“CAP! Why’d you tell him? It’s not a surprise if he knows.” Vinny sat back in his chair looking put out.
“I’d be up for that trip.” Matthew said eagerly.
“Pfft, boy are you even old enough to drink?” Jenn said teasingly.
“No, but I’m old enough to appreciate the beauty of the naked female form and hand over my hard earned money to show exactly how much I appreciate that beauty.” He replied with a smirk.
Jenn rolled her eyes “Eugh, men. See, this is why I’m strictly only into women.”
“Great! We have another taker for the visit to the strip club. Denisov, you in?” Vinny called out to Mik as he sat at the table with a plate piled so high with pasta it rivalled Dre’s.
“No.” Mik said flatly as he began eating.
“Ah man. Come on! It’s in aide of cheering up your best friend.” Vinny protested.
“I don’t need to be fuckin’ cheered up.” I grunted.
Matt looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe you should offer to build her a house? Or serenade her? Or tell her how you feel on sign boards and hold them up to her outside her door?”
“Why do all you asshole’s ideas for romantic gestures come from movies? Besides, I’ve already tried persistent stalking and that didn’t work.” I said as I poured myself a cup of coffee from a pot on the table
“Okay, if you think ‘persistent stalking’ counts as romance, you have bigger problems than your girlfriend not wanting to be with you.” Jenn said looking slightly alarmed.
“Do you want Ma’s tiramisu recipe? She swears by it. Says it’s how she got my Dad to fall in love with her.” Vinny asked getting out his phone “She does a Chicken Alfredo so good, you would sell your soul for the recipe. I can call her right now and ask!” he said scrolling through his contacts.
“No Vinny. I’m good. Thanks.” I said getting increasingly agitated, and began wondering if I should pay Miss Martha another visit for advice.
“What about writing her a song? Or painting her a picture? What about a trip to Disney World? No one can be unhappy at Disney World.” Matt continued to add to his list of suggestions, looking at me as if he thought those would be ideas I would seriously consider.
What the hell is wrong with this kid?
“No Matt. I’m no Michelangelo. I’m not painting her a fucking picture. She’s also not a ten year old child who can be bribed with a trip to the Magical Kingdom.”
“You’re all idiots. You just need to give the girl time. She’ll come round when she’s ready.” Jenn said in a long-suffering tone, looking around the table shaking her head.
“That could take ages.” Andre’s deep voice said “How opposed to kidnapping a woman are you?” he said curiously.
“ANDRE!” Jenn said outraged.
“What?” Andre asked looking genuinely confused “Kidnap and then wine and dine her? Who could say no to that?”
“I’m not kidnapping her, Dre.” I said with a heavy sigh.
Though, of all the suggestions so far, that’s the most tempting…
“Well, if this break up thing is permanent, would it be okay if I asked her out? She’s hot as fuck. Those curves. Dio mio.” He said with a lustful look, miming an hourglass silhouette with his hands, which made me want to break all his fingers.
I was about to tell him to go fuck himself, and he would be a dead man if he even looked in her direction again, when a call came in.
Truck 53. Vehicle Collision, South Newport Street
I looked over at Vinny with a frown “You’re a lucky man D’Angelo, another word and your teeth would have ended up in the back of your throat.”
“So… is that a no to me asking her out then?”
Chapter 31
Maliya
I tossed and turned in bed. I couldn’t sleep.
The scene at the crash had been gruesome according to the paramedics.
My shift at the hospital had nearly ended when the victims from the vehicle collision had come in. A tree had fallen directly on a couple’s car as they were driving; the woman in the car had died on impact. After the roof of the car had been cut off, the man was extracted from the vehicle, but had died on the operating table.
The car driving behind hadn’t been able to brake in time and collided head on with the first car and had caught on fire. The young woman who had been driving the car was currently in the Intensive Care Unit being treated for third-degree burns, but it looked as if she probably wasn’t going to make it.
Her two children who were in the back of the car had suffered from second-degree burns and were being treated on the children’s ward. We had been unable to find any next of kin to notify about the young woman’s accident or to come to the hospital to support the children. They children had been obviously distraught, and the older boy had to be sedated in order to be treated.
So, overall it had been a harrowing day all round. Patrick had told me that Caleb’s shift had been the firefighters who responded to the crash.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him and how he would be feeling after his shift had ended today.
Knowing the search for sleep would be futile, I picked up my phone from the bedside table and found the last message Caleb had sent me.
Me: Hey.
I placed the phone back on the table and waited. After a minute the message alert sounded.
Caleb: Hi.
Me: It’s a stupid question, but how are you?
Caleb: Not great. It’s been a shit day.
Me: I heard the man you guys pulled from crash today didn’t make it. I’m sorry.
Caleb: yeah.
Me: Where are you?
Caleb: Outside.
Me: Outside where?
Caleb: In my car outside your house.
Me: Come to the door.
My heart thudded. My body acted instinctively as I went down the stairs and wrenched the door open.
Caleb stood there with a broken look on his handsome face, his eyes were wet and his broad shoulders hunched. I’d never seen him look so defeated. Wrapping my arms around him, I pulled his cold body into my warm one.
His lips found mine. “I know you don’t want to see me but I just needed to see you… I needed you… I need you to take the pain away.” he whispered hoarsely.
I kissed him back intensely “I’m here, Caleb. You have me. Come upstairs.” I led him upstairs and to the bathroom. Switching on the shower, I pulled my nightie off and then started to undress him, placing tender kisses along the cold, exposed flesh. I checked the temperature of the water and dragged him under the warm spray.
Using the body wash he had left there, that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away, I began washing him while he stood still taking deep breaths. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my mouth to his, nibbling at his lips for access to deepen the kiss.
“Kiss me back, Caleb.” His mouth started to move against mine. This kiss was slow, deep and soft, so very different to the frantic kisses we had in our past encounters.
I washed the remaining suds of his tanned, chiselled body and switched off the water.
Taking a towel, I began to dry him first. The memory of him doing this for me after I’d broken down and told him about my past came flooding back.
I led him across the hall to my room. I made him lie on my bed and removed his towel, before taking off my own. I saw his heated gaze roam my over my body and my pussy dampened.
I bent over his prostrate body and kissed him gently while throwing one leg over his hips to straddle him. He exhaled sharply as my warm pussy made contact with his now hard cock.
Reaching between us I took his pulsing length and guided it into my slick, waiting hole and I sat on his cock, taking his entire length into me.
“Maliya. Look at me, baby. Look at me and don’t look away.” Caleb pleaded. My gaze met his as I began to ride him steadily. His hands ran over my hips to the indent at my waist and stopped at my breasts to play with my pebbled nipples.
He pushed one thumb into my mouth “Suck.” I opened my mouth to suck on his thumb. He placed his thumb on my clit and began to rub slowly.
I had both hands on his chest to steady myself as I rode him. He lifted one hand from his chest and raised it to his mouth, kissed the back of my hand and entwined our fingers before resting them over his heart.
“Caleb…” I murmured quietly, the action drew tears to my eyes. I moved faster, increasing the friction between our bodies.
“Come, Liya. Come for me and take me with you.” he said as his hand left my clit and pulled my head down to his for a sensual kiss.
My orgasm hit me hard and I felt him growl in satisfaction as he climaxed. “Angel. Ohh. Fuck yes.”
I rode the last waves of my orgasm and collapsed on top of him, too tired to move off.
I lay my head over his heart, listening to his heart beat as I enjoyed the smell and feel of his body under mine.
“After this nightmare of a day, you were the only one I wanted to see, Angel. I needed you to centre me, so I could feel whole again. I love you, Liya. I’ll keep saying it however many times it takes for you to hear it and understand it. What we just did… that wasn’t fucking. That was us making love. Us. Both you and me. It was different this time, I know you felt it too.”
His arms squeezed tighter around me. My tears started to drip onto his chest.
“My job is dangerous and I can’t promise that I will never be hurt again, baby. But I promise to always be careful and not take any risks, especially when I have you to come home to. What we had together was beautiful and so fucking special. I want it again. These weeks without you to hold, have been torture. Both of us walking around miserable and hurting, it just doesn’t make sense. Let me come home to you, Liya.”
I sobbed quietly into his chest. I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.
The wall I had put up was still there. Caleb has done his best to chisel away at it, but it wasn’t enough.
I wasn’t brave enough. The fear was always still there taunting me.
I shut my eyes tightly, as he held me and I dozed off to sleep, knowing what I had to do the next morning and praying that Caleb wouldn’t hate me forever.
-----------------------------
Caleb
Despite the horror the previous day had been, I had the best sleep I’d had in weeks, and the reason for this was currently still lying across my chest.
I laced my arms around her, burying my nose into her hair, having missed the delicious scent of honey and vanilla that always surrounded her.
She stirred and my arms immediately tightened around her, reluctant to let her go after weeks of being apart. Although, after last night I had allowed myself a brief moment of hope that perhaps she might have finally changed her mind.
“Caleb…” her voice was husky with sleep but from her tone I knew exactly what she was about to tell me. Frustration, disappointment and anger coursed through me.
“Really Liya? After last night you’re still going to send me away like I’m just some fucktoy to you?” I said bitterly as she rolled off my body.
“It’s not like that! Don’t make what we had ugly!” she said angrily as she put on a robe.
I found my boxers and slid them on. “What was last night then?”
“That was us saying goodbye.” She said softly.
“That’s such a load of crap. Do you want me to say you win? That we’re over, I can’t do that. But this is getting exhausting. I can’t be the only one fighting for us anymore.” I snapped at her. “You’re willing to throw away everything, because you’re scared of being hurt again? Well, aren’t you hurting now already? I know I sure as fuck am. I would have gone with you anywhere Liya. Anywhere!”
She was interrupted from answering by a frantic knocking at the door.
“Not now, Niki!” Liya called out loudly. She was about to answer me, as the knocking became more persistent.
Liya sighed, walked over and yanked the door open.
“Niki, now is not a…” she trailed off abruptly and I heard the sounds of Niki crying. “Oh God. Niki … what?”
Through heavy sobs Niki said “The nursing home called.”
“And?” Liya whispered anxiously.
“Aunt Trudy had a heart attack a few hours ago. They tried to revive her but…” Niki wailed as Liya pulled her into her arms.
“No…” was the last thing I heard from Liya, before her tears joined Niki’s. I pulled on the rest of my clothes and walked over to where they were stood.
I wrapped my arms around both of them and placed a kiss on the top of both of their heads. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Caleb, could you please…” Liya said through sobs.
I nodded, knowing they needed time to grieve privately amongst themselves.
“I’m going to go, Liya. But whatever you need, please just let me know, baby. Okay?” I said quietly.
Liya nodded in a daze as I pressed a final kiss to her forehead and walked around them out of their house, feeling completely helpless and not sure what the hell to do next.
Chapter 32
Maliya
The funeral happened a week after Aunt Trudy’s death.
It was a cold but dry day; the sun shone obnoxiously in the sky as we were stood around the coffin, holding calla lilies.
Aunt Trudy, as expected, had been very specific in what she wanted her funeral to be. She had wanted the minimum amount of fuss, no religious stuff, no singing, no readings, no eulogy, no ‘she’s in a better place’ speeches, no fond memory stories or tributes being told.
“Just put me in the ground and be done with it” were her exact instructions. As we were stood around the casket, I couldn’t help but feel this ceremony was doing no justice to the woman my Grandaunt had been or to her life.
I cleared my throat and looked up from the ground for the first time since we arrived at the cemetery, and gasped when I saw the entire Jameson family stood on the other side of the coffin stood behind the surprisingly large crowd that had turned up.
My breath caught in my chest as I looked over and met the piercing blue gaze of the man I loved and had hurt so badly.
Pushing those feelings down, I cleared my throat once more. “My grandaunt was very clear about what she wanted from her funeral and part of that instruction was; there is to be no speeches, but I disagree. We butted heads while she was alive, I don’t see why it should be any different now, she’s getting a speech from me whether she wants one or not.”
A small murmur of laughter went through the crowd. Niki reached out her gloved hand and took mine, squeezing gently in encouragement.
“My granddaunt was an extraordinary woman. Tough as nails, talented, protective, smart and very funny. I’m not going to stand here and lie and say she was an angel, in fact that probably couldn’t have been further from the truth, she was a moody old bat who terrified the crap out of most people, but she also had a heart of gold. Aunt Trudy, I shall miss seeing the fear you managed to cause in most of the nursing home staff’s eyes and also how you always managed to beat me and Niki at cards. I’m sure you’re watching over us from wherever you are and I only have one request; please don’t fuck with us from the afterlife just to freak us out. Goodbye Aunt Trudy, you were one in a billion, you will be missed and remembered fondly, even though I’m sure you would have hated that. I hope you’ve finally found peace and happiness.”
Niki dabbed at her eyes and pulled me closer to the coffin to place our flowers on the closed casket, and everyone else followed suit.
As I stepped back, I looked up to the clouds and took a deep breath.
Goodbye Aunt Trudy… I love you…
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People wander
ed through the house paying their condolences, leaving foods, flowers and cards.
A young man with brown hair in a black suit came up to me, I recognised him from the nursing home. “Miss Abbott, I’m very sorry for your loss.”
I nodded “Thanks. What is that?” I asked gesturing to the two envelopes in his hand.
“Ms Abbott asked that I bring these to you and your sister in the case of her…” he trailed off, holding out the envelopes. Taking them from him with a nod of thanks I put them in the pocket of my dress and turned to talk to the next couple who had walked through door.
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 24
