Love, Lies and Immortal Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 1)

by C. J. Laurence

  I sat there, dumbfounded, not quite sure what to think, let alone say. After a couple of minutes of all eyes being on me, I said, “But you’ve known me for not even a week. I don’t get it.”

  “In the days of courting things moved quickly. Modern times are much different in that they seem to drag things out needlessly.”

  “You don’t even know what my favourite colour is or what movie makes me cry every time I watch it.”

  “Why does that mean we’re not compatible for a future together? Those are things I look forward to finding out.”

  My mind was blown. I felt like my entire brain had just been filled with dynamite and set on fire with a litre of petrol. “And what do you mean ‘the commitment that then allows for intimacy’? Are you basically asking my dad if you can have sex with me?”

  “Calm down, Cat,” Dad said. “I think you’re taking this a little out of context.”

  “Am I, Dad? Am I really?” I stood up so fast my chair fell over. “I’m eighteen for a start, not eighty. I'm not some old spinster with a million cats who desperately needs saving. I've known the guy for three days, well four if you count today, and you don’t find it odd in the slightest that...” I ran out of descriptive words and threw my arms up in the air in exasperation “...whatever this is seems perfectly acceptable?”

  “Caitlyn,” Marcus said, rising to his feet. “I’m sorry. I've clearly upset you and misjudged the situation. Please accept my sincere apologies. I shall take my leave now.”

  “Oh no you don’t, matey. Sit your ass back down,” I replied, pointing at the chair. “You needn’t think you’re strolling into my home, cool as a cucumber, and turning my day upside down like this and then just waltzing back out. Especially after your midnight disappearing act.”

  Marcus sat back down, his lips pressed together but quirking into a slight smile. Dad put his hand over his mouth, no doubt to cover his smile judging by the shining amusement in his eyes.

  “Whatever you both find so amusing, I certainly do not.” I turned around, straightened up my chair, and sat back down.

  Dad looked at Marcus and said, “Still think you can handle a redhead?”

  Marcus grinned. “Red hair is a family trait of the females in my family. I've gained plenty of experience over the years.”

  “That’s nothing really,” Dad said, grinning wildly. “You wait until she gets really riled up.”

  “I’m right here, Dad!”

  Marcus smirked and then wiped all the fun from his expression. “On a serious note, Caitlyn, I am not asking for your father’s permission to have sex with you. I am asking your father’s permission to pursue something with you that I have in mind will become something more long lasting. I am essentially expressing that my intentions are deeper than to just have fun.”

  As I always did around Marcus when he spoke in that soft tone, I relaxed and took the rapidly developing situation a little easier. “Ok. That I understand. Thank you for explaining it like that.”

  “I do not wish to invade his home, your home, with my presence unless everyone is aware of the situation. I am not interested in pursuing purely a physical relationship with you. It is much more than that.”

  I sighed and let the last of the tension out of my body. “This is still odd to me. And quick. Anyone ever told you that you move quickly?”

  He grinned. “Perhaps.”

  “So what’s next?” I said, looking at Dad. “Have I officially been handed over like some wench?”

  He laughed. “No, Cat. Marcus has expressed his intentions to me, and I've told him he can see you as much as he likes. What happens next is up to you. My part is done.”

  #nopressure ran through my head. “What if I don’t agree to ‘being courted’?”

  Marcus shrugged his shoulders. “Then we’ll just stay as we are or stop seeing each other entirely. It's up to you.”

  “Can I have some time to think about it? I mean it’s one thing to have dinner together or go out somewhere but it’s quite something else when you know it’s all leading somewhere.”

  “Of course. Whatever you need. I'll wait for you to call me.”

  “Thank you.”

  He stood up and Dad and I followed suit. Marcus opened the door for me and said, “I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  I gave him a smile and walked out, heading back upstairs. The door closed behind me, Marcus seemingly staying in the room with Dad. Probably to drink whisky and chat about manly things.

  As I headed back upstairs, I debated whether to say anything to Luke or not. Of course he would ask what Dad wanted me for. Would it just provoke another conversation about Marcus though and how much I shouldn’t trust him?

  I thought back to where I'd been a week ago—with my mum, playing Scrabble. If anyone had told me then that a handsome older guy would be asking my dad’s permission to ‘court’ me, I'd have laughed in their faces.

  I couldn’t help but wonder then where I'd be this time next week or even next month.

  Chapter 13

  I found Luke at the end of the second floor. I couldn’t believe how fast he’d worked. Either that or I'd been in with Dad and Marcus longer than I thought.

  “I can’t believe you’ve done this entire floor already,” I said, walking into the last room.

  He said nothing. With his back turned to me as he undressed the bed, I couldn’t read his facial expression, but I could tell from his stiff back and squared shoulders that he was still unhappy.

  “Ok,” I whispered to myself, turning around and walking back out.

  I started up the stairs to the third floor, my left hand on the stair rail, when a warm hand clamped down over mine.

  “Sorry,” he said, his eyes full of sadness. “I just can’t stand the bloke.”

  I sighed. “Marcus. How do you even know he’s here?”

  He let go of my hand and looked away. “I went downstairs for a drink. Sophie said she’d seen him.”

  “If you want us to be friends, Luke, you’re going to have to keep this Marcus issue to yourself. I can’t be in the middle of you both. I'm not a play toy.”

  He looked up at me and flashed me a grin. “I’ll put it in Austria...or him.” He shrugged his shoulders. “The latter would be more preferable.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Luke!”

  He laughed. “Sorry. That's it now, I promise. Pinky promise.” He held out his little finger towards me.

  I giggled. “Ok.” I hooked my pinky with his and we shook on it. “That’s official now, no going back. You break it and there will be serious consequences.”

  “Oh really?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. “That sounds intriguing.”

  “Cleaning my car inside and out. That’s a brave man who tackles that.”

  He tipped his head back and laughed so deeply it made me laugh with him. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

  “You really should. I'm pretty sure there’s mushrooms growing in the boot.”

  “Fungus. Hmmm. That could explain the diabolical taste in men...”

  “Luke.”

  He grinned. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

  “I mean it. I will make you clean my car.”

  Giving me a cheeky wink, he said, “Maybe I want to.”

  “Then you really are a glutton for punishment.”

  “Didn’t I tell you that at nights I go by the name Christian?”

  I burst out laughing. “Thanks for the heads up. I'll remember that.”

  Grinning, he backed away and went back to the last room. I carried on up the stairs and started on the first room. As I stripped the bed, I couldn’t help but replay the conversation I'd just had with my dad and Marcus.

  I didn’t even know where to begin with any of it. I needed to talk to someone, but I didn’t know who. Hannah would just tell me to sleep with him already and my mum wouldn’t approve of what Dad’s actions, that I knew for certain. Best if I kept her out of it. As long as I sent her a text eve
ry morning so she knew I hadn’t died, she seemed content.

  That left me with little option for someone to talk to. I had other friends, but they were all like Hannah. I didn’t particularly fancy being told repeatedly to jump into bed with Marcus. If they knew we’d shared a bed last night but not done anything, I’d get the Spanish Inquisition. Talking to Luke looked to be out of the question considering his hatred for him. That left Sophie. But I didn’t really feel that route either. Our friendship didn’t seem ‘there’ yet.

  “If you frown much harder your forehead will set like that.”

  I jumped at hearing Luke’s voice. He stood on the other side of the bed, his muscled arms folded over his broad chest and a mischievous grin on his face.

  “How long have you been stood there for?”

  He laughed. “Does it make a difference?”

  “Well yes. The length of time you stare at someone either keeps you on the curiosity scale or moves you up to the weird stalker scale.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind for the future,” he replied, chuckling. “You seemed very deep in thought though. Everything ok?”

  I nodded. “Just peachy.”

  “Oh dear. Come on, spill.”

  I threw the pillowcases on the floor and sighed. “Of all the people to talk to about this, you are not the person, trust me.”

  He slapped a hand over his chest, feigning hurt. “I’m deeply hurt by that.”

  I giggled. “Of course you are.”

  “Unless you need to discuss your undying love for me, I'm happy to listen.”

  That made me laugh. “So you’ll listen to anything but someone declaring their love for you?” I raised an eyebrow. “Little backwards but ok...” I flashed him my own playful smile “...I’ve been wondering for a while now whether I should switch from applicator to non-applicator tampons. What do you think?”

  He balked, his eyes widening and his face looking like he’d just been slapped with a wet fish. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

  I burst out laughing. I actually had to lean on the bed because I was laughing so hard.

  “You are not funny,” he said, his voice low and quiet.

  By now I had tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. “Your facial expression certainly is.”

  “I didn’t...I...lady things...are not my forte...”

  “So you don’t have an opinion on whether to use plastic or just push—”

  “Stop it,” he said. “Seriously not having this conversation.”

  I couldn’t stop giggling. “Would you care to rephrase what you’re willing to listen to?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. His lips were beginning to curl up into a smile. “You know exactly what I mean.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and calmed myself down. “It concerns Marcus. Are you sure you want to listen?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, then he said, “If it helps you, then yes.”

  I flopped down onto the bed. He joined me and laid out lengthways on the bed, his ankles and feet dangling off the end and his head propped up by his hand. I sat back against the headboard and relayed the whole thing to him. It felt good just to get it out to someone, even if they weren’t likely to give the best advice.

  “That’s quite a predicament,” he said. “Obviously you didn’t react very well initially.”

  I snorted. “To an older guy who I've known for four days, including today, asking my dad’s permission to basically get serious with me? I can’t get my head around it.”

  “Marcus and his family are very old fashioned with some of their beliefs and behaviours. It’s just the way they are. To him, this is natural and honourable.”

  I chewed on my lip. “You think this is honourable?”

  “Now don’t put words in my mouth,” he said, chuckling. “I said to Marcus this is honourable. He likes to be the perfect gentleman and that includes taking the parents into account. As per the old days, that means it’s your father he goes to.”

  “But that’s not how things work this day and age.”

  Luke smirked. “No, what you mean is, boys don’t work like that in this day and age. Men are a different kettle of fish entirely.”

  “Are you telling me that you’d do this? Ask my dad for permission to ‘court’ me?”

  “Considering I work for your dad it’s a little different for me. I'd have to ask him if he would be ok with it just out of respect for the fact he’s my employer.”

  “You’re self-employed.”

  “Stop being pedantic,” he said, laughing. “He’s my main customer and I have a great deal of respect for him. It would be the right thing to do.”

  “What if he wasn’t your customer? Would you still do it then?”

  He frowned and stroked his chin with his free hand. “I have to say, no, I don’t think I would. If things became serious then I'd want to talk to him. And of course, if marriage happened to be on the cards then I'd ask him if he was happy with it first. But Marcus is a different breed to me. He comes from high up social circles, friends in powerful places, that kind of thing. They have an image to uphold and the Davenport’s are renowned for keeping it, no matter what.”

  “He explained the whole thing about courting and the purpose behind it. Basically, dating is for fun with no real concrete ending, but courting is serious from the start with marriage being the destination. I feel like I'm signing up for more than I wanted. It makes me feel like I'm giving myself over to someone before I really know who I am. Does that make sense?”

  “Are you the kind of person to jump into bed with strangers?”

  I laughed. “No.”

  “Then a relaxed approach to seeing someone isn’t your style. That's not hard to figure out. Don’t think of this as agreeing to marriage. You’d be agreeing to commitment, that’s it. You wouldn’t have other romantic interests, and neither would he.”

  A switch flicked in my head. “He’s taking me off the market essentially.”

  Luke pursed his lips. “Essentially, yes.”

  I thought about last night and our ‘almost’ argument over my friendship with Luke. And now this happened this morning.

  I gasped. “Slimy little toad!”

  Luke chuckled. “Who?”

  “Marcus. We nearly had a bust up last night over you and then this morning he comes here and does this. Doesn't take a genius to put it together. He wants to ‘take me off the market’ because of you.”

  “As much as I'd love to say I'm flattered he views me as a threat, I really don’t think that’s it, Caitlyn. I think you’re putting two and two together and coming up with five.”

  “But it’s so obvious.”

  “It does look that way, yes. Marcus moves quickly. Maybe the argument you had last night made him realise something and he wanted to put things in place or something.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “My guess is it’s because of you, I'm telling you. I'm not agreeing to this just to satisfy his petty jealousy.”

  Luke smirked. “I would really like to be there when you say that to him.”

  I whacked him with a pillow. “Why do I get the feeling you’re enjoying this a little too much?”

  “The only thing I'm enjoying is picturing his face when you tell him no.”

  “I haven’t said I'm saying no. Just that I won’t agree to it if it’s based on his jealousy of you.”

  “And how do you propose to find out the truth?”

  “Well I'll ask him of course,” I said.

  “And you think he’ll be honest with you?”

  “Why wouldn’t he?”

  Luke rolled over onto his front and looked up at me. “Come on, Caitlyn. You're not that naïve.”

  “It’s not like I'm saying I don’t want to see him. I enjoy his company. I'm just not being ‘locked down’ so to speak because he’s worried about another guy.”

  “I’m afraid to say it’s a natural male response. We have a
n insatiable urge to claim our woman to stop other men trying their luck. Just the way we’re wired.”

  “‘Our woman’? What the hell is that supposed to mean? We're not an object, a lamp post to be peed up to mark your territory.”

  He laughed. “I think the way we act is far more preferable to being peed upon. I mean, unless that’s your thing. Whatever floats your boat.”

  I hit him with the pillow again. “Pack it in. You're not funny.”

  “Watching your reaction is pretty funny from where I'm sat.”

  “You’re not sat.”

  He buried his face in the bed and laughed, gently shaking his head from side to side. “You are absolutely infuriating.”

  I grinned and reached over to pat his back. “Objective achieved.”

  He lifted his head up and said, “Right, back on topic. Think about the basic facts first before you make a decision. You should make decisions based on facts before emotion. Emotions are a dangerous thing at the best of times.”

  I liked Marcus. Fact. I wanted to keep seeing him. Fact. I had no problems with committing myself. Fact. But I did have a problem with being manipulated. Fact.

  “I need to find out his reasons for doing this,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “If I can satisfy myself that it’s not because of you, then fair enough.”

  “You want to commit to him?”

  “I’ve never had a boyfriend so this is all new to me. Do I want it stated officially that he’s not going to go after every woman he sees—sure.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never had a boyfriend?”

  I shook my head.

  “And you’re going to get yourself tangled up with Marcus Davenport.” He let out a groan of frustration and sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I can’t let you do it, Caitlyn. I'm sorry, but I can’t. You’re far too innocent and good for the likes of him.”