Intrigue

Chapter 51

Malcolm's POV

I spent the morning moping around the house. I'd switched on my laptop and carried a couple of books to the kitchen table, and had done the dishes and prepared some food for the evening, so that when my mother and sister returned, they wouldn't have to cook.

I kept glancing at the flash drive, placed on the kitchen table. I wasn't sure what to do with it.

At one point I'd inserted it into the USB port in my laptop, but then I changed my mind and pulled it out.

I sat in front of my laptop, trying to work on my assignment. But it was hard to concentrate. My mind kept going back to what my sister had told me about Sean, and on the way he'd lied to me for months, leading me on, when he'd fully well known my family's story and details I had told him as I'd gotten to know him, thinking that I was trusting him. It then jumped to what he'd revealed to me about himself, his addiction, his family problems, his apprenticeship. It couldn't have all been a lie.

I kept checking my phone. Silence from Sean's end. He was always online, but it finally seemed that he'd grasped the concept of giving someone space. I didn't want this, though. I wanted him to message and call and visit so that I could yell at him and tell him to fuck off. But I wasn't willing to make the first step. Let him have the silent treatment, if it was what he wanted. He'd deserved a punch, not that.

I had written precisely ten words in my assignment when the doorbell rang. I looked up in surprise. Was it him? But he never rang the doorbell, he usually texted me when he was here. Out of fear of running into Ella, no doubt.

No wonder he'd always leave his helmet on and keep glancing at the doors and windows when he met me outside. He was checking to see if Ella or Edward were around. I was a bloody idiot for not realising it before.

I stood up, reluctantly making my way to the front door. I opened the door slowly, and to my surprise, found Christine waiting behind it. I frowned.

"Christine. What are you doing here?" I stepped aside to let her in, glancing at the rain pelleting outside. I had been too busy thinking about Sean to realise that it was raining heavily. I watched as Christine dried her boots on the mat and entered our house.

"Alice said you were sick, so I came to see you," she answered me. She started taking her coat off and I took it from her before closing the door. She handed me a takeaway cup. "You don't look sick," she told me accusingly.

"Thanks." I glanced at the contents, inhaling the smell. Cinnamon latte. "I am sick, though."

Christine frowned at me. She was wearing a dark sweater and blue jeans, and had minimal makeup on, with light pink lipstick. "Is it contagious?" she asked warily. "I have to catch up on work on my dissertation, and cannot afford to be sick."

I laughed for two reasons. Firstly, because I hadn't even begun to think about what my dissertation title would be, and Christine was already in full speed ahead, meeting with her supervisor regularly and working hard on her readings. And secondly, because I was wondering whether heartbreak could be contagious.

"No, it's not. I'm just nauseous and a bit sick of life." I smiled sadly at her, and started making my way to the kitchen. Christine followed me. She'd visited before, so she knew her way around.

Just like Sean had, the first time I'd brought him home for breakfast and he'd commented about how nice the place was and had known the direction to the bathroom without my telling him.

I loathed him at this moment. I was seeing everything in a brand new light.

"It's sweet of you, to bring me coffee, when up until yesterday you were ignoring me." I smirked at Christine as she sat down. "Can I get you anything?"