Penny Hooper's Blog, page 10

My Book ‘It’s My Mistake’ available in paperback!

Hey guys,

So, I’ve been a little busy lately, what with my degree coming to an end, applying for graduate jobs and, just in case I can’t get a graduate job, Master’s degrees. I’ve been stressing about it all.

But… just a quick post so you are aware… my first paperback is now available in paperback!

If you’d like a copy, here are the links below.

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-My-Mistake-Penny-Hooper/dp/1985376709/

USA: https://www.amazon.com/Its-My-Mistake-Penny-Hooper/dp/1985376709/

My Proof copy arrived!

I got a lovely surprise this morning, the proof copy of my soon-to-be published book ‘It’s My Mistake’ arrived this morning!

Making slow progress…

I’m going to make this blog post short, as I appear to have acquired a rather large headache after my hospital appointment…

But I just wanted to update everyone on my progress with my books…

So, I have finished editing my book ‘It’s My Mistake’ and it is going live on Amazon! I have a proof copy heading my way, which I will need to check before commiting it to going live.

I know it hasn’t been professionally edited, and believe me, as a perfectionist, it’s something that is really bugging me! But I just want to get something tangible and real. Something that I can put on my book case and push me to continue writing more…

It’s my first book, I’m not expecting it to be perfect (although I did try!)

But now that that has been finished, I can focus on my next project; my book ‘I fell in love with a psychopath’.

Which is a story that I’ve really enjoyed writing and I had to put aside, not only due to lack of time because of all my commitments, but I wanted to focus on getting ‘It’s My Mistake’ done first.

But my main project, the one that I have been developing for well over a year now, that one I will be going back to very soon too! And I’m itching to get into it!! But I’m trying to give enough time between the last time I looked at it and when I get back to it, because I want to read through it with fresh eyes. It’s my main one, the one that I want to be perfect, because the idea is just too good to mess up.

And that’s right, I’m talking about my Rose Garden Sanatorium Series!

Beta-Readers needed!

I’ve been working hard on re-editing my book ‘It’s My Mistake’ as my main challenge is to get it into a paperback format. I want to do this by making the book the best I can.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist though, and there is something final about a real physical book that I don’t want to have a book riddled with mistakes and plot holes. So, I need beta-readers.

I have asked friends to read, but I don’t have many friends that are willing to a) read a book in general and b) let alone one that is a romantic story!

So, for anyone who likes reading, please feel free to read my book ‘It’s My Mistake’ here:

https://www.wattpad.com/story/124947755-it%27s-my-mistake-%7E-completed

And let me know what you think. If you find any errors, plot holes, or anywhere that generally needs work, please let me know!

Here’s a blurb:

Alice wants a carrer change, especially after a terrible incident at her last job. Her dream job has always been to work in a hotel, maybe even own one. But after messing up an interview very spectacularly for a vacancy at a well-known hotel chain in London, she wasn’t expecting to hold the attention of the Global Business Manager; Daniel Jeffries. And in more ways than one. Does Alice take the risk and accept Dan’s offer or does she play it safe?

Who knew that that interview day would be the day that changed Alice’s life? But is it for the better? IS this alluring Global Business Manager as amazing as he seems? And who is that mysterious yet amazingly handsome man at the hotel?

By the way, if Romance isn’t your thing, or this blub doesn’t catch your eye, there are other works on my WattPad page, feel free to check them out!

I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 6

NB: Read chapter 5 here: I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 5

 

Chapter 6

What felt like an hour later – which was only ten minutes – Xander’s friend had come back. Which I was just thankful for something to interrupt the awkward silence that had engulfed us. I was nervously waiting in the silence, and standing in a dark street with a guy I barely knew. And Xander had the guy’s knife in his hand.

At some point after I had managed to sit down on the hard cold floor, Xander had gone over to the knife Devon had placed carefully in the middle of the street. He had walked back over to me, standing next to me, hovering strangely and not even leaning against the wall, while turning the knife over in his hands like it was natural to him.

After the adrenaline in my body had dissolved and my heart rate was back to a relatively normal rhythm, I felt stunned. I had just been involved in an attempted mugging. I realised afterwards the seriousness of what happened. Someone could have died. The guy had a knife. And I even intervened. The guy had swung round to face me, his eyes wide and half-crazed, and he could have easily stabbed me if Xander wasn’t quick enough to disarm him.

Devon walked up to Xander wordlessly with his hands out in front of him, holding something in his palms.

“What are you-?” Xander said, breaking the silence and I looked up to see Devon for the first time.

“I got ice,” Devon said when he stopped next to Xander and myself. He looked down at the contents of his hands. His face was still pale and he looked dazed like he wasn’t even consciously with us anymore. It was like he was a walking zombie. He didn’t even notice the absurdity of what he was doing and how he looked.

“You got ice?” Xander quizzed, “And brought it in the palms of your hands?”

Devon looked up at Xander with a worried expression and looked like he was about to cry or scream or something.

I suddenly burst out laughing. It was such an absurd situation. Devon was just standing there with a pile of ice in his outstretched hands and offering it to Xander like he was offering baby Jesus something holy. Forget gold, frankincense and myrrh, ice from Devon was much more precious.

What made me laugh though was the idea of Devon going into the bar and asking for ice. I had an image of the bar tender’s face as he just placed ice into Devon’s outstretched hands, while curiously watching his pale zombie expression and wondering if he was on drugs or something.

“Do you want me to-?” Devon started and went to walk away.

“No, Devon, just stay there!” Xander sighed and put the knife on the floor. I was wiping an escaped tear from my eye. Although I was unsure if it was a tear of humour, a tear from pain, or a tear from shock. I did feel a build-up of pressure in my chest that felt like it was about to burst at any minute, but I couldn’t cry around Xander, I didn’t feel comfortable.

“Give the ice to Jo,” Xander ordered as he started to take off his blazer.

Devon walked up to me and handed me the ice, I held out my hands curiously while watching Xander. He had passed Devon his grey blazer the moment the ice left his possession and was starting to undo the black shirt underneath.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously.

But Xander didn’t answer, the shirt was unbuttoned and there was a black vest underneath. I could see some more skin that was originally hidden from the shirt and blazer. His collar bones were sharp and defined, and I could see a few dark hairs just below his neck and disappearing underneath the collar of his black vest. The black vest was tight on his torso and I could see an outline of curves on his body. Needless to say I was obviously attracted to the guy in front of me, but now even more due to his body. I felt warm suddenly. I had cooled down earlier after the adrenaline had worn off, even getting a little cold as the temperature was dropping outside. But just one glance at Xander in just a vest and trousers and I was instantly warm again.

When Xander tugged off the shirt, one arm at a time, he passed that too to Devon. Devon just stood there staring in a blank surprise with Xander’s blazer, and now his black shirt, over his arm. I couldn’t help by stare at Xander either, I was unable to take my eyes off him as I took in his large bare arms. He was a large guy underneath the suit. I knew that already though. But I was expecting to see a guy who was ripped, muscular with veins popping out from his arms. I’ve seen my fair share of men like that. The guys that went to the gym every day and posed in front of mirrors and took photos of their muscles. Xander, however, was just a naturally large guy. Large arms that you would struggle to get both your hands around, large shoulders to match. He was a bit muscular, I could see that when he stretched and flexed and I could see it on his chest too, but he didn’t have those hideous veins popping out of his skin and large uncomfortable lines. It was as if he was born that way. I had a random urge to wrap my arms around him, to see what it was like to hug him and feel his skin on mine.

A second later I almost gasped as he pulled off the vest too. I was aware of how quiet the street was around us, and I was aware that I was staring at him. I just wasn’t sure where else to put my eyes anymore. I could feeling myself getting warmer as I took in his large frame. He certainly wasn’t ripped like those narcissistic guys in the gym. He did have a definition on his chest, but he didn’t have a large six pack, it was just smooth and flat. A trail of hair which connected up to the hair on his chest and disappeared past the belt on his trousers. I tried to focus on what he was doing, but it was no use. I had caught sight of an ugly red and round scar on Xander’s chest. It was clearly visible behind the light sprinkling of hairs on his chest, clashing dangerously with his slightly tanned skin. There was also a very large one running down his right forearm, it ran nearly the whole length of his arm, I was even sure I saw another one running parallel on the other side. But before I was able to ask about either, I heard a ripping sound. Xander had ripped the vest.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously, taking my eyes off his chest, stomach and scars and looked at the ripped fabric in his hands.

Xander then walked over to me – I tried not to look too affected by his close proximity – with a piece of ripped fabric and held it out in his hand. “Put the ice in this.”

I silently obeyed, putting the ice in the bit of fabric and he wrapped it up before handing it to me.

He didn’t offer to put the ice on my foot himself, he let me do that. Instead, after I placed the makeshift icepack on my foot and feeling a cold shiver run up my leg, sending goose bumps up it too, he wandered over to where the knife was on the floor and picked it up.

I watched curiously and silently as he started to wipe the knife with what was left of the vest. The next minute he had walked over to a bin and thrown the offensive thing into it. I heard a large ‘clang’ as it clearly hit the metal from within and he calmly walked back over to me and Devon, the rest of his shirt being shoved into his trousers’ pocket.

“Why did you just do that?” I asked, trying desperately to look him in the eye and not stare at his body.

“To get rid of my prints,” he said calmly, “I don’t want anything linked to me.”

I gulped. What he said really hit me. It sounded like he was the one who was the perpetrator, not a victim.

Journey into becoming a Data Scientist…

As you may be aware, I wrote a blog post about my potential career as a Data Scientist. I thought I’d update you on how that was going…

Well, the last time I wrote about it, I enrolled on a ‘Introduction to Data Science’ on edX, and I actually really enjoyed it.

Since then, not only have I completed that one (to a point, I still need to complete the end ‘lab’ exercise!), I have also done an Introduction to python for Data Science. I actually messaged edX to see if there was a way to get the cost of the $99 certificate down, as I can’t actually afford to spend that money.

Alongside that, I have also been applying for graduate jobs around the country! Graduate Data Analyst roles and Graduate Data Scientist roles. One was with RBS (in Jersey), one was with the government down in Plymouth, another is in Bath (one of my favourite cities in South/South West England). And some of these roles are very difficult to apply for. I still have to do a Numeracy test on one for the government. Although that one isn’t really Data Science, more Intelligence Analyst. I also did a Numeracy test for the RBS role and I really didn’t do well on it. It wasn’t because it was difficult (although I do struggle with math in general) but the questions were timed and they were ridiculous! Between 75-90 seconds to answer a question whereby you look at the question, read a table, find the right information in the table and calculate the answer using a calculator. Easy. Until I get the bit where I type in the answer and POOF, timed out. Not happy!

Anyway, that’s where I’m at. Doing a few courses in Data Science, Python programming (will move onto SQL and R soon!), applying for Graduate jobs and also trying to refresh my Math too!

Fingers crossed!

I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 5

Before you read this chapter, check out the first four chapters:

Chapter 1: New Story Idea – “I fell in Love with a Psychopath”

Chapter 2: I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 2

Chapter 3: I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 3

Chapter 4: I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 4

 

Chapter 5

Just before the guy was even able to even think about what to do in that moment, Xander lunged for him. I didn’t really see much, only really a flash and a loud gasp from someone, because I had fallen onto one of my knees and held onto my foot instinctively.

When I looked up, I just caught Xander punching the guy in the face who was knocked to the ground by the force of Xander’s punch. I saw Xander pick something up from the floor and then walk over to the guy, now in possession of the knife.

“Now let’s see what your intestines look like,” Xander sneered.

He was about to bend down when his mate rushed over to him in a panic. He looked white as a sheet. Unlike Xander who looked red from rage. “Leave him, mate, just let him go.”

“Like fuck will I, after trying to steal my watch?” Xander replied, not even looking back at his mate. “Do you even know who I am?” he sneered again at the guy on the ground. He pointed the knife at him like an extension to his own arm.

“Please don’t hurt me,” the guy started to whimper.

“Listen to yourself, you’re pathetic,” Xander huffed and shook his head in disgust.

At this point I had noticed that my foot was actually bleeding, and I cursed under my breath. The rock had caught two of my toes as they had broken its fall to the floor. One of them had started to bleed and I was worried the other one, my little toe, was broken because it was excruciatingly painful. So much so that tears were starting to appear in my eyes. It took a lot for me to cry.

Because I had muttered though, Xander looked over at me and must have only just noticed I was hurt. At this he stood up a little straighter and appeared to talk to the guy on the floor; “Leave.”

“W-what?” said a small voice from the floor.

“Leave,” Xander repeated, looking back round at him. “Just go before I change my mind and cut you open from your throat to your naval.”

The guy clearly got the message as he stood up and rushed away, without even taking his knife. At first he tried to scurry away on all fours and then managed to stand up properly and made a decent run for it, nearly tripping over as he was in a panic to get away.

“Are you hurt?” Xander asked, walking over to me suddenly, not even watching the man run away. He walked passed his friend who was standing stock still in fright and passed him the knife. He took it without hesitation and just stared down at it in his hands as if shocked he now had possession of the offensive weapon.

I laughed. I was laughing at myself. I felt stupid for what I had just tried to do. “That bloody rock fell onto my foot.”

“Why are you bare footed?” he asked, as he towered over me from where I knelt. I was starting to wish I had sat down on my backside rather than kneeling. My knee were hurting as the road was digging into it. Not to mention I was worried about flashing anyone who stood in front of me. Luckily Xander was standing by my side, otherwise it could have been a lot more embarrassing.

“I took my heels off so they wouldn’t draw attention to me.” I gasped in pain as my toe twitched. “Are you going to help me up or what?” I accidentally spat, half in frustration and half in pain.

I heard Xander laugh slightly and he held out a hand for me. Just as I placed mine into his, he turned to his friend; “Get some ice from Mario’s.”

“W-what?” the guy stuttered.

“Ice, Devon, from Mario’s,” Xander demanded, just as he helped me effortlessly into a standing position. “It’s not a hard request.”

“Oh, sure,” the guy called Devon said and then went to wander off down the street back to where Mario’s front door was waiting.

“Devon, don’t take the bloody knife with you!” Xander snapped at the guy.

“Oh!” Devon stopped, turned round, looked at Xander and then at the knife and just placed it on the floor carefully like he was handling something that might explode and just walked away.

He wobbled slightly as I watched him. I was worried he was going to faint and collapse on the hard floor, but he disappeared round the corner and out of sight, and was momentarily forgotten about. Xander was just shaking his head at his friend as he had just placed the knife in the middle of the street.

I gasped again as a pain shot up my foot and up my leg like an electric bolt. It reminded me of when I once been bitten by an ant in Australia. Although double that pain – no, probably triple it. I remember sitting drinking a small bottle of beer the Australians called a ‘stubby’ under a slight canopy in my rented house. I hadn’t noticed there was an infestation of ants right next to my bare feet – what is it with me and bare feet? They were these huge things with blue abdomens, horrible little buggars they were. One had bitten me on my big toe. The pain had shot right up my whole leg. My toe even throbbed for at least an hour afterwards.

Although the pain I felt after dropping a rock on it was worse, the idea was still the same; the pain travelling right up my leg. Although unlike the ant, I was suddenly feeling a little sick from the pain.

“It’s probably best you move out of the street, Jo,” Xander said, his voice seemed to have gotten softer in a matter of seconds. Although I was mostly concerned with the fact Xander had taken his hands out of mine and I was now standing on one leg.

“Yeah, before I fall over,” I snorted, and put my foot down. But as soon as I did, I wobbled dangerously because I didn’t want to put pressure on it and the pain had made me a little dizzy. Xander had to grab me to stop me from falling over.

He had quick reflexes, but he didn’t seem too bothered where his hands landed when he grabbed me. Although, luckily he didn’t grab anywhere inappropriate, but he did have one hand on my arm and the other on my waist.

“I’ll help you,” he said.

I muttered a thanks and allowed him to guide me over to the side of the street.

Just as we reached the side and I was able to lean against a wall – Xander taking his hands off me again – he asked me a strange question.

“Did you not care that guy had a knife?” he asked.

“What?” I asked, looking back at him in confusion, unsure I heard him right.

“The mugger,” he said, “he had a knife. Did you not care?”

“Err-, I guess not,” I shrugged. “My main concern was stopping him, I was worried he was going to hurt you.”

“You didn’t have to step in like that, you could have been hurt yourself.”

“If I didn’t, he could have hurt you. Were you not scared?”

“I’m used to it.”

I laughed. “You’re used to people attacking you with knives?”

He looked at me, his deep green eyes seemed darker for some reason. “I’m sort of used to-,” he paused as if choosing his words carefully, “people trying to threaten me.”

I stared at him for a few seconds wondering what that meant. He was used to people threatening him? Why?

 

 

Potential Career pathway – Data Scientist

 

Recently I’ve been really considering what to do after I have completed my Psychology Undergraduate Degree at the Open University, and when I first got into the degree, my initial idea was to just explore the subject because of my interest in Psychology and Criminology.

I went through stages throughout my undergraduate degree learning, thinking about becoming a Forensic Psychologist was one, and although I had since talked myself out of it – because, let’s face it, I’m not really a people person! I have since come to the conclusiong that I really love a) working behind the scenes and b) statistics!

I have a few options, some more to do with psychology than others:

1) A neuropsychologist,

2) A Forensic Scientist,

3) A statistician,

4) A Research (in another field other than neuropsychology),

5) Investigator/Intelligence (E.g. National Crime Agency) or

6) Data Analyst or Data Scientist.

I came across a Data Scientist only recently – I can’t even remember how I came across it, only that it was recent – and as such I’ve become increasingly interested.

I wrote about it on my Facebook account and I even started a small discussion with a friend in America about it and after a small conversation about my past experiences (the fact I did a National Diploma in Computer programming (and got good marks too!) and have on a number of occasions proved that I can problem solve independently – one example is that I recently create an Open Sesame experiment as part of my last psychology degree project and I was telling my tutor how to work it!) and not to mention that my interest for problem solving, statistics and maths in general, he actually agreed that Data Science was a good career path for me!

So, with that in mind, I have since gone onto EdX, a Free Online Courses website which has top universities on there – such as Harvard and Berkley- and I have found there are a few courses on Data Science and Data Analysis, one such course is actually a Microsoft Professional Program.

I’m currently auditing the Introduction to Data Science course and I have to admit, my interest for the subject is only increasing!

Here is the link to the course if you are reading this and interested yourself: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Microsoft+DAT101x+1T2018/course/

So far I have got as far as the speakers importing a small data file into Excel and running a few simple Excel functions to clean and analyse the data, most of which I already know from doing a previous course on EdX, but I am going to continue watching the videos and going through this short introduction course to see what else being a Data Scientist involves.

The good thing about this career path, is not only is a well paid job and a challenge (I do like a challenge! I got bored as a simple Administrator!) but that it is in High Demand, especially since the emergence of Big Data but also that it’s universal to different companies and organisations. Which means, I could use these skills to combine two or more of my above career options; for example, I could be a Data Scientist for a governmental organisation and work within an investigations/intelligence environment!

It’s My Mistake – Chapter 2 – UPDATED

Warning: Contains strong language!

Please check out chapter one here!

 

Chapter 2

“Alice!” my startlingly beautiful long blonde haired friend gasped in shock. Her gorgeous blue eyes twinkled at me, her mouth slightly ajar in surprise after I told her the train wreck of an interview I had yesterday. “You did what?”

“I know! After all that, I told the woman outside to fuck off too,” I said, burring my face in my hands and groaning.

I had told my friend Olivia what had happened with the interview from start to end in surprising vivid detail. Well, leaving out a few details; like the handsome man that was behind the table. This was something Olivia would have wanted to know more about rather than the interview itself. She had a bit of an obsession with men. We were sat in a café round the corner to where she works before she started her afternoon shift.

I liked Olivia, she was the closest thing I had to a best friend. She was originally my roommate for a few months after I moved to the city. She had a small spare room for rent, and to my luck she had it up for quite cheap too. We hit it off quite quickly, which I was extremely surprised about. She was a beautiful blonde girl, only a year younger than I was, and was extremely outgoing. I was the complete opposite. But she was surprisingly easy to get along with. Our little arrangement only lasted a few months though, I had found out she was actually renting the apartment herself and wasn’t really allowed to rent out the other bedroom. The landlord had kicked us both out and we had to go our separate ways. But our strange friendship seemed to have last quite well.

“That’s amazing! At least you fucked it up in style!” she giggled hysterically.

“It’s useless, I’m never going to get a job in hotel! Maybe I am better off going back to care?”

“Don’t be silly, there are still loads of hotels out there, or maybe you’re better off starting somewhere smaller? Like a hostel or something?” she said, touching my hand in sympathy. “Just don’t yell at the interview panel and tell people to fuck off!” she suddenly smiled.

I groaned again. I realised after having a good, long think about what I had done, the whole ‘Miss/Mrs’ mistake, there was still chance to salvage the interview; just laugh it off as an administration error. But no, instead I decided to yell at people and storm out like a spoilt brat.

Plus, to make matters worse; I really wanted that particular job. Yeah, the role was just an entry level administrator role or something, probably only be filing and other equally boring things like that. But the company was supposed to be a really good company to work for. I heard rumours that people that started at the company would be well looked after and they really helped you progress. I had dreams of going far in the company. It was also a social enterprise, so it helps the community, something that had caught my attention. Global Elite the company was called. That hotel was just one of two in London, and one of-, I don’t know, probably lots around the world. I had done a bit of research, hoping my knowledge of the company and its history might have won me some brownie points.

Olivia opened her mouth – probably about to comfort me in her usual sarcastic and jokey way one last time – but closed it when my mobile phone rang loudly next to me. I stared at the caller ID but I didn’t recognise the number. It wasn’t a saved contact, so I didn’t rush to answer it. I had a feeling I knew who it was.

“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Olivia asked, her well-manicured eyebrow rose at me curiously.

“No, it’s probably Simon,” I replied, still staring at the mobile as it danced and sang at me.

“I thought you liked Simon?”

Simon was my ex. Well, he was and he wasn’t. We didn’t officially break up. I just walked out on him a while back and stopped talking to him altogether. I guess that constitutes as an ex. We weren’t together for long anyway. Either way I didn’t tell Olivia the whole story. In fact, I didn’t really tell her anything. She didn’t even know I had stopped seeing him. She didn’t exactly ask.

“I did.”

She watched me silently for a few seconds as if trying to digest a hidden meaning in those two words. “Then what’s the problem?”

I sighed. “I’ve stopped seeing him,” I explained and Olivia’s eyebrows rose together this time. “He came across- desperate,” I continued, when Olivia didn’t say anything. I looked up at my friend and frowned at her as I remembered the last time I saw Simon.

Olivia laughed. “Maybe he was just horny and wanted to get in your knickers?”

I gave her a look, which was supposed to be a ‘don’t be so gross’ look, but she clearly read it wrong. I actually hated that word ‘horny’, and Olivia knew it.

“Wait,” she gasped, “did you two-?”

“No!” I snapped, “I didn’t sleep with him!”

Olivia knew I hadn’t slept with him. I had told her that I wanted to wait, at least until I knew that he and I would go far in a relationship. Plus, I was a little-, shy, in that department. Unlike Olivia, I wasn’t so confident. But I guess it was a while since I last spoke to Olivia about Simon. Knowing Olivia, she probably thought I did sleep with him and that was why I dumped him.

Olivia just held her hands up in defence, “Can’t blame me for asking, he is pretty hot. I would. Even if it was just for a quick shag.”

“Olivia!” I said, looking shocked at my friend, although I wasn’t sure why I was still so shocked, she was always like this. But she was a young, beautiful blonde woman, she always had men after her. I was just lucky that I met Simon alone, and not with Olivia. I had visions of her going off with him instead. Although it wouldn’t have made much of a difference know. “You know I’m not like that!”

She shrugged. “Nothing wrong with it.”

“The guy wanted a serious relationship, not just a quick- shag,” I said, lowering my voice slightly so the couple on the table next to us wouldn’t hear me. Although it was pointless, they had clearly overheard Olivia. She was so embarrassing sometimes.

“I know, I know,” she shrugged, “But you should at least consider it; you never know, you might enjoy it!” she winked.

But I ignored her. Just as my mobile rang again.

“Hey, if it is Simon, wouldn’t it come up on your phone as Simon’s number?” she asked, pointing to the phone.

“No, I deleted it,” I said.

“You deleted his number from your phone?” she asked, her eyebrows raised again.

“I know, it was a mistake, I forgot I did it and he tried ringing me. I accidentally answered it, not realising it was him, until I heard his voice wheezing down the earpiece-”

“Wheezing?” Olivia asked, looking confused.

I shrugged, “Sounded like he was wheezing, maybe he’s asthmatic?”

“Or he was-”

“Don’t!” I said, stopping her saying something crude that I really didn’t want to hear. I knew she was about to say something crude, it was the look on her face that gave it away. She just laughed. “The point is, I ended up having to block his number in the end because he kept ringing and I kept for-”

I stopped. I had Simon’s number blocked. He couldn’t ring me! I looked at the mobile still ringing.

“What?” Olivia asked, clearly not getting why I stopped.

“I have Simon’s number blocked!” I said, “He can’t ring me!”

“Then answer it!” she said quickly, “It might be another hunky desperate man wanting a shag!”

I ignored her and picked my phone up from the table, but just before I was about to answer it, it stopped ringing. I groaned.

“Well, I guess he’s got fed up and found someone else!” Olivia chimed and took a sip of her coffee.

I ignored Olivia and continued to look at my phone. I was quietly trying to decide what to do. Maybe if I sat and waited for a bit, the caller would ring me back. Or maybe leave a voicemail. I liked the idea of someone leaving me a voicemail, if they gave me a hint to who they were, I could decide whether I wanted to ring back.

But after a few minutes ticked by on my phone, no one rang back and no voicemail was left. So instead I decided to ring the number back. Olivia’s attention was on something else, or shall I say, someone else.

“Hello, this is Daniel’s phone. Jason speaking,” someone with a rather lovely deep voice said on the other end of the phone. I didn’t recognise any of the names; I didn’t know a Daniel or a Jason, nor did I recognise the voice.

“Err, hi. I just got a miss call on this number?”

“Ah yes, Dan did look a little flustered trying to ring you, let me find him,” the deep male voice said on the other end of the phone. I said a quick thank you but I got interrupted when I heard the same deep male voice yell in the background; “Oi, you cunt, you have one of your bimbos on the phone asking for you!”

My face dropped and I hung up the phone quickly. Clearly not someone I wanted to know anyway. I silently hoped neither of them rang me again. Annoyingly, Olivia hadn’t even noticed what had happened.

I fell in Love with a Psychopath – Chapter 4

NB: Don’t forget to check out Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 first!

This work is my first draft and thus unedited, so may be subject to changes.

 

Chapter 4

The next week and a half went by in a mess. Or was it that I was a mess?

Later that day, after Liam had asked me out – well, sort of. He finally managed to ask if I wanted to go out on Friday. I was already busy Friday, I had made plans with Leah to go out with a few of her friends for a meal. It was a favour for her. She had found out her ex-boyfriend was going to this meal because he was best friend with her best friend’s fiancé or something and she needed someone to back her up. It was an interesting night actually. Her ex-boyfriend was actually really lovely and didn’t hold any grudges against Leah and was quite happy now with his new girlfriend. Even Leah went away – albeit a little drunk by the end of the night – a lot happier knowing that there was no bad air between them.

Liam then asked me if I wanted to meet up at the weekend, but he was busy Saturday and I had already arranged to skype my friends back home and do some well-needed cleaning on Sunday. I had a pile of washing and ironing and my apartment was a mess. I hated it being a mess. But I counter-offered next weekend, so as to avoid it sounding like I was brushing him off, and he agreed.

So, I had a date with my crush, Liam, on Friday after work.

That was in two days.

When Wednesday came, I found myself sat in my apartment fiddling with my thumbs. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I was too nervous about Friday evening. I had tried reading a book, but when I read the same line about five times I gave up. I tried to watch TV, but everything just reminded me of Liam and I was a nervous wreck watching it. Even this silly advert about a super-power man with kitchen clothes that is able to scrub away any tough bit of dirt reminded me of Liam – he was always sneaking up to people and blurting lines from the advert. I tried to clean more of my apartment, I hoovered my floor again, even though it didn’t need doing. I washed all my dishes, put a load of clothes on to wash, dusted, cleaned the windows, even gave the kitchen a good scrub. But by about half seven, I had done everything and was bored – and a nervous wreck.

I plopped myself down on my sofa and stared at my blank TV screen, just about seeing my reflection in the mirror. For some reason my own reflection reminded me of a poster I read. The poster had these girls on the front of it drinking cocktails. I think it was because one of the girls looked a little like myself and my mind decided to bring it up now. The poster itself – although not very well done from what I could remember – was trying to advertise a deal on cocktails. Every Wednesday evening they have a two for one deal on cocktails at the bar. It was as if my unconscious was trying to tell me something: go to the bar.

The only problem was; the bar was Xander’s local.

But was that a problem? It’s not like I was going there on a date. I was just hoping to pass the time until Friday without going crazy with nervousness.

Before I was able to talk myself out of it, I was out of the shower, dressed in my favourite red dress and out of the door heading for Mario’s.

***

“Can I have two Mojitos, please?” I yelled to the bar man about the unexpected busy noise. I couldn’t help but think the extras were back in place. I just needed to figure out where the main star was again.

“Two Mojitos coming up,” said the bar man, before he wandered over to the drinks shelf to grab the white rum and pour a two shots into a large metal mixing decanter.

As soon as he poured one shot in though, I turned around to face the bar to scan the faces.

I huffed under my breath as I couldn’t see who I was looking for. I had caught the attention of a few guys because of my red dress, but none of them interested me.

Last time I was at Mario’s, I had worn jeans and blouse. This time, I had made an effort. My red dress always got me attention. I had read somewhere once then men were attracted to the colour red. So not only did I have my red dress on, I had deliberately accentuated my eyes in dark make-up and wore a deep red lipstick.

I realised as I was sat in a cab that I was being stupid. I told myself that I was only going for the cocktails that was it; I was bored and wanted cheap drinks. But as soon as I saw my reflection in the cab window, I realised it was more than just me being bored and wanting cheap cocktails. I wanted to see Xander again. I felt guilty; I had a date with a perfectly nice guy on Friday. Liam. I was looking forward to it, I was even nervous about it to the point of feeling sick. Unless it was because Xander had been a distraction from Liam last time, that I wanted him to take my mind of Liam again?

Or was it something else?

But whatever was going through my mind. Conscious or not. Xander wasn’t in the bar.

“Here you are, love,” said a voice from behind me. The young barman had made me my Mojitos already and had placed them on the bar top. I smiled and took out my purse from my clutch. After I paid for them, I wandered over to a free booth which appeared to be wet where someone had clearly spilled a drink, and slumped down in disappointment.

***

I was there for an hour and a half, sipping my Mojitos. I only had two. I decided it wasn’t worth getting another two in fear of drinking too much and having a hangover at work tomorrow. It wasn’t until I was trying to drain the remainder of the melted ice in the bottom of my glass that I realised there wasn’t much point staying there either.

I sighed and stood up from the booth, taking the glasses with me and putting them on the bar top. The bar man giving me a small nod in appreciation as he noticed me, and I just smiled back and left feeling hugely disappointed, both at not seeing Xander and with myself for even thinking this was a good idea in the first place.

When I got outside and started to sulk away, I noticed there was a bit of an incident happening down a side street. The side street was actually down the side of the bar. It wasn’t an alley; unlit, dark and smelling like urine, like back at home in the UK, but it was definitely a little darker and less populated. I noticed there was a guy yelling in the distance as I walked past the street, my phone out in my hand ready to call a cab. I stole a glance down the street and saw there was a guy in dark clothes yelling at another guy. Another was present but was holding himself back away from the scene a little.

But I gasped and stopped in the middle of the street when I seemed to recognise one of them.

I stared down at the commotion and realised finally what was going on. Someone, the guy in dark, held something in his hand. I had a feeling it was a weapon. I wasn’t sure if it was a gun or a knife. But the thing that upset me to the core was that he was clearly threatening a guy in a grey suit. It was a mugging. And the guy in the suit, even from this distance, I knew who it was.

I rushed into the shadows of the street and took my shoes off, now bare footed I walked down the other side of the road and towards the issue, hoping and praying that the attacker didn’t hear me and didn’t attack before it was too late.

Not that I knew what I was doing, but I was hoping that coming up from behind him I could find something to whack him across the head and knock him out. I’ve had my fair share of incidences to be able to protect myself, although none have involved a gun. But me, walking barefooted down the street, looking for something to use as a weapon, was their only chance.

“Just give me the watch, Rich Boy and no one will be hurt,” I heard the guy in the black hoody. Now realising he was in a filthy hoody that was up over his head. His posture was bent and I could see a glint of a knife in his hand.

“I’m not giving you the watch, so either you stab me or fuck off,” said the deep booming voice that went with the masculine bulk in a suit.

“Just give him the watch, Xander,” said the guy holding back. Looking apprehensive.

I didn’t realise at the time, as I was too busy looking for something large and heavy, that Xander really didn’t give a shit the guy in front of him had a knife in his hand.

“No, this watch was a gift from my grandfather, I’m not-,” he paused, his green eyes suddenly fell on me, just as I reached down and found a large rock on the floor next to a large bin. I put my finger to my lip to signal him to stay quiet. His eyes flicked straight back to the attacker in a matter of seconds. “I’m not handing it over. Over my dead body!”

Xander’s friend hadn’t noticed me yet, but the attacker had noticed he paused and went to turn around to see behind him. He would easily have seen me. I held in a gasp as I had straightened up, putting myself in a position to run if I could. But Xander took a step forwards as if to go for the guy and he stopped and held up the knife in his hand at Xander. “You move and I’ll stab you!”

“And you move and I’ll kill you,” Xander said, his voice sounded a little menacing.

The guy seemed to falter slightly, suddenly unsure whether to pursue this idea of mugging Xander and must have been weighing up his options. In the meantime, I had started to slowly make my way towards the guy now armed with – hopefully – a weapon in one hand and my heels and clutch in another.

But just as I made my way slowly and quietly across the street, hearing my own heart pound in my ears and my head yelling at me to leave Xander and save myself, I stood on something and gasped in pain.

Unfortunately, however, the guy with the knife had heard and swung round, knife swung round with him, still in his hand. His emaciated face sunken and pale, his grey eyes fixed right onto mine. I remember seeing pure madness deep within them.

I gasped again and accidentally let the rock in my hand slip from my grip. It landed painfully on my bare foot and I screamed in pain.