Read Conflicted Innocence for Free Online

streets.”
    “Okay.” She glanced away.
    Although no psychologist, Lee knew this probably meant she wouldn’t be hanging around after tonight.
    “How old are you, anyway?”
    “Nineteen,” she said, sheepishly.
    “How old are you really? I’m not gonna shop you to social services.”
    “It’s true, I’ll be nineteen in January.”
    “So you’re eighteen?”
    “Yes. But I’ve done nothing illegal.”
    “I didn’t say you had, but you can’t enjoy living like this.”
    She shrugged. “Better than being at home.”
    “What about if we got you cleaned up and found you a job? You could stay in a hostel until you had the money to get a place of your own.”
    “Really? Would you do that for me?” Her eyes hooded over again.
    “For free,” he said. “Well, maybe you can help get this place shipshape. Have you ever decorated before?”
    “No.”
    “Cleaned?”
    “Of course I’ve cleaned, you cheeky bastard.”
    “And I’d appreciate less of the swearing.”
    “Sorry.”
    He made a makeshift bed up out of the cardboard left over from the kitchen units and some of the extra bedding he’d brought from home. He intended sleeping on it himself and giving Susie the inflatable bed already set up in the master bedroom, but she insisted she would sleep on the floor.
    The next morning they got up bright and early and, after a long soak in the bath, she changed into his clothes.
    “Wow!” Lee said, as she entered the room. “I hardly recognise you.” Her hair now shone and had lovely golden highlights through it. The once dank, grey skin now glowed, and she looked more like a teenager than ever with the crappy eye make-up removed.
    She seemed pleased by his reaction. “So what do you want me to do, boss?”
    “You can start by sanding down these skirting boards for me, and then give them a coat of paint.”
    “Okay.”
    He prepared everything she would need, and they both set to work—her sanding in the kitchen, him wallpapering in the lounge.
    The radio was on in the background, but when The Buggles came on singing Video Killed the Radio Star, he turned the sound up and sang along using his paintbrush as a microphone. Her laughter spurred him on, and he was surprised how much he enjoyed himself.
    By lunchtime, he’d annihilated several classics, and done more work than if he’d been working alone.
    Susie did a great job of the skirting boards—she worked like a machine.
    “Come on, we deserve a break,” he said. “We should go into town, now it’s stopped raining, and put your clothes in the launderette. We can grab a couple of sandwiches, too.”
    “I can’t go anywhere dressed like this!” she said, horrified.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me, haven’t you? You didn’t mind being seen in the state I found you in last night, but clean, slightly too big clothing is a no-no?”
    “You got it, boss.” Her tinkling laughter made his stomach twitch.
    He shook his head. “I’ve heard everything now. Okay, I’ll go into town and drop in your laundry. You stay here and keep working. I mean it, no skiving off.”
    “Yes, boss, no, boss, three bags full, boss.”
    “Cheeky witch,” he said with a chuckle. He’d forgotten how good it felt to laugh. And it had been too long since he last spent any time with a member of the opposite sex. He couldn’t wait for Lydia to come home—he was getting excited now.
    *
    The skirting boards were finished by the time he returned, and he found Susie sitting on the back step smoking a roll-up.
    “I paid for the service wash,” he said, sitting down beside her. “So I just have to get back there after three to pick it up.”
    “I just wanted to say thanks for this. No-one has ever been this kind to me before.”
    “Then that’s a crime. You deserve the very best life has to offer. But it’s never too late to get things back on track, you know? I’ve found that anyone who has experienced bad things in their lives make the most interesting and