The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (16 page)

Chapter 17

Layla

I woke just as the
sun rose, its rays streaming through Lucas’s bedroom blinds and I rubbed my
eyes against the brightness.

Mentally, I checked
each area on my body and groaned as I realised how sore I still felt.

Mason’s mum had been
wonderful, so gentle and kind as she examined me and Sara had held my hand all
the way through the invasive treatment.

The shame I had felt
when she had discovered just how brutal Diablo had been was awful, but she had
continued chatting about her latest holiday, as if there was nothing strange
about inserting a medical tampon into someone’s lady parts whilst you gossiped casually.

I pulled myself up
into a sitting position and my gaze landed on a sleeping Lucas in an armchair
at the side of the bed.

He was wearing just
jeans, opened at the fly and the small dusting of hair trailing up to his navel
caught my attention, not in a sexual way, but just how perfect and trimmed it
looked.

You are very strange
Lay, I admitted to myself.

His face was relaxed
as he slumbered peacefully, his long eyelashes rested on his cheekbones and it
suddenly occurred to me how beautiful this man really was, in a manly way of
course but his features were absolutely stunning.

His short trimmed
beard finished his masculine beauty and his deep eyebrows outlined his fiery
blue eyes.

His strong muscled
chest lifted rhythmically with each of his dozing breaths and as though he
sensed me looking at him his eyes snapped open and he shot forward in his
chair, his gaze locked on me as he scanned me up and down as if checking I was
still in one piece.

“Hey” I smiled
softly.

He rubbed his palms
over his face and blinked a couple of times before he smiled back. “Morning
beautiful, how are you feeling?”

Had he just called
me beautiful? I didn’t feel bloody beautiful, in fact I felt smelly and dirty
but I nodded a little in reply.

He stood and then
came to settle on the edge of the bed and reached out to me, I flinched a
little but he smiled gently and brushed a stray strand of hair off my face “I
won’t ever hurt you Red, ever. You’re too exquisite and precious to spoil.”

My eyes widened as
he leaned in and placed a delicate kiss on my forehead then pushed himself
upwards and walked into his bathroom and I heard him start to run a bath.

I was too stunned by
his words to move and I was still sat immobile as he exited the bathroom and
walked into the living area of his apartment.

He came back in a
while later with a tray donned with juice, tea, toast and sliced fruit. I
stared at him as he smiled and placed it on the bed beside me before he went
back to the bathroom and turned off the taps.

I timidly took a sip
of the tea as he strolled over to his wardrobe and pulled out a pair of joggers
and a t-shirt. He held it up and inspected it for sizing as he glanced over my
body and then back to the t-shirt. Shrugging, he pursed his lips before folding
it back up and exchanged it with another.

He seemed happier
with this one as he nodded to himself and placed it on top of the sports
trousers before he opened a drawer inside his closet and pulled out a pair of
boxer shorts.

I lifted an eyebrow
at him as he regarded me silently, his features soft and affectionate as he
held up the briefs to me.

I shrugged but
nodded in agreement, continuing with our silent theme, and he returned my shrug
with one of his own before he placed them atop the pile of fill-in clothes for
me.

He disappeared back
into the wardrobe and pulled out a sweatshirt, a plain grey number with a hood
and he squinted at it before conceding and joined it with the rest.

He walked back over
to me, picked up a blackberry from the bowl and popped it into my mouth as he
kissed my head and then left me to it.

“Hmmm” I murmured as
I gobbled down a piece of apple and went to enjoy the bath Lucas had so
lovingly prepared for me.

I was still smiling
at his actions as I sank into the depths of his huge colossal ancient tub and a
grin lit my face when the mirror steamed up and a finger drawing of a heart
with a smiley face in the middle appeared in the midst of the condensation.

I did not
acknowledge the little flutter in my own heart, but I was still grinning like a
Cheshire cat as I pulled on his clothes and took a deep pull of their scent, as
my mind still held the vision of the sketched heart.

***

I was rolling up the
sleeves of the sweatshirt as I entered his living space and I found Lucas sat
at the large dining table, reading a morning paper and I plonked my ass into
one of the chairs opposite him.

He folded up his
paper and placed it on the table as he cocked his head at me and grinned
“Okay?”

I nodded and smiled
nervously as a deep blush covered my face, my embarrassment at the previous
day’s events finally catching up with me.

“I’ll just…” I
stuttered, gesturing to the coffee pot as I swallowed harshly “…and then I’ll
get out of your hair.”

Lucas scowled at me
and then shook his head slowly “Not a chance, Red.”

My hand shook as I
poured the coffee into a cup and I lifted my eyes to his to detect his meaning.

“You’re not leaving
my side until that bastard is dealt with” he snarled and I squinted before I
realised the coffee was now pouring over the brim of my cup and all over the
table.

“Oh shit, I’m so
sorry” I stammered as I grabbed a cloth napkin and dabbed at the mess but it
seemed to just puddle all over the table and my anger surfaced at the stupid
chaos. “God damn it” I yelled as I frantically mopped at the brown disaster.

It wasn’t until
Lucas pulled me against his chest that I realised the long drawn out whine I
could hear was coming out of my mouth.

“Ssshhh Red, it’s
okay. You’re safe” he whispered in my ear and I pulled back and shook my head
rapidly.

“I’ll never be
fucking safe until I’m dead” I hissed at him.

He nibbled furiously
on his lips and his eyes darkened fractionally “Don’t Red… just, don’t even…”

He swallowed harshly
and turned away from me as I glared at him “You know fuck all Lucas!” I spat at
him.

I needed to distance
our relationship to keep him protected. He would never be safe as long as he
was near me and I knew I had to break my own heart to keep this man’s still
beating.

I could see the
clench of his fists at his sides as he stopped the response he so wanted to
bark at me, and I frenziedly searched his room for a phone.

I spotted it over
the other side and I briskly planted one foot in front of the other to get to
it before he turned around.

I wasn’t fast enough
as his huge hand circled the phone just as I picked it up “No fucking way, Red.
You are staying here.”

“Why don’t you
fucking listen?” I asked with acid in my voice.

His eyebrows rose at
my vehemence but he didn’t counter a reply as he continued to lock me down with
just his furious gaze.

“Let me go Lucas,
please” I tried pleading with him but he remained strong and shook his head as
he stepped into me and backed me against the wall.

“If I have to
fucking hogtie you Red, I will. You and that fucking smart mouth of yours are
starting to mean something to me, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you go
now that I have you close, just because you are frightened of what will happen
to me if that dickless piece of shit comes looking for me.”

My jaw dropped and a
lump formed in my throat as I deciphered his words in my frazzled brain. “But…”

His finger rested
against my lips and stopped the words from becoming vocal as he leaned further
into me and rested his forehead against mine.

“Don’t question it
Red, just accept it. Accepting it will make it easier, make it real and then
you might start believing me when I tell you that I’m falling in love with
you.”

A funny choked sound
stuck in my throat and I shook my head at him. “You can’t, no… NO! Damn you!” I
bellowed as I pushed harshly at him.

He reared back and
looked at me with a puzzled expression but I still kept on, still ploughed
straight through his heart to get to his soul and destroy it. “No, you just
can’t. I… I don’t do love Lucas, I’m incapable of… anything. You need to take
back those words… NOW!” I snapped at him as he stood pale and hurt.

My heart was
crumbling at my own cruel words but I needed to keep him safe, needed to break
all his feelings for me so he would be out of harm's way and being brutal was
the only way I knew how to stop his affection for me.

He swallowed harshly
as pain and discomfort became visual on his handsome face, and he sucked on his
lips as my spiteful declaration slapped him straight on.

He nodded once,
turned and walked out, quietly closing the door behind him when he went.

I sank to the floor
in desperation.

Why now? Why the
hell now?

“You cruel bastard!”
I shouted into the heavens as my fury rose at the harshness of it all.

I knew I had fell
for Lucas with everything I was, through to my very soul and this was why I had
to break both our hearts to keep him alive.

If Diablo found out,
he would make him pay; painfully, violently and so utterly ruthlessly that I
knew I would never survive the devastation of Lucas going through anything like
that.

I eventually lifted
myself off the floor, and realising I didn’t have any cash on me for a cab, I
explored Lucas’s apartment for a pair of shoes.

I succeeded to find
a pair of trainers that were three sizes too big, but I managed to hold them on
my feet as I pulled the laces to a tight harsh knot.

I found a piece of
paper in his study and wrote a simple ‘Sorry’ before I planted an invisible
kiss on it and propped it up against the whisky bottle, knowing that would be
what he would go for first, then I quietly closed the door behind me and made
my way home, leaving my heart behind on the floor of Lucas’s lounge.

Chapter 18

Lucas

   I palmed the wall of my entrance hall
to hold my highly drunken self up as the brunette beside me giggled like a
fucking hyena.

Her laugh had been steadily
grating my brain for the last two hours but she had a firm arse, so it was
worth the suffering when I knew I would manage to fuck that piece of ass
shortly.

She suddenly pushed
me back against the wall and covered my mouth with her own as her hands grabbed
a fistful of my hair.

She tasted of metal
and vinegar and I squinted but held my breath and determinedly kissed her back
until she was undoing the button on my jeans and frantically pulling them down
my hips with my shorts.

She leered up at me as
she sunk down my body and I groaned and closed my eyes when she sank her mouth
around my dick.

She was a little too
wet and I was only half mast but I shrugged it off and relaxed into the action
of her mouth sliding rapidly up and down my length. “Slow down a bit” I urged
but she didn’t seem to hear me as she continued her race for my orgasm.

I knew it wasn’t
gonna happen with the way she went at me, her action reminding me of a
pneumatic drill pounding at its challenge and I took hold of her head and tried
to slow her down.

She wasn’t relenting
as she forced her own control and persisted to hammer at me so I pulled her up,
giving up with the oral as I walked her across the hall until her back hit the
wall.

“Put your legs
around me” I ordered and she did just that and then I remembered the condom and
told her get down again.

She huffed loudly and
told me we didn’t need one, but I glowered at her and she shrugged whilst she bit
her nails as I scoured my wallet for a rubber.