AM Hartnett - Bleeding Heart

A. M. HARTNETT

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

Mischief

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London, SE1 9GF

www.mischiefbooks.com

An eBook Original 2015

1

Copyright © A. M. Hartnett 2015

A. M. Hartnett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148812

Version 2015-09-23

Contents

Cover

Title Page Bleeding Heart A. M. HARTNETT A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. Mischief An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London, SE1 9GF www.mischiefbooks.com An eBook Original 2015 1 Copyright © A. M. Hartnett 2015 A. M. Hartnett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. EPub Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148812 Version 2015-09-23

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

More from Mischief

About the Publisher

‘I really wish you weren’t alone.’

Seth Axworthy tried his best not to let his irritation show at Evie’s words. He rarely growled at his friend and soon-to-be-former neighbour as it was, and he didn’t plan to start on a day when she looked like she was going to burst into tears at any minute.

Instead, he sighed inwardly and gave her a smile. Then he said the only thing he could think of that would be convincing. ‘Alone, not lonely.’

What a piss-poor response, he realised as soon as the words were out of his mouth. It wasn’t true, not even a bit, and the feeling was made worse by knowing that she was moving away with her boyfriend.

He’d miss her. He’d even miss Ryan. But the worst of it was the idea of sitting by himself in his apartment again, tossing treats at his cat while wondering what in the hell he was going to do with himself for another night.

‘Are you going to come visit us?’ she asked after a minute, brushing an errant corkscrew of her brown hair from in front of her eye. ‘Ryan’s getting a barbecue.’

Again, he held his tongue. He hated the pity he heard under the cheerful invitation. Still, he told her what she wanted to hear. ‘You’re not even out of my face yet and you want to get back in it. Once you two are settled.’

‘God, I hate that word.’

‘Maybe so, but that’s what you’re doing. Another year, and then there’ll be a ring and maybe a –’

‘Don’t even think about saying what you’re about to say, unless you want Ryan to go totally over the top. Are you going to see us off?’

‘I don’t know if my little heart can take it.’

He wasn’t exactly kidding. Their moving was so final. Even though he would miss them, he had no desire to drive to the suburbs to see them. There was no sultry invitation in her tone to indicate that this visit would be anything like the last few times he had been their guest, and the last thing he wanted to do was sit on a lawn chair and watch them be couplish in front of him while he pretended he didn’t mind.

Still, he took her hand and walked with her to the elevator. ‘I am going to miss our teatime.’

‘You’ll have to make teatime with the new tenant.’

Jesus Christ. Here we go. Not even out of the building and she was already well on her way to becoming one of those meddling matchmakers who aren’t happy until they have everyone in their social sphere tied up.

‘What was that?’ Evie asked.

He didn’t realise he’d made a sound until she asked, and so he gave her another easy answer. ‘She’s barely out of her teens and just out of her parents’ house.’

‘So was I, remember? Not coming out of my teens, but still pretty sheltered.’

‘Yeah, well…’

Well, nothing. He hadn’t gone for Evie back then because his heart wasn’t in it, and he wouldn’t go for the new neighbour for the same reason – even if she did look like a pinup girl with those long legs and round hips.

Speak of the devil, there she was as he and Evie stepped outside. ‘Oh, look. Ryan found a stray.’

‘Don’t tell me you’re jealous.’ He teased Evie with a poke.

‘Hell, yeah. Look at them. If they bred, they’d create a real-life Barbie.’

No truer words spoken. They looked like they had been ripped out of an online advertisement selling beach-bum chic.

‘And that would be your apartment’s new owner,’ he said.

April Kaye. Twenty years old and just out of a two-year business course with her first job. He’d almost refused to rent to her on account of her age and lack of any kind of credit, but she had been shrewd in her walkthrough. She brought a checklist, for Christ’s sake, and had grilled him mercilessly about the lack of an electrical outlet in the bathroom – so much so that when he’d agreed to rent to her she’d insisted that he have one installed.

He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake. He’d rented to women in their early twenties before, and they always had selective hearing when it came to the rules. Evie had been an exception. Right away she’d struck him as just a sweet girl. That first night the sound of Rufus Wainwright coming down the fire escape was accompanied by humming and the smell of something mouthwatering cooking on the stove. When the weekend brought an invitation to come up for tea, he knew he had a good tenant.

He wouldn’t go so far as to say she came off as vapid, but the new tenant looked typical . Iced coffee in one hand and cellphone in the other.