“Are we here?”
“We certainly are.”
The taxi pulled in by the pavement. Bella peered over Jake’s shoulder but could see nothing but an overgrown hedge, branches thrusting through railings covered in chipped black paint.
“Come on.”
His tone had changed. He sounded – could it be? – nervous. Almost irritable. Bella grasped anxiously at her bag. Unfolding herself onto the pavement, she looked up and saw, above the unkempt hedge, a looming, redbrick wall. A huge window hung flat and black against the bricks. There was not a gleam of light from anywhere.
“This is it.”
Jake’s voice was flat. Bella wondered if she dared reach for his hand. She didn’t.
“This is Fever Street?”
“This is Fever Street. Let’s – “ he stopped for a moment. She had the impression he was mentally bracing himself for what came next. “Let’s go inside.”
She hadn’t dared take his hand but he took hers. He led her through the gap in the shabby railings and the light from the street lamp was swallowed up by the thick hedge as they moved past it into darkness, stepping as cautiously as travellers in a dark and wild wood.
Chapter Two
They stood in the dark hallway. Jake still held her hand but loosely, as if he'd forgotten it was there. His fingers lay limply against hers.
"They're out."
He breathed it out on a rush of air. Bella tried to see his expression through the gloom. Did he sound relieved? Why would he?
"Sorry Bella, I don't know why we're standing here in the dark. Here, come through, come through..."
He'd let go of her hand but now he grabbed it up again and almost pulled her after him. She had a confused impression of a large hallway with a high, high ceiling, a flight of stairs running up the far wall to a landing, a floor tiled like a chessboard. Then she was bundled into another room and the click of a light switch left her blinking her eyes at the sudden brightness.
"Whoa, that's too bright isn't it?" said Jake and fumbled about in the corner. There was another click and a softer glow came from the table lamp in the corner. Bella looked about her. This was obviously the living room; a big, tumbled space, filled with sofas and book cases and dominated by a wide and dust-filled fireplace.
"Not much, but it's home."
Bella smiled, relieved at the absence of the dark and at Jake's return to geniality. "It's lovely. Big!"
"Let me get you a drink - what would you like?"
He left her in the room while he went to fetch her gin and tonic and she stood for a moment in the middle of the big rug that covered the floorboards. Then, feeling slightly marooned, she made her way one of the scuffed leather sofas that stood against the walls. The first thing that caught her eye was the pinboard encrusted with photographs on the opposite wall. It was a big board, three feet across, and absolutely plastered in snapshots. They lay in thick drifts of glossy photographic paper, two or three photos deep. Bella made a move to get up and have a closer look but stopped herself. It seemed too nosy, too forward – how awful if Jake came back and caught her snooping.
She let her gaze drift from the pinboard, taking in the other sofa, heaped with an old tartan blanket. The toes of a pair of satin stilettos peeked from beneath the seat. Those must be Veronica's, thought Bella and was suddenly fired with an acute curiosity about this female occupant of the house. Jake’s voice had slipped, when he’d mentioned her. Why?
There were other signs of her occupation: a slipping pile of glossy magazines underneath the corner table, a string of pearl beads hung from a candlestick on the mantelpiece. Bella clasped her hands in front of her. She realised that she'd been alone now for nearly fifteen minutes. Could Jake really be taking that long to make a drink? She was wondering if she dared go and look for him when, in a rush of relief, she heard his footprints in the hallway outside.
"Sorry about that, had a phone call I had to take," said Jake, as he handed her a glass slippery with condensation. Bella nodded, hiding her confusion.
Jake sat next to her on the sofa and there was a moment's awkward silence. The easy, sexy warmth that had flowed between them at the pub seemed to be in danger of dissolving. Bella shifted uneasily. She felt very nervous.
Jake was staring at the opposite wall, his own glass held loosely in his hand. Bella swallowed her mouthful of gin and took another anxious sip. She could think of nothing to say, nothing at all. She raged at herself inwardly but there it was – there was nothing that came to mind. Nothing. She was struck dumb.
Jake said nothing himself. He simply put his glass down on the floor - Bella heard the dull clunk as it hit the floorboards - and turned to face her. His hands went up to her face and the next second, his mouth was firmly against hers. She was startled enough to gasp and as her mouth opened, she felt his tongue against hers.
“You’re lovely,” he murmured against her face and she felt a flutter of pleasure at the words. For herself, she was almost scared at her depth of feeling. She felt as if she knew him, knew him intimately, and yet beneath her hands was a virtual stranger; the unknown territory of his body was still to be explored. They were pressed together as closely as two fully dressed people could be but it still wasn’t enough. He drew back from her a little and then he was reaching for her hands and helping her up.
“Upstairs,” he whispered, his mouth to her ear, making her shiver. She held his hand and followed him meekly, out of the room and up the long, echoing staircase.
*
They lay spoon fashion, her spine curved against his chest, his legs curled around hers. She was almost asleep, lulled by the body warmth and their shared, rhythmic breathing. When Jake spoke, it startled her.
"I can't believe I've found you," he said softly. His arm tightened around her stomach. "I feel so lucky to have found you. It's incredible, to find someone who's - who's been through everything, who knows what I'm talking about. I can't believe it. Can you?"
Bella stuttered something non-committal. Jake squeezed her again gently.
"You're incredible, Bella. You seem to understand me. I feel like I could tell you - "
He stopped abruptly. Bella lay, holding her breath, waiting for him to finish the sentence. You feel like you can tell me what - what? Anything? He said nothing more and the silence bloomed between them. Bella could his breathing stuttering in and out against her backbone.
"Jake? Are you okay?"
She turned back to face him but before she could say another word, he took hold of her face and roughly kissed her.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, speaking against her eager, open mouth. “Don’t say anything else for the moment.”
She woke again in the night, disturbed by footsteps and voices outside the door. For a moment, Bella stared into the darkness, disorientated. Then she remembered where she was and reached out tentatively with her foot, touching Jake's warm leg beside her. The voices were right outside the door. She felt a momentary, absurd surge of panic that they would come in. There was the bass rumble of a deep male voice and the higher, breathier tone of a girl. But she couldn't hear what they were saying. As they continue to whisper outside the door, floorboards creaking beneath shifting feet, she began to feel irritated. Didn't they have a room of their own? It was obviously Jake's brother and his girlfriend. Bella looked across at Jake's sleeping figure, just visible through the orange-tinted darkness. He lay motionless, locked away from her in a thicket of dreams.
Finally, the voices faded from outside the door and she heard the scrape of footsteps along the corridor. Bella lay back down, pulling the duvet up over her breasts. She felt clogged with sleep; she could feel it waiting there for her, a dark cloud swirling with waiting dreams. But at the same time, underlying it, ran a current of uneasiness. She rolled on her side and lay awake for a long while in the orange-dyed London dark, feeling Jake twitch and breathe beside her.