Casey halted, face a dull red of frustration. ‘Yeah, right,’ she sneered. ‘Looks like nothing happened to you.’ Her gaze ran contemptuously over his face. ‘Black eye, split lip. But nothing happened to you.’
He smiled, smugly. ‘Nothing to do with you, loser. Just some random guys who were looking for someone to give a kicking to.’
‘Oh yeah?’ She folded her arms. ‘Oh yeah? It was at the end of Pebble Lane, wasn’t it?’
His heart beat harder, his throat went dry. He let the smile drop from his face. ‘How do you know that?’
Her eyes glittered with amusement. ‘Who do you think set it up, following you around, just waiting to set them on you? Unsad Zag, my invisible gnome? Or my abusive dad or beaten-down mum? I know you’re fucking gullible but I didn’t think you were stupid.’ Her eyes hardened. ‘You dropped me right in the shit, you bastard, with your fucking statement. And Zoë. You could’ve got Zoë sent to jail. So I just thought I’d teach you a lesson.’
He made his voice ludicrous with dismay. ‘You set those big guys on me?’
Throwing back her head, she laughed. ‘I gave them thirty quid each to show you what’s what. What do you think of that, then – loser? And if you fuck with me again I’ll screw you up so tight your fucking eyes will roll out and explode. And then I’ll rip your tongue out to clean up the mess.’
This time, Ross let her push past him. He smiled, a long, satisfied smile at the small black camera up in the corner, trained on the part of the shop that was out of sight of the person at the till. ‘Gotcha, Casey McCatspaw. Bet you look really good on CCTV.’ Ross laughed, even though it stung his stitches. ‘Wicked.’
He took out his phone, which he’d had on voice recorder, just in case the camera failed to pick the conversation up, ended the recording, and rang his sister. ‘Hey, Darcie. Have you still got the number of that policeman who dealt with me getting shoved downstairs?’
Chapter Sixteen
Darcie settled her legs more comfortably over Jake’s and her head against the wing of the sofa as she brought him up to date on Ross’s adventures. Her behind was warm and round in his lap, a tingling place for it to be. She said, ‘So we went to the station and Ross played the voice recording to the police officer and they’re going to ask to see the video footage from Patsy’s Emporium, so that they can see it was definitely Casey speaking. If it all works out, they expect to be interviewing her again, shortly.’
Jake smiled in satisfaction. ‘He makes an implacable enemy, that little brother of yours. I’ve made a note to myself not to get on the wrong side of him in the future.’
Her eyes widened and she said, cautiously, ‘You’re almost speaking as if you expect to be around.’
He tried to read her expression. ‘That depends on you. Us.’ He lifted her hand from her lap and ran her fingertip lightly over his lips. ‘We’ve made it past the day after hot sex, so we’re doing better than last time. But you aren’t involved with anyone else, which really helps.’
‘I only needed a little bit of time to uninvolve myself, before,’ she asserted, softly. ‘You just didn’t stick around to listen.’
Slowly, he nodded. Here it came. Time to face the truth. Just when it had looked as if the present was going to be a joyous ride, they were preparing to broach the future. He hoped reaching it wasn’t going to hurt. ‘OK. I’m listening, now.’
She took a deep breath. ‘OK. Let’s try it again. I went to see Dean, to end things with him. Before I could explain, he burst out that he was being made redundant. He was really upset because he’d just booked an expensive holiday and his car went with his job so he’d lose that, too. Even though I wanted to be with you, and even before … that night … I had realised that the end was near, I still cared about him. I knew I was going to find it difficult to hurt him, anyway, but to listen to his really bad news and then go, “Oh, and guess what? I slept with Jake last night and I’m dumping you …”’ She swallowed. ‘I just couldn’t. I thought you’d understand that I needed to give him a few days. But when I tried to tell you …’
His voice emerged on a croak. ‘You’re joking. I asked if you’d told him and you said, “I care too much”—?’
Her eyes burned into his. ‘I was trying to say I cared too much to drop it on him at that moment. Dean hadn’t done anything wrong and I would have had to be a super bitch to finish things whilst he was so upset. Next thing I knew, I was talking to your back as you stalked off.’ Her smile was crooked. ‘I decided that I’d give you a few days to get over yourself, and then make another attempt to explain. Before I could, Kelly came round all upset that you’d taken the job in Germany.’
That was another thing he’d never really understood. ‘But you obviously never told Kel about that night. It was as if you were trying to forget it ever happened.’
She laughed, bitterly. ‘Like, “Oh, I had a hot night with your brother, but then he acted like a petulant kid, so it’s already over”? I wasn’t going to risk your macho pride making things difficult between me and Kelly. Especially as then … well, Mum and Dad were killed.’ A tear eased from the corner of her eye and she brushed it away. ‘And when you heard the news and rang – guess what? Dean had just told me that he couldn’t see our relationship working with me moving back here to make a home for Ross, he didn’t want to be tied down by his own kids for years to come, let alone by someone’s teenage brother. So I wasn’t in the mood to justify myself to you. Or to soothe your ego.’
Jake gazed at her wordlessly.
His expression of horror and dismay actually made Darcie laugh. It was so ludicrous. ‘So that’s why I said I could cope without you.’
‘Shit,’ he muttered, hoarsely.
‘That’s pretty much what I called you.’ A sigh rose from deep inside. ‘Now we’re having this long-overdue heart-to-heart, you might as well understand that – well, I’ve got Ross. He might seem like almost an adult, but he’s got three more years at school, and then he might go to uni.’
She pulled in a long, wavering breath, flicking a glance at him through spiky lashes. ‘Ross isn’t a commitment I pick up and put down. When I offered him a home it was a proper home, not a make-do. I promised him that, and that’s what I’m going to give him.’ She gazed past his ear, waiting for him to consider, to temporise, explain that his job would probably take him away and all he wanted was something light.
Yeah. And maybe they’d have something light until he went. Why not? So long as it didn’t affect Ross. The damage had already been done to her heart so she might as well get something out of allowing herself to open up to Jake – figuratively and literally – and fall in love. When the affair careered to its natural end, she’d just have to get herself all zipped closed again.
His hand tightened on hers. ‘Darcie—’
And then her phone rang, cutting through the conversation as if it had planned it. When Darcie saw Lynda McClare’s name on the screen, she sighed. ‘Sorry, I have to take this. Hullo?’
Lynda McClare sounded annoyed. ‘Look, Darcie,’ she said, ‘I know your lad’s had a lot to put up with, and I know Casey’s given him hell. But I’m afraid that if he pisses in my front porch again, I’ll report him to the police.’
Darcie closed her eyes. Brilliant, Ross had picked his moment to start acting up. ‘Oh no! I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.’
But good. Good. Good! Better Jake should realise that this was what her commitment to Ross meant, the type of thing she had to deal with.
Her role was to be available when her little brother went pissing on doorsteps.
Unsteadily, she rang Ross. ‘Lynda McClare says you just peed on her doorstep and she’s talking about notifying the police.’
Silence.
‘Did you?’
A heavy sigh. ‘I was annoyed.’
Darcie’s eyes prickled with fresh tears. ‘That wasn’t a wise thing to do. You’d got your revenge and your place was in the right. Why did you have to
do something so stupid, and put yourself in the wrong?’ A couple of the tears burned their way out from under her lids.
‘I was just … Has she really set the police on me?’
‘Not yet.’
‘How does she know it’s me?’
‘I suppose she must have been watching.’
‘Oh. Gross.’ But there was a note of laughter in his voice.
The tears tipped from her eyes and dripped down both cheeks, making Darcie suffer a complete sense of humour failure. ‘Where are you?’
‘On the bench at the bottom of Queen’s Road.’
‘Come home, Ross. You’re grounded.’
‘I’m—?’ Disbelief was loud in his voice.
‘Grounded,’ she confirmed, wiping her face with her palm. ‘Home in five.’ And ended the call.
Her eyes felt like they’d been licked shut like an envelope. She eased herself from Jake’s lap without looking at him and nipped up to the bathroom to repair the damage she’d done to her mascara, and didn’t run back down the stairs until she heard Ross slam in through the door.
‘This is so lame,’ he said, belligerently. ‘Casey—’
She cut him off with a glare. ‘I don’t care what Casey does. I care what Ross does. You either accept that you’re grounded or you go along to the McClare’s house and apologise, and wash up your mess.’ She broke off to glare briefly past him to where Jake had suddenly begun to grin.
Horror flashed across Ross’s face. ‘Clean it up? But Casey would piss herself—’
‘And that would make two of you!’
‘All right,’ he snapped. ‘I’m grounded. But this is lame.’ And he strode past her and up the stairs in three angry strides.
Jake hadn’t moved from the sofa, although his eyes still danced. She dropped down beside him and closed her eyes. ‘Don’t laugh. That boy kills me.’
He placed his hand deliberately on her left breast. ‘Your heart is still beating.’ He stooped and kissed the same spot. Then he trailed his hand down to her waistband and began to flip open her jeans.
Ignoring a jolt of desire, she placed her hand over his. ‘Sorry. Ross might come in. No can do.’
Slowly, he removed his hand, meeting her eyes. ‘Wow. This is a real test, isn’t it? I could completely screw everything up with the wrong reaction.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s not a test. It’s real life. It’s what happens around Ross. He gets in scrapes, he comes over all teenager. He gets moody when he’s dealing with his grief for Mum and Dad. If you’re not happy with that …’
He lifted his hand to her cheek. ‘I could be ecstatically happy – with Ross around – if you want me.’ He moved his finger to her lips to halt her impetuous interruption. He stared into her eyes. ‘See, if you want me, if you want us to be together, I want it, too. Ross is a great kid. I’ll find another job in this area and do my damnedest to give us all a happy ever after.
‘What I can’t do is stay, watching you, wanting you, if you don’t want it to work out. I couldn’t do it before, and I can’t do it now.’
Darcie felt joy begin to seep into all her limbs, like the effects of a drug. She slid her fingertips into his waistband and let them brush against warm, hairy flesh. ‘And if I don’t want it to work out, would you get up all indignant and tell me to keep my clothes on?’
He began to smile. ‘No.’ He shifted a little as her fingers probed. ‘Are you going to say that?’
‘No,’ she whispered, biting gently at his throat, tasting the saltiness of his skin. ‘I want you very much. I want you now, this instant, I want you to stay and I want to be together. Most of all, I want you to love me. So that it’s OK to love you.’ She gasped as her fingertip brushed the silken heat of him.
‘I do love you,’ he whispered, touching her lips with the tip of his tongue. ‘And I want you very very much. I want you hot and naked. But,’ he unhooked her fingers out of the top of his jeans, ‘behave yourself. Ross might come in.’ He winked.
Shocked at herself at such a lapse, she froze. Wow, she’d almost got completely carried away with Jake’s heat and nearness.
Then she relaxed, giving him her hottest, sexiest smile. ‘But he’s the one who’s grounded. We’re not. Your place?’
~ ends ~
About the Author
Sue Moorcroft is a working writer. Is This Love? is her ninth novel and sixth novel with Choc Lit – Starting Over, All That Mullarkey, Want to Know a Secret?, Love & Freedom and Dream a Little Dream. Love & Freedom won the 2011 Best Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Festival of Romance and Dream a Little Dream was shortlisted for a 2013 Romantic Novel Award.
Sue has published over a hundred short stories, articles and several serials in magazines. She was a runner-up in the Ford Fiesta Short Story Competition and a winner of the Katie Fforde Bursary Award. She’s a creative writing tutor for distance learning and residential courses in the UK and abroad. She has written courses for the London School of Journalism and, with her tutor’s hat on: LOVE WRITING – How to Make Money Writing Romantic or Erotic Fiction (published Jan 2010). She is Vice Chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
www.suemoorcroft.com
www.suemoorcroft.wordpress.com
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More from Sue Moorcroft
Is this Love?
How many ways can one woman love?
When Tamara Rix’s sister Lyddie is involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves her in need of constant care, Tamara resolves to remain in the village she grew up in. Tamara would do anything for her sister, even sacrifice a long-term relationship.
But when Lyddie’s teenage sweetheart Jed Cassius returns to Middledip, he brings news that shakes the Rix family to their core. Jed’s life is shrouded in mystery, particularly his job, but despite his strange background, Tamara can’t help being intrigued by him.
Can Tamara find a balance between her love for Lyddie and growing feelings for Jed, or will she discover that some kinds of love just don’t mix?
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store:
UK here
US here
Starting Over
New home, new friends, new love. Can starting over be that simple?
Tess Riddell reckons her beloved Freelander is more reliable than any man – especially her ex-fiancé, Olly Gray. She’s moving on from her old life and into the perfect cottage in the country.
Miles Rattenbury’s passions? Old cars and new women! Romance? He’s into fun rather than commitment.
When Tess crashes the Freelander into his breakdown truck, they find that they’re nearly neighbours – yet worlds apart. Despite her overprotective parents and a suddenly attentive Olly, she discovers the joys of village life and even forms an unlikely friendship with Miles. Then, just as their relationship develops into something deeper, an old flame comes looking for him ...
Is their love strong enough to overcome the past? Or will it take more than either of them is prepared to give?
Part of the ‘Three Hot Heroes’ Collection
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store:
UK here
US here
All That Mullarkey
Revenge and love: it’s a thin line …
The writing’s on the wall for Cleo and Gav. The bedroom wall, to be precise. And it says ‘This marriage is over.’
Wounded and furious, Cleo embarks on a night out with the girls, which turns into a glorious one-night stand with …
Justin, centrefold material and irrepressibly irresponsible. He loves a little wildness in a woman – and he’s in the right place at the right time to enjoy Cleo’s.
But it’s Cleo who has to pick up the pieces – of a marriage based on a lie and the lasting repercussions of that night. Torn between laid-back Justin and control-freak Gav, she’s a free spirit that life is trying to tie down. But the rewards are worth it!
Part of the ‘Three Hot Heroes’ Collection
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store:
UK here
US here
Want to Know a Secret?
Money, love and family. Which matters most?
When Diane Jenner’s husband is hurt in a helicopter crash, she discovers a secret that changes her life. And it’s all about money, the kind of money the Jenners have never had.
James North has money, and he knows it doesn’t buy happiness. He’s been a rock for his wayward wife and troubled daughter – but that doesn’t stop him wanting Diane.
James and Diane have something in common: they always put family first. Which means that what happens in the back of James’s Mercedes is a really, really bad idea.
Or is it?
Part of the ‘Three Hot Heroes’ Collection
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store:
UK here
US here
Love & Freedom
Winner of the Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award 2011
New start, new love.
That’s what Honor Sontag needs after her life falls apart, leaving her reputation in tatters and her head all over the place. So she flees her native America and heads for Brighton, England.
Honor’s hoping for a much-deserved break and the chance to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby. What she gets is an entanglement with a mysterious male whose family seems to have a finger in every pot in town.
Gorgeous Reads for Christmas (Choc Lit) Page 47
