Gold Digger by Susie Tate

Author:Susie Tate [Tate, Susie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

You made the choices you thought you had to

Ollie

I scowled up at the shithole block of flats I was standing outside. Movement caught my eye from an alleyway, and when I looked over I saw two men exchanging something before one of them melted back into the shadows – drug dealers. Lottie and Hayley lived in a neighbourhood with drug dealers out in the street on a goddamn Tuesday afternoon in broad daylight.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered as I pressed the intercom, which remained blank. Fury shot through me as I gave the door in front of me a light shove, and it swung fully open. A big ‘out of order’ sign was on the lift, so I jogged up the five flights of stairs to their flat, then banged on the flimsy piece of shit wood.

“What are you doing here?” Lottie breathed as she blinked up at me with a shocked expression. Hayley peeked at me from behind her sister and gave me a small wave which I managed to return, even accompanied with a smile despite my anger.

“Hey, stowaway,” I said softly. She blushed and gave me another tiny smile. It would do for now, but future Hayley was going to be smiling big all the fucking time and not doing it in this unsafe dump of a flat.

“Ollie, I thought we agreed to give it a few days,” Lottie said through gritted teeth, and I shrugged as I gently moved her and Hayley back so I could make it into the tiny space and shut the door behind me, scowling at it as it creaked on its hinges.

“No, you decided that,” I told her, taking a few steps into their home (really, that was all the steps it was possible to take – this place was smaller than our larder). “I didn’t agree to anything.” As I looked around the space my stomach pitched. Lottie had made the best of the tiny room. Colourful throws over the shitty sofa, a threadbare rug that had seen better days but brightened up the place, but there was still some obvious damp with peeling wallpaper and a draft from the window which was rattling in the wind.

“Wow, kiddo,” I said, turning to Hayley as I walked over to the fridge and touched one of the many paintings of horses stuck onto it. “These are bloody good.” Hayley’s face flushed with pleasure, and that small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth again despite the obvious tension between me and her sister. “Got any more of these to show me?” She gave a quick nod and then rushed out of the room to the only door other than the entrance. The folded bedding next to the sofa told me all I needed to know – one bedroom, which Hayley used; Lottie slept on the sofa. My resolve hardened as I turned to Lottie, whose mouth was now set in a stubborn line.

“You and Hayley are coming home with me today,” my tone had gone from the soft, encouraging way I spoke to Hayley to now hard and uncompromising.

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