Discovering Stella (11 page)

Lawson turned his head and met
my
gaze,
shocked realisation blaring from his eyes.
“Stella,”
he said, reaching behind himself to unlatch the
woman’s
hands.

I stepped backward, fumbling when I bumped
into
a car.
“I’m
sorry,”
I stuttered, patting the
car
as
if I’d injured it.
“I
didn’t
mean to interrupt. I
...
I
can
talk
to
you
later.”

“No!
Vicky was just
leaving.”

She
glared at Lawson. “Excuse me?”

“Yes,
you
were —”

“No. No.
It’s
fine,”
I interrupted, raising a hand
as
if stopping traffic.

To
say that I was mortified and completely embarrassed
for
being there would have been
an
understatement.
Not
to
mention
thinking
Lawson was a decent guy just happened to be a
major
error
on my
part.

Wanting
to get the hell of
out
there, I spun
on my
heels and tripped
over
a trolley jack, twisting
my
ankle as
I made a
hasty
exit. Pain blanketed
my
foot and
shot
up
my
leg,
but
I
didn’t
stop,
especially when Lawson called
out
for
me to wait.
Wait
ing to speak to the cheating fuckwit was the last thing I wanted to
do,
so instead, I hightailed
my
arse
out
of the workshop and quickly made
my
way along the street toward the
river.
Todd’s
mention
of the surrounding bushland being thick and dense floated around in
my
head;
it
sounded private, quiet and camouflaging.
It
sounded perfect and just what I needed.

*
 
*
 
*

Stella, you are an idiot. A stupid idiot who never thinks before she acts.
Why I had ventured to the river with
my
foot throbbing like hell was beyond me.
Yes,
the area was secluded, and yes,
it
provided
a
sanctuary
in
order
for
me to clear
my
head,
but
it
was also bushland: shrubbery with
rocky,
uneven ground.

“Oh
shit,”
I cried, grabbing a tree
trunk
for
support when
my
injured foot gave way and threw me off balance. “What were
you
thinking,
you
stupid
bitch?” I cursed myself aloud. “So what, he has a girlfriend. Big deal! The guy is a douche. That
doesn’t
mean
you
go run off and hide in a fucking forest, of
all
places.”

In hindsight, I should’ve headed straight
home, put my
foot up and rested.
But no,
stupid
me had opted to go bushwalking instead.

Closing
my
eyes and clenching
my
fist, I let
out
a long,
slow
breath,
calming
my
angered, bruised ego. I normally
wasn’t
one
to swear, and I certainly
wasn’t
one
to
talk
to myself
either.

Ah
...
get yourself together. Lawson just wanted in your pants.
It’s
typical.

I snorted and opened
my
eyes.
“Well,
he
ain’t
gonna get inside
my
pants.
No one
is,”
I voiced to the myrtle shrub in
front
of me,
as
if
it
would argue
my
point. When
it
didn’t
— because clearly
it
wasn’t
going to — I
hobbled
around
it
and
lowered
myself to the ground, desperate to take the weight off
my
injured ankle.

After
fleeing Lawson and the mole
with
skanky
fingernails,
I’d
sat by the river for a couple of hours, attempting to
skim
rocks
while
thinking
about what I should do next.
I’d
come to the conclusion
that
I
wasn’t
going to
run again.
I wanted to stay and build a new
life,
and I wanted to include
Todd
and Meg in it. Lawson? Well, I could just ignore
him.
I
was
good at
that.

For
the past
half
an
hour
or
so, I’d been painstakingly
making
my
way along a track,
thinking
that the path led in the direction of the house. I
hadn’t
been to the river
previously,
so
my
sense of direction was based solely
on
an
educated guess. The thought of
calling
Todd
lingered at the fringes of
my
mind.
After
all,
it
was the smart thing to
do.
But
I was stubborn
...
I
didn’t
need a knight like he always said I did. Plus, he’d
told
me
not
to get lost and I kind of had.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled
out
my
phone
to check the time. The sky had grown darker and the temperature had cooled, therefore I assumed
it
was approaching evening. I
didn’t
want to panic,
but
I was guessing I had less
than
an
hour of daylight left.

I swiped
my
thumb across the screen, discovering the
damn
thing had run
out
of battery
power.
“Great!” I groaned.
Even
if I wanted to
call
for help,
I
couldn’t.

Sucking up
my
misfortunes, I scrambled to
my
feet and continued along the track, soon finding
an
opening in the trees and what looked like a path to the Drake house.
“Oh
thank
god,”
I sighed with relief
as
I headed toward the lights.

My
foot was
now
in a
world
of pain
as
I limped up the path
way,
taking each porch step
one
at a time,
and
pulling myself up with difficulty before opening the back
door.

I’d barely made
it
inside when Lawson burst
into
the hallway, eyes wide. “Stella, is that you?”

I continued limping toward him, en
route
to
my
bedroom. “Sure
is,”
I answered,
my tone,
scornful.

“Where the fuck have
you
been?
We’ve
been worried sick. And what happened to your foot?”

He
began to make his way toward me when I held
my
hand
out
in warning. “Back
off,”
I hissed, glaring at him,
“and
what do
you
mean
‘we’ve’
been worried sick?”

“Todd
and Meg are
out
looking
for
you.
We’ve
been
trying
your
mobile for
the last hour
or
so.”

“What? Bloody
hell,”
I huffed.
“My
phone
died.
I’m
fine.”

He
took another step toward me.
“You
don’t
look it.
Here,
let me
help you
—”

“I
said
I’m
fine,”
I
bit
out
harshly, cementing
my
statement with the flaring of
my
eyes.

“What happened? When
you
left the
shop,
I came
home
to look
for you
and explain what
you
thought
you
saw —”

“It doesn’t
matter what I
saw.
It
doesn’t
involve
me, and quite frankly, I really
don’t
care.”

Lawson
took
another
step
in
my
direction,
blocking
the
hall
way.
Normally,
I
would
feel
intimidated
by such
a
manoeuvre
and
perhaps
step back,
but
surprisingly
I
didn’t,
instead squaring
my
shoulders
and
meeting
him
head
on.
I’d
had
nothing
but
a
shit
of
an
afternoon
and
needed
to
get
past
him in
order
to
call
Todd
and
say
I was all
right.
Then,
I
needed
a
bath.
A
long,
hot
soothing
bath.

“Please get
out
of
my
way,”
I said
firmly, my
face
mere
centimetres from his.

“Vicky is
my
ex,”
he replied just
as
firmly,
ignoring
my
request.

I
bit
my
tongue in vexation, narrowed
my
eyes and
went
to push past him.
“I
said I
don’t
care.
It’s
none
of
my
business.”

His arm
shot
out,
forcing me to back up against the wall. I frowned and
went
to
move
the other
way,
but
his other hand found the wall, caging me in.
“I’m
making
it
your
business,”
he said, eyeing me
heatedly.
“She
cheated
on
me with
my
mate. I
broke
it
off.
She
didn’t
like that. The
bitch
doesn’t
understand what ‘fuck
off’
means. I was in the process of reminding
her
when
you
walked
in.”

“Lawson, get
out
of
my
way,”
I warned, cringing and shifting
my
weight to ease the pain in
my
foot.

Noticing
my
discomfort, he looked down and took
hold
of
my
leg, lifting
it
from the ground and bracing
it
against his
hip.

I gasped and slapped his hand
away.
“Don’t
—”

“Shut
up,”
he said
softly,
pushing his body against mine and supporting me against the wall.

The feeling of his denim-covered erection rubbing against the cotton of
my
panties
prompted
an
extinguished fire in
my
belly to ignite again. And with
my
heart pounding in rhythm with the pulsing in between
my
legs,
my
resolve wavered just
slightly.
“Don’t
—” I protested again,
but
was cut off when his lips touched mine.

Lawson gripped
my
leg tighter and slid his hand along the underside of
my
thigh, stopping when he reached
my
arse. The feel of his hand
on my
skin had me uncontrollably opening
my
mouth to moan, which was when he seized the opportunity and plunged his tongue inside.
As
if
on autopilot,
I kissed him back and placed
my
hands against his rock-hard chest, gripping his shirt with
my
fingers
as
our tongues stroked
one
another’s.