Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) Read Free

are going to pay for that.”
    Eddie’s
hands shot out and he pinned Grace against the sink.
    “Get
your hands off her!” a voice boomed out.
    The
startled Eddie turned his head to see who had interrupted him.
    Big
Bob took two huge strides over to Eddie and yanked him away from Grace. He took
a fistful of Eddie’s immaculate shirt and lifted him up. “Never, ever lay a
hand on this woman again. I’ll snap your head in a second. And don’t even think
of ordering your sidekicks to move.”
    Eddie
wriggled free from Big Bob’s grip. He smoothed his shirt down and glowered at
him. “You don’t know what you’ve just done. I don’t know who you are but you’re
going to wish you’d never walked in here today.”
    Big
Bob grabbed Eddie’s shoulders and spun him around. “I don’t respond to threats,
especially not from scum like you, Eddie Tominski. You can leave on your own,
or I can assist you.”
    Eddie
shot a disgusted look at Big Bob and then stormed out of the bathroom. His two
men scarpered after him.
    Grace
collapsed onto the floor.
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Big
Bob picked her up as if she was a rag doll. He carried her outside and sat her
down on a nearby stack of pallets. Frankie raced over and sat down next to her.
“Grace! What happened? Did you fall down the toilet? Have you banged your head?
You look as white as a ghost.”
    “It’s
nothing,” Grace muttered. She took some deep steady breaths. She couldn’t bear
to look at Big Bob.
    Frankie
turned to Big Bob, his eyebrows raised.
    Big
Bob studied them for a moment. “I can’t believe that you’d have anything to do
with a lowlife loan shark like Eddie Tominski. Do you want to tell me what’s
going on?”
    Frankie’s
head spun back to Grace. “Eddie? What’s going on? Was Eddie here? Did he attack
you?”
    He
jumped to his feet and looked around the storage facility, his fists clenched,
murder on his face.
    Grace
reached a hand out and grabbed his coat. “He was here, he’s been following me.
He didn’t hurt me, Frankie, calm down.”
    “He
would have hurt you if I hadn’t stepped in,” Big Bob said. Grace finally looked
at him, she’d never heard him speak in such an angry way before. “Tell me
what’s going on! One of you! Whatever it is I can help. You can’t owe money to
someone like Eddie, you’ll never be free of him.”
    Grace
said, “It’s a long story. Thank you for helping me in there, I was so scared I
could hardly move.” She didn’t mention the fury that had started to rise in
her, that was something that was starting to scare her.
    Big
Bob let out an exasperated sigh. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”
    Frankie
shoved his hands in his pocket, his chin jutted out. Grace had seen his
stubborn look many times. Frankie said, “It’s our business. Thanks for helping
Grace, but I can deal with everything now.”
    “But
I could help you. If you owe Eddie some money I can give it to you and you can
pay him off. It’s the least I can do, your dad helped me so much when I was starting
out in the antique business. You can even borrow the money if you won’t accept
it as a gift, wouldn’t you rather owe me money than owe it to Eddie?”
    Frankie
looked away from Big Bob and said firmly, “No. Thanks.”
    Grace
couldn’t bear it. Whatever scheme Frankie was using to help them out of this
terrible situation wasn’t working. He was in total denial. They were going to
lose their shop, just as they’d lost their parents’ house and belongings. And
here was this generous man offering to help them out.
    She
looked at the ground, her shoulders slumped. She did want to put her faith in
Frankie, but it was hard. The shop, their lovely shop that mum and dad had
loved, being taken over by that hideous Eddie. He’d rip it to pieces, destroy
it.
    Grace’s
heart felt like it was too heavy for her body, she couldn’t bear any more pain.
She didn’t want to be a person who was attacked in a toilet area.
    Big
Bob said,