Chapter 24
Present
Jonathan walked down the road a few more paces, feeling himself becoming increasingly irritated and irrational. There was no B&B called Sheila’s. He abruptly stopped and took out his mobile phone and tapped furiously.
It did not bring up anything with such a name. He could feel his temper coming to the fore. The bastards! I’ll show them to take the bloody piss out of me. He turned around just as the woman came round the corner behind him. Her curly blonde hair framing her face.
She saw the man in front of her, his fists clenching open and closed as he walked. Claire stopped, her breath caught in her throat, her stomach churned. Quickly she thought, the only option she had was to turn back. She had to leave, she had to leave now. Her mind raced but panicked gripped her so fiercely that all she could do was stand still.
The moment she had seen him, Clare knew it was Jonathan. His tall stature and slender build, the immaculate suit and his car parked in the pub car park that she could see just before them both.
Jonathan had reached the car; he considered whether to go back into the pub and tell them exactly what he thought of them, there was no point. He had dealt with narrow-minded, insolent people far too many times in his life, they had one opinion only and that was their own.
Closer to the car he caught something moving from the reflection on his tinted windows, he furrowed his brow. Instinctively he turned around and saw her rooted to the spot. His eyes narrowed and Clare shuddered in the distance. She could not go back to Leon’s and lead him there. Her heart sank, the tears welled in her eyes, and there was no way she could go back to the life she had just left.
In this world of freedom and independence, Clare had none, it had been taken from her, squashed out of her and now she felt like her heart was going to stop. She felt crushed, the will to live was leaving her rapidly; she could not go back, she just could not face it again. In her mind and in her heart, Clare knew Jonathan would never let her go; he would squash the living breath out of her lungs.
Claire fled. She had no idea in which direction she was headed, or to where she was running. Rapidly she turned back on herself and down a street of terraced houses. Jonathan came to his senses; he was not going to let her slip out of reach, not this time. He would take her back and bring her to her senses, she had a life and it was with him.
There was an alleyway, Clare hesitated, and it did not look like it was going anywhere except to possibly some back gardens. The hand grabbed her, it held her tightly, the scream was hitting the back of her mouth, and his hand covered her mouth. “Don’t scream.” He whispered cautiously and pulled her until she relented.