Redemption (Tattoos & Tears - Brody Book 1) Read online

  “Raleigh, it’s been a while, you’re looking gorgeous as always. Rehab really did you the world of good.”

  He leans down and kisses me on both cheeks, as he does, I momentarily freeze. What the fuck is he playing at? How can he stand there and pretend like nothing happened? He forgets how well I know him, there’s always a hidden agenda with Carter. He’s cold, calculating and so far removed from the persona he portrays to the public. In reality, he’s a sociopathic, narcissistic, bully, who gets off on wielding power over weak-willed women. I should know first-hand, as I was one of those weak-willed women.

  “How have you been?”

  I nod, as I take a sip of my drink and Nick regards the situation unfolding in front of him with rapt interest, but he doesn’t say anything. He just silently observes.

  “Hmm,” I hum, struck dumb at his audacity.

  How can he stand there knowing what he did to me and act like nothing happened?

  “Honestly, you look absolutely stunning, I hoped we’d bump into each other again at some point.”

  His tone ostentatious, as Nick looks from me to Carter trying to gauge this awkward scenario.

  “Carter, right?”

  Nick jumps in and Carter nods, smiling his fake smile, the one he uses when he’s in interviews.

  “Yeah, Nick Slade? Mate, I’m a huge fan.”

  They shake hands, my eyes darting around the room looking for Gavin. Gavin is fully aware of my history with Carter and hates him more than I do for the way he treated me and for laying his hands on me. I think he went outside to take a call from his daughter Cleo.

  “So, how do you know each other, Rae?” Carter asks with a possessive edge to his voice.

  “We’ve been working together on a film; the set isn’t too far from here,” Nick explains.

  I boldly find myself blurting out, “What fucking business is it of yours, Carter?”

  Carter laughs as Nick gets up, leaving us to it.

  “You’re not a part of my life anymore, so it’s none of your business,” I snap, and he nods smugly.

  “It’ll always be my business as long as I’m paying your therapy bills.”

  My eyes widen. I thought my parents were paying for my therapy sessions? What the actual fuck?

  “What did you just say?”

  My voice full of disbelief, still trying to comprehend the bombshell he’s just dropped.

  “I thought that might make you sit up and pay attention, it’s been me all along. I just want you to get better again, that’s all I’ve ever wanted, precious,” he says tenderly, and I’d believe him if I didn’t know him so well.

  Fucking prick.

  “I’ve always had your best interests at heart, Rae. How could you have ever doubted that?” he says with a sickly-sweet tone to his voice, which makes me want to fucking vomit.

  “Why the fuck are you here, Carter? Are you stalking me or something?”

  I raise my voice a few decibels louder than necessary and he has the fucking cheek to roll his eyes.

  “Oh yeah, equally, I could say you’ve been stalking me, begging me to take you back, like the pathetic little junkie you are.”

  I stand up and jab my finger in his general direction spitting mad that he could even say such a thing. How fucking dare he. He cocks his eyebrow. There’s the Carter Leonard I know, the cold, calculating prick, who knows how to manipulate people into thinking he’s the good guy. I lean in close to him, lowering my voice so only he can hear me.

  “I’m not the pathetic one, Carter, I told my boyfriend Brody what you did to me, every gory, sordid little detail. He thinks you’re a weak, pathetic loser for laying your hands on me and trying to take me by force when I quite clearly said no.”

  Something in Carter’s eyes flash and he grinds his teeth, fists clenched tightly at his sides.

  “Good to see you, Raleigh.”

  He nods coolly and saunters off. What the actual fuck was that?

  I have to call my mum; I have to know if Carter has been paying my therapy bills. If he has, why? I don’t get it; I don’t understand why he would do that, especially now we’re not together anymore.

  “Are you ok, love?” Nick asks softly, and I nod.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, Nick, honestly, just a bit shaken that’s all, we’ve got history, as you probably already know? I need to call my mum; I won’t be long.”

  He looks at me with wary eyes and I brush his arm in reassurance. He really is a sweetheart.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

  He nods in understanding, as I make my way out to the large beer garden at the back of the building. I drop down onto a bench and take my phone out of my bag with shaky hands and go to dial my mums’ number, it rings four times before it connects.

  “Ah, so the prodigal daughter does have a phone that still works,” my mum answers brusquely, without even as much as a hello.

  “Hi mum, I’m good thanks for asking. How are you?”

  I sigh. My relationship with my mum has always been strained, I’ve always been a daddy’s girl. My mum prefers my younger brother Jagger over me, and she’s never hidden the fact. He’s a spoiled and entitled fifteen-year-old brat, who can do no wrong in my mum’s eyes. I, on the other hand, am the spawn of Satan and do everything in my power to make her look bad. Her actual words she spat at me during a particularly bad argument.

  “A phone call once in a while wouldn’t go a miss just to let us know you’re ok, Raleigh.”

  I roll my eyes to myself and wish I hadn’t bothered calling.

  “It’s been super busy; you know how it is? I haven’t had a second, I’m shooting a new film with Damien Valentine, which you’d know if you’d actually bothered to call and check in with me once in a while,” I say snippily, and she pauses briefly before continuing, ignoring my previous statement.

  “I see from the newspapers you’ve got yourself a new boyfriend, don’t you think you should have called to tell us instead of us seeing it in the newspapers first? Angela across the street took particular pleasure in informing me first, nosey bitch that she is,” she says with disdain to her voice.

  My mum, dad and my brother live in Beverly Hills, L.A. My mum, Avril Storm, is an established and highly sought-after District Attorney and my dad Vince Storm, is a former biker turned celebrity chef. He has his own TV show ‘Vinnie’s Country Kitchen’ and owns his own chain of chic, uber popular hipster restaurants. My mum and dad met when they were teenagers, my mum was the popular cheerleader, Valedictorian, and my dad was the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. They lost touch for a number of years and met again at a close family friend’s wedding. They were seeing each other only for a few months when my mum fell pregnant with me. They were married a few months later as my mum didn’t want to have a baby out of wedlock. She was all for keeping up appearances and always being bigger and better than her friends, neighbours, and peers. She’s the total opposite of me, she’s materialistic, obnoxious, and sometimes I wonder if her name is really Karen.

  “It’s early days. We’re just taking it slow and seeing where it goes, no big deal. Look, I actually had a reason for calling. Is it true that Carter’s been paying my therapy bills?”

  I try to remain calm, but on the inside I’m dreading the answer. I wait for a few minutes and all I’m met with is silence.

  “Mum? Please answer me, has he been paying my therapy bills?” I say through gritted teeth, getting more agitated with every second that passes by.

  “He just wants you to get better, Raleigh, we all do! Why can’t you see that? He’s only got your best interests at heart, I thought it was a sweet gesture. I was hoping you two would get back together eventually and give us those grandchildren you always promised.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut briefly in frustration. I can’t believe what I’m fucking hearing. Why would she think those things after everything Carter put me through? The abuse, mental and physical. Why on earth would she think that’s accep
table behaviour?

  “That’s never going to happen! He tried to fucking rape me, mum! When are you going to get that through your thick skull? But that’s not in question right now, why the fuck would you let him take over paying my therapy bills? Why! Don’t you think if I’d known that, I’d have had something to say on the matter? Jesus Christ! Don’t you see that this is all kinds of fucked up?”

  My voice shakes and it’s taking everything inside me not to burst into tears. Deep breaths, Storm, you got this. I had foolishly told my mum what Carter did to me, in the vain hope she would take my side and be the mother I’ve always wanted her to be. After I told her, she dismissed me immediately and told me not to over-exaggerate things. My mum has always worshipped Carter from the day she met him, and she thinks the sun shines out of his arse. She always hoped that we’d settle down, get married and have kids one day.

  “I’ve told you before, don’t say such absurd things, Raleigh. Carter is a good man, he treated you like a Queen, and this is how you repay him? He was a bit rough with you, he didn’t try to rape you, don’t be so dramatic.”

  Is she actually for real?

  “Unbelievable! We’ve been through this before, mum! Was I being dramatic when he held me down and tried to take what he wanted, when all the time I was screaming no? What’s it going to take for you to believe me, mum? He’s the reason I ended up in fucking rehab after he beat me and forced himself on me! Brody is ten times the man Carter will ever be!”

  I raise my voice, but she needs to get it into her thick fucking head.

  “Brody’s no good for you, he’s in a rock band for God’s sake! I bet he’s got a different woman every night, how can you even contemplate being with someone like that?”

  I laugh bitterly, pacing down the alley that runs to the side of the club.

  “You don’t even know him! And being with someone like what, mum? Like you were with dad? Tell me, mum! Fucking enlighten me!” I scream. Mine and Brody’s relationship isn’t that different from my mum and dad’s, Brody’s the bad boy, just like my dad was, but I’m nothing like my mum. My mum was the prissy Prom Queen and I’m more of the misfit rebel.

  Fucking hell, she’s frustrates the shit out of me sometimes!

  “Someone…oh it doesn’t matter! You’ve never listened to me or your father! Not once in twenty-nine years! Why can’t you be more like your brother?”

  Here we fucking go. I really don’t know why I bother sometimes. So, I don’t, I just hang up the phone. I put my phone back in my bag and go back inside.

  I stay for a few more drinks and I didn’t see Carter for the rest of the night, much to my relief. I’m more than a little tipsy as I leave with Nick. Gavin got called to some emergency with his daughter Cleo, which left me with Nick and a few of the backstage crew. As we were getting ready to leave, I called Cliff to come and pick me up. He said he was on his way.

  “Are you sure you’re gonna’ be ok, love? Do you need a lift home?” Nick asks, and I shake my head.

  “No I’m good, thanks for the offer. My drivers coming to pick me up, he shouldn’t be too long.”

  I smile my thanks, as my phone rings. I look at my phone and see Cliff calling.

  “Hey Cliff, how far away are you?” I enquire, and he sighs deeply down the phone.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart, I’m having car trouble, my car won’t start so I can’t pick you up. I’ve ordered you an Uber. I relayed the address to the driver, and he’s on his way. He was in the area so he shouldn’t be too long.”

  Bless his heart, he’s always thinking of me.

  “No problem, Cliff. Hope you get your car sorted, thank you so much for looking out for me.”

  “No bother, sweetheart, take care and call me when you’re home. I like to know you’re safe when I’m not around.”

  I smile at his thoughtfulness.

  “I will do, thanks again, bye.”

  I hang up the phone and Nick looks at me.

  “Everything ok?”

  I nod, as I spot an Uber pulling up across the road from the pub and I kiss Nick goodbye.

  “Let me know when you’re home safe, sweetheart.”

  He leaves with a wink, as I stumble into the taxi.

  “Iverna Court, Kensington, wasn’t it, darlin’?” the Uber driver asks, as I settle back into my seat.

  “Yes, please.”

  The driver catches my drunken gaze in the interior mirror and nods curtly, pulling smoothly away from the kerb.

  “You’re that actress off that film, that one with Gavin what’s-his-name, gruff cockney geezer, he was married to that bird with the big-” he rambles as he makes a gesture with his hands around his chest area.

  I giggle to myself and find myself smiling at his enthusiasm. I sink back into my seat and just listen to the taxi driver ramble on at a million miles an hour about famous people he’s driven around, as I watch the night slide by in a haze of flickering lights and inky blackness. As the journey continues, I feel my stomach start to roil. Fuck, I don’t feel so good.

  “You alright, love? You’re not gonna’ throw up are you?” he asks, and before I know what’s happening, I projectile vomit all over seat in front of me.

  “Whoa! What the fuck’s going on? Did you just throw up in my taxi?”

  I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, the events of the night rushing to the forefront of my mind. Still feeling a bit rattled by my confrontation with Carter, my temper hits boiling point.

  “Keep your eyes on the road and don’t worry what I’m doing back here, just do your fucking job and take me home!” I yell.

  “I don’t give two fucks who you are, if you don’t clean up the mess you’ve just made, get the fuck out!”

  He isn’t going to kick me out of his car, doesn’t he know who I am?

  “I’m not cleaning up shit! Do your fucking job and drive me home, you prick!” I snap.

  Unexpectedly, the car comes to an abrupt halt. “Get the fuck out, NOW!” he roars as I reach for the door handle.

  I open my purse, haphazardly throwing a handful of notes at him. “Take that and fuck off! Dickhead!” I stumble unsteadily out of the car and onto the pavement, slamming the door aggressively.

  “PRICK!” I shout as he drives off.

  I look around, trying desperately to gather my thoughts and get my bearings. Luckily, I’m not too far away from my flat, I can’t wait to get home. I need a shower and I need sleep; it’s been a long, eventful day. As I walk along the pavement, I hear the roar of a car engine. I turn slightly, but I’m temporarily dazzled by the glare of the headlights. I shrug nonchalantly and continue walking, I can see my building from where I am like a shining beacon. Unexpectedly and completely out of the nowhere, I’m shoved carelessly into a nearby alleyway. I stumble heavily but I don’t fall. I’m shoved again roughly against the wall and I catch myself, as I turn I see Carter, seconds before his fist slams into my face. My vision temporarily blurs and my head spins as I fall to the ground. I feel the warm trickle my blood down my face, my heartbeat thundering in my chest and I can feel myself trembling. I am trying desperately to fight back the tears that are threatening to escape and the scream that seems to be trapped in my throat. I hear the distinct sound of a zipper; my thoughts turn to what is actually happening.

  “I’d like to see you and your cunt boyfriend laugh at me now! I’m taking back what’s mine! I’m the one in fucking control! You hear, whore? ME!”

  The hatred in his voice is apparent, as I feel him pull my dress up, slide my knickers to the side and roughly enter me. I have no fight in me, as my body is frozen in place and I pray for this to all be over.

  24

  Brody

  After the gig, I’m high on the feeling and I can’t focus on anything else, other than the desperate need to go to Raleigh.

  “I need to see Raleigh.”

  Sam cocks his pierced eyebrow. “Is that such a good idea after what happened earlier, dude?”

  I
scrub my hand down my face, feeling unexpectedly exhausted. “I don’t know, I just know I have to see her, Sam. I need to her to know she’s it for me, as fucked up as it sounds, it took me having mindless sex with Lorna for me to realise. There is no one else I’d rather be with.”

  He nods and smirks wickedly.

  “Come on, Romeo, I’ll give you a ride.”

  I’m silent on the journey to Raleigh’s place and stuck in my own head. How could I cheat on her like that, you selfish motherfucker! She doesn’t deserve it, she’s a good person, she’s my light, she’s my fucking salvation, my chance at redemption. She would be crushed if she found out that I’d stuck my dick in another woman. What the fuck was I even thinking? Well, I clearly wasn’t thinking, I was thinking with my dick as usual. I spend the journey to her apartment stuck inside my own head and by the time Sam stops at the curb, I’m all sorts of edgy and antsy. I fidget awkwardly in my seat and as I unclip my seatbelt, I hear Sam chuckle gruffly.