True Colours (The You Don't Know Me Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

whether I like it or not, I seriously want to bite.  Oh yes, Fortress Scotton is in deep trouble.
    ‘I’m finished with him.’  I whisper, my words nothing more than brittle shells, easily broken.  ‘I told you …’
    She holds up a graceful hand.
    ‘And I told you, appearances can be deceptive.  Try to look beneath the surface, try to think about where he’s coming from.  Go and see him.  Hear him out.’  She pauses, dragging out the seconds for emphasis.  ‘And give him another chance.’
    I stare at skinny Lily and she stares right back at me.
    ‘And drop your own mask,’ she adds.  ‘The one you’re wearing right now.  It’s not good for you.’  She rubs her hands together and glances at the remnants of my meal.  ‘Fish finger sandwiches and Pinot Grigio.  I’ll have to try that little combo at home.’  She stands up, smooths down her outfit and rearranges the sunglasses on top of her head.  ‘I look forward to meeting again, Maya.’  She picks up her handbag.  ‘And we will meet again because you’re not over him at all.  In fact, I think you need him.’
    With that, she takes her skinny backside out of the kitchen.  I listen out for the click of the front door before I pick up my glass and take another glug of wine.  Her final words are still echoing round my head and I do my best to brush them away.  In the history of jumping to conclusions, that little leap has to be a record breaker.  The woman barely knows me.  How dare she tell me how I’m feeling?  On top of Lucy’s pronouncement that I’m up to my eyeballs in self-deception, I’ve just about had enough.  It’s time to gather the forces, assess the damage and plan the way ahead.
    I stare at my half-finished glass of wine, my thoughts slipping further into a muddle, the ache returning to my chest.  And before I know it, I’m no longer focussed on the glass because, already half-forgotten, the dream reassembles itself in my mind.  And now I’m thinking of thick branches, broad trunks and movements in the shadows … and the name I called.
     

Chapter Three
    I don’t know how long I spend staring at two half-eaten fish finger sandwiches.  It could be five minutes.  It could be an hour.  Exhaustion seems to have washed right through me, wiping out everything in its path, including time, leaving nothing but a thick murk of confusion in its wake.  I need more sleep.  That’ll sort me out.  But before that, a little more wine.  I’ve just about lifted the glass to my mouth when the doorbell rings again.  This time, it can only be Clive and like Lily, he’ll be batting for Team Dan.  I should get up now and beat a hasty retreat to my bedroom, but they’ll only catch me on the way.  Listening to the thud of the door, the murmur of conversation and a lull that can only indicate a quick snog in the hallway, I grit my teeth and wait for the next onslaught.  It’s not long in coming.
    ‘Mind if I sit with you for a minute?’
    In an attempt to look cool and unruffled, I lean back, glance at Clive and wave towards the empty chair.  ‘Why not?’
    ‘Lucy’s changing her outfit … doing her make-up … all that stuff.’  He circles a finger around his face, as if to indicate where ‘all that stuff’ should go, and takes a seat.  ‘How are you doing?’ he asks briskly.
    ‘Fine.’
    ‘Seriously?’
    ‘Seriously.  I’m eating fish finger sandwiches and drinking cheap wine.  What’s not fine about that?’
    He half-smiles, half-frowns, and then the next attack begins.
    ‘Look …’
    I cut it short.  ‘Don’t bother.  Lucy’s already had a go and Lily Stupid Surname’s tried her best.  I’m not changing my mind.’
    Clive’s eyebrows seem to wiggle, and then his lips twitch: a sure fire sign of guilt.
    ‘Fair enough,’ he mutters.
    ‘And that’s the end of it,’ I mutter back, riled by the fact that the world and its dog seem determined to break down my defences today.  It’s