Blood

Three

I arrived back at my flat a little after 10am. Riley was emerging from her room, still dressed in pyjamas and looking like she had just woken up.

"Morning," she grumbled rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning," I said and chuckled at her. "You look like you slept well."

"I had an awful night," she said. "I could hear you and Eli going at it for half of it."

I bit my lip. "Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"You were making me horny," she mumbled.

I laughed. "We'll be quieter next time," I promised.

"It's no biggie," she said and waved a hand dismissively. "I'm going to head to the supermarket in a bit, do you want to join?"

"Yeah, my cupboards are empty," I nodded. "I'll shower and meet you in the kitchen?"

"I'll be there, drinking lots and lots of coffee!" Riley called and walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and made my way into my room, going into the en-suite and showering. I dressed in jeans and a tshirt and then joined Riley, who was now dressed, sitting in the kitchen. She had a mug of coffee in her hands and smiled when I walked in. "Ready?" She said, taking a large gulp of coffee and standing. I nodded and she stretched her arms up above her head, yawning. "Great, let's go."

My eyes flickered to her stomach and I frowned. "Is that a bruise?" I wondered.

Riley paled. "What?" She said quickly and hurried to pull her top down, covering the large purple bruise.

"On your stomach. That looks nasty," I said.

"It's nothing," she said with a smile. She grabbed her bag off the side and walked towards the door. "Let's go."

"What happened?" I asked, following her out of the kitchen.

"I walked into the corner of my desk," Riley said. I paused, raising my eyebrows at her.

"Really?" I said. "It looked like you've been kicked in the stomach."

Riley raised her eyebrows at me. "And what would you know about getting kicked in the stomach?"

"You've forgotten that my boyfriend is a martial arts instructor," I said. "I know a little about fighting injuries."

"Well, this is a desk injury," Riley said with a laugh.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure," I said, not believing her.

"It is!" She insisted.

"Okay, if you say so," I said and we walked out of the flat. "But you're a bad liar."

Riley groaned. "Okay, fine," she said and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. She bit her lip, furrowing her eyebrows thoughtfully. "Jacob's been teaching me how to fight."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Really?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah," she said. "And as you can see by the bruise I'm not very good."

"Or he's not a good teacher. He's meant to teach you to fight by not beating you up in the process."

"It was an accident," Riley said. "We live in London now, you hear horror stories. I just want to be able to protect myself."

"Honest?" I said. "I've got enough going on right now to be worried about you being secretly beaten up and lying about it."

Riley laughed. "Your concern is heartwarming," she said. "I know you hate Jacob so I didn't want to mention it."