Page 4 of The Sins of Silence

“You don’t need to apologize, Isobel.”Fucking kill me now.This pretty girl had no clue how much she had me tied up in knots. “It was stupid and I—”

“It wasn’t stupid!” she quickly defended, cutting me off. “What I just saw…” She stared up at me with her beautiful wide eyes and I could see that she was struggling on what to say. She reached for my hand and curled her two fingers around my pointer finger.

I immediately grasped her hand, wanting more contact from her than just her finger hugging mine. She tightened her fingers briefly before she relaxed her hand.

“You’ve been through so much, Christopher.” She gave me a small smile, attempting to offer some comfort. “I guess I forget about the horrors you most likely still carry with you.” She ducked her head to avoid my gaze. “You must think I’m such a silly girl.”

“I don’t,” I immediately answered. I reached my other hand up and tilted her chin back to me. “I think you’re a normal person. Normal people don’t have to worry about bomb explosions in the early hours of the morning or panic attacks in nightclubs.” I let her face go and took a step back from her, feeling my walls beginning to brick back up. “You should go. A fun night out with your friends is what you should be having. Not holding some fucked-up ex-soldier’s hand.” I was stopped from shaking off her grip when she stepped forward.

“I like holding your hand.” Her eyes shone up at me and I knew that if she kept staring at me like that, I’d be pushing her up against the nearest wall. “And they areourfriends, Christopher. Not mine. Ours.” She tugged on my hand. “Let’s go back and join them.”

I cringed as she said that. “I thought I’d take off.”

She smirked up at me. “Is the big bad soldier afraid?” She giggled as she tugged on my hand. “Come on.” Her tone was softer now. “It will be okay. I promise.”

I stared at her for a long moment until I gave in and I let her pull me with her.

“If it helps at all…” She paused just long enough to gaze back at me. “I spilled my drink because you called me a tart.”

“I didn’t call you a tart!” I laughed when it sank in. “Tart. It’s a wine term to describe a sharp or acidic taste.” Her eyes widened at me in understanding. “Not that I thought you were a tart.” I laughed at her again before I unclasped our hands and placed my arm around her shoulders as we began walking again.

We were still laughing as we approached the table. Some of the group were either up dancing or so busy chatting with each other that us taking our seats didn’t affect the flow.

“What’s so funny?” Freddie asked from his seat opposite us.

“Nothing,” Isobel quickly said. “Just me being a tart,” she said, which set us both off laughing again.

Luke just shrugged his shoulders at us as he slid two new drinks across the table to us: a pint of cider for me and a glass of white wine for Isobel.

“You good?” Luke asked me.

I nodded my head before I moved my eyes down to Isobel at my side. She rested her hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze, still with that warm smile on her face. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m good.”

Luke flicked his eyes between us for a moment before he leaned back and placed his arm around Freddie’s shoulders. He winked at me and I knew that he was probably thinking there was more to mine and Isobel’s relationship—or at least, the start of something maybe—but right now, with things the way they were for me, friendship was all that I could offer her.

It’s true that she was a beautiful woman and any guy would be lucky to have her but I wasn’t that guy. Friendship was all that I had to offer anyone at this point in my life. A relationship would just complicate things and I had all the complications I could deal with at the moment.

* * *

Heading across town the next day, I waited in the lobby of the hotel while Luke went to see Freddie at Reception. He and I were going out to see some venues today for some possible club locations for his and Thomas’s new bar. I was secretly glad of the distraction. I knew I would need to get a job as I couldn’t continue to mope around as I had been doing back in London so this would be a good time for me to check out some local bars and enquire if they were hiring.

“Hey, soldier boy,” a feminine voice called from behind me.

I turned around and almost choked when I saw pretty girl walking toward me. She had on a sexy black, pinafore dress that came to just above her knees. It was paired with a white, tight, short-sleeved top that hugged her upper body like a second skin. She had a pair of ankle boots on that I could instantly imagine being wrapped around my hips as I fucked her against the wall. Or on a desk. Or against the window or…

“Hello?” She clicked her fingers in my face, bringing my attention back to her. “You okay? It seemed like I lost you for a moment.”

I re-focused on her face, staring at her lips for a moment before I nodded my head. “I’m okay.” I pasted a fake smile on my face so that she wouldn’t worry about me or question further where my thoughts had gone. “I’m sorry. I was just… uh… thinking.”

“About good things I hope?” She crossed her arms and my eyes instantly shot down to her chest. “Do you like the dress?” She waved her arms out at her sides as she did a little twirl for me.

She was going to fucking kill me if she kept looking at me the way that she was.

My eyes shot past her when I saw Luke coming in our direction. “Luke!” I shouted at him as I theatrically waved my arm at him. I knew that she probably thought that I was an idiot and that I was most likely resembling someone waving off their loved ones on the maiden voyage of theTitanicbut being alone with Isobel was dangerous for me. Dangerous for her as well, if she knew where my thoughts were with her in this dress.

“Hey.” He gave me a‘what the hell?’look before he pecked Isobel on the cheek. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Just harassing Christopher.” A giggle escaped her. “What are you boys up to today?”