Attraction: (A Temptation Series Stand-alone) (The Temptation Series Book 4)

by Golland, KM

  ‘Back the fuck off, Derek. I’m not going to warn you again,’ Nic admonished.

  ‘I’m sick of having this discussion with you. I’m not a fucking threat,’ he hissed back.

  ‘Bullshit, you aren’t. You and I both know that Lucy will always love you.’

  Hearing that Lucy loved Derek splintered my heart, yet I knew deep down it was true. It was obvious in the way she looked at him.

  Derek groaned. ‘It’s not like that and you know it.’

  ‘Just back off, Derek. Alexander may be your son, but he and Lucy are my family. Not yours.’

  I gasped and took a step backward, bumping into someone behind me. Spinning around, I came face to face with Lucy.

  ‘Carly, I —’

  ‘Derek is Alexander’s father?’ I choked out.

  By that stage, Derek and Nic had rounded the corner. ‘Baby, let me expla—’

  ‘Alexander is your son?’ I shouted.

  ‘Shh, Carly, please lower your voice,’ Lucy pleaded with desperation.

  ‘Lower my fucking voice? You lying pack of heartless arseholes,’ I spat out, before turning and making my escape.

  ‘Baby, wait!’ Derek called and caught my arm.

  I spun around and slapped him forcefully on the cheek, the sting numbing my hand, the pain nowhere near as severe as the betrayed heart, torn in two, deep within my chest. Tears were streaming down my face. ‘Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again.’ And with that, I wrenched my other arm free from his grasp and pushed past Lib and Alexis on my way out.

  ‘Carly!’ they both called after me, but I didn’t stop.

  I needed air.

  I needed to vomit.

  I needed to run far away.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  In the hours that followed, I’d cried more tears than I’d ever thought possible. I was shocked, hurt and angry. I felt betrayed, but more importantly, stupid. Stupid that I’d gone against everything I’d thought myself to be: independent and headstrong, free and unattached. I’d let one man infiltrate that protective wall and, in perfect arsehole-male fashion, he’d aimed straight for my heart and dismembered it. I was heartbroken because I’d allowed myself to love. I was accountable.

  The hurt I was feeling had nothing to do with Derek being a dad. He’d made that choice — for whatever reason — long before I’d come along. What hurt beyond repair was that he never really loved me enough to let me into his life. He constantly held me at arm’s-length where he felt comfortable having me, while telling me that we ‘are’. Well, we ‘are’ something. We ‘are’ done.

  Derek had tried calling and texting, but I wasn’t interested. In fact, I went so far as to throw my phone in the bin. Apparently Lib didn’t share my views, because she had retrieved it and placed it on my bed while I was in the shower. My redheaded fanta-pants friend was a pain in my arse, but little did she know that her actions were futile, because I had let the battery run flat and had not bothered to charge it.

  ‘Carly, you have a visitor,’ Libby called from the other side of my bedroom door.

  I launched out of bed and hurled myself against it with a thump, leaning my entire sixty-one kilogram weight against it. ‘If that’s him, tell him to fuck off,’ I yelled.

  ‘It’s not Derek, Carly. Please just come out,’ she pleaded while turning the handle on my door.

  I pushed harder against it and held the handle tight. ‘Who is it then?’

  ‘It’s me, Carly.’

  ‘Oh, no. No, no, no. I have nothing to say to you, Lucy. Absolutely fucking nothing.’

  ‘Well I have something to say to you, so you can just listen.’ Fuck her!

  ‘La la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,’ I sang out repeatedly in an attempt to drown out what she wanted to say. Unfortunately, I was not an operatic singer and could not hold the notes for very long.

  During a pause for breath, I heard Lucy ask Libby how old I was.

  ‘She’s thirty-five, although I know grade six students who act more maturely than she does at times,’ Libby explained.

  ‘I heard that,’ I sulked. ‘Look, Lucy, please just leave me alone. I don’t want to hear anything you or Derek have to say. He had many chances to tell me about Alexander, and he chose not to. So it doesn’t matter anymore.’

  ‘Alexander is not Derek’s son, Carly. He is mine and Nic’s. Derek was just a sperm donor. That’s all. Please just let me in to explain, then I’ll leave.’

  I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out. ‘No, Lucy, just leave. Lib, if you know what is good for you you’ll show Lucy out.’

  The next thing I knew, I was being pushed forward against my will.

  ‘Keep pushing,’ Libby said with a strained voice. ‘Almost ...’

  I fell to the floor with a thud.

  ‘... There,’ she finished and dusted her hands against each other.

  Lucy stepped out from behind her. Sasha, too, prancing in to sit at Lucy’s feet and wag her tale adoringly. Oh, for fuck’s sake. You can all go to hell.

  ‘Obviously you don’t know what’s good for you,’ I said to Lib, glaring at her.

  ‘Obviously,’ she countered. ‘But I do know what’s good for you and listening to what Lucy has to say is just that. Come on, Sashy,’ she said, patting her leg and coaxing Sasha from the room before closing the door behind her.

  I stared at the panel of wood that was my bedroom door before noticing that Lucy had her hand out in order to help me stand.

  ‘You’ve got one minute,’ I explained, ignoring her offer of help.

  She crossed her arms over her chest in a show of resilience. ‘I won’t need it.’

  Fighting the desire to remove her confident expression, I walked over to Rico’s tank and proceeded to feed him, giving an excuse to keep my back to her. ‘You are so sure of yourself, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ she stated categorically.

  I tapped some food into the tank and reminded her of her dwindling time. ‘Fifty seconds.’

  ‘Derek loves you.’

  ‘Pfft. No, he doesn’t.’

  ‘Yes, he does. A lot.’

  I watched the salmon pellets sink to the bottom of the tank and answered nonchalantly. ‘You don’t keep secrets from the ones you love, Lucy.’

  ‘Yes, you do if they are not your secrets to tell.’

  I let out a frustrated breath and rolled my eyes. ‘This was his secret to tell.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ she admonished, ‘it was mine and Nic’s and we didn’t want it told.’

  I turned to face her and walked back toward my bed. ‘Really? Who else knows? Alexis?’

  ‘No.’ Huh.

  ‘Bryce?’

  She didn’t say anything.

  ‘So he knows and he hasn’t told Lexi?’ I asked, truly shocked.

  ‘That’s my point. It’s not his secret to tell, Carly. He is loyal and the best brother you could ask for. He will tell Alexis when I’m ready for him to tell her. Derek is the same: loyal and the best friend a person could have. I swore him to secrecy and he adhered to it.’

  I narrowed my eyes at her. ‘Thirty seconds.’

  ‘It’s more like forty, actually.’ Argh! I want to bitch-slap this clever bitch.

  ‘Thirty-eight,’ I said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Carly, I love Nic with all my heart. She, Alexander and Bryce are all I have. You need to understand that I wouldn’t have Alexander if it weren’t for Derek. And because of that, he will always be special to me. He is such a kind, generous, giving man —’

  ‘It would appear so,’ I said, sarcastically.

  She gave me a light shove on the shoulder, forcing me back onto the bed. ‘Sit down, shut up and just listen,’ she scolded. Jesus, she’s pushy.

  I sat there, dumbstruck, while she pointed at me.

  ‘Derek is probably the best man you will ever come across in this lifetime. He loves you, and you love him. Don’t take that for granted. You have no idea what it�
�s like to love someone who the majority of society says you should not love. Just the simple fact that a man and a woman can love each other freely is something you heterosexual couples take for granted. You can say I love you to each other in public. You can hold hands, embrace and kiss without being ridiculed. Your love is recognised legally. Fucking legally, Carly.

  ‘Love is uncontrollable. It’s chaotic and disorganised, but it is what everyone seeks in life. When you find it, you fucking grab it and you don’t let it go, no matter what or who gets in your way. Love is there right in front of you in the form of Derek, and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand by and let you close your eyes to it.’

  I stood up, tears welling. ‘Are you finished? Firstly, I wish we could all love freely. What a happy sunshiny world that would be,’ I said with a hint of cynicism. ‘But love is not free for a reason. If it were, then it would be taken for granted. Love is precious and rare and only bestowed when it’s truly deserved.

  ‘Secondly, I offered it to him. I wanted him to have it. But what I got in return was an illusion, a misconception. What Derek gave me was akin to a fake Louis Vuitton bag. It looked like the real thing, acted like it ... hell, it probably even smelled like it. But it wasn’t genuine; it was forged. I don’t do counterfeit, I never have and I never will.’

  Walking over to my bedroom door, I opened it and gestured she leave. ‘Your minute is up. You may go.’

  Lucy smiled at me and it was almost evil ... almost. ‘He won’t give up, Carly,’ she said as she walked up to me. Then, leaning forward, she added in a lower tone, ‘I know him. And I think deep down in the pit of that stomach of yours, you know him too.’

  ***

  After Lucy left, I threw on a pair of shorts and runners and took Sasha out for a walk. Lucy had riled me with her cunning assertiveness and pushy manner. But it was the sincerity in her delivery that had me pondering and, because of that, I had to clear my head with a walk.

  ‘What about your phone?’ Libby called out from her position at our letterbox, holding my iPhone in the air.

  I turned and walked backward as Sasha pulled me, eager for her walk. ‘It’s dead. I let it run out of battery.’

  She ran up to me and wedged it in my bra. ‘I charged it.’

  ‘I know what you are doing and I don’t want it,’ I said, thrusting it back at her.

  ‘Take it. You may run into a murderer or a rapist, and if you do, you’ll need it.’

  ‘Right, and this murderer or rapist is going to let me make a call,’ I said dryly, clearing my throat and sarcastically adding, ‘Oh, excuse me, Mr Bad Man. Can you just hang on a minute while I call for a pizza?’

  Looking past me, she sighed with defeat. ‘I liked you better when you were in love,’ she said sadly, and turned back to the house.

  ‘I wasn’t in love,’ I shouted back. ‘Love is reciprocated and that sure as hell wasn’t the case.’ I turned around to continue my walk and slammed straight into a man-wall.

  ‘It fucking well was,’ Derek bit out harshly.

  I stumbled back in shock. Shock, because he was right there in front of me, and shock, because he just came out of nowhere.

  After taking a few seconds to compose myself, I straightened my shoulders and summoned my inner bitch. ‘Are you sure you don’t have “actor” listed on that extensive résumé of yours? Because if you don’t, you should, you’re really good at it.’

  Much to Sasha’s disgust, I swung around and pulled her back toward the house, desperately wanting to get away from Derek. His presence was the most potent form of temptation I’d ever come across.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t have a doctorate in denial? Because you are really good at dismissing the facts,’ he called out behind me.

  ‘Just because you say they are facts doesn’t mean they are. Facts need verification, you idiot. And you verified fuck all,’ I yelled.

  Derek jogged around me and blocked any further escape I had planned. ‘I verified everything, baby. Each time I entered you, I fucking verified that we “are”.’

  I let go of Sasha’s lead so that she could run into our yard and therefore free my hands to shove caramello con artist out of my way. ‘We “are” nothing. Each time you entered me, all you did was verify our attraction ... and a fucking orgasm. That’s it,’ I shouted and shoved him.

  Derek grabbed my hand and held it over his heart. ‘Stop. Just stop with the bullshit, Carly,’ he said softly. ‘What we have is more than just attraction. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. And if you think I am just going to walk away because you want to protect your pride, then you have another think coming.’

  ‘You are wrong. You think you love me, but you don’t. You don’t know what love is, Derek. Fuck, I don’t know what it is either, but it’s not this,’ I said gesturing to the both of us with my free hand.

  ‘Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know. I know what love is,’ he said with hesitation as he glanced slightly to the side.

  Curious as to why he was distracted, I also glanced sideways and spotted Sasha making her way toward us in a stealth-like fashion.

  What happened next was a blur. Sasha’s steps quickened until she was past us and stopped in the middle of the road, face to face with a cat. The screeching sound of tyres and the blare of a car horn pierced my body like a thousand bolts of lightning. But it was Derek I witnessed, rolling across the road in a haze of colour and moving body parts that had me frozen with profound terror.

  ‘Derek!’ I screamed.

  The shrill sound of Sasha’s yelps brutally churned my stomach as she stumbled around on the side of the road, before settling next to Derek who was lying motionless.

  The car that hit them pulled to a stop and a middle-aged lady climbed out. ‘Oh, my goodness. I couldn’t stop in time. Oh my goodness, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Call an ambulance,’ I yelled as I ran across the road. ‘Derek, are you okay? Oh my god, please be okay. Please be okay.’

  He groaned then opened his eyes, squinting, pain evident on his face. ‘I couldn’t be better.’

  ‘Oh thank god. Is anything broken?’ I asked frantically, checking for visible protrusions that I honestly didn’t want to find. ‘Where does it hurt?’

  ‘Here,’ he answered, pointing to his chest.

  ‘Please don’t move. You could have internal bleeding or you could be having a heart attack or something,’ I explained, anxiously.

  He reached for my hand. ‘Carly, if my heart is bleeding it’s because of you. I love you, baby. Why can’t you just accept that?’ He went to sit up and winced, holding his arm in a nurturing manner.

  ‘Don’t move!’ I yelled at him. ‘Stay still.’

  ‘I’m all right, but Sasha may not be. I hit the car, but when I rolled, I rolled on top of her.’

  Scrambling to my feet, I walked around to where Sasha was sitting and panting profusely. I went to pat her, but she yelped in anticipation of my touch. ‘Oh, Sashy, it’s okay,’ I said reassuringly.

  ‘Here,’ he winced again, turning to the side. ‘Get my phone out of my pocket and dial Layla.’

  ***

  The ambulance and a police car arrived minutes later, followed by Layla who had made an emergency dash from the surgery.

  ‘Her leg is broken,’ Layla informed me. ‘I’ll give her something for the pain, but I’m going to have to operate. I’ll take her back to the surgery now. Okay?’

  ‘Just put it back in,’ Derek demanded quite harshly of the paramedic assessing him.

  Standing with Layla and Libby alongside Layla’s car, not too far from the ambulance, I glanced over at Derek, unsure as to what to do.

  ‘Carls, you go and see Derek. I’ll go with Layla to the surgery and stay with Sasha,’ Libby said, as she placed her hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

  ‘I’ll take good care of Sasha,’ Layla said. ‘She’ll be a perfect patient. Derek, on the other hand, will not. Go with him and keep him in check.’

  I sighed. ‘Okay,
but please call me if anything changes. And, Layla ... once again, thank you so much.’

  ‘No, I have to thank you. Since you and Derek have been together, I’ve seen more of him than in the past couple of years. So thanks,’ she sadly replied.

  I nodded and made my way over to where Derek was still arguing with the paramedic. ‘Is he okay?’ I asked timidly.

  ‘I suspect he has a dislocated collarbone,’ he explained. ‘He’ll need an X-ray before it can be reset.’

  Derek huffed in annoyance. ‘Just put it back in now and we’ll be done with it.’

  ‘Sorry, mate, but I’m not taking that risk.’

  ‘I’m not riding in that thing,’ Derek said with disgust as he surveyed the inside of the ambulance. ‘Forget it.’

  ‘Suit yourself,’ the paramedic replied, unfazed.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said graciously. ‘I’ll take him to the hospital.’

  After giving the police a report of the incident and apologising to the lady for Sasha running out in front of her car, I took Derek to the hospital. He tried to talk to me during the trip, but I shut him down. My emotions were all over the place. I was head-fucked beyond repair, not only due to our break-up, but because he risked his life to save my dog.

  I needed time and space to clear my head.

  Arriving at the hospital, he saw the triage nurse, who sat us both in a cubicle with the curtains drawn around us. He was sitting on the edge of a stretcher bed and I on the visitor’s seat across from it. He’d had an X-ray taken which confirmed the paramedic’s diagnosis and, because he was a professional firefighter who relied heavily on full movement of his body parts to do his job successfully, the doctor on call wanted a specialist to reset it. That specialist was not due to arrive for another thirty minutes.

  ‘I’ve always wanted to fuck in a hospital,’ Derek said quietly, abruptly snapping me out of my inner deliberations as I intently stared at the urine collection jug.

  A smile threatened to creep across my face and betray my battle to remain indifferent in his presence. I knew exactly what he was up to. ‘Why?’ I asked, flatly.