Freed by You (3 page)

I marched straight across the dance floor this time, not bothering to look who was watching. I was not usually quite so forward and demanding but when a woman was touched without her consent I couldn’t sit back and say nothing. I knew too well how that could make a woman feel, worthless and dirty and yet somehow she always blames herself, just like this woman was doing now. Not this time.

I leaned over the bar and waved for Natalie’s attention.

“Hey, I said ten minutes; I thought you had done a runner. What’s going on?” Her eyes wandered cautiously over the face of the woman beside me before she appeared to sigh deeply.

“I need to report an incident involving a couple of your members, who do I speak to?”

“Leave it with me, sweetie, I’ll sort this,” she said, tilting her head to the side in an almost patronising manner. This bothered me.

“I would rather see it through myself if you don’t mind, Natalie, if you could just point me in the right direction.” I held her eye contact with a stern glance – this was new to me too, I often struggled to look people in the eye – but I was determined that he would not get away with this.

“Very well, good luck!” she smiled. “You’ll need to see Ryan in his office; you remember where that is, right?”

“Yes, thanks.” I rounded the bar and headed for the door, still clasping the woman’s wrist, eager not to let her disappear.

As I entered Ryan’s office I released my grip on her, confident that she could no longer escape. Ryan looked up with a surprised but warm expression.

“Hello, Miss Braxton. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Oh it’s no pleasure, trust me.”

Ryan looked around me to where the woman hovered and his expression quickly changed to one of deep concern. I repeated the story to Ryan only to be told he would have no way of knowing who the assaulter was as the woman, Suzie, she finally introduced herself as, didn’t catch his name. I suggested that he go through the entire night’s CCTV footage, find him and print copies of his image so at least if nobody recognised him now we’d be able to keep an eye out for him next time he visited. Again, I surprised myself with my authoritative tone. Ryan agreed and began scanning the footage whilst dismissing us from his office and allowing me to see Suzie safely to a taxi before heading for home myself.

I was to be there at 8 o’clock sharp on Saturday.

I stood admiring Maia as she slept, and felt a surge of overwhelming love and adoration. I adored her with every part of my being. What was that saying?
Out of the darkness, there
comes a light
. And, she was my light, a light so bright in the terrifying pitch black that I knew it could never dull.

I couldn’t resist climbing into bed next to her and nestling my nose into her hair. She smelled divine, as she always did.

“Mummy’s home,” I whispered as I gently kissed her hair.

I awoke the following morning to little fingers trying to pry my eyelids open. I smiled widely as I blinked rapidly, my eyes trying to adjust to focus on the precious face that was so close to mine.

“Morning, Mummy,” Maia said, in a voice that would rival that of an angel.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I replied as I pulled her into a hug.

“Squeeze,” she giggled whilst squeezing me as hard as her fragile arms would allow.

She absolutely melted my heart. I never thought it was possible to love another being as much as I loved Maia. She was perfect, so beautiful and so kind and warm. She was such a character for a three year old; she never failed to make me laugh. And she enjoyed nothing more than making people laugh. No matter what, I only had to look at her and my smile would instantly appear.

“Are you hungry?” I asked her, digging my fingers gently into her sides. She giggled and thrashed as she attempted to escape my tickles.

“Yes, breakfast, Mummy!” she squealed in response.

As Maia dug her spoon eagerly into her bowl of coco pops, Samantha shuffled sleepily into the kitchen and stood beside me, yawning dramatically.

“Sorry, did we wake you?” I asked her as a slight feeling of guilt began to creep over me.

“No, I was awake anyway. I’ve been waiting for you to surface; I can’t wait to hear about last night. Did you meet anyone of interest? Actors? Footballers?” she mocked as she jabbed a gentle finger into my side.

“No, I’m afraid not. Although, I did nearly get knocked out by my extremely handsome boss!”

“Explain!” she ordered as she filled up the kettle and flicked the switch on.

I explained the story of how I had become acquainted with Mr Scott as Samantha gawped at me, looking somewhat gormless, actually.

“So, how hot is hot?” she asked me, a grin spreading from ear to ear. And, there was the very expression that I had been dreading, the expression that told me that she wanted every detail.

“Oh, he was very hot, extremely so, but he was an arrogant arse quite frankly so let’s not even go there, yeah,” I said, stifling a yawn.

“So, you like him then?”

“No, Samantha. I don’t like him. I said he was hot, that’s all, but I’m not in the habit of trying to catch the attention of my boss. And anyway he was rude and grumpy, and did I say, very arrogant?”

Samantha let the subject drop more easily than I had feared. “So, what are you up to today?” she asked me, lifting her cup of coffee and sipping it loudly.

“I’m dropping Maia at the nursery at nine, then I’m off to college, you?”

It wasn’t a college exactly, but how else did one easily describe the Academy of Dramatic Arts? It was much easier to refer to it as college and besides, Samantha knew what I meant.

“I’m working all day, but I do have a lunch date,” she beamed before flashing me a wink.

“Tell me more!”

I wasn’t surprised by the fact that Samantha had been asked out for lunch by a rather handsome businessman-in-the-making who lived a couple of doors away from us. We both knew him only well enough to say hi as we passed on the street but I had always noted the way he looked at Samantha, it was obvious to me that he was attracted her, and who could blame him? Samantha was gorgeous. She had honey blonde hair that always looked immaculate; I secretly envied her for that as I was absolutely hopeless with my own. I was always grateful when a special occasion came up, she would happily make my hair look incredible, I just wished I knew how she did it! She had sparkling blue eyes that were welcoming and kind. Her full, ruby lips covered a sweet but sexy smile, her teeth a brilliant white and all perfectly in line. Her grandmother from her mother’s side was of Spanish origin and Samantha had luckily inherited her beautiful olive toned skin. She had a permanent healthy glow, the complete opposite of my pale and washed out appearance. And she was beautiful on the inside, no one could argue that. She showed nothing but kindness and generosity. She really was the best friend that anyone could ever hope for. Of course, she was also my cousin so we had grown up together. My father was the brother of Samantha’s father. They had both teased us as children about how we behaved like an old married couple, we bickered a lot but we always looked after each other and were completely inseparable from a young age. And now we really were like a married couple. We lived together in the house that I inherited when my mother had lost her battle against the cancer that was attacking her left breast when I was just three-years old and she supported me in bringing up my daughter. For that I would be forever in her debt, and gladly so. I owed Samantha a lot more than I could ever give her. She had no skeletons in her closet, no dark haunting past to phase her future. For that I couldn’t envy her. She deserved to be happy.

At 9am I waved goodbye to Maia and made my way to my lecture that was to start at 9.30am prompt. I had a little time to spare so I nipped in and grabbed a latte-to-go from the local coffee shop on my way, hoping that the caffeine would give me the kick I so desperately needed. After getting home shortly before 2am and rising at 7am, I was feeling the strain, to say the least.

The noise of running engines and horns sounding invaded my already pounding head as the rush hour traffic surrounded me. The smell of exhaust fumes polluting the very air I breathed was slightly sickening. Parked outside the entrance of the college was an immaculate black car, a very expensive looking car, in my humble opinion. As I neared, I could make out the Bentley logo on the back of the car boot. I couldn’t resist sneaking a quick glance through the window as I passed, wondering who might be visiting with such a conspicuous car. I wasn’t well informed on cars in general but, even I knew that a Bentley cost a hell of a lot of money. But, of course, I was greeted by solid sheets of tinted glass. Leaving my thoughts behind me, I entered the building, throwing my now empty cup into the bin with a perfectly aimed shot and grinning ridiculously at my success.

“Today, we’ll be looking at things from a different perspective,” Mr Olsen began, “this term, we’ve been focusing on the sheer drive and determination that we all need in order to survive in a business as competitive as ours, so for this reason we’ll be having a visitor today, a previous student of mine. A tremendously talented ex-student, may I add.”

The sounds of whispers and shuffling feet surrounded the room as people began questioning which famous actor would be paying us a visit. I could almost feel the excited energy that filled the large classroom.

“Before you all get ahead of yourselves, no, it isn’t Gerard Butler or Brad Pitt, sorry to disappoint you ladies; in fact, he began as an actor, starred in a couple of highly successful movies in the nineties as an adolescent, but decided on a different career path. He is now locally famous in his own right for becoming one of the youngest and most successful entrepreneurs that London has ever bred. So, needless to say, he knows all too well how important drive and determination are, and I’m sure he has more of those than most. So, enough of the dramatics, I can see the suspense is killing you boys and girls and I’m sure he’s got a busy schedule.” Mr Olsen glanced back over his shoulder and chuckled quietly to himself. “Please welcome, Mr Julian Scott!” he beamed, waving his extended arm toward the back of the room.

Nothing alarmed in my head at this moment, I wasn’t aware that it should have done. That was until I saw the face of the man who was approaching us. My mouth dropped open
. Oh
shit, oh shit,
I was repeating the mantra in my head, my foot drumming nervously against the hard wood floor
. Please don't let him recognise me
, I pleaded silently. As Mr Julian Scott stopped in front of our group he raised his head with a stern professional-like smile and introduced himself.

“Good morning, I’m Julian Scott. It’s a pleasure to have been invited here today, back to what I believe was the starting point of my success,” he began.

I could hear the whispered voices and hushed giggling of the girls beside me and I could only imagine what every female student in this room was thinking right now. This very thought bothered me more than it should have done as my stomach twisted with jealousy.

This man was incredible to look at, even more incredible than the man that invaded my memories from the previous evening. He was even more beautiful in life. His voice was soft but stern, it was impossible not to be drawn to him as he spoke, impossible not to listen. I withdrew my gaze as his eyes began to scan over the group of students before him. I instinctively lowered my head and focused on a scrap of what looked like a chewing gum wrapper discarded on the floor beside my feet, hoping he wouldn’t notice me.

All the same feelings of embarrassment and humiliation washed over me again, the memory so fresh in my mind, as I felt a pair of intense green eyes fixate on the top of my head
. How? How could I possibly know if he was looking at me when my eyes were fixated
on the floor
? I took a steadying breath and glanced up sheepishly, and sure enough, a pair of intense green eyes bored into mine.

His voice halted and he seemed to lose his sentence midway through before he tore his eyes away from mine, a furrow appearing between his dark brows. His head appeared to shake ever so slightly. He masked his distraction easily with a single cough and sipped at his glass of water before returning it to the desk. Then, he confidently continued with his story, recalling a time when he studied here himself. He had received top marks in his studies here and, by the sounds of it, was no less than a perfect student and a very talented actor.

“I realised after the second film, of which some you may know, named
The Lost One
, that my dreams and ambitions had changed, for reasons I won’t bore you all with today. I was just fourteen when I played the part of Christopher and it was a tough part to play, believe me, but I was determined to succeed and so I did. And when the hype of the film was over I was even more determined to succeed but in other areas. When I turned eighteen I invested some of the money I had earned into a small publishing business, having always had a passion for reading and poetry, and here I am today. Determination can be draining but it’s so important that you never lose it! Without it you will achieve nothing!” he spoke in an authoritative tone.

I could feel the passion radiating off of him as he described his brief, but albeit successful acting career. It was clear to me that he felt very passionately about acting so, why had he given up on it? If he’s so full of determination – which, let’s face it, that's what this lecture was about – then why did he give up on something he clearly felt so strongly about? I shook my thoughts away, realising the fact that they shouldn’t have been bothering me quite as much as they were, and continued to watch him as he spoke.

As he finished his speech the room erupted into applause. I clapped my hands along with the others, looking down at my feet again when his gaze met directly with mine.

“Mr Scott will sadly be leaving us now, but I hope that you have all learned a lot from his experiences that he has had the kindness of sharing with you today.” Mr Olsen spoke loudly in order to capture the attention of the girls, still whispering and giggling, beside me. Julian Scott raised his head and his eyes found mine, a furrow appearing between his brows once more.