Discovering Stella (12 page)

God, he tasted good: a mixture of mint and
beer,
coupled with the scent of his aftershave and the hint of grease and petrol that always lingered even after he’d showered.

I melted
into
him.
“Stop.”

“No,
you
taste too fucking
good,”
he mumbled, gripping me tighter, yet
again
ignoring
my
request.

I pulled away and pressed
my
head against the wall.
“I
don’t
want this.”

Breathing hard, he
gazed
deep
into my
eyes, a challenging glint surfacing. Lawson then slowly crept his fingers along
my
thigh, stopping when they found
my
dampened panties.
“You
sure about that?” he asked with a cocky smirk.

Before I could respond, the sound of the
front
door abruptly opening filled the house. “Stella!”
Todd
called
out.

I shoved Lawson hard — enough to break his
hold on
me — and limped toward the entrance where
Todd
was
calling
from.
“Yeah,
I’m
here.”

Rounding the corner with Meg,
Todd
stopped when he saw me hobbling. “Jesus! What happened? Where have
you
been?”

“Bushwalking,” I answered sarcastically.
“I’m
fine.”

He
furrowed his
brow.
“Stella, I
told you
—”

“Todd,
please!
I’m
fine. I just want a bath and to go to bed. Sorry I worried you.
My
phone
battery died and I
couldn’t
call.
Seriously though,
I’m
fine. I’ll see
you
in the
morning,”
I said with reassurance, leaning up to kiss him
on
the cheek and giving Meg
an
apologetic smile.

Not
wanting to hear another
word
from anyone, I made
my
way to the bathroom. Hopefully, the baths in Pittstown were magic and could
not
only erase the dirt from your skin,
but
could also erase the last ten minutes of your
day.

Push, don’t shove

Stella limped past me with
her
head down, refusing to make eye contact and without so much
as
uttering a
word.
Honestly,
I
didn’t
know what to
think.
Had I come
on
too strong?
Fuck!
Yeah,
probably.
But
shit, she seemed to like
it
...
a lot!

My
cock was still
making
a statement in
my
pants, undoubtedly pissed off that I’d gotten him excited, then let the poor bastard down
for
the second night in a
row.
Soon, mate, soon. Good things come to cocks that wait.
And damn, was Stella a good thing. That
mouth,
those lips
...
her
damp fucking underwear.
Fuck! And fuck you,
Todd,
for coming home.

Continuing
on
to the kitchen, I sucked in
my
frustration and acknowledged
Todd
and Meg.
“Hey.”

“What happened to Stella?” he asked, accusation in his
voice.

I grabbed a beer from the fridge before answering.
“Not
sure.
She
said she hurt
her
foot and that
her
phone
died.
That’s
as
much
as
I
know.”

“She
seemed bloody pissed
off,
mate. Has anything happened between the two of you?”

Tipping
the stubby and eyeing him
as
I swallowed, I
lowered
it
back down, wiping
my
mouth with the back of
my
hand before lying.
“No.”

Meg narrowed
her
gaze,
and
I’m
sure she was about to
call
me
out
when the sound of
Stella’s
voice
filtered through the house
into
the kitchen.
We
all
paused and looked toward the door that led to the hall.

“Wow!”
Meg said, moving closer to the
doorway.
“She’s
humming.”

Todd
sighed sadly and
moved
to stand by Meg, resting his arm
on
her
shoulder and listening along with
her.
“When we were
younger,
she was brilliant. Had the
voice of
an
angel.
She
was even in the Australian Girls
Choir.”

“Really?
Oh,
I’d
love
to hear
her
sing
properly,”
Meg whispered.

Making
my
way across the room to join them, I listened to
Stella’s
voice
hum a tune
as
I neared the
door.
Fuck,
it
was beautiful. If
her
humming was that good, I could only imagine what she would sound like if she actually sang.
“We
need to get
her
singing again,” I blurted
out.

Meg glanced at me.
“You
saw what happened last
night.
Clearly,
she
doesn’t
want
to.”

I shook
my
head.
“I
reckon she
does.”

“How
do
you
know that?”
Todd
asked, turning in my direction.

“I
just
do.
I think
she’s
holding back
for some
reason.
She’s
hiding
something.”

Todd
walked
into
the hallway and leaned against the
wall
opposite
the bathroom, tilting his head up and closing his eyes.
“She’s
scared,” he said
quietly,
“of
someone or
something.
She’s
not
being herself. That much is
obvious.”

“What makes
you
say that?” I asked,
trying
to hide
my
concern
for
her
wellbeing. I
didn’t
like the sound of
her
running from danger. I
didn’t
like
it one
bit.

Opening his eyes, he looked from Meg to me then ran his hand through his hair, scrunching
it
between his fingers in a
show
of anxiety.
“She
came to me today and
told
me she wanted to stay
here,
indefinitely.
She
said she was
done
with nursing and
wasn’t
going back to Melbourne, and if she
didn’t
stay
here
she’d
move on
to somewhere else. I believed
her.”

The thought of
her
wanting to stay was music to
my
fucking ears, and if we
weren’t
currently immersed in a serious conversation about
her
wellbeing, I’d be smiling like a pig in shit.

“She
can
stay
as
long
as
she likes,” Meg stated, nodding at me.

“Of
course,”
I agreed,
trying
not
to sound too bloody keen.

Todd
pushed off the
wall
and indicated we head back
into
the kitchen.
He
followed us and closed the door behind him.
“Thanks.
You
have no idea
how
much I appreciate it. I also knew
you’d
both be
on
board, so I offered
her
a
job
at the
pub.
She’s
gonna
help
me with odd jobs
here
and there while I organise a Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate
for
her.
I want to get to the bottom
of
what has
her
so withdrawn, so —”

“Edgy,”
I added.

“Yes!
She’s
on
edge and
all
over
the place.
It’s
not
like
her.
And the fact she
doesn’t
want to sing in
front
of
anyone
is a real
worry.
Like I said, she used to be amazing and
never
shy about it. I always thought she’d make
it
to the
big-time.”

“Babe,
you
can’t
push
her
to open up if
she’s
not
ready.
Especially if something bad has happened to
her,”
Meg said, giving him
an
apologetic look.

Todd
ran his hand along his
jaw.
“I’ll tell
you what,”
he said, a fierce anger boiling in his eyes,
“if
someone
has hurt
her,
I’ll fucking
kill
‘em.”

“Yeah,
with
my
help,”
I added,
my
own
pit
of
fury
bubbling. The thought of any woman being physically hurt by a man fired me the fuck
up, b
ut
the thought of that woman being Stella? Well … that had me enraged.

Meg stepped in between us with a menacing look.
“Okay,
cowboys, settle down. Nobody is killing
anybody.”
She
then closed the distance to
Todd
and threaded
her
fingers around his neck.
“You
have to back off and let Stella open up in
her
own time. The last thing
you
want to do is scare
her
off.
You
said yourself that
you
think she’ll take
off.”

He
dropped his forehead to rest
upon
hers.
“I
know.
I just
don’t
like
it.
She’s
the only sister
I’ve
ever had. I let
her
go
once
before, and
look
what’s
happened?
It
may
not
have, if I’d been
around.”

Meg pulled back
abruptly.
“Hey,
you
can’t
blame yourself.
You
don’t
even
know
what’s
happened,
or
if anything has
happened
—”

“It
has,”
he interrupted with resoluteness.

“Okay,
okay,”
she said
softly. “I
agree, I think something has happened
as
well. There are obvious signs.
But
let’s
work
at making
her
feel at
home
so that, in time, when she is comfortable, settled and feeling safe, she’ll relax and possibly share
her
secret.”

Deliberating
Meg’s
words, I understood where she was coming from.
But
from
my
experience with Stella already, I thought she needed a helping hand.
She
needed to be gently pushed, and I was the pushing
type.

*
 
*
 
*

Todd
and Meg took their leave shortly after our kitchen
meet
ing. I,
on
the other hand, waited
for
Stella to finish up in the bathroom.
Why is it that chicks take their sweet fucking time?
She’d been in there
for more
than an
hour.

Sitting down
on
the hallway
floor,
I’d nearly dozed off when the bathroom door finally opened and Stella wandered
out
in a pair of pink pyjama shorts and a pussycat singlet
top.
Instantly,
my
brain linked the
furry
feline with the pussy between
her
legs. I wanted to touch
her
again, this time without the fucking underwear.

“Shit! What are doing?
You
scared me
half
to
death,”
she shrieked, stepping back and clutching at
her
chest,
her
backward
motion
unsteady
due
to
her
noticeable imbalance.

I got up quickly and
went
to
help
her. “Your
foot is still
sore.”

“It’s
fine,”
she
said, dismissing
my
concern
and
limping
past
me.

Without hesitation,
I scooped
her
into my
arms and headed
for
her
bedroom.

“Lawson,
put
me down!” she whisper-cursed.

“Sure thing, when we get to your
bed.”

“No!
Put me down! Now!”

Ignoring
her
protest, I carried
her
into
her
room and knelt
on
her
bed, gently placing
her
upon
it. Thoughts of accidentally slipping and falling
on top
of
her
flitted across
my
mind,
but
I quickly quashed that ridiculous
notion
and straightened
up,
giving
her
some
space.

“Thanks,
but
carrying
me was unnecessary,” she murmured, glancing at
my
lips
for
the smallest of seconds before scooting backward. That small, inconspicuous glimpse was enough to tell me that she wanted
more
of what we’d been doing before
Todd
and Meg had arrived
home.
That small glimpse held so much goddamn promise.

Sitting myself down by
her
feet, I gently picked up
her
injured foot and rested
it on my
lap.
“You
really should get
it
looked
at,”
I said, caressing
it
softly.

She
flinched just
slightly, but
didn’t
pull
her
foot
away.
“It’s
just a sprain.
I’m
a nurse, remember?
It
will
be back to normal in a day
or
two.”