Free The Birds and the Bees by Milly Johnson Page A

and hugged him and tried to let go first–it was basic psychology that the one in control always did that–and she just managed it, but she had to fight back the urge to hang onto him for ever.
    ‘Goodbye, Stevie. Give my love to little Danny.’
    ‘I will,’ she said, thinking how final ‘goodbye’ sounded. Why hadn’t he just said ‘bye’? There was a difference. Then he was gone, without one glance of recognition that she had had her hair done or was half a stone lighter.
    She didn’t wave his car off, she just sat on the sofa and let that infernal smile drop into a reverse of itself–a deep, downward arc. Then, when she could no longer hear the sound of his engine, she let her head fall into her hands and sobbed her heart out.

Chapter 12
    Matthew had worn a path into the carpet by the time he heard the footsteps creak up the staircase outside the hotel room. He checked his watch for the eighteenth million time– six minutes to six and six seconds –threw open the door before the soft knock had ended and fell upon a wide-eyed Jo.
    ‘I was so worried!’ he said, taking her in his arms. He had his mobile in his hand, ready to ring the police. It had been a close call.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said, sniffling. ‘He was there. It was pretty gruelling.’
    He pulled her away from him and studied her, looking for signs of violence but thankfully there was nothing, only pale lines on her face where tears had cut through her make-up. Then again, MacLean didn’t hit her where it showed, did he?
    ‘Are you okay? He didn’t—?’
    ‘No,’ Jo said, snuggling further into him to take his warmth and comfort. ‘Not really.’
    ‘What do you mean, “not really”, darling?’ said Matthew, rearing a little.
    ‘Well, at least I got away. Let’s just say, he started getting a bit rough.’
    She winced as his hands fell on her shoulder and she let him gently unbutton the top of her shirt to find small deep fingernail-shaped crescents on her shoulder, and bruising already forming around them.
    ‘The swine! I’m getting the police.’
    Matthew pulled out his mobile, but Jo stilled his hand.
    ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s over. I don’t want any more police. I’ve seen too many of them in the past. I don’t want to file another report. Nothing ever comes of it anyway, except he gets more annoyed. Please, darling. Let’s just get on with the rest of our lives now. I’m free of him.’
    She looked at him with her heavily fringed dark treacle eyes glistening with tears and he relented.
    ‘Oh baby!’ He squeezed her tight and then let go temporarily when someone else knocked on the door. Matthew opened it to find three porters standing there with six massive suitcases. ‘Wow!’ he said.
    ‘It’ll be a relief to get them over to your house,’ Jo said, adding pointedly, ‘sooner rather than later.’
    ‘Stevie is going to move out as soon as she can,’ said Matthew.
    ‘How was she? Upset?’
    ‘No, actually,’ said Matthew, shaking his head, as if he didn’t quite believe it himself. ‘She was…er…very understanding. Very understanding indeed.’
    He thought back again to how calmly she had smiled goodbye. She hadn’t even blown her top when she found out he’d ransacked the joint account, considering he hadonly put fifty quid in it towards the holiday in the first place. Had he looked at Jo at that moment, he would have seen something cross her face like a cloud. A cloud that was full of the grey shades of confusion that said, ‘Now that is odd …’
    The scent of Jo’s hair chased the image of Stevie away and Matthew found himself looking forward to the night, instead of backwards at the afternoon. Still, it niggled him that something wasn’t quite as it should be, and Stevie ranting and raving would have unsettled him far less than her smiling at him.

Chapter 13
    Eddie walked in from work and straightaway asked his wife,
    ‘So, how did Stevie get on with Buggerlugs today?’
    ‘Don’t ask,’