Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,104

aware of any of this, but why the hell couldn’t she just try to understand how worried they both were and keep in touch? ‘I’ll do it now,’ he said, pulling his phone from his pocket.

Dropping her gaze, Emily nodded. ‘You know Ben had a crush on her?’ she said, looking cautiously back at him. ‘Natasha. He thought he was in love with her.’

His mind swinging immediately to the car, Jake felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs. ‘No,’ he said, his voice tight. ‘No, I didn’t.’

Forty-Four

Jake was just out of the shower when his phone rang. Millie.

‘Dad, can you come and fetch me?’

Hearing the obvious distress in her voice, he tossed the towel on the bed and grabbed his clothes. ‘Where are you?’ he asked, his throat tight.

‘I’m in the village, not far from the surgery,’ she said, now sounding tearful. ‘I need to talk to you. There are some things I need to tell you.’

‘Wait outside the front entrance,’ Jake instructed, his gut twisting afresh. Something was wrong. He needed to get to her. ‘I’m on my way.’

‘Okay. Dad …’ She stopped him before he ended the call. ‘Can you come on your own?’

Jake felt the hairs rise over his skin. There was something she didn’t want Emily involved in. What, for Christ’s sake? His gut turning over as he wondered whether Millie might be in danger, he dressed in record time and raced downstairs, stopping only to grab his keys and yell something to Emily about an emergency – a lie, which never sat well with him, but he didn’t want to take any risks. The fact that Millie had asked him to come on his own meant she might well be in danger. He needed to be focused on her.

His heart banging as he drove, exhaustion catching up with him, he tried to reassure himself it was probably just an argument with her boyfriend, nothing more. Why then the fear in her voice, though? He’d definitely heard that. Hoping to God he didn’t get stopped by the police, he drove fast, very aware of the dent in his bumper. His heart almost stopped beating as he realised Millie wasn’t outside the surgery where he’d asked her to wait.

Panic rising sharply inside him, he headed for the back of the building, pulling haphazardly into the car park rather than leave the car on show outside. If this man she was seeing had dared hurt his daughter in any way …

Pushing his door open, he climbed hurriedly out to search for her on foot – and stopped. She was sitting in the doorway at the back of the surgery, her knees pulled to her chest, her head resting on them. She looked small and vulnerable, more like a child than an adult. Jake’s gut clenched. Why hadn’t he been there more for her?

‘Millie …’ He walked tentatively towards her, hesitating as her head snapped up. Her face was tear-stained, her make-up all over the place. She was more than scared, he realised. She was terrified.

She got to her feet as he approached, her eyes wide. She had beautiful eyes, just like her mother’s, full now of the same uncertain agony he’d seen in Emily’s lately. His guilt weighed heavier by the second.

‘Let’s go inside,’ he said, his gut wrenching further as she took a step away from him. A small step, but a significant one nevertheless. He wanted to hold her but she’d moved away from him.

Swallowing, growing more scared himself than he dared let show, he reached to search his pockets for his keys, but Millie stopped him.

He looked down at the keys that rested in her outstretched palm, confused at first, before comprehension kicked in hard. His gaze shot to her face. What he saw in her eyes confirmed what he desperately didn’t want to believe.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘Please don’t hate me.’

His stomach turned over. What had she done?

‘Please don’t hate me,’ she repeated, a ragged sob escaping her.

He felt his heart crack. ‘I don’t hate you, Millie,’ he said, his voice thick with emotion. ‘I could never hate you.’

‘You should.’ Her red-rimmed eyes were frantic as they searched his. ‘I would. Mum will. How can she not when she realises it’s me who’s been taking the drugs?’

Jake swallowed back his spiralling emotions. He needed to concentrate on Millie, on her feelings. ‘She won’t.’ He tried a step towards her. Millie only took another step away, her eyes flicking to the