The Inheritance: A feisty, giggle-inducing romance Read online

  Jamie has magically managed to ruin my mood, once again. I turn off the TV and then I throw the remote away with too much strength – it bounces on the cushions and falls on the floor. Fuck it, I don’t care if I broke it. I get up and head to my room – that seems the only place where I can hide away from him.

  *

  The weather is still vile, it’s been cloudy and grey all day, and it has not stopped raining. I have lost track of time and I’ve been so upset that I didn’t leave my room despite being starving. It might be late afternoon already. I’d like to go downstairs, but the thought of meeting Jamie discourages me. I know that living with him wouldn’t be easy, but the most annoying thing now is that I seem to be the only one who’s suffering. I’m stuck in my room, while I could be enjoying every corner of this apartment. It’s my father’s fault!

  I glance at the clock on my bedside cabinet – it’s half past four in the afternoon. My Sunday hasn’t been that great so far. Maybe Jamie is also hiding away in his room? I don’t want to see him ambling around in my apartment, I’ve had enough of him! How dare he have such a patronising attitude to me, and claim that I have no right to be nasty to him? He’s made himself so much at home here that he makes his own chocolates in the kitchen without asking for permission, he invites people over, and he sits on my favourite sofa reading ridiculous recipe books and scaring away my friend Alex.

  Thinking about Alex – I’m not convinced that Jamie had a role in my friend’s reaction, but I will do my best to investigate this further. Part of my mind wants to convince me that Jamie is innocent, and I want to prove the opposite. I fish my phone out of my bag and ring Alex. He answers almost immediately.

  “Hello?” Thank goodness – for a moment, I thought that he was mad at me for some unknown reason.

  “Hey, Alex. It’s Ashley!”

  “Oh, hi, Ashley.”

  “Erm, I wanted to make sure that you’re okay – I was a little worried when you decided to leave at the last minute yesterday. Everything okay? I was expecting you to give me a call, at least.” A moment of silence. Alex is probably thinking hard about what to say, and he’s probably struggling to come up with anything decent. I know him pretty well.

  “Tell me the truth, Alex, I don’t bite. What was so urgent that made you dash out of my apartment last night?”

  “Nothing, to be honest.” Alex admits.

  “So what was the reason?”

  “Erm, can we not talk about this?”

  “Why?”

  “It’s embarrassing. I’m sorry for ruining your plans, I’ll try to make up for it soon, I promise.”

  “What do you mean? Can you explain yourself better, please? I hate it when people are so cryptic, I won’t stop thinking about it.” I know that I’ll spend many sleepless nights if he doesn’t spit out the truth about what happened last night.

  “I misunderstood something, that’s all.”

  “Alex…” While I speak, I feel my patience being swallowed up by anger, which has taken over my stomach. “What the fuck are you on about?”

  “That guy opened the door to me, yesterday night.”

  “Jamie?”

  “I thought that you wouldn’t have any problem going out for dinner with me.”

  “Of course I don’t! I’m free to do what I want!”

  “It’s not quite what I understood yesterday.” What does he mean?

  “I’m not following – can you explain yourself more clearly?” How does he manage to become more and more mysterious the more he explains?

  “Go on, Ashley. The man you live with told me clearly.” Alex speaks like I’m the last one on the planet who doesn’t understand what he means.

  “What did he say to you?”

  “He said that you two are a couple.” Alex speaks resentfully.

  “What?”

  “That’s right – I misunderstood. I thought that I wouldn’t annoy anybody by taking you out for dinner. You should have told me, though.”

  “Tell you what? That’s not true, Alex. Jamie lives here only because my father has managed to ruin my life for another year. Jamie will go away in a year’s time. There’s nothing between us, apart from hatred.”

  “I think he has a different opinion.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Alex. You’ve known me for years and you trust a stranger and not me?” I ask him.

  “That’s not true, Ashley – I trust you, but the way in which he said it was very convincing. Trust me, I know how men work and I sensed that he was very jealous yesterday. I preferred not to go any further, I’m sorry.”

  So many thoughts are running through my head while Alex talks that I’m overwhelmed and worried that I’ll burst into tears at any moment. Women are usually very good at understanding men, and yet I feel so slow right now. Jamie clearly wants to go beyond ruining my life at home – he wants to destroy my friendships too. Is he really so merciless? What did I do to deserve this?

  “Ashley, are you okay?”

  “Yes, sorry. I’m here. Don’t worry, I’ll try to talk to Jamie – you don’t know what he’s like and trust me, it’s good that you don’t. Jamie isn’t really interested in me – he wants to take over my whole life and crumble it to dust. I’ll teach him a lesson or two. He’ll see what I’m capable of.”

  Alex remains speechless for a little while. “If you say so.” He doesn’t sound that convinced.

  “We will have to meet up again!”

  “Okay, as long as you guarantee that I won’t get killed afterwards. I don’t want to die young.” I can’t help but laugh. Jamie must have scared Alex a lot, with his intense, dark eyes and his ominous frown.

  “Perfect – let’s meet next Saturday! You don’t have to come inside my apartment, wait for me outside.”

  “That’s an excellent idea,” he says happily, then he closes the conversation and says goodbye.

  Now that I know it’s Jamie’s fault, I can’t help but feel even more irritated with him. I knew that it was a bad idea to trust him – the fear of making the same mistake twice, after I made so much effort trying to apologise, led me astray. Now I’m determined to wreak revenge. He deserves all my hatred.

  I leave my room and head downstairs. I’m not sure if Jamie’s at home, but I need a bite to eat if I don’t want to fade away. I dash to the kitchen and open the fridge. The delicious chocolates are still there. He said that they’re mine, right? He made them in order to let me try them all. I pick one quickly and throw it in my mouth, then I try to find some more food in the cupboard. I take a couple of slices of bread, some ham and some mayonnaise – these will do to make a nice sandwich. As I bite into it, I notice Jamie lying comfortably on my beloved sofa. That’s my sofa and he can’t use it without my permission! He knows it’s my favourite sofa and that he’s probably going to disfigure it with his weight! It’s going to wear out in less than a week, if he carries on using it every day! I approach Jamie full of anger. Jamie is sleeping like a log, and didn’t even hear me in the kitchen. I must admit that he’s beautiful when he sleeps – his curly fringe covers part of his face and his chest is broad and well muscled. He’s dressed the same as he was this morning. I wonder how he’s not cold – I wouldn’t be able to sleep like that even in the warmest of summers. He looks peaceful and relaxed – which annoys me even more. I could wake him up with a bucket of cold water, but I wouldn’t want to risk ruining my sofa. I look around, trying to find something that will help me to wake him up without damaging anything. I lower my eyes to focus on his mobile phone, which is vibrating on the sofa. Yes, I found something! I grab it and return to the counter to finish my sandwich, while I think about how to use my new weapon. He received a few texts this afternoon and the vibrating didn’t wake him up. I tap on the text notification to read the messages, but I need his password. I should have guessed. I try with Dad’s date of birth and then his date of death, but neither of them work. I can’t try too many times because then his phone would shut
itself down for a while. I could try with Jamie’s date of birth – where can I find it? I look around, trying to find a solution. I know, curiosity killed the cat, but I want to read his texts. I lock my eyes on Jamie’s coat, which is near the front door. I have an idea – maybe I’ll be able to find out the password! I leave the rest of the sandwich on the table and head to the front door. I’m pretty sure that his coat’s inner pocket contains his wallet… and here it is! If I’m lucky, the piece of paper Jamie dropped when he pulled out the money for the taxi – which I still have to give back to him – could provide a solution to my problem. I run my finger through some of the cards in his wallet and then I find what I’m looking for between a couple of notes – I pull out the piece of paper with the numbers written on it. The numbers could mean anything, so I shouldn’t get too excited about my discovery, and I would be very lucky indeed if the paper contained the information I need. Nevertheless, I can’t repress a wave of excitement as I return to the kitchen. I type 274539 into the phone – surprise, surprise! It works! It’s a little naïve of him to write his password on a piece of paper… especially if he’s likely to use it every day! Is his memory that bad? Or maybe this is not just a password to unlock his phone – I’ll keep this in mind, it could turn out to be useful in the future. I open the first text, which he received about an hour ago. It’s a message from somebody called Heather:

  Sorry to bother you, Mr Stanley. The lab machines are still broken so I doubt we will be able to work tomorrow. Shall I let the staff know that the lab will be closed on Monday? Please let me know ASAP. I’m sure it won’t be a problem for them to delay our project due to unforeseen circumstances. I will keep you posted. Thanks, Heather.

  That’s an interesting text. A problem with the lab machines. That will teach him! I imagine that this unfortunate circumstance will bother him, considering that there is not a lot of time left to prepare the new recipes before Christmas. His secretary sounds like a hard working woman – she even texts him on Sunday!

  I click on the REPLY button.

  Please let the staff know that the lab will be closed for the next three days starting from Monday. I spoke to the engineers and it seems that they will need three days to repair the machines. Feel free to take three days off yourself. I’ll see you on Thursday morning. Thanks.

  SEND. I don’t know whether that was a good idea, but what’s done is done, right? I could have told her to take a whole week off, but I don’t want to take things too far. I’m sure that this will annoy him anyway – he’ll think twice before he falls asleep on my favourite sofa again! I hope he remembers! I won’t be as clement next time! I hold the phone in my hand for a few seconds, then it vibrates again.

  Okay, I will let everybody know. Thanks for your quick reply and sorry to bother you again.

  Yeah, Jamie should thank me for doing his job so well and quickly! I quickly delete the last few messages received and sent while Jamie was asleep, then I click on the other unread text message. It’s from Anthony Stark. I’ve not heard of him before. His name reminds me of some villain from a comic book, and that’s not reassuring. I scroll the text down to read it.

  Any news? Is the girl as nasty as you said? I’m sure you’ll teach her a lesson or two soon. Keep me updated. Get back to me soon, you’re a nightmare with text messages!

  I blink a few times to refocus, and then read the text again. Anthony sounds like one of Jamie’s close friends. I wish his slow response to text messages was his only negative quality! Jamie thinks that he’s a celebrity and arrogantly ignores even his best friends’ messages. What’s the deal with this conversation anyway? Does Jamie go around saying that I’m nasty? How dare his friend think that Jamie can teach me a lesson or two? Why is everyone so patronising?

  She’s tougher than I thought – co-habiting with her is difficult. I have to find a way to apologise to Ashley for a couple of things that I did wrong. Any suggestions?

  Very well. Let’s see if his friend has any suggestions. I quickly delete the message I sent to Anthony and await his reply. Meanwhile, I have finished my sandwich. My stomach feels fuller now, but I’m still a little hungry. I’ll eat a few more of those chocolates.

  On my way to the fridge, Jamie’s phone vibrates again. I insert the password and read the text.

  You’re asking me for suggestions? It must be a desperate case! What did you do? Women always like flowers – you’ll never go wrong with flowers!

  Flowers are not the most original idea in the world, are they? I should have expected Jamie’s friends to be as boring as him. I shove another chocolate in my mouth – this one tastes of orange and it’s delicious.

  Can you do me a favour? I have a few things to do tomorrow, so I might forget – could you text me around 5 p.m. to remind me to go to the florist for a bunch of flowers? I could write it in my diary but I’ll forget to look at it! Thanks, you’re amazing!

  It’s difficult to know how Jamie would write to a close friend like Anthony, but I hope this will work. I delete the message and put the phone back on the sofa next to Jamie, in exactly the same position as it was before. He probably wouldn’t pay attention to it anyway, but better to be safe than sorry! I put the piece of paper back in his wallet and then I slide the wallet into his coat pocket. Jamie is still sound asleep and I have a feeling that he’s not going to wake up for a while. Seeing him so calm and relaxed irritates me – he will pay for scaring Alex and ruining my plans for Saturday night! I’m also sorry for Elly, because I feel that she and Alex could get along really well, and the sooner they meet, the better.

  Who does he think he is? Does he want to control my whole life? I know, I should stop poisoning myself with these negative thoughts, but it’s difficult. I go and get a glass of cold water. I’m going to regret doing this because I care about my sofa, but some things just have to be done when the opportunity presents itself, and revenge is my priority now. I want to be able to sleep peacefully again. It’s not a bucket full of water, at least – although he deserves it.

  I flip the glass upside down to pour the water on Jamie’s face without thinking much. A moment later, Jamie opens his eyes wide, confused. He tries to inhale and chokes on the water.

  “You can’t sleep on my sofa, go to your room.” I state sharply, then I put the empty glass on the sink and head upstairs. I hear him grumble my name in the living room – he’s clearly upset. It’s somehow satisfying to finally know that he’s upset. My Sunday has just turned into a good one!

  8

  “So how did the dinner with Alex go?”

  Elly asks during our lunch break. She sounds very interested.

  “Cancelled?”

  “Cancelled? Why?”

  “Jamie decided that he also wants to ruin my private life.”

  “You mean it’s his fault?” Elly looks confused – I don’t blame her. I would find it difficult to believe, if it hadn’t happened to me.

  “No, he just terrorised Alex, he made him think that we are a couple. Isn’t it crazy?”

  “Wait, wait.” Elly’s eyes shine for a moment, she leans towards me to focus even more.

  “Jamie said to Alex that you and him are a couple and that he didn’t like the fact that Alex was going out with you?”

  “I don’t know exactly what he said, Alex didn’t mention it. He only said that he felt that me and Jamie were a couple – he sensed it from how Jamie welcomed him into the apartment. Alex thought that Jamie wouldn’t like the fact that we were going out for a meal. Alex was terrorised when I went downstairs – he basically rushed out a few seconds later.”

  “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

  “What’s interesting?”

  “Listen – did he say anything when you told him that you were going out with Alex? Was he… jealous?”

  “Elly, don’t even think about that – you’re on the wrong track. He’s not jealous. He just wants to ruin my life. He thinks that he can control everything I do, but he’s wrong.” I smile bitterly.<
br />
  “Did you do anything to him?” Elly asks laconically.

  “Of course, I messed around with his secretary at Morgan & Hall – I told her that all of the staff should take three days off starting from Monday. I kind of did him a favour, it’s nice to have a boss who thinks about his employees having a rest. It felt so good!”

  “Oh, my god, are you serious?” Elly is shocked. I was kind of expecting that reaction, but I know that she will support me anyway.

  “Technically, he did everything. I sent the texts from his phone. There’s nothing wrong with it – if he thinks that he will control my life that easily, he will soon realise that it’s more likely going to be the other way round.” I say proudly.

  “I have a feeling that you’re going to start a fight very soon if you don’t stop playing games.” Elly warns me.

  “He started it, I’m just trying to defend myself.” I reply quickly. That’s true – I wouldn’t be capable of conceiving something that evil if it wasn’t out of self-defence.

  “Wait for him to find out everything and you’re not going to find this as much fun any more.”

  “He’s not going to realise that I did it – I deleted all the texts I sent from his phone, so he will think the people I texted misunderstood him somehow. Even if he suspects that somebody used his phone, he won’t be able to tell when it happened and who did it.” I conclude my sentence proudly, confident that my plan is going to work perfectly.

  “Do you really think that it’s going to be that easy?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ll be fine.” I reply cheerfully.

  Elly smiles at me. She seems excited to know what’s going to happen next – to me, it’s obvious that I’m going to win this battle.

  *

  Jass has called for a quick briefing – we have been in his office since 4:30 p.m., he wants to know how I’ve been getting on with my tasks and he wants to give me Mr Purfoy’s contact details. It seems like he also wants to be reassured that everything will go as planned, nicely and smoothly. I hear a subtle note of apprehension in his voice. Is he worried about Mr Purfoy? Should I worry about him, too?