Finding Jacob, Book Two E-Book

Tracie Podger

• Herausgeber: S&P Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Life for Jacob had been uncomplicated before Anna, but he wouldn’t change it for the world. That was until the world crashed around him. Finding himself has to become his priority, it is to take all his strength and courage. Pushing Anna away is a part of that. That is until he meets the one person that can talk him round. Finding Jacob, the Jacob he thought he needed to be, turned out to be the hardest challenge he had ever faced. And it was only at the end that he realised, Anna needed the Jacob he was, not the one he thought he should be. But had he left it too late?

Leseprobe

FINDING JACOB, BOOK 2

TRACIE PODGER

CONTENTS

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Tracie Podger

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2022 © Tracie Podger

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents, either, are products of the author’s imagination or they are used factiously. Any reference to actual locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced or altered in any form, or by any electronic, or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, to include, by not exclusive to audio or visual recordings of any description without permission from the copyright owner.

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Be the better person, DON’T take part in piracy.

CHAPTERONE

My phone beeped, indicating I had a message. I checked my watch and swore. It was one in the morning. I had an early start, but I hadn’t wanted to be woken that early.

I picked up the phone and saw it was from my friend, Nathan. I shook my head and smiled. It had to be urgent for him to message me at that time, he knew I was in New York.

I opened the text and frowned.

Mate, I know this is strange but trust me on this. Anna is going to call you. She needs ‘a’ Jacob. She’s in New York or will be in a few hours. Can you take her call? You won’t regret it. Do it for me? She’ll call on this line.

He ended with a wink.

“What the fuck are you on about?” I said, rousing the female lying beside me.

“What time is it?” she mumbled.

“Time for you to get up and leave, I’m afraid,” I replied, knowing how shitty that sounded.

“Are you kidding me?” Her New York accent ground on me to the point I gritted my teeth.

“Yeah, sorry, I have to leave.”

I swung my legs over the side of my bed. I rarely brought anyone back to my apartment and could only blame the fine whisky I’d consumed for my error. I didn’t even know her name. I was sure she’d told me, but all I’d wanted was to fuck her.

“Bastard,” she said, throwing the covers back and standing.

She had a fine body, for sure, and somewhere in my recollect, she was a dancer. Probably at the casino I’d attended that evening. I’d been invited as a guest of a client in town for a meeting, and he’d lined up a row of beauties to entertain his friends. I wasn’t into that kind of entertainment and quickly left. However, it seemed one of the girls wasn’t into that either, and left at the same time. We found ourselves commiserating at the bar. One too many drinks later, and.... The memory had started to form, and I closed my eyes against it.

I was ashamed of myself, I didn’t behave in that way, usually. But it was an anniversary that, every year, I wanted to blank out and getting drunk and fucking some random was my way of doing that. It didn’t feel like cheating on my wife’s memory, it was meaningless. Just a way to focus on something other than her death.

I headed for the shower as she dressed. I heard her slam the apartment door and hoped my wallet was still in my trousers.

I stared at myself in the mirror, I looked rough. I ran my hand over my stubble and laughed.

“Fuck, get yourself together, man,” I said to my reflection.

I had a quick shower and returned to the bedroom. I stripped off the bottom sheet and replaced it with a fresh one, then climbed back under the duvet. I replied to Nathan.

Care to expand? You want me to take a call from a random, why?

He replied quickly.

This isn’t a random, this is Anna. Her fuckwit ex is marrying her sister and she said she’d attend their wedding. Trouble is, she said she’d attend with her boyfriend, Jacob.

He left a row of laughing emojis and I sighed.

So you want me to pretend to be her boyfriend just because my name is Jacob? I typed.

Yeah, I did it for you, remember? And this is Anna, my Anna.

I laughed. I did remember. Nathan and I had been in the Army together. We were close, brothers in all but blood. It was one tour of Gibraltar when my then-girlfriend flew out as a surprise. Only, I was also seeing a local. The local girl knew of my other woman and when she turned up at a barracks dinner, Nathan pretended to be with the local. It hadn’t worked and I was dumped by both that night. I was young and very stupid at the time. I had no respect for anyone, including myself, and Nathan did like to remind me of my one indiscretion.

What do I have to do? I asked.

Just talk to her, maybe pretend to be her date at this wedding, you’re back home then anyway, I checked.

Nathan and I were in business together. We owned a very successful company, a lucrative one that had earned us millions over the years we’d been doing it. We were in high demand because we only employed the elite. Ex-military who had either been forced to retire or came to the end of their ‘useful’ life serving the Queen and government. He knew I was in New York for a meeting, and he knew when I’d be back in England.

Although Spanish by birth to a Spanish mother, my father was English. I say English, he was born in the UK, but his parents moved him to Spain when he was a child. I was fortunate to have dual nationality. I managed to get out of conscription in Spain but joined the UK Army instead. More because I had nothing to do, no formal qualifications since I’d flunked out of school and hated the thought of working! I never did figure out why I thought the Army would be easier.

Okay, but you owe me. And I take it you still haven’t told her you want her, have you?

I knew of Anna; I’d never met her. Nathan spoke about her all the time and whenever I asked, he denied any relationship and any feelings towards her. He insisted she was just a friend. I wasn’t so sure. He called her ‘my Anna’ often.

That old chestnut! Call me later.

I placed the phone back on the nightstand and linked my fingers together behind my head.

Nathan and I could tell each other anything. I had been married to his sister once, his twin. We were bonded before, and more so after the tragedy that had occurred. I pushed the thoughts from my mind, but they bubbled away.

Twenty years ago, my wife had been murdered because I’d fucked up. I could never remember the exact day, I think I’d blocked it from my mind, but I knew it was early in the month, that month. So, every year, there was one day where it hit me hard. Perhaps that was the day she’d died, who knew.

I’d taken on a job, despite Nathan telling me not to. It wasn’t safe, or secure, and his gut was telling him we were being led on. I didn’t listen to him. We stopped a militia from taking over an island owned by the French at the northern end of the Mozambique channel of the Indian Ocean.

We had been contracted by the French government to oust a bloke they’d put in to oust the previous one. Except, this one had done the exact same as the one before. He was as corrupt as they came, claiming money for islanders who had long since died, not paying the nurses and teachers, until such a point civil unrest ensued. We were supposed to send in a team to take him out, which we did successfully, but it meant his brother, another dictator, took revenge. My house was burned to the ground with my wife in it.

I hadn’t noticed the lone tear roll down my cheek until it splashed on my hand. I angrily wiped my face. I had no more tears to shed, I’d convinced myself. I’d locked the box on that memory, knowing it was overflowing and would one day burst open, but I’d deal with it then.

Like Nathan, I had the capability of shutting down emotion. It had been crucial to our survival. And like Nathan, I had blood on my hands when I personally slaughtered every member of the brother’s family. It was Nathan who pulled the trigger on him, though. One clean shot straight between the eyes had ended his life, and a part of ours to a degree.

I never dated seriously after that, and although it was unspoken, I guessed I just never wanted to get close enough to have my heart destroyed again. As for Nathan, he believed he’d done way too many bad things to deserve anything good. He often said it was when he lost his bollocks to cancer that he’d decided never to marry, but I knew that was bullshit. He had seen first-hand what our profession was capable of, and he didn’t want to put anyone at risk. He’d lost his sister. He had nearly lost his friend when I’d sat with a pot of pills wanting to end it all, he wasn’t risking anyone or his heart again. I carried a level of guilt around with me for that. So, when he asked me to do anything for him, which wasn’t often, I usually did.

There was no point in moping around, I decided, and I climbed out of bed. I walked naked into the living room and fired up my laptop. I googled Anna.

I liked what I saw, not about her looks, although she was gorgeous, but she was an independent businesswoman, not some airhead. Nathan had spoken about her a lot in the past, and there was always a little bit of me envious he had that friendship. She sounded perfect, perhaps too perfect. I searched for flaws.

The woman didn’t even have a parking ticket! She didn’t owe money; her company was successful, even if she did have a model who seemed to love the limelight too much. She owned property in London and was friends with royalty. She was often pictured with Princess Dorothea, someone who was about fifth in line to the throne.

I found out details of her family, and, importantly, an engagement announcement for her sister and the ex. I checked him out. I knew Nathan always kept a file on everyone, and I brought that up. He was a salesman, fairly successful it seemed, as I scanned his tax data. I also discovered he had a separate bank account and I laughed at the Pornhub and Only Fans subscriptions. He also had one to a foot fetish site. I wondered if Nathan had ever told Anna those details. Probably not. His way would have been to engineer something so she would have found out herself. I went back to her. Despite me believing that Nathan liked Anna, there was a small flutter in my stomach when I stared at her. It was a feeling I hadn’t had for a long time. I shut down my laptop.

“Mmm, Anna, I await your call,” I said, starting to actually look forward to our ‘date.’

I didn’t have to wait long. She called later that day.

I proposed dinner and delayed my flight to Dubai for my next meeting. I called down to housekeeping to inform them I’d be staying one more night and asked for the apartment to be cleaned.

I logged into my business and tracked some teams positioned around the world. We had one currently on a ship in the Suez protecting its contents from pirates. I fired off a couple of emails that would be heavily encrypted and untraceable.

I confirmed the details of my flight to Dubai. I usually chartered a private plane, not wanting the option or expense of owning one, but I did own a helicopter. I also had a licence to fly it but chose to employ an old army buddy instead. I emailed him my movements over the next couple of weeks so he could file flight plans. I hated to delay departures, as I’d just done for Anna, but sometimes a friend’s request was more important. I had just the one meeting in Dubai and I knew the guy well enough to reschedule the time without any problems. Some of our clients were heads of state and those were trickier, but what I offered wasn’t something one could pop online and order. So, I was often afforded the luxury of commanding my own meetings within my own time frame and changing them without much notice.

As the sun began to rise, I stood at the windows and drank my coffee. My apartment was on the top floor and although people walked through Central Park below, I highly doubted anyone could see me.

A little later, I took a second shower and dressed. Breakfast was yet another coffee and a plain omelette I cooked myself. I stacked the dishwasher and then settled down at my desk to get some serious work done.

I filtered through my emails, forwarding what I didn’t want to deal with to Philip, my assistant. He was based in London, either from his own home or my London apartment that had become an office with bedrooms and a kitchen! The company didn’t own offices anywhere, we all worked remotely. I believed that to be the best for everyone’s safety. Once a month, however, we met up. Once every six months, depending on missions, I met with all my team leaders, often in Crete, where I owned another home. I had missed the last meetup and that sprang to mind. I needed to reorganise.

I had invested in property in places where I did the most business. Crete, however, was simply a holiday home. Nathan often questioned why I didn’t visit my homeland, Spain, but after losing my wife there, it wasn’t somewhere I wanted to live again. I still owned the charred remains and the land it sat on. The intent had been to build a bigger house, but we’d hadn’t gotten around to it. Crete gave me the same feel as Spain. The same climate, food, the friendliness of the locals, and it was about the same distance away.

Time slipped away but periodically, I thought of Anna. I returned to the image I’d downloaded of her. I felt like I knew her through Nathan and my research, and now I could put a face to the stories. I could see the attraction.

Never before had Nathan and I liked the same woman. I had a feeling that was about to change. I wasn’t sure what it was about her that had me intrigued but she did. I liked the idea of her. I think, I’d always liked the idea of her.

An independent woman with her own wealth, yet in need of a man. It was a heady combination and the more I sat there and read about her, the more I was up for the challenge.

Whatever the circumstances she found herself in, I was amused by her need of me, well, a Jacob anyway.

That afternoon I took a walk, I headed to my tailor and picked up a couple of new suits. I liked to walk around New York. It was full of individuals with no time for niceties. It suited me. I like to observe people, keep my skills in tune. I could pick out a threat from a mile away. Without it being a conscious decision, I found myself in the area I knew Anna to be. Nathan had detailed her schedule, as he always did, in our system. Every now and again, he’d instruct a covert operative to watch over her. And yet, he insisted he had no feelings for her? I’d chuckled at that.

I remember when he’d caught her ex cheating on her for the second time, long before she did. He didn’t want to be the one to break the news, so he made sure she’d find something of her sister’s to confirm her suspicions. I wasn’t for that kind of thing, I’d have told her outright, but for some reason he felt like he couldn’t, and I wouldn’t question that.

I had been busy with some personal chores when my phone rang. I smiled as I saw the number and took a seat on a nearby bench.

“Hello, Anna,” I said. I didn’t mean to put her on the back foot, but it was second nature for me to have the upper hand.

I invited her to dinner that evening, knowing her time in New York was short and said I’d send the details. I texted her the name of a restaurant I liked, and the time, and then I walked back to my apartment.

I spent the next few hours in front of my laptop, but my mind was on Anna.

* * *

I arrived at the restaurant before her, as was my way. I liked to choose where to sit before my guest so I could scan my environment better. It was another habit brought over from army days. When she arrived, she was everything I expected, and more. She was like a breath of fresh air. Despite my assumption of her confidence, she was nervous. She played with her napkin and chatted endlessly. She twisted a ring on her thumb, and nearly knocked a glass over by talking with her hands. But she was someone who I’d never met. Someone who didn’t see my wealth, didn’t know who I was, and fun. She seemed a lot of fun.

I hid the laughter when she told me what she wanted so as not to embarrass her. And not to give her any clues that I knew. Nathan and I often batted off awkward questions about our friendship, how we knew each other.

I was to play the role of a pretend boyfriend just to piss off her family and her ex. I readily agreed. It would be fun, I thought. And in the meantime, I’d get to spend more time with Anna.

She fascinated me, she said I intrigued her. There was an instant connection, and I believed she felt it as well. I needed to come up with some ideas to prolong our meeting, for sure. I could have listened to her voice for hours, stared at her face for days. I wanted more than just to take her to bed, although that idea was on my mind, and in my crotch, I wanted to get to know her better.

I ordered for us, knowing that there were some amazing dishes not listed on the menu, and it pleased me she allowed me to do that. I didn’t want a submissive woman, but I was an old-fashioned man. I needed to take care of my dates, even if they often ended up as no more than one-night stands. We ate and chatted more. After a glass or two of wine, she started to relax. She flirted back with me, picking up on my suggestive comments and inuendo. I liked that about her. She wasn’t afraid to banter. She’d lick her lips and her cheeks would flush. She’d look up under her eyelashes and from her, it wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t even sure most of it was deliberate. When she wanted to flirt back, she was very direct about it. It was the subtle signs that drew me closer to her. The scent of her arousal. The fidgeting in her seat.

When our meal was over and I’d helped her on with her coat, I brushed over her skin and noticed the goosebumps and slight shiver that followed. I smiled, and my cock twitched. Reading body language was a speciality of mine, and hers was screaming for me.

I walked her to a waiting taxi and asked her where to. I knew of course, Nathan had told me where she would be staying. Since I didn’t want the evening to end, I asked her to join me for a drink.

The confusion started when we entered The Plaza. First, I was greeted by name, and I saw her frown at that. Then I met a couple of old lesbians who also had an apartment on the same floor as me. They were a fabulous couple, only God knew how old they were, but they’d been partners for over seventy years. I loved spending time with them, listening to their tales of sneaking about to stop from being arrested for being in love. They’d survived the war, fled Germany, worked in brothels, and eventually made a fortune in stocks and shares. They spoke many languages, one being Spanish, and liked to practice whenever they saw me. Despite it being a little rude, they launched into a grumble about the food in the restaurant that evening. I had a quick chat and asked their forgiveness as I was on a very rare date.

“Clients?” I heard, and then Anna laughed. I frowned, not understanding the reference at all.

Things got hotter when we entered the gin bar.

“Do you drink gin?” I asked. “I guess it’s a little late to ask that, isn’t it? I just imagine all Brits do.”

“No, actually, but I’m willing to try anything.”

I stared at her, and she held my gaze, challenging me. “Anything?”

She leaned forwards slightly. “Yes. Anything.”

“Then let me guide the rest of your evening,” I said, and my cock hardened in my trousers, painfully so. I hoped her version of anything was the same as mine.

Whether she verbalised it or not, she wanted to be close to me. I could see a pulse race in the side of her neck, and she wetted her lips. She wasn’t the ‘doe-eyed, bite the lower lip’ type, what she did was unconscious, I believed. But, fuck me, it worked. I could feel my palms start to sweat. I wanted her.

I didn’t just want to fuck her, I wanted to spend time with her. I got the attraction Nathan felt, and although I knew what I was doing was wrong, I didn’t seem to be able to stop myself. I pushed all thoughts of my friend to the back of my mind, knowing how fucking shitty that was.

We had never competed for a woman before, but I knew that was all about to change.

I wanted to know about her ex, hating him already. She was straightforward but there was an element of self-doubt, of blame, for their relationship ending. That pissed me off. I wanted her to learn that it wasn’t her fault, she’d done nothing wrong. The ex was a fucking idiot to have messed around on Anna. The more I thought about that, the more I was up for the challenge of being her plus one. I began to hope it wouldn’t just be the once, however.

We drank and she asked lots of questions, most of which I couldn’t answer. I had a policy to be evasive to randoms, one-off dates as Nathan and I called them, normally, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to do that with her. I did, of course, not really having any idea if I’d see her beyond the wedding. I also liked to listen to her voice. Her words, the sounds she made, washed over me and it was calming. For so many years there had been an uncomfortable fire in the pit of my stomach, a soul burning, and she seemed to douse those flames just by being near me.

I was very reluctant to let that go. When I wanted something, I got it, I took it. I intended to do that with Anna.

“Do you dance?” I asked. It was a random question that came out of the blue for her, but after a moment planning for me.

She was confused, of course.

“Dance?” she replied.

“Yes, dance. Do you?”

“Well, sort of. Why?”

I explained we’d have to dance at the wedding, it was customary that, after the parents, the siblings joined the happy couple in their first dance. Well, it certainly was when I’d attended weddings, of course.

I took it a step further. “How do you like to be held?” I asked.

“Held?”

“Yes. I don’t want you to tense every time I touch you.” I shifted closer to her.

She held her arms by her side, opening herself to me. There was nothing closed about her, which I liked.

“Perhaps we should practice beforehand,” she said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

That was it, permission granted. I stood and held out my hand. She placed her drink on the table and took it. A shock coursed up my arm, I didn’t need to look to see the hairs had stood on end. We walked in silence to the lift. It was then she asked me where I lived.

“Here,” I said, leading her into the lift and pressing for the top floor.

I could smell her arousal in the confined space. I could hear her swallow as nerves started to kick in. She shifted from foot to foot and looked up at the illuminated numbers climbing higher as we ascended. I could have pushed her against the wall and kissed her, as clichéd as that was. I purposely looked anywhere other than her initially. She was too tempting.

I would dance with her, of course. I hoped that dance led to another kind. One where we were both naked.

I opened the door and let her walk in first. She hesitated and looked around. I could see her smile before she took a step forward, and I hoped it was because she felt safe. I had one moment where my heart sank a little. Anna stood in front of a photograph of a derelict building. It seemed to fascinate her. I watched her face, her brow furrowed as she cocked her head to one side. I knew she could feel that image. She was empathic, and she floored me a little when she also described it as tragic and sad. It was, had been. A tragedy occurred there; one I didn’t want to dwell on.

“My childhood home,” I said, and it had been once.

I had stood close behind her, wanting her to feel the heat radiating from my body, for hers to acknowledge my presence. It pleased me to see her lean back slightly. I could have so easily wrapped my arms around her then. She would have melted into me, but I took a step back, needing to be away from that image.

I walked to the sideboard and lowered a record on the player. Music wafted around the room.

“Practice,” I said, walking back to her.

She laughed and nodded. “Practice dancing,” she said. The thought that, once again she was on the back foot, not only amused but aroused me.

It was the push and pull that I loved. I wanted her desperate for me, as desperate as I was for her.

I deliberated about how close to have her, but then decided the obvious bulge in my trousers was going to be felt one way or another. I chuckled.

When she wanted to practice a kiss, I nearly came. She’d said it would be normal for us to kiss in front of her parents, so we ought to be okay with that. Of course, I knew it had nothing to do with her parents or practicing of any kind. I pulled her close, forgetting the dance.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, tugging at the hair curling over my collar, and my heart missed a beat. My stomach flipped, and I knew I had to claim her as mine. I kissed her as if she was the last person I would do so. I tasted her, I absorbed her. I crushed her to me, and she moaned. When she did, a pang of guilt smacked me straight in the chest. I slowed down, ending it with a kiss to the tip of her nose, not wanting to, but feeling that I had to.

She should be Nathan’s. I should still be married. I wanted to growl in frustration and confliction. One minute I was all damn the consequences and the next, wracked with guilt.

The two thoughts collided in my head. I found it hard to reconcile them, to think rationally. My wife was dead, and Nathan kept insisting he wasn’t in love with Anna, despite every inch of him screaming he was. Or had I got it wrong about them? Perhaps it was more a case of hoping I was wrong and since he hadn’t confirmed, did that give me free rein?

But I couldn’t let her go, I would not end our evening there.

I could see her take in a breath and steady herself. “My parents would definitely think we’re a couple after that,” she said, chuckling. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks flushed.

“Do we need some kind of cue for our kiss?” I asked, wanting her to find one and then we could practice some more. I felt like a fucking teenager, one inching an arm along the back of a chair for a cuddle.

Anna suggested levels of kissing. I was happy to do that. Perhaps one after I would hand her a drink, she’d said. I smiled, knowing how I was going to keep her for a little longer. I headed to the kitchen and opened a bottle of champagne. It wasn’t my favourite drink, and I was sure I’d been given the bottle as a gift one time. I popped the cork and poured two glasses.

Before I handed her a glass, I lowered my face to her cheek. I inhaled her scent before kissing her heated skin. It pleased me to see the effect I had on her. If only she could see what she did to me as well.

I needed some fresh air, the atmosphere in the room was charged and heady. And if I didn’t take a minute to refocus, I would have ripped the clothes from her body and fucked her on the floor. And then probably embarrass myself by coming way too quick. I opened the curtains and French doors and then stepped out onto the balcony. She followed me.

The charged atmosphere also followed us. So much that I needed to make a move. I asked her where we would be staying the evening before her sister’s wedding and mentioned that it would be fun to stay at her parents’.

“Why would staying at my parents’ be fun?” she snorted.

“Because when I make you scream all night, it will be kinda funny to see their reaction the following morning.”

When her eyes widened and she spat her champagned all over me in shock, I thought I’d taken it a little too far. There was a pause of embarrassment from both of us, I felt. Anna didn’t disappoint, however. She dropped the glass, shattering it across the balcony and straddled my lap. She took what she wanted, and I was happy to hand it to her.

I carried her inside and took my time with her. I could see how agonising it was for her, but she had no idea it was the same for me. If I’d done what I wanted, which was to throw her on the bed and fuck the life out of her, she might not have come back for more. And her coming back was what I needed.

I teased her, I tasted her. Her heady scent of arousal was intoxicating. My mouth watered at the thought of burying my tongue, fingers, and cock inside her. I wanted all of her, I wanted to give all of me to her, as well.

My heart pounded and my senses were on high alert. My vision narrowed so it was just her I saw. Just her I focused every ounce of energy I had on.

She was dangerous. In just the short time I had known her, I knew I was hooked. I’d want more, and I’ve had to reconcile my feelings in the morning. That night, she was all I needed. She was addictive, she quelled all the irrational feelings I’d had that night. She did what no other woman had ever been able to do.

She took my mind away from my nightmare and it was just about her and me. It was just about us and our scent and taste, our wants, and desires. It was just about satisfying two bodies who knew nothing about each other.

CHAPTERTWO

It was the following morning when things got weird. For some reason, Anna felt she had to pay me.

To say I was insulted was an understatement. She thought I was some kind of hooker!

I did my level best to conceal my shock. She was mortified, of course, and I was annoyed it had spoiled an amazing night. She rushed off with a promise to text over the details. I hoped she would, but I also needed a moment to get my head around how wrong the evening had been.

If she thought she was paying me for sex, did she feel nothing for me? Had I read her all wrong? Was I just a toy, a random for her? I didn’t like how it left me feeling, and it certainly pulled me up short on my behaviour in the past. I felt used, and I didn’t like that.

More so when her text never came.

I checked my phone constantly at first. Every day, a couple of times. I had two phones, one for personal use and one for business. The only calls or text messages I received on the personal phone were from Nathan, Philip, and, I hoped, Anna. I started to get angry. Not just at her, but how I’d let my guard down as well.

“Hey, mate, how’s things?” I heard when I answered a call from Nathan.

“Good, I’m in Dubai. Thanks for checking the time zone,” I replied sarcastically.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Three in the fucking morning.” I was a grumpy fucker when I wanted to be.

He laughed and I shuffled up the bed.

“So, how’s things?” he asked again.

“Good, I’ve turned down two contracts and taken on one. I’ll email all the details. I don’t trust this guy out here. Slimy fucker if you ask me.”

I was meeting a politician, James Harvey, the business secretary. He was very keen, overly keen, for us to work with a sultan and I wondered why.

“Too much of a kickback?” Nathan asked.

It wasn’t usual for anyone, politicians included, to expect a ‘matching fee.’ Most times, we didn’t play those games. We weren’t struggling for work and if we didn’t work at all, Nathan and I were wealthy enough not to.

“I think it’s more than that. He looked very uncomfortable, as if he’d promised something he can’t deliver. Anyway, I’m walking away from that one. But I also met with Odessa, they want another crew on a third ship.”

Odessa was a shipping company that contracted our services on a regular basis to ensure they had safe passage and didn’t lose either their cargo or staff to pirates. The Sudanese pirates were the worst, no fucking qualms about killing everyone on board a ship if their demands weren’t met. It paid for businesses to invest in companies like mine rather than pay the ransom. None of them could get insurance anymore, so machine guns and armed men covered that.

“Have you heard from Anna?” he asked.

“Not a fucking thing. I’m surprised and disappointed. And annoyed. She played me, I don’t like being played,” I replied.

“She didn’t, mate. Why don’t you text her?”

“She didn’t leave her number. Anyway, I don’t play games. If she wants me to accompany her to this bloody wedding, then she needs to tell me the details.”

“How old are you?”

“Old enough not to chase after women. She embarrassed herself, and me, she probably doesn’t want to run the risk of that again. Leave it, Nate, it’s fine.” I hadn’t had time to tell him all the details, there was also a part of me that didn’t want to. I’d said enough about her, and I had to remember he liked her.

“It’s not fine.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---