by Tee Smith
“What about you? Do you enjoy being a delivery guy?” she asked.
“Well, if I’m to tell the truth…” he leaned back and rested on his hands. “I think the best part about it is that I got to meet you.”
“And what’s the real answer?” she teased.
“The real answer is exactly that. I also dropped out of school. I was studying medicine.”
“Ooh,” she hummed. “You wanted to be a doctor?”
“No, not a doctor. I wanted to be a medical scientist.”
“So that’s like a doctor, though, right?”
“It means I can tell you that this is your ribs,” his hands reached for her waist and moved lower. “And this is your iliac crest,” he smiled seductively as his hand fell to her hip and pulled her closer.
His breath felt hot on her bare skin, and her eyes fluttered closed as she relished in the sensation. As his lips gently met hers, she thought her entire body might melt. She had no idea what she was doing, but she followed his lead. His hand slipped further around her back, pulling her closer to him. She dared to reach out and wrap her own fingers around his bicep and tug him gently closer.
“Wow,” she whispered as he pulled away. His heat still burning on her lips.
The smile he gave her told her he had enjoyed it, too. She was glad she hadn’t been a complete stiff.
“So, what’s the real story?” she asked.
“Real story?” A look of confusion caused the creases in his forehead to deepen.
“Why did you pull out of uni to be a delivery guy?”
Drew dropped his head back and heaved out a half laugh, half sigh. “You’re a cool chick, y’know that?” He shook his head, and Davina wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I pulled out because my cousin got too sick. My uncle runs the business. His son had cystic fibrosis. When he got really sick, my uncle struggled to keep the business going, and I knew it was the best thing I could do for the family. I wanted to study medical research to help find better treatment for Harley. But in the end, it didn’t matter anyway.”
“Oh shit,” she mumbled realising that Drew was saying it was too late for his cousin. “I’m sorry.”
Drew shrugged. “Hey, it's life. We all live. We all die.”
“That’s kind of a harsh attitude, Drew.”
“Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it? Harley dying before his time has taught me to take whatever life throws at you. Don’t let an opportunity pass you by.”
“Is that what we’re doing here? Not passing up on an opportunity?”
Drew’s thumb brushed over her cheek. “I think you are far more than an opportunity, baby.”
Baby! He had called her baby? Davina wasn’t sure anyone had ever called her baby. Butterflies set flight in her stomach. Every time she was around him, she felt nervous and excited. Could this be what falling in love felt like?
“Are you okay?” he asked dragging her out of her thoughts and back to the present.
“Yeah,” she smiled, or perhaps she had been smiling all along. “I’m great.”
“You’re good with us? I mean…” he nodded towards the sleeping Logan. “I don’t know how you feel about everything, and I don’t want to push you.”
He was so sweet. “Logan really likes you,” she admitted. Even though it was already obvious. “I think we would both like to see you more.”
“That’s awesome, because I really like you both, too. He’s a very cool kid, y’know? I’ve always wanted kids. I’m an only child, and I was always envious of other kids having fun and playing with their siblings. Do you think you would like to have more kids one day?”
Davina shrugged and let out half a laugh at Drew’s enthusiasm. “I’ve not really given it too much thought. I’ve been busy with him and not having a partner. It’s not really been high on my agenda.”
“Does Logan see his dad?”
Memories of seeing Trent rushed back into her mind. The look on his face at the realisation that his son looked just like him might haunt her for a very long time.
“No. He isn’t around,” she lied.
“Shame. It’s his loss.” Drew shook his head with a frown.
Logan squirmed and opened his eyes, sitting up straight in his car seat as he looked around. His face crumpling as it did when he woke in an unfamiliar place. Davina worried this was a side effect of his trauma, but her mum assured her it was normal behaviour for children of his age.
“Hey, little man. Mummy’s here,” she soothed as she rushed to his side and scooped him from his seat. His fear was quickly replaced by smiles and his little arms wrapping tightly around her neck.
The remainder of the day passed quickly as they strolled the beach-side markets, hand in hand. Sometimes with Logan walking between them and others riding on Drew’s shoulders. They were the picture of a perfect family and Davina couldn’t have asked for a more perfect proper first date.
Chapter Nine
“You and delivery boy are getting pretty serious, hey?” August asked, the usual snark lacing her voice.
“Delivery boy has a name,” Davina snapped back. He had just dropped by and left her a cappuccino. He had called every day for the past two weeks. He met her for lunch most days, and they had even managed a couple of evening date nights while her mum watched Logan.
“Have you had Mercy check him out yet?” August went on, ignoring her answer.
“Did you have Reese checked out?” she asked in response. She knew August investigated everyone, but why did she have to be so suspicious all the time?
“I sure did,” August sniffed the air.
“Well, I trust Drew. He’s good to me and Loges. Maybe you should stop being so judgy all the damn time.”
“Whatever. Don’t come crying to me when he shits all over you,” August huffed as she turned around and headed back to her own office.
“You would be the last person I’d come crying to. Don’t worry about that,” Davina called to her back. “No wonder people keep leaving this place. Having to put up with you,” she whispered the last part under breath. She wished she was brave enough to say that to her face, but she never would.
Turning back to her computer, she stared at the day’s appointment page. Mercy had several intake meetings, and with Victoria gone, she knew things were going to get even more stressful. She hoped they would employ more investigators soon. She loved her boss, but she could see her patience wearing thin, and she was piling more work on her. When she had started at Blue Belles, she would answer phones and do filing. Now she was operating a suite of investigation software, pulling reports for the investigators, accounts, and payroll.
“Blue Belles Investigations, Davina speaking,” she sang as she brought the phone to her ear.
“Is this, Davina?” An unfamiliar female voice called down the line. “What time will you be working until, tonight?”
“Who am I speaking to?” she asked.
“When will you be finished with work tonight?” The woman asked again.
“Is this someone from the daycare centre? Is there something wrong with Logan?” she asked, unable to keep the worry from her voice.
“Logan,” the woman repeated. “That’s your son?”
“Who am I talking to, please?” she demanded and was met with silence. “Who are you and what do you want from me? Why are you calling me?”
Somewhere in the background, she heard a hushed whisper right before the phone line died.
“Hello, hello,” she tried in vain. How odd, she thought.
“Is everything alright?”
Davina looked up when she heard Mercy’s voice. “Yeah, just an odd phone call,” she shrugged.
“Aren’t they all?” Mercy shook her head. “I’ve got this stack of files for you.” She held up a handful of her signature manila folders.
“No worries, pop them on my desk. I’ll get to the filing this afternoon.”
“I don’t want them filed.” Mercy stood looking at her like she had s
aid the wrong thing. “I need you to go through and find some receipts for me.”
“Oh, okay?” Davina said slowly, realising Mercy was asking her to do some of the investigator's jobs.
“I’ve scribbled down a list of what I’m looking for and the dates. You will find them on the front page of each file. If you could just flag them for me, that would be great.”
“Sure.” Davina smiled. It might only be a small thing, but it felt great that Mercy trusted her with personal cases. She had watched on with keen interest how the women operated in the office. Whilst her skills were in business and office coordination, the more she learned about the logistics of investigation, the more she thought perhaps she could help.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” her boss asked again.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. The strange phone call was playing on her mind. She would call the daycare during her lunch break and check in to make sure Logan was okay.
“You would tell me if you have any issues? I can’t afford to lose you, too.”
“Yeah, I’m good. Thank you, Mercy.”
Mercy tossed her a smile before heading back down the corridor to her office. That was one of the reasons she loved working at Blue Belles. Mercy was a boss like no other. Always so kind and caring. She could put up with August. Obviously, Victoria couldn’t.
Giggling at the cute picture Mercy had drawn on the base of her note, she flipped open the first file and began trawling through the many pages. Much of the paper notes were printouts from computer-generated reports, and she wondered why they wasted so much paper.
An hour passed, and she had managed to work her way through one file. No wonder Mercy didn’t have the time to do this, she thought as she reached for the next file.
“Hey beautiful, how’s my girl?”
Drew’s voice made her tingle every time she heard it. Her eyes darted up to meet his, and she bit down on her bottom lip. She was caught by surprise when she saw him standing there with a single red rose.
“Would you allow me to escort you to lunch?”
“You are so romantic,” she responded as she smiled up at him from her desk.
“I think you bring it out in me,” he winked. “So what do you say? I know an awesome little sandwich place nearby.”
Tossing a glance at the stack of files she had been working on, she knew a break would do her good. She raised her glasses up to her head and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hands.
“I hear you can order them just the way you like them,” she laughed in response to his invitation. “Just give me two secs to let Mercy know I’m going.”
“I’m right here,” Mercy announced from behind her. “Off you go. Have fun.”
Reaching for Drew’s hand, she took the rose and propped it against her computer. She would find a vase for it when she returned.
Chapter Ten
“Wow! You are an awesome cook,” Davina exclaimed as she shoved her last forkful of fresh linguine into her mouth.
“You can thank my Mum for that. She insisted I learn how to cook before I went to university. She reasoned that I couldn’t be leaving home if I couldn’t feed myself. Before that, I couldn’t even boil an egg.”
“Well, if I ever meet her, I will be sure to congratulate her on a job well done,” she nodded and turned to her son, who had sauce all over his face. “It’s yummy isn’t it, Loges? Drew’s a good cook, isn’t he?”
Logan’s smile and messy face answered her question.
“I hope you will get to meet her soon. Maybe you, Logan, and I can take a drive up to the country some time. I’m sure she will love you both.”
Davina wasn’t sure that she was quite ready for that yet. Meeting the parents was scary and serious. The mere fact he wanted to introduce her to them seemed symbolic.
“What are we going to do with you, little man?” Drew asked Logan, who held his hands out in front of himself, showing how dirty they were.
“We need to teach him how to use a fork better,” Davina laughed. “Can I use your bathroom? Give him a clean-up?”
“Sure, you can. You can pop him in the bathtub while I clean up here if you like?”
Drew had invited them both to his house for a movie night. This was the first time they had been to his house. It wasn’t anything fancy. Just an average two bedroom, one bathroom place, on the edge of the inner suburbs. Tidy, Davina thought, for a man. Not that she had been inside too many single men’s houses to know how they lived.
Taking her son’s hand, she led him into the bathroom and had to search around for the plug. If she thought the rest of the house was tidy, she soon learned Drew didn’t use the bath often, and she had to clean it before she could put her son in. His cabinet contained the usual male grooming products but no sign of any bubble solution.
“No bubbles tonight, Bubba,” she told Logan as she placed him into the warm water. Logan enjoyed his bubble baths. Sometimes she would climb in with him, and they would have fun making pretend beards together. It wouldn’t be appropriate for her to do that at Drew’s house. Tonight’s tub would be about getting Logan washed and into his pyjamas.
Before long, he was clean and ready to snuggle with her and Drew on the couch. They slipped a kids movie into the DVD player and lay back together on the couch to take it in.
What started out with Logan dancing around to each boppy song that played soon turned to him playing with his good ear and leaning heavier and heavier into her side.
“I have a bed in the spare room if you want to lay him down?” Drew asked, taking in the sleeping child.
“Is it gross?” she asked cautiously.
“No,” he chuckled. “Why would it be gross?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I just thought if it’s a spare bed, you probably have your drunken mates sleep in there from time to time.”
“Fair call,” Drew nodded. “I do sometimes use it for that, but mostly it’s just to store junk. It’s clean. I put fresh sheets on this morning. If you prefer he can go in my bed.”
“Whatever you think,” she shrugged. It would only be for a little while. She didn’t like to drive tired, so she knew she would head home in a couple hours.
Scooping the child into her arms, she followed Drew to the spare room. As advertised she found it neat and clean, much like the rest of the house. She wasn’t sure why she doubted the fact that it would be. He pulled the covers back, and she laid her son down onto the soft pillow. He barely flinched. She loved how he felt so comfortable in Drew’s house, almost like he belonged there.
Backing out of the room, she pulled the door closed behind her. She knew Logan would sleep until it was time to leave. He was always pretty good for the first few hours. It was after midnight he would usually wake. Tonight would be no exception. It would probably be worse after having had so much excitement at Drew’s house.
Turning, she was surprised to find Drew right behind her and went willingly as he pulled her into his arms. She enjoyed his kisses, but they were rarely alone long enough for anything more. She had been okay with that. Kisses were good. As his hand slipped inside the waistband of her jeans, she pulled away, laughing nervously she headed toward the kitchen and drew herself a glass of water.
As she stood at the sink, again Drew’s arms snaked around her from behind, and his lips fell to the crook of her neck. Part of her wanted to relax into his touch, feel his warmth. Another part wanted to run away. Suddenly everything seemed awkward. Of course, this is why he had invited her over to have a movie night.
“Are you okay?” Drew asked. His hot breath falling on her bare skin.
“I’m sorry if I’m not all up for it like you obviously expected,” she said turning to face him.
“Hey, no. Not at all. That’s not what I thought. Hey…”
She turned away, and he grabbed her upper arm. His fingers digging in painfully as he forced her to look at him.
“What’s this all about? I’m confused. I just thought �
�� we like each other and… I don’t want to pressure you into anything.”
“Look at me, Drew” she demanded. “Do I really look like the sort that would pull all the boys?”
“I am looking at you. I’ve been looking at you for a while now, and I have to say, you’ve got me hooked, baby.”
Heat crept into her face. Had she read him wrong? Maybe he had a fetish for nerdy girls. Some kind of twisted fantasy thing. “I haven’t really been with anyone,” she finally confessed, finding a spot on the wall behind him and zoning her focus in on it.
“Huh?” He stubbed a thumb toward the bedroom they had just vacated. “You have a kid, Davina.
Letting out a long huff, she reached for his hand. “This is really embarrassing,” she admitted. “I haven’t really explained myself, have I? I had just turned twenty-one. All the girls at school would talk about their boyfriends. How great their sex lives were and stuff.
Then there was me. This nerdy, skinny girl with glasses. No one wanted me. I’d never been out on a date, much less had a boyfriend. I couldn’t tell them that. So, I lied. I went along with it. I pretended to know what they were talking about.”
Drew’s fingers tightened around hers. Feeling reassured he was listening, she continued.
“One night, we were all out at the pub, and one of their boyfriend’s buddies hit on me. I thought it was my chance. I would show them I was not just a dorky, virgin, girl. I got really drunk, and I went home with him. We had sex. He was really rough; it hurt. A lot. Then he passed out on the couch. I gathered my things and went home. It was horrible.”
“Did he know you were a virgin?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he would have cared, to be honest.”
“Oh baby,” he sighed, with a long gush of breath. “That’s horrible. I hate men like that.”
“I never told anyone. I went back to school the next week and never saw him again. Four weeks later, when I missed my period, I did a test and found out I was pregnant.
I was beside myself. I couldn’t believe how unfair it was that I had sex one time and got pregnant. It wasn’t even anything great like all the girls told me it was. And now, I was lumbered with a baby as well.
