by H. M. Irwing
"It doesn't matter,” he whispered brokenly. “Not anymore."
My heart already ladened by the weight of my feelings now shattered altogether. This was it. This was finally it. My breath hitched in my throat.
The door behind me clicked open and I blinked to find myself alone in my seat. Richard had withdrawn back to his. Withdrawn period. His pose said it all. No further words...exchanges were necessary. I felt my eyes water and scrambled hurriedly to get out of the car.
In a rapid sequence of action he had the car in gear and ambling down the slope as I stood there gazing after him.
I stepped in to the house and called out," Mum? Dad?" I was greeted by silence.
Where was everyone? Stamping my foot in frustration I pulled out my phone to check for messages.
Making my way to the kitchen I paused in shock to find I had numerous missed calls and messages. My heart beat slowed to thud in a sluggishly as panic set in. Expecting the worst I dialled my dad's number and found the that it was out of reach. Panic level blasted to full measures.
I accessed my messages and started to read through one by one. I was at first confused but slowly I started to put the picture together. Blood drained down from my head and I felt woozy.
They were in Egypt!
Sadiq had arrived with a lawyer in tow demanding custody of his unborn child. Given the level of his clout there was not much dad could do to prevent them from taking Cat. It appears that in the eyes of their laws they were already a married couple. For to consider otherwise was to claim that the Amir had sinned. Their laws weren't that bold to make such an accusation and stick through the backlash Sadiq would no doubt bring down on those who oppose him. And that was putting it mildly.
I couldn't believe that mum and dad had gone after them. What could they hope to achieve in Egypt that couldn't have been attempted and triumphed over here.
I started to pace up and down my thoughts revolving about like a tornado in my head.
"You're going to wear out the carpet." The sardonic comment was thrown at me from my left.
I stilled and spun around.
"Jake!" I exclaimed then threw myself into his arms. I was pushed away violently.
"I can still smell him on you!"
I recalled my last heated kiss with Richard and felt the blood come flooding back into my cheeks.
"Is that all you have to say at a time like this?" I snarled angrily.
"What would you have me say? How disappointed I am that you confessed nothing of this? That I had to find it all out from a distraught Emily!"
"Emily! She's here?" I threw the question at him even as I was rushing upstairs and throwing open the door to her room. Empty!
I spun around to head back down but Jake was there behind me.
"Where? Where is she?" I demanded of his mute frame.
"She's gone to stay at her friend’s place as you weren't here. You were still out with that..."
"The Slaters’?...Marks’place?"
I took a deep breath and turned away from him. Marching to my own room I threw myself on my bed then pulled my doona over me. Cocooned in its warmth I started to cry...to let it all out.
I gave up. On me, on my family and on Jake. There was no saviour. No knight in shining armour and most certainly no happiness. I felt like a useless pawn mindlessly toyed about with by a careless infant. There was no doubt fate was dealing out a rotten hand. Like a domino's effect all was being brought down by it.
I thought back to the reality of three months past and couldn't get over just how much had happened since. I hadn't a care in the world back then. Now it is seems that is all I have. My sobs were racking and filled with self-pity but I was beginning to feel better as if the tears were washing off the load. Then again there was Jake who had come to his senses and was even now wrapped about me. I took the comfort he afforded me and rained kisses begging him for forgiveness, again.
I had so much to be disappointed in but I was mostly disappointed in me.
Chapter 6
"Barry!"
I woke up in the morning with his name spilling from my lips.
"Who the fuck is Barry?" Growled Jake sleepily beside me before he added more suspiciously, " And why are you dreaming of him."
I shook my head at him, afraid I have scarred him for life.
"He's a lawyer. I'm starting my apprenticeship with him on Monday," I explained sympathetically.
"And you thought of him now because..."
"Because he can help stupid," I said reverting to my childhood teasing.
"I am not stupid," Jake exclaimed rolling me over and pinning me down…I let him, longing for the closeness...for anything to take away the worry that resumed at the pit of my stomach with a vengeance.
"Hey, we'll get her back," Jake said soothingly. "I've already contacted our solicitors and set them to work on it. I believe your dad would have done the same."
I felt a tear roll down my cheek as an overwhelming longing for my parent's struck me.
I was enfolded in Jake's arms and rocked soothingly. But I grew restless. I didn't want to be soothed. What I wanted was retribution against that...egocentric loon, Sadiq.
Barry was my only way towards this end. Barry and my great grandma's little investments. Framed in their unique casings of laminated plastics was a collection of certificates of ownership that my great grandmother purchased over the course of her life. The ownership was of a company that had long since been delisted. I was not sure if it even exists anymore but she had kept them on hoping to one day recover some if not all of her investments. At least that was the story behind it. Having inherited the lot of them at the tender age of ten I had leaped for joy at being the owner of a company till naturally my dad took me aside and explained the whole sorry business. Reality never bit a ten year old as hard as it did that day. But I loved my grandma and promised her that I would one day look into it. Looking back that could have been the day that I set me on the path of considering law as my future bread and butter. Even so in all these years I have never investigated it. Dad had successfully convinced me that the certificates were a dud and I had never really roused myself enough to determine if it really was so.
I accepted his word and let things rest but now I felt an overwhelming urge to find out for sure.
I got out of bed and ignoring Jake's questioning looks, I made my way to my dresser. Dropping down to my haunches I then bent over to look under the dressing table.
"Nice!"
I ignored Jake's lascivious ogling and reached further in till my fingers touched the cool surface of a metal tin. Grabbing hold I tugged it out towards me.
"Is that your collection of certificates?" asked Jake knowing full well that they were. Having spent a greater part of his youth humouring me over this very tin. He knew as well as I exactly what was in it.
The certificates had been purchased through a broker and in those days the brokerage firms went belly up as often as companies did themselves. My grandma being an orthodox genuine to goodness 1930’s house wife, thought nothing of it in storing up these certificates. I read the label on the front it didn’t say much only the name Fortune. I thought that was probably why she’d fallen for the ruse and bought it in the first place. Who wouldn’t want to invest in an entity that called itself Fortune. She believed there were some good that would come out of them and I would be the one to find it. Now more than ever I needed that supply of cash. I knew Jake would just hand it over if needed but it wasn't the same.
I would research into these certificates and see if they hold any value. And I would ask Barry to show me how to research over the laws that could help us with Cat's problems.
Inspired with a plan of action, I was enthusiastic to face the evils ahead.
"Let's get some breakfast on the way to the library," I called out to Jake after successfully dodging his reaching hands to spin off into the bathroom. Shutting the door on his good natured cussing, I got my necessities out of the way and
was dressed in an old pair of blue jeans and white-T.
'Thank god it’s not grey!" Jake called out fervently when I reemerged, then he ducked to dodge my right. I grinned up at him and him down at me. I reached up to plant my hungry lips to his before pulling away with a mutual groan.
"The library," I gasped out reluctantly.
"Breakfast," Jake gasped out hungrily.
"Okay let’s go," I willingly agreed then hurried him out to his car before he changed his mind.
"Are you sure we need to do this?" wailed Jake hours later as we rummaged through the library archive of scanned news clipping looking for anything that could be traced back to these certificates.
"Just give me the word and I will make all of this," Jake I indicated with an expansive wave of his arms to take in my efforts of the past few hours and his own," go away. I have a secret fail proof weapon."
"Oh and why wasn't that mentioned before?" I asked tiredly having had enough of it myself. I felt like I was going around in circles. These apparently weren't your usual type of certificates. Infact such certificates didn’t even exist anymore not in this digital day and age.
"Samantha Jones!" exclaimed Jake with a smug shot my way as if he'd discovered his own winning lottery and in a way he had. My heart stuttered hearing that name and my stomach coiled. I felt my hidden claws emerge and new without doubt it was blood on the moon for one Ms Jones should she ever show herself in my vicinity. In short I felt all the symptoms of an over the top jealousy.
"Over my dead body!"
"Huh?" Jake stared at me stunned by my immediate come back.
"I thought you liked Sam?" Jake looked at me, questionningly.
I cringed at the grating sound of her shorten name. But Jake was right, I had liked her previously. But that was before Jake became mine, before I accepted him as solely mine. Now any female that showed an interest in Jake was someone to be wary off. Samantha was right there on top of that list.
Sam worked for Jake's dad and she had hanged out with us in the past. She was undeniably interested in Jake in every way. She had said so herself to me when Jake wasn't around. So I knew this for a fact. Looking back I now saw a reason for why she mingled with us at all, she had simply been doing everything she could to get into his pants. Well not on my watch she won't.
I turned my steely greys to meet Jake's innocent hazel greens and practically growled out," Stay away from her."
"Why?" Jake asked simply leaning in to stare down into my serious eyes. I struggled to control the rising rage that thoughts of the two of them together kept provoking. I shook away the intrusive graphic images that my overactive imagination concocted and answered with an impressive steadiness," She wants you," then I added warningly," I won't share."
His glittering eyes stared down at me lingering over my own trying to read into my depths then I was yanked forward into his arms," Now you're ready," he whispered huskily into my ears.
I looked back in askance surprised by his intense reaction to my obvious jealousy.
"You're finally ready for being in a relationship ....with me." He covered my lips in a searing kiss that sizzled right down to me toes. I felt shaken. Shaken by the strength of my feelings for him and the intensity of my jealousy. I realised then just what I had unwittingly put Jake through over Richard. I clutched him close in my embrace and muttered unhappily, “ I am so sorry.”
I think he must have understood my train of thought for he whispered back soothingly, “It’s okay.”
Hours later and I was still shaken over what happened.
The thought of losing Jake so soon after only just having...we were still too new... it was just too much to contemplate. I held his hand tightly giving in to his reasoning of having his dad's assistant help us out with this lottery research.
I wasn't happy about it but I trusted him. And this was the way I could prove that trust. Also, what he said made sense. I couldn't really focus on this anyway I had so much on my mind. My worry over Cat was all consuming. I was more thankful than ever to have Jake by my side at this time. So I sat there and jotted down all the details of each certificate onto a piece of paper listing the name and numbers of the certificates and then Jake took a picture of the list and a sample shot of the documents and sent it to ...her.
I couldn't even think of her without bringing my blood to a slow tortuous boil.
"Shall we?" Jake asked quietly.
I gave a tight nod of my head and let him guide me out of there. The ride back home was strangely tense it was as if unknowingly our relationship had moved on to another phase. A more dangerous phase. I didn't know what that meant only that the fine hairs along my arms prickled in sensations responding to the static in the car.
When Jake drove past the turnoff to my home and headed on to what appeared to be the other side of town to where his home was situated my tension only grew.
"Jake?" I questioned shakily keeping my eyes glued to the front screen and my hands tightly clasped in my lap.
I saw him shoot a swift look my way before returning his focus on the road ahead.
"You're staying with me tonight. Especially, as Emily will be staying on at Marks place. She messaged me earlier while you were in the shower."
That sent a spasm of pain straight to my heart. Emily has been refusing to answer any of my many calls and messages but she was obviously still responding to Jake's. It was as if some unknown force was working against us to split us all apart. I hated seeing it happen and knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening.
"You're awfully quiet," Jake murmured breaking into my own melancholic thoughts. I looked up to see that he had turned into the long drive way that made up the entry to his home. I cringed at the thought of what lay ahead of that drive and silently cussed myself for not voicing out a protest earlier.
"Your parents ... they won't be delighted to have me," I mildly reflected on the obvious. Mr Neel hadn't been at all mild in his vehement protest of Jake and I as a couple. That reminded me, "Are you still engaged to Celine?"
Jake choked out a cough in protest. "I was never engaged to her. Our parents were in a state of engagement through their assumptions over our compliance but we were never in agreement."
I smiled with some amusement at Jake's outraged face. He looked so cute when roused.
"I never asked this of you earlier but I need to know. If Celine had been agreeable would you have been engaged?"
"What kind of a question is that? This is me we're talking about," Jake stared at me with some annoyance," of course Celine was interested in marrying me. Not everyone thinks like you. Most people find me attractive and actually want to get in the sack with me... and a whole lot more besides."
I stared at him torn between amusement and worry. It was an odd combination of emotions to work with. I was sure my face reflected a comical mess.
"She wants you?" I asked uncertainly.
Jake sighed," Darling, give it a thought or two…no rush...then tell me what you think."
I reached out to slap his arm in agitation. This was no joking matter. Worry took precedence over humour. I felt like I was suddenly besieged with women wanting Jake for themselves. He was absolutely right. He was a catch. Any girl would want him. I was the stupid one for not realising that sooner despite knowing him for as long as I did. I was so...stupid.
I turned my worry face his way and felt my eyes well up in tears again. I was turning into a watering pot. Filling up to the brim and pouring out torrents at the slightest provocation. This was awful.
Warm hands reached out to wrap around me. I blinked away at the tears to find that we had reached his front door and that he had unbuckled my belt to shift me over on to his lap.
I lifted my face to his searching for his lips. His kisses, I knew, would soothe me as nothing else would.
He didn't fail me.
His lips were soft and sweet and instantly on mine, making me only weep for more. But his lips left mine to trail up my c
heek chuckling at my efforts to draw him back.
"Later love. I want you where you belong. In my bed."
Then he was opening his door, lifting me off his lap and thrusting me onto my unsteady feet before he joined me to grab my arm and tug me after him.
I skipped after him for his strides were that long and swift eating up the distance to the front door so that he was there just as it flung wide open.
"Stacy!"
Jake exclaimed just as the German Shepherd took off her hind feet to leap up into Jake's arms.
I shook my head in amusement as she proceeded to wash his face with her tongue. Ewww! No way was I letting him put his face near mine ever again... not until he'd taken a bath first.
"Wait give her time and she'll do the same to you," Jake managed to get out between the boisterous leaps and licks from his canine friend.
"Jake? I didn't expect you back so soon."
I looked up to see Sam standing at the doorway. All my worries of earlier came tumbling back with double impact as I took in her svelte and sleek look. She was elegance refined and a beauty to boot. There was no way Jake could logically want me over her.
Her twinkling blue eyes practically glowed with her affection for Jake. There was no way that he could have missed that. It was so blatantly…there. But Jake did miss it.
He marched past her as if she didn't exist. Tugging me after him even as he dodged the advances of Stacy who came panting after us.
I stumbled after him trying hard not to notice the fall in Sam's expression. But her disappointment was heartfelt and the pain in hers could be heard revibrating in mine. Only mine wasn't of loss it was of fear over eventual loss. Mine could well be an affliction of an over active imagination. Of being entirely too negative. But I couldn't set my doubts aside... not with my looming past of recent let downs. I was sure fate wouldn't be so kind to allow Jake to remain as mine. I tightened my grip on his hand.
"So you got me message?" Jake asked Sam as she followed us back in. I gazed around the foyer in awe. The grand staircase framed by a sweeping balustrade of polished mahogany stood dead centre in the foyer. As a less awestruck child I used to slide down those balustrades right behind Jake following where he led into and out of one mischief after another.
