Keep My Secrets by Elena Wilkes (management books to read .txt) 📕

on the girl who absorbed the attention like a right. Frankie felt herself bristle.

The gaggle of women who’d arrived in front of them were gathered into a squawking gang, shrugging out of their coats and mussing up their hair.

‘Shah! Charlotte! Whoop-whoop!’ A peal of child-like squealing rang out behind. Frankie made a half turn as Blonde-Weave elbowed her painfully in the cheek. Without even saying sorry, she bounced, arms aloft, waving frantically before lurching into the tide of bodies and throwing herself towards the stairs. The girl, Charlotte, only gazed at her with mild interest as she draped herself around her shoulders in an over-enthusiastic embrace. Frankie wished she could stop looking.

‘Your long-lost sister?’ Martin appeared at her side with two plastic cups, handing one over. ‘Vodka. No tonic I’m afraid, I couldn’t find any, but the voddie’s straight out of the freezer… Anyway… Cheers.’

‘Cheers.’ She took a little sip. The ice of it burned like fire. ‘What do you mean, my sister?’

‘You look a bit like her.’ Martin let his gaze drift over to the stairs again. ‘Wow – she looks like she’s well out of it, though.’

The Blonde-Weave’s voice cackled up. The whole group sounded like they were very pissed or very stoned.

‘She seems to be getting a lot of attention.’

‘Yeah,’ Martin nodded, distracted. ‘She’s one of those girls people are drawn to. She’s like a magnet. There’s just something about her…’ He trailed off but then suddenly gathered himself, slipping an arm around her waist.

‘You were amazing tonight, you know that?’

‘Was I?’ The alcohol had hit her empty stomach; she felt a bit sick and close to tears.

‘What’s the matter? You know you were,’ he smiled.

‘I don’t know anything.’

‘Hey! What’s wrong? What’s happened?’

‘Nothing.’ She really did feel like a kid now.

He looked at her, shocked. ‘It’s not that girl, is it?’ He was almost laughing. Frankie’s temper soared with the vodka.

‘You seem very interested in her.’

‘Christ, you’ve got this all wrong.’ He shrugged awkwardly as they were jostled by even more people squeezing past. ‘She’s involved in the party scene. I’ve just seen her around, that’s all.’ He deliberately moved away, drawing Frankie towards the room where the music was so loud she felt it shivering inside her ribcage.

‘Mart!’ A male voice suddenly shouted over the thumping din. ‘Mate! You okay, man?’ They turned. The lad with the buzz-cut pushed through the mad jungle. They clasped hands and enveloped each other in a man-hug.

Martin pulled back a little. ‘Oh, this is Frankie.’

‘How do, Frankie.’ He grinned and raised the bottle he was clutching in greeting, but neither of them offered his name.

‘Frankie’s my girl.’ Martin gave her a look, slipping his hand around her waist again. ‘And my partner.’ Some of her resolute truculence left her, and she let herself be hugged.

‘In crime?’ the lad chuckled.

‘Yeah,’ she said boldly, staking her ground. ‘That too.’

The lad and Martin shared a look that she couldn’t decipher.

‘Let’s chill later, yeah?’ Skinny boy nodded from one to the other. ‘Catch you soon.’ He raised his bottle again and disappeared into the crush.

Martin bent to her ear. ‘I don’t want to be with all these people, do you?’ His breath teased her neck and gave her goosebumps.

‘No.’

‘Come on. Let’s go outside.’

He took her hand and led her towards a set of French doors that opened onto the gardens. The sweet air hit her like a balm. There were trees hung with coloured bulbs that cast weird bobbing shadows onto the path that wound away in front of them. The rest of the garden was thick with darkness. They could hear voices on either side of them coming from the bushes but couldn’t see anyone.

‘Ow!’ She caught her ankle on an upturned brick. ‘How far are we going? There aren’t any lights down here.’

‘That’s the whole point. Mind, there’s a tree stump.’

The sulky jealousy left her as though it had never been, dissipating into the night sky. She was here, with Martin and all these amazing people, nothing else mattered. She felt giggly all of a sudden.

He paused, checking and toeing the ground in the gloom, and then guided her to where the trees grew denser and the light went from shadows to completely black. The thud of music grew fainter and a peal of laughter from somewhere near the house rang through the air.

‘This way.’

Flicking the torch on his phone, he guided her deep into the undergrowth where a bed of thick leaves made a dry circle. He pulled her down to sit and she squinted into the glare. There was a musk of damp earth: a mushroomy smell, warm almost. His face was lit ghoulishly in the strange light and then it went out. She giggled, feeling the heat of his palm on her neck. He gently brought her face closer and kissed her softly, the alcohol on his breath tasting sweet and sugary, his tongue tipping softly across her top lip as everything around her swam a little. She wanted him so badly. She pulled his jacket from his shoulders and then began to unbutton his shirt. She felt him tremble as the breeze caught his bare skin. He peeled up her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, kissing her as he reached down for her jeans and she heard the jink of his belt as he began to wriggle out of his own.

‘You’re truly beautiful.’ His voice was husky in the darkness.

‘But you can’t see me,’ she breathed into his mouth. She loved being naked with him; the pitch darkness making it more exciting and more thrilling than she could ever have imagined. Skin against skin. The heat of him – Her heat. Their being together made her feel totally complete. When he pushed inside her, it was as though he was pushing the rest of the world away. There was nothing but him and her: one joined body.

Afterwards they lay together, her head on his chest. He touched the side of her face with the tips of