by Sienna Grant
“Blake?” I ask him timidly. I gaze up at him tenderly.
“Yeahhh,” he looks down at me now. He strokes my cheek with his thumb “What’s up, gorgeous?”
“You didn’t mention your mum and dad when we were talking about families,” he takes a deep breath.
“My mum died, almost a year ago now - heart attack. It comes out of now nowhere, she was fit, healthy, or so we thought. As it was, she had a faulty valve in her heart, the doctors say she should have experienced difficulty breathing, but she didn’t say a word, to anyone. My mum was as stubborn as they came, she collapsed, died instantly.” He looks so sad, I lean up to him and kiss him gently to try and ease some of his sorrow.
“I’m sorry,” he gives me a sad smile “I miss her, so much, she was only 50. When I saw you in the restaurant, that was my dad I was with.”
“I thought it was, you look alike, it’s the eyes,” I widen mine to make my point. “I’d love to meet him properly.”
“You will, I promise,” he gazes into, my eyes tenderly and carries to say, “I better make a move, though.”
“Really? I’m comfy.”
“Yeah, I have work in the morning, and if I’m late, Jack will have my life,” he kisses my nose, my cheeks and a quick kiss to my lips and gets up.
He gets his shoes on, stands up and pulls me up to stand with him. He puts his hands on my hips and kisses me again, his hands go to my head, and he tangles his fingers in my hair and kisses the life out of me. My whole body is tingling, and I’m breathless by the time he’s finished. He kisses my forehead and walks out the door, telling me he’ll call me tomorrow and to lock the door behind him. I do as he says and lean my back against it and breathe out. I go to bed feeling a lot lighter than I have in a long time.
Once I’ve checked on Grady, and I’m comfy, Blake pops into my mind; again, and our evening. I enjoyed myself so much, he makes feel so special. He’s sweet to me and the things he said, about being a Princess, I wanted to open that cast iron box I call a heart and hand it right over to him, but I can’t, not yet. But, the way he kissed me, oh my god, I feel lighter, happier, I can be me, the old Lex, and I like that. I go to sleep with a smile on my face.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BLAKE
I stand outside the front door until I hear the locks go on and walk to my car. I adjust myself again before I can get in because this hard on I’m sporting is going to be fucking uncomfortable. I sit in the car a few minutes, she’s going to be the death of me, I know it. I had such a good time tonight, talking and getting to know one another. She didn’t seem too shy tonight either…we do need to work on those insecurities of hers, though, I’m gonna show her just how beautiful she is.
I hope I didn’t push her too much and scare her away, though!
Once I’ve calmed myself a little I drive home. Once I’m in the house, I do my nightly ritual of letting Max out and then head to bed. Next thing I know I can hear my alarm, I look at the clock beside my bed, it’s 6:30 am. I roll onto my back and grab my phone from the bedside table. I write out a text:
Me - Good morning Princess. You were the first thing on my mind when I woke up. How are you?
I send the message and go to the kitchen to put the coffee maker on and pop some bread in the toaster. I let Max out the back door, put some food in his dish and some fresh water and wait for the reply, I hear my phone vibrate on the side a few minutes later.
Lex- Good morning to you too I’m good thank you. Grady has had me up since 5.30 so I’m a little tired. I have work tonight too.
Me - I’m sorry for keeping you up, but I had a great time last night. Yeah, so did I.
Lex-Thank you
Me - You don’t need to thank me. It was my pleasure. What time do you finish work?
Lex-10 tonight I’m not on the closedown, why?
Me - How do you get back from work at night, without a car?
Lex - I walk usually it’s not far from home.
Me: I’ll be there to pick you up, you’re not walking now I’m around, it’s not safe.
Lex-You don’t need to do that. I’m fine. I don’t want to put you out.
Me - See you at 10. I’ve got to get to work. Have a good day gorgeous. Xx
Lex-You too, see ya later xx
“Walk home, my arse!” I drop my phone onto the counter with a smile and head towards the bathroom to wash and clean my teeth, then get ready for work.
“Hey, buddy!” I hear when I walk into the office. I look to where the voice is coming from, and Jack is sitting on the chair with his legs up on the desk, drinking coffee.
“Morning. I could do with one of those,”
“Bad night, or did you spend too long with your hand.”
“Fuck off Jack,” I reply amused. “I had a good night if you must know.”
“Oh yeah, well, spill then!”
“Jack, you gossip more than a fucking woman, you know that?!”
“So Amelia tells me” he answers nodding his head. I shake my head in disbelief.
“If you must know, Jackie,” he lifts his eyebrow at me, “I took Amelia’s advice and decided to ring Alexia,” he suddenly sits up and nearly falls off his chair. I snort at him and go the coffee maker to get a drink.
“You did, what did she say?”
“I went around to hers last night, we had a takeaway, and we talked…”
“Talked. Really?”
“Yes we talked, got to know each other a little bit,” he’s watching me for more, I raise an eyebrow in defiance. “What?”
“You - just talked, you didn’t screw her?”
“Watch your fucking mouth, I like her - a lot, and I don’t know whether you noticed Saturday night, but she also has trust and confidence issues so, I’m willing to take it slow.”
“Wow! I didn’t think I’d hear you say that again after Cara.”
“I don’t think I ever felt for Cara like I do now. After she fucked Simon I was hurt, I just thought I loved her, I don’t think I ever really did, I think it was the events surrounding it that hurt more.”
Especially when my mum died six months before.
Jack, looks at me pensive, not saying anything. He knows how heartbroken I was when my mum died and how I handled Cara’s betrayal.
“Right then, what we got on today?” I ask changing the subject.
“I gotta go check a job across town, someone’s fucked something up, you coming?” Jack replies.
“Yeah, fuck it. Let’s go.” I grab my phone and drop it in my pocket, and we head for Jack’s Range Rover. We travel across town with the radio playing, leaving us both in our thoughts. The thoughts I’ve let myself sink into every time, I think about losing my mum and how it affected me when Lex asked me about her last night I was waiting for the dark thoughts to come.
They didn’t, not as bad they usually do anyway, she told me she was sorry and gently kissed me, and just like that, I was out of the dark. We arrive at our destination, Jack asks me if I’m okay and I nod at him, he knows me, but he also knows I’ll talk when I’m ready. I shake off the sad thoughts, and we head to our meeting.
ALEXIA
I hear Grady mumbling to himself, I keep my eyes closed, maybe he’ll go back to sleep. Then I hear it “Mummy,” very quiet at first, then it gets louder, and louder. I open my eyes and look across at him, he’s looking back at me giving a huge toothy smile.
“Get up?” he holding on to the bars of his cot like he’s in jail and wanting to escape. “Out, Mummy.”
“Come on then, you little monster.” I get up and walk to his cot, he stands and holds his arms out to me, he clenches his fists and unclenches them, so I know what he wants. I pick him up and take him to the lounge and him on the sofa.
I change his nappy and clean him up a little and then proceed to make a cup of tea for us both. While I can hear Grady playing, I go to the bathroom, when I return to the kitchen I set about making some toast for us both. I take the toast to Grady, and he sits o
n the floor in front of the telly to eat it, it’s better than watching him turn into a monkey and try to climb out of the highchair, he’s almost 13 months old and climbs on everything.
I hear my text tone on my phone, so once he’s settled I go to the kitchen and grab my phone, I open the message up; Blake. I smile and bite my lip and begin to read,
Blake- Good morning princess. You were the first thing on my mind when I woke up. How are you?
My breathing starts to quicken again when I read the word Princess, I can almost hear him saying it out loud. My tummy does this weird fluttering sensation, I open my phone screen back up and answer him. I put my phone down and look in on Grady, I hate it when he’s quiet, it usually means he’s up to something. I hear my phone again. I look at the new message and make a cup of coffee. We reply back and forth for a while. My heart sped up a little when he told me he had a great time last night, because so did I,
In the next text, he asks me how I’m getting home, so I tell him I’m walking.
Blake- I’ll pick you up, you’re not walking now I’m around, it’s not safe.
I have to look at that message twice before it registers to my foggy brain what it says, “Hmmpff, so, it seems Mr Davids has an alpha streak!”
I lift an eyebrow at my phone and throw a little sass at him, even though he can’t see me. I tell him that he doesn’t need to do that, and I’m fine, but he completely ignores my answer and tells me he’ll see me at Ten o’clock.
I put my phone down and make a start on clearing the kitchen a little. I drink my coffee and read the messages back through. I actually feel a little contented, knowing he’s picking me up from work, I’m also getting a little excited, especially now that I’m definitely going to see him again tonight, even if it is only for a little while. Those damn flutters start up in my tummy again. I decide I need to pass the time away. Otherwise, my day is going to drag so much today. I play with Grady for a bit with his building blocks and then get him changed and washed properly and head to town for a while.
I walk back in the flat, I let Grady out of his pushchair and leave him to play. I go into the kitchen and put a chicken in the oven for dinner, I then clean the flat for an hour while he’s happy playing. I grab a cup of coffee and sit down, I’m going through my phone when I receive a text:
Blake- Thinking of you. See you later.
I smile again, thinking how sweet he is. Surely I can’t be on his mind that much. He doesn’t know me really, I’m sure he’ll soon get sick of me. I don’t reply. I put my phone down. Happily, I try and get an hours reading in before I have to cook dinner for us. On Mondays, I always cook Lisa some dinner too because she comes straight from college at three o’clock to have Grady so I can be in work for five. I do us a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings tonight, as Lisa doesn’t get many, her mum works full time, so they grab food when they can.
I’m sitting on the sofa trying to get into a new book, but can’t, my head is full of Blake at the moment. I go into the kitchen to start cutting up the vegetables when I hear a key in the door; Lisa. I gave her a key so she can let herself in, I trust her with Grady, so I’m sure I can trust her with a key. She’s a good kid. I look behind me as I hear her say hello to Grady and walks in with him on her hip.
“Hey, you,” I say smiling at her.
“Hi, it smells delicious in here,”
“Good,” I have to agree, it does.
“How was college today,”
“It was okay, but I’m tired. I hate Mondays!” I smile at her and shake my head at her.
I check on the chicken and put the veggies on and wait for them to cook. We chat at the table while we’re waiting everything to cook, then she helps me dish up. She sits Grady in his highchair and straps him in, we eat in comfortable silence, apart from Grady’s chatter, and banging, of course, those quiet days have gone.
After dinner, I go to clean up, but Lisa being the little gem that she is offers to do it for me. I thank her and leave her to the washing up, I jump in the shower to get ready for my night at work. I’m going to be counting down the hours before I see Blake.
It’s gonna be a long night, I just know it!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BLAKE
We were only at the site for half an hour, as there weren't enough materials ordered to finish the job they were doing. The job is a new office compound that is being built, but once this one is finished, they want us to build more in different towns. It’s a nice little money spinner for Jack and I - so we both try to oversee the jobs ourselves.
We stop off at the nearest Costa and get coffee to takeaway and head back to the office. Once in and settled at my desk, I’m going through the mundane part of my job; paperwork. Of all the things I could be doing right now, this is not what I had in mind. My thoughts drift to Lex. I can’t wait to see her again tonight, I send a text to Lex to let her know I’m thinking of her and put my phone back down on my desk and go back to mind-numbing paperwork.
I really hate this part of my job, I used to love to get my hands dirty, but since Jack and I started our own business and got our own workers, I rarely do unless we’re short on a job. Jack overlooks the financial side of the business and does payroll for the lads, I think we may need a secretary or a PA, I’ll speak to Jack and see what he thinks about it.
After two hours of going through papers and filing job quotes, I get up to stretch my legs and go into Jack’s office. “You busy, Jack?”
“Not really, what’s up?”
“I’ve been thinking…”
“That must’ve hurt,” he says cutting me off.
“Shut it, dickhead. Anyway, I’ve been thinking, maybe we need a secretary, you know I hate paperwork and filing. I could be out there, helping out on jobs or at least see what’s going on, you know, make sure they’re doing what we pay them to do, not fuck about, what d’ya think?”
“I think we can afford it, it’ll help me too, I won’t have to type up my own quotes then!” he laughs at his own comment, as he usually does.
“Okay I’ll let you do the finances for that if you’re not busy and we can start thinking of getting someone in to help,”
“How’s Liv, have you heard from her again?” Jack asks.
“Not since Saturday, I don’t know what’s happening with her, she sends me a message saying she may be coming home and that’s all I get. No explanation or when she’s thinking of – nothing. I’m just hoping she’s not in trouble, somehow, if someone has hurt her I’ll go to Spain and kick someone’s arse for them.”
“That sister of yours always did get herself into sticky situations when she was younger. Remember when we threatened that kid because he spreading rumours about her, that he’d screwed her and he hadn’t.”
“Yeah I do,” I laugh at that memory, he really did shit himself. Jack and I had never really been small, but we were training in the gym every day and mix in my construction work too, I was big!
“He nearly pissed himself when he saw us walking towards him, he knew what he’d done straight away. Especially when that little shit Liv came walking up behind us,” says Jack.
“Little fucker and she came out from behind me and said ‘fuck you twat face, don’t mess with me again’ yeah that was Liv alright.” Laughing off the memory of my pain in the arse sister, I start thinking seriously.
“I hope she hasn’t got herself into something, knowing that I’m in another country, then I can’t help her can I.”
“She’ll soon be on the blower if it’s something she can’t handle, she’s a tough one you know that,” says Jack reassuringly, I nod at him and agree half-heartedly, although he’s right, she is tough, I made her that way.
“You got your gym stuff in the car?”
“Always you know that, why, you wanna go after work?”
“Yeah, I was thinking of leaving here at five and having an hour in the gym, you up for it?”
“Yeah, of course, it’ll give me a chance to kick
your arse, let me drop a text to Amelia to let her know I’ll be late home. Let me do what I need to do here first, and we can go if you want,”
“Sounds like a plan, I’ll go tidy up my desk and shit, shout me when you’re ready, oh and err, dream on about kicking my arse!” I tell Jack smugly as I’m walking out of his office and back to my own.
I sit at my desk and drop Liv a text.
Me - Hey sis, hope you’re ok, have you decided if and when you’re coming home yet?
I put my phone down and start shifting papers around on my desk and putting stuff away, I hear my phone vibrate about fifteen minutes later, I pick it up and see it’s Liv.
Liv- Hey big bro, how’s you? I’m ok, still not sure yet. I can’t really say yet. I have a few things I need to sort out first.
Me - What does that mean, are you in trouble?
Liv- No! It’s complicated!
Me - I swear to god Liv, if I have to come over there – I won’t be happy.
Liv- You mean you won’t be happy cos u have to take time off work to sit on a beach; in the sun, or at a bar drinking a cold beer. That would be murder wouldn’t it?!
