alsatian. Then maybe the sick fear I’d been carrying since Nate’s visit to the office would recede. I couldn’t go to my sister. Nate would find me there easily. I knew I should tell Max the whole situation, but I just needed a break. Once I was stronger, just a little stronger, then I would tell him. If he kicked me out then I would still have a chance at the refuge. With my strength back and my wits about me I’d be much more likely to be able to evade Nate. To be honest, I knew that in reality I’d have to move on again soon, especially now that Max was involved in one of Nate’s projects. But I also knew how hard it was to set up a life in a new area with next to no resources. It was not an option I was over keen on at the moment.
We stopped outside some stainless-steel gates, which opened automatically. I leaned forward as we drove into the drive and blinked up at the beautiful structure in front of us. It was set back from the road and the top floor had glass from floor to ceiling. The building was clad in some sort of weathered wood and as I got out of the car I realised that the multilevel roof was covered in moss, grass and wild flowers.
“Wow,” I breathed the same time that Max muttered, “Bugger.”
He was staring at another small electric car in the driveway.
The size of Max’s car had been a bit of shock to me. I was surprised that he managed to fold his huge frame into it at all. Max turned back to me and his large hand went to rub the back of his neck.
“Listen, Teddy’s here. I thought he was staying with a friend tonight. I haven’t told him you’re coming so …” He sighed. “He can be a bit–”
“Who’s Teddy?” I asked, peering around Max to look up at the front door. Another sigh.
“Teddy is my … well he’s kind of my stepson.”
That statement hit me like a solid blow to the chest.
Max had a kind of stepson.
He probably had a wife in there too.
I took a step back but noticed the gates behind me were closing again.
“Your stepson?” I asked, my voice coming out in a squeak. Disappointment washed over me like a familiar blanket. Which was ridiculous.
“Max?” A deep voice called out from the house. I could see the doorway was now open and almost entirely filled by a massive, male figure with a large, black dog at his side. The dog emitted a low growl and I fought the instinct to take another step back.
“Hey, Ted,” Max said, turning from me and jogging up the steps to the hulking man in doorway. “Listen something came up and I … I mean we’ve got a houseguest for a bit.” I’d never heard Max sound so hesitant. “Uh … Mia, come up here and meet Teddy.” The dog growled again as I took a tentative step forward. “Don’t mind Roger. He’s fine once he gets used to you. Keep sudden movements to a minimum though.” As I got closer I could see that part of Roger’s ear was missing. “He’s a rescue,” Max explained. “The people at the centre think he was beaten by his old owners, so he’s a bit skittish.”
“It’s Ted, not Teddy,” the large boy-man put in with a sullen voice as he crossed his arms over his massive chest and continued to block the doorway.
Okay, so not a child then.
“Hi,” I said from behind Max. “I’m Mia.”
“You’ve brought a woman back to stay here?” Teddy’s voice rose and I took a small step back. “Nice one, Max.”
“Would you try not to be so bloody rude and stop with this ‘Max’ bollocks. You used to–”
“Whatever,” huffed Teddy, shouldering past his stepfather then giving me a wide berth as he made his way to his tiny car. Rodger started to follow him but Teddy waved him back. The great dog settled at Max’s feet to have his ears stroked. “Don’t ask me. It’s not like I’ve got the biggest exams of my life coming up or anything. A per bloody usual nobody really gives a shit about me.” Ted folded himself into the car in another feat of large-men-folk-human-contortion. Before the door slammed shut I heard him mutter, “Arsehole”. He shot his Max another foul look before he started the engine.
When the gates were closing behind him Max sighed again.
“I’m not sure that–” I began.
“Don’t mind Teddy,” Max cut in. “He’s being a little bastad to everyone at the moment. Believe me.”
Little? The boy was well over six foot. I hitched my bag up higher onto my shoulder and tore my eyes away from the closing gates.
“He does seem a bit cross,” I said as I followed Max and Rodger into the house. Max let out a bark of laughter as he led me through to the kitchen.
“Ha! Yes, a bit cross doesn’t quite cover it I’m afraid. For the last six months he’s been like an aggressive Eeyore on steroids. Sorry, I should have warned you about him. But to be honest he’s either up in his room, or eating everything in my fridge in under five seconds, so you won’t have to see much of him anyway.” He led me up the stairs, which appeared to be floating in midair through the centre of the house. The living space was double-height, with the first floor landing looking down on the kitchen-living area. It was so bright in there. Light poured in from the glass walls and even from light wells in the roof above, bouncing off the clean, white, almost clinical interior.
“I didn’t know you were married,” I said as I followed him up onto the first floor landing. “Is your wife–?”
“Rebecca and I never married, but we were together for eight years. She left ’bout a year ago now.” He shrugged. “Had enough of me, I guess. Headed up t’London. Always was a bit boring for her down here to be honest.” Before I could ask why Teddy wasn’t in London with his mother, Max stopped in the corridor and pushed open a door into what most would consider a lovely room.
“This okay?”
I ignored the king-sized bed with fluffy duvet covered with white cotton sheets and I focused on the glass. Wall to ceiling windows. I would not be able to sleep in here.
But I managed to force a small smile onto my face.
“Wow,” I said, hoping I’d mustered as much enthusiasm as the room deserved. “This is great.”
Max was frowning at me again.
“The remote for the telly is on the side table. There’s an en suite with towels in. Yaz stocked it up with some stuff – I hope you like essential oils.”
His sister stocked the guest room?
“Er … is there anyone else–?”
“It’s just me and Teddy.”
“Right.”
He opened his mouth to say something, shut it again and then spun on his heel to leave, muttering something about sorting supper.
Mia
“Hey, lady?”
I heard a muffled voice just beyond the wardrobe door and flinched. Somebody was moving around the bedroom. Somebody with very heavy footfalls. I gripped my book tightly in my lap, dropped the phone I had been using as a light to read the pages and froze. Before I could react the door was wrenched open and light poured in, blinding me for a moment.
“You’re reading,” a deep voice told me, and I blinked against the light to focus on the large figure’s face. Fear was clogging my ability to speak. “In a wardrobe.” I blinked again and managed to adjust my vision enough to see it was Teddy. My hands relaxed their death grip on the book and I let out a slow relieved breath.
“Hi,” I said once the silence had become uncomfortable. Teddy was frowning down at me, but the sullen expression from before had been replaced by open confusion. I guess anybody would find a woman choosing to sit in a dark wardrobe and read with artificial light from her phone when she had an entire massive bedroom at her disposal weird.
“Why are you in a wardrobe?” he asked.
“I like the quiet?”
Teddy opened the door wider. “Yeah, cause it’s absolute bedlam out here,” he said. “Ram jam.” He tilted his head to the side and lapsed into a deliberate silence, during which I heard one faint bout of birdsong and one car passing in the far distance. I pushed up from the small nest of pillows I’d made on the ground and another head rush hit me as I made it to my feet. I had to hold onto the doorframe for support.
“Shit,” Teddy muttered, his hand moving to catch me should I fall and then withdrawing when he saw I was okay. He was looking less and less hostile and more unsure of himself now. “Whoa, you … er, are you alright?”
I gave him a small smile. Maybe he acted like ‘Eeyore on steroids’ most of the time, but I was willing to bet there was a sweet boy buried under the layers of teenage arseholdom.
“I’m fine. Thanks though.”
He moved away from the door to let me pass, scuffing his feet and shoving his hands into his pockets. “Dad …” He shook his head in a jerky motion as if to clear it. “I mean, Max says you’ve been sick.”
“Yes, I have but I’m getting better now.”
Teddy glanced at my pillow nest in the wardrobe then back at me. He didn’t look convinced.
“Well, he sent me up to tell you supper’s ready. I did knock on the door, but you didn’t answer so …”
That explained the coming into my room.
“I wouldn’t have let myself in, but all the doors are so insulated they keep any noise out. And Max said you needed to eat.” He looked down at me then quickly looked away. “No offence lady, but I think he’s right.”
“It’s Mia.”
“What?”
“My name is Mia. And thank you for coming to get me, Teddy. I appreciate it.” He flicked another glance at my pillow nest, then back at me before blanking his expression and turning to leave. I laid my copy of Jane Eyre carefully down into my backpack before following after him.
As I made my way down the floating stairs I heard muffled angry voices coming from the kitchen.
“Just please try not to be such a pain in the arse for once, Ted,” Max grumbled as a couple of pots were slammed down on the granite.
“What am I supposed to say? That I’m happy you moved a random weirdo into the house without even asking me?”
“She’s had a rough time, mate,” Max said in a low voice. “She needs help for a bit. I know you’re still upset that your mum couldn’t come to–”
“Don’t talk about Mum!”
Real pain filtered into Teddy’s previously indifferent tone now.
“Ted,” Max’s normally low voice was even more gravelly now. “I’m sorry. I thought you were proper champion in the regionals. She missed out. It’s her loss, lad.” I peeked around the banister and saw Max put his hand on the back of Teddy’s neck. For a moment Teddy leaned into Max, but then the moment was gone and Teddy jerked away.
“Don’t bring Mum into this. She might be an uncaring bitch, but at least she would want me to concentrate on my exams.”
I decided that I should probably give them a bit more time and took a step back up the stairs. But when I turned I came face-to-face with Roger’s black eyes. His ears went back and he barred his teeth, a low growl rumbling from deep in his chest. I jerked back and collided with an upright lamp, which wobbled for a second before crashing to the ground before I could catch it. Roger gave me a disgusted look before he took off down the stairs.
“Crap,” I muttered, trying to right the stupid thing – it was bloody heavy. Luckily it was only the massive light bulb that had shattered. Bit of a strange lamp – no lampshade or anything, just a huge copper pipe angled in the middle with the massive, now shattered, bulb at the end. I heard noise on the stairs and looked down to see three sets of eyes staring up at me. “Er … sorry,” I called. “The random weirdo might have knocked over a lamp. But I think it’s just the bulb that’s broken so …”
“Ever heard of an exposed filament LED bulb?” Teddy asked.
“Shut up, Ted,” Max snapped.
“Er … a what?’
“That bulb cost more than my allowance for a year.”
“Oh my God.” My hand went up to my mouth and I felt my face drain of colour. “I’m so sorry.”
I saw a twinge of regret in Teddy’s expression before he dropped his gaze to his shoes. “Don’t get too worked up. Max is a tight git so my allowance isn’t that much.”
“Teddy, for Christ’s sake,” Maz snapped. “Listen Mia, don’t worry about the bleeding light.’
“I’ll just tidy it up so that …” I flinched as a sliver of glass pierced my finger. Blood was now dripping onto the otherwise immaculate tiles. Max took one look at the blood then bounded up the stairs taking them two at a time. When he got to me he made a grab for my hands and on instinct I snatched them away from him. He took a step back and held both his hands up in front of him.
“Mia?” he called softly. “It’s okay. I was just going to put some pressure on it so it stops bleeding.”
“Yes, yes o-of course,” I stammered. He approached me again, this time keeping his movements slow and deliberate. Once he’d pressed a tissue into my hand, he withdrew again to let me put the pressure on the wound.
“Teddy can you get a dustpan and brush to sweep up please?” Max asked. I heard Teddy sigh and shuffle off. Max hovered as we went down the stairs like I was some sort of invalid.
“Sorry about the light bulb,” I said once we were in kitchen. “I can pay you back.” I thought about the tenner I had stashed in my backpack. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to save up a security deposit for a flat anytime soon. I still had to open another bank account for goodness sake.
“It’s fine,” Max said, pulling out a chair at the kitchen island for me, which I hopped up onto whilst still pressing the tissue to my finger. “Ignore Teddy.”
“Standard,” I heard Teddy mutter as he moved through the kitchen with the dustpan and brush. Max rolled his eyes. I made a mental note to look up how much exposed filament LEDs cost and decided to drop it for now. Max was pulling out large bowls from the cupboard. Two pots were bubbling on the stove.
“So …” I paused as I looked up at the exposed beams and bare light fittings on the ceiling. “You’re having some work done?”
“What?”
“Er … you’re having some building work done. Looks like it’s all nearly there.”
Max paused in his draining of a rather alarming amount of pasta and stared at me. “I’m not having anything done.”
“Oh … but what about the, er … the ceiling and stuff?” Above me a large cable wound it’s way up a rough beam and then hung down with a bare light bulb at the end.
A loud burst of laughter sounded from behind me and I jumped a little in my seat.
“Ha! I love it!” Teddy said, still laughing. “Looks like it’s nearly there. Classic.”
“What?” I frowned at him. Up until now I hadn’t been sure Teddy could smile, let alone laugh like that.
“That light fitting you’re pointing at cost over a grand,” Teddy said. “It’s Max’s wanky industrial look. He paid through the nose for that shit. This place has featured in magazines. Okay, Max. I’ve changed my mind. She can stay.”
