“Mia,” Cayd called after her, as she made a beeline for the ballroom’s exit doors.
Glancing over her shoulder at him, she pursed her lips together and pushed through the doors, heading straight for the elevator bay. She called out to hold the lift as the doors were about to close and was lucky that the occupants waited to let her in.
“Thank you,” she smiled, as she took her place near them, closely followed of course, by Cayd.
“Where are you going?” he demanded, as soon as the lift doors were closed.
Mia hadn’t bothered to punch a button, she was just willing to ride the lift to wherever it was going, in the hopes that Cayd would be left outside it. But now, she glanced at the levels.
“The bar of course.” She leaned forward and pressed the floor that stated ‘bar and restaurant’. “I have some ‘picking up’ to do.”
Choosing to ignore her childish insinuation, Cayd tried to keep his voice calm. “You’re headed in the wrong direction for the bar. This lift is going up,” he pointed out.
“I’ll get there eventually.”
When the elevator doors pinged open, the couple inside made a hasty retreat, glad for freedom away from what was about to turn into a lover’s quarrel.
Although, the moment the doors closed and the lift once again began to move, Cayd pressed the stop button.
“Tell me what you’re upset about.”
“Cayd. What are you doing? Start the bloody lift or they’ll call the fire brigade.”
“Tell me what she said to you.”
Mia folded her arms and leaned against the wall of the lift. “She said that you’d slept with her and every other girl out there, and that you got some girl pregnant and took off. But mostly, she just went on about how young I am, and how you’ll get bored with me and toss me aside once I’m over thirty.”
Cayd let out a sigh, and stepped toward her, sliding his hands up to either side of her face. “Mia, I’m not going to lie to you. I have been with a lot of those women out there. But not one of them even holds a candle to you. She’s just trying to upset you. You, my love, are the only one I see. The only one I want to be with. You’re the only one who can run and have me pursue. I don’t care what those women think. I care about you. I love you. Only you,” he whispered, gently kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her eyes and finally her mouth.
Mia let out a whimper as his tongue entered her mouth, sliding against her own as he possessed her with his adoration. A frenzy overcame them, as her body screamed with want and he moaned in response. Suddenly, he was pulling her dress up as she reached between them and unbuckled his pants, reaching her hand inside and rubbing her hand over his shaft.
Gripping her beneath her buttocks, he lifted her, using the carriage wall to support her as she pulled her panties aside to guide his length inside her.
As he sunk himself into her warm depths, he paused, pulling his face back just enough so that their gazes could meet. “Only. You,” he repeated, before taking her mouth once again and thrusting himself inside her.
Mia’s arms went around Cayd, her hands sliding into his hair and turning it into a beautiful dark mess as she gripped it tightly, gasping and moaning as he showed her how much he wanted her – needed her – with his body, his words and his emotions.
Her climax hit suddenly, his following shortly after. As they stilled, connected and wrapped up in each other, Mia realised how ridiculous it was of her to let the words of that Belle woman get to her.
She already knew that Cayd had a past. But as long as his future was with her, it shouldn’t matter what happened before. She couldn’t imagine something that could be shocking enough that it could drive them apart. Together, they could face anything.
In the quiet of their afterglow, she realised she was just being petulant after being embarrassed by Belle in the ladies room. And if she was very honest with herself, she was slightly jealous that there were other women around who knew Cayd intimately.
“I love you, Cayd,” she whispered, gently kissing him beneath his jaw as they both caught their breath. “I’m sorry for reacting the way I did.”
“I love you too, and it’s all right. I have a past I’m not entirely proud of. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Suddenly, the speaker in the elevator crackled. “So…are you two finished now or are you going to go another round? Not trying to interrupt your moment or anything, but we kind of need to restart the lift,” a male voice said.
Mia’s eyes grew to the size of saucers when she realised they had just done that on camera. Cayd reacted with a groan before he started to chuckle. “Give us one minute. We’re very sorry,” he called out.
The speaker crackled to life again. “No problem. Happens all the time.”
As Cayd lowered Mia to the ground and they both righted themselves, they couldn’t help but laugh when the elevator began to travel again.
When the doors opened to the public bar, Cayd took Mia by the hand and kissed her on the temple. “How about we have a drink here and get ourselves tidied up then we can go back and show those women that they can’t chase you away?” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles as he looked into her eyes.
She nodded, her eyes softened with her love for him. “Ok,” she whispered, before excusing herself to visit the ladies room while Cayd went and ordered them both a drink.
When they finally returned to the ballroom, Mia stayed close, with Cayd’s arm wrapped protectively around her for the rest of the night. She smiled, they danced, and she didn’t again make any eye contact with Belle Fleming, or any of the other women whose eyes she could feel following her movements. She simply held her head high and luxuriated in the attentions of her man.
Howard Donnelly sat and watched his son and Mia as they spent the evening having eyes only for each other. Their interactions reminded him of how he felt about his late wife, Camilla. It saddened him and brought him joy at the same time. It also had him writing a much bigger cheque for the Grief Society than he normally would, the thought holding in his mind that perhaps a larger donation could somehow ensure that at least one family wouldn’t endure the same amount of loss that his had.
“He’s growing up. How long has this been going on for?” Howard’s ex-wife asked, as she sat down beside him.
Sipping his whiskey, he carefully placed his glass on the table in front of him before bothering to respond. There wasn’t a lot of love lost between Howard and his ex-wife. Marrying her had been a mistake that he made while he was still in mourning for his first wife. He had taken the attentions of a younger woman and used them to try and dull some of the ache in his broken heart.
Needless to say, she was only in the marriage for his name and his money and they had divorced within a year when she had become pregnant and tried to tell him that the baby was his.
Little did she know, Howard had had a vasectomy after the birth of his second son as he and Camilla had considered their family complete. So he was positive that the pregnancy was a result of an infidelity, and divorced her.
“Long enough,” he answered eventually, immediately lifting his glass and taking another sip.
“Is he actually serious about this one?” she asked, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she sat and watched his son with his partner.
Finally, Howard glanced in her direction. “Why does it matter, Belle? He isn’t any of your concern, and hasn’t been for many years.”
She lifted a shoulder slightly. “Just making conversation. After all, he is your son and I worry for the girl. Neither of you are good at handling relationships when things get a little rough.”
“You and I both know that baby wasn’t mine, Belle.”
Leaning forward, she rested her arms along the table and let out a deep sigh. “There was no baby, Howard. It was all a huge mistake.”
Grunting, Howard tipped the last of his whiskey back and replaced the glass on the table. “I’m not really interested, Belle. And
I think finding a girl outside this circle of duplicitous women is the best thing my son has ever done. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, pushing back on his seat and walking away from the poison that was Belle Fleming.
Chapter 9
MIA AND Cayd returned to Melbourne the next day, leaving Eric behind to spend a bit more time with Natalie. His plan was to stay just until she was out of hospital. He wanted to see her home and on the road to recovery. It felt wrong to show up and then leave her again.
His boss, Barry, hadn’t been overly happy when he told him that his trip was being extended, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Eric rarely ever took holidays and he had over a month’s worth accrued. So in the end, Baz had no choice but to agree.
After dropping Mia and Cayd off at the airport, he drove straight out to Mosman and parked the rental car outside the granny flat he was staying in. It belonged to a long-time friend of the Johnson’s and was rarely used. But it was clean, and aptly furnished with a two-seater sofa bed, a coffee table, small TV set, and a small round, three piece dining table to eat at. The kitchen held a fridge that was only a little bigger than a bar fridge, a bench top oven and dual hot plate and a microwave – it was all more than adequate for Eric to prepare a simple meal.
In the bedroom was a double bed, two bedside tables and a built in closet with drawers and shelving inside. There was a small bathroom that housed a toilet, shower and basin. It was perfect for a short stay, and although they were more than happy to have him stay for free, he had insisted on paying some sort of rent to at least cover his utilities.
When he got inside, he took his suitcase into the bedroom and laid it on the end of the bed, before walking out into the living area and sitting on the couch. He was at a bit at a loss of what to do and decided to pull his phone out and give Natalie a call to check if she had been told when she’s going home yet.
“Yes. They’re going to release me tomorrow. I’m healing really well, and I’ve gained a little weight which they’re happy about. I have to have regular counselling sessions which is a really good thing, and I need to make a safety plan.”
“Do you want me to pick you up, or are your parents bringing you back?”
“I think I’d better let my parents bring me back. Can I call you when I’m settled and at home? Maybe you can come over for dinner or something? I’d like it if we could just spend some time together without all the tubes and the beeping noises of the hospital.”
“Ok. I’ll wait for you to call me,” he said quietly before telling her that he’ll leave her to get some rest.
“Eric?” she said before he disconnected the call.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For staying. For giving me another chance.”
“I think we’re both getting another chance here, Natalie. Rest up. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
After Eric disconnected the call, he went back into his contacts list and called Josh to let him know he would be staying a bit longer too.
“Wow man, that’s a pretty big step. Are you sure you want to start something with her again?”
“Things between us never really ended, Josh.”
The next morning, Natalie rose early, excited that it was the day she would finally go home. The doctors started their rounds at 9am and were generally in her room by 9:30 at the latest, so she knew that once they’d been, she’d finally have the drips removed from her arms so she could shower and dress in preparation for returning home.
She had been prescribed anti-depressants the day before, and when the doctors entered her room, she was handed a bag containing her prescriptions, the pill bottle and a bill from the pharmacy.
They asked her how she was feeling and checked how her wrists were mending, again commenting about the depth she had cut herself and remarking that she was lucky that she didn’t damage her tendons and therefore the continued use of her hands.
They had said this to her on the first morning as well. At the time she had wanted to scream at them for making such ludicrous comments. She had been trying to kill herself. She didn’t care if she could still use her hands. She was angry that she was awake at all.
But now, she didn’t feel that way. When they again told her she was lucky, this time she agreed, because Eric was back in her life.
Seeing him again made the year they’d been apart fall away. Everything she felt was just as intense as it was before, only this time, she was Natalie. There would be no secrets, she didn’t want to experience a life without him ever again.
“Everything looks great, Natalie. As soon as the nurses can come in and remove all those tubes that I’m sure you’re tired of, you can go home. Just make sure you keep focused on your recovery ok? There’s a lot of help out there, you don’t have to go through anything alone.”
“Thank you, doctor,” she said, as her lips curved into a smile while she watched the doctors leave. She turned to her mother, elated. “I’m coming home.”
“I’m so glad, sweetheart. Just please, don’t ever do this again. Promise you’ll get help and that you’ll talk to us in future.”
“Absolutely, mum. I’m feeling really positive now, and I’m so sorry for scaring you. I’m sorry I let it go so far.”
“Everything always gets better with time, sweetheart. Now, let’s just take this all one day at a time, starting with today. I’ll go and see how long it will be before the nurses get here so I can call your father to pick us up. I’ll be right back.” Sandra gave Natalie’s hand a gentle squeeze before heading out of the room in search of the nurses.
It was almost an hour before they were finally ready to leave. Natalie had requested that her mother bring one of her shirts that had long, loose sleeves so that the bandages around her wrists wouldn’t call any extra attention to her when she exited the hospital on her way home.
Contrary to popular belief, she hadn’t tried to end things for attention. She really hadn’t expected to wake up the next morning in a hospital, still living. She had thought it would be over, and now that she had a second chance, she didn’t want to display to the world what she’d tried to do. Now, she wanted to focus on healing.
Despite her body being weak, Natalie felt energised to be leaving the hospital so she could start her life anew. A little over a week ago, there seemed as though there was no hope left for her in this world. Now, she had so much to look forward to.
A contented smile fixed itself upon her face and stayed there as her father drove her home.
As the hours passed, Eric began to grow restless waiting in the small flat. He was normally such an active person – always working, going to the gym, or going out with friends. It was rare for him to be idle. So to pass the time, he decided to do an altered workout of jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups, and anything else he could think of that he could do without equipment or a lot of space.
By the time his muscles burned enough for him to decide he’d worked hard enough, it was coming close to dinner time. Knowing that Natalie would be calling him soon, he took his phone into the bathroom while he showered so he didn’t miss her call.
Walking out of the cupboard sized bathroom with his towel wrapped tightly around his waist, he was looking at his phone, contemplating whether he should call or if he should just give her some more time when there was a knock at his door.
“One minute!” he called out, racing into the bedroom to grab a pair of pants and t-shirt to put on so he didn’t have to answer the door half naked.
When he opened the door, he found Natalie standing on the other side with a plastic bag filled with what smelled like Indian takeaway in her hands and a bottle of coke.
“I hope you don’t mind. I needed to get out of there,” she said with a sigh, as she took in the freshly showered Eric in front of her. Each time she laid her eyes on him, she couldn’t believe he was actually there. To her, he was breathtakingly beautiful, and she yearned to be near him. “They mean
well, but they’re smothering me.”
“Sure. Come in,” he said, standing to the side and holding his hands out to relieve her of the bags she had in hand.
“Sorry about the Coke. They put me on anti-depressants so I can’t drink wine or anything.”
“Don’t be silly. Coke’s fine.” Eric placed the items on the table then busied himself in the kitchen by grabbing plates, cutlery and glasses.
Natalie loved watching him move around and found herself smiling at him before realising he was doing the same thing.
“I’m sorry, I can’t stop smiling because you’re here,” she breathed.
Eric placed everything on the table and stepped close to her. “I want to kiss you. But I’m afraid it’s too soon. I want to take things slow with you. I’m worried I’ll hurt you,” he whispered.
“I want to take things slow too. But I want you to kiss me. I need to know that it still feels the same,” she responded, also in a whisper as she looked up into his eyes.
Slowly, Eric bowed his head toward her and brushed his lips against hers. Natalie’s breath caught as her eyes fluttered closed. That spark, it was there. The moment they touched, her chest swelled as emotions flooded her body.
Feeling a similar response within his own body, Eric moved his hand up to cup the side of her face as he closed his mouth over hers, breathing her in deeply as their mouths moved against each other’s.
The empty ache that had lived inside each of their chests over the last year was suddenly filled with all of the love and devotion they felt for each other. There was no use fighting it anymore. They were miserable without each other. And despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding their initial meeting, they couldn’t live apart any longer. They were soul mates. To be apart caused a sickness in each of their hearts that neither of them could bear.
Slowly, Eric pulled away and slid his hands along her arms, noting how fragile she felt beneath his fingers, feeling a heaviness settle within his heart and swell emotionally in his throat. He lifted her hands and pressed a soft kiss against each of her palms before lifting her sleeve slowly to reveal her bandages. Natalie’s breath caught as she flinched back in embarrassment. But he held her steady and brushed his fingers lightly over the gauze.
Our Lives Entwined Page 6
