Courtney nodded and wrapped her arms around herself.
“Said he’d kill my family too,” she said shaking her head, “I had to leave, I had to keep them safe.”
Dylan nodded as if to say he understood and then he got to his feet.
“You’re safe here, with me,” he said. “I’ll look after you.”
Courtney smiled. “Thank you.”
“I’m leaving tonight,” he said with a disappointed tone.
Courtney said up and pulled the bed sheet around her.
“What do you mean?” she said confused.
“I have to go west,” he reached down and tipped her chin up with his index finger. “A big job for the club, but I’ll be back in a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” she shrieked. “But… you can’t leave.”
“I’ve got to babe,” he said as he pulled on his jeans, “I don’t want to, but I’ve got to…”
“But we’ve just…” she began.
“I know, trust me the last thing I want to do is leave you here and go to work… But I had to make you mine before I did to make sure you wouldn’t go anywhere.”
Courtney felt a smile creep over her face.
“Just passing through?” he said with a grin. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay,” she smiled coyly, “I’ll wait.”
“It’ll be worth it, trust me.” He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. “And you don’t have to worry about your ex-boss. Only a little pussy would threaten a gorgeous girl like you, and he certainly won’t get away with it.”
Courtney smiled at him and knew that her heart was open to him already. She could feel herself falling in love with him, even after just one encounter. He was the most amazing man she had ever met.
As he dressed and she heard the roar of the bikes outside, she knew without a doubt she couldn’t leave without seeing him again. He was her man and she owed it to him to wait.
When he kissed her she fought back the tears and quickly got dressed so she could go to say goodbye. She went downstairs with him and they both walked through the bar and to the front door. When they got outside and he climbed onto his Harley, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. The others watched them and she knew what they were all thinking… Now it all made sense. Dylan didn’t want the scrawny, cheap girls that hung around The Buckhorn. He wanted someone like Courtney. Someone curvy, sexy and classy with the appeal of an old school Hollywood siren.
As they all rode away, Dylan turned back to look at her and she blew him a kiss. It felt cruel that he should have to leave so soon after they had got together, but she knew he would be back and it meant she had the excitement of waiting. Until he returned, she would work hard and rest. She had the feeling she was going to need all of her strength on his return.
The weeks passed slowly, and with each day the air seemed to become more dense and unbearable. Courtney sat in the bar every evening and watched out the window. Each time she heard the thunder of the bike in the distance, her ears pricked up and she hoped it would be Dylan.
Brogan knew when they would return but didn’t tell her. There was also the proud part of her that didn’t want to ask. Even though it was killing her not knowing when she would see him again, she didn’t want to show the other men around The Buckhorn how much she cared for him. She needed to keep her guard up around them so no one tried to sabotage what they had. She had heard about members being territorial and suspicious and she didn’t want any of them to take a disliking to her, so she mainly kept to herself.
A few weeks passed, and there was still no sign. Courtney hadn’t been feeling well so she told Brogan she couldn’t work that night. She curled up on her bed with the electric fan on and closed her eyes. It seemed so much hotter lately and she fanned herself with her hand. She rolled onto her side and when she opened her eyes they fell instantly on the calendar at the side of her bed.
It took a while to dawn on her, but she realized that four weeks had now gone since she and Dylan had been together and in that time she hadn’t had her period. She sat up quickly and felt her heart hammering in her chest.
No, she thought, surely not…
7.
She closed the door to her room and made her way into the bathroom. After she read the instructions and did what she had to do, she lay the test down on the side of the sink and waited. She sat on the floor and pulled her knees up to the chin. She had never been more tired. She had been feeling the heat more than usual. She hadn’t been feeling herself. But she had put it down to all of her mixed emotions and the fact that she was in a new state and living a completely new life.
Her mind ticked over as she waited, knowing already what the outcome was going to be. She could feel it inside her. She had changed. Her body had changed. Dylan’s powerful seed had filled her and impregnated her. She just knew it.
After two minutes passed, she couldn’t wait any longer and leapt up. She pulled the white stick from the side of the sink and looked at the little windows… each had a perfectly strong pink line running through them.
I’m pregnant, she thought. I’m going to have Dylan’s baby.
8.
She had been at The Buckhorn for six weeks and finally, after four and a half long weeks away, Dylan returned. Courtney was working downstairs, stacking the glasses and cleaning the table tops when she heard the roar of bike engines approaching. She dropped her bar towel and ran to the doorway. It was the first night in a long while that the air had a chill to it, and she shivered as goose bumps rose on her forearms. Nerves were building. She could sense he was nearby. She had the biggest news to tell him, but was totally unsure of how he was going to take it.
As she saw the bikes thundering down the highway, she wrapped her arms around herself and felt a rush of adrenaline. Her man was nearly home.
Dylan was at the front of the convoy, and as he rode into the parking lot and came to a halt, Courtney ran down to meet him. He scooped her up in his huge arms and kissed her hard on the mouth. She wrapped herself around him and let him lift her like a doll as he walked with her toward the door to The Buckhorn.
“I missed you,” he said.
She nuzzled into him and breathed him in. It felt like he had been gone forever, but now that he was there with her, all of the memories of their wild night came flooding back.
“I missed you, too,” she said as she kissed him again.
The other bikers all stayed outside, but Dylan and Courtney went into the bar and he carried her upstairs to her room. Her heart was pounding with all she had to tell him. She could only hope that he was as ready for this as she was.
As he closed the door behind them, he took one look at her and said, “What’s going on?”
She took a deep breath and shrugged.
“We really have to talk,” she said.
“Oh?” he ran his hand through his hair, “Well that doesn’t sound good.”
“Depends how you look at it,” she smiled.
“What’s going on?” he took off his jacket and threw it down on the floor.
Courtney looked at the size of him and of how muscular and defined he was. He was like a god before her.
“I’m pregnant, Dylan.” She didn’t see the point of beating around the bush.
His face was still for a moment before he looked at her as if she were joking. When she nodded to confirm she wasn’t messing around, he sat back on her dressing chair and rubbed his chin.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” he said.
“I’m going to keep it,” she said.
His eyes snapped up to look at her, “Of course you are,” he rose to his feet and crossed the room to her. “You’re my woman,” he said, “And this is our child,” he rubbed her stomach, “I’m going to take care of you.”
Courtney relaxed. She looked into his big almond eyes and knew he was telling her the truth. He had wanted her to wait for him and she had, and now he was going to stick to his end of the barg
ain too. Just like he said before he left, he was going to protect her.
“I’m going to take care of you, too,” she whispered. “You’re my family now.”
He ran his hands through her hair and kissed her. She had never felt more safe and at ease with a man. After such a short time together, they had formed an unbreakable bond and were now about to bring a new life into the world.
“We are family,” he said, “But I have something to tell you, too,” Dylan broke her train of thought.
“What?” she asked with panic.
He pulled away from her and reached down to his jacket. He pulled out a wallet from one of the pockets and tossed it across the room to her. She caught it and held it in her hands, confused and totally unsure of what to do with it.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A promise already fulfilled,” he said.
Courtney looked down and opened the wallet. When she saw what was inside she instantly shuddered and threw it onto the floor.
“You didn’t?” she asked.
“I did,” he moved forward to her, “I told you, no one threatens a woman and gets away with it.”
On the floor, the credit cards and driving license of Mark Barnes spilled out onto the floor like a fan.
“Is he dead?” she asked him.
Dylan didn’t answer her, but he looked down at the floor and kicked the wallet away before scooping her up in his arms and kissing her again.
“So,” he said, “When do I get to the meet the in-laws?”
The happiness she felt at the realization she would be able to go home and see her parents was unparalleled. She felt the tears well up in her eyes. Although she knew she was making a life and a family with Dylan now and would never leave this place for good, she could also have her mom and dad back, too… and it was the best feeling in the world.
THE END
In the Time of the Caveman
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
1.
Melissa sat looking out across the runway and sipped her coffee slowly. She had waited for a moment like this for her entire life, and now the pressure of being on the verge of launching herself into an important discovery was starting to weigh heavy. Deep down, she knew she was ready for it, but there was still a small, nagging doubt at the back of her mind. What if she missed something? What if she did something wrong that lost some important information? What if Jake continued to distract her?
She looked down at her watch and saw that she still had three hours before their flight was due to leave. She had gotten to the airport ridiculously early so she wouldn’t find herself flapping around at the last minute and risk getting caught in traffic. Melissa was always prepared, but she didn’t feel like there would ever be enough time to prepare for this. Her whole career had been building up to it, and now she was on her way to discover something no one else in the world had ever seen. As she thought about how fortunate she was, a smile slowly unfolded across her face. She could do it. And she would do it well.
“Mel!” a voice called from a distance.
She spun around on the leather coffee house chair and scanned the crowd of fellow travelers placing orders, swimming around duty-free shops and having pre-flight drinks to calm their nerves. She saw his hand in the air before she saw his face, but nonetheless she knew it was him. Jake stood tall and proud as he marched through the crowd to reach her, and Melissa stood up reluctantly to greet him.
“How’s it going?” he asked as he slung his backpack down to the floor by her table.
“Great,” Melissa smiled, unsure of what else to say.
“So I guess this is kind of weird,” Jake shrugged. “The two of us, heading off for a fortnight of fun in France.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. Melissa found herself wanting to wince.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “It is a little strange…” She looked down at the floor and decided to go back to her seat. Tension between her and Jake had been mounting since the Christmas party when they’d both gotten obscenely drunk and ended up getting to know each other a little too well in the lab’s stock cupboard. Melissa liked Jake a lot at first until she found out he had a fiancé at home. Now Melissa tried to avoid him at all costs and thought of him like the love rat that he was. She didn’t need someone like him in her life, and she was almost free until the original archaeologist planned for this expedition crashed his car and broke his leg, rendering him unable to travel. So now it was just the two of them traveling the eight-hour journey from JFK to Charles de Gaulle, and Melissa couldn’t wait to finally meet up with the rest of the crew so things weren’t so one-on-one.
“Guess I’ll get a drink then,” Jake said as he rooted for his wallet and crossed over to the counter.
Melissa watched him. Since the night they had sex in the laboratory, she knew that he had broken up with his fiancé, but she still couldn’t consider him a good choice for a boyfriend. There was something about him that made her skin crawl.
Melissa reached into her purse and pulled out her journal. She had been making notes and references ever since the cave was discovered, and she wanted to do nothing on the flight except continue recording her ideas and research theories. She had always been the type of girl to put her personal life on hold while she pursued her career, and her present situation was no exception. She would have to push Jake and their predicament to the very back of her mind while she threw herself into the excavation and investigation. This cave was still a secret to the world and what was down there no one truly knew.
She flipped open her laptop and opened a document she received the previous week. It said CONFIDENTIAL across the top and was only viewable to her by password. She still couldn’t believe what it said. She scanned the document again…
An underground cave-like structure has been discovered in the Dordogne region of Southwest France by farmers working in the area. Early reports suggest the presence of prehistoric paintings similar to those of the Lascaux Caves in the same region. The Lascaux Caves have been sealed to researchers and all visitors since the discovery of fungi which began destroying the paintings, rendering them irreparable. If this recent discovery of a new structure is what it appears to be, this may be one of the most significant pre-historic discoveries of all time…
Her heart was beating fast in her chest as she looked at the initial snapshots captured by the farmers on their cellphones as they loitered at the opening to the cave. It was an incredible sight, even for someone like Melissa who had spent her whole life studying similar images. She knew this was something big, and she couldn’t wait to get there.
2.
The flight across the Atlantic went without incident except Jake making a cringe-worthy suggestion that maybe they should join the mile-high club. Melissa had flashed him a fake smile and turned her shoulder to block him out as she read through her notes and jotted down some other things that came to mind.
Jake had never been on a serious expedition before, and it was becoming more obvious with each passing moment. His inexperience oozed from him and his questions to Melissa were both irrelevant and irritating. When he finally drank enough vodka to send him off into a soundless sleep, Melissa closed her journal and picked up the headphones. She hadn’t had the time to watch a movie for years, and she was determined to take advantage of the opportunity while she knew Jake couldn’t hassle her.
As she flipped through the endless choices of horror, action and comedies she finally settled on an innocent-looking rom-com and made h
erself comfortable. If she didn’t have real love in her life, she could always live it through someone else’s fictional ideal. She smiled and wrapped the airline blanket around her as she settled into her seat. By the time the movie finished, they would pretty much be there and the next phase of their journey would begin… A three-hour train ride from Paris to Bordeaux.
Charles de Gaulle was hectic and stressful as Melissa and Jake waited for their bags. Exhaustion coursed through her and all she wanted to do was climb into bed.
“Come on, Mel,” Jake chirped as he raced ahead towards the taxi rank, “I don’t want to miss this goddam train.”
Melissa cursed him under her breath as she tried to keep up with him, mentally ripping him to shreds for not helping her with the heavy backpack she had slung over her shoulder.
Some gentleman you are, she thought. Not that I would expect anything less!
She couldn’t believe her terrible luck in having her first world discovery tarnished by Jake’s presence. If only another, more experienced archaeologist were by her side, they would have had an interesting and productive time. But now Melissa was going to be stuck carrying dead-weight Jake, explaining every aspect of the excavation to him and avoiding his lustful advances. The thought of going there again made her stomach churn. She was so angry with him for lying to her and taking advantage when she was drunk but also at herself for lowering her standards. She always knew Jake had a crush on her, and she could have avoided it. She should have known better than to trust a man like him. Someone so cocky and confident, it was more than arrogance. It was pure nastiness.
They jumped into the cab and swung out into the busy French traffic. It wasn’t far to the station but Jake still sat on edge, acting like they were going to miss it even though they had over an hour to spare.
He’s overcompensating now for his lack of capability, Melissa mused. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than this, Jake…
[Runes of Argyl 01.0] The Runes of Argyl Trilogy Page 92
