As it turned out, Gerry was happy to move with me, but he did suggest I keep his true nature a secret. Not everyone appreciated his unique abilities, and he'd often had to leave a place in a hurry whenever someone had a more than passing aversion to spiders, much less the powers he had.
I was just glad he was coming with me, and I didn't mind keeping this secret.
Naturally, though, Frank was pissed. I honestly believed he'd be happy to see the back of me, but as it turned out, he was furious that I was breaking the lease. He tried stalling my move out by countless "inspections", but Gerry helped me foil him by getting me in touch with the authorities, who suddenly became very interested in Frank's business dealings. Those same authorities also gave me the tools I needed to take Frank to court for unfair dismissal, and I was quite happy to employ those tools. Within two weeks of my moving out, Frank was suddenly in quite a lot of hot water, and I admitted to a bit of glee at learning he was facing some very hefty charges indeed. It appeared my case against him had encouraged his employees to come forward with their own stories, and before too long, Frank was facing one hell of a lawsuit.
As for me, I moved out of the old flat without a second glance, and it wasn't long before I was comfortably installed in the new flat above Andrew's pawn shop. It was quite a cosy little space, but it had all the room I needed, and it was a space where I felt safe for the first time in a long while. Mum came over the weekend after I moved to gush over the place, and before long, she was a regular visitor, which I didn't mind in the slightest.
Giselle would sometimes come visit as well, and we shared our connected stories of breakup and betrayal over quite a few late afternoon coffees. But since we were both still smarting from what our exes had done to us, we agreed to keep things platonic until we'd both healed.
Our exes, as it turned out, couldn't keep it in their pants, and a week after I moved into my new flat, my ex girlfriend came begging me to take her back. I told her where to go, and she got quite angry with me, resulting in me having to throw her out. I might have left it at that, had she not decided Giselle had to be my new girlfriend, and I was forced to take out a restraining order against her. Giselle did the same, and we were also forced to take out orders against her ex boyfriend, who'd similarly decided I must be the new man in her life. Unlike my ex girlfriend, however, who took the restraining order with resignation, Giselle's ex boyfriend took her restraining order as a challenge.
The upshot was that I came home one day to find emergency services outside the pawn shop, and it was a few nerve-wracking hours before I was allowed in. Even so, it took a bit longer for me to go into the house behind the shop, where Andrew and Giselle lived, but once Andrew confirmed I lived above the shop, and had the manager of the supermarket confirm I'd been working all day, I was finally given permission to head into the house. There, I found Giselle being comforted by her mother - Andrew's ex wife, with whom he was still on very good terms despite their five-year-old divorce - and when I saw the bruises on Giselle's arms, as well as the rope marks on her wrists and ankles, I was very hard-pressed not to go straight back out again and give her ex boyfriend a hell of a beating.
"Thank God you're here," Catherine said, giving me a wan smile as she nudged a chair over towards me. "I'm about ready to wring that bastard's neck, and I can tell by your face you want to do the same."
I sat down, taking deep breaths to keep my simmering temper at bay. "What the hell happened?" I demanded.
"Mark tried to kidnap me," Giselle explained, her face still pale, but with a bit of life come back to her eyes. "He actually got me in the boot, but I kicked out the tail lights and managed to flag down an off duty police officer. It was close, though; once Mark saw the lights and sirens, he tried to drive off the road and into the river."
I closed my eyes, sickened at how close I'd come to losing the girl I loved. "I take it by your dry state he failed," I said with a weak attempt at humour as I opened them again.
Giselle gave me a lopsided smile. "Thank the large tree he crashed into," she said. She took a deep breath. "It was still a near thing; he hauled me out and threatened to toss me in if the officer didn't back off. Luckily there was another man walking his dog, and he managed to convince Mark to let me go, namely by thwapping him on the back of the neck." She rubbed her bruised arms and sighed. "Once everything was settled, I had to go to the hospital to get checked out, and that's when Mark's friends came and tried to firebomb the shop."
"Jesus Christ," I swore.
Catherine gave me a tight smile. "I was here," she said, "and I called the police to stop those hooligans. Luckily their molotov cocktail failed - thank God for dodgy tutorials! - and they were very easily persuaded to give it up. Mark must have coordinated it with them beforehand, in case his attempt to abduct Giselle failed."
Andrew strode in at that moment, his face grim. He kissed his daughter and ex wife on the forehead and cheek respectively, before nodding to me. "Mark's facing a string of charges," he said. "His friends have agreed to plead guilty, and I believe they're good enough lads. I've asked they be sentenced to do community service here and at the supermarket. Mark, on the other hand, is a bloody menace to society, and the sooner he's locked up, the better off we're all going to be. Darling, how are you?"
"Sore, but hungry," Giselle said with a warm smile for her father.
Andrew chuckled and gave her hair an affectionate tousle. "Sally and Danny will close up tonight," he said. "I'm taking the four of us out for pizza. Get your coats; we're celebrating life tonight."
I felt my insides warm up at being included, and I swear Gerry gave me what passed for a thumbs up among spiders as I grabbed my coat and wallet from upstairs. "I owe you one," I told him. "I'll even have a slice of pizza for you."
Gerry actually waved in farewell, and I had to laugh. He was pretty damn cute for a spider, and apart from keeping the nastier pests out of my flat, he still remained a trustworthy confidant. Even so, I had the feeling he wasn't going to stick around for much longer, and my good mood was diminshed somewhat as I made my way downstairs. But I was determined to enjoy his company for the little while longer he'd be around, and not let sorrow spoil our remaining time together.
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