Things I Want My Daughters to Know_ A Novel - Elizabeth Noble [140]
Hannah sat back in the taxi and tried to calm herself down. Her heart was beating so fast. He hadn’t called her bluff, thank God. Her mates knew exactly what was happening—they’d spent the previous afternoon working on this evening’s ensemble together. But their parents would be more than mystified by a call from Mark. The only part of what she had just told her dad that was actually true was the bit about the party. There was a party. But she wasn’t going with her girlfriends, and it wasn’t just down the road from Phoebe’s house, and she wasn’t going to be dropped off by Alice’s dad. She told herself, and almost believed it, that she was protecting him, that it was for his own good—what he didn’t know couldn’t worry him. She knew what she was doing; it wasn’t like she was taking risks. He should trust her more. She didn’t like being asked questions all the time. If he trusted her, she wouldn’t have to lie.
She was going with Nathan. It was his friends having the party. He’d told her they’d be a bit older, and cool. She’d decoded his explanation, hence the crisis wardrobe talks with Alice and Phoebe, and the eyeliner. She wanted to look older, to look right. Tonight was important. This was the first time she was properly meeting his friends, and she didn’t want to be perceived as a silly schoolgirl.
He’d asked her to stay with him all night. His parents were away for the weekend, he said. They didn’t have to have sex, he said. He’d said that straightaway, knowing it would be the first thing she thought of. He just wanted to be with her, to hold her all night, to wake up with her. It did sound wonderful. He’d said she could say she was with one of her mates.
She wasn’t ready for that, in all sorts of ways. That was too big a lie. The consequences of being caught out frightened her. Mark would be furious, and his rage, while seldom seen, and almost never before directed at her, was pretty scary. She’d be lucky to get let out on her own again before her eighteenth. And worse, he’d be really, really upset. She didn’t want to do that to him. And then there was Nathan. He was still saying all the right things, about waiting until she was ready, and not wanting to pressure her, but he was doing things that made her think otherwise. His erection, strange and hard beneath his jeans, was omnipresent when they were alone together, and his hands were getting more insistent, moving frustratedly beneath clothing she wasn’t ready to remove. Things were getting hot and heavy—which thrilled and discomfited her—and she wasn’t sure either of them actually believed it would be possible to sleep all night together in a bed without something “significant” happening.
She’d said she couldn’t. Made up some story about having to go somewhere with her dad early on Sunday morning. More lies. Sometimes she didn’t recognize herself, and it had nothing to do with the eyeliner. He’d seemed pissed off. All the more important that the party was a success…
WHEN LISA FINALLY LET HERSELF IN AS QUIETLY AS SHE COULD, it was after one in the morning, and she expected the whole house to be asleep. Mark, sitting statue still in the armchair, scared her to death.
“What the hell are you doing, sitting there in the dark? You made me jump!”
“Sorry. Waiting for Hannah.”
“She isn’t home yet?”
“She said she’d be back by one. She promised.”
Lisa flicked on the light switch in the foyer and looked at her watch.
“It’s twenty-five past. That’s only a few minutes. Has she ever done this before?”
“No, she hasn’t. But I’m still going to kill her. I only agreed to one o’clock under duress. In fact, I didn’t even completely agree to one.”
Lisa peered at him, half amused. He hadn’t even asked her where she’d been all evening. “You look knackered. You go up. She’ll be back in a minute. I’ll wait for her. I want a cup of tea, anyway.”
“And miss the chance for another showdown. Are you kidding? This one’s been brewing for hours. Jen would be proud of