Bare All

by L M Allen

  “What are you doing here?” I ask at last, fighting the sting of tears.

  “Are you kidding me? Some fucking psycho was going after our girl and thought he’d get away with it?”

  “Aww, c’mon now. Hunter’s not that bad,” another familiar voice mocks, and my head snaps up.

  “Frankie!” I squeal, and twist out of Sid’s hold and right into the arms of another commando.

  “Hey, boo,” he coos and kisses my hair. “I’m lovin’ the dress. Not very you though.”

  “What would you know? I might have ten of these at home.”

  “Uh-huh. Or...you have ten pairs of jeans and fuck all else at home.”

  “Or that.” I chuckle.

  “For the record, I love the jeans too.”

  “Wait ya fuckin turn,” Sid growls as he lifts me off my feet again and spins me around. I feel a shoe fall but can’t care enough to tell him. “Do you know what a monumental pain in the fucking arse you are, woman?”

  “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” He shakes his head in one firm movement.

  “Classified.”

  “Too classified for me?” I cock my head and look up at him. His face breaks out in a toothy smile.

  “Never. What do you want to know?”

  “I want to know how long you’ve been here.” He glances at his watch.

  “Approximately sixty-two seconds, ma’am.” I narrow my eyes, fully aware he’ll tell me absolutely nothing. He deposits me back on my stool and kicks the fallen shoe as he walks. “C’mon, Cinders.” He scoops down and kneels to slide the heel back on my foot.

  “Thanks.” I feel Will’s arm slide back around my waist, but his body is tense. “Do you know Will?”

  “We’ve met.” Oh?

  “Did you know we’re getting married?” The noise is deafening. My hands fly up, covering my ears, and I duck my head and screw my eyes shut. Bloody special ops!

  After a few minutes, my hands are gently pulled away from my ears, and I peek through one scrunched-up eye. Will is grinning at me as he pulls my wrists around his neck. He steps nearer and my knees part, letting him in even closer, and he kisses me as though there’s no one else here.

  “I love this dress,” Will says quietly, running a hand up my bare thigh.

  “Wait till you see what’s under it.” I feel his sharp breath and peck his lips lightly with a giggle.

  “Congratulations.” I glance at Davey, his pink cheeks his eyes shining. He looks genuinely happy.

  “You knew?” Davey shrugs.

  “I knew he was going to ask you.”

  “Oh.” Will and Davey exchange a look, and Will steps aside to let my brother hug me. He smells just the same as he always did. Smokey and earthy. He feels the same too. Solid and bulky. I can’t believe he’s really here. After all this time. He’s really here.

  Davey releases me, and I sit straight and cross my ankles, tucking one foot behind the stool leg just as a guy bounds over. We all look around but his attention is on me. He grins widely.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi?” I frown. Do I know this guy?

  “Fuck me, that is the first time you’ve ever spoken to me, Eva Adams.”

  “Have we met?”

  “Five times.” He holds up a hand, his fingers spread wide. “Five! That is a fucking miracle.”

  “Right.”

  “You wanna dance?”

  “No, thanks.” He shrugs.

  “Worth a shot.” Then he notices the death stares. “Hey.” He nods at Will, and his eyes flick around to the other pairs trained on him.

  “Let’s dance, baby.” Will takes my elbow to help me down from the stool and circles my waist before guiding me to the dance floor.

  We find an empty space and Will pulls me close to him, his front to my back, his mouth at my ear. “They’re already driving me crazy.”

  “Don’t worry about them.” I reach my fingers behind his neck, curling them around. I turn my head to kiss the underside of his jaw. He spins me back to face him, and my hands climb to his shoulders.

  “They all want you.”

  “And I want you.” I take his face between my palms and kiss him gently. “Just you. Forever.”

  “This is normally where I’d start thinking I should ask you to marry me, but we ticked that one off already.” He smiles into my eyes.

  “Oh? And how long have you been thinking about that?”

  “Since March.”

  “Mar...? We only met in April.” Will is observing my expression cautiously, and I realise we’ve stopped dancing.

  “I’ve been watching you every day since January. I told you I was already in love with you when we met.”

  “Um...” Will starts to sway again, and I follow his movements automatically. “Right. January.”

  “And you’re finally mine.” His nose lowers to the curve between my neck and shoulder. “Mrs Hunter. I like it.”

  “Me too.” I turn my head and kiss him, until his hands are in my hair and his erection is digging in my belly. Will pulls back, his eyes dark, his lips parted.

  “Christ, you are trying to kill me.”

  Chapter 3

  “Eva bloody Adams!” I shoot my attention in the direction of the screeched sound, and see Bells leading Nikki our way, weaving through the crowded dance floor.

  “Nikki!” I call, a huge grin on my face as I turn towards her and open my arms wide. Nikki was my work Bells before I worked with Bells.

  “Where the hell have you been hiding this one?” She winks at Will, and he shifts on his feet.

  “Nikki, this is Will. My fiancé. Will, this is Nikki. No explanations would do her justice.”

  “Err...I’m the fun one,” Nikki introduces herself. “The fiery one.”

  “’Bout sums it up.” Bells shrugs.

  “Got it.” Will smiles.

  “And I need a drink.” Nikki jerks her head to the bar.

  “I’ll be there in a sec,” I tell her, unwilling to leave Will’s side just yet.

  I watch Nikki walk over to the bar with Bells, her long black hair in a thick veil down her back, her dress short enough to give anyone leg envy with the tanned, toned, curvy display she’s putting on, and smile as all the boys turn to watch her progress. Then stop. Davey was watching too. Davey! I’ve never seen that before.

  ***

  Nikki pulls me to the side, urgently, several drinks later. “You and me. We need a seeerrrious catch up, lady,” she says, her eyes jumping from Will, to Gary, to Davey and all the men they’re talking with.

  “We do,” I agree.

  “Who is that?” she says, way too casually. My eyes follow hers, and I grin.

  “Davey.”

  “Davey?” she gasps. “As in...” I nod.

  “It’s a bloody long story.” I squeeze her hand, and her eyes narrow perceptibly as she glares at him. She knows all about Davey. She patched me up with tea and sympathy, and sent me back out to the A&E department we worked in so many times she was probably sick to death of hearing about him.

  Davey must feel her glare because he looks up and makes his way over. Nikki is severely unimpressed with the reappearance of my brother, it would seem. “Hey.” He smiles. If this were a cartoon, Nikki would have steam coming out of her ears.

  “Hey?” she spits caustically. “Bloody hey!”

  “Whoa! What did I do?”

  “I have no fucking idea, but it’d better be good,” Nikki fumes, her nostrils flaring and fists clenching. “Do you have any clue? Any fucking clue what you put that girl through? Just one? Do you!”

  “Nikki,” I whisper, tugging her arm. “Now really isn’t the time.” She shrugs me off determinedly, her eyes burning holes into Davey.

  “She was a wreck. I’ve never seen someone so broken and so determined to fix other people. She showed up to work double shifts, triple even, trying to save the world. Because of you!” She jabs a finger at his chest, punctuating every word. “She saved my life. You
know that? She saved me when I couldn’t save her. But she didn’t want me to save her. You know why? Because she thought she was already dead. She died the same day you did, but she was still the only reason I made it through some night shifts.

  “Do you know how much bullshit she had to deal with from the drunks and junkies, day after day, night after night? You stand someone, who looks like her, in a nurse’s uniform in front of them, and they think they’re living a fucking fantasy! I have never seen another nurse put up with so much bullshit, so patiently, and then throw them out on their arses with such ferocity when she’d patched them up. So, you tell me, Davey. What. The Fuck. Did. You. Do?”

  Davey is gaping, open-mouthed and silent, at the savage burning in front of him. Nikki is a tiny, five foot two, raven-haired beauty with an hourglass figure, who goes off like dynamite if you’re stupid enough to light her fuse. She’s fiercely loyal and the best damn nurse in A&E. I would be willing to bet money that the department is missing her right now. It must be her night off.

  Will guides me away to the dance floor, leaving them to hash it out. “Baby,” he murmurs, wiping the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs and folding me in his arms. I wrap mine around him as tight as I can as he sways us across the floor.

  “You don’t think she’ll kill him, do you?”

  “He’s a big boy, Eva.”

  “And she’s a nurse. She could kill him and make it look like natural causes.” I’m only half joking. She could. I flash Will a cheeky smile, and he chuckles.

  “I’ll remember that, Nurse Adams.”

  “Remembering it wouldn’t do you much good six feet under, baby.” I laugh.

  “You’re a cheeky mare.”

  “You love me.” I sigh.

  “I do.” He smiles, lowering his lips to mine.

  I look up sharply when a roar fills the air. “I love my sister! I did what I did to save her fucking life!”

  My whole body freezes. Heart and lungs. Limbs and brain. I’ve never seen Davey angry. Never. His face is flushed, his neck corded, his fists clenched and muscles bunched. Even Nikki has recoiled, her face painted pale with shock.

  “Davey...” Sid moves in close, and gets punched square in the face for his trouble. He’s sent flying through the air into the bar with a splintering of wood. Every person steps back two paces.

  “Oh my God,” I whisper. Oh my God! “Davey!” I yell and run over to him, half watching Sid struggle to his feet and half watching Davey’s rage burn. “Davey?” I put myself right in front of him and force his head down to look at me. He jerks free of my grasp, and I grab him again, tighter. “Look at me!” I yell.

  “Eva...get away from him.” I keep my attention locked on Davey and ignore Frankie’s hushed command.

  “Look at me,” I say again, softer. Davey’s face twists, and his nostrils flare before his eyes hit mine. “I’m here. We’re safe. We’re all safe.”

  “We’re not fucking safe! They’re out there!”

  “No, Davey. They’re not. You got them all. We’re all safe, thanks to you... We’re safe. It’s okay. It’s over.” I tell him the same thing again and again, until the fog lifts and his attention focuses on me. His face softens. His shoulders drop a fraction.

  “Blue?” His panicked eyes search mine; his hands grip my upper arms tight enough to make me flinch. I hope he doesn’t see anything alarming. I’m trying for dead calm here, and I’m praying he can’t feel my hands trembling.

  “Yeah?” He pulls me forward and squeezes me against his chest, his heart hammering under my cheek and sweat soaking through his shirt.

  “I—”

  “Don’t. Don’t say you’re sorry, Davey. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being so bloody stupid. For putting you in that situation.” Again.

  “Full-time job, lousy pay,” he grumbles, his hand flat between my shoulder blades.

  “You need a drink. And a holiday.”

  “You might be right.” He sighs and rubs my back. He lifts his hand and looks at the blood. “Sid! Oh, man, I’m...”

  “Don’t worry ‘bout it.” Sid’s voice is muffled behind the wad of napkins. He is being well tended by Nikki. He doesn’t look at all sorry for himself. Davey frowns at them but nods. And Will hands him a glass of honey-coloured liquid.

  “Thanks.”

  “I could probably help with the holiday too.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Mexico, Paris or Rome?”

  “Serious?”

  “Deadly.”

  “I’d love to go to Mexico.”

  “I bet you would.” I smirk.

  “When can you leave?” Will asks, taking my waist and pulling me to his side. I frown up at him.

  “The sooner, the better,” Davey says, his brow furrowing briefly.

  “We’ll get you a flight booked. I’ll let Marina know you’re coming over for a few weeks of R & R.” Will leans in to kiss my temple before striding off towards his office with Davey beside him.

  “You’ll never learn, will you?” Frankie accuses.

  “I know what I’m doing, Frankie.”

  “No. You don’t. What if it’d been you he punched in the face?”

  “Then it’d be my nose Nikki was holding on, I suppose.” I shrug, and Frankie’s mouth falls open. “Oh, he wouldn’t do that anyway. You’re worrying over nothing.” As usual.

  “You don’t know that. Not when he’s in that state.”

  “Yes, I do.” I dismiss him completely and turn for a drink.

  “Eva...”

  “He’s not dangerous. Not to me. And your interfering is getting on my damn nerves already!” I bite and catch myself. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I...I didn’t mean it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.”

  He nods, and after a beat, holds out his arms. I step forward, but Gary grabs my elbow.

  “Did you know?” he asks quietly.

  “Nope. You?”

  “No.” He shakes his head grimly. “How long?” His question is directed at Frankie.

  “Not for years. The last time was when he...found Dan.”

  “My fault again, then.” I sound sulky even to myself.

  “What did he do?” Gary asks, cautiously.

  “Mate...” Frankie’s eyes flick to mine, and I scowl. He swallows. “He...went berserk. I honestly don’t know how De Luca is still alive. Davey...” He shakes his head, remembering. “He had a crowbar. And De Luca got new teeth. And a new femur.”

  “Oh.” My stomach turns over, the scene building in my head.

  “Davey had pictures of you in the hospital, Eva. He pinned them to his wall and wound himself up so fuckin’ tight...”

  “He had...pictures...? Holy. Fuck,” I breathe. “No wonder!” And everyone saw them.

  “Muma!” Summer gasps, making me start.

  “Oh! Hey, sweet pea!” I smile as I pluck her from the ground into my arms and kiss her nose. She frowns, her little lips pursed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were there.”

  “Hey, squirt!” Gary grins and ruffles her hair.

  “Uncle Gawy!”

  “Hi, Summer.” Frankie’s face is soft sunshine as he looks at my girl.

  “Hewow.” She squeals when Gary pulls her from my arms and throws her up in the air.

  “New dress, squirt?”

  “Yep. Mae has won twoo,” she tells her uncle, and then looks back at Frankie. “What’s youwr name?”

  “Frankie,” he says with a warm smile. “I’ve known your mum a long time. You look just like she did around your age.”

  Summer’s little face lights up. “Everyone says my mum is weally pwetty.”

  “She is. And so are you.” Summer gives him a smug grin.

  “I know.”

  “Summer!” I splutter.

  “Kid knows it’s true.” Frankie chuckles.

  For the second time tonight, my attention is wrenched away by a sudden loud noise, and Mum is engulfed by the troops. Frankie winks and jogs over. I can he
ar him from here. “Joycie!” he calls loudly and opens his arms wide, just in time to catch my mum.

  “Is he youwr fwend, Muma?”

  “He is. His dad knew Pops.” Summer gasps at the mention of her mythical grandfather, and Bells touches my arm.

  “Hey.” She smiles warmly at Gary and me, and then makes a face at Summer, who makes one back again, and they both giggle. “What do you guys have planned for Sunday?”

  “A lay-in would be nice.” Bells is watching my face like she’s waiting for the punch line.

  “You forgot, didn’t you?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Father’s Day.”

  “What about...oh! Oh, God! It’s not...?” She nods slowly, her eyes getting wider and wider.

  “Shit! Sorry!” I grimace at Summer’s gasp. Father’s Day is something of a nonevent in our house. Usually. “Oh!” Fuck, fuck, fuck! “No!” I wail, feeling like a complete failure.

  “I mwade Will a card, Muma,” Summer says, almost proudly with a hint of trepidation.

  “You did?” She nods, an uncertain smile on her lips. “Wow! I bet he’s going to love it!” I enthuse, and she gives me a proper grin.

  Idiot! What an idiot! I forgot about bloody Father’s Day!

  “Excuse me a sec!” I hike up the dress and run for the door, heading for the stairs. And my laptop. Oh! My God! I need to get a card, and some kind of present and maybe plan something? And Summer’s birthday! Oh, craaaap!

  Way to go, event organiser! Shit!

  When I come back downstairs, maybe thirty minutes later, Will rushes right up to me. “Where were you!”

  “Upstairs. I needed to do something quick.”

  “What?” he asks. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he sounds suspicious. I tap the side of my nose and peck his lips. “You’re not going to tell me?”

  “No. I’m not going to tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m a crap liar. So I’m staying shtum.”

  “Why would you—?”

  “Eva? Is this yours?” Gary asks, holding out a little silver tub containing my lip balm.