Bad For Me Read online

  Table of Contents

  Part 1 - Megan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Part 2 - JJ

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Part 3 - Megan

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Part 4 - JJ

  Chapter 33

  Bad For Me

  J.B. Leigh

  COPYRIGHT NOTICE

  © 2013 J.B. Leigh, all rights reserved, worldwide. No part of this ebook my be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet or copied without the author's permission.

  DISCLAIMER

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, dead or alive, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  http://www.JBLeigh.com

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  Part 1 - Megan

  Chapter 1

  “Where’s he taking you?” I asked, but Julie’s hair dryer was set to hurricane force, and would've blocked out the sound of anything less than a nuclear explosion. Julie Jones was my flatmate. Yes—you heard me right: Julie Jones. It gets even better. Her sister’s name is Janet; her brother’s name is James. You’ve got to love her parents for their obsession with alliteration.

  “What?” Julie turned down the hair dryer a couple of notches. I still daren't get any closer to her for fear of being incinerated.

  “Where’s he taking you?” I shouted.

  Julie had been on tenterhooks for the last two weeks—ever since her brother had been in touch.

  She turned off the hair dryer, and for a moment, I thought I'd gone deaf.

  “Somewhere expensive. He owes me. He missed my last birthday.”

  When he was eighteen, her brother had started his own software company. That was five years ago and, according to Julie, the company was going great guns.

  “How come I haven't met him before?”

  “JJ's been busy—he’s been setting up a second office up north.”

  She sounded a little defensive. A year seemed a long time not to see your own brother. Julie saw Janet, her sister, at least a couple of times every month. They usually went out for coffee or lunch. You’d never guess they were sisters. Julie was a bit ditsy, but had a heart of gold. Janet's head was so far up her own backside it wasn't even funny. Janet was the brainy one—a solicitor. She was always criticising Julie for one or other, not that Julie took the slightest notice. Janet didn't like me—I was bit too working class. I'd never once heard the two of them discuss their brother which made me wonder if there had been some kind of falling out. Apparently, James insisted that everyone call him JJ. Just how pretentious did you have to be to refer to yourself by your initials? Even though I'd never met JJ, I already disliked him.

  “Does this dress look all right?” Julie had her back to me; she was looking at the full length mirror which had a crack in one corner where some clumsy idiot (me) had caught it with an umbrella.

  “You look great.”

  “Are you sure?” She turned to face me.

  Julie looked great in anything; she had that kind of figure. Envious? Me? Hell yes.

  “You look drop-dead gorgeous.”

  The intercom buzzed.

  “That’s him.” Julie panicked. “Oh god. I haven’t done my makeup yet.” She dropped the hair dryer, and rushed into the bedroom. “Let him in Megs will you?”

  I'd long since given up on telling Julie that I preferred to be called Megan.

  “Hello?” I hated the door intercom. Half the time, I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end was saying; it sounded like they'd been swallowed by a Dalek.

  “Julie, is that you?”

  “No. It’s Megan.”

  “Who?”

  “Megan. I’m Julie’s flat mate.”

  “Oh yeah. Julie told me all about you. Can you let me in?”

  “Sure.” I buzzed him in. 'told him all about me'? What did that mean exactly? What had Julie been saying? Paranoid? Who me?

  “Is it him?” Julie stuck her head around the door.

  “Yeah. He’s on his way up.”

  “Will you entertain him? I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “Entertain him?” I said—to myself apparently—Julie had disappeared again. How am I supposed to entertain him? Juggling? A magic show?

  Julie had bored me to tears for hours with stories of her brilliant brother. She clearly doted on him, which made me wonder why she hadn’t seen him in so long. I felt like I knew everything there was to know about him: what his company did (something technical which I didn't understand), what kind of car he drove (BMW), how he'd teased her when they were kids (hid her dolls). She’d probably told me his shoe size, but I'd stopped listening by then. What she'd failed to tell me was that—James—JJ—whatever his name was—was hot with a capital ‘H’. Why hadn't Julie thought to mention that? He was tall, dark and... you get the picture. He was all of that and a big helping more. And he was standing right in front of me.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  I was still blocking the doorway—too stunned to move.

  “Sorry, yes, come in.” I shuffled aside.

  “I’m JJ.” He held out his hand. I stood there like a dummy.

  “And you must be Megs.” His hand was still outstretched, waiting for me to respond.

  “Megan.” I managed to raise my hand. His grip was firm. His touch felt good—much too good. If Julie had warned me that her brother was some kind of Adonis, I would have at least made myself presentable. As it was, I looked like I'd just rolled out of bed.

  He must have decided that the mad woman standing in front of him was never going to let go of his hand, so he gently pulled it away and walked into the living room.

  “Where's Julie?”

  “She won’t be long. She’s doing her makeup. Why don’t you have a seat while you wait?”

  As soon as I'd said it, I realised it was a stupid suggestion. When I'd lived at home with my mum and brother, I'd had to do all the cleaning and tidying. Once I moved out, and got a place of my own, it was a relief to be able to relax and be a bit of a slob. Still, I had nothing on Julie. She was unbelievable—she took untidiness to a whole new level. Somewhere, under a mountain of: clothes, bags, books, and goodness knows what else, was a sofa and two chairs.

  “I see my kid sister isn’t any tidier than she used to be. How do you put up with it?”

  I smiled. I decided not to confess my role in the carnage. I was more than happy for Julie to shoulder the blame. JJ eventually managed to unearth one of the chairs. I leaned against the table, trying not to make it too obvious that I was ogling him.

  “Julie tells me you go to college, Megs.”

  “Megan.”

  “What?”

  “It’s Megan—my name.”

  “Sorry, I could have sworn Julie called you Megs.”

  “I’m studying business admin.”

  He laughed—well it was more a snort real
ly.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing. Sorry.”

  “You laughed. What’s wrong with business admin?”

  “So many things.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?”

  “Most college courses are a complete waste of time. You would be better off getting practical experience.”

  Now he was pissing me off. I wished I hadn't mentioned my course. I didn't need his seal of approval. I'd left school with no qualifications—not because I was stupid; I'd just had too much going on at home. As well as college going to college, I worked in a coffee shop. I enjoyed the work, but the pay was rubbish. I wanted to get a better-paying job—that’s why I was doing the course. I was just about to tell JJ to mind his own business when...

  “Hi!” Julie walked over to her brother; the two of them shared an embrace. Five minutes earlier, I might have wished he was holding me in his arms. Now, I was cheesed off with the smug shit. Who did he think he was, coming into my home—belittling my college course?

  “You’ve met Megs...” Julie said.

  “Megan.” JJ corrected her, and then smiled at me.

  Screw that! You don’t deserve my smile. I gave him my patented death stare, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “I hope she's kept you entertained,” Julie said.

  “Megs has been most amusing.”

  Who did this guy think he was, with his smart arse comments? If he hadn't been Julie's brother, I would've told him to go fuck himself.

  “This place is a bit poky, sis. You should get yourself somewhere bigger.”

  “That's easy for you to say.” It was Julie’s turn to be annoyed. “I don't have your kind of money.”

  “Maybe I could help. Come on—we'd better get a move on; the table is booked for eight.”

  “See you later Megs,” Julie called.

  “Bye, Megs.” JJ turned to me, and flashed another smile before following his sister out of the flat.

  Julie's name was on the lease. I sub-let a room from her—unofficially. If she moved out, I'd be homeless. This had been the only half-decent place I'd managed to find that I could afford. The council hadn't wanted to know—single females were way down their list. They did say I should reapply if I became pregnant. Tossers!

  Chapter 2

  “What’s wrong with you today, Megan?”

  Sarah was my manager at the coffee shop. She'd been really patient with me when I started there—I hadn’t known a latte from a bowl of soup. She could have fired me a dozen times in my first month, but she'd kept the faith, and I'd soon learned the ropes. Only last week, Sarah had told me I was her best worker. She probably said that to all the staff, but I didn’t care. It had made me feel good.

  “Sorry, Sarah.” It was the second cup I'd smashed that day.

  “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yeah. Everything’s fine,” I lied. I was still pissed off about the previous night. Julie and JJ had come back to the flat after their night out. She'd insisted on talking me through every course of their meal. Thanks Julie—that was just what I'd needed after I’d made do with a pot noodle for my supper. Worse still, JJ had had another dig at my college course. That had done it for me. I didn’t care how hot he was—he was a pig. A smarmy, know-it-all pig. I'd gone to bed early—I'd told them I was feeling tired, but the truth was I couldn’t bear to be in the same room as him for another minute. Even then, he’d managed to get one last ‘Megs’ in before I'd turned in. What a prick!

  I hated it when it was quiet at work. Time dragged. I much preferred to be run off my feet—that way my shift flew by. It was Wednesday, and Wednesdays were always slow. There were only four of us on duty—half as many as at the weekend. Even so, it was more than we needed to keep pace with the trickle of customers who came in during the afternoon. There had been a bit of a rush during the lunch hour, but after that it had been soooo slow.

  Sarah was on her break, so I was manning the till. Carol was making the drinks. She was a great barista—she'd been on all of the courses, and had won a regional award. I'd no idea how she remembered all the different combinations, but she never seemed to break sweat.

  “Large latte. Extra shot please.”

  I'd been looking down at the rota for the following week, but immediately recognised the voice.

  “JJ? What are you doing here?”

  Did this guy always look so good?

  “I was just passing.” That smile again. I really wanted to punch out those teeth, but at the same time I wanted to feel those lips on mine—damn him for being so hot.

  “Large latte. Extra shot?”

  “Got it in one. I’ll have a chocolate muffin too please, Megs.”

  “Megan!”

  “Julie was right. You really are touchy about your name.”

  “My name is Megan. What’s so difficult about that?”

  “Everything okay, Megan?” Sarah was back from her break.

  “Everything’s fine. This gentleman would like a latte with an extra shot, and a chocolate muffin.”

  “I’ll see to that. You take your break.” Sarah eased me away from the counter. She knew I’d already had a break, but she could tell I was about to lose it.

  “What was that all about?” Sarah joined me in the staff room five minutes later.

  “I’m sorry. He’s my flat mate’s brother.”

  “So?”

  “He’s a prick.”

  “He may be a prick, but when he’s in here, he’s a customer.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “What's he done to upset you?”

  “Breathed, walked, talked—you name it.”

  When I returned to the front of shop, JJ was sitting at a table in the far corner. I thought I’d better go over and make my peace with him. After all, he was Julie’s brother—I didn’t want there to be an atmosphere between us.

  “I’m sorry I lost my temper,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster, which wasn’t much.

  “Don’t sweat it. I was only teasing.”

  “Is the coffee all right?”

  “It’s awful.”

  “What?” I noticed the smirk. “Teasing again?”

  “Sorry. I can’t help it. Did you know your nose wrinkles when you're mad?”

  “Wrinkles?” I touched the tip of my nose. My nose doesn't wrinkle—my nose had never wrinkled.

  “It’s cute. You’re cute.”

  “Look—I came over to apologise. If you’re going to take the piss.” I tried to keep my voice down—I didn’t need Sarah on my case again.

  “I meant it as a compliment. Julie didn’t warn me she had such a gorgeous flat mate. If she had, I’d have been over more often.”

  I'd no idea what to make of him. Was this his idea of a pick-up line or was it just a massive wind up? I wasn't accustomed to compliments.

  “I didn’t come here for the coffee. I came to see you. Julie told me you worked here.”

  “Well, now you’ve seen me.”

  “You’re not going to make this easy are you?”

  “What?”

  “I'm trying to ask you out.”

  I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how. Guys as good-looking as JJ didn’t ask me out—they didn’t even notice me.

  “Well?” he said.

  “What?”

  “Will you go out with me?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? I fancy you; you obviously fancy me.”

  I did and I hated myself for it. I wanted to hate the arrogant prick.

  “No, I don't. God, you're full of yourself aren't you?”

  “Do we really have to play these silly games? Why don't you just say 'yes'?”

  “No.”

  I didn’t give him the chance to say anything else. I turned and walked away.

  “Why are you hiding in here?” Sarah asked.

  “Has he gone?”

  “The guy you said was a prick? He left a few minu
tes ago.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. What’s wrong with him anyway? He’s good-looking. I wouldn’t throw him out of bed.”

  Chapter 3

  “Tonight? Again? You don't see him for two years, and then you see him twice in a week?”

  “Yeah. He’s taking me to the theatre,” Julie said.

  “You? Go to the theatre? What’s he taking you to see? A pantomime?”

  “Cheeky mare.” Julie pretended to be offended.

  I couldn't help but wonder why JJ would come around again so soon. I hadn't told Julie that he'd come on to me. I wasn't even sure he had. Maybe he flirted like that with every girl he met.

  “How come he’s suddenly around here so often? No offence, but hasn’t he got a girlfriend he could be with?”

  “I don't think he's seeing anyone at the moment. It's hard to know with JJ—he doesn't do 'serious'.”

  Why didn't that surprise me?

  When he arrived, I pretended to be reading a magazine. Julie was in her bedroom getting ready. I could feel his eyes burning into me, but I was determined not to look up.

  “I’ve got a spare ticket if you want to join us.”

  “Theatre’s not really my thing.” I still didn’t look up from the magazine; I was playing it cool, or so I thought.

  “It's upside down.”

  “What?”

  “Your magazine is upside down.”

  Oh god. I'm such a... Wait a minute.

  “No, it's not.”

  “You weren't sure were you?”

  Could he be any more infuriating?

  “So, what is your type of thing?” he asked as he parked his backside on the arm of my chair. His finger brushed against my bare arm. I wasn't sure if it was intentional, but it sent a tiny shudder through my whole body.

  “Football,” I lied. The article on the page in front of me was about some footballer who had just got engaged to a beautiful young model. I doubted she would have given him a second look if he hadn't been earning over 100k a week.