The Hornbeam Tree (22 page)

Molly looked at the name on the display, blinked, then her mouth fell open as she realized who it was. ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ she gasped. ‘It’s him. It’s Brad. And it’s not a text.’

Allison stared at her, dumbfounded, then a grin spread across her face. ‘Well go on, answer it!’ she cried. ‘Oh my God. This is like, so cool. And I am like, so jealous. Molly,
answer it
.’

Dying with nerves, Molly clicked on the line. ‘Hello?’ she said softly, deafened by her own heartbeat.

‘Hi. Molly? It’s Brad.’

Her mouth opened wide again as she gave a silent scream of elation. ‘Hi. How are you?’ she asked.

‘I’m cool. How are you?’

‘Yeah, I’m cool too.’

‘It’s OK to talk, is it?’ he asked. ‘It’s not a bad time?’

‘No! No, it’s cool.’

‘Good. It’s just that something’s come up so I can’t make it to a computer at six. I was going to send a text, but then I thought it would be like, kind of good to hear your voice.’

Molly swallowed hard, and tried to stop herself going into orbit. ‘That’s cool,’ she said.

‘Stop saying cool,’ Allison hissed.

Molly blushed and turned aside as Brad said, ‘So you’re the Molly I saw at Toby Bond’s house.’

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘Do you go to the same school as Allison?’

‘No. I go to the local one in Chippenham. I used to go to one in London, but then my dad … Then
we
had to come and live here. Where do you live? I mean, when you’re not at school.’

‘In London. Kensington. Do you know it?’

‘Yes! It’s where we used to live. That is so awesome. We were neighbours.’

He was laughing, and then they got into which street he lived in, and discovered they’d been about ten minutes from each other. Then they chatted about all the places they knew, or went to, so it turned out to be amazing they’d never met before.

When finally they rang off Molly threw aside the phone, clapped her hands over her face and kicked her feet up and down. ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ she cried. ‘I don’t believe it. I’ve actually spoken to him! Oh my God. Allison. This is like so unbelievable.’

Laughing, Allison crushed her cigarette in an ashtray. ‘So come on, what did he say?’ she demanded. ‘Start from the beginning and tell me everything.’

By the time the others arrived at six they’d been over it a dozen times, and Molly was more than happy to go over it another dozen for Cecily and Donna. In the end Cecily got bored and wandered over to the computer.

‘What are you doing?’ Allison asked.

‘I’m trying to find this web site I heard about,’ she answered, keeping her eyes on the screen. ‘Apparently there’s a chat room for all these sad sacks who want to commit suicide. I thought it could be a bit of a laugh to find out what they’re saying.’

‘You are like, so warped,’ Allison told her.

Molly was smiling, still basking in the glow of
her
phone call, until another text came through from her mother.

Dinner’s almost

ready.

‘Is it him?’ Cecily demanded, spinning round.

‘No, it’s my mother.’

‘Ssss,’ they all hissed.

eating at A’s

Home by 8 pls.

Molly’s face darkened. ‘Like hell,’ she muttered at the phone. ‘No way, if you’ve taken my computer.’

‘She won’t,’ Allison said confidently. ‘They always threaten, but they never actually do it.’

‘Yes, but Michelle might talk her into it.’ She threw out her hands in frustration. ‘See! That’s what I mean, everything’s going wrong because of her. So you’ve got to help me come up with a way to get rid of her.’

‘Cecily!’ Allison barked. ‘You’re always full of ideas.’

‘I’m thinking,’ Cecily responded, tapping away at the keyboard. ‘Just let me finish this, then we’ll start an elimination conference.’

Molly wrinkled her nose as she looked at the others, but they didn’t seem to know what Cecily was talking about either, so she just went back to dreaming about Brad and what she was going to say the next time he called.

*

Taking the bottle of wine and glass the barman was handing her, Laurie started upstairs to her room. She wasn’t quite sure who she was trying to fool, herself or the barman, that she’d be drinking alone, but what did it matter? The barman had no interest in her conscience, and she was only eager to find a way of shutting it down. Yet she wasn’t thinking about Elliot now, only about Nick, and how long it might take him to get here.

Going into the bathroom she turned on the shower and started to undress. When she was ready she’d go back down to the bar to wait, make sure they stayed in sight of other people, so they wouldn’t even be able to hold hands. She wondered why she was telling herself such nonsense, but went on doing it anyway. Once she saw him she’d probably find that the attraction was all in her mind, that it just needed some reality to steal the power from the fantasy. They’d be glad to see each other, naturally, but he would leave after a leisurely dinner and drive back to Cheltenham, while she returned to her room alone.

Just before he was due, she glanced around the cosy, old-fashioned room with its muted wallpaper, leaded windows and solid oak beams, then she turned off the overhead light, so that only two lamps were casting a warm, amber glow over the bed, and went to close the curtains. In one corner was a tall, free-standing mirror, where her reflection showed none of the turmoil inside her, only a slender, blonde woman, wearing jeans and one of the new T-shirt tops she’d picked up in Chippenham yesterday. It was plain white with
buttons
that ran right down the front, many of which she hadn’t yet fastened. It accentuated her tan beautifully, particularly in this light, and because she’d chosen to save the new bra and panties she’d bought for tomorrow, the generous fullness of her breasts wasn’t only visible through the top’s partly open front, but through the tightly clinging fabric that hinted at the darkness of her nipples, while revealing all of their prominence.

She felt breathless and flushed by the wine she’d already drunk, and though there was plenty of time to do up her buttons and put a jacket over the top, she’d done neither by the time he knocked on the door.

With her heart pounding violently, and her limbs feeling like liquid, she turned away from the mirror and walked across the room. As her hand grasped the latch she tried to will herself out of what almost felt like a trance. She needed to appear friendly and casual, and though she knew she wasn’t even close to achieving it, she told herself she was and finally opened the door.

He was tall, blond, devastatingly handsome, and the instant she saw him she knew there was no point trying to fool herself any longer.

‘Hi,’ he said, his voice sounding gruff, as his gaze seemed to penetrate all the remaining layers of her resolve.

She attempted a smile. ‘Do – do you want to come in?’ she offered, almost feeling as though her breasts were naked. ‘Or shall we go down to the bar?’

Staying with her eyes, he said, ‘Your call.’

Leaving the door open she walked back to the
bed
to pick up her bag. As her hand reached it she heard the floorboards creak behind her, then the door click closed. She stopped breathing, waiting for him to move, but for long, agonizing seconds there was only the power of him standing there and the tension that was charging the air. He moved up behind her, and she groaned aloud as he reached around her to cup her breasts roughly in his hands. Her head fell back on to his shoulder, and his hands tightened their hold as he buried his face in her neck. She turned her mouth to his and as he pushed his tongue deep inside he pressed his erection hard up against her.

‘I’ve been thinking about this all day,’ he told her roughly.

‘Me too,’ she gasped, loving the feel of his cock against her buttocks, so big and ready, and his hands moving under her T-shirt on to her skin. She raised her arms and he tore the top off. His fingers closed on her nipples, squeezing and pulling so hard that the urgency in her spilled over, making her reach for the zip in his jeans, so she could feel him too. Within seconds their clothes were on the floor, and he was bending her over the bed, opening her legs wide.

‘Tell me this is what you want,’ he growled.

‘Yes, oh yes,’ she gasped as he began moving into her. ‘Oh God, yes.’

He held her hips as he rocked back and forth in short rapid strokes, then suddenly he plunged all the way into her.

‘Oh my God!’ she cried. ‘Nick, please …’

He did it again, and again, thrusting and pounding, moving his hands all over the front of
her
, from her mouth, to her breasts, to between her legs. She sobbed and gasped, pushing her buttocks higher, to take him in even deeper.

She’d wanted this too much, was too ready, and so was he, because within minutes they were caught up in the mounting force of the other’s climax. The sensations were so intense there was no holding back. They had to let go, there was no other way.

‘Oh Jesus Christ,’ he gasped, banging into her again and again. He was coming and coming and couldn’t stop. The hunger of her orgasm was devouring him, twisting and pulling, taking him into a madness of fulfilment that was going on and on.

‘Oh yes,’ she almost screamed, as she finally went over the edge with him. She pushed her face into the pillow and sobbed and gasped at the power of so much sensation. His chest was pressed to her back, his thighs clamped against hers. She could feel him all over, inside and out.

At last he came to a shuddering, breathless halt, every muscle in his body on fire. He held her close and kissed her hair, then turned her lips so he could kiss them too. ‘Not quite the welcome I was expecting,’ he murmured. ‘But God, I hoped.’

She laughed softly, and turning beneath him, put her arms around him and searched for his mouth. He kissed her hard, squeezing her in even tighter to his body, as though somehow he could make them one.

In the end, he raised himself up on his elbows and gazed down at her face. ‘You were different tonight,’ he told her.

She smiled and brushed her lips against his. ‘I was broken-hearted before,’ she reminded him.

His eyes searched hers, speaking in a way that words wouldn’t allow, until finally he lowered his head and kissed her again, moulding her tongue and her lips with his own, letting all the tenderness in his heart flow into the embrace. It was a long time before his mouth moved from hers, and began moving slowly down to her neck and on to her breasts. He covered them with kisses, licked and gently bit them, before sucking first one, then the other big, rosy nipple into his mouth.

Her eyes fluttered closed as he continued to kiss and tease, using his lips and his fingers, his tongue and the hard tips of his nails, until each nipple stood out so large and swollen, so tender and moist, that even the feel of his breath was like an intense caress. His fingers moved downwards, trailing a tantalizing path over her navel and hip bones, to the join in her legs where they slid into the moistness.

‘Don’t stop,’ she murmured, arching her back towards him, ‘please don’t stop.’

His fingers moved back and forth, gently, but insistently, then harder and faster. His mouth was tight on her nipple, and became even tighter as she opened her legs wide. Then his tongue was where his fingers had been, and her head rolled from side to side as the exquisite sensations rushed through her like a river of fire.

Moving his mouth back up to hers he prepared to enter her again. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked.

Her vision was blurred by sensation as she nodded.

He sank into her slowly, filling her and feeling her. ‘Is this good?’ he asked, gently riding her.

‘Oh yes,’ she whispered. ‘Oh yes, oh yes.’

‘Harder?’

She nodded, and her eyes closed as he increased the pressure.

‘Tell me when you want more,’ he murmured.

‘I want more,’ she told him. ‘I want you all the way in me. I want you to fuck me …
Oh God
,’ she cried as he jerked in so hard it jarred her all over.

‘Like this?’ he growled, and did it again.

‘Yes. Yes.’

He rammed her again and again, pumping her with all his might, and feeling her body go weak beneath his. ‘I can’t take any more,’ she gasped.

‘Yes you can. You want it. I’m in you, fucking you. This is what you want.’

‘I’m going to come,’ she moaned.

‘I’m right with you. Just hold on. Oh
yes, oh yes
!’ he cried as her fingers found his balls.

‘Nick. I’m there, I’m there,’ she choked.

He was pounding her harder than ever, muscles straining, sweat pouring, until finally his climax broke too, and as everything rushed into her he clung tightly to her, feeling every last pulse of an orgasm so sublime and so encompassing that it surpassed even the last.

For a long time they lay in each other’s arms, waiting for their heartbeats to calm and the aftershocks inside to finally fade. The very smell of him was still intoxicating her, and she inhaled deeply as though drinking him in. His hand was on her face, his thumb close to her mouth, so she drew it between her lips and kissed it. Their legs were
entwined
, he was still inside her, but gradually the power was leaving him. She turned to look at him, and found his eyes on her, but as he started to speak she put her fingers on his lips, then leaned in to kiss him.

Finally he rolled on to his back to lie with one arm over his eyes, and his legs wide apart. She looked down at him, and touched her palm to the flat, hard plain of his abdomen. His thighs were long and powerfully muscled, his feet were slender and almost as female as a woman’s. She pressed her mouth to the damp hair on his chest, then slid quietly from the bed and went into the bathroom to fetch a second glass for the wine. As she looked in the mirror she saw the reflection of a woman who was sated and flushed, still dazed by the power of a relentless climax and tanned all over. She thought of Elliot and wondered if this was how it had been with Andraya. She waited for the guilt, but it didn’t come, and turning round she went to stand in the doorway, so he could see her naked.