“From your grandparents?” He asked. It was a reasonable conclusion to make I guess.
“Later, please?” I took the gift wrapped package from the woman and walked out of the shop.
“Liv, wait!” I kept walking into another shop having spied some cute shorts from the window. “Liv, I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you had enough to pay for it, I was only going to offer to get it for you.”
“I don’t need your money Jamie, I have my own!” I hated all the arguments that my money brought my family, I can’t show Jamie that it gets to me.
“I’m sorry, we’ve just never talked like that, I just wanted to help that’s all.” He explained.
“Do you honestly think I’d embarrass myself like that, let alone in front of you by buying something I can’t afford?” I let out a big sigh. “Look, it doesn’t matter, you know now so you can stop worrying. I have more than enough to buy a stupid watch!” I picked a top out of my bundle and handed it to Jamie, he looked at me confused. “You owe me a top remember?” I gave him an apologetic smile to let him know I was done arguing and headed off to buy the clothes in my arms.
We left the shop and I spied a lingerie store across from us, heading there next. “You remember you owe me underwear too?” I elbowed him in the ribs lightly and tried a carefree smile to lighten the mood between us again.
“Of course… How about you go grab us a drink and I’ll go in here to choose some for you.”
“Do you even know what size to get?”
“Oh I know.” He winked at me and kissed me deeply before leaving to head into the shop, while I headed off to a coffee shop for our drinks. I grabbed him a coffee and a hot chocolate covered in whipped cream and marshmallows for myself. When I got back to the lingerie shop I could see Jamie still inside with a basket full of things. Was he buying out the whole shop? I dropped all of my shopping bags to the floor and collapsed on to a bench. I’d drank half of my hot chocolate when I felt a soft tug on my hair.
“Hey stranger!” I looked up… Shit!
“Uncle Aussie! Wow! What a surprise!” I looked around nervously to see if Jamie was back yet.
“What, no hug?” I stood up on the bench to jump into his arms, like I had done since I was a child. I wrapped my legs around him, clinging on for dear life as he started to spin. I screamed for him to stop, leaning back feeling dizzy as I looked at him.
“Uncle Aussie needs a shave!” He laughed at my scowl and hugged me tightly.
“You always say that, baby girl.” He hugged me tighter and rubbed his stubble covered cheeks against mine. I shrieked, probably attracting the attention of everyone in the shopping centre but I didn’t care. He was my guardian angel and everyone else could just go to Hell.
“Ok… Ok…” I said laughing. “Grow a beard for all I care! Just put me down!” I tried hopelessly to get down.
“Never, sweetheart” He said before licking a bit of cream from my nose. I was just about to swat him and complain when a throat cleared behind us; I turned around to see Jamie glaring at Austin.
Uncle Austin was only thirty-two but he looked at least six or seven years younger than that, he was six-foot-four with the body of a finely trained athlete; he had dirty blonde surfer hair that with zero effort still looked perfect. He had icy blue eyes that no woman could say no to.
He always teased my dad about getting all of the looks in the family; the only similarities between them were their height, hair and eye colour. The major difference being that I wouldn’t be so excited to see my dad and I certainly wouldn’t cling to him for all my life was worth.
Uncle Austin looked down at Jamie, narrowing his eyes on the bag he was carrying. He put me back down on the floor with a kiss to the top of my head; Jamie instantly captured me under his arm. I didn’t know if I wanted to sigh or smile at Jamie’s show of possessiveness.
“Hmm… Is my little Lollie-pop being a naughty girl? No wonder your parents sent me after you.”
“They sent you?” He nodded.
“They said I was to follow you and find out what you were doing, since you won’t tell them. They figured you’d tell me but you haven’t done that either.”
“You’re stalking me?” I gaped at him
“Sweetheart, ‘stalking’ is such an ugly word. I much prefer the term, ‘actively taking an interest in a person’s whereabouts’.” He grinned at me. “And you’re being rude, Olivia.”
“Erm… This is Jamie. Jamie, this is my Uncle Austin.” I felt Jamie physically relax beside me upon hearing the beautiful man in front of him was related to me.
“Pleeeaase don’t tell dad, you know he’ll pitch a fit! He can only meet Jamie again when I explain everything and I don’t want to be visiting prison to try and do that!”
“Relax! Have I ever told anyone, any of your secrets?” I looked at him, raising my eyebrow. “Ok, when it doesn’t endanger your safety, or involve where you stash your sweets then you know your secrets are safe.” he seemed to pause a second to think. “Is your safety in danger?” He narrowed his eyes at Jamie again.
“I’d never hurt her.” Jamie said defensively.
“Then I guess it’s nice to meet little Lollie-pop’s boyfriend.” I narrowed my eyes at him. He offered his hand for Jamie to shake and he took it; the power struggle between the two of them as the muscles in both of their forearms tensed was funny, seeing who had the firmest handshake. They both pulled away flexing their hands and I laughed.
“I had a note saying you wanted to see me?”
“Yeah, about that. Let’s go and sit in here.” Austin led us over to the coffee shop that I’d just visited, finding a quiet table in the back. “So where did you two meet?” My cheeks flushed red, oh my god this is going to be hell!
“School.” Jamie eyed me nervously at my open admission. “Jamie was my maths teacher.”
Austin started howling with laughter. “Maths? You hate maths! Ohhh wait. You’re him! I never thought you had it in you Liv! That’s more my style.” He laughed and leaned over to ruffle my hair.
“I told him when you first started teaching that I had a massive crush on you.” I told Jamie over Austin’s laughter.
“Can I please be there when you tell your dad? And the first family meal? Oh god… Wait… How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-six.”
“You’re a little young to have been teaching for so long aren’t you?”
“I was a student teacher and managed to graduate quickly.” Jamie said, blushing slightly.
“Wow, someone smarter than you Aussie. Who’d have thought?” I teased.
“Watch it lady, I’m not happy with you. Why did you not tell me about Lucas? I could have dealt with him. I will deal with him.”
“I was going to, I swear.” He pulled my left wrist towards him, checking that I still had the bracelet that he’d given me and pointed to it.
“When? I made a promise to you that no fucker would ever hurt you again. I’m always the first person you come to with anything, Olivia. What happened?”
“I went to the police.”
“You know what? I’m not discussing this any further. I only found out because your dad wants to hire a personal protection officer for you and I made him tell me why. Do you know how that makes me feel?” I looked away from his penetrating gaze. I’d promised him a long time ago that if anything or anyone, hurt or upset me, he’d be the first to know about it. “Did you know he and your mum received threats?” I shook my head.
“What kind of threats?” Jamie enquired.
“So far we’ve had two and that’s why I need to talk to you.” He looked at me with worry behind his beautiful eyes. “You need to come and live with me for a while.” I looked at him perplexed. “It’s safer at mine, ok? We can have security live in, in fact, they are already in place. I just need you to agree.” I continued to look at him like he was talking a foreign language.
“A threat? For what? Why do I need to move?”
�
�On you, Liv. Some clown is leaving stupid notes. They haven’t asked for anything as yet, but Frank only thinks it’s a matter of time.” I nodded.
“She’s staying with me at the minute, my house is as tight as Fort Knox so she’s safe there.”
“I’d rather she was with me. No offence, but I have my team living with me and they know everything that hap-”
“Aussie.” I stopped him with a look and a shake of my head.
“At least if you live with me, you won’t be late for work when you start.” Austin beamed.
“I’ve already told you I’m not doing that.” I could feel the tension building in my chest, readying myself for a fight. It had happened every time my future had been brought up in conversation. It always ended with me throwing something at someone or walking away in a bad mood for the next week, partly why I hadn’t seen him in the last few weeks.
“Olivia, you need to be somewhat prepared to take over as soon as you are of age. I can hold it until you complete your studies but it’s not mine to hold on to, that was only ever a temporary measure.” Austin said in his stern way letting me know he meant business. I looked him right in his big blue eyes.
“I don’t want it! I don’t want any of it! I’ll come and live with you, but forget that happening.” I felt sick whenever I thought about my inheritance. Or compensation. Whichever way you looked at it.
“But they were his last wishes.”
“Ask yourself something.” I stood up and gathered my bags. “Did he care for my wishes? Do you even care right now?” I leaned across the table to sternly whisper to Uncle Austin, hoping Jamie would be courteous enough to cover his ears. “If I have to take charge on my twenty-first birthday then so be it. The whole lot is getting dismantled and left out on the pavement for the vultures.” I looked at Jamie. “May we leave now?” Jamie looked between me and Austin then nodded. My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest I was so angry. Talking about my secret, personal hell stirred lots of emotions in me and I hated them all.
“Wait, Olivia. Please! At least talk to me civilly instead of having a tantrum and running.”
“I will not be forced in to anything ever again. You can’t make me, you can’t.” I snapped. “Jamie?” I didn’t bother to see if he was following as I walked out of the coffee shop, I also didn’t bother to look at all the people staring at me as I went by them, if I did I would probably swing a bag at them with enough force to take their head off.
“Olivia, baby wait!” I halted my stride to wait for Jamie.
“Jamie I’m so, so sorry.” Tears pricked in my eyes, I looked up to stop them falling. “We need to get to the car. Now.” I can’t go to pieces in a shopping centre. We got to the car park just as the first tear brimmed over the edge, I could hardly see where I was walking my eyes were so blurry with unshed tears. Jamie opened the boot of the car and I threw the bags in, not caring where or how they landed.
I made it to the passenger door before the first sob broke its way through my chest like a wrecking ball, I fell to the floor and gave into all the tears I was trying to hold in. My tears were a constant waterfall down my cheeks, my chest ached from the sobs and my head ached from the pressure of holding in my anger and tears. I felt sick with rage. I took a breath as deep as I could and screamed. I kept screaming in my heap on the floor. I felt Jamie’s strong arms wrap around my waist to pull me from the floor.
I don’t know how long I had been crying for but when I opened my eyes it was dark outside and the car park was empty apart from a couple of cars at the far end. I sat up from Jamie’s lap and noticed we were in the back seat of his car with me curled into his chest. His shirt was covered in my tear stains, soaking it through. I laughed through a hiccup as I felt his shirt with my hand. Feeling his muscles flex under my touch stirred my core awake, I straddled him as I began to unbutton his shirt, kissing his neck and following the buttons as I opened them.
“Olivia” He tried to grab my wrists to stop me but I fought him off. I finished with his buttons and began sliding his shirt from his shoulders.
“No talking. Please. I can’t.” I said before capturing his mouth with mine in a frenzy as I gripped his hair in my hands. His hands gripped a hold of my rear pulling me closer to where he was becoming hard.
“Here? Really?”
“Here” was all I could say as I kicked my shoes off my feet. I sat back and ripped open the button and zip of his jeans, biting my lip as I watched him spring free of his boxers. He reached for his back pocket to grab another condom and slipped his jeans down to his knees as I removed my jeans and underwear. I straddled him again, pushing down on his length, we both cried out and I shuddered with the delicious full feeling from him. I gripped the headrest behind him for support and hurriedly moved up and down on him.
“Jamie! Come with me.” I moaned against his lips. “Come with me. “ I cried out as I reached my release, my insides pulling against Jamie, milking him of all he could give me. He gripped tightly around my waist holding me to him as he found his release too. “Come for me Jamie.” I ordered as I ground my hips against his, taking every inch of him inside me. He rested his cheek against my pounding heart and I rested mine against his messy hair.
“Oh… my… God” Jamie exclaimed still panting for air, I sat back to look at him, brushing my hair from my face and wiping my still wet eyes.
“I’m sorry.” I looked down, ashamed of my behaviour.
“For what?”
“Attacking you” He chuckled. “And for the way I acted earlier.”
“It’s ok. I understand having a pushy family, I have one too remember? And I don’t mind being attacked so much; in fact, feel free to attack whenever you want.” He chuckled again leaning forward to kiss me.
“No you don’t understand at all. No one does!” I could feel tears welling up again.
“Hey… Shh…” Jamie hugged me close to him and began rocking me.
“I- I need to- to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?” His hands cupped my face, his thumbs stroking under my eyes wiping away tears. What the hell must he think of me with all the crying I’d done in his company?
I quickly made myself decent again and crawled into the front passenger seat. I grabbed my iPhone from my bag and plugged it in to the car stereo; Jamie looked at me oddly. “I said I’d put my playlist on for you.” I smiled at him. After a couple of my favourite songs that made me think of him, I decided I needed to tell him what my breakdown was all about. “Have you ever heard of Mason Enterprises?”
He looked at me oddly. “You mean one of the biggest organisations in Europe?” I nodded and looked out of the window to watch the passing traffic on the other side of the road. “I heard a lot of rumours about that place. I once heard that the guy-”
“Whatever you heard is more than likely not true.” I looked at him when I could feel his eyes in the back of my head. “You drive; I’ll… talk… or try to.” Jamie nodded. I took a deep breath, holding it to let out slowly. “My mum’s name before marrying my dad was Suzie Mason, Robert Mason was her brother.” I glanced sideways at him and watched him stiffen as he put whatever he had heard in relation to me. “Remember whatever you’ve heard is probably made up bullshit, because no one knows the truth. People that didn’t need to know were never told. Everyone was left to assume.” I watched him nod his understanding.
“He and his wife were going through some trouble with IVF, she couldn’t conceive. They tried to go down the adoption route, but he was always too busy taking over other companies to be home for the interviews or to go meet the children so they missed out a lot.” Recalling all of Julie’s pain, made me remember all of the screaming; I could still hear it now.
“Every Saturday I would go and stay with them as mum felt sorry for Julie and it cheered them up a bit to have a child in the house to spoil, even if I did have to go home the next day, it was nice for them to pretend while they carried on trying IVF and trying to adopt. By
the time I was six she got so fed up of trying that she left and divorced him.” I took another deep breath, curled up in the seat pulling my knees to my chest and closed my eyes. “I kept going to Robert’s house because it was my routine. I’d scream if I couldn’t go; his house was so much bigger than ours. Bigger than yours even. I loved exploring and swimming… I had my piano there and we’d play together, but that was when everything bad started to happen.”
“We used to go on these long walks through the woods that surrounded his house so I could chase the rabbits or spot the deer. At the far side there was a river that we would sit beside if it was nice enough. One day in the Autumn I complained because I was getting cold so he sat me in between his legs to hug me and keep me warm. He was rubbing my arms one minute and then the next it was my chest. I didn’t understand. I was so cold but I didn’t know. He did that every week… I didn’t realise what he was doing. He got brave after that and headed inside my shirt” I noticed Jamie’s firm grip on the steering wheel and took another deep breath. “Then my trousers.” I swallowed hard past the lump still clinging to my throat. Breathe… just breathe…
“He told me he was just making me warm; his hands were always so warm and I was shivering in the cold. He’d never make me grab a jacket, I didn’t know any better; I was only six, I saw the sun and assumed it was warm out. Soon he stopped taking me out on the walks and we just stayed at his house, he started making me touch him too after a while.” I wasn’t aware I was crying until I tasted the tears as they landed on my lips.
“My hands got so sore… I kept washing them. No matter how many times I washed I could still see all of his…” I shivered and looked down at my hands, instinctively wiping them hard on my jeans remembering how disgusting I felt; I wanted a shower just from thinking of it.
“My mum took me to the doctor to see if they could help; they thought I had OCD.” I laughed and rolled my eyes. “They removed every cleaning product out of my way after they caught me trying to climb in a bath of-” I shook my head, realising how stupid climbing into a bath of bleach would be. “The hot water had to be turned off because I kept running it so hot.” I looked down at my denim covered legs remembering how red and sore they had got after climbing into a bath that was far too hot for me. I let out another big sigh.
Broken Ever After Page 22
