The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (23 page)

I was above him now
and I hesitantly lifted my hand and brushed the lock of his beautiful soft hair
away from his eyes, knowing he hated it in his eyes, he would grumble like mad
when it became too long.

He was so beautiful,
so peaceful and my hands shook as I slid my thumb over his still slightly pink
lips and waited for him to playfully bite it like he used to with the
mischievous growl that he would always tease me with.

“I’m so sorry Ry” I
whispered. He didn’t reply with the usual ‘its okay baby’ this time, just
remained silent and still and I wanted to shake him to get that damn statement
out of him.

I leant in and
rested my lips on his forehead “I’ll always love you Ry, always. You were my
first love and you’ll be my last. Always, baby.”

I turned to the
doctor and nodded. He raised the sheet over Ryan’s face and I whispered a
goodnight to him before Lucas led me from the room and straight out to his car
and straight to his house.

***

“I need to phone his
parents” I said to Lucas as he passed me a glass of whisky. He frowned as he
sat beside me on the sofa “Do you think the morning would be better? It’s
something not easy to… to…”

I shook my head and
determinedly reached in my bag for my phone.

Scrolling through
the numbers, I found Ry’s parents and my finger hovered over the green icon.
“You want me to do it?” Lucas asked softly.

I glared at him
“They don’t even know you. What a stupid thing to ask.”

I saw his throat bob
but he smiled softly and nodded.

It took me ten
minutes to place my finger over the little phone symbol and my heart lurched as
the ring tone came through.

“Hello?” Gina’s
voice filtered through and my throat suddenly closed in and all that would come
out was a stupid gurgle.

I cleared my throat
and closed my eyes. “Gina?”

The line was silent
for a moment before I felt the ice through the line and I bit my lower lip in
preparation for her hostility. “Gina?” I repeated stupidly.

“Yes.” Was all I got
in return and I gulped before I took a deep breath.

“Gina.” It was all I
seemed to be able to vocalise and I knew she sensed my distress when she gasped
faintly.

“Kayla? Tell me.”

“Ry, he… he… Oh
God….”

What a stupid time
for my tears to come. On the phone to the woman who hated me most in the world,
who would now hold a deep revulsion for me when I voiced the words no mother
ever wanted to hear.

“KAYLA!”
she screamed. She knew, I could hear the deep whine
through the phone, the soul destroying, haunting cry only a mother would ever
part with.

“I… I… Oh, Gina, I… I’m
so sorry…”

I dropped the phone
at her next scream and curled up into a ball, distraughtly trying to get away
from the sound coming through the speaker, its penetrating wail piercing my
soul.

Lucas was on me in an
instant, lifting me and pulling me onto his lap before he started to rock me.

His own whimpers at
my desolation tore through to my heart but he took it all, every slice of my
pain and distress. He absorbed every cry and howl that tore up my throat and he
held me tight through each of the violent tremors that racked my body with my
grief and heartache.

He held me for two
hours solid, never wavering in his rhythm or never telling me to shush. He just
held me, rocked me and cried with me.

***

“Hey” Lucas
whispered as he walked slowly towards me whilst I perched on his floor in front
of the ceiling high windows and watched the London nightlife go by.

We had gone to bed
hours ago but my mind wouldn’t settle and I had left Lucas sleeping and come in
search of hot chocolate.

“Hey” I smiled back
softly.

“You want another?”
he gestured towards my mug and I shook my head.

He left me for a
moment to make his espresso before he came and sat beside me, both of us
watching the lights of the city twinkle against the rain on the window.

“How you doing?” he
asked softly as he took hold of my hand and ran his fingers over the edge of
mine, tracing the contours with such a delicate touch I was surprised it didn’t
tickle more, but it was actually quite soothing and I rested my head back
against the window and immersed myself in its comfort.

 “I’m okay” I
whispered.

Lucas’s fingers
continued on their mission of relaxation and I sighed deeply as they now wisped
on the inside of my wrist.

“He told me to take
out a contract on Diablo.” I revealed and I heard Lucas’s breath pause. “Last
Sunday. He told me to end him to make the path clear for me and you.” I gave
out a bitter laugh “He even told me he’d sign the divorce papers so I could… so
we could have a free relationship.”

Lucas was watching
me intently, listening and offering his silent support when I lifted my eyes to
his “I guess I don’t need that now, eh?”

He sighed and
frowned at me, probably thought I was losing it, but it was suddenly very clear
and I turned and sat on my knees to face Lucas.

My eyes skimmed over
his beautiful face and I palmed both cheeks in my hands and slid my thumbs over
his chiselled cheekbones. “Make love to me, Lucas. Right here, by the window,
in front of the world. Let humanity see how much you love me and how much I
love you.”

His own hands came
up and cupped my own face as he leaned in and whispered his mouth over mine, “I
need
you
to see how much I love you right now, Red, not humanity. You.”

He took me under
him, his kiss soft and gentle but still very much passionate and I let him
lead. Let him take me to the realms of oblivion, where everything else but us
was forgotten and ignored.

He worshipped every
inch of me with his mouth, nibbled, sucked and licked every part of my hot skin
and I explored every inch of him with my fingers. Traced each of his fine
contours and lines until he slid inside me and took me in front of the world,
in front of whoever was watching and in front of God and now Ry.

“Look at me, Red.
Open your eyes and look at me. Watch my face as I come inside you, watch me
whilst I take all of you under and around me” he whispered as he moved so
deliciously inside me and I did, I opened my eyes and watched him and showed
him how much I loved him as he silently told me.

His orgasm erupted
just as mine hit me sideways, its intensity had me screaming Lucas’s name loud
and feral as I exploded around him and under him.

He shouted out my
name as his palm hit the glass of the window and his forehead rested on mine as
I clutched him tight, relishing every second I had with him. With the man that
had stolen my heart away from Ryan.

The man who I would
never risk. The man who owned my soul so utterly it would forever be with him
now instead of me. He owned every single piece of me and I told him right then,
as we lay in front of the world.

“I love you Lucas,
always. You’ll always have me because you own my soul.”

Chapter 26

Lucas

I rolled over as the
sun filtered through the blinds and reached out for Red. The bed was cold and
empty and my eyes shot open.

“Red?”

Nothing but silence
greeted me and I knew. I knew right then what she had done. I knew where she
had gone and I flung my body out of bed and rapidly pulled on some clothes as I
went to search the apartment for her.

I knew it was a
waste of my time but a small part of me was arguing with the other larger part
and telling it not to be so stupid, Red wouldn’t go back, not now, not after
Ryan. But I knew she would, I knew she already had, just to keep me safe.

I sank down the
window where we had made love last night and the cry that left my throat was
raw and primal, its intensity shocked me and I gasped for air as I clutched at
the carpet that still held her imprint.

Red had left me;
gone back to the bastard that terrified her and abused her, just to keep me from
harm.

The knowledge tore
through me, ripped straight through the centre of my heart and I bled from
every pore as I cried out her name.

I would get her
back; it was the first and last thing I promised her. I would get her back and
I would take that bastard under my hands and squeeze every inch of life from
him. Crush him with my bare hands and make him pay for what he had done to Red
and to Ryan. I would destroy him.

Even if I destroyed
myself in the process.

***

Mason eyed me
strangely when he opened his door and we stood silently regarding each other,
as he read me and I begged him silently for help.

“We have a problem”
I told him.

He narrowed his
eyes, sighed and gestured for me to enter.

Ava came from the
kitchen carrying a plate of some sort of cake and it slid straight off and onto
the floor when she caught sight of my face.

“Lucas?”

I stared at them
both and sighed. “She’s gone back.”

Mason’s eyes widened
as Ava gasped and I proceeded to fill them in on the last 48 hours.

Within two hours Mason’s
house was full of people; his men, his friends, a few security guys’, Sara and
Nate and his wife Liv.

Give this man
credit, he worked fast and within the next hour he had the address and
whereabouts of Red.

“Good job I had the
sense to place a tracker in her phone last time she disappeared on us” Mason
grinned slyly when one of the security blokes, Elijah, brought up a map image
of where Red was.

We all loomed in to
look at the image and my heart stuttered when it revealed Red in a plush lounge
of some sorts. For the moment she looked okay though and that settled my
stomach a little but it still pulled on my heart to see her there.

“This technology is
amazing” I said to Elijah who smirked at me as the screen now showed Red stand
and prowl the room. “Highly illegal but oh well. It taps into one of NASA’s
satellites and its software, I wrote myself.”

My brows lifted and
I grinned “We all have bugs to bear.”

Mason suddenly spat
orders at everyone when the address kicked out a street name in London and I
knew it wouldn’t be long before she was taken back to Sheffield and we had to
move fast.

“Me?” I asked him
and he shook his head at me. “What?” I asked warily and Mason shook his head
again.

“For one, you’re not
used to this kind of thing and two, you’re too involved.”

I just glared at him.
“What the hell, Mason? You’re too involved, she’s your friend” I argued but he
smirked at me.

“You ever killed
anyone, Hunt?”

My brow rose but I
continued to stare at him “Well, no but…”

“Well even Ava has
and your inexperience could cost Lay her life. No way, and no way again.”

“Bollocks, Mason.
I’m going in with you. By the looks of those images there’s roughly eight guys’
in there. You need all the help you can get.”

Mason smirked again.
“But we have a secret weapon.”

I frowned and his
smirk turned into a sly grin “Ava.”

I turned my gaze to
Ava who grinned and smiled at me. “Afternoon, guvnor’. Ya’ aint got a bog I
could borra hav ya’?” she said with a wink as she wiggled her large breasts at
me.

I couldn’t help but
smile at her but I still turned to Mason “But I need to do this Mason, please
don’t…”

He shook his head
again but placed his hand on my shoulder “I know how you feel about her Lucas,
but I need you to trust me. Layla won’t want you there for one and I know her,
she gave herself to him, she won’t be happy we’re going in to bring her back.
I’m gonna have to do the whole club and caveman routine to get her out of
there.”

“Fine” I relented,
“But you need to promise me Mason…”

Ava placed her hand
on my arm “I’ll get her out Lucas, I promise.”