by Beth Abbott
He nodded solemnly.
“Of course, I know it.” He shrugged. “And seeing as I’m the only man you’ve ever slept with, I’d go so far as to say that you like sex with me.”
“Why, you arrogant…” She was obviously lost for words.
“It’s Ok, Meg.” He grinned. “I like sex with you, too, so there’s not going to be any problem providing what you need.”
“What I need?” Megan gasped. “You… you…!”
Before she could think of a name to call him, Evan flipped her over onto her back, his body hovering over her.
“I give you my solemn promise that I will always see to your needs, Megan.” He stared at her, trying to keep from grinning. “I will love you, cherish you, and make love to you so often you’ll never be able to walk straight again.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly.
“I promise to make sure you always come first, and at least once.” He kissed her again. “Preferably twice or more.”
He kissed her again, effectively stopping any response.
“I will never ask you to perform oral sex on me.” He kissed her again. “Unless you really want to. In which case, I’ll tolerate it, just for you.”
He kissed her again and felt Megan’s lips stretching into a smile.
“Swallowing is optional.”
This time he couldn’t kiss her because she was laughing so hard.
“What?” He asked indignantly. “I’m trying to set out the basis for how I’m going to worship at your feet.”
“Somehow that sounds more like I’ll be worshipping at your feet.” She snorted, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “Or on my knees, at least.”
“Possibly so.” He grinned. “But only if you ask me nicely.”
As he watched her try and control her giggles, Evan couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself that after the day she’d been through, he’d not only made her smile, but laugh as well, and totally forget her recent trauma.
“You’re an idiot.” She sighed, gazing up at him.
“And you’re tired.” He pointed out, flopping back onto the mattress, pulling her with him. “Gimme a cwtch and close your eyes. If you’re lucky and we wake up early enough, I’ll let you have your wicked way with me.”
This time when Megan snuggled into him, Evan felt her whole body relax.
“I love you, Ev.” She mumbled. “Thank you for heroically climbing a tree to rescue me.”
“Any time, Megan.” Evan smiled as he kissed the top of her head. “Any time, any place, any tree.”
Chapter 68 – Matt
“So, you see, there’s no reason why I need to stay in hospital.” Suzy insisted, using her extremely effective powers of persuasion on the doctor. “You need the bed, and I have a perfectly good one at home which will suit me fine for the purposes of ‘bedrest’. Besides, bedrest on a hospital ward is a slight contradiction in terms. Six o’clock this morning I was woken up, despite not having arrived on the ward until three o’clock. Can’t they do observations quietly, from a distance? Any idiot could have observed that I was fast asleep.”
The doctor looked over at Matt with a grin.
“You really want to take her home?” He asked. “I could keep her here for another twenty-four hours to give you a break if you like.”
“Hey!” Suzy protested. “It’s my ankle that’s broken, not my hearing!”
“Last chance before I sign her back over to you?” The doc was still looking at Matt, and pretending Suzy wasn’t there.
Matt chuckled.
“I know this is gonna come as a shock to you, but I actually would like to take my wife home.” He confirmed. “She might be a pain in the ass, but she’s my pain in the ass, and I wouldn’t change that for all the world.”
“Hah!” Suzy snorted in the general direction of the physician. “See!”
Matt wasn’t sure what the doctor was supposed to ‘See!’, but he didn’t think the guy particularly cared.
“Ok.” The doctor and his medical team turned away. “On your head…”
Suzy watched the swarm of medical personnel move to the next bed and turned to the nurse who’d stayed behind.
“Does that mean I can go home?” She whispered.
The nurse nodded with a smile.
“Someone has already gone down to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription of painkillers, and as soon as the medical team move to the next ward, I’ll bring you some crutches for you to try out.” She looked at Suzy appraisingly. “Though we might have to get some from the children’s ward, because you may find ours a bit too big.”
“I really don’t care if you have to get me a walking frame from the geriatric ward, as long as I get out of here in the next hour.” Suzy shrugged.
“Suzy, why don’t you sit back and show the staff how patient you can be, hmm? Pretend you’re waiting for Rory to do something clever.” Matt suggested. “Because unless you’re planning on walking out of here with your ass hanging out of that hospital gown, you’re going to have to wait for Ellen to arrive with your clothes.”
Suzy glanced down.
“Oh, yeah.” She slumped back on the bed, defeated.
As the nurse made her way out of the ward, Matt sat down in the armchair by the bed.
“We’ll have you home in no time at all, sweetheart.” He took her hand. “And you’ll get into bed and rest, if I have to sit on you to keep you there.”
“I promise you, once I’m in that bed, I won’t get out for anything but bathroom visits, for at least forty-eight hours.” She smiled at him. “But before then, I do want to take a little detour.”
“Suzy!” Matt growled. “Bedrest, remember?”
“I just want to stop by the office on the way home.” Suzy wheedled. “I want to check on any progress finding out who’s behind the kidnapping, and, of course, thank all the guys for coming to my rescue.”
“You can do that on Skype.” Matt pointed out.
“I can’t hug people on Skype.” Suzy pouted. “Just one quick visit, pretty please?”
Matt gave up arguing, knowing it really wasn’t worth it, and an hour later they were walking into the Alpha offices, with Ellen kindly acting as door-opener.
Well, technically, he was walking, and Suzy was being carried. No way was he letting her loose with crutches so soon after her operation.
“Suzy!” Claire’s voice was the first to reach them, as they made their way to the elevator. “Oh, my God! You’re a sight for sore eyes. Are you Ok?”
“I’m gonna be just fine.” Suzy smiled, accepting a kiss on her unbruised cheek. “I just wanted to pop in to say thank you to everyone, before I go home for some bedrest.”
The elevator doors opened, and they all stepped in.
“Everyone is here now.” Claire confirmed. “Evan and Megan arrived about ten minutes ago.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant.” Suzy smiled. “I need to thank Megan as well.”
“If you can get within five feet of her, then good luck to you.” Claire snorted. “She’s got Evan guarding her on one side like a Doberman on steroids, and on the other side she’s got Robbie running interference, every time anybody tries to get near her.”
“I can sympathise.” Matt smiled down at Suzy.
As the elevator doors opened, Claire stepped forward to open the conference room door.
“It’s gonna be noisy.” She warned.
Matt stepped inside, and sure enough it sounded like everyone was talking at once.
Hannah was in her corner with Abbey, earphones on, and eyes glued to their laptops, and the men were sitting around the conference table, debating how the mission could have gone any better.
Megan sat to one side talking with JT, Luke, and David Roan, quite obviously being guarded by Evan and Robbie. Even Robbie’s agent, Harry Jenkins seemed concerned for her welfare.
But then, Matt supposed, anything that effected Robbie’s ability to play a good match would be a worry to his agent.
The sound of Suzy hissing had him looking down, wondering if he’d bumped her foot, but convinced he hadn’t.
Instead, he followed the direction she was glaring, and watched Lacey handing out drinks, chatting and laughing with the team.
Shit!
“I asked her to sort out refreshments.” Claire whispered. “I’ll make sure she’s back at her desk as soon as she’s finished.”
“Suzy?” Hannah’s screech even drowned out the men’s conversation.
“Hey, everyone.” Suzy smiled. “Surprise!”
Matt turned Suzy around so that her foot wasn’t going to be crushed by their friends, and Hannah rushed over to give Suzy a big hug.
“Oh, you had me scared out of my senses!” Hannah complained, wrapping her arms around both Suzy and Matt. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, y’hear?”
“Technically, I’m not sure that I did anything, but if it means that much to you, I promise to try and not get kidnapped again.” Suzy smiled.
“Good enough.” Hannah kissed her cheek over and over until Suzy begged her to stop.
“Hey, Suzy.” Matt heard Megan’s voice, despite the fact that it was many decibels lower than the rest of the team.
Suzy twisted herself around, obviously having heard the quiet voice as well.
“Put me down for a second, Matt.” She wriggled. “Just a minute, please?
Reluctantly he lowered her to the floor, but he needn’t have worried that she was gonna run off anywhere. Megan stepped forward and the two women fell into each other’s arms, clinging on for dear life.
It was only when he realised that they were both crying, that he stepped closer to place his hand on Suzy’s shoulder.
He looked up to see Evan guarding Megan in a similar way and smiled in acknowledgement. This was something that would always tie these two women together, and in a strange way, he and Evan would have the same connection.
“We did it! We did it!” Both women were whispering the same thing over and over, and he guessed they were expressing their relief and elation in the simplest way possible.
“Thank you for getting out and calling in the cavalry.” Suzy grinned.
“Thank you for knowing so much about the factory and how to get us out.” Megan whispered.
When it looked like they’d never get tired of hugging each other, Matt decided enough was enough.
“Ok, lady.” He growled at Suzy. “Either you sit your ass down on the sofa and put your foot up, or I’m gonna carry you back to the car and take you home. Your choice.”
“Sofa!” Suzy responded instantly, reaching back to take his hand for balance.
Matt swept her up into his arms and carried her to the nearest free sofa. Not prepared to let go of her yet, he sat down carefully, bringing her down to sit on his lap.
Suzy immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning down to kiss him.
“Have I told you how much I love you today?” She whispered.
“Nope, I can’t recall that you have.” He shook his head.
“It’s more than chocolate ice-cream.” Suzy nodded solemnly.
Matt turned and stared at her.
“Well, that’s not exactly saying much.” He huffed. “You told me last week that your favourite ice-cream was mint chocolate chip with chopped nuts sprinkled on top.”
“Yes, but I was talking about chocolate ice-cream drizzled all over my lower body, with your talented tongue licking it off.” Suzy smiled wickedly. “You just don’t get the same effect with mint-choc-chip and all those nuts getting in the way. You could breathe one in and choke to death!”
“Well, in that case, I’m a happy man.” Matt conceded that the correction sounded much better.
Suzy grinned at him and kissed his cheek.
“Do you know how much I love you?” He murmured.
“Nope.” Suzy shook her head.
“I love you as much as a man loves the woman who lets him drizzle chocolate ice-cream over her lower body, and then lets him lick it off her.” Matt smiled wickedly.
“See! I always told you we were perfect for each other.” Suzy laughed.
“Um, Matt? Suzy? Can I get you a drink?” Lacey’s voice was the last one Matt wanted to hear right at that moment.
He glanced at Suzy, who was staring straight back at him.
“That’s very kind of you Lacey, but we’re only here for a few more minutes to catch up with the family.” Suzy said politely. “Matt’s taking me home to bed in a little while, and he’s promised me that he’s staying there with me for at least forty-eight hours. The last thing we need is to start our John and Yoko ‘love-in’ with full bladders.”
Matt grinned at his wife, ignoring the woman who’d been at the root of many of their troubles for months.
“You didn’t mention anything about a love-in.” He winked at Suzy. “I’d never have stopped at the office on the way back if I’d known what you had in mind.”
Out of the corner of his eye he watched Lacey move away from them and breathed a sigh of relief that nothing had kicked off with Suzy only just out of hospital.
He knew a showdown was on the horizon, he just couldn’t have coped with it today.
Chapter 69 - Evan
Evan had watched Megan’s reunion with Suzy, and it had almost brought tears to his eyes.
The two women had obviously shared an experience you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, but they’d come through it unscathed, well, almost, and were stronger for it.
They’d certainly found a friendship he didn’t think would fizzle out any time soon. They’d taken strength from each other, and had found the courage to escape, when many others wouldn’t have dared.
Was it ridiculous to be sitting there feeling extremely proud of his… his what? What was he supposed to call Megan?
His ‘girlfriend’ didn’t sound right. They’d been teenagers the last time he’d called her that.
He sure as hell wasn’t going to start calling her his ‘ex’. That sounded awful.
Perhaps he’d start calling her ‘the woman I’m going to marry again when she’ll let me’.
That would probably convince her it was a good idea to at least start out by being engaged. His ‘fiancée’ had a much nicer sound to it.
He was still smiling to himself when he heard Matt’s ringtone coming from his pocket. With Suzy on his lap there was no way Matt was gonna reach it.
“I’m not feeling you up, Ok?” He grinned at his boss, reaching for Matt’s phone and passing it to him.
Matt connected the call and within seconds he was frowning.
“Megan? Robbie?” He interrupted their conversation. “Apparently Cerys is downstairs with the security guards we assigned to keep her out of the way. She knows what’s been going on and is demanding to see you both.”
Evan saw the look that passed between the brother and sister, and knew if Megan had her way, she’d have let the scrounger stay downstairs until they’d left the building.
“Would you mind having someone show her up?” Robbie glanced at Matt. “She’s not going to go away until she’s seen us.”
Megan’s shoulders slumped as she realised there wasn’t going to be any way of not talking to her half-sibling.
When Cerys burst through the door a few minutes later, you would have sworn she and Meg were separated at birth.
Cerys was a hideous actress, and he doubted that many people who’d seen her before that morning would have been taken in by her performance, but he guessed that to some, she might have come across as the caring sister, worried sick by what Megan had gone through.
Megan, for her part, answered Cerys’ questions with monosyllabic answers, and as quickly as was decent, turned away and started a conversation with Harry.
When Lacey came over to ask Cerys what she wanted to drink, it was almost a relief to have her side-tracked.
As Lacey moved away with Cerys, Evan felt a tap on the shoulder and found Hannah crouched next
to him, holding her phone and a headset.
“Could you have a look at this video.” She murmured in his ear. “The sound and picture are particularly poor quality because of how far they are away from the people talking, but I think it could be relevant to our enquiries.”
Evan put on the headset and stared at the screen as the video played back, but the picture was blurred as though there was a layer of something on the screen, and the only voices he could hear at all belonged to a man, and a barmaid in the distance.
“I heard a man talk about a job.” Evan shrugged pushing the headset back. “And someone ordered a round of drinks, but the rest was muffled.”
“Did you recognise any of the voices?” Hannah asked.
“No, they could have been anyone.” He shook his head.
“What about the woman? Do you recognise her?” Hannah pushed him.
“Assuming the camera was facing the woman who was talking, all I could see was some blonde hair.” He squinted at the screen, but it didn’t get any better. “Do we know who the man is?”
“The man is definitely one of the two brothers who were the so-called ringleaders out of the kidnappers.” Hannah confirmed. “Both Hollywood and Kellen confirmed his identity. He’s the owner of the phone.”
“Can’t you clean up the picture and sound?” Evan asked.
“The guys down in London can do that for me.” Hannah nodded. “I was just hoping you would recognise someone and save me the trouble.”
“Have you got much more to check?” Megan asked.
“Not on the video side.” Hannah shook her head. “I was able to transfer most of it to my laptop, which meant I could scroll past all the porn clips without even having to open the thumbnails. There were a few clips of visits to nightclubs and watching bands, and, of course, that one.”
“What else is there to check?” Evan was disappointed with what they had.
“Abbey is going through all the calls he saved onto one of those apps you can download.” Hannah nodded to where her co-worker was listening intently to something through her headphones. “Unfortunately, he seems to have recorded every call since he downloaded the app a few months ago. Apparently, they eat a lot of take-out. There are thousands of calls.”