The Story Of Carnage: The Complete Carnage Collection: Books 1-5

by Lesley Jones

  Bloody hell! I’d forgotten everything that I’d just read on the menu.

  “Salmon,” I replied.

  He frowned and took the menu from me. “There isn’t salmon on the menu.”

  “Oh, shit! Sorry, I just always have salmon. I just assumed—”

  “No, no, don’t be sorry.”

  He picked up the cordless phone that was lying on the coffee table and dialled. I sipped my wine, wondering what he was doing.

  “Get Gino… Yes, it’s me. Get Gino.” He looked me over. “How’s the wine?”

  I looked at my glass and then back at him. “It’s delicious, very clean and crisp, a bit dryer than I usually drink, but it’s nice.”

  He nodded his approval. “Good girl, well done.”

  Shit, I didn’t know it was a test!

  I would’ve swirled it, sniffed, and mentioned peaches and grass if that was what he was after. Still, he seemed happy enough with my answer.

  “Why do we not have salmon on the menu?” he asked whoever was on the other end of the phone. I assumed it was Gino. Who Gino was, I had no idea. “Well, look harder, I want salmon on the menu, in fact, I want a couple of fish choices. Not just prawns.… I don’t know, you’re the fuckin’ chef, do your job. This might be Essex, but I want more than prawn cocktail, sirloin steak, and black forest gateaux on the menu.… No, don’t take all of that off the menu. I said I want more than that. Hang on.”

  He looked towards me. “How d’ya like your steak?”

  “Medium rare,” I replied.

  “Two steaks, one rare, one medium rare, both with jacket spuds fully loaded. Spuds… spuds… potatoes, learn some fuckin’ English, will ya?” He disconnected the call and threw the phone down on the coffee table.

  “Sorry, we’ve only just started doing food, and this is just a trial menu. I’m expanding the wine bar into the shop next door. We’ll have a full à la carte restaurant up and running by September and bar food available in the wine bar.”

  “That’s great.” I raised my glass to him. “Here’s to Cameron King and his ever-expanding kingdom.”

  He smiled at me and his eyes sparkled. “I’ll drink to that.”

  He clinked his glass against mine and then he leant forward. My heart pounded hard against that brick wall it was encased in. He reached for the wine bottle and topped up both our glasses with a slight smile on his lips.

  Fucker, he knew I thought he was going to kiss me.

  I thanked him for the wine and turned to angle myself towards him. “How old are you, Cam?” I don’t know why I asked. I was curious. I knew he must be at least thirty. He’d been married, and he almost had a family. I wasn’t going to ask about that, though. It was too soon. I’d let him tell me when he was ready.

  “Why are you so concerned about my age? You haven’t told me how old you are.”

  “I’m twenty, it’s not a secret.” He spat his wine everywhere, and I mean everywhere, coffee table, sofa, carpet, me. “You’re only twenty?”

  “Well, yeah! Didn’t you know that?” He didn’t look happy. He got up and went to get a tea towel from the kitchen to wipe the sofa and the coffee table. Then he left the room, leaving me sitting there.

  Fuck, what does that mean?

  Am I too young for him? How old is he then?

  He returned with a T-shirt in his hand.

  “Sorry about that. Throw this on, and I’ll put this in the dryer.”

  He was standing right in front of me between the sofa and the coffee table. When I stood up, there was only a couple of inches between us. I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and faced him in just my bra. He struggled for a split second but then lost the battle and looked down at my chest. He reached up with his three middle fingers and dragged them over my throat and down into my cleavage. My nipples were so hard they hurt. I looked down to where he was touching me. He cupped my right boob and dragged his thumb over my nipple. Then he leant in and sucked on my left nipple through my bra, and I couldn’t help but throw my head back.

  “You have a fantastic pair of tits for such a skinny little thing.”

  Before I got a chance to consider what an appropriate answer was, a buzzer sounded, and I jumped out of my skin, launching myself towards him.

  “Bollocks,” he whispered, looking down at me. He kissed the top of my head and said, “Let’s get you fed.”

  The food was great, but I managed to eat only half of what was on the plate. Cam complained that I hadn’t eaten enough, but then he dove in and finished it off for me. He opened a second bottle of wine, and we went and sat back down on the sofa.

  When we were sitting at the breakfast bar eating, I had noticed a vase of flowers on the dining table.

  “Oh, thanks for the flowers by the way, they’re beautiful. My mum had to go out and buy more vases to put them in, and my car looks good too. I haven’t looked at her properly yet, but what I did see looks good.”

  He smiled at me. “You’re welcome, Georgia. I wanted to call to make sure you were doing okay, but I was worried about your dad answering the phone. I didn’t know… I wasn’t sure if you’d said anything to him about us.”

  I shook my head. “No, my brothers know. Well, Bailey and Lennon do. I haven’t said anything to Marley, yet.”

  His lips curled up in the slightest of smiles.

  “What?”

  “I love the way your eyes spark when you talk about your brothers.” I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of my brothers. I was so glad Marley and I were on talking terms again, and I really needed to arrange to spend a day with him.

  “I love my brothers. We’ve always been really close. It’s just… It’s just been a shitty few years. Bailey was living with Donna, and she wasn’t a big fan of how close we all were, so he stopped coming over for dinner. But they’ve split up now, and he’s back living at the barn with my mum and dad in Shenfield. I see a bit of Lennon now that he’s not travelling so much. He’s marrying my best friend in June, and I’m a bridesmaid at their wedding. They want to start a family straight away, so hopefully, he won’t really be travelling anymore.”

  “What does he do?”

  I can answer this. I can answer this…

  “He’s the manager of my brother’s band, but he’s getting into the agency side of things now so that he doesn’t have to tour with the band. Jimmie, his fiancée, works for them, too. She’s been able to travel with him, but if she has a baby, that’s not what either of them want.”

  He nodded while he listened. “I can’t believe your brothers are called, Lennon and Marley. Who’s the music fan?”

  I laughed as I thought about the times I had explained our names to people. For some reason, I thought about sitting on that old Chesterfield sofa in the summerhouse, explaining the reason to the cutest brown-eyed boy I’d ever seen. A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away quickly.

  Cam didn’t say a word. He just waited for my answer.

  “My dad… My dad loves music, any and all music, and he encouraged all of us. My brothers are all good musicians with great voices. I play guitar and sing. I had piano lessons, but I’m not very good at it. Our names, well Bailey’s named after a bloke who makes guitars. My dad met him at a festival in the sixties and remembered his name. Lennon and Marley, well, that’s obvious. And me, because ‘Georgia On My Mind’ is my dad’s favourite song, and it’s sung by Ray Charles. So, I’m Georgia Rae.”

  I felt embarrassed as I finished the story behind mine and my sibling’s unusual names.

  “It’s a beautiful name.” He leant in and tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  He leant back into the corner of the sofa. “So, your other brother, Marley, he’s in a band then?”

  For just a split second, my heart stopped beating, my blood stopped flowing, and my brain stopped functioning, but then, I pulled myself together.

  “Yeah, they’re doing… ” I shook my head. I actually had no idea how they w
ere doing. I knew they were famous, but I had no idea how famous because I’d avoided all information about them for almost four years. But I knew from what little information I had heard that they were big.

  “They’re Carnage. My brother’s band is Carnage.”

  His mouth opened but nothing came out for a few seconds.

  I think he must have heard of them.

  “Fuck! Fuckin’ hell, your brother’s that Marley. Shit, I had no idea. My sister loves them. She’s been to see them a few times. I’ve got a couple of their albums here, they’re really good.”

  I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, they’ve done well. I’ve barely seen Marls these past four years. We… I… I’ve had a few problems, and we haven’t really spoken, but he came over to my mum’s and stayed last night. I think we’ve sorted things out now.”

  My heart was hammering in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was talking about this.

  “Is he the one that hurt you, George? Did he buy you the necklace?” He gestured towards my neck, and I realised my hand was there, hovering over the letter G at my throat. I dropped it down into my lap and shook my head.

  “No, no, he didn’t, not on purpose. It’s complicated. I just… I’m not ready to go there yet.” It suddenly occurred to me that he still hadn’t told me how old he was. “How old are you, Cam?”

  He blew out a deep sigh and looked around the room. “I’m thirty. I had no idea you were only twenty. Shit! No wonder Bailey went mental. I had you pegged at about twenty-five.”

  “Is it a problem, then? Is my age a problem?”

  He shook his head. Suddenly, he looked very young and very vulnerable as he looked up at me through his lashes. “Does my age bother you?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said it like it was the most ridiculous statement ever.

  “Will you tell me a bit about your family now?” I asked.

  “What d’ya wanna know?”

  I thought about this for a second. “What’s your sister’s name?”

  He folded his arms across his chest and rested his wine glass in the crook. I wasn’t sure if this was a defensive stance or if he was just getting comfortable. “My sister’s name is Tory and my brothers are Robbie and Josh. Nothing as unusual as your lot. My mum’s Scottish, so they’re all a bit traditional.”

  “I like them, they’re nice names. How old are your brothers?”

  “Robbie’s thirty-four, Josh is twenty-eight, and Tory’s twenty-one.”

  “Yeah, I remember Tory’s birthday, the twenty-fourth of September.”

  “How’d you know that?” He asked with a frown.

  “Because you came in the shop and bought her a shit load of stuff, remember? You told me it was her twenty-first on the Saturday.”

  “Fuck, you’ve got a good memory.”

  “Not really, it’s my birthday, too.”

  “It is?” He narrowed his eyes as his frown deepened.

  “Yeah. My birthday’s the twenty-fourth of September, the same as your sister’s.”

  “Really?’

  “No, I lied just to make conversation coz you’re boring the fuck out of me.” I held a serious face for about five seconds. “Of course, really, you twat.” I laughed, but he didn’t.

  “Oh, Kitten, you will fuckin’ pay for that.”

  Oh, shit!

  He placed his glass down, took mine from me, then took my hand before pulling me along the sofa and between his legs. I laced my fingers across his chest and looked up at him.

  “Are you going to let me fuck you tonight or what? Because I’m just about ready to explode here.”

  “I thought you were punishing me for calling you a twat.”

  “Yeah, I am. I will! I just need to know if I’m gonna get a shag tonight first.”

  “Well, seeing as you asked so nicely. No, no you’re not.”

  “What? Why?”

  I didn’t know why. If we’d just gone for it, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop, but because he’d asked and I was actually thinking straight, I knew I wasn’t yet ready.

  “I’m not ready.”

  “Fuck, Kitten.” He looked all around the room, but not at me. “I need to get you home then.”

  Well that hurts.

  “So, just my company isn’t good enough for you. If I won’t shag you, you don’t want me around. Cheers, Cam, that’s nice to know. Here I was thinking that there was more to you than the flash cunt that was always on display downstairs.”

  I went to stand up, but he grabbed at the top of both my arms, and it hurt me. We were both kneeling, facing each other in the middle of his sofa. “I need to get you home because I don’t want to be up on a rape charge.”

  I shrunk back at his words. Rape charge! Every horrible memory those words conjured was forced to the front of my mind.

  “Let me go,” I said, through gritted teeth.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Georgia?” he shouted at me. “You’re sitting there all fuckin’ sexy in my T-shirt.” He scratched his head. “I don’t know where I fuckin’ am with you. I’m a thirty-year-old bloke. I don’t play games, darlin’. If you want someone to mess with, then fuck off back to the dickless wonder you swanned in the bar with last week and stay the fuck away from me.”

  I twisted away from him while he had one hand still in his hair, but he grabbed at me again, pinning both my arms to my sides.

  “Let me go, Cam. Let me go!” I screeched at him, while I threw myself about trying to get away from him.

  “What d’ya want? What do you fuckin’ want from me?” He shouted while pulling me to him and looking down into my face. He looked beyond angry. Well good, because I was pretty pissed off myself. Nobody had ever grabbed me, pulled me about like that, or shouted at me in my life. I was a princess. I was spoilt and pampered, and I’d grown-up basically getting anything and everything I wanted in life, except for Sean that was. The only way I could think of how to react to being shouted at in this way was to spit and snarl my way out of it. I tried to headbutt him first, but he reared back and looked at me. His eyes widened in shock at my actions.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  His voice was all high pitched and incredulous, and then I realised he was trying not to laugh at my futile attempts to escape his grip and inflict pain on him. I threw myself backwards, and he couldn’t help but fall on top of me. I brought my knee up and kneed him in the balls. I was thrashing from side to side and screaming at him. I must have made contact again, because he doubled up and rolled onto his side, giving me room to roll out from underneath him. I started to head towards the door, but he was too fast and grabbed me again.

  “Stop!” He shook me by the shoulders. “Fuckin’ stop! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  I slapped him around the face and almost fainted in shock when he slapped me back. It wasn’t hard, actually it was barely a tap, but I’d never been slapped by anyone except by my brothers in my life.

  “Is that what you want?’ he asked. “Is that what you like? Is that what you’re into?” He pushed me slightly in the chest, and I took a step back. “Give me something? Give me something for fuck’s sake, Kitten? You totally baffle me. We were having a lovely night, one of the best nights in a woman’s company I’ve had in years and then, and then you just flip. Who did it? Who broke you? I have to know who broke you, before I can start putting you back together again. So, who? Who was it?” He was shouting and getting in my face. Every time I took a step back, he took one forward. “Fuckin’ tell me,” he suddenly roared.

  I don’t know why, but despite his size, his strength, and his absolute maleness, I wasn’t the least bit afraid of him. All I felt was anger. Anger and sadness at the fact that the boy I loved so much was still fucking up my life so badly.

  “Sean!” I screamed back at him. “Sean,” I sobbed as I dropped down to my knees. “It’s Sean, it’s all, Sean.” I sobbed harder. Big, heaving out of control sobs.

  He was on the floor with me
and pulled me into his lap. “Thank fuck,” he said into my hair. He kissed me, my head, my hair, my cheeks, and my tears.

  “Let it out, Kitten, let it all out. It’s not good to keep it all in like that, believe me, I know. Just let it out.”

  And I did. I thought I’d cried all the tears I had in me at my mum’s all week, but apparently not. This was different. I cried alone at my mum’s. Here, I was crying with someone and admitting to that someone, who my tears were for. I was finally facing up to my demons and not just brushing them aside.

  “I love him, Cam. I love him so much, and it hurts so bad. I just don’t know if I can live the rest of my life like this.”

  He kissed my hair some more. “I know, I know, but we’ll make it better. I promise we’ll make it better.”

  He stood without putting me down and carried me to his bed. He laid me down and started to unbutton my jeans.

  “Cam,” I said with a whimper, “I’m a mess, and I don’t want sex.”

  “Shush… shush, baby. I’m not gonna touch ya, I promise. I just want ya to be more comfortable, okay?”

  I nodded, too exhausted to speak. He pulled my jeans off and then took his own clothes off before sliding in beside me wearing just his boxers. He pulled me tightly against his chest and we spooned. My brain didn’t even get the chance to form any more thoughts before I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Exactly like I did with Marley the night before, I slept soundly in Cam’s arms. I woke on Friday morning to the smell of coffee, and I opened my eyes to the delicious sight of Cam walking through the bedroom door wearing nothing but a pair of light blue boxers as he carried two cups of coffee. He looked at me warily, and I felt guilty and ashamed of my latest meltdown in front of him the night before. He put the coffee down on the bedside table without saying a word. I sat myself up, taking in the sight of his bare arms, chest, abs, legs, every naked bit of him and I’ve got to say, there wasn’t a single bit of him that I didn’t like. He was just an absolute, perfect specimen of maleness.

  He leant forward and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Good morning, Kitten. Please don’t lick your lips like that. Otherwise, I swear to God, I will not be responsible for my actions.”