Bad Blood by Lily Hayden

Author:Lily Hayden [Hayden, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hayden Woods Creative
Published: 2021-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Tim

Heavy footsteps and loud voices followed by a crash and a burst of laughter pierced Tim’s deep slumber, and he sprang awake already annoyed before he’d even opened his eyes. He struggled to sit up in bed, the mild ache of a hangover already playing at his temples, bristling with indignation at the sound of his five-year-old son yelling out to his older cousin.

This has gone too far, he thought irritably. He slid his pyjama-clad legs from the bed stomping towards the landing, ready to put a stop to their noisy, early-morning game.

“Ready or not!” Hugo bellowed, his volume belying his diminutive stature. “Here I come!”

“What is this din?” Tim opened the door abruptly. Hugo, who had been hurtling across the landing with glee, came to a hasty halt.

“We’re playing hide and seek,” the small boy looked up at his father, his eyes wide with panic at the stern tone.

“What’s the matter?” To Tim’s annoyance, he heard his sister call up the stairs, and he looked over the bannister to see her face frowning up at him.

“This noise is the matter,” he replied. “Hugo, get in your bedroom. Toby! You, too! You can both sit quietly in there until you can learn to behave.”

Toby peeked out from behind the bathroom door where he’d been hiding. “We were only playing.”

“You were like a herd of elephants,” Tim replied bluntly. “Bedrooms now!”

“Woah, hang on!” Belle called up the stairs. “That’s a bit of an overreaction, Tim. They’re just playing.”

“It’s not even nine o’clock on a Sunday morning!” Tim snapped back. “Where’s Eleanor?”

“She’s gone to the gym,” Belle told him. “Boys, come down here so Tim can sleep.”

“No, boys. In your bedrooms, separately.”

“Tim! Stop being dramatic.” Belle snapped. “They can play downstairs with me and Bea. Just go back to bed.”

He stared at his sister, teeming with rage at her insolence. Her wide green eyes glared back at him, unphased and challenging, making his blood heat up with fury. The two little boys’ eyes darted between him, Belle and each other as they weighed up who to obey. Their uncertainty over who was in charge tipped Tim’s temper over the edge.

“Hugo! Bed!” He bellowed, and the boy scampered into his room letting out a whimper of fear.

“Toby, downstairs,” Belle’s voice was calm, and her self-control was like a red flag to Tim’s anger.

Enough is enough, Tim raged as he threw on some clothes. I won’t be spoken to like this in my own home.

The week of recovery had turned into six long and exhausting weeks of his free-loading sister and her son living in his house. Every week she came up with another excuse to lengthen her stay, but this was the final straw.

Eleanor might be a mug, he growled to himself as he stormed down the stairs prepared to give her her long-overdue marching orders. But I certainly am not.

His sister was sat on the floor of the living room; her leg encased by the walking boot stretched out in front of her, Tim’s daughter at her side.

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