The guys came and collected Con, dropping me off and telling us under no circumstances were we to go anywhere, or let anyone in.
“They were crazy dominant, huh?” Pea says as we sit in her lounge catching up.
“Yeah, I actually like it,” I tell her licking my lips.
“Oi! Don’t get any ideas, licking your bloody lips. Saul isn’t here right now and you don’t want me to go into labour. Seeing as the bossy boys aren’t here and we have to stay in the house, you’ll be delivering baby McKenna,” she tells me her body jiggling with laughter.
“You’re a fruit loop!” I tell her laughing.
“I do have some news actually, but you have to keep quiet,” Pea says and I’m intrigued.
“Of course!”
“Not even, Saul,” she says and I reply, “Not even, Saul.”
“Swear on the Barbie Dream House,” Pea says and I roll my eyes holding up my hand.
“I swear!”
She settles down and says, “Okay, so when Con was in New York he made friends. He actually got really close to some of them, that’s the only thing he really misses and it’s because he came back early for me.” She looks at her hands in her lap and I reach out and grab one.
“Pea you know he never doubts his decision to come back, right?”
She looks up at me. “I know he doesn’t, but I also know that he misses those guys. So I’ve organised for them to come over here for the third week in June. It’s still a few weeks until the baby is due, so we’ll have time to spend with them without having our minds elsewhere.” She smiles.
“So who’s coming?” I ask.
“So it’s Sam, Tyler, Lewis and Libby,” she tells me and my eyebrows shoot up.
“Isn’t Libby the one who answered his phone?”
She nods and swallows. “Yeah, but he’s explained that she stayed on the corner sofa in his room worried that because he was so drunk, he might choke on his own vomit or something. And truthfully, Soph. Even if I didn’t believe him, which I do, I wouldn’t really be able to put him through all that again, not like I did last time. I have to believe in his explanation. Anyway I’ve video chatted with all of them, including Libby, and she’s not only confirmed his story but she’s really lovely. I think you’ll get on.”
I hug my friend. “I’m glad you’re the way you are and not a jealous conniving bitch, ‘cause then I’d have to cut you,” I whisper and we fall about laughing.
“So you had any work lately?” Pea asks.
“I had a runway thing a few weeks ago, but I backed out. I’ve had a couple of photo shoots but, to be honest, I’ve been avoiding work,” I tell her sinking back into the sofa.
“Why?” Pea asks confused.
“To be honest, I’ve not been feeling work lately. Plus Carlie’s been driving me crazy.”
“Oh, that bitch again. What’s she done now?”
“Just being her usual bitchy self. Nothing I do is right. I was a bitch to her the other week on the phone though,” I say.
“Yeah, but she deserved that from what you told me,” Pea replies.
“She did, she’s just aggravating me. I can only deal with her now when Eric’s around,” I explain.
“Hmmm, from what you’ve said Carlie needs a good slap.”
“She does,” I tell her. “Last time I had to deal with her she’d somehow found out I was dating Saul, and that he was Dane’s brother. So, of course, she was straight on a bitchy rant to me about jumping from one brother to the next.”
Pea sits forward. “Do I need to go all gangsta bitch on her arse, ‘cause I will!”
I chuckle at Pea. “Nah sweets, I will end up doing it myself if she doesn’t learn how to shut her pie hole.”
We sit quietly for a moment sipping our tea when Pea bounces up and down in her seat excited about something.
“Soph!” she almost shouts.
“Ow! Pea, I’m not deaf love. Although I might be now,” I chide rubbing my ear with a fake frown.
“Shush you! Listen, we should totally do our eighties makeovers, seeing as we’re stuck here,” she says with her face alight.
I grimace and reply, “Yeah, I’m not sure, Pea. We haven’t done that for about eight years, don’t you think we’re a bit old?”
She glares at my statement. “Pfft! We’re not old Soph, and I know we haven’t done it for years, that’s why it will be hilarious. Plus, I’m bored and the guys will be gone for hours. Come on, please,” she says fluttering her eyelashes like a little girl.
“Oh, all right,” I say laughing. We’ve always been unconventional when it comes to games. Even when we were children, opting to do things like who could find the most bugs or who could wear the worst outfit. Even when we played with our Barbies, it would be to see who could be the ugliest Barbie with the worst hair and dress sense. And if you could use Skipper instead of Barbie well, that was a big bonus.
We trudge up the stairs to find as many eighties style clothes as we can. Pea is limited with her belly, but we manage to hook her up as she still has a bunch of eighties clothes from the last theme club night we attended. She puts on bright blue leggings, which stretch over her belly, and she teams that with a big baggy top that hangs from her shoulder and ties a big bow in her hair. She picks some clothes out for me that I’d bought for the last eighties night, but when I’d tried them on I’d decided against wearing them. I thought they’d been chucked away, but obviously not.
“Na uh!” I tell her shaking my head as she holds them up for me.
“Oh, go on, Soph. It’s not like you’ll be wearing them out,” I sigh.
“Oh, bloody hell, okay!” snatching the outfit from her I go to the bathroom to change. Ten minutes later and Pea is clapping her hands in excitement.
“Oh my. You look hot. Saul won’t be able to contain himself.”
I roll my eyes and look at myself in the mirror. “Well, Soph, you look like a prize prat,” I tell my reflection. I have on bright pink shiny leggings, over which I’m wearing a grey leotard, with a pink belt around my waist. I have on a grey headband across my forehead and I look like I should be in a workout video. “I can’t believe people used to wear this stuff!” I moan at Pea, who just giggles.
“Come on let’s get some leg warmers,” she tells me opening a drawer. Inside of which there must be at least ten pairs.
“You have entirely too many leg warmers for someone who isn’t still living in the eighties,” I tell her.
“What? I like them in winter.”
I smile. “Come on, let’s get some makeup going. Eighties, here we come!” I shout jumping up and down and wanting to get into the excitement. Pea flips on the stereo and pops in a CD. Madonna ‘The Immaculate Collection,’ of course. We sit side by side applying our own makeup with as much blue and pink neon that we can fit on, along with plenty of black kohl pencil and bright red lipstick. We look the part.
“I look like a clown compared to you, Soph,” Pea moans.
“I can redo your makeup if you want? I’ve just had years of sitting while someone does my face. You pick up pointers about yourself.”
She looks back at the mirror. “I’ll leave it as is, there’s no point in playing the game if I get you to redo it. Anyway, maybe Con likes the clown look.” She winks at me.
“Yeah, I don’t need that kind of information sweets,” I tell her, sticking my tongue out.
“Right, come on. Final touches, the bad stilettos,” she says dragging me by the arm. Rummaging in a closet, she finds me a pair of pink stilettos while she slips on green ones, luckily we’re the same size. Or maybe it’s unlucky.
“Were you hoping to go to another eighties night?” I ask, looking around at all the stuff strewn around the bedroom.
Nodding enthusiastically, Pea says, “Yep, as soon as the baby’s born and we get some kind of routine going, I want to go to an eighties night.”
I nod wondering who she’s going to get to babysit, but not wanting to burst her bubble. She drags me downs
tairs and the CD player with Madonna still playing comes with us.
She puts it in the kitchen and turns it up, then she whips around shouting, “Cocktails!” Over the music.
To which, I reply, “Virgin!”
She nods shouting again, “Of course!”
This is what we’re doing when the song changes to ‘Crazy For You.’ I close my eyes for a second and then sing, knowing I’m being drowned out by Madonna herself so I won’t be embarrassed.
I think about how many times I quietly listened to this song in my bedroom as a child, thinking of Saul. I turn around and look out the kitchen window while still singing and swaying from side to side. Suddenly, I feel arms wrap around me from behind and I jump then relax, as I feel Saul’s cheek against mine and his scent surrounds me.
“You look like a sweet, I need to take you home to unwrap. Right now,” he says in my ear and I smile and bite my lip wiggling my bum into his crotch. “Babe, unless you want me to lay you on Pea’s kitchen table then you should stop,” he tells me and my smile widens.
Spinning in his arms to face him I mouth the words ‘I’m Crazy For You’ along with the song. The song ends and Pea leans over to press stop, I look at the rest of my family, feeling truly happy.
“I’m taking Soph home,” Saul says to Dane.
“You want dropping back to yours?” he asks him.
“I want him to stay for a bit,” Pea interrupts and Dane shrugs his shoulders.
“Were out,” Saul says dragging me behind him and I realise we must’ve been turning into eighties diva’s for longer than I thought because it’s actually gotten dark outside. I see the light in the kitchen go on as we walk toward the front door.
The last thing I hear before I leave is Con say, “Fuck babe, did you get gang banged by Crayola?” And Dane starts laughing.
Three weeks. Three weeks of being escorted around by Saul or Dane. Of not being allowed to be alone. Of barely being able to wipe my own arse. And it’s driving me bat-shit crazy! I know they mean well. I know they’re doing this for my own protection. It’s not like I’m going to go off on my own just to get some freedom. I’m the women who shouts at the television when watching horror movies and the damsel just has to see what that noise was. Duh! Call the damn police and lock yourself in your bedroom, preferably with an axe. Fuck! So yeah, no wandering off on my own. Plus, I know what Patrick was capable of when I was a child. Who knows how much worse he would be now.
Still. I need to stretch myself.
“So Con is driving me crazy too!” Pea moans down the phone. We’ve been chatting for a solid ten minutes about the issues we have with our men, knowing it’s for our own safety but still using our women’s prerogative to moan.
“Yeah, Saul and Dane are doing the same over here. I get it completely, but when I’ve been up in my room for an hour without speaking to either of them, it drives me a little crazy. They’re calling up the stairs or coming up to check that I haven’t been kidnapped. I wouldn’t mind, but Dane’s put secondary locks on all the windows and doors, and some kind of mesh stuff up the chimney breast, it’s ridiculous. Bloody Father Christmas couldn’t get in this house.” Although I’m moaning, I can’t help but smile thinking about the worrying everyone’s been doing. Not because I like people being frightened, but because I’ve never felt this cared for before. Not until Pea made me stay at her house. I know I’d always put up this exterior so people knew I was okay, but it was nice for the decision to be taken out of my hands. Pea showed just how much she loved me by taking care of me even though she knew I’d resist. Not that I did, but she would have assumed I was going to, and I can be a pain, I know this. Still, she was adamant. And now…now, I can see how much my family love me. I’m lucky to have them. They make my life feel whole. Realising all of this I feel another broken piece of my heart mend.
“So, I haven’t had any work for a while,” I complain to her while looking at emails on my laptop.
“But I thought you weren’t feeling the modelling anyway?” she asks.
“Yeah, I still feel that way, but I need to eat, Pea.”
She laughs at my statement. “Soph, it’s not like Saul or Dane are going to let you go hungry, and neither of them is strapped for cash.”
I can imagine her shaking her head at me.
“Pea, tell me, apart from my dad, have I ever relied on a man?” I snap getting irritated.
“Whoa lady, who lit your tampon string?” she asks and it causes an unexpected laugh to bubble up my throat.
“Soph, are you coming down for lunch?” Saul shouts up the stairs.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute,” I shout back and groan.
“Ha-ha, at least I don’t get called down from my room for lunch like a child,” Pea sniggers.
“Shut up you! Listen, before I go I’ve just been looking at my emails and I have one sent direct from a new client, they want me next month. The shoot is in Cornwall. It’s on a Friday, so I thought maybe we could all go down there for a weekend? It will be mid-June, so hopefully the weather will be beautiful and it will still be six weeks until baby McKenna is due. So what do you think?” I tap my nails on the keyboard of my laptop, hoping that she says yes. I think we all need a break. I can go with Saul without Pea, but I’d love it if we all went. The family, together.
“I think that sounds fantastic, Soph. I’m so excited.”
I find myself jumping up and down on the spot like a madwoman, knocking into the dresser and sending a small mirror I have over the edge banging into the wall and smashing.
“Fuck, I just smashed my mirror. Seven years bad luck now,” I groan.
“I think you could use a break, Soph.”
I nod my head and swipe my hair away from covering my face, getting in my way while I crouch down try to pick up the glass.
The door crashes open making me screech and Pea immediately start shouting, “What was that?” In my ear.
Saul and Dane bound in. “We heard banging are you all right?” Saul asks looking around the room while Dane checks the window.
“For the love of...ugh!” I say feeling prickly irritation covering my skin.
“Was that, Saul?” Pea is still flapping on the other end of the phone.
“Yea Pea, it was Saul and Dane. Apparently me jumping up and down with excitement and knocking something over is the equivalent to someone trying to kidnap me,” I tell her with sarcasm laced through every word. She snorts on the other end of the phone while I stare at Saul, who has his arms crossed and his eyebrow arched, and he doesn’t look altogether happy. Dane, on the other hand, seems like he’s trying to suppress a grin.
“What’s made you so excited that it sounded like a herd of elephants stomped through here?” Saul asks, still not looking impressed with the situation.
This gets my back up. For three weeks, I’ve been doing everything they want me to, everything they’ve asked, even not working.
That’s probably why my work has dried up.
Now Saul is acting absolutely ridiculous over me jumping up and down, I mean how much more am I not allowed to do.
“Don’t give me that look, Saul James!” I snap at him.
“What look? The one where I’m not happy because I don’t want you to be in this situation. I’m not happy that my girlfriend can’t do what she wants?” He pauses and takes a step forward. “I’m worried about you and I don’t need you making the situation worse.”
My body stills and I know he sees it when his eyes widen slightly, only enough that I notice. His stance still stays the same, he’s not ready to admit defeat.
“I’m making the situation worse?” I whisper and Dane now stares at Saul through narrowed eyes.
“I didn’t ask for any of this.” Saul opens his mouth to interrupt, but I carry on speaking before he gets the chance to, “I didn’t ask for Patrick’s attention now, or when I was younger. I also never asked you to watch me. But for three weeks, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. I’
ve always had someone with me. I’ve not worked. Hell, I’ve not even opened the front door. So I got a little excited and jumped up and down. That doesn’t mean you get to admonish me. I’m not your child, I’m your girlfriend. Although right now, I need to not be your anything because I feel like I can’t even be your friend,” I shout and stomp away, the phone still in my hand.
“I’m gonna go, Pea. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” I tell her.
“Will you be all right?” she asks.
“I’m always all right, you know that,” I reply quietly.
“Hmmm,” is all she says before I say goodbye and go sit in the conservatory. Loving how even when I’m sad, or down or plain old pissed, this room when it’s sunny can calm and relax me. I know Saul is just scared and that’s why he reacted the way he did, but I’m being suffocated and it’s not something I’m used to. It’s something I’ve never been able to deal with. The feeling makes me want to run…to escape, and I just don’t know what to do about that.
Shit! I know I acted like a completely over the top arsehole. I didn’t mean to, but in that split second when I heard the banging then the crash, my heart jumped into my throat. I was ready to kill, literally beat someone to death if they were hurting Soph. I look down at my feet and my gaze drifts over to the little pieces of glass, shattered in the carpet. I used to wonder if I was like glass, so broken that I’d never find every single piece. Lately, the more time I spend with Soph, the more I feel like my pieces are fusing back together.
“You were being a dick,” I hear from behind me and I don’t bother to look up. I know Dane’s right.
“I know. It’s just…I thought…” I trail off.
“I get it. I know right then, your only thought was that someone had hurt her.” My thoughts being spoken from his mouth make me grind my teeth together. “You didn’t tell her, did you?” he asks and I shake my head, silently telling him no. “I get that brother…I do.”
At his words, I stand and face him. “I want to tell her. I think she should know everything, but I’m scared that it’s going to break her.” I sigh and sit on her bed. “She’s always so strong. She used to say her mother was like ice. You know she’s always thought that she’s like her?” I lean forward propping myself up on my elbows. “She couldn’t be more different than her fucking mother. If her mother is like ice, then Soph is like fire, fierce, and strong, and determined, and hot.” I smirk to myself and hear Dane chuckle. “I worry though. She knows that Patrick is back, but what if telling her that the fucker has gotten Soph’s details from her bitch of a mother and that he’s been sending letters every day breaks all her barriers, and not in a good way.” I feel the bed depress and sit up looking at Dane now to my left. “What should I do?” I whisper and I know at that moment our relationship has changed, with that one sentence I have cemented our kinship. I need him to tell me what to do, as my older brother. And more than that, I trust him. I trust that he’s going to guide me right, and I hope he can see the love in my eyes that I feel in my heart for him. He places his hand on my back.
Love Resisted (Entwined Hearts #2) Page 15
