Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,92

Haltingly, she began.

“About five years ago things started to go wrong between me and Dale. It doesn’t matter why at this point; just.....things changed. Around the same time, Dale started drinking fairly heavily which made his behaviour somewhat erratic. And he became temperamental and started to find fault with everything that I did. Eventually - inevitably I suppose - it turned into violence and he began to use me as something of a punch bag.” She paused there a moment, deliberately leaving out the full extent of the violence; her friend didn’t need to know that.

“Over the last couple of days, I’ve had the opportunity to do some serious thinking and tonight I finally realised and accepted that my marriage is over – it has to be. I can’t continue with this charade anymore and whilst I thought I still loved Dale, I realised that I don’t. How can I love someone who continually hurts me? This...attraction...to Vaughn is incidental but neither of us can deny its existence. I agreed tonight to give him a chance and to give us a chance; even if only for one night before I go back and sort out what I need to and get Dale out of my life and move forward. It’s something that I need to do whether anything happens in the future with Vaughn or not but for tonight, I am just going to let go and live. Please don’t judge me for this, Celeste – I need you on-side. It’s going to be a rocky road ahead.” She knew that with absolute certainty.

Elise looked up at her friend and was amazed to realise that the other girl had tears in her eyes. Celeste swiped at them and leaned forward to hug her hard.

“Oh my God, Elise – why didn’t you tell me any of this before? I had no idea. And of course I won’t judge you. You have every reason to have some fun and a life of your own. I will support you whatever happens and for what it’s worth, aside from the fact that he is without a doubt the most prime male specimen I have seen in a long time, I think Vaughn’s a decent bloke. I’ve never met Dale but if he ever hurts you on my watch,” she shuddered, “Let’s just say he won’t know which way’s up.”

Elise was unbelievably touched by her friend’s words. She didn’t know how she had come to be so lucky; first Cole and now Celeste. It felt really good to know that she had genuine support – she had a strong feeling that she was really going to need it.

Stepping out of their embrace, she suddenly she remembered that Celeste had referred to Vaughn as a ‘prime male specimen’ and decided she needed to stake her claim.

“’Leste....” she began, catching the other girls eye in the mirror, “As much as I appreciate you being there for me, you don’t need to get involved where Vaughn is concerned. You just concentrate on keeping your hands to yourself.” She smiled nervously. God, she sounded possessive.

Celeste grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously. “He might be to die for hon, but seriously, Roger is hot in a way that even I can’t describe. You can keep your Mr Granger. I have no idea what the attraction to Roger is but I am really going to enjoy educating that man – if you know what I mean!”

Elise was very much afraid that she did and both girls dissolved into fits of giggles, leaving the ladies room with their arms hugged tightly around each other.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The two men were still sat at the table chatting when Elise and Celeste returned. Tilly and Sam were nowhere to be seen.

“Didn’t take those two long!” Celeste observed, indicating the empty seats where their friends had previously been sat.

“Must be something in the air tonight.” Elise concurred and at the sound of Celeste’s laugh, both men turned around and immediately separated to allow the ladies to sit back down.

Celeste, however, did not sit and instead grabbed Roger’s hand to lead him to the dance floor where the band was playing a bluesy, slow number.

As soon as Elise slid back into her seat, Vaughn put his left arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Shivering at the contact, Elise leaned her head into his side and snuggled into the warmth of his jacket.

“So... we are alone at last, it would seem.” Vaughn said, his voice so deep and