Trying Not To Love You

Part Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"So how was your date?"

The voice caused Martha to pause her hand on the back door. She'd had a nice evening, good company. Paul had never set her world alight, but it hadn't been about that, it had been a pleasant time with someone interesting. But she could hear opinion and judgement in his voice.

Martha rolled her eyes not bothering to turn around, "you're not my father Carter, please. I don't have to answer to you."

He laughed, "too right I'm not, if I was there's NO way I'd tolerate the things you do."

Turning she rolled her eyes for his benefit this time, "nice one wide boy! Like you're the model citizen. What the hell have I done anyway? The other night you were laughing that I wasn't 'getting any action'."

Sonny widened his eyes angrily, "Do you know anything about this bloke?"

"Seriously? Now this is hilarious! You are like a tomcat, screwing everything that moves, is there anyone left in this town that you haven't fucked? Yet you question me when I go out with an old friend."

He pulled his mouth into a snarl, "at least I don't put myself in ridiculous situations with strangers."

She squared up to him, "he's NOT a stranger. I know Paul, have done a long time, he's a nice guy. I've had at least a dozen conversations with him just today, BEFORE I went to the cinema tonight. And that's not a euphemism for anything else, we had dinner and watched a movie then he brought me home. When was the last time you actually had a conversation with a woman?"

He was still scowling but there was no answer forthcoming so she laughed, "exactly, DON'T judge me by your standards. You have NO right to dictate my life or lecture me, ok?"

Sonny lowered his eyes for a moment, "I feel responsible for you, ok? I worry about you."

"Try worrying about yourself, because from where I'm standing there's only one person on a one way mission to self destruction, and it's not me."

As she made to turn away he reached out and grabbed her arm, then froze as she grimaced in pain. Sliding the loose sleeves of her shirt up her arms he saw the fading purple bruises, then repeated the act on the other side. When his eyes returned to hers there was pure venom in them.

"He did this to you? I'll fucking kill him."

She gave a nervous laugh, "Paul? Don't be stupid, he'd not hurt a fly."

"Then who?"

He stared at her, waiting for the name, wanting to rip the person to shreds, when she said nothing, dropped her eyes in what was that? Shame? He saw red.

"Oldbury? When the..."

She lifted a hand to his lips, silenced him, "let it go. This is not West Side Story, and I have no intention of picking your broken body off the floor when whatever feud you've got going with him ends. I can fight my own battles. OK?"

He scowled at her, "West what?"

Martha sighed, "it's a play? A film?" When he looked puzzled, she merely shook her head, "my honour is not some prize in a gang fight ok? There's one of you, and a lot of him. He has Gripper, that ginger bloke, several more...I don't want you getting hurt because he grabbed me a little hard. I told him to piss off and he did. Job done." It was a lie, but it didn't help to let him know that. She'd seen the tension between the two men when they'd met, and he obviously hated Gripper. The last thing she wanted was to see things escalate.