Unperfect (Unperfect, #1)

by Susie Tate

“Yaz, I will remind you that I am, at the present time, your employer, and you cannot call me dragon lady, tell me I have a stick up my arse, or comment on my hormone levels.”

Max threw his hands up in the air and I stifled a flinch. I wasn’t good with large, aggressive men, or sudden movements. Irrational fear crawled its way up into my throat and I choked it back down with some effort.

Ever thought of making your own tea? And maybe even … I don’t know … make one for the new member of staff who’s probably nervous, you massively entitled bastard.”

Mia smiled for the first time that day. It was closed-mouthed and edged with anxiety, but it was a smile. And for some reason I was furious it wasn’t directed at me.

“Oh, bugger off, you overgrown bed wetter,” she shouted back. “We’re having a moment here.”

Carol liked Max. “Just like my Barry,” she’d said yesterday. “Gruff and hard on the outside, but inside – marshmallow and kitten fur.”

Screw the refuge and screw the bed and breakfast. I was going to stay in a house with a goddamn gate, an alarm system and a motherfucking Alsatian.

“Yaz, why are you here?” Verity asked from the chair next to mine. “This is supposed to be relaxing and you are not a relaxing human.”

“The answer is that you tell me who the fuck has pulled you about by the hair so that I can fuck them up.” Peace-loving, chilled surfer chick Yaz had officially left the building.

“Yaz, why do I have a stone for recharging vaginas in my house?” Max asked, which I thought was a reasonable question.

I wanted unedited, disinhibited Max. The rough, unapologetic Max.

With real strength comes the integrity not to use physicality to control others, or emotional abuse to chip someone down to a shadow of their former self. Real strength means helping to build someone up so that they can be a real partner, an equal.

she met a man – the man, the boss. Let’s call him Mr Big Cheese.

He’s not someone I should make an enemy out of. But sir, I’m in love with your daughter.” All eyes swung to me. Mia’s family wore shocked expressions. Yaz and Teddy looked unsurprised by this information. “No billionaire psychopath is going to keep her from me, and nobody is going to hurt her. Not any more.”

Lucy rested her hand on my shoulder before she said, “Don’t worry about that piece of shit. We are going to nail his balls to the wall.”

“Do you know what says ‘bugger you’ more than anything? What really sticks it to the bastads? It’s living a good life, despite what’s happened to you before. It’s letting yourself be happy. Otherwise, love … otherwise they win.

“Well, she’s the old ball and chain now. Would be a bit daft if we weren’t living in the same house.” “She’s … er, what?”

“I know you can survive small talk. You’ve proved you can survive just about anything. But with me you’re not going to just survive. You’re going to live and that does not include making small talk with a bunch of bastads that make you uncomfortable.”