𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 ➺ 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃 𝑀𝒶𝓎/𝒬𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃

𝟒𝟑 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲

A/N 

New update for you all. I'll be brutally honest, I'm not completely happy with the next few chapters I have lined up, but that's mostly because they're fillers and layers to the foundation for the next book. Hope you stay on and enjoy anyway, I really have put in so much work and effort into this story.

 Let me know your thoughts as always! 

Also, I forgot to thank you all for the 10k reads. We're almost at 11k and that means the world to me that people are liking this so much. It's been such a big part of my life for over 4 years now and I'm not planning on having it disappear any time soon. So, I hope you're willing to stick around. 

Love love x

//

March 9th, 1976

Maria

I couldn't believe I was hearing this.

Head in my hands, I paced from one end of Reid's office to the other, my fingers slowly gripping harder and harder.

"Maria, will you sit down, ple—"

"No, I don't want to sit down."

"You need to calm down—"

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

I heard Reid mumble something under his breath through an exasperated sigh as the door to his office opened. "Ah, there you are."

"What do you need?"

Oh no.

Not him.

Not that Irish bastard.

I lifted my head and came face to face with Paul. I scoffed and looked at Reid. "Why the fuck is he here?" Pointing at Paul, I expressed my disdain.

"Now, Maria, you did tell Freddie that you'd be civil," Paul said, his voice absolutely drenched in patronisation.

"Oh, of course Freddie told you that, didn't he? Because Freddie tells you everything."

"Yeah, he does as a matter of fact."

"I've known him three and a half years, you've known him for two seconds!"

"Sometimes our best friends aren't people we've known for three and a half years."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means," Paul retaliated, leaning into me with a slightly clenched jaw. Funny how he so easily lost his temper when Freddie wasn't around.

"Back off me, Prenter, before I break your fucking teeth."

"Maria!"

I whipped my head toward Reid, who sat by and allowed this interaction to take place.

"Physical threats, really?" he asked, giving me a look of disbelief.

"Paul Prenter, really?" I gestured to the devil himself.

"Grow up, Maria," Paul scoffed.

"I. Am. Not. Talking. To. You—Reid, why did you ask me to come here if he was going to be here?"