Her eyes watered. She looked up at Mike and gently pulled him into the room, closing the door quietly behind.
“You were trapped, surrounded by those things, away from your family and you...” Her voice was shaky and her words trailed off.
“It only took a minute, Doc. I was in the library anyway. There’s no need to get upset. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Promise me you’ll stay here. Promise me we’ll stay in Candleton,” Lucy demanded, her voice still shaky, her eyes tearing up again.
“I told you, Doc, I’ll think about it.”
“No. This is important. This is the most important thing I’ll ever ask you, Mike. Promise me we’ll stay. Promise me.” She was relentless in her demand and becoming more emotional by the second.
Little else had occupied his mind since Emma had first mentioned it, and as the evening had gone on he had gradually found more and more reasons to remain. This wasn’t the safe haven he had imagined when they left Leeds, but maybe it was time to heed Alex’s and Gran’s advice and trust his instincts. Until this moment he hadn’t known what to do, but seeing Lucy so fragile, seeing the one person he had relied on time after time so vulnerable, made the decision for him.
“Okay, calm down, Doc. We’ll stay. We’ll stay. But what’s the urgency, why did you need to know this minute?”
She wiped her eyes again and put her gift down. “Because I didn’t want what’s going to happen next to be the reason.”
Mike’s confusion continued for an instant and then Lucy stepped towards him. Her cheeks were still tear-stained, but she had stopped crying. She cupped his face in both palms and moved her lips up to his. Her warm wine-flavoured tongue began to explore Mike’s mouth. He was mesmerised by the sensuality of the moment and fell back against the wall for support. He placed one hand on her hip and combed the fingers of his other through her hair, to the back of her head. He pulled her closer to him.
Their breathing became rapid as they explored each other with their tongues and hands. All they had experienced and shared in the last few days had brought them closer and closer together. Momentary glances, a gentle word, a soft touch, the danger, the exhilaration, the fear. In the few days they had been together, the pair had experienced more than in their entire lives before they had met. A bond had formed, transcending age, transcending background. There was an electricity between them that neither could explain and neither could deny.
Lucy unbuckled Mike’s belt and slowly pulled open the buttons of his jeans one by one, while he moved his hand underneath her T-shirt and caressed her smooth warm back. She delicately manoeuvred her hand down the front of his shorts and slowly and carefully, like a tiger, edged closer before finally taking hold of him.
She pulled her mouth away from him and he stared into her eyes. There was no trace of sadness now, just excitement and longing. She removed her cupped hand from the warmth of his trousers and guided him over to the bed. She pulled off her T-shirt and took down her pants. Her body shuddered with desire as she turned around to Mike and undressed him. As his clothes hit the floor, she moved her hands to his hips and mouthed and nibbled on his lower torso. The pair trembled, intoxicated with the promise of what was about to happen. Then, unable to take any more, Lucy dragged Mike down onto the bed. Despite the exhaustion, despite the stress, or maybe because of it, they made love until the night turned to morning.
*
It was grey and drizzly outside, but in that room, in that bed, it felt like a bright summer day. Mike levered himself up onto one elbow and spread his other arm and leg across Lucy. They grinned at each other and shared their thousandth kiss.
“Why was it so important to you that I told you I was staying before we... y’know...?” he asked, looking down into Lucy’s eyes.
“I wanted you to stay for the right reasons. I didn’t want you to think I was sleeping with you just to try and make you stay,” she responded, gently running her hand through the dark hairs on his chest.
“Just for the record, that would have worked too,” Mike replied with a grin.
“That’s useful to know. Who knows what else I might want?” She grinned back. “Seriously though, Mike. You giving me that book. That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. You’re special.” She pulled his head down to hers and the pair kissed again.
“Well, I’d better go and tell Em that we’re staying,” he said, reluctantly climbing out of the warmth of Lucy’s bed.
She pulled him back in and kissed him. “I think this is somewhere we can start again, Mike. I think we can be happy here. All of us.”
EPILOGUE
Joseph awoke with a jerk. His forehead was beaded with cold sweat and his mouth was dry. He looked around the room and saw Annie in one corner with a book open on her lap.
“Hi, Daddy, are you feeling better?” she asked, putting the book down and moving towards the bed where her father lay.
“Where’s Peter?” Joseph’s eyes were glassy and his voice clicked due to the dryness of his throat. “I have to go find Peter. He’ll be scared. He’s all alone down there.”
Annie’s face twitched. Her father was making no sense. The young girl did not say anything but ran out of the room to find her mother.
Joseph climbed out of the bed. His feet were bare and he wore nothing except his pyjamas, but he walked past the open door of the kitchen and out into the drizzle of morning before Annie had even spoken her first words of concern. The cold, wet grass squelched beneath his feet, and when he left the confines of the garden and ambled onto the road, even the jagged stones and tiny slivers of glass from bottles broken years ago did nothing to shake Joseph from his confused rambling. He walked down the lane and came to a large galvanised steel gate. A trigger, a faint recollection of another time and a happier place, made him stop. He leaned and looked into the field. Half of it had been prepared for planting. The other half was covered with tall yellow grass.
“Peter! Peter!” Joseph shouted, looking older and more haggard with each passing moment. He climbed over the gate and walked towards the thick covering on the other side. The saturated ground sucked at his bare feet as he went. The damp grass whipped at his discoloured, fatal ankle wound as he turned around and around desperately looking for his son.
“Peter! Peter! Peter! Peter!” He continued to shout, he continued to call, and when his son didn’t appear, he fell to the floor and closed his eyes. Now he saw him. Now he saw his son. “Don’t worry, Peter, I’m coming,” Joseph whispered as he lost consciousness.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I need to thank Tina, my beautiful wife, not just for being a critical eye, not just for keeping me on the right path with this book as she does in life, but for being the reason I get up on a morning.
I would like to thank Annella whose tireless efforts and insightful thoughts helped steer me in the right direction time and time again.
Thank you to Anne for her support and encouragement throughout this entire process. To Gary for showing me where to start. To the numerous people who have conveyed nothing but positivity and shown genuine interest.
And finally... the professionals. Caroline, my fantastic editor, for making the whole process as straightforward and painless as possible. And Jake, a great artist and a great guy. Your generosity will not be forgotten. Thanks man.
SAFE HAVEN:
REALM OF THE RAIDERS
Coming soon
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