Third Act (Dark Falkon Book 3)

by J. O Mantel

  “I love you,” she whispered, before placing the pillows back on her chair and making herself comfortable. Soon enough, she closed her eyes and was fast asleep.

  It was early when she woke up the following morning, Lukas was still fast asleep. She hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since the accident and sleeping on the chair was giving her the worst back pain, but she refused to go home. She got out of the chair, walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The sun still hadn’t come up and a slight chill came through the tiny opening in the window. Sienna shivered and rubbed her arms.

  “Oh,” she gasped as the babies kicked. She looked down at her belly and rubbed her hands over it. She let out another gasp as the babies kicked again. She rubbed her hands over her belly again, reassuring herself that everything was okay. That she was okay, the babies and Lukas were all okay. She turned and looked back out the window, humming a tune to herself.

  Lukas opened his eyes and turned to face the window, he saw Sienna standing there; “There she is. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he smiled.

  Sienna turned and looked at Lukas, eyes wide open.

  “You-You remember me?” Sienna gasped.

  Lukas nodded.

  Sienna’s face lit up with a huge smile, she walked over to the bed, threw her arms around Lukas and they kissed passionately.

  “Oh my God, Lukas. I thought I had lost you, I-”

  “Shh,” He said, kissing her again. “What matters now is that I’m back, and everything is going to be all right.”

  “I love you, Lukas. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” she said.

  Lukas smiled with acknowledgment, as Sienna hopped onto the bed next to him. He placed his arm around her and she lay down, her head resting on his chest.

  “I love you too,” he whispered, kissing her forehead.

  He gently stroked her hair as Sienna closed her eyes, she was really tired and slowly drifted off to sleep again. Lukas turned and looked out the window, just as the sun started to break through the trees and shone its rays into the room.

  Lukas was discharged from the hospital a week later. Dr. Evans had given him the all clear from his injuries, but told him that he may have some minor side effects from his surgery.

  Sienna didn’t want him staying at his apartment all alone, so she insisted that he spend time with her until he fully recovered from his surgery. She had been pampering him since they left the hospital, and at times, he just wanted to tell her to leave him in peace. But he didn’t want to make out as if he was ungrateful and hurt her feelings.

  Jake was due to arrive home tomorrow and Sienna knew that there would be tension with the three of them all staying under the same roof, but she would deal with it when she had to.

  “You know you don’t have to look after me, right?” Lukas said.

  “The doctor said you need to take it easy and not do anything for the next few weeks.”

  “Babe, I’m fine. And besides, you’re the one that should be taking it easy,” he said, getting up off the sofa.

  He walked into the kitchen, and pulled Sienna toward him.

  “You’re beautiful, you know that.”

  “I know,” Sienna replied, sarcastically.

  “Well, dinner is in the oven so I might go and take a shower. Care to join me?” She rubbed her hand over his chest, slowly making her way down the front of his jeans until she reached his cock. She massaged it from the outside, teasing Lukas.

  “That’s very tempting,” he said; “but I have a few calls to make before it gets too late. I’ll be here waiting when you get out,” he continued, kissing her.

  Sienna headed for the bathroom while Lukas went into Sienna’s room. As he reached down to grab his bag, he suddenly felt really dizzy and almost stumbled over. He quickly sat on the bed and waited for his head to stop spinning.

  Once the room had stopped spinning he picked up his phone, called a cab and quickly organized for Louis to have his plane ready to fly to LA, then grabbed his bags. He walked out into the living room and placed his bags by the door. After a couple of minutes he heard the shower turn off, and he waited for Sienna to come out of the bathroom.

  The bathroom door opened and Sienna walked out in nothing but her towel.

  “Why don’t we-” she stopped suddenly, as she noticed the bags by the door.

  “What’s going on?” She asked.

  Lukas walked over to her and grabbed her hand.

  “Come and sit down,” he said, walking her over to the sofa. The two of them sat down and Lukas stroked Sienna’s hand.

  “Babe. I need to leave for a while.”

  “Leave? Why? What for?” Sienna asked.

  “I-,” he hesitated, “I need some time by myself to recover from the surgery.”

  “But Lukas, that’s why I asked you to stay with me so that I could take care of you.”

  “I know that, and I love you for it. But Sienna, I can’t be a burden to you. You have your own wellbeing to look out for as well as the twins. I can’t jeopardize anything happening to them.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to them. Lukas, what’s this really about?”

  “Nothing,” he sighed. “Like I said, I can’t rely on you to take care of me. I should be the one looking after you, and at the moment I can’t even do that. I just need to spend some time on my own at the penthouse.”

  “Ok, well I’ll come with you. Give me a minute to pack.”

  “No, Sienna! I don’t want you traveling in your condition. I can’t risk anything happening to you or the twins. I’ll be fine on my own, I promise.”

  “But, Lukas-”

  “No, buts. I’ve already made all the arrangements. Please understand why I need to do this.”

  “Do I get a say in this?” Sienna asked.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Well, how long will you be gone?” She asked.

  “I’ve spoken to Mike and he has enough material for them to complete the rest of the album without me. It’ll be ready in two weeks, so that’s plenty of time for me to rest and recuperate before all the chaos of the promotional tour.”

  He looked into her eyes and he could see that she was ready to cry. He hated leaving her, but he couldn’t tell her that the real reason he was leaving, was because he was suffering dizziness. At times, he was even forgetting the simplest things, like a conversation they had only had a few moments earlier; it was all as a result of the accident and the side effects. She already had enough to deal with and he didn’t want to lay this one on her also.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  He nodded.

  “But why, Lukas? Why can’t you just stay here and let me take care of you?”

  “Sienna, you’ve already taken enough time off work to look after me. I know Adam’s been supportive, but pretty soon you’re going to be on maternity leave and you need to make sure you’re up to date with everything before you leave. I know how important your work is to you.”

  “Why do I not believe you?” Sienna asked.

  “Maybe you should start believing me when I say I’m okay. Look, Jake’s coming home tomorrow, I’m sure the two of you will want to spend some time together, he has been gone a while.”

  “Lukas, I can spend time with Jake whenever I want. I’m worried about you and I want to make sure you’re okay.”

  A horn honked outside.

  “That’s the cab, I better not keep it waiting.”

  “Cab? What? You won’t even let me drive you?”

  “Babe, you’ve already done enough for me.”

  He stood up, grabbed his things, and opened the front door.

  “My plane leaves in a couple of hours. It’ll be late when I land so I’ll just text you.”

  “No, I want you to call me, please.”

  “It’s a six-hour flight, it’ll be after midnight when I land.”

  “I don’t care. I want to hear your voice, promise me you’ll ca
ll?” She demanded.

  There was no use arguing. When Sienna demanded something, she usually got her own way.

  “Ok, I promise to call you.”

  There was another honk from outside. Sienna leaned forward, wrapped her arms around Lukas and kissed him. He picked up his things and started walking out the door.

  “I love you,” Sienna called out.

  Lukas stopped and turned around, “I love you too,” he replied, smiling at her. He turned and headed for the cab, placing his bags in the trunk. He opened the door and looked at Sienna one last time. The two of them smiled and Lukas blew her a kiss before stepping into the cab.

  Sienna watched as the driver pulled out of her drive and onto the street, before driving out of sight.

  Jake opened the front door and slowly crept inside the living room. He looked around but couldn’t see Sienna anywhere. Her car was still in the drive, so he figured she must still be asleep.

  He placed his bags in his room, grabbed a towel and quickly headed into the bathroom. He stripped out of his clothes, down to his black Hugo Boss briefs and stared in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot and he was exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep, but he missed Sienna and he wanted to spend some time with her.

  After removing his briefs, he jumped in the shower. It washed over him and eased his tense body. After he showered, he quickly changed and headed out into the kitchen. He made himself something to eat and sat down on the sofa, soon after he heard Sienna’s bedroom door creak open. He looked up and saw her standing outside her room, completely naked.

  “Holy shit. Jake?” She called out, her face turning a deep shade of red as she turned and raced back into her room, shutting the door.

  Jake couldn’t wipe the huge smile that swept over his face. Within a few minutes Sienna reappeared out of her bedroom, this time she was in her nightie.

  “When did you get home?” She asked, looking at Jake, and covering her cleavage, embarrassed.

  “About thirty minutes ago,” he replied.

  “Haven’t you ever heard of phoning?”

  “Well I would have, except I lost my phone somewhere while I was traveling,” Jake said.

  “I guess that explains why you haven’t returned my calls.”

  “Has something happened?” Jake asked.

  “You could say that,” she said, pouring herself some juice from the fridge, and walking over to Jake. He stood up and the two of them hugged each other tightly.

  “Wow! You’re really starting to show now,” Jake said, looking down at her baby bump.

  The two of them sat down and Jake looked at Sienna. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked tired.

  “What’s wrong? You look exhausted. Is everything okay with the twins?”

  “Everything’s fine,” she yawned. “I’m just really tired and a lot happened while you were away.”

  Jake continued to look at Sienna, waiting for her to tell him what happened. She sipped her orange juice and placed the glass on the table.

  “Lukas was in an accident,” she said.

  “What? What kind of accident?”

  “A boating accident. He went on a fishing trip with the band, and they were caught in a rough storm in the Caribbean. He only got released from hospital a few days ago.”

  “Is he all right?” Jake asked.

  “When they were caught up in the storm, he went overboard and hit his head on the railing. Matt dived in after him and swam them both to shore. He suffered some swelling to the brain, and the doctors had to wait a little before they could operate. He was unconscious for a long time and when he woke he suffered temporary memory loss and couldn’t remember anything.”

  “Are you serious?” Jake asked, surprised.

  “It was awful, Jake. He couldn’t even remember who I was or how we met. It took some time, but he finally regained his memory. I tried calling you for days but I was unable to reach you. At least now I know it’s because you’d lost your phone.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “It’s okay, I just really needed to hear your voice. You always have a way of making me feel safe and everything ends up turning out all right.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. What about Ivy? Surely she was here for you.”

  “Yeah, she was with me throughout the whole thing.”

  “So where’s Lukas now, surely he hasn’t gone back to work, already?” Jake asked.

  “No! He was staying here with me for a few days and yesterday he just packed up everything and left.”

  “You two had a fight?” He asked.

  “No, nothing like that. He told me that I shouldn’t be the one looking after him. That I was the one who needed looking after. He didn’t want me making a fuss over him. In the end, I think his pride got the better of him, so he took off and left for LA.”

  “I’m not taking Lukas’s side on this, but I kind of agree with the guy. Sienna you’ve got to start thinking about yourself. Lukas is right, you’ve got to stop thinking and caring about others so much. At the moment, you need all the rest you can get. I’m glad that I had this tour now rather than later, I don’t want to miss the birth, even if I don’t turn out to the father.”

  “So, that’s it? No more tours?” Sienna asked.

  “Nope! The majority of the promotional tour was all done overseas, from now on, everything is done from here. So I won’t be going anywhere, at least not for a while anyway.”

  They sat there for hours talking about his trip, life and babies. The realization of Sienna becoming a mom was sinking in, as her due date drew closer. She only had a month left of work, before she would stay home and begin her duties as a full-time mother of twins.

  There was still of course the subject of the paternity. Knowing whether the father of her children was Jake or Lukas. She had moments when she thought about how many opportunities she’d had to do a paternity test. She looked back on it all now and wondered if things would be different if she knew who the father was.

  After Lukas’s accident, she realized that he was the one she wanted to be with, for the rest of her life. Even if Jake was the father, she knew she could still have a happy life with Lukas.

  Over the past weeks, any feelings and desires that she had previously about Jake, were swept from her mind. Lukas was the one she wanted to be with, no matter the outcome.

  “I’m starved, are you hungry?” He asked.

  “Yeah, I am actually. Let me get changed and I’ll cook some lunch, I’m sure you’re exhausted from the flight.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. I’m quite capable of cooking lunch, Sienna. Go and finish getting dressed, I’ll take care of lunch and call you when it’s ready. And don’t even think about arguing!”

  Sienna didn’t need to be told twice, she stood up and headed into the bathroom, while Jake went into the kitchen.

  He prepared them some spaghetti and meatballs and a fresh garden salad. He was placing the food on the table, just as Sienna was coming out of her bedroom.

  “Looks great,” Sienna said, shoving a forkful into her mouth.

  The two of them were starving and they both had second helpings. After much arguing with Jake, Sienna washed up, and then made them both a hot chocolate with marshmallows. She then joined Jake on the sofa.

  “So, you’ve heard about my excitement. How was the trip? Well apart from losing your phone.”

  “Yeah it was great. I mean we only managed to get one entire weekend to explore London, the rest of the time we were doing small gigs, interviews or publicity shoots.”

  “How was London?” Sienna asked.

  “Cold,” Jake replied.

  “So, is the album finished?”

  “Almost. I think Stuart wants to go through all the tracks with us, one last time, before it goes into post-production. But the cover’s ready.”

  “Can I see it?” Sienna asked with wide eyes.

  “I actually don’t have it. But it does look brilliant.”

/>   “Ah, the life of a rock star. All that fame, publicity and not to mention, all the single girls throwing their bras at you,” Sienna laughed.

  “Yeah right. Fat chance of that ever happening,” Jake said.

  Sienna picked up the pillow and threw it at Jake.

  “What have I told you about talking like that?” Sienna said.

  “Dark Falkon finished their album.”

  “Really?” Jake asked, not really interested.

  “Yeah, it’ll be ready in about two weeks. That’s why the band has taken this time away now. Apparently Mike said that they can do whatever else they need without them.”

  “Oh, fair enough,” Jake replied.

  “Whoa,” Sienna gasped, rubbing her belly.

  “A kick?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah. Oh, there goes another one.”

  Sienna continued to rub her belly as Jake sat there and watched.

  “What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Jake asked.

  “Nothing. What did you have in mind?”

  “Well, I was thinking about heading to the mall and getting a new phone. I called the phone company and they’ve canceled my SIM card. Care to tag along?”

  “Don’t you want to get some sleep? Aren’t you tired?”

  “I am a little, but I’d rather do it all now and then rest when I get back. That way I know I’ll have a proper night’s sleep tonight.”

  “Makes sense. Ok, I’ll just go and put my face on. I can’t be seen in public like this.”

  She stood up and headed for the bathroom. Jake grabbed his wallet and keys from his bags and waited for Sienna by the door.

  When they reached the mall, they went straight to the phone shop. Jake purchased his new iPhone and accessories, within a couple of minutes, it was ready and he turned it on, luckily he was able to keep his original number.

  He and Sienna wandered around the mall for a couple of hours. Sienna walked into various maternity stores and Jake found himself tagging along. He watched as she grabbed items off the racks and tried them on. Each time she would step out of the change room wearing a different outfit, Jake would smile. He could see how happy Sienna was, as she tried on different outfits. All he wanted was for her to be happy, and he hoped that she could share that happiness with him. But he knew that he couldn’t stand in the way of what and who she really wanted.