Joker in the Pack (Romantic Suspense, Completed, Watty Winner)

Chapter 1

Author's Note:

If you're reading this note on any site other than W*ttpad, then you're reading a pirated copy of this book. Please choose to read on a reputable site rather than one run by thieves. Writers put in a lot of effort to bring you stories - the least you can do is allow them control of their own work.

I (Elise Noble) do not have an account on the NovelHD site - the people who run it have created a fake account in my name.

And if you are reading on W4ttpad, thanks so much for giving my story a try!

***

"Would you hurry up?"

I gripped the ladder with sweaty hands as Maddie balanced on top. We'd been best friends since primary school, an unbreakable bond that had formed the day Robbie Stevens called me a nasty name and she crawled under the table to tie his shoelaces together in revenge.

"Why are you whispering, Liv? He's not here."

She leaned to the side, and the ladder wobbled. I clung on tighter as my grip on sanity loosened.

"But he'll be back any minute!"

"Almost done. Just pass me the pink, would you?"

I handed over one final tube of glitter and tapped my foot as she carefully sprinkled the contents along the fourth blade of my ex-boyfriend's ceiling fan. His professionally decorated cream-and-grey lounge would look wonderful covered in a hail of rainbow sparkles.

I glanced at my watch—almost seven o'clock. Please, say Edward hadn't left work early today. We should have had time to spare, but we'd got delayed taking down the curtain poles to put the hard-boiled eggs inside. Some of the screws were really sticky. Not only that, mixing his hideously expensive conditioner with hair removal cream and squishing it all back into both the bottle in the shower and the spare in the cupboard had taken longer than anticipated.

But we'd managed in the end, and now I was torn between shrieking with glee or backpedalling and putting everything back how it was.

I wasn't normally vindictive like that, you understand, but buoyed as I was by the glass of wine I'd drunk with lunch and the vivid memory of Edward boinking his personal assistant over his dining room table, it hadn't taken much for Maddie to persuade me. I'd chosen that dining table with him, for goodness' sake. When he'd asked the assistant in John Lewis how sturdy it was, I'd had no idea what he had in mind. How stupid did I feel?

Maddie clambered down the ladder, grinning. "Grab that screwdriver, would you? We don't want to give the game away by leaving evidence behind."

No, we didn't. I stuck it in my pocket and grabbed one end of the ladder, which we carried back to Edward's garage. Inside, I took one last look at his new Mercedes. We'd chosen the colour together, and he'd even ordered the heated seats because I didn't like getting cold. Six weeks he'd owned it, and we'd only taken a handful of trips before that awful day.

"Ready to go?" Maddie asked, hovering by the door.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Out of my old life and into the new.

We giggled like schoolgirls as we ran towards the Tube station, but it wasn't until we were sitting on the train that the guilt really hit. What had we done?

"Do you think the hair remover was a bit much?"

"No, I bloody don't. She was wearing your Jimmy Choos when you caught them, remember?"

I did, but I didn't want to.

"And look on the bright side, his little slut might borrow some of it for her own tresses."