by S M Mala
‘Don’t say this again, please,’ she said, putting her hands over her ears.
‘You are so delicate. Your emotional and mental state has been put in turmoil once before. I worry it’s going to happen again,’ he said softly.
‘I’m not mad, I’m fine,’ she said anxiously, knowing he cared. ‘I told you all those things because I couldn’t tell anyone else. Please don’t turn it around on me.’
‘I am so fond of you, you know that. Take the sex thing aside. Can’t you see how fragile you are?’ Gabriel stood up and walked towards her. ‘You being with Jake will open old wounds.’
‘Don’t tell me anything else. If I ever need help, I’ll come running to you first but let me do this on my own. It’s the first time I’ve been happy and I know he’s Murray’s son. I’m not using Jake because I want Murray. I want Jake because I’m in love with him.’
Even saying it, she felt overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Gabriel walked towards the door and stopped as she followed.
‘You believe you’re in love with him?’ he said. ‘Maybe I should see what he says.’
‘Gabriel! He doesn’t talk about love,’ she said, anxious he was going to shit stir.
‘And what do you think his father would say? I’m going to the estate tomorrow morning with Philip, should I ask?’
‘Keep your mouth firmly shut!’
‘Are you really in love with Murray Junior?’
‘Yes.’
‘I worry,’ he said, shaking his hands at her. ‘Does everyone think you’re made of steel?’
‘I’m not,’ she shrugged. ‘And yes, deep down I’m scared about losing Jake because I’ve lost so many people in my life, but it’s worth taking a risk, isn’t it?’
‘Idiot.’ Gabriel looked down and kissed her gently on the lips.
That’s all Jake needed to see to know something was going on between Hatty and Gabriel. As soon as he saw Gabriel lean to kiss her, he looked away and turned the car around, speeding off down the road, furious and jealous.
‘Bitch!’ he said and only just missed on oncoming car as he swerved and stopped.
Taking a deep breath he decided to not go home and see his father instead.
Hatty waited and waited.
By two o’clock in the morning, he hadn’t come home and she was worried sick, ringing and leaving messages. Her mind was racing as to what could have happened, even though her jealous pang was beating hard thinking he was with another woman.
By five, she didn’t know what to do and rang Murray.
‘What time do you call this?’ he grumbled.
‘Jake didn’t come home last night and I’m really worried he-.’
‘He came here,’ croaked the man. ‘We were having a few drinks and he stayed for dinner. I thought he called you.’
‘He didn’t. I left lots of messages and texts.’
‘I see,’ said Murray wearily, on the other end of the phone. ‘He seemed pretty annoyed when he turned up. Did you guys argue?’
‘How? I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning!’ Now she started to get angry at the thought he didn’t have the decency to tell her he was going to see his father. ‘When you see him, tell him he can move out if he hasn’t got the common courtesy to tell me when he doesn’t want to come home!’
Hatty hung up and burst in to tears from hurt and relief. She lay on her bed wondering if Gabriel was right about Jake just wanting to fuck her and go.
Tiredly, she got up two hours later after falling asleep, her heart racing. She wanted to scream at Jake for treating her badly. Getting on her bike, satchel firmly across her body, she cycled to the estate building up into a fury.
Soon as she turned into the drive, she could see Murray sitting on the balcony facing the gardens and Jake. She felt sick on seeing him, mainly due to getting wound up. Barney came running up to her and she saw Jake glance over for a moment then look away. Hatty pedalled faster towards them before skidding on her bike and getting off.
‘You should have called me!’ she shouted at Jake, who sat still looking down at his coffee. ‘I’ve been worried sick! Didn’t you get the messages and texts? You could have at least told me you were okay!’
‘Can you pass the sugar, dad?’ Jake said, ignoring her.
‘I didn’t know what had happened. I thought you had an accident or got mugged. I didn’t sleep all night because-.’
‘Did Gabriel keep you up?’ he said, turning to glare at her.
Hatty did a double take.
‘What?’
‘Listen you two, could you keep it down? I was kept up late by one of you and woken up early by the other,’ Murray said gently. Hatty glared at him and he got up and walked off the balcony. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’
‘You said we shouldn’t have people stay the night and I saw you and him,’ he hissed. ‘You’re such a little scheming bitch!’
‘You need your eyes tested if you saw anything between us and you shouldn’t have been spying.’
‘I was about to open the gates when I saw you kissing him!’ Jake’s jaw was firmly clenched and she could have easily punched it.
‘You don’t trust me,’ she whispered, knowing this wasn’t the place to make a scene. ‘You think I’d do something as soon as your back is turned? I’m not like you and if that’s what you think, then you’re wrong.’
‘Really!’ he barked back at her.
‘I would never do that to you,’ she said, getting upset.
‘Go back to Gabriel. He obviously wants you,’ he said quietly, looking away.
‘And you don’t?’ Hatty stood there for a moment and her lips started to tremble when she realised what he said. ‘Gabriel was right about you only using me.’
She knew she cried too easily, so she turned around, picked up her bike. Hatty pedalled off, sobbing silently, towards the gate before she saw Philip driving in with Gabriel, the pair of them staring at her.
‘What’s wrong Hatty?’ Philip shouted out of the window.
‘Jake thinks I was with him!’ she said, pointing to Gabriel. ‘See what you’ve done Gabriel! You’ve ruined everything!’
‘What did I do?’ Gabriel said, half laughing, pushing up his sunglasses. ‘I was only at your home for ten minutes.’
‘You made him think I was with you last night.’
‘He gets upset when someone visits? A typical possessive young man!’
‘Shut the fuck up!’ she said, cycling off, tears streaming down her face knowing Jake didn’t love her let alone want her any more.
He stood up when he saw Philip and Gabriel get out of the car. Jake’s first reaction was to punch Gabriel but he saw Hatty ride off and he didn’t know what to do.
‘Is everything alright?’ asked Philip, turning to look over his shoulder at where Hatty had left a trail. ‘What she upset about now?’
‘Fine!’ Jake glared at Gabriel, who he noticed had a little smirk that needed to be slapped off his face. ‘Gabriel.’
‘Jacob, how lovely to see you again,’ he said brightly. ‘What’s wrong with Hatty?’
‘You tell me,’ Jake replied as Murray came back out and he noticed Philip eye him suspiciously.
‘Is the coast clear?’ he said, looking around. ‘You told me you rang her last night. She worries you know.’
‘You didn’t go home last night?’ smiled Gabriel. ‘That would have made her very anxious as she has a complex about people-.’
‘You should know I wasn’t there!’ barked Jake, walking off through the house and flinging open the patio doors to march down towards the beach. ‘What a fucker!’
All night he wondered if Gabriel had touched Hatty and if she preferred it more.
‘Jake, what’s wrong?’ asked Philip, coming behind him as Jake tried to calm down.
‘Hatty and Gabriel! She said nothing’s going on but last night I saw them kissing.’
‘Kissing?’ said Philip confused.
‘She obviously wants to star
t up where she left off. Well she’s welcome to-.’
‘Jake are you jealous?’ asked Philip with half a smile. ‘Of Gabriel?’
‘Her and I have been…’ He didn’t know how to put it. ‘We’ve got really close over the past three weeks. When I got home yesterday they were kissing.’
‘You’ve got to be mistaken.’
‘They were kissing. She obviously wants him. I asked her when she saw him was it love at first sight and she said it was so-.’ Jake stopped when he heard Philip laughing his head off. ‘This isn’t funny!’
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he said, dragging Jake’s arm. ‘We need to talk.’
They walked away from the house and past the rocks Jake had screwed Gina up against before Philip stopped.
‘Jake, what I tell you is in strictest confidence so there are no mixed messages.’
‘Okay,’ Jake said apprehensively.
‘Hatty knows more than anyone how gossip, even on a little island, can cause harm and hurt to people. That girl has gone through it. I know how people talk and…’ Philip took a deep breath. ‘The reason Hatty wanted to marry me was because she knew it could never be physical between us.’
‘Because she’s scared of having sex,’ grimaced Jake, getting annoyed once again thinking about Hatty and Gabriel.
‘No it’s because I’d prefer it if Hatty had a cock,’ he quietly said and Jake stepped back. ‘She’s known forever about what I like. Hatty thought if we married then I could see men and she’d be protected from gossip, plus get free wood.’ Philip laughed. ‘And she’s covered for me. I met Gabriel and it was more lust at first sight for me, even though he’s a free spirit and sleeps with whoever he wants.’
‘He’s a fucking pervert!’ snapped Jake, realising he might have over reacted. ‘Hatty and he haven’t ever-.’
‘Jesus Jake! She was still cut up about you! She wasn’t going to do anything other than pretend for us. When Gabriel came here we made out they were together so there would be less gossip. I don’t want it to come between you and Hatty. I know she likes you too much for anything that stupid to cause a problem.’
‘What was Gabriel doing round there last night then?’ said Jake angrily. ‘I know what I saw.’
‘Gabriel is concerned about Hatty’s wellbeing and if you’re the right person for her,’ he said seriously, which pissed Jake off. ‘Also he’s worried. When we went to Ibiza they got close.’
‘How close.’
‘She told him a lot of things about herself which she never told me. I know he’s paid to listen to these sort of things. He told me something about Hatty makes him wonder if she’s strong enough for another upset. And then there’s the suicide.’
‘You’re telling me she’s unstable?’ he said anxiously.
‘Jake, she’s mad but not mental, well not quite,’ chuckled Philip. ‘But there’s vulnerability about her which I see and so does Gabriel. He certainly doesn’t think her seeing you is going to help. Look, no one knows other than Hatty. Louisa suspects but says nuttin. My parents would be upset and, remember, I do run part of my father’s company. It’s a man’s world and no matter how modern you think people are, they still have ingrained prejudices.’
‘I’ve got to see Hatty!’ Jake said, realising the enormity of their squabble. He ran out through the house and rummaged in his jeans for his car keys before being stopped by Gabriel. ‘Do you mind?’
‘What’s the rush?’ he asked, smiling brightly as Philip came up behind Jake.
‘There’s been a little misunderstanding so I put him straight,’ said Philip as Gabriel raised his eyebrows. ‘Jake got the wrong impression when he saw you two together.’
‘It was a friendly kiss,’ Gabriel smiled and shrugged. ‘But she shoved me hard in the ribs afterwards to make a point about something I’d said.’
‘Stop feeding shit into Hatty’s head about me,’ said Jake quietly, so no one but the three of them could hear. ‘Or so help me Gabriel.’
He couldn’t help himself.
Jake punched him hard in the face.
‘Jacob!’ shouted Murray. ‘What the hell’s going on?’
‘I mean it. You don’t know how I feel about her,’ glared Jake.
‘I think I do now.’
Gabriel smiled and touched his eye as Jake ran to his jeep and drove at high speed back home.
Eighteen
Hatty buried her face in her hands as she cried and cried in the corner of her room, devastated by his hurtful words, hugging herself. She couldn’t breathe and wished she was anywhere else other than where she was right now. Hatty couldn’t fathom why Jake thought the worst.
Gabriel was right.
Jake didn’t really want her at all. Her phone started to ring but she didn’t care, she just wanted to cry. She closed her shutters and sat in a heap sobbing so hard she thought she was going to be sick.
There was a traffic jam down the road as Jake continuously slammed his horn to get through. Nothing was moving, so he managed to turn around and park his car in one of the hotel spaces, told them he needed to get somewhere urgently, and ran to the house at full speed. It was very hot for nine in the morning and he knew the longer he left it, the harder it was going to be to convince her he was sorry.
Eventually, he got to the house and let himself in, noticing it was very quiet and she wasn’t in her work room. He ran down the side of the house to the fresh water pool and she wasn’t there. Then he walked into the house.
It was silent.
Slowly, he climbed up the stairs and heard the sobbing from her room.
‘Oh Hatty,’ he whispered feeling guilty and standing still for a moment.
Gently he opened her door and heard her crying, realising she was in the corner of the room, in a heap.
‘Fuck off!’ she shouted when she realised he was there as the door opened. Hatty stood up. ‘Leave me alone!’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said gently, realising she had managed to work herself into a state.
‘You don’t want me so go away,’ she said through gulps and sobs, her breathing becoming erratic. ‘Go back to your father’s house.’
‘Hatty,’ he said, rushing towards her as she put her hand out to keep him away. ‘I saw him kissing you and I didn’t know what to think.’
‘You did know what to think because you thought it!’ she barked. ‘How could you think I’d do something like that to you? I’m not like that! I’m very loyal!’
‘Hatty Ha Ha you-.’
‘Don’t speak to me again, do you hear me?’ she said, trying hard not to cry but putting her hand over her face. ‘Be with someone you want.’
‘I want you.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘I made a mistake and thought the worst because I’m so scared I’ll lose you to someone else.’
‘Why would I want anyone else!’ she screamed, trying to rush past him as he stopped her and put his arms around her body. ‘Get off me!’
‘Listen to me,’ he said, grabbing her face as she blinked away her tears and was trying her hardest to get out of his grip. ‘I’m sorry and I’ll never mistrust you again but you have to see from my point of view, I thought you and he were together only a few weeks ago. Philip told me everything.’
‘Told you what?’ Hatty gulped as Jake smiled.
‘You’re a very good friend.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He wished you had a penis.’
Hatty gasped as Jake looked into her eyes.
‘That’s why you wanted to marry Philip and why everyone was to believe you and Gabriel were together, to avoid talk.’
‘Shut up and go away!’ she said and pushed him hard, knowing he was trying to be nice. This made her even madder than before. ‘I don’t care what you know. What I realise is you don’t trust me. You certainly don’t respect me or you’d have called! I didn’t sleep last night because I was worried you were dead in a ditch! Now I wish you were!’
‘Don’t say that. I’m sorry and I’ll do anything to make it up to you. You know how I feel about you, I know you do.’
‘Which is what?’ she said, looking at him apprehensively.
‘Let me show you,’ he said and bent down to kiss her as she kept her lips firmly pursed.
Slowly he kissed her until she decided to part her lips and felt his tongue in her mouth. She was so mad with him but she also wanted him more than ever.
Hatty knew Jake was aware what to touch and when. He caressed her breasts and squeezed her arse as he started to take off her clothes. She tugged off his t-shirt and pulled him back on to the bed, nearly ripping the net as he pushed it away. Quickly they undressed and Jake was doing everything to turn her on. She felt his mouth travel all over her body while he squeezed, kissed and sucked her skin then she realised she was ready. His fingers moved inside her as she knew what he was going to do.
‘I want you,’ she said, looking into his eyes and put her hand on his stiff penis rubbing it gently. ‘I want this inside me.’
‘Are you sure?’ he said, kissing her harder as she nodded.
Hatty reached over to the side of the bed, lifting up the net and pulled out a packet of three condoms as Jake smiled anxiously.
‘I bought these, last week,’ she said.
Jake decided to move his finger faster and her legs parted further, making her pant as she needed to know what it would be like.
He stopped and put on the condom quickly as she bit her lip wondering if she could fit it all in. Jake slipped between her thighs and she felt his finger find her nub and slowly he started to circle, pull and stroke it.
‘You’re so wet,’ he said and she felt her thighs tighten as her hips moved with his fingers. ‘I want to make you come then finger fuck you until you’re ready. I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘Yes,’ Hatty groaned unable to speak. ‘Don’t stop.’
His finger worked faster on her nub and he stuck another one in. She felt her cheeks get hot and screamed as the orgasm pulsated through her fanny into her stomach, then she got the shock of him going inside her. The pain was intense as she buried her face in his shoulder, feeling him push deeper, trying not to cry as he pulled at her sides.
