by Elise Noble
“I should probably find out what they want.”
“Shall I wait upstairs?”
“No, stay.” His father would be less likely to act like an arse with another woman around. And they might need a mediator. “If you’re okay with that. They might be rude.”
“I spent half a lifetime pretending to be nice to my parents’ friends. I’m used to it.”
Reluctantly, Alaric buzzed the gates open, and his father’s Bentley pulled up outside the front door. Way to spoil a great evening.
Beth stayed polite as the elder McLains checked her over. Fortunately, she looked like exactly the type of girl they’d want him to marry, which led to a bemused smile from his mother. Lavinia McLain hadn’t been fond of Emmy at all.
“Mom, Dad, meet Beth. Beth, these are my parents, Bancroft and Lavinia McLain.”
Cue handshakes and polite noises.
“Tea or coffee?” Beth offered. “Water? Something stronger?”
A glass of Scotch would have gone down well, but Alaric kept his mouth shut.
“No need,” Alaric’s father said. “We won’t be staying long.”
Good. Alaric got straight to the point. “Why are you here?”
His parents looked at each other, and then his mother deferred to his father, the same way she always did.
“We saw the news.”
“Am I supposed to be impressed?”
“They finally found that money.”
“They did.”
Blackwood’s and Sirius’s names had both been kept out of the media. The people who mattered knew, but publicly, the FBI got the credit.
“I hear you had a hand in it.”
So his father still had ears in the right places.
“Somebody had to keep looking.”
Another glance between his parents, and finally his mother spoke.
“We shouldn’t have doubted you all those years ago. We’ve come to apologise.”
Well, well, well. Miracles did happen. “It’s a little late for that.”
His father took over again. “I understand why you would feel that way. We can’t turn back the clock, but we wanted to make amends.” He drew a slim envelope out of his pocket and placed it on the hall table. “We’ll just leave this here.”
Alaric’s mother glanced at Beth again, and suddenly she smiled. “You two are engaged?”
He nodded and took Beth’s hand. “We are.”
“Congratulations. That’s lovely, isn’t it, Bancroft?”
“You’ve done well for yourself, son.” His gaze flitted around the large hallway, assessing, and then came back to Beth. “Very well.”
“I know.”
Technically, the house still belonged to Emmy, but one day Alaric hoped to buy it from her. If Sirius kept growing, he’d manage it.
“So… We’ll be going then.”
Alaric didn’t bother to stop them. Why should he? Even before the Emerald incident, they hadn’t made things easy for him, and when he’d needed their support, they’d turned their backs.
“I’ll buzz you out.”
Once the gates had closed behind them, Beth sank onto the ornamental couch Bradley had put in the hallway. He’d just shown up one day, directed two men where to place it, declared it looked “fandabidozi,” and scurried out again. Eight years, and he hadn’t changed a bit.
“That was weird,” Beth said. “Are you okay?”
“That’s the closest my father’s ever come to apologising for anything.”
“Perhaps he could give my father lessons. What’s in the envelope?”
“No idea.”
Alaric tore it open and found some sort of legal document, folded into three. McLain Family Trust, blah, blah, blah, from this date, blah, blah, blah, authorised signatories, blah, blah, blah.
“It seems as if they’ve unrevoked access to my trust fund.”
“Really? How much is in there? Not that I care or anything,” she hastened to add. “I’m just nosy.”
Alaric knew she didn’t care. Beth wasn’t in this relationship for the money. When she’d fallen in love with him, he’d been camping out on friends’ couches, for pity’s sake.
“About five million bucks, give or take.” And if his parents had relented, he’d inherit ten times that someday. “Guess we can build those stables you want now.”
He tossed the document back onto the table. He didn’t much care about the cash either. Wealth wasn’t important to him, not anymore. Integrity was important. Friends were important. And Beth? She was vital.
He picked her up again, bridal-style, and carried her towards the stairs.
“Now, where were we?”
She whispered in his ear, and a grin spread across his face. They could drink the champagne for breakfast.
CHAPTER 45 - SKY
HOW THINGS COULD change in a month. Asher was enrolled at the Summit Academy in Richmond, a school that specialised in teaching students with dyslexia and related learning differences. When he’d gotten accepted, I’d seen the way relief warred with apprehension, but his worries had dissipated now. Yesterday, I’d caught him reading a book voluntarily, an actual paperback, and I’d be forever thankful to Black for greasing the wheels to get Asher a place there.
While he drove himself to school each day, I went back to training. Asher didn’t love the career I’d chosen, and he didn’t seem particularly keen on Rafael either, but he understood why I did it, and he supported me. When I crawled back home in the evenings, he’d be waiting with dinner or a movie or a massage. He was pretty damn good with his hands.
Emmy was taking advantage of his hands too. She’d bought—in Asher’s words—a Deandra of a Mustang. Pretty on the outside, and an absolute bitch on the inside. While I worked late in the evenings, he tinkered in the garage with Emmy’s new toy and his own beautiful beast. He hadn’t let me drive it yet, but one day…
We’d even been on vacation together, albeit a very short one. A quick hop over to England because Emmy had business there and I wanted to see Lenny. His treatment was going well, but some of his addictions were so deeply ingrained that the medical staff thought he’d benefit from a longer stay. Probably because Emmy was paying the Abbey Clinic a bloody fortune, but Lenny seemed happy there, and most importantly, he was alive.
When I went to visit him, I found him in the lounge, playing chess with the woman I was fairly sure gave birth to Emmy. When he saw me arrive, he broke out in a huge grin and ran over to give me a hug.
“Sky!” He picked me up with strength he never used to have and spun me around. “I’ve missed you.”
“The doctor said we can go out for lunch. How d’you fancy a Maccy D’s?”
Because I was dying for one. Toby had been feeding me lean meat and pulses and vegetables all month, and while I appreciated his concern for my well-being, my scrawny arse craved Chicken McNuggets and a milkshake.
“Yeah, all right.”
It’d been ages since we’d had a proper catch-up. For the first time in years, Lenny looked healthy—shiny hair, clear skin, breath that didn’t smell like a badger’s armpit—and that alone made slogging my guts out for Emmy worth it.
“How’s rehab?” I asked.
“Different to how I thought it’d be. We do a lot of talking. A lot. And they dig up shit that I wanted to forget, like stuff from before the two of us ever met, and it’s hard. But sometimes getting it out there makes me feel lighter, ya know? ’Cause then there’s less crap left inside.”
“I guess that makes sense. Are the people nice?”
“Yeah. Fussy sometimes, but nice.” He leaned forward over the table and whispered, “I’ve even got a girlfriend. She’s older than me, but still really hot.”
A momentary panic seized me. “Not the woman you were playing chess with?”
“Julie? You told me to get to know her.”
“Yes, but—”
“Chill, sis. It’s not Julie. Her name’s Debra. She ended up using some heavy s
hit after she got divorced, but she’s clean now.”
“How much older is she?”
“Like, five years? She’s easy to talk to.”
Thank goodness. “So, uh, congratulations.” Then curiosity got the better of me. “What’s Julie like?”
“Julie’s a bitch. Smart, but a real bitch. And sneaky. She knows how to manipulate all the staff, and she kicks off if she doesn’t get her own way.”
None of that really surprised me. Genetics at work, eh?
“Just be careful around her. I’ll come back as soon as I can, okay?”
“I’m cool, Sky. Don’t worry about me.”
I didn’t, not anymore. A weight had been lifted when I returned to Emmy’s London home and Asher. We were going to the West End tonight for dinner and a show. You know, normal things that normal people did? I couldn’t wait.
Back in Virginia, my sleeping arrangements had changed too. The comfiest place to watch a movie in the evening was in my bed because Bradley had bought a fucking massive TV for my room, and when I fell asleep halfway through, it meant I didn’t have to wake up and move in the middle of the night.
And when Asher started watching movies with me, he couldn’t be arsed to get up either.
In the mornings, we’d wake up all squashed together, and his chest made a nice pillow. He didn’t seem to mind me using it. Then when my alarm blared, he’d stroke my hair for a minute before I stumbled into the bathroom and he went back to sleep for another hour.
We were comfortable with each other. Sharing a bed was easier than not sharing a bed.
Sometimes, we shared a bathroom too, which led to an awkward moment when I went to take a shower and he’d just got out of it and we both stood there naked for a good ten seconds, staring at each other with steam billowing around. I was getting to be quite proud of my body by that point. I didn’t have Emmy’s abs yet, but I had curves in all the right places and muscles too. And Asher didn’t have anything to be ashamed of either. He checked me out, and I checked him out. And then we simply went about our business. I got into the shower, and he wrapped a towel around his waist and brushed his teeth, and neither of us made a fuss about anything. Being with Asher was easy.
From time to time, I’d prop myself up on one elbow and watch him sleep. Wonder what might have happened if Brock Keaton hadn’t screwed me up and the rich ladies of San Diego hadn’t done the same to Asher. Could sex be enjoyable? Emmy and Black certainly seemed to think so, and I suspected they were getting plenty of it now. Last Tuesday, I’d snuck down to the kitchen for a midnight snack only to be greeted by the sight of Black’s ass clenching as he thrust against the fridge with Emmy’s legs wrapped around his waist.
I’d decided that perhaps I wasn’t so hungry after all, and now I kept a stash of snacks in my closet.
I was craving a Mars Bar when I woke up early one Sunday with Asher curved around me like a deformed banana. As usual, we’d fallen asleep in the middle of a mediocre movie, except this morning, the TV remote had got wedged between us. I reached behind myself to get rid of it, only to realise it wasn’t the TV remote at all.
Oh, shit.
I froze as Asher stirred groggily.
“Sky?”
“I’m sorry!”
He reached between us as well.
“Hmm. Guess that thing does still work. Don’t you have work today?”
“Rafael’s away for a couple of days, and Emmy said I could have a lie-in.”
Mainly, I suspected, because she wanted a lie-in.
“Good.” Asher snuggled against me again.
“Don’t you need to do something about that…thing?”
“It’ll go down by itself.”
“Will it?”
“I’d rather stay here with you than give myself a handjob in the bathroom.” He nuzzled between my shoulder blades. “And if it’s a choice between you and sex, that’s the easiest decision I’ll ever have to make.”
“What if…” I took a deep breath. “What if you could have both?”
“But I thought you didn’t want…”
“Lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should try. But only if you want to.” I twisted to face him. “I’d rather have you than sex as well.”
“But you want to try it?”
“Perhaps I should find out what all the fuss is about? One day. Possibly.”
“Possibly? Where consent’s concerned, ‘possibly’ doesn’t cut it, Chem.”
“That works both ways. I’d never push you into anything you didn’t want to do.”
“Once upon a time, I enjoyed sex. And lately, I’ve been thinking I wouldn’t mind trying it again. But not on a ‘possibly.’”
“How about a ‘yes’?”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded before I could change my mind.
“Okay.” His turn to take a deep breath. “Now?”
“Might as well get it over with.”
I lay on my back, opened my legs, and screwed my eyes shut. Would it hurt? It couldn’t be worse than a gym session with Rafael, surely?
Laughter wasn’t the reaction I’d hoped for. I cracked one eyelid open. “What?”
“That’s not how this works, Chem.”
“Yes, it is. You might not have listened in those biology lessons, but I did.”
Sort of.
“That’s just mechanics, gorgeous. Close your eyes again. Relax. This is one place where I don’t take shortcuts.”
I expected a bit of prodding, which was mostly what I remembered from Brock, so the barely-there whisper of Asher’s lips over my collarbone was a surprise. Quite a nice one, though. He followed up with the tip of his tongue, and a shiver ran through me.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Mmm-hmm.”
He went over every damn inch of me like that, from my forehead to my toes. My toes. Who knew my feet were so sensitive? Certainly not me, although I’d have needed to be a contortionist to find out. Every so often, Asher would work his way up my body and raise my head with one hand, tangling his fingers in my hair while he kissed me breathless. If I tried to open my eyes, he told me to close them again.
Then he started using his teeth, little nips and teases that made me jolt off the bed. That magic tongue swirled around each nipple in turn, and I arched up to meet him.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered, and his breath danced across the damp trails, cool above the fire burning under my skin.
I didn’t flinch when he parted my knees wide, but I did let out a long moan when he finally buried his head between my legs. By then, I was a mess of sweat and fuck knew what else, but he didn’t seem to care. He added his fingers to the mix, and then my whole world exploded. Detonated like C-4, only I might well have been louder.
Holy fuck.
“This is what I’ve been missing?” Something twitched inside me, but when I looked down, it was only Asher’s fingers. “Oh.”
“Just the start, gorgeous.”
“There’s more?”
“There is, but I need to find a condom. I should’ve thought of it before.”
“I… Uh, there’s one in my bag. Fake Dad gave it to me the day we got called into the principal’s office.”
Asher chuckled. “I’ll take your fake family over my real family any day.”
A little fishing around, and we were ready to go. The feeling of apprehension was back, but not nearly so strong. Asher wouldn’t hurt me. I knew that.
“So, do you go on top? Do I go on top? How does this work?”
He kept his voice soft. Gentle. “Lie on your side.”
“My side?”
He lay down next to me and hooked my top leg over his hip. “That’s it. If you feel uncomfortable at any time, all you have to do is roll away.” His smile calmed my nerves. “I’m gonna stretch you. It might be uncomfortable your first time.”
“It’s not—”
A tiny edge came into Asher’s voice. “It is. What that monster
did to you doesn’t count.”
It wasn’t only me that Brock’s actions had affected, was it? Indirectly, he’d hurt Asher too. Rafael was a fucking hero. Albeit a hero with a weakness. He was absolutely shit at ten-pin bowling, and I’d never ever let him forget it.
I closed my eyes again, and this time, there was no mistaking what slid into me. I’d expected it to feel like someone hammering a salami through a mouse hole because that was the experience I’d carried with me for years, but Asher’s efforts were more like steel sliding over satin. Only once I felt the tickle of hair against my bits did I realise he was all the way in.
He feathered fluttery kisses over my cheeks, and although I could never say it to his face, I knew now why women had paid the big bucks for his services. The man was a wizard.
And that was how I felt before he started to move.
I didn’t get the whole fireworks thing again, but I did feel a crazy deep connection, one that intensified with every thrust. And when he came with a quiet groan and his heat spread through me, I wrapped every limb around him and then the tears came. Tears of relief. Tears of happiness. I wasn’t as broken as I’d always thought.
“Don’t cry, Sky. What’s wrong?”
“These are good tears, okay? Just don’t tell anyone or they’ll think I’m a pussy.”
He kissed my forehead, then rolled me on top of him.
“Your secrets are always safe with me.”
CHAPTER 46 - ALARIC
BETH HAD ONE request for the wedding. She wanted to ride Chaucer down the aisle, and Alaric was only too happy to accommodate her because he knew how much she loved that horse.
Which meant they’d initially planned on having a small wedding in England. Just the two of them and Rune, plus Ravi as best man and Judd and Naz as witnesses. Alaric invited Sky and Emmy too, and although having your ex at your wedding might have been considered odd, Beth understood why he wanted the two women there. If it weren’t for that pair, he and Beth would never have ended up together.
But then someone—Beth suspected a busybody from the livery yard—told Beth’s family that they were getting hitched, and suddenly they were being bombarded with so many orders and instructions that Beth informed her mother they were getting married in America and slammed the phone down.