by L. L Hunter
“This is your family’s house?”
“This is it. What do you think?” Frankie pulled into the driveway and parked. The house we were parked in front of was over a hundred years old with high archways, hedges, and a round drive with a water feature as a roundabout. I stepped out of the car and inhaled. The air was crisp and smelled of salt. There was also a brisk wind, which made me pull my cardigan tighter around my body. Frankie got out of the car and opened the back of the car to retrieve our bags.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe we’re going to be staying here.” I smiled and threw my arms around him, kissing his cheek.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to believe this is real, because the next few days are going to leave you in a head spin.”
Oh, boy. Frankie pecked me against my mouth and carried our bags towards the front door. I followed him close behind, eager to see the interior of this magnificent house.
After unlocking and pushing the creaky door open with his foot, Frankie dumped our bags over the threshold and turned back to me. He was looking at me with the look of a hunter seeking out his prey. I was his prey, I realised. I screamed and giggled as he hoisted me into his arms and stepped over the threshold.
As soon as we were inside, his mouth hungrily sought out my lips, teasing them apart. Then they moved to my neck and my collarbone. His hands found their way underneath my cardigan and top, causing me to shiver. His hands were cold, but I knew in no time at all they would warm from my body temperature alone. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled my body closer to his. I wanted him so badly.
His chest rumbled and I realised he was laughing. “Don’t you want to have a tour first?”
“Hey, you started it. By the way you kissed me, I thought we were going to start in your bedroom. Or the lounge, or the kitchen, or the floor right here.” His chest rumbled again, and he kissed me once more before setting me down.
“It’s totally up to you. Where do you want to start?”
I didn’t need to think about that one. “Your bedroom.”
He lifted me again into his arms and carried me up the stairs.
Nathan
Ever since getting off the phone with my boss, I was distracted. All I could think of was getting to Charli and rescuing her. All I wanted was for her to be safe and in my arms. But I also had to deal with Levi, and I had to make sure he didn’t try anything rash, like pull out a gun. I did know that he had one registered. I tried not to worry about what Charli might be feeling at this very moment, but my defences were down. The worry made its way under my barrier, and had infected my common sense, and clouded my judgement. I was so badly infected with jealousy, worry, anger, and anxiousness I didn’t see the semi trailer until it was too late, until it was on top of me spinning my vehicle out of control. When the front of the truck rammed into the passenger side of my old Holden Commodore, I knew it wouldn’t stand a chance. Half of my car crushed like a can under foot on impact, and then I was rolling. I tumbled over and over, round and round, like a load of wash inside a dryer, until my car came to its final resting place on the side of the highway, nestled in a ditch. I remembered the crash vividly and heard my screams for Charli, but I didn’t remember what happened after that…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Charli
The flight of stairs Frankie had just climbed was not the only flight of stairs. There were two more in this house. The master bedroom was obviously situated on one of the top two floors. The interior of the house was even more exquisite than anyone could have imagined, judging by the outside. The first floor included two bedrooms, a bathroom, and small kitchenette. The next floor held a living room with a home theatre, a bar, and two more bedrooms, each with their own en suite. The third floor, which is where Frankie was heading I realised, had the master bedroom, a sitting area, and a massive private bathroom which looked out over the bay. When Frankie set me again, I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling bay windows and stared.
“Stunning, isn’t it?”
“I…” I couldn’t speak. Not with him standing right behind me. I felt his breath caress the back of neck. I had tied my hair up in a messy bun in the car, and now, Frankie reached up and yanked my hair loose. My hair cascaded down over my shoulders, making me gasp.
“I see not only the view makes you speechless.” He grabbed my shoulders and kissed from one shoulder to the other. I shuddered and leaned back into him sighing. I could get used to this.
“How about a bath?” he murmured into my ear, kissing me there.
“Mm. A hot bath sounds great.”
I felt the air turn cold around me and I realised he had moved away to turn on the taps. I proceed to undress but he stops me.
“Let me do that.”
First, he pulls my indigo cardigan from my arms, dropping it to the floor. Then he reaches for the spaghetti straps of my camisole top. He slides his fingers underneath and pushes the straps down over my shoulders, letting my top drop down to my waist, the straps the only thing holding the top up. Next, his mouth devours the soft mounds of my breasts and I lean back, giving in to him completely.
“Frankie…” I am already turned on, at this point. I want him now. He seems to sense my urgency and need, and stops kissing my breasts, moving down to unbutton my jeans. I gasp when his lips touch the sensitive bit of skin there. My fingernails bite down into his shoulders. I rip his shirt over his head and at the same time, he yanks my jeans down over my pelvis, taking my knickers with them. I am exposed to him, and I moan when his nose nuzzles me in my most sensitive area.
“Frankie… please.” I am shaking now. I need him.
“What? Don’t you want this?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. I want you, badly. But please, let’s move to the bath, I can’t hold on much longer.”
He sighs and stands up to remove my bra. “Very well.” I am now completely naked. As I make my way to the lion-footed vintage bathtub and slip into the soothing warm water, Frankie strips himself of his clothes and slips in the other side. We are now sitting at opposite ends of the bath staring at each other, wondering who is game enough to make the first move.
We both do.
We meet each other half way, our lips meeting first, and then Frankie pulls me into his lap.
I love the feeling of kissing someone in water. I think there is nothing sexier. It is such an intimate and amazing way to kiss someone. Skin slides over skin, lips over lips. There is no friction, only the warmth and the feeling of the other person against you. You become their oxygen and they yours.
Making love in water is different.
It is not sexy at all.
It is messy. But Frankie and I seemed to pull it off perfectly. Frankie and I move in accord with one another, and soon my mind betrays me and drifts off. It drifts to thoughts of someone I shouldn’t be thinking of, but was—Nathan.
I wondered where he was at that moment. I wondered if he had seen me run into Frankie’s arms. I wondered if he knew just how much I ached for him, just how badlyI felt for hurting him. My heart cried for him.
I’m sorry, Nathan.
Damn treacherous heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nathan
White.
Nothing but white.
Was I in heaven?
I tried blinking; opening my eyes but something was gluing my eyelids down. As I tried to wrap my head around what must have happened, everything came back, slowly, and in flashes.
Charli running, Charli crying, Charli running into Levi’s arms... the spray of gravel from the Jeep’s tires as they got away, as he stole her away from me. Then there was the long drive north, the long boring road, the turn off to Cave’s Beach, and the truck’s horn blaring. The tumbling and the rolling, the stopping and the screaming. The screaming was the last thing I remembered before everything went black.
I heard beeping now. Beeping? Why would there be beeping? The truck. Oh God, is the truck reversing over me? Does the driver even
feel remorse?
It was then I smelt it. I could smell bleach and… something else. It all smelt so… sterile. Was I in a hospital? There was also the stench of something burnt in the air… burnt flesh, I realised. I had smelt burnt flesh before on an arson case. It was something you never got out of your nostrils. Why in the hell would I smell burnt flesh? Then I remembered the crash. Oh My God. I was in a car crash. I crashed my car! A truck rammed into me. My car was rolling… I opened my eyes as someone said my name.
“Nathan?”
I groaned. My throat was parched. “Water.” My voice came out in a hoarse whisper.
“What’s that, Buddy? Oh, you want water? Hang on.” I could only see a blurry outline of the person who was talking to me. They disappeared from my field of view, but a second later were back holding something out to me.
“Oh, sorry.” He held something to my lips and tipped it back. I realised it was a paper cup. I sipped then spluttered. Water ran down my windpipe instead of my oesophagus. “Sorry, Buddy.”
“Mark?” I managed to croak. My throat ached. Someone must have stuck something down there.
“Yeah. You’ve been in the wars.”
“What happened?”
“You were in a crash. A semi-trailer rammed into your car, sending it rolling into the ditch on the opposite side of the highway near the turn off to Cave’s Beach. What were you doing up there?”
Too many questions. He was talking too much. I groaned and managed only one word. “Charli.”
“Ah. No, we haven’t been able to go to her yet. We haven’t been authorized.”
“What?” I fought my restraints, trying to sit up. My body protested in pain.
“Nathan, relax. The boss said not to pursue it.”
“But, I have to… Charli. He’s got her!”
“Calm down, Nathan.”
“No, Mark! That prick has her in his house, alone.”
“Okay, okay. Lay down, man. You had a pretty hard knock on the head. You were out for three days.”
“Three days?!” I tried to sit up again after Mark had pushed me down. I had to get to her. I had to get her back. “Help me.”
“No, Nathan. Lay back down, dammit. You’ve been unconscious. You had swelling on the brain. You need to lie back down.”
“I don’t care. Charli is out there, she’s probably frightened. Who knows what he’s doing to her… Oh God.”
Mark hesitated for a moment and ran a hand over his face sighing. He sounded exhausted. He had probably been sitting in the seat beside me for the three days I had been out. “I’m sorry man. I can’t defy authority. The boss said you’re too close to the case. You have to let her go, Nathan.”
I shot him a glare so cold, so laced with ice and anger, that he flinched and put his hands up in front of him.
“I will never let her go,” I managed to get myself out of the bed and untangle some of the wires that were restraining me. When I had yanked the IV drips out of my arms, I leaned against the bed. I felt faint but not overwhelmed by it. “Where are my clothes?”
This time Mark didn’t hesitate. Obviously, he realised coming in between a man in love, and his object of affection, was a grave mistake. Without speaking, Mark handed me a white paper bag. Before leaving, Mark said something that made me smile. “You always were the braver one of the two of us. Always the rebel.”
Rebel. That was me. In fact, in the training academy, that’s what the other recruits had called me. From then on, I knew the name would stick.
“I’ll just be outside while you change, but then I’m coming with you.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at my partner.
I smiled. “Thanks, Man.”
“Anytime. I have your back, always. Remember?”
“I remember. But for a second there, I thought you were going to betray me.”
“Me, too.”
“What changed?”
“I don’t know, Man. I guess I realised I needed to help you get your happiness back. You’ve been a lost soul these past few months.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
We shared a smile before Mark ducked out and pulled the curtain closed. When I had changed into the fresh change of clothes Mark must have rescued out of car—the ones I always carried in case of emergencies—I hobbled out and joined my partner.
“You all right? You look like your could use a burger.”
My stomach rumbled. “More than you’d know,” I groaned and gave him a small smirk.
He patted my shoulder “Come on. We’ll stop at Macca’s on the way.”
As Mark helped me sneak out of the hospital, I realised then I had never been happier for my partner. I had his back, too—always.
Charli
After Frankie and I had soaked and snuggled in the tub for about half an hour, we both stepped out and I hopped in the shower while he headed into the bedroom. As I was scrubbing my skin, and the traces of him from me, I heard the faint sounds of conversation drifting over the water. I leaned against the tiled wall and listened.
“No, I told you not now. Wait a few more days.” There was quiet on Frankie’s end while he listened to the person on the other end. I could hear them both almost clearly because they were shouting.
“What? Are you sure? No, I knew he was following us.” Another pause. “Is he alive?”
Alive? Who were they talking about? The person on the other end sounded like a woman.
“Where is he?” Frankie sounded frantic, desperate. Then relief washed over him as I heard the woman say what sounded like ‘hospital.’ “Good. At least he’ll be tied down for a few days. Keep me updated on his condition. We can’t have him coming back. Yes, I love you too.”
Love? Who the hell was he talking to?
When I was sure Frankie had ended the call, I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around me and walked into the bedroom. Frankie was sitting on the end of the bed, his head in his hand.
“Who was that?” I asked casually. His head snapped up.
“Nothing. No one. Just a friend.”
A friend you say ‘I love you’ to? I almost asked, but bit my tongue.
“Oh, okay.” I went to my bag and grabbed some clothes before going into the bathroom to change.
The next three days passed in a routine that was almost military. We woke up, kissed, and cuddled in bed before heading downstairs to eat breakfast. Each day we went for a walk up the hill and to the bay. On Thursday, the weather was warm, so I decided to go for a swim in the bay. I pulled off my woollen jumper slowly, teasing Frankie who was lying on a towel on the beach watching me. Then I felt his hands on my waist. I moaned as his hands crept all over my skin. I leaned back into his shoulder and kissed him. He kissed me back hungrily and expertly. He then flipped me up into his arms and ran with me screaming into the water. Once in the water we made the most of the ghost town, making love in the water. With each moment Frankie and I spent together, I could feel him slipping away. I could tell he was keeping something from me, and I planned to find out what it was.
On Friday evening when I came back from a jog, I caught Frankie on the phone again. I tried not to make a sound as I slipped into the house. I glued myself to the wall to listen.
“I already told you my plan once I got the money. Yes, I have it and no, she doesn’t suspect a thing. God, she is so dumb and naïve.”
I clenched my fists. He was talking about me. He was planning something. I contemplated calling or texting Nathan, but I knew I had hurt him when I ran away from him. I felt for my phone in my pocket and brought up Nathan’s text conversation. As I started typing, Frankie began shouting.
“No, she doesn’t know. At least, I don’t think she does. But he knows. It was almost like the hand of fate took care of him for me.” I could tell he was smirking. I wanted to look, but I didn’t dare peel my back away from the wall. Who was he talking about? Who did he need taken care of? Was he talking about my father, or Nathan?
Oh God, what was he up to. I needed to talk to Nathan. I finally worked up the courage to move and headed towards the door. As my hand turned the knob, an arm crushed my windpipe. He pulled me back hard against his body and spoke hot words into my ear.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I almost screamed and kicked out, but decided not to. I had to make him think I still knew nothing. That I was the dumb bitch he thought I was.
“Nowhere. Frankie, please. You’re hurting me.”
I tried acting seductive. I had to keep up the ruse to keep myself safe, but he wasn’t listening.
“I know you heard the conversation in your father’s office that day.” He told me. I tensed. He knows. But I continued to play my part.
“I didn’t, I swear. What conversation?”
“What do you know?”
“I know nothing. Frankie, please let go.” After a few tense moments he let me go and I let out the breath I didn’t realise I had been holding.
“Fine. But if you’re lying to me…”
“I’m not.” I walked away from him and headed upstairs. What had changed? He was turning into a completely different person. Or had he always been like that, and I really was the naïve bitch he said I was?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nathan
After I had finished my burger, I was so anxious I didn’t know what to do with my hands.
“Relax, buddy. We’ll get her back.”
“I know. But I’ve been in the hospital for three days. If something’s happened to her… If he’s done anything…” I choked, tears finding their way to my eyes.
“I know. Maybe you’d better prepare yourself for the worst. Just like a routine job, you know. We don’t know what kind of scene we’re approaching.”
“This isn’t just some routine job, Mark. This is Charli. This is…”
“I know, Man. This is the woman whom you were hired to protect. The only thing that’s making this so hard for you is that you realise you’re in love with her.”
