Conflicted Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page B

further. I am not a nonce. I am not a weirdo. I don’t intend to kill you. I’ve been working all day. I’m hungry, and there’s chicken chow mein, rice and chips going cold as we speak. Now, if you want to join me, feel free. Otherwise, I’ll bid you goodnight and be on my way.”
    She scowled, reached for the seatbelt and fastened it in place.
    “I take it you wish to join me then?” He buckled his own seatbelt and started the car.
    When he pulled up outside the cottage, she laughed.
    “I didn’t think you meant it was that close,” she said.
    “It was raining cats and dogs. I wasn’t about to walk.” He grabbed the food and got out of the car.
    “What? Cats and dogs?” she said, also getting out.
    The rain had reduced to a drizzle, but they jogged down the path to the cottage.
    “It’s a saying. Haven’t you heard it before?”
    Her face lit up as she laughed, making her look like a child. “Stupid saying.” She shook her head as she followed him inside.
    Lee busied himself dishing up the food. He watched her eyeing up the bare room from his position at the breakfast bar.
    He nodded to the floor as he approached her. “Take a seat, my dear.”
    He handed her the only plate and fork he had in the place, leaving his dinner in the plastic takeaway container, he would us a teaspoon, the only other item of cutlery.
    “So, are you going to tell me your name?” he asked, sitting beside her on the bare floorboards.
    She shovelled the noodles into her mouth as though she hadn’t eaten for a week. It took a while for her to empty her mouth to answer. “Susie.”
    “Hi, Susie. My name is Lee.”
    She nodded, but was not in the least bit interested.
    “Are you from this neck of the woods, Susie?”
    “Why do you talk like that?”
    “Like what?”
    “Are you from this neck of the woods, it’s raining cats and dogs—like that.”
    “They’re commonly used sayings. I’ll try not to if it offends you.”
    “Doesn’t offend me. I just wanted to know. And why’ve you got no furniture?”
    “I don’t live here. I’m renovating the cottage before I move in.”
    She finished her food and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.
    “When did you last have a bath?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a bath. We only had a shower at home.”
    “When did you last shower then?”
    “Maybe a month. I do wash myself most days in the public toilets.”
    “There’s only a bath here at the moment. The plumber’s halfway through fitting the shower, but I could run you a nice hot bath if you like?”
    He watched the cogs turning in her brain and knew she was weighing up the dangers of accepting a bath.
    “I know what you’re thinking, and I have no idea what’s made you so terrified of men, but I promise you, my offer is genuine. You can stay for a bath or leave whenever you like. Where have you been sleeping, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “Here and there. I started off on a mate’s sofa, but her boyfriend wanted payment in kind, if you know what I mean?”
    “Can’t you go home? Your family must be worried sick about you.”
    “I doubt it. So long as my mum has her daily fix, she worries about nothing or nobody.”
    “I see. And are you on drugs too?”
    “Am I fuck! I got out because she tried to sell me to her dealer. I would never take that shit. I know what it turns you into.”
    “Okay, calm down. I only asked.” Lee scratched his head. How the hell would he send her on her way knowing she had nowhere to go? “Well, you’re welcome to get your head down here if you promise to take a bath. We can take your stuff to the launderette in town tomorrow, but I can loan you a clean T-shirt and pair of jogging bottoms for now. They might bury you, mind, but they’re better than nothing.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. But tomorrow we need to get our heads together and work out where you can go from here. There’s no way a young woman like you should be living on the