A Little Bit of Trouble (37 page)

     “Fine then,” she snarls and grabs her clothes and keys. “Then I’ll leave.”

     Before she can take a step out of the door I scoop her up and throw her on the bed ignoring her startled cry.

     “I hate you!” N
ow she’s really trying to hurt me. “Just go. I don’t want you here.”

     I pull her pajama bottoms off with one swift yank, “I’m not leaving and neither are you Loryn. You’re staying and we’re going to sort this out.”

     “Just stop! STOP!” she demands as I cover her body with mine. “Why are you doing this? Why are you fucking with me like this? Greg’s right…” She pounds my chest with clenched fists and tries to push me away. “You’re only going to hurt me. I’ll never be enough for you.”

     “
You’ll always be enough for me Loryn,” I try to get her top off but her thrashing doesn’t stop.

     “Why do you keep doing this? If you have any respect for me at all you’ll just leave me the fuck alone. You don’t trust me, you don’t care about how I feel,” she shrieks until her voice is hoarse
and angry tears are soaking her face. “I hate you.”

      “Baby.”

      “Fuck off!”

      “NO!”

      “Get off me!”

      I grab her wrists with each hand and pin them above her head. “I love you, you crazy bitch!” my nose is inches from her
s, my temper rising once more. My need for her to understand why I am the way I am with her is overriding my senses. Her face softens. “I love you. And I’m sorry I haven’t said it sooner, but you’re not leaving and I’m not leaving because we’re going to sort our shit out! Okay?” she nods a little in response.

     “Are you just saying that?” she murmurs and
scans my face. “You love me?”

     I don’t respond, I finish what I started by tearing her vest from her body, leaving her nude and stripping myself off. After a few seconds I sink into her warm, wet depths with a groan and collapse on her as I did the last time I did this.

     “What about everything you don’t want, kids, marriage…”

     Good question. “Anything you want baby. It’s yours. I promise.”
And I mean it.

     “But…”

     “Go to sleep.”

     “You love me?”

     Peppering kisses along her neck I reach her mouth and hover a centimeter above them. “I love you.” My eyes remain locked on hers, I watch a range of emotions flit through hers before finally settling on one. Love. Love is reflected back at me and the breath I was holding is finally free. “Please tell me it’s not too late.”

     “How do I know you’re not just saying this?”

     “You don’t. But I’m telling you the truth. I’ve always been honest with you from the beginning.”

     “You say three words and you expect me to just fall back into your arms?”

     Tears streak her cheeks. “Babe…”

     “You can’t just do this. It’s not fair on me. I can’t handle it right now. I’m already broken Lucas.”

     “Then let me fix you. Give me that chance. I’m sorry. Please, just tell me it’s not too late.”

     She inhales a shaky breath and smiles softly, “It’s not. It’s never too late.”

     I bury my face in her neck and laugh a little, thank god for that.

     “Lucas?”

     “Yeah baby?”

     “Fuck me,” groan. “Now.”

     “No baby. Not this time.”

     “But…”

     I press my mouth against hers a
nd thrust my tongue between her teeth until I find hers. Her arms wrap around me as I push my aching dick in to the hilt. “This time I want to make love to you. Properly. The way you deserve.”

     She instantly melts beneath me and I melt right here with her. Every moan every shiver, every whimper she makes seems to heal every single wor
ry and stress I hold in me.

     I can’t help but stare as I sit between her knees and allow my hands to smooth over every inch of her body. Barely touching the places that make her truly squirm. There’s just something about the way she moans and breathes that captures me completely. It makes me want to give her more pleasure than her body can handle. Like watching an erotic movie, desperate to feel but at the same time desperate to see the ending.

     I lean down so my chest is against hers and claim her mouth like a man possessed. She doesn’t object, she’s as greedy as I and I fucking love it. In one smooth thrust I bury myself in her again but I don’t move my hips, much to her frustration, I’m only giving her another taster of what will come soon.

     My lips and tongue flick at the skin of her neck, my nose inhaling deeply.
Fucking cherries. Always fucking cherries and I love that too.

     “Lucas, don’t tease me.”

      I smile wickedly before getting back to work, each inch I move down her body, kissing every inch of her skin, my dick slips out a little more until it finally pops out. She shudders, I shiver at the loss of warmth and continue my torturous kisses down her body.

     “Please,” she begs and I almost give in. Eager to take her as I always do. But not tonight, tonight I want to come home properly, tonight I’m going to take my time.

     She gasps when I finally reach her sensitive nub which is glistening with her juices. I dive in without hesitation, teasing her with slow licks and sucks before plunging my tongue into her as far as I can reach before pulling back and starting again.

     “Lucas,” her legs tremble against my head. She’s tensing.

     “Stop tensing. Relax.”

      “I can’t.”

      So I stop and work on her thigh instead. She groans and relaxes, I work my way back up. There’s nothing in this world that tastes better than Loryn does. She’s amazing, and she’s mine. I smile against her at the realization that she hasn’t rejected me. After everything I did, after all the heartache I was still redeemable. And now I need to show her that she won’t regret her decision.

Bad Feeling

     I wake slowly and smile when I yawn and get a mouthful of dark brown hair. My face at present is buried in Loryn’s thick locks and I’ve never been happier to choke.

     “Morning,” I mumble but all I hear in response is soft breathing. Nibbling her neck I pull her slowly so she’s laying on her back, she remains unresponsive. I nibble along her neck to her jaw until I find her bottom lip with my teeth. Mm.

     Her brown eyes slowly blink open until they focus on mine, she tries to smile but soon realizes I have her hooked. “Again?”

     I press into her and nod, “Oh yeah.”
And what an again it is.

    
Sometime later…

     “Hungry?”

     “Uh-huh,” she grumbles into the pillow. “I’ll make you something in a minute. Just five more minutes and I’ll get up.”

     “I’ll do it,” I kiss her shoulder, pull on my boxers and climb out of bed. “Fruit and yogurt?”

     “Yeah but no…”

     “Kiwi because it makes you constipated… got it.”

     “That’s embarrassing, how do you know that?”

     I shrug, wink and pad into the room. Marie looks up with a devilish smile on her face from her perch on the sofa. A bowl of colorful cereal in her hands. “So it was one of
those
dates huh?”

     “Shut up,” I laugh and slap her hand away when she pinches my ass on my way passed her.

     Five minutes later I have Loryn’s breakfast and two coffees in my hands and I’m carrying them back through. Marie is still sat on the couch with her legs crossed, her bowl in her hands whilst watching the News. I don’t know why she insists on watching it, she cries when anything major happens which is usually every day. Although she tends to cover up her tears with the excuse, ‘my eyes water a lot in the mornings.’ I’m calling bullshit.

     “Tell Loryn I’ll be in, in five. I really fancy screaming as loud as she did last night,” I ignore her cackling and continue forward. “LUCAAAAAS! OH MY GOD! NO! WAIT… DO THAT AGAIN!” I slam the door which only makes her laugh louder.

     Loryn is red faced and humiliated. I just feel a smug sense of male satisfaction.

     “You’re so much sexier when you scream, she just sounds like a hyena giving birth.”

     “I heard that!” Marie calls but she’s still cackling.

     Loryn just sighs and snatches the coffee from me, “When do you have to get Amelia?”

     “In a couple of hours.”

     “Awesome, I’d offer to come with you but we’re opening in two weeks and have a huge shipment coming in today. We need to organize and there’s a problem with two of the sockets that we need to use for straighteners and such.”

     I kiss her temple, “No problem. I thought you were going to the shelter like yesterday?”

     She shakes her head, “I don’t want to speak to Greg after last night. Maybe when I’m not so pissed off.”

     “Yeah,” Inside I’m dancing. Outside I’m pretending to be sad for her.

     She laughs, “Don’t pretend to care. I bet you’re laughing on the inside.”

     “More like victory dancing.” Yeah, she knows me well. “Did I tell you that I love you?” I say and smile when her breath hitches. “Didn’t think so.” I kiss her lips and suck a tiny splatter of yogurt from the edge of her mouth. “I love you.”

     “I love you too.”

    
And then I leave her an hour later as she and Marie have important things to be getting on with and I have a daughter to collect.

     Helen greets me at the door with a huge smile, “Lucas. Sorry I didn’t stay long yesterday.”

     She means when she picked Amelia up. They had a movie to see. “Don’t apologize. Has she been good?”

     “She’s been fine, although I found her at about eight last night playing on a games console with Wesley.”

      “She kicked my ass too,” I hear Wes laugh from somewhere in their humongous house.

      “Yeah, her Uncle Chris is to blame for that.”

      “Ah, that’s okay then. I was worried you’d be angry,” I follow her in and to the kitchen where Wesley is sat at the bar using his IPad. “It’s either those bloody consoles or this.”

      I laugh and shrug, “I can’t get the hang of them if I’m honest. My eyes go weird after a while.”

     “Daddy!” Amelia climbs up me and hugs me tight. “I went to see Monsters Inc.”

     “You did?” I smile and kiss her nose. “How was it?”

     “Awesome!” Tegan and Bailey announce together. “It was really good.” Now that’s just freaky.

    
Wesley looks at his kids and blinks before shaking his head on a sigh and looking back at his IPad, “That’s just plain weird. Give them blonde hair and white eyes and we have those freaky children that kill their parents.” I laugh quietly with them, Helen rolls her eyes at us both before ushering the girls out of the room.

     “Lunch?”

     I shrug, “As long as I’m not intruding.”

     She rolls her eyes again and starts pulling stuff from the refrigerator.

     By the time we get home it’s two in the afternoon and I’ve texted Loryn twice with no response. I’ve put it down to the fact she’s busy, we made no official plans for the day. I guess I just kind of hoped that when she was done she’d get in touch. Maybe I’m being a whiny bitch but I have a really bad feeling. I’m probably just scared she’ll change her mind about me.

     When it reaches eight at night I really start to worry. I call her twice but get no answer so I text her again.

Loryn
: Are you getting my texts? I’m worried about you xxx

     I get no response, so I text Marie. She doesn’t respond either. So of course I call Maya and she insists she hasn’t heard from them either. My heart rate skyrockets, no doubt my blood pressure would be off the charts. Something just isn’t right. I just don’t know what.

     Summer tells me I’m being stupid when I call her and ask her to come over. I insist, she relents with a deep sigh and reminds me again how stupid I’m being but when the sun sets I know something is wrong. Even Summer seems worried when she comes in.

     “Marie always answers her phone,” because the silly female has it practically glued to her hand. “Jacob hasn’t heard from her since one in the afternoon. Do you think they’ve left their phones at home?”

     “Both of them? I’ve tried calling the store but there’s no answer. I’m just going to their flat and the store, if I can’t find them then…” I don’t know what I’ll do. “Call Greg. I know Loryn had plans with him this evening. She cancelled but may have changed her mind and Marie could have joined her.” I’m actually praying for this to be the case but my gut is telling me different.

     The drive is long and torturous, but as soon as I reach their apartment I bang on the entrance door until someone buzzes me in and then proceed to bang on the apartment door. My body becomes clammy with sweat, I feel nauseous. Something is horribly wrong.

     My legs carry me back to my car, I slip in and put my foot to the floor in an attempt to get to the store fast enough.
Please be okay, everything is okay. I’m being paranoid, I’m going to find them doing each other’s hair whilst getting drunk on wine. Yep. That’s what I’m going to find.

     The car door echoes in the deserted street. The first thing I notice is the fact the newly installed metal shutters are up and the store is dark. Loryn would never leave that open.

     I slowly creep to the door and try the handle. It easily clicks open and the alarm doesn’t go off. Fuck. I should have brought a baseball bat. My heart begins to hammer in my chest, my palms become sweaty. Something isn’t right.

     “WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?” I jump at the bellowing screech coming from the back room. Dana. I’d know that voice anywhere.

     “I don’t have it!” Loryn, she’s okay.

     What do I do? Is this some kind of feud or is she in real…? SLAM. What the fuck was that? The noise is followed by glass breaking. And then Loryn screams. I don’t waste another second before going in there completely unarmed.

     “Lucas!” Loryn gasps. I look her up and down quickly, both she and Marie seem unharmed. Dana is to my right, her hands trembling and gripping a gun, a large man
is stood beside her with his own pistol held in steadier hands. “Get out of here!”

     I don’t have a chance before Dana turns the gun on me.
My hands instantly go up.

     “What the fuck is he doing here?” she shrieks at Loryn but her eyes don’t leave me. Red liquid pools around the edge of a changing cubicle. Holy shit.

     Marie remains calm and pressed up against the wall, seemingly unaffected. I meet her eyes, she even smiles a little. Crazy bitch. What’s going on?

     “Dana I told you, I li
ed to get you safe,” Loryn tries to explain calmly. “I never had the money. I just said I did.”

     What’s going on? I just want to go over to the women, make sure they’
re okay but that bitch still has the gun trained on me and fuck if I don’t feel like kicking her in the face. Unfortunately she looks too unstable for me to dare make a move, she’d set that thing off by accident at this rate.

    
I keep my eyes on the girls, Loryn’s face is pail and shiny with tears. Marie gives me a signal, her eyes slightly widen and then she glances to my left. The beige floor tiles are speckled with the blood of whoever is in that cubicle bleeding to death or… shudder… already dead. Why is she making me look here? But then I see it and quickly look away. I give her a quick blink to show her I know what she’s trying to tell me.

     “But I can get it,” Loryn adds. “You know I can. If you need it I’ll give you it like I always do.”

     “If I let you go now you’ll call the police,” Dana starts sobbing. “This is so fucked up.”

     The
huge black haired guy beside her keeps his gun on Marie but finally talks, “Dana. You better sort this shit out right now. There’s no way I’m going to prison for this.”

     “What do you expect me to do?” she shouts hysterically and waves her gun at Loryn. “This bitch doesn’t have it! She won’t get it… I’m not stupid!”

     The guy nods to me, his eyes deep blue and dangerous looking. He doesn’t notice me edging along the wall to the changing cubicles.

     Dana’s eyes light up, “That’s it. You genius.”
He didn’t say anything but she clearly knew what he was saying.

     “No, don’t bring him into it. Please.”
Loryn begs and her eyes find mine, she mimes the word ‘sorry’ and more tears fall down her cheeks.

    
“Tell me… how is she going to get the money when all of the banks are shut?” Marie sighs nonchalant as if she’s getting her hair done rather than on the verge of death.

     “Fuck,” Dana hisses, her bubble clearly burst. “Fuck.”

     “Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch,” Loryn shouts at Marie startling us both. “Christ. Will one of you just shut her the fuck up?”

     Marie’s mouth drops open, she glares at Loryn, “Way to sell me out buddy.”

     “Go fuck yourself. You’ve done nothing but antagonize them since they came in. That guy wouldn’t be dead if you’d kept your damn mouth shut!” Loryn is really distressed. Both
Dana’s and the dude’s eyes are on them. Crafty, I sure hope this is for display and Loryn isn’t actually selling Marie out.

     “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Dana pleads and grips her hair with her hands, even the one with the gun in it. “I can’t think.”
She’s going through withdrawal, I’ve seen her like this before. Looks like she did unfortunately get back into drugs. There’ll be no compromising with her in this state so I remain quiet hoping they’ll forget I’m here so I can act. If I do anything stupid right now I’ll probably die before I can help the girls and this scares the shit out of me.

     “When have you ever been able to think?” Marie snorts and crosses her arms over her chest.

     This is it, this is my chance. I lean down and snatch the cool metal in my hands. Nobody notices.

     Marie moves and shit it’s fast, she grabs the wrist of the guy, pulls it back and slams her elbow into his nose, he grunts at the same time there’s a cracking noise. Dana shrieks and jumps back when Marie manages to pry the gun from his fingers. He grabs her by the knee, she falls back onto the ground. Loryn gasps and jumps on his back to help Marie. I move, Dana aims, and her shaking hands manage to point at Loryn’s back. I aim and shoot, the fucking gun clicks. Empty barrel. No.

     This must be why I got a second chance, this must be why I survived the crash. So I could save Loryn, right now I’m clinging to that so my daughter forgives me for giving my life for another. Amelia and Loryn are everything to me,
I just pray I told them both enough.