Two Halves (Cate & Kian Book 2)

by Louise Hall

  Kian pushed the door open so she could come inside. “Wow, you’re drenched.” Her black t-shirt clung to her breasts. He tried to ignore the hard points of her nipples.

  He walked into the lounge and grabbed the duvet. “You’ve been sleeping in here?” Cate asked.

  Kian frowned, “every fucking room in this house reminds me of you.” He went to the laundry to get her a dry t-shirt.

  “Thank you,” Cate said when he came back. She turned her back to him, stripped off her wet t-shirt and bra and wriggled out of her wet jeans. When she’d changed into his old t-shirt, she turned back to face him.

  She lay down on the sofa with her back pressed against the cushions. Kian turned on his side to face her. He brushed a strand of wet hair away from her face. “I need to kiss you, angel.”

  “I want that,” Cate fisted her hand up in his t-shirt.

  He tangled his fingers up in her wet hair and leaned forward, his breath fanning across her lips. He could feel her nipples against his chest and it was taking every ounce of restraint he had not to touch them.

  Cate closed her eyes, cocooned between the back of the sofa and Kian’s hard body. She felt him thicken against her thigh.

  His lips brushed against hers. “I love you,” Kian murmured.

  Cate opened her mouth to respond and his tongue dipped inside. He tasted of coffee and peppermint. He licked the backs of her teeth, sending little shocks of pleasure through her body. She slid a hand up his t-shirt to touch the hard, flexing muscles of his back.

  His tongue dove deeper, his hand tugging her head back so he could lick the inside of her cheeks.

  She felt his hips move, grinding his erection against the bare skin of her thigh. As she fought for breath, he kissed along her jawline. Brushing her hair to one side, he tortured her neck with hot, open-mouthed kisses.

  “You’re too good at that,” Cate whimpered. She clung to him, digging her nails into his hot skin.

  “Cate,” Kian grunted, throwing his head back. She felt him tighten against her and then a splash of wetness against her thigh. “Fuck!” He pulled back, mortified that he’d come in his pants like a teenager again.

  “Don’t,” Cate pleaded, trying to keep hold of him. She wrapped her free leg around his waist.

  “I need to clean up,” Kian reached between them and touched her inner thigh. “I’ve marked you.”

  Cate covered his hand with hers and trailed their linked fingers through the wetness. “I like knowing that I can still do that to you.” She brought their hands up to her mouth and sucked the damp tips of their fingers.

  The next morning, Cate was woken up ridiculously early by her phone alarm. She reluctantly slid out of Kian’s grasp and climbed off the sofa. Her thigh was still sticky from Kian’s junk but she couldn’t do anything about it without risking waking him up so she grabbed her jeans from the radiator and tugged them on. She pulled off Kian’s t-shirt and was just about to reach for her bra when she felt his arms wind themselves around her waist. “Where are you going?” Kian asked huskily, his hands trailing up her ribs to stroke the undersides of her bare breasts.

  “Home,” Cate gulped. “I need to be back before Lola wakes up.”

  Kian cupped his wife’s breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her plump nipples. She felt his cock thicken against her bottom. “This is your home.”

  She removed his hands and quickly pulled on her bra. “No, it’s not. It hasn’t been my home since you let Jenna… you know… your…” Embarrassed, Cate gestured towards Kian’s groin.

  “What the fuck was last night then?” Kian shouted. “Or all the other nights I’ve spent in your bed? Is that all I am to you now, a warm fucking body to help you sleep?”

  “That’s not fair,” Cate said, reaching for her handbag.

  Kian took a step forward, hooking his finger through the belt loop of her jeans. “You’re my wife.”

  “I can’t forgive you.”

  “That’s not fucking true and you know it.” They were standing so close, Kian’s breath fanned out across her face. “You forgave me enough to let me in your bed.” He stroked his thumb over her kissed lips. “You forgave me enough to let me inside your mouth.” He reached for her free hand and pressed it against the front of his boxer shorts, which were still crusted with his junk from last night. “You forgave me enough to let me between your legs.”

  Cate slapped him. “you don’t need to be so crude.”

  Kian grabbed her wrist, “does it make you feel better?”

  Cate struggled against his grip, “please just let me go.”

  “Answer the question,” Kian demanded. “Does hurting me make you feel better?”

  “No,” Cate shook her head, “of course it doesn’t. I love you.”

  Kian dropped her wrist and stalked towards the front door. “I can’t do this anymore, you need to go.”

  “You’re kicking me out?”

  “I can’t do this fucking bullshit anymore, either you’re my wife or…” Kian yanked the front door open. “I don’t think we should see each other again until Sinead’s wedding. You need to decide what you really want.”

  Cate jumped as Kian slammed the front door behind her. I know what I want, that’s the problem. She had her Toms in her hand so she stopped to brush the gravel off her feet. She was just about to walk back to her car when Monty bounded across the courtyard towards her. “Hey, sweet boy,” she said, ruffling the top of his head. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

  Monty ran in circles around her legs barking loudly. Cate got this strange feeling in her stomach, like something wasn’t right. “What is it, sweetheart?”

  She grabbed his collar and walked him back to his own house. Erin loved Monty so much; it would break her heart if anything happened to him.

  She knocked on the front door but there was no answer. Ben’s car wasn’t in the driveway.

  Cate walked him around the side of the house to the back door, which she found slightly ajar. Monty easily freed himself from Cate’s grasp and launched himself at the door, sending it crashing back against the wall. He bounded down the hallway and skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.

  Cate found Erin slumped over at the bottom of the stairs. Her ankle was bent at a right-angle. “I need you to take me to the hospital.”

  Cate didn’t know if she could carry Erin to her car. “Stay there, I’ll get Kian.”

  “No,” Erin croaked. “You don’t understand.” Her skin was so white it was almost translucent.

  “Your ankle…” Cate said.

  Erin shook her head, “I’m bleeding.”

  As she struggled to stand up, Cate saw the dark red stain on the carpet. She had an instant flashback of the blood splattered on the bench outside the Black Horse. “I think I’m losing my baby.”

  Cate grabbed a towel from the washing line, wrapped it around Erin and guided her to the car.

  On the drive to the hospital, Cate tried to keep Erin talking but every time she looked over, Erin seemed to getting whiter. “Stay with me,” Cate pleaded, squeezing her sister-in-law’s hand. “We’re almost there.”

  When they got to Accident & Emergency, the nurses immediately put Erin on a gurney and rushed her away, leaving Cate on her own, clutching the bloodied towel.

  She called Ben to let him know what had happened and then all she could do was wait.

  When Ben got to the hospital, Cate had never seen her brother look so scared. He was family. She couldn’t stay angry with him.

  Nobody could tell them anything. They sat huddled in a corner of the waiting room. Cate reached for her brother’s hand and held it inside her own as if she could protect him in some way. Ben’s a good person, Cate prayed. She knew deep in her heart that he’d just been trying to protect her and Lola. Kian said that when he’d been waiting for Cate to wake up after she’d given birth to Lola that he’d asked his Dad for help. Eamon, if you’re up there, please don’t let them take Erin away from my brot
her.

  It took forever for somebody to come and speak to them and when they did, there was good and bad news. Erin was OK but they’d lost the baby.

  Ben wanted to be with Erin as soon as she came out of surgery so Cate walked outside to get some fresh air. There was really only one person she wanted to talk to.

  “I’m sorry,” Cate sobbed, when he answered the phone. “I know you said you didn’t want to see me but I… I really need to hear your voice right now.”

  “What is it?” Kian was worried. “Please just tell me you’re OK.”

  “It’s not me,” Cate hiccupped, feeling instantly guilty for the relief which flooded through her. She’d been lucky; she’d been able to walk out of hospital with their daughter.

  After Cate had explained what happened, Kian asked, “what can I do?”

  “I’m going to try and persuade Ben to stay at Mum’s house tonight, can you look after Monty?”

  “Of course,” Kian said. “I’ll arrange for the… uh, hallway to be cleaned as well.”

  Cate leaned back against the wall, “I didn’t even think about that. Thank you.”

  “Kian,” Cate said, just before he was about to hang up. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, angel.”

  She switched off her phone and sat down on one of the benches. Her heart was breaking for her brother and Erin; they so desperately wanted to be parents.

  “Ugh, what am I doing?” Cate put her head in her hands. She wanted Kian. He was the only person she’d wanted to talk to just now when she’d walked out of the hospital. She thought about the 1st night they’d spent at this hospital, the night Eamon died, how she’d felt Kian’s broken heart for the first time beating inside her chest. The 2nd night they’d spent here, when Lola was born. Cate could still remember the look on his face when he’d held their daughter for the first time; how he’d marvelled at her tiny little fingers and toes. He was a good man who’d made a stupid mistake.

  She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. He was right; she had forgiven him.

  A little while later, when Cate walked back into the hospital, Ben told her that Erin had lost a lot of blood and they wanted to keep her in the hospital. He wanted to stay with his wife but the nurses insisted he go home and try to get some rest. They said Erin was still sedated and would probably be out most of the night.

  When he got in the car, Ben covered his face with his hands. “Five months,” he sobbed. “Five fucking months. We thought it was going to be OK, that we were actually going to meet our baby this time. Oh God, Cate. She was just starting to let herself get a little bit excited. This’ll destroy her.”

  Cate wrapped her arms around her brother and let him cry. She couldn’t say anything to make it better.

  She drove them back to Irene’s house. “You shouldn’t be on your own tonight,” Cate said gently. “It was your baby as well.”

  “I can’t,” Ben protested. “What about Monty?”

  “Kian’s looking after him.”

  Liv was just coming down the stairs when Cate and Ben walked through the front door. She took in their stricken faces. “What happened?”

  Ben shook his head. “I’m going outside. Will you tell her?”

  “Where’s Lola?” Cate asked once Ben had gone outside to the back garden.

  “Upstairs, I’ve just put her to bed,” Liv said.

  Cate went upstairs to her daughter’s bedroom. “Mummy,” Lola grinned when she opened her eyes and realised Cate was knelt down at the side of her bed.

  “Hey sweetie,” Cate said softly, stroking the hair away from her daughter’s forehead.

  “Are you OK?” Lola asked, her eyes wide.

  “I’m fine,” Cate said quickly; she didn’t want Lola to be upset. “I’ve just had a really long day, that’s all. I need one of your magical hugs.”

  “I give the best hugs,” Lola wrapped herself tightly around Cate. Cate felt a lump form at the back of her throat and she hugged her daughter close. She savoured the feel of Lola’s little hands clutching the back of her t-shirt and the way her hair smelled of oranges.

  Eventually, she had to let go. She settled Lola back into bed and waited until she fell asleep.

  His sisters gave Ben time on his own and then just as the sun was setting, they came and found him at the bottom of the garden.

  “If you want to talk, we’re here for you, bro,” Liv said, sitting down next to him on the grass.

  “And if you don’t want to talk, we’re also really good at that too,” Cate said softly, sitting down on his other side.

  “I should have stayed at the hospital with her,” Ben said hoarsely. “I need to be there when she wakes up.”

  “You heard what the nurses said, she’ll probably be out of it most of the night and you’ll be there as soon as visiting hours start tomorrow morning.”

  “I really thought it was going to happen this time,” he sighed. “Fuck, I know I sound like a dick right now. My wife’s lying in a hospital bed but I can’t keep going through this. It’s fucking killing me.”

  “It’s what Erin wants, you know that.” Erin had always wanted to be a Mum.

  “But it’s killing her too. I keep thinking about what would have happened if you hadn’t found her, Cate. She could have died.”

  “But she didn’t.”

  As darkness set in, they went inside. “Let’s watch a movie,” Liv suggested.

  “Fine,” Ben slumped down on to the sofa.

  Liv put on X-Men: First Class and they settled down to watch the movie. The trailers had just finished when they heard Irene come downstairs.

  “What are you watching?” Irene asked, sitting down next to Liv on the sofa.

  Liv didn’t want to miss a potential Fassbender sighting so she handed Irene the DVD box.

  “Ooh, is Hugh Jackman in this one?”

  “I think he’s got a small cameo,” Ben said.

  “Can I watch it with you?” Irene asked.

  Michael Fassbender appeared on screen. “That’s Liv’s boyfriend,” Cate said to Irene.

  “Cate!” Liv threw a cushion at her sister. “In my dreams.”

  After the movie had finished, Irene went upstairs to bed. Ben sat slumped on the sofa, looking as if he was dreading going to bed. In their own ways, Cate and Liv knew that feeling all too well.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Liv said, nudging Cate. “Why don’t we resurrect the tent tonight?”

  “The tent?” Ben looked confused.

  “Yes,” Liv said decisively. “You two go and get a couple of mattresses and I’ll get the sheets from the airing cupboard.”

  After he’d dragged the mattresses downstairs, Ben went upstairs to get changed into a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. When he came back downstairs to the basement, his sisters had constructed a giant tent out of the armchairs and a big bed sheet.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know?”

  “Get your ass in there,” Liv said, bossing him about. “Besides, it’s kind of a family tradition now.”

  They lay down in the darkness in age order with Liv in the middle of Ben and Cate. “Do you remember when we went camping in Wales?” Liv asked them.

  “Wasn’t that the last time we all went on holiday as a family?” Cate said.

  “Remy refused to sleep in the tent saying that it was going to rain and we would all be washed out to sea.”

  “Oh yeah, she took her sleeping bag and slept in the car, didn’t she?”

  They slept as much as they could that night. In the morning, Ben suddenly jumped up, pulling the sheet off the sofa. “Ugh, what the hell’s that? Did one of you wet the bed?”

  Cate opened her eyes; the mattress underneath her was cold and damp. She quickly got up but her pyjamas were soaked and stuck to her skin. “What is it?”

  “This is just like that camping trip we were talking about last night?” Liv said, pulling her own pyjamas away from her skin.

  “I remember waking
up and my trainers were actually floating in water,” Ben said.

  “Didn’t one of you break the tent pole trying to get out?” Cate said. “When I woke up, the tent was right over my face. I started panicking because I couldn’t breathe.”

  “Oh yeah,” Liv said. “We were so busy trying to get everything back in the car that we forgot you were still in the tent. We only realised when Remy…”

  “Ugh, she was so smug,” Ben added.

  “Remy waited until we were all in the car and then she turned to Mum and said, “aren’t you missing something?””

  “Thanks Rems,” Cate said.

  “She wasn’t quite so smug when Mum made her get out of the car and help get you out of the tent. All you could hear was, “my hair’s getting wet, I’m going to break a nail.”

  “You know, she wouldn’t even let us in the car at first, Mum had to promise to give her £50.”

  “Do you remember that old Volvo?” Cate said. “Didn’t we all sleep there that night?”

  “Yeah,” Liv said. “Mum slept on the front seat, Ben I think you were in the back with all our things and then the three of us slept in the boot.”

  “We shared Remy’s sleeping bag because it was the only one that was still dry.”

  “What’s going on down here?” Irene interrupted, coming down the stairs in her dressing gown and slippers.

  “Ben wet the bed,” Liv said, pointing at the damp mattress.

  “I did not,” Ben said. “It was Liv.”

  “For goodness sake, all of you go upstairs and get dressed in dry clothes and I’ll sort this out.”

  When they came back downstairs, Irene smiled at them, “at least I know who the bed-wetter is now.”

  “Who?” Liv said eagerly.

  “Him,” Irene lifted up a rather deflated hot water bottle with a soggy piece of paper on the front.

  “Michael, no!” Liv cried, reaching for the hot water bottle. She stroked the remains of Michael Fassbender’s photo.

  “I can’t believe you’ve got a hot water bottle with Magneto’s face on it,” Ben said.

  “He’s not Magneto, he’s Fassy,” Liv said as if that explained it. She hugged the bottle to her chest. “He’s perfect.”