by West, Jade
“Truth or dare, then?” she suggested with a swagger, then downed her wine as everyone cheered their approval.
Except me.
I didn’t cheer my approval, because I knew exactly where it was headed.
Disaster.
That’s where it was headed.
Like watching a car crash unfold while you’re in the front seat.
Ellie Borthwick jumped in first with a would you rather fuck Ricky or Jason question for Amy, and the girls laughed as she weighed up her options.
I wanted that cigarette more than anything, just to bail on the stupid game as everyone kept on pouring out drinks, but I didn’t dare show myself up for yet another bad habit while I was already being crucified for my life choices. So, I kept my mouth shut and listened to their sneaky blurted truths and watched their stupid dares.
People doing handstands against Nicola’s fireplace. People doing stupid stripteases like they were in some Amsterdam show routine. People singing songs at the top of their lungs to cheers and whistles.
And then it was my turn to pick my truth or dare.
Of course it would be.
Everyone knew what was coming before Dawn opened her drunken mouth and shot me the evils.
“Exactly what’s going on between you and Lucas Pierce, Anna? Truth or dare?”
I wouldn’t lie, because I don’t. I never lie, especially not when the room is full of people who know me for myself, and value my self-respect and honesty.
“What’s the dare?” I asked.
Several girls were weighing one up, but Dawn was already prepared with the impossible. She poured a pint glass full of white wine and slammed it down on the table.
“Down that in one, or answer the question.”
Nicola and Vicky were horrified, I could see them about to make their move before I opted to take my own fate in my hands and show them all that I’d do whatever the hell I wanted.
I picked up the pint glass and slugged back that wine so fast that a trickle ran down my chin.
Stupid.
It was stupid.
But I was past giving a shit about any of that.
I slammed the empty glass back down on the table and smiled over at Dawn, and she was absolutely seething as the room whooped their cheers at me.
“You shouldn’t have done that. You’re not allowed with epilepsy medication,” Dawn said, stating the obvious.
“No, you fucking shouldn’t!” Nicola hissed and raced on over. “What the fuck were you thinking?!”
I shrugged amidst the horror, and she was screaming about my stupidity, Vicky in tow, with so much force that I reached into my handbag without even breaking a sweat.
“I’m going for a cigarette,” I told the crowd and got up from my seat, and they were all still bitching or staring on open-mouthed as I pushed my way through and out into the damn back yard.
Fuck it.
I lit up and took a drag, and I could feel the wine burning in my belly. I was grateful for it, even if it caused me some bullshit in the aftermath, because it was warming. Warming and heavy and nice.
I expected it to be Nicola storming after me when the back door swung open, but it wasn’t. It was Yasmin Boyle with a cigarette already hovering in her mouth.
I braced myself for another bitching session, but it didn’t come. She looked at me with a strange glance as she started smoking and then she stepped up closer.
“Don’t listen to that lot in there,” she whispered. “You don’t owe Maya Brooks anything.”
I smiled back at her, thankful that someone finally remembered how Maya first stole Lucas from behind my back in the first place.
“I know that, don’t worry,” I said, but she stepped up even closer.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she told me. “Believe me, you owe her fuck all, and it’s not just about her fucking off with him. She was a sly little bitch way beyond what people know.”
“I know it wasn’t exactly the lengthy process it seemed to be,” I said when it looked like she was in on the secrecy.
“I know how it started,” she said. “I was there on the night she did it. He was a wreck, you know. Too trashed to even remember his own name.”
My stomach lurched at the knowledge that someone else really knew what happened that night. It burned deep, that fresh bout of knowing just how much of a mess that one shitty night turned into, and I was summoning up more questions to ask her when that back door opened all over again.
This time it nearly swung from its hinges.
“What the fuck are you doing now?!” Nicola spat, and pulled the cigarette from my fingers. “Drinking and fucking smoking?! More greatness from Lucas cunting Pierce, no doubt!”
But I was done. Truly, I was done.
I wanted nothing more to do with Dawn or Hannah or any of the bystanders feeding on my humiliation. I forced Nicola into a hug and checked I had my keys in my handbag and then I was out of there, calling up a cab as I made my way onto the main street.
I heard Nicola shouting after me but didn’t turn around.
“SORT YOURSELF OUT, ANNA! FOR FUCK SAKE, SORT YOURSELF OUT! THAT CUNT IS WORTHLESS. HE’S FUCKING POISON!”
I thought she’d finished, but the rant started up again before I was out of earshot.
“UTTER FUCKING POISON! HE’LL TEAR YOU APART ALL OVER AGAIN! I’M NOT WATCHING IT NEXT TIME!”
Once again, I was grateful for the wine. The shards of panic were dull enough under the surface that I didn’t flinch with this fresh round. Thumbs-up to Dawn and her bullshit dare.
I was smoking a fresh cigarette as I waited for the taxi, and my phone was back out in my hands in a heartbeat summoning up Lucas’s text history.
Tomorrow, I told him. This time you can come to me. I’m sick of hiding.
I had a sickening pang of concern as soon as I sent it, scared I really was being a total bitch who was fucking things up with his daughter, but his message came back in a flash before I could truly rethink myself.
Can’t wait to see you there, he said. I’m sick of hiding too.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucas
Nobody was ever going to accept us, so fuck it. I was done with all thoughts of trying to make them.
I called up Beth from my work team and she was happy to dog sit with her boyfriend, and take advantage of house sitting the countryside alongside it.
I waited until they’d arrived before I finished getting ready, putting on a smart blue shirt and garish red and gold tie for the fun of it, and trimming my beard into order. I chose my finest tailored trousers and laced up my finest brogues, and my heart was thumping hard at the thought of seeing Anna there in town.
I fussed goodbye to Bill and Ted, and thanked Beth and Wes all over again, and I was churned up with pure waves of want as I set off to meet her.
I opted to take the truck, and parked up overnight in Broad Street car park before walking on through town to our agreed location.
And there she was, my Anna, right there and waiting – standing on the lawn right beside the Neptune fountain. Her usual sweet spot.
The water was tumbling down in a torrent and she was framed just perfectly by the orange glow of the lighting, and she looked divine.
Absolutely fucking divine.
Her heels were high, and her legs were bare. Her dress was silver satin and her hair was swept up in curls. Her eyes were dark and her lips were pale, and she was enough to stop my breath, as well as stop me in my tracks along with it.
Holy fuck, how I loved that woman.
She closed the distance between us, and her smile was shining bright.
“I missed you so much,” she said, and her arms were straight around my neck.
It felt so right to be there standing next to her that I didn’t give one single shit about any potential onlookers. The whole world could go fuck itself. I belonged there.
“Ditto,” I whispered. “I missed you so much it fucking hurt.”
“You look great,” she told me. “I love it.”
“You look incredible,” I told her back. “I love you.”
We didn’t head into the nightlife straight away, just walked closer to the fountain and hovered there. Her eyes were fixed on the statue at the top, and they were glittering.
“Gonna make a wish?” I asked, but she shook her head.
“Just did before you arrived.”
I turned her face to mine. “And what did you wish for?”
“The impossible,” she told me. “And how about you? Going to make a wish this time? I’ve got a coin.”
I shook my head, holding on to my mantra.
“The universe isn’t responsible for my road ahead, Anna. I am.”
“Then let’s try to make it a good one,” she whispered.
We took it slowly as we walked hand in hand through to Oscars, pointing out the constellations overhead, just like we had a thousand times before.
Orion, and Sirius, and where’s the Big Dipper?
Is that Venus? Yeah, that’s Venus.
I hadn’t expected Anna to make even the slightest social event out of our evening out in public. It hadn’t occurred to me for a second that anyone on this whole planet would want to join us. But I was wrong.
There was a small crowd waiting at the bar that she walked right up to. She held me tight to her side as she made the introductions, and there was a bloom of pride in her smile that took me aback.
I hadn’t seen anyone proud of me in years.
“Lucas, this is Lucia, and Stacey and Melissa from my office.”
I said hello to all three and they shook my hand, and behind them were Peter and Jamie from finance.
I said hi to them too.
Then we hit the social. I bought a round of drinks, but went steady on my beer. Still, one turned into two, and two turned to four, and the stilted introductory conversations morphed into laughter and office jokes and embarrassing stories between co-workers.
I soaked in every single one, grateful beyond belief just to have a single taste of normality with Anna on my arm.
She’d finished two proseccos by the time the girls wanted to move on to the dance floor, and nobody had said a word about her alcohol consumption. She was grinning up at me as they dived into the beats, wrapping me up in her arms all over again.
“Dance with me,” I told her, and she laughed.
“This isn’t your kitchen, Lucas. This isn’t bopping around with nobody watching. I haven’t danced out in public in years.”
“No,” I said. “It’s much better than bopping around with nobody watching. Live in the moment.”
She answered with a grin and I took her hand.
It was a stupid tunes night, retro pop and disco tracks blaring out loud. I led her on up and then spun her around, and she ground up against me through her giggles like we were the only ones in the room.
Fuck, it was classic. Songs that had us exploding with laughter as we grabbed each other and hit the beat.
Better the Devil You Know and Let’s Go Round Again and Love is a God Damn fucking Battlefield.
It felt like we danced for hours.
I don’t know when the fun and laughter turned into the sizzle of pure fucking lust burning deep. I don’t know when she started looking at me like she wanted to eat me alive, and I was growling back at her over the music with the promise that I was going to eat her up first.
I do know that we were at the side of the dance floor with my mouth hot and wet on hers while her friends were still partying, and I do know that I hitched her back against the wall between a few of the seating booths with quite a slam to pin her tight.
Oh, how she fucking laughed. She laughed so hard she clutched at her ribs and struggled to catch her breath.
She was staring me in the eyes, lipstick smeared across her lips from my kisses, when she told me just what the hell she was laughing about.
“It was here!” she said. “Oh my God, Lucas! This was what started this whole entire shit storm in the first place!”
I must have looked puzzled to hell, but she pointed to a seating booth across from her.
“I was sitting right over there, with a load of Sebastian’s work crowd, and there was a couple over here who just couldn’t keep their hands off each other. And I couldn’t hold it back, not once I’d seen it, just how much I needed more.” She paused. “Just how much I needed you.”
“You saw a couple getting it on and you realised you didn’t want to stick with Sebastian anymore? Was he really that crap in bed?”
She was tipsy on those two proseccos, and she giggled. “We don’t share a whole load of interests, Seb and me.”
“I guess I owe that couple one hell of a thank you then, don’t I?” I said, and kissed her even fucking harder, and we were at it. Hands and breaths and heat. Enough tension that we could explode the whole room along with us just for one sip of this madness. Enough tension that her eyes were scorching mine, lips swollen just right to suck them all the harder when I finally pulled away.
Hell knows where her work friends were by then, but she sure wasn’t looking for them.
“I’ll never get enough of loving you,” she said. “I could kiss you for a whole damn lifetime, Lucas Pierce, and it would never be enough.”
“If your fountain finally lives up to its bullshit and cuts us a break, then I will be kissing you for a whole damn lifetime, Anna Blackwell.”
She ran her hands down my chest through my shirt, and it took everything I had not to tear her dress from her tits and take her right there and then.
“I think it’s time we went home,” she said, feeling my dilemma, and I smirked, mouth just an inch from hers.
“I think you’re right,” I told her, but I made her push me away before I’d free her, just to feel the contact.
It was only when we were heading for the front exit that I noticed a gaggle of drinkers at one of the far tables, with one of the girls staring over at us wide-eyed.
And there it was.
The crossover of two parallels on opposite sides of the spectrum. Another bystander staring at another couple, watching them heaving desperate for a single taste of each other.
Her blonde hair was tied back tight and her lips were bright red and her necklace was a chain of sparkles, but she was anything but a burst of sparkles herself.
She was a dead light on a dull day.
A pretty shadow under cloud.
A shiver of the laughter around, lost to it all.
It seems Anna noticed her too, and also seemed to notice the guy facing away from her – his arm just casually resting over the back of her seat.
Disinterested.
Bored.
Empty.
I had Anna’s hand held tight in mine as I led us on out, but she tugged back with a pause as we passed by the woman’s table. I stayed still as she leaned into blondie – who was still staring right at us – and pressed her lips right up to her ear.
Anna spoke.
Just a short little whisper, mouth to ear.
And then she smiled.
She smiled up at me with an even brighter grin as we left, and she was at me as soon as we were onto the street outside, her fingers dancing a tune with my belt as we edged down the pavement.
“What the hell did you say to her?” I asked with a smirk.
She shrugged, but I pushed her all the harder, nipping her bottom lip as she giggled.
“I told her to ditch him,” she whispered. “I told her to ditch that guy next to her and find the man who really makes her orgasm.”
“And that’s advice you’d give yourself all over again, even if you knew what a shit storm was brewing ahead?”
She nodded. “I’d give myself that advice
a thousand times over, just for one little moment with your magical tongue on my clit.”
My cock was raging. It was raging and desperate with nowhere to go, and I’d never make it to her place. Not without pinning her against the wall ten times over and fucking her brains out en route.
Instead, I shunted her down a side road, and she squealed and giggled as I bundled her along in my arms.
“Where are we going?!” she laughed at me. “What the hell, Lucas? My place isn’t this way!”
I kept on guiding, and grabbing, and urging us along, and she was still giggling and swaying as she joined me. And holy fuck, she was so much more than I’d let myself remember, even after all this time.
She was intoxicating. Addictive and irresistible and contagious, and horny enough to explode my whole world.
“I mean it!” she insisted. “This isn’t the way to my apartment. I don’t live this way!”
“No,” I said. “But Neptune does. It’s time to make another damn wish, Anna.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Anna
I’d stared up at Neptune over that tumble of water more times than I could ever hope of counting, but never like this. Never in an empty street in the middle of the night with Lucas’s mouth at my neck. I’d never been moaning tipsy on prosecco, exposed and giggling and begging for more as he pulled my dress up. And I’d definitely never been so desperate to take him inside me that I didn’t give a fuck for passers-by, or street cameras, or whispers of gossip eating us up in the aftermath.
He pushed me down onto the lawn in front of the fountain and was straight down on top, and it was such a stark contrast between the cold of the grass and the heat of him that my whole body was alive.
Magical.
It was magical.
Hell, we made the most of it.
We kissed, and we laughed and we enjoyed the breaths of each other. Timeless and free and fun. Hands grasping and grabbing and wanting.
Until wanting turned to needing. And needing turned to knowing.
I stared up at him and he was staring right back, and I guess it was there, in that stare that the laughter truly changed and turned. Our breaths were deeper and harder. That timelessness became an urgency. Because that was us – that urgency.
