The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries)

by Sidebottom, D H

  “I’m sure your boss is a very understanding man, baby. In fact I think he would insist that you have a workout before work” he grinned lazily as his mouth rested on my lips and his hands rested on my breasts.

  “Well, he does need me to make coffee, so maybe he might be lenient” I whispered as his mouth tracked its way towards my breasts and I palmed his head.

  “Yes he does, so you just lie back and think how pleased your boss will be that you’re taking care of your man… loyalty and all that is important in the workplace.”

  I sighed and lay back, knowing exactly how pleased my boss was that I was being a very loyal employee.

  Chapter 24

  Lucas

  I watched her move across my office and my dick sprung to life, Hell, my dick was always alive when Red was near.

  I was like a rampant fucking wolf where she was concerned.

  A small smile lifted her lips as she caught me watching her and she lifted an eyebrow at me “Anything I can help you with, Mr Hunt?”

  “Just thinking about what I might have for lunch, Miss Summers.”

  She nodded slowly as she replaced some files back in the cabinet “Have you decided?”

  “Well, there’s a choice on offer,” I told her as she regarded me with a small nod and gestured for me to go on. “We’ll there’s Red, or there’s Willow, or there’s Layla or there’s Kayla” I shrugged playfully but her expression darkened before she completely shut down.

  Shit!

  “Kayla isn’t available” she snapped before she stormed from my office and I saw her scurry down the corridor.

  Shit again!

  I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. “You fucked that one up, Hunt!”

  The internal phone rang and I answered it myself, cursing Red for doing a runner and leaving me to answer the bloody phones.

  Words and discipline sprang to mind.

  “What?” I barked, now in a bad mood at Red’s runner.

  “Oh Lucas, Hi” Ava greeted “I was expecting Layla, is she available?”

  “No.”

  “Okayyy, uhh, could you ask her to give me a bell when she returns?”

  “Yep.”

  “Right, thanks…”

  I rolled my eyes and disconnected before I noticed Erica sauntering about in reception and as quick as I tried to slump down the chair and hide under the table, it was too late and she gave me that sly grin of hers through the glass window.

  “Lucas, Darling” she purred as she walked through the door and I groaned inwardly but gave her a smile.

  “Erica” I returned as she rounded my desk and settled her arse on the edge in front of me.

  “I haven’t heard from you for a while, I was just thinking of you and was in the area and wondered if you fancied grabbing some lunch?”

  Her finger danced over my bottom lip as her sultry eyes ate me alive and I gently took hold of her hand “Erica, I….”

  Why does it always happen when things look really wrong?

  I glanced Red watching from the doorway just as my fingers curled around Erica’s to remove them but I’m sure to Red it looked like I was reciprocating Erica’s tender moment.

  “Sorry, Mr Hunt. I just wanted to let you know I’m taking an early lunch” she said flatly, her eyes trained on the window behind me and I swallowed as Erica glared at Red.

  “Miss Summers, I’d like a word please. Erica was just leaving.”

  Erica stood and smiled. “Yes, we were just off for lunch, I’ll meet you in the lobby, Lucas” she declared and breezed out of my office before I could challenge her words.

  I opened my mouth to speak but she had gone and I shifted my gaze to Red. “That wasn’t what it looked…”

  “It’s fine Lucas, you go for lunch with Erica. I was just about to tell you I’m going for lunch with Ava and Mason.”

  With that she turned on her pretty pink heels and disappeared down the corridor again. “Fuck, Red…” I shouted to her but groaned as I heard the elevator doors ping and knew it was too late.

  ***

  I watched Red retreat through the main foyer doors with Ava beside her, both of them giggling at something the huge security guy, Bert I think his name was, had said. Red smiled at him and her eyes twinkled mischievously before, as though she felt me watching her, she turned and regarded me through the faintly tinted glass doors.

  I jolted when a hand settled on my shoulder and I knew it was Erica before I even turned. Her over powering perfume choked itself up my nostrils and persecuted my brain.

  “Lucas Darling, you ready?”

  I didn’t turn to her immediately. I watched the hurt settle over Red’s features before she turned back to Ava and nodded before Mason pulled up and they both climbed into his car.

  “Erica, I’m not here to take you to lunch” I told her as I turned to her. I hated to do this and I genuinely liked Erica. She was always fun in the bedroom and she usually wasn’t pushy, just accepted what I gave her and never pressed until the next time I needed her.

  Her brow furrowed and she glanced at the main doors before her lips turned into a soft smile. “The redhead?” she asked. Her perception floored me and I tilted my head at her.

  She chuckled softly “Lucas, it’s not that hard. Last week, when you couldn’t... and the way you just watched her like you wanted to devour her, but then there was something else in your eyes. Adoration?”

  I pursed my lips and sighed but nodded “Yeah. We have a thing going. It’s complicated at the moment but…”

  She placed her hand on my shoulder and shook her head “Lucas, honestly its fine. I’m not going to down pills and get drunk. We had fun but that’s all it was, fun.”

  I smiled widely at her. Why couldn’t all women be like her? “Thanks Erica” I said as I planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

  She smiled softly and palmed my cheek before she teetered across the marble floor. I was silently in awe of how she remained upright in those heels against the sheer polished surface of the flooring.

  Sighing deeply, I made my way out of the building and across to the deli across the road. I purchased sliced ham, cheese and olives and made my back to my lonely office.

  “Lunch alone again, Lucas.”

  I rolled my eyes when the phone rang and I eyed my lunch with a pang of hunger but did Red’s job and answered the phone.

  “Can I speak with Kayla Winters, please?”

  My brain kicked into high alert at the name request. There were only a few people who knew her real name and the fact that someone was ringing here made me shiver in apprehension.

  “I’m afraid she’s on her lunch at the moment. Can I take a message?”

  “Yes. Could you ask her to contact Bellmarsh Prison immediately please and ask for Governor Thames?”

  “Uhh, yes. Is everything okay with her husband?”

  There was a slight silence on the other end and I waited patiently. “Well… not really, but I can’t divulge any information other than to Mrs Winters I’m afraid. If you could just get her to contact me as soon as possible.”

  “Sure.”

  My gut bubbled in uneasiness. Something was wrong, I could tell by the way the governor had spoken and I placed my lunch in the bin, my appetite diminished as I went in search of Red.

  ***

  I didn’t know what to do to help her, apart from sit beside her on the torn and frayed sofa, in the torn and frayed waiting room, her torn and frayed heart weeping whilst I held her hand as tight as she’d let me.

  Ryan had been admitted with multiple stab wounds, one of those had skimmed his heart and they were operating on him as we sat in silence and waited, just waited. Just bloody waited, hour after torturous hour.

  Red suddenly stood and approached the large bay window and sat on its sill. The chipped flaky paint had me regarding it with trepidation so I let her remain there alone.

  In her head she was alone anyway, well; I say alone, I knew she was in that operating room wit
h her husband.

  “It was Diablo” She stated quietly and I swallowed heavily but remained silent at her words.

  Yes, they were my thoughts as well but up until now I hadn’t been brave enough to say them to her.

  The pain on her face was raw and cruel and right at this very moment I would give my life to stop the torment she was going through. I was hurting right along there with her, her suffering was now my suffering and my heart was tearing in two at her sorrow.

  We had been sat in this damn filthy room for three hours now and my mind was frizzing at the lack of air and the same four walls.

  “I’m gonna go find us a coffee” I told her. She nodded but didn’t look at me and I sighed as I quietly closed the door behind me and went in search of sustenance.

  I found a machine down the corridor and purchased us both a thick brown substance that I wasn’t even sure was coffee, but it was wet and hot and it would feed us for a while.

  As I walked back up the corridor the primitive gut-wrenching scream that cut through the air and sucked the oxygen out of it, saw the cups slip from my hands and my heart paused and stuttered when the scream turned to a long drawn out cry.

  Oh Christ, no. no. NO!

  My legs felt like foam as I took wide strides to the waiting room, the wobble in them saw me palming the wall for support and my hand faltered on the handle before I pushed open the door.

  She was on the floor, rocking wildly as the doctor crouched before her. She was mumbling something incoherent, like an alien from another planet, and the doctor turned to me as I stepped inside.

  I looked at him expectantly and he shook his head sadly.

  My heart dropped on the floor beside Red, just dumped itself at the side of her, praying that she would take it and use it to help her, but she didn’t even lift her gaze to me as she carried on with her incomprehensible chant.

  The doc stood, sighed heavily and looked at Red. “Mrs Winters, I’m so very sorry. If there is anything I can do to help?”

  She looked up at him, her eyes empty and cold “I want to see him.”

  He nodded and cocked his head slightly. “If you’ll give us a few moments. I’ll send a nurse for you when we’re ready.”

  She looked back down at the floor without acknowledging his words and he turned to me. “Are you a friend?”

  I glanced at Red then nodded “Yeah.”

  He placed his hand on my arm and leaned in “She seems to be in shock at the moment. There is a buzzer in the corner of the room if you need it,” he nodded his chin towards the door and I followed its direction and nodded to him “a nurse will be back for Mrs Winters.”

  I nodded my acknowledgement and then sat myself beside Red on the floor whilst the doc made his exit.

  Her small hand slid across the floor towards me. I met her halfway and took it, grabbed onto it tight as it trembled in my hold and I desperately tried to stream my love and support through my fingers and into her. She didn’t cry, she didn’t speak; she didn’t do anything other than hold my hand and stare at the floor.

  We were silent for a while until the nurse came to fetch Red. I stood and offered her my hand, she took it and I closed my fingers around her tiny ones. “Will you come with me?” she whispered as her huge eyes begged me to help her.

  “Of course I will.” I replied as I planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

  I wanted to kiss the life out of her right then but I didn’t think Red or the nurse would appreciate that so I just offered what I could.

  My heart and soul were two of those.

  Chapter 25

  Layla

  The nurse smiled warmly at me as we approached the theatre. “Please be aware that Ryan suffered some trauma to his face, but you need to look past that, Mrs Winters.”

  I swallowed back the tears and nodded. They would not come today, they would find their way eventually, but not now, not today. Now was for Ryan.

  My mouth was refusing to form any words so I didn’t bother.

  She opened the door and a different doctor from the one that told me Ry had died was stood waiting for me.

  His eyes were soft and sad and the sympathy held in them brought back the fact that Ryan was dead.

  Gone.

  Because of me.

  My first step into the room faltered and Lucas slipped his arm around my waist to support me as I took the journey across the cold clinical room.

  The longest journey I had ever made, the most tragic journey I had ever made. A journey I so desperately didn’t want to make.

  Ryan looked asleep. His soft lips were closed and I expected them to lift at the corners when he saw me approach, just as they always did. His smile had been the first thing that had attracted me to him, it was always so bright and happy, a mile wide toothy grin.

  He was getting closer now, his still body waiting for me to reach him. Lucas’s hand tightened as if he knew I was struggling and I squeezed back to let him know I was coping… at the moment.

  I could see the contours of Ryan’s hard body through the thin sheet and I thought how cold he must be, the sheet being nearly threadbare. He had always been a cold man, always wearing a jumper and I silently wondered if Lucas had a spare sweater in his car that would fit Ry.

  I was above him now and I hesitantly lifted my hand and brushed the lock of his beautiful soft hair away from his eyes, knowing he hated it in his eyes, he would grumble like mad when it became too long.

  He was so beautiful, so peaceful and my hands shook as I slid my thumb over his still slightly pink lips and waited for him to playfully bite it like he used to with the mischievous growl that he would always tease me with.

  “I’m so sorry Ry” I whispered. He didn’t reply with the usual ‘its okay baby’ this time, just remained silent and still and I wanted to shake him to get that damn statement out of him.

  I leant in and rested my lips on his forehead “I’ll always love you Ry, always. You were my first love and you’ll be my last. Always, baby.”

  I turned to the doctor and nodded. He raised the sheet over Ryan’s face and I whispered a goodnight to him before Lucas led me from the room and straight out to his car and straight to his house.

  ***

  “I need to phone his parents” I said to Lucas as he passed me a glass of whisky. He frowned as he sat beside me on the sofa “Do you think the morning would be better? It’s something not easy to… to…”

  I shook my head and determinedly reached in my bag for my phone.

  Scrolling through the numbers, I found Ry’s parents and my finger hovered over the green icon. “You want me to do it?” Lucas asked softly.

  I glared at him “They don’t even know you. What a stupid thing to ask.”

  I saw his throat bob but he smiled softly and nodded.

  It took me ten minutes to place my finger over the little phone symbol and my heart lurched as the ring tone came through.

  “Hello?” Gina’s voice filtered through and my throat suddenly closed in and all that would come out was a stupid gurgle.

  I cleared my throat and closed my eyes. “Gina?”

  The line was silent for a moment before I felt the ice through the line and I bit my lower lip in preparation for her hostility. “Gina?” I repeated stupidly.

  “Yes.” Was all I got in return and I gulped before I took a deep breath.

  “Gina.” It was all I seemed to be able to vocalise and I knew she sensed my distress when she gasped faintly.

  “Kayla? Tell me.”

  “Ry, he… he… Oh God….”

  What a stupid time for my tears to come. On the phone to the woman who hated me most in the world, who would now hold a deep revulsion for me when I voiced the words no mother ever wanted to hear.

  “KAYLA!” she screamed. She knew, I could hear the deep whine through the phone, the soul destroying, haunting cry only a mother would ever part with.

  “I… I… Oh, Gina, I… I’m so sorry…”

  I dropped t
he phone at her next scream and curled up into a ball, distraughtly trying to get away from the sound coming through the speaker, its penetrating wail piercing my soul.

  Lucas was on me in an instant, lifting me and pulling me onto his lap before he started to rock me.

  His own whimpers at my desolation tore through to my heart but he took it all, every slice of my pain and distress. He absorbed every cry and howl that tore up my throat and he held me tight through each of the violent tremors that racked my body with my grief and heartache.

  He held me for two hours solid, never wavering in his rhythm or never telling me to shush. He just held me, rocked me and cried with me.

  ***

  “Hey” Lucas whispered as he walked slowly towards me whilst I perched on his floor in front of the ceiling high windows and watched the London nightlife go by.

  We had gone to bed hours ago but my mind wouldn’t settle and I had left Lucas sleeping and come in search of hot chocolate.

  “Hey” I smiled back softly.

  “You want another?” he gestured towards my mug and I shook my head.

  He left me for a moment to make his espresso before he came and sat beside me, both of us watching the lights of the city twinkle against the rain on the window.

  “How you doing?” he asked softly as he took hold of my hand and ran his fingers over the edge of mine, tracing the contours with such a delicate touch I was surprised it didn’t tickle more, but it was actually quite soothing and I rested my head back against the window and immersed myself in its comfort.