The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (100 page)

There was an awkward silence, which I wasn’t too keen to fill.

“So are you having a great day?” he asked.

“Yeah, the best.” No thanks to you.

My mother mimed for me to thank him for the gift, and I rolled my eyes.

“Err, thanks for the laptop.”

“That’s okay, glad you liked it. Your mother said you’d been saving up for one, and I know you need it for your school work.”

“Yeah, it’s just what I wanted.” Another awkward silence followed, it was like talking to a stranger.

“Well I’m glad. I’d better go anyway. I’m taking Anne and the kids away for a few days, we’re busy packing, should be in for a good time. Just thought I’d give you a ring before I forgot.”

No matter the occasion, his words stung like hell.

“Wow, thanks for finding time in your busy schedule to wish your only son happy birthday. I’ll let you get back to playing happy family.”

“Elijah, I didn’t mean it like that—”

I hit the end call button and tossed the phone to my sad looking mother. “I’m sure he didn’t mean whatever he said. You know him, he doesn’t think before he speaks,” she quickly cut in trying to placate me.

“He said he had to ring before he forgot, still has a way of making me feel like shit no matter what the occasion.” He never failed to make me feel less than special, and it hurt every damn time.

“He’s just—”

“Please Mum, you and I know he stopped caring a long time ago. As for the laptop, he only paid half because you instigated it. Or else I’d have gotten a card with the usual cheque inside.” There was no sugar coating this no matter how much she tried, my dad no longer cared about me—that was a fact.

“Elijah.” She frowned at my words, but she knew they rang true. I walked over and hugged her hard, a few tears spilled down my cheeks.

“You are the only parent I need. He can go to hell as far as I’m concerned. He won’t ruin my day. I have all the family I need and a boyfriend who is amazing. I don’t need his love, or his approval. I’m doing fine without him.” I pulled away from my mother, and she clutched my face.

“I love you so much. You make me proud every day.”

I attempted a smile. “Thanks.” I swiped the last of the tears away and headed upstairs hoping to put my dad’s hurtful words out of my mind for the rest of the day.

* * *

“So let’s raise a toast to Elijah. Next year will be the big eighteen, but this birthday is equally as special. I love you with all my heart, my son, my boy, happy birthday,” my mother cheered smiling hard.

“Oh enough of this saccharine bullshit,” B groaned.

Ollie laughed as I shoved B so hard she almost fell off her chair.

“Happy birthday, Elijah,” Ollie and my mother concluded. Before B lifted her glass doing the most unenthusiastic toast ever.

“Now can we eat?” she asked.

We all rolled our eyes and picked up the menu, quickly perusing what they had to offer.

“I think I might have the lemon sole with salad,” my mother mused.

“Well I’m having the steak,” B cut in.

“Me too,” I said.

“Me three,” Ollie added.

“And no salad for me, I want the thick cut chips,” B added grinning.

“Oh yeah, death by carbs, but the chips here are so worth it.”

“Oh definitely,” she agreed.

“You know, you kids should eat healthier. You already had the greasy fry up, maybe have some fish and salad too?” my mother asked trying to coerce us.

“But it’s my birthday, I should at least be allowed to eat carbs on my birthday guilt free.” I pouted. Unhappy by the fact she was making me feel bad.

“Fine, I was just trying to advise you, but yes, it is your birthday treat.”

“Oh and I’m having a gigantic dessert too,” I added, just to warn my mother before she added any more judgement on my eating habits.

“Ooh me too,” B chimed in, already scanning the menu to see what was offered.

Ollie smiled as my mother looked on in horror. She wasn’t one to have a sweet tooth so I definitely didn’t inherit it from her.

“I might have the chocolate chip cheesecake,” B mused, as her eyes flicked over the list of sweet treats.

“Oooh good choice, but I think I’m going with the sticky toffee pudding.” It was my all-time favourite that I liked to have on the odd occasion. “How about you, Oll?”

He bit his lip in contemplation. “Hmmm I’m torn between the chocolate torte and the hot chocolate fudge cake.”

“Oh go with the hot chocolate fudge cake,” I said nudging him playfully.

“Do you think?”

“Yeah and then I can have some too.” I winked. Oh yeah, I had a hidden agenda.

“Err no,” he snorted, looking unimpressed.

“Oh please, we can half and half so I get best of both worlds, it is my birthday,” I pleaded, giving him the puppy dog eyes. It was only fair I got my way today of all days.

He blew out a defeated sigh. “Fine, but that only applies today. You can’t use that excuse till your next one,” he warned, giving me a stern look.

“Okay, I promise. I can’t wait to share more birthdays with you.” I grinned.

“Me either.”

“Oh for god’s sake, eyeballing each other in that lovey dovey way, will you two get a room?” B groaned, tossing down the menu.

“I think next time we’ll leave her behind though,” I muttered.

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to.”

* * *

“Oh I am stuffed to the rafters.” I patted my stomach and groaned. I had definitely overindulged. I was now the proud owner of a food baby. We all just sat in silence as we sipped on our drinks letting our food settle. I was almost ready for an afternoon snooze but I didn’t want to sleep the day away, I wanted to spend it with people I cared about the most. Sure, there was the nagging thought in my head about Luke, but tomorrow, I would deal with it then.

“Well I think we’d better get the bill. What are you doing next, son, anything nice?”

“We could go for a walk, maybe stop off at a bar and have a few drinks.” I looked at Ollie, and he nodded his approval.

“I’ll come too.” B winked and I instantly frowned. I’d barely had two minutes alone with Oll all day, and I was about to lose it. I gave my mother ‘the look’ pleading with her to step in and handle the situation. She shot me a wink back.

“Actually Brianne, I need your help with a project I’m working on,” my mother cut in.

“Please don’t tell me it involves sampling tea of any kind. I am never allowing those vile fluids inside me again.”

“Why? You have before.” I winked, and she retaliated poking her tongue out.

“I think what Mum is trying to say is that I’d like some time alone with Ollie.”

She wrinkled up her face in annoyance. “Fine, I know when I’m not wanted.”

“Oh B, don’t sulk, you’ll get wrinkles,” I teased. I knew that would take her mind off it.

“Oh you’re such a bitch.”

“You know me.” I was never one to hold back.

“Are you ready?” I looked at Ollie, and he nodded, finishing off the last of his drink. I kissed my mother and B goodbye, and we headed out the door for some much needed alone time.

After a few drinks we then headed to the park and grabbed a couple of ice creams. The sun was out and the sky a perfect blue. I sighed, sitting down on the bench to eat the delicious creamy goodness.

“I will seriously have to contemplate going to the gym tomorrow.” I said in between bites.

“It’s your birthday, it’s fine.”

“Carbs still exist though.” I frowned. Carbs really were my enemy.

“No, they don’t, not on your birthday.”

I smiled at his blatant lie. “Maybe I’ll pretend that’s true.” I was too into this ice cream to care, but today was my special day.

“I’m glad we’re finally alone,” Oll murmured, moving closer so our legs brushed up against each other. “I really like your mother, but B well, she doesn’t take the hint easily.”

That was an understatement. But she was always used to being top dog when it came to us hanging out. I felt a little bad that she was finding the transition hard now that I had a new boyfriend.

“It’s because we’ve always done everything together. It will take some getting used to, but hopefully she’ll adapt,” I explained. I hoped my words were true.

“I would have thought she’d want to spend most of her time with Luke.”

Luke.

A shiver ran down my spine at the reminder.

“Yeah, but I am one of a kind, people just can’t help gravitating towards me,” I jested and Ollie laughed at my lack of modesty.

“You have me under your spell,” he added matter of factly, and I sighed with happiness. The reassurance that he was here and not going anywhere was the best gift he could give me.

“That makes me happy,” I replied, linking our hands as I closed my eyes feeling the heat of the sun’s rays on my face.

“Me too.” We both sat in silence. No other words were needed.

I woke to the sound of my ringtone blaring beside me. I snatched it up, staring until my bleary eyes came into focus. It was B.

“Jeez, B, it’s like seven o’clock in the morning. This had better be an emergency.”

“Is it true?” she croaked.

The sound of her voice instantly had me bolting upright.

“Is what true?”

“Did you kiss Luke?”

“No,” I explained. Well it was partly true, he kissed me.

“Liar,” she screamed.

“I don’t know what lies he’s been telling you, B, but he kissed me.” My heart beat fast at her accusation. What had he told her?

“Then if you’re the innocent party, why didn’t you tell me?” she asked accusingly.

“Because it happened at the party, and I was thrown by it and I didn’t want my birthday to be ruined. I was telling you today, I promise.” I had it all planned out, today was the day, but now it was too late.

“Oh it’s all about you, wouldn’t want to spoil your perfect day,” she hissed, the iciness in her voice sent my heart rate spiralling.

“B please—” I pleaded.

“Don’t B please me, I want to know the truth. I know you fancy him.”

“But I’m with Ollie,” I protested. Hurt by her accusation me of something that wasn’t true.

“That doesn’t mean it would stop you, maybe you got greedy and wanted what I had too.”

What?

“Hardly. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Why would I ever jeopardise that? Until Luke kissed me I didn’t know he was into guys.”

That was the truth.

“I don’t know who to believe!” she screamed.

“Believe your cousin that’s been there for you your whole life, who loves you, not the guy you’ve barely known for four weeks,” I yelled, furious at the fact she doubted me over a guy she had just literally met.

“It’s not that easy, Elijah, I love him.” Her voice was barely a whisper, and my heart sunk at her confession. It was worse than I expected.

“Fuck.”

“Exactly.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, B and I hate to say this, but he’s all wrong for you. You can’t trust him. It wasn’t just a kiss.” Oh god, could I tell her the rest?

“What do you mean?” she croaked.

I sighed and gave myself a moment before speaking. “He was forcing himself on me after I said no. He said he wanted to be with me, even though I made it quite clear that I was with Ollie and nothing would change that.”

“I don’t believe you,” she whispered.

Fuck.

“I know it’s hard and right now your head is spinning with doubt, but trust your instinct, B, trust me,” I pleaded. Hoping she’d make the right decision and go with her heart.

“I have to go, I can’t handle this.” Her voice cracked, and my eyes filled with tears.

“Come ’round now, we can chat.” I needed her here, to talk face to face. So she could tell I was telling the truth.

“I don’t want to see you right now, E, I just can’t.”

My heart plummeted at her refusal. “If you need time then that’s fine, but I didn’t do anything wrong, B, please don’t punish me for your boyfriend’s actions.”

“I have to go—”

The line went dead before I could even speak.

“Fuck!” I roared, throwing the phone hard at the wall. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I sobbed hard. My mother came running through within seconds.

“What’s wrong?” She instantly gave me a grave look of concern.

“Luke kissed me at the party,” I managed to get out.

My mother’s eyes widened in surprise. “And who was that on the phone?”

“It was B, he told her I came onto him, and that I instigated the kiss. She’s  freefalling and believing all his lies,” I shrieked.

“Have you told her what happened?” my mother asked calmly, despite the fact I was having a meltdown right in front of her.

“Yes, but she doesn’t believe me. She thinks I’m making it up. What do I do?”

My mother pulled me into her arms and held me as I sobbed, unleashing all the pain and anger in every tear that fell. “You have to give her time. It will be all too much for her, and she will question whom to believe, but if you’ve told her the truth then that is all you can do. She needs to make up her own mind.”

“But she’ll believe him. Right now, she thinks I’m the liar as I kept it hidden from her. She won’t believe what I’m telling her,” I sobbed.

“She will. She’s just confused at the moment and Luke has filled her head with his lies making her doubt you, but she will eventually see sense,” she soothed, but her words were not enough to calm me.

“I want to go see her, to talk to her, to try to make this right before it gets even more out of hand.” I had to try to make her see sense.

“Elijah, you need to give her space, she won’t listen to you in her present mood. Trust me, I know how women can be. You have to give her time.”

“And what? Let her come to even more wrong conclusions. He is filling her head with lies, and I can’t sit back and watch him destroy our relationship.”

“Does Ollie know?” my mother asked.

“No,” I whispered, feeling like a coward.

“I think you need to tell him before anyone else does and this situation gets even more out of hand.”

“I know, but I want to tell him in person,” I replied, pulling back to look at her face.

“Then come on, get ready and arrange to meet him. Don’t let this escalate any more than it has already.” She was right. I had to try to salvage this before it all spiralled out of control.

“You do believe me though, don’t you, Mum?” I asked and she smiled.

“I’ve always known when you’ve lied in the past about the cost of your shopping trips, drinking. Those are little lies that I’ve swept under the carpet, but this I know you don’t have in you. I would see it written across your face if you did. I see the truth staring back at me, nothing else. Now come on, I’ll fix you some breakfast while you shower,” she said soothingly.

I felt sick at the thought of food. “I don’t want anything, but thanks.”

“Trust me, you have a long day ahead of you, you need something inside you to handle everything today,” she urged. Giving me a pleading look.

“Fine,” I relented sighing, forcing a smile.

“That’s my boy. Now, up and let’s get this thing sorted.”

I climbed out of bed scrubbing my hands down my wet cheeks. Today was going to be hard, but I would fight tooth and nail to keep what was mine.

* * *

After texting Ollie, he said he was free to meet me during his lunch hour from work. I think I went through every emotion available patiently waiting for him to turn up. My knee bounced up and down in agitation. I just needed to talk to him. I soon caught sight of him heading my way, but by the look on his face, I could tell that someone had gotten to him first.

Shit!

“Is it true? he whispered. My heart dropped.

“Who told you?” But I could take a wild guess.

“Does it matter?” he snapped.

“Yeah, it does actually.”

“It was Luke. He just rang me to fill me in on your activities,” he explained as his eyes bored deep into mine.

“How did he get your number?”

“I don’t know, maybe B?”

“He had no right to.” I scowled. How dare he do this to me. I guess this was his revenge for me spurning his advances.

“Don’t you think you should have told me the moment it happened?” he asked accusingly. I had never seen this side of him, and I was quite taken aback by his sharp tone.

I frowned at his words, knowing fine well he was right. “I know, I know but it was at the party, and I couldn’t find the right time. Then yesterday was so perfect I didn’t want to spoil it. I know it was selfish, but it was my birthday and I just wanted to spend it with those I loved. I promise I was going to tell you today. That’s why I asked you to meet up to tell you in person.” I stared deep into his eyes, hoping my words were enough for him to believe me.

“Do you fancy Luke?”

“NO,” I shrieked. Surprised by the fact he would even ask me.

“Well that’s not what Luke said. He said you and B had talked about how hot he was and how envious you were of their relationship.”

Fuck.

I immediately pulled a face at the way it had been totally misconstrued. “That was at the start. Yeah, I thought he was hot. Have you seen him?”

“Elijah—” he warned. Not in the mood for any jokes.

“I know, sorry. But I swear since I met you I haven’t looked at another guy. I just want you.” I needed him to believe that.

“Did you kiss him back?”

“What? No!” I said alarmed.

“So he kissed you?” he questioned, narrowing his eyes.

“Well I say more like lunged.” If he wanted me to be honest then I would be.

“And have you given him any reason to think that you’d be interested?” His eyes studied my face waiting for a sign.

“No.” This was just getting stupid now. It felt like the Spanish Inquisition.

“And have there been any other times when he’s shown any interest?”

Fuck.

“Elijah?”

I frowned. “It’s happened twice before.”

“What?” he growled.

I bit my lip preparing myself. “When he’s made me feel uneasy.”

“Doing what?”

“Well the first was when he tackled me outside the shop when I wasn’t speaking to B. We were arguing and then he kind of looked at me strange, like he was going to kiss me, but then we were interrupted. I thought I had read it wrong, that it was just my overactive imagination. But the second time he made me feel uncomfortable he was pressing himself against me when I was hanging the decorations for the party and then later on the kiss,” I replied breathlessly.

“And you never thought to tell me?” he snapped.

I could see his point.

“But I thought it was all in my head, I didn’t want to look like an idiot.” I frowned, realising now I was an idiot.

“Look like an idiot? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Ollie, please,” I pleaded.

“I . . . I just can’t, Elijah, all those times, and you never once said anything.” He backed away, running his hands through his hair.

“I didn’t know how—”

“You could have tried. Did you enjoy the attention? Is that it?” He narrowed his eyes, waiting for a response.

“What? No! How could you say that?”

How fucking dare he!

“Well you crave it all the time, you even say so yourself,” he retorted.

His cruel words stung me. “I never asked him to be attracted to me. I didn’t even know he was inclined in that way. As far as I knew he was a straight guy dating my cousin,” I explained, hoping he’d see through Luke’s lies.

“There had to be some sign. He wouldn’t come onto you for no reason, unless you’d given him some kind of go ahead.”

“I gave him nothing. I’ve barely talked to the guy, but he seems intent on destroying my life at the moment, and the people that I thought knew me seem to be intent on believing him.” Tears filled my eyes at the fact both of them had immediately concluded that I was the liar.

“Well what do I have to go on? There were three incidents and you didn’t tell me?”

“I was telling you today.” I needed him to believe me.

“Yeah, only because you’d been outed by Luke. You probably were going to hide this as well. I just feel like I can’t trust you.” He turned away like he couldn’t bear to look at me a moment longer.

“Ollie. Please.”

His eyes returned to mine. “No, Elijah, you can’t talk your way out of this. I’m so fucking hurt right now by your lies. I just need time away to think.”

“What, do you mean time away?” I asked, alarmed by his words.

“Like I said, time away from you to think.”

My eyes widened. “For how long?”

“As long as it takes for me to wrap my head around all of this.” He threw his hands up in agitation.

“So we can’t hang out anymore?”

“No.”

“So Luke wins, huh?” I snapped.

“Well, maybe you should have been more upfront and then we would never have been in this situation.” He sneered back.

“But I was so scared—”

“It’s just an excuse. If you wanted me to know, you would have told me. There’s no need for you to keep this quiet unless you’re feeling guilty about something?” His eyes fixed with mine, almost searching for the truth but, I was done explaining myself over and over.

“We’re just going around in circles, you either believe me or you don’t.”

He frowned. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“Well call me when you do.”

“Elijah—”

“No, Ollie, you seem to have made your mind up already. I could talk to you till I’m blue in the face, and it would make not one iota of a difference. I know I was wrong, but I wasn’t hiding it out of guilt only scared what the repercussions would be. Looks like I was right, huh?”