The One Awakened: Book 1 in The One Trilogy (45 page)

“Shit - did Abby tell you?”
 

“Yes she bloody did but only cos I dragged it out of her. I rang work first and they said you’d gone home with tummy ache. Then I rang Abs for some juicy goss about you and Seb and conned her into spilling.”

Crap.
Poor Abby, it wasn’t her fault. I decide to go with the flow.

“It was OK, spent a few hours feeling pretty horrid and went to bed early until my phone woke me.”
“Sorry to wake you but it sounds like you got off lightly - in every way, Madam!” she says in her best
Teacher
voice.

I groan. “I know, I know, but it’s done now. I just hope that this nausea goes away soon. I know Abs said it can last a few days.”
“Well I’m warning you, Gino overheard me leaving a message for you earlier tonight – seeing as you weren’t answering your phone!”

I freeze. “Does Gino know? Oh Suze, please ask him not to tell Sebastian?”
“Why the bloody hell not – he should have put something on the end of his dick! Why should you be the only one feeling like crap?”

I cringe; Abby and Suzie were cut from the same cloth. I‘d hoped to deal with this on my own, to feel like I am in control still. The second Sebastian was involved it would become a huge drama and undo all the amazing part of our undeniable sexual chemistry.
 

“Well, all I’m saying is expect a call soon. Every cloud has a Silver lining, eh?”

“Right, Ok Suze thanks for the heads up. Better be off. I’ll see you tomorrow at the shop, I need to get a dress for the party on Saturday.”

“No worries my lovely – I’ll put a few to one side. I need to talk to you anyway, as I have some juicy news but it can wait!” She always has juicy news but for some reason I sense that this news is important; she’s being far too coy for it not to be.

We both hang up and I frown considering her last comment. Just like Suzie to feed me a little crumb and not the whole morsel; I’d be wondering what her
news
was all night. Well, anything to take the focus away from me for a while.
 

I’m dreaming that I can hear a tap tapping noise, which is persistently annoying. It’s not long before I come to the realisation that it’s not a dream, but in fact a reality. I pause, holding my breath in the darkness and wait. There it is again. A pebble hits the window; this time the sound is unmistakable. Making my way to the window I notice that the clock on the chest of drawers next to it, glares a luminous green 11.43pm. Nervously, I peer out and see a familiar gunmetal Silver Range Rover Sport parked opposite my house. My heart leaps into my throat.
Oh no! I don’t want him to see me like this!

I’m a total mess, no make-up, and flannelette PJ’s are so not a sexy look. He is the last person I want to see now and how I’m going to hide this from him I don’t know.
 

What the hell is he doing here?

I make my way to the door, wishing I’d had the time to clean my teeth and release the bolt, then the lock before holding it slightly ajar; just enough to see him leaning irate against the frame. His sexy body encased in jeans and a quilted Barber jacket. He looks delicious and seriously pissed.

“Christ - you’re a heavy sleeper. I thought I was going to have to replace that window, the amount of stones I’ve thrown at it.”

“What are you doing here Seb? I thought you were in London?”

“I was, three and a half hours ago. Let me in Lu!” His face is tight and his brows furrowed.
 

“It’s late, Sebastian. I was asleep and I’m not feeling great.” I wrinkle my nose at my weakness but I’m hoping he’ll be like most men and assume that means I’m on my period and run a mile. A wave of nausea hits me again and I recoil.

“That’s why I’m here. Now let me in.”
 

I’m tired and emotional and rather than fight him tonight, I cave and move aside for him to enter, moving to curl up on my favourite chair, as the dizziness overwhelms me.

“Whoa Baby. Steady there.”
 

He grabs me before I collapse and ignores the chair, picking me up and holding me against his chest, he carries me up the stairs to my bedroom. I close my eyes, inhaling his clean male scent and link my hands around his neck, allowing myself to be supported for once. It felt so nice to relax against him and just be cared for.

“Right, Little One, let’s get you settled.”
 

I watch as he pulls back the cover and places me gently, into the bed, covering me completely.
Why was he here?

Once he’s refilled my water glass he kicks off his shoes and joins me on the bed, drawing me into his warm strength again.

“Why didn’t you tell me Lu?”

I can feel his breath on my hair and his soft touch as he lightly caresses my wrist. Even feeling ill, his magnetism is so powerful I’m immensely turned on.

“Lu?” his gentle reminder brings me back to focus on the inevitable. I shouldn’t hide this from him any longer.

“I didn’t want to put pressure on you. We’re just having fun and it’s all a bit heavy.” I’m embarrassed, upset and annoyed at my weakness all at once.

“For God’s sake, Lu! Did you not think I’d want to know about this? Have a say?” I feel his body flinch and tense and the cold hits me as I feel him slide out from beside me and off the bed. His hand rubs his head in frustration, as he comes to terms with things.

“What is there to say? We didn’t use protection and I wanted to be safe.” I sound blunt and bow my head, feeling severely ticked off and vaguely ashamed.
 

Maybe I should have told him? But seriously - what did he want me to do, risk it and get pregnant?

“
Who told you Seb?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It bloody does to me. Was it Gino?”

At the shake of his head I continue “Abby”

“No.”

“ Nathan then?”

“No, none of them. Someone saw you buying it.”

His eyes are so dark and intense, almost hypnotic as he stands at the foot of the bed, clearly agitated. “Look I don’t like to ask - you didn’t keep this from me because you’ve been with Leo did you?”

WTF?

My immediate reaction is to throw something at his head, anger tearing through my entire being.
Who the fuck did he think he was?
 

Instead I snort in disgust. I can feel the tears threatening to spill over and I lift a hand to my brow to hide my stress, shaking my head -
don’t let him see how much he just hurt you Lu
.
Be brave.

The silence between us is deafening and I’m aware that my lack of answer is adding weigh to his ridiculous notion but if I look up I’ll break.
 

I hear his hiss before he fills the quiet. “Ah shit Lu - forget I said that - I’m sorry - bloody other people putting thoughts in my head - I know it’s just been me. Just you and me Baby.”

Don’t be nice now… please. I can deal with bastards - I’m not used to nice.

“It has. You shouldn’t even have to ask.”
 

My voice sounds cold and withdrawn and I watch as his strides towards me, his eyes searching mine.
 

“I
thought you were on the pill. I’m clean and I bloody know you are. But this is my fuck-up not yours. I should have been there for you!” his voice is lighter, more caring and I sigh in exasperation.

“I’m fine, honestly. I just feel a bit sick that’s all. Seriously you have no obligation here. I was just as caught up the moment…”

“Moments,” he interrupts.

“Moments,” I repeat with a blush, remembering the shower and kitchen moments in equal clarity. “I was caught up in the
moments
and should have been more careful.
We
should have been more careful but
I’ve
taken care of it.”

He ponders me for a while and I watch as his tongue flicks out to wash his sexy lips. “I should have bloody taken care of it at the time.”
His jaw is stern.” I’m not sure what I was thinking? When you and I connect everything else goes out the window. I’ve never
not
used protection with a woman. You are the first; another first shared between us.” I watch his struggle, can see that he is uncomfortable with his statement. “You are not alone anymore Lu. Stop pushing me away!”

“I didn’t realise I was? What did you expect me to do, make a drama of it and turn what
this was
into a total regret for you? It may surprise you but I’m not that type of woman. Besides, I know you are definitely not the
follow-up
type of guy!”

His look is lethal and the anger is his eyes so black. I wince.
 

“What happened between us was
NOT
a mistake, Lucia! Don’t ever call it that! You need to let me in and stop fighting
Me… This… Us
!”

He’s pumped and ready to go but I can see the tightrope of control he’s walking, forcing him to keep his head and allow me to answer as he heads towards the door. I can’t help myself; I feel bullied, confused, awful. How could he think I’d been with someone else?
 

I don’t ask him, instead I petulantly reply. “Stop trying to control me then! You can’t
control
everything
Sebastian!”

The icing on the proverbial overflowing cup-cake is enough to blow his steely demeanour and I watch as he struggles to wrestle with his inner strength, his teeth gritted and lips rolling tightly over them, near white in their tightness. My own chest rises and falls at breakneck speed with mounting anger, mirroring his body language.
 

God! When we disagree it’s not pretty.
 

We’d not been in this position before and I am starting to see why Sebastian Silver was so ruthless in business. He always won.
 

Well not this bloody time!

“Look you don’t need to feel obliged here. I was the one who propositioned you. This was only ever going to be a one night thing and then it became more and now I’m not sure what we are but seriously you’re off the hook - we just got carried away.
 

“You may have offered yourself to me but I was the one who took you up on it and I was the one who fucked you.”

God he was sexy - even experiencing roller-coaster waves of nausea, I wanted to jump him.

“We fucked Seb and it was good - more than good but you don’t owe me anything but our friendship afterwards, like we promised.”

How had I managed to make what we had experienced this weekend, sound so inconsequential? In reality it had been all-consuming, defining, bloody monumental; a God damned epiphany!

I continue ignore my annoying inner voice. “FBR No.5, remember? What was it? Er… it went something like… no strings, no ties, no emotions, your not boyfriend material, never will commit, you’re happy to shag me but don’t get heavy and we must always kiss and make up as mates afterwards. Sound familiar?”

I watch him flinch at my words - I may have exaggerated them hugely but said like that, the rule sounded pretty cold; at the time I hadn’t cared. Now FBR Rule no.5 suddenly doesn’t work for me.

How could I have agreed to this or been stupid enough to come up with the idea in the first place - we could never have sex and remain friends. Well I couldn’t.

We stare at one another for a few seconds, both defiant and resounding in our view points before he turns and opens the door, his jaw twitching.

“Rest and we’ll talk again in the morning. I want regular updates as to your condition.”
 

Arrogant bastard - obviously didn’t take the hint not to control me then?

With that severely patronising attempt at medical care and concern, I hear him head downstairs and a little while later the thud of the door slamming into the frame and the keys, as they are dropped through the letterbox.
 

I wish he’d never found out. Now for some reason it all felt so much worse and exactly how I’d feared things would play out. It had dirtied what had been such a monumental weekend. I felt like it had all become a big mistake.

I still can’t believe he’s driven 200miles to be with me and we argued like this.

Punching the pillow next to me in frustration, I fold it around my face and scream into it. Arghh -
That man!
I struggle as I feel the hot sensation of tears at my eyes and my throat tightening again, bloody hormones.
Who the Hell had told him and who had seen me buying it?
 

Sighing deeply and settling down, I give in to the sleep I’d been fighting since he’d rudely awoken me. Hopefully tomorrow things would feel better but at this rate I sense its unlikely.