Bad For Me

Bad For Me

J.B. Leigh

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

© 2013  J.B. Leigh, all rights reserved, worldwide. No part of this ebook my be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet or copied without the author's permission.

DISCLAIMER

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, dead or alive, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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Part 1 - Megan

Chapter 1

“Where’s he taking you?” I asked, but Julie’s hair dryer was set to hurricane force, and would've blocked out the sound of anything less than a nuclear explosion. Julie Jones was my flatmate. Yes—you heard me right: Julie Jones. It gets even better. Her sister’s name is Janet; her brother’s name is James. You’ve got to love her parents for their obsession with alliteration.

“What?” Julie turned down the hair dryer a couple of notches. I still daren't get any closer to her for fear of being incinerated.

“Where’s he taking you?” I shouted.

Julie had been on tenterhooks for the last two weeks—ever since her brother had been in touch.

She turned off the hair dryer, and for a moment, I thought I'd gone deaf.

“Somewhere expensive. He owes me. He missed my last birthday.”

When he was eighteen, her brother had started his own software company. That was five years ago and, according to Julie, the company was going great guns.

“How come I haven't met him before?”

“JJ's been busy—he’s been setting up a second office up north.”

She sounded a little defensive. A year seemed a long time not to see your own brother. Julie saw Janet, her sister, at least a couple of times every month. They usually went out for coffee or lunch. You’d never guess they were sisters. Julie was a bit ditsy, but had a heart of gold. Janet's head was so far up her own backside it wasn't even funny. Janet was the brainy one—a solicitor. She was always criticising Julie for one or other, not that Julie took the slightest notice. Janet didn't like me—I was bit too working class. I'd never once heard the two of them discuss their brother which made me wonder if there had been some kind of falling out. Apparently, James insisted that everyone call him JJ. Just how pretentious did you have to be to refer to yourself by your initials? Even though I'd never met JJ, I already disliked him.

“Does this dress look all right?” Julie had her back to me; she was looking at the full length mirror which had a crack in one corner where some clumsy idiot (me) had caught it with an umbrella.

“You look great.”

“Are you sure?” She turned to face me.

Julie looked great in anything; she had that kind of figure. Envious? Me? Hell yes.

“You look drop-dead gorgeous.”

The intercom buzzed.

“That’s him.” Julie panicked. “Oh god. I haven’t done my makeup yet.” She dropped the hair dryer, and rushed into the bedroom. “Let him in Megs will you?”

I'd long since given up on telling Julie that I preferred to be called Megan.

“Hello?” I hated the door intercom. Half the time, I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end was saying; it sounded like they'd been swallowed by a Dalek.

“Julie, is that you?”

“No. It’s Megan.”

“Who?”

“Megan. I’m Julie’s flat mate.”

“Oh yeah. Julie told me all about you. Can you let me in?”

“Sure.” I buzzed him in. 'told him all about me'? What did that mean exactly? What had Julie been saying? Paranoid? Who me?

“Is it him?” Julie stuck her head around the door.

“Yeah. He’s on his way up.”

“Will you entertain him? I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Entertain him?” I said—to myself apparently—Julie had disappeared again. How am I supposed to entertain him? Juggling? A magic show?

Julie had bored me to tears for hours with stories of her brilliant brother. She clearly doted on him, which made me wonder why she hadn’t seen him in so long. I felt like I knew everything there was to know about him: what his company did (something technical which I didn't understand), what kind of car he drove (BMW), how he'd teased her when they were kids (hid her dolls). She’d probably told me his shoe size, but I'd stopped listening by then. What she'd failed to tell me was that—James—JJ—whatever his name was—was hot with a capital ‘H’. Why hadn't Julie thought to mention that? He was tall, dark and... you get the picture. He was all of that and a big helping more. And he was standing right in front of me.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

I was still blocking the doorway—too stunned to move.

“Sorry, yes, come in.” I shuffled aside.

“I’m JJ.” He held out his hand. I stood there like a dummy.

“And you must be Megs.” His hand was still outstretched, waiting for me to respond.

“Megan.” I managed to raise my hand. His grip was firm. His touch felt good—much too good. If Julie had warned me that her brother was some kind of Adonis, I would have at least made myself presentable. As it was, I looked like I'd just rolled out of bed.

He must have decided that the mad woman standing in front of him was never going to let go of his hand, so he gently pulled it away and walked into the living room.

“Where's Julie?”

“She won’t be long. She’s doing her makeup. Why don’t you have a seat while you wait?”

As soon as I'd said it, I realised it was a stupid suggestion. When I'd lived at home with my mum and brother, I'd had to do all the cleaning and tidying. Once I moved out, and got a place of my own, it was a relief to be able to relax and be a bit of a slob. Still, I had nothing on Julie. She was unbelievable—she took untidiness to a whole new level. Somewhere, under a mountain of: clothes, bags, books, and goodness knows what else, was a sofa and two chairs.

“I see my kid sister isn’t any tidier than she used to be. How do you put up with it?”

I smiled. I decided not to confess my role in the carnage. I was more than happy for Julie to shoulder the blame. JJ eventually managed to unearth one of the chairs. I leaned against the table, trying not to make it too obvious that I was ogling him.

“Julie tells me you go to college, Megs.”

“Megan.”

“What?”

“It’s Megan—my name.”

“Sorry, I could have sworn Julie called you Megs.”

“I’m studying business admin.”

He laughed—well it was more a snort really.

“What’s funny?”

“Nothing. Sorry.”

“You laughed. What’s wrong with business admin?”

“So many things.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Most college courses are a complete waste of time. You would be better off getting practical experience.”

Now he was pissing me off. I wished I hadn't mentioned my course. I didn't need his seal of approval. I'd left school with no qualifications—not because I was stupid; I'd just had too much going on at home. As well as college going to college, I worked in a coffee shop. I enjoyed the work, but the pay was rubbish. I wanted to get a better-paying job—that’s why I was doing the course. I was just about to tell JJ to mind his own business when...

“Hi!” Julie walked over to her brother; the two of them shared an embrace. Five minutes earlier, I might have wished he was holding me in his arms. Now, I was cheesed off with the smug shit. Who did he think he was, coming into my home—belittling my college course?

“You’ve met Megs...” Julie said.

“Megan.” JJ corrected her, and then smiled at me.

Screw that! You don’t deserve my smile. I gave him my patented death stare, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I hope she's kept you entertained,” Julie said.

“Megs has been most amusing.”

Who did this guy think he was, with his smart arse comments? If he hadn't been Julie's brother, I would've told him to go fuck himself.

“This place is a bit poky, sis. You should get yourself somewhere bigger.”

“That's easy for you to say.” It was Julie’s turn to be annoyed. “I don't have your kind of money.”

“Maybe I could help. Come on—we'd better get a move on; the table is booked for eight.”

“See you later Megs,” Julie called.

“Bye, Megs.” JJ turned to me, and flashed another smile before following his sister out of the flat.

Julie's name was on the lease. I sub-let a room from her—unofficially. If she moved out, I'd be homeless. This had been the only half-decent place I'd managed to find that I could afford. The council hadn't wanted to know—single females were way down their list. They did say I should reapply if I became pregnant. Tossers!