by Nicola Haken
“It doesn’t look like he’s home,” Lori said after getting no response from the buzzer in front of the huge gates guarding Blaine’s house for the third time. “I’d wait but my mom’s expecting me home. My Aunt Meredith is staying with us. She thinks it’s rude when I disappear.”
“Of course, you go. I’ll be fine on my own,” I assured her.
“You’re not coming?”
“No. I need to see him. If he doesn’t show I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough money on me to cover a taxi.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Maddie. I don’t like leaving you here on your own. Why don’t we just come back tomorrow?”
“I’ll be fine honestly. I’m a big girl, Lori. I’ll give him half an hour then I’ll go home. I’ll text when I get there.”
“Pinky promise?”
Seriously?
“I promise,” I said, entwining my pinky with hers. Lori is adorable sometimes - like my own little cute and fluffy puppy dog.
Lori’s tyres had barely reached the end of the road when I started to panic. Originally I was worried in case Blaine didn’t come home and I was left standing out here all alone with only trees and bushes for company – the jackpot prize for the rapists and murderers of the world. But then I started to wonder what if Blaine was home and the reason he ignored the intercom was because he was too busy ‘entertaining’ some dumb slut.
I’d been loitering outside the huge iron gates for only five minutes when I started to regret letting Lori drive away without me. I was fine until my stupid brain started decided to think about rapists and murderers and now I was shitting myself. I knew I’d be pissed off with myself if I just gave up and went home though – the balls I seemed to have grown this past hour might not come back again so I needed to seize my opportunity to confront him whilst I was still mad.
I weighed up the gates as I wondered if there was a way to squeeze through them. On closer inspection I was pretty sure a squirrel would be hard pressed to fit through the bars so I definitely held no chance. The gates were fixed onto high brick walls on either side – too high to jump, get a good a good grip and pull myself up. So I walked further down the road looking for a way in and then noticing the imposing wall ran all the way around.
Damn.
After walking in a large half circle to where I assumed the back of the house would rest, I came across a cluster of maple leaf trees which I was pretty sure if I scaled high enough I would be able to swing myself onto the top of the wall. The idea was ridiculous and irrational so I threaded my arms through my rucksack and started climbing before I had chance to change my mind.
I heaved myself up the branches, choking on my heart when one of the branches snapped and I had to save myself on the thicker one above leaving me hanging like Jungle Jane. When I figured out how to breathe again I regained my footing and pulled myself high enough to see over the wall.
Bingo.
I saw the figure of eight pool ahead and the French doors to the dining room that we ate in during our first visit here were open. He was home. Before I allowed my mind to run away with images of Blaine ‘accommodating’ any potential guests, I took a deep breath and jumped forwards onto the wall, my midsection landing with a painful thud on the top of the bricks.
Shit. Now what?
I hitched myself up onto the ledge and swung my legs over the edge so I was sitting. I really hadn’t thought this one through. I’d channelled all my efforts into working out how to get up the wall but like an utter dumbfuck I’d not even thought about getting back down. I stared down, eyeing up the severity of the drop. I was almost sure it wasn’t far enough to kill me, but there was a high probability I could break a limb if I didn’t land properly.
I was so screwed.
The way I saw it I had two options. I could jump and risk spending two months in traction, or I could call for help and alert the world to what a dumb fucking idiot I was. Deciding I was fairly partial to my legs, I pulled out my phone and tapped Lori’s name into the recipient bar.
Don’t suppose you’ve got Blaine’s number? X
No but I can get it. I’ll forward it to u. Everything ok? X
I’ll fill u in later. Let’s just say I’m on top of the freakin’ world! X
I giggled as I hit send. You know you’re pathetic when you laugh at your own attempts at humour. Lori text Blaine’s number through a few minutes later and I huffed as I forced myself to type a message to him. I just knew he was going to laugh at me. I also knew I was going to punch him in the face if he dared.
It’s Maddie. I need your help.
I deliberately didn’t put a kiss at the end. I always ended texts with kisses no matter who they were to but at that moment in time I was too angry with him. At least a minute must have passed when I started to worry he wasn’t going to reply. But then just as I weighed up the width of the wall, examining my new bed for the night, my phone started to ring.
Crap. It was Blaine and I was suddenly nervous about talking to him. How I thought he’d be able to save my arse without talking to me I’d never know. Grudgingly, I hit the answer button.
“Maddie? Where are you? Are you hurt or something?” he asked in a fluster before I even had chance to say hello. How was I supposed to be mad with something that could produce a voice as utterly delicious as that?
“I’m fine. Kind of. Look, Blaine, I really do need your help but I have some rules for how this is going to go, okay?”
“What the hell, Maddie?” He was getting frustrated with me and I was glad because it made it easier to be pissed off with him again.
“Are you at home?” I asked, praying to whoever was listening up there in the sky that nobody else was going to come running to my aid out of those open doors. I wouldn’t need to jump – I would die of embarrassment right there on the wall.
“Yeah…”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes! Maddie, what the hell’s going on?”
“Right the rules… first, you laugh at me you die. Second, you tell anyone about this you die. Third, look out of your dining room window.”
My cheeks set alight when I caught sight of Blaine’s silhouette emerging in the dining room. He stepped out of the double doors onto the patio with his phone still pressed against his ear.
“Remember the rules,” I said into my phone. Blaine literally doubled over as if he was in pain. If it wasn’t for the fact I could hear his roaring laughter down the phone I’d have thought he was dying – which he soon would be. He cut the call and slid his phone into the back of his tight fitting jeans as he raced around the edges of the pool to rescue me.
“You’re a bastard!” I yelled. Again, the condescending twat just laughed at me.
“I’ve come to help you and yet I’m a bastard?” He was barely decipherable through his howling. “What the hell are you even doing up there? Are you stuck?” He couldn’t have been any more amused if he tried.
I hated him.
“No, I’m waiting for fucking summer. Of course I’m stuck! And I wouldn’t even be here if you’d have answered your goddamn buzzer. This is all your fault!”
“In my defence, usually if I don’t answer people just go away. You know, go back home or something? I can honestly say you’re the first person I’ve caught trying to break and enter.”
“Stop being an arsehole and get me down!”
“Tell me I’m your hero.” So now he wanted to play? I’d never understand this gorgeous prick stood below me.
“What! No fucking way!”
“Say it or I’m not helping.” Blaine winked at me. He was enjoying this even more than I thought he would.
Bastard.
“Blaine, please. Just help me down.” I tried the nicey-nicey approach.
“I will. When you tell me I’m your hero.” Christ, it’s not natural for one person to be able to infuriate you so much. My blood was simmering so furiously I felt like I was being cooked from the inside out.
“Argh!” I screame
d and kicked my legs against the wall like a child having a full on tantrum. “You are such a fucking idiot, Blaine Elwood!”
“Maybe so. But I’m also your hero, right?”
“Fine. You’re my dumb-arse fucking hero. Now get me the hell down off this wall!”
“Hmm, you could have worded it a little better… but I guess it’ll do. Wait there.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I had planned anyway.”
Tosser.
Blaine disappeared towards the outbuilding (which could actually be classed as a house it was so big) at the back of the garden and returned a minute or so later with a set of stepladders. He unfolded them and set them up against the wall. They didn’t reach the top but the platform at the top was easily high enough to drop onto without risking death or serious injury.
I hitched my legs up and rolled onto my knees, balancing myself on the ledge as I prepared to lower myself down. But then unexpectedly, I felt a set of strong arms snake around my waist and I almost shit out my heart.
“I can get down myself!” I barked ungratefully.
“I think we’ve established that you can’t. That’s why I’m here remember?”
Dear god, he was so beautifully irritating.
I let him guide me down the steps and then tried not to stare at his glorious arse as he returned the ladders to the shed which looked like a house. Like I said, I tried.
“Drink?” he offered on his return.
“Whatever.” I was behaving like a petulant brat and I was starting to think it was fuelled by embarrassment more than anger. Every time his smooth, husky voice danced into my ears I found it virtually impossible to hate him.
And for that, I hated myself.
“Pepsi on the rocks coming up.”
I followed Blaine around the pool and into the house. He gestured for me to go into the living room and I sat waiting for him on a modular white leather sofa whilst he grabbed us two glasses of Pepsi with ice. The room was easily twice the size of my entire house and everywhere was white, glass and lightwood. I grazed the cream shag-pile with the tip of my shoe (thinking I probably should’ve taken my shoes off out of courtesy) as I took in the vast array of state of the art entertainment equipment. The paper-thin TV must have been at least eighty-two inches and there was an impressive glossy black sound system with speakers big enough to entertain a small city.
“So, lish, have you decided how to execute my murder yet?” he asked with a smile so wide I could see every one of his brilliant white teeth. He handed me a drink, I took a sip and then placed it on a glass table next to me.
“Get fucked, Blaine.” Naturally, he laughed at me. “Why did you beat up that guy who stuck something on my locker?” I figured I might as well get straight to the point. My question sent the smile flying from his face faster than a punch.
“You found out about that, huh?”
“Well?”
“Because he’s an asshole that’s why. I’m not sorry if that’s what you want to hear.” The air turned thick and serious, almost choking me.
“I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it. I just want to know why you did it.”
“Isn’t that obvious? He was the one behind that nasty shit being left on your locker.”
“I get that. What I don’t get… is why do you care?” My question took him off guard and he knitted his eyebrows together like I’d just asked him to tickle my dick. “I mean sometimes I think you like me, that we could be friends. But then other times, it’s like the sight of me makes you feel physically sick.”
“I don’t want to be your friend, lish,” Blaine said sombrely – his voice low and even. I didn’t know whether to run or cry. Or run and cry. Until he continued… “I want to be so much more than your friend, Maddie. But I’ll end up hurting you. I’ll disappoint you somehow I know I will. I’m just not sure I can take that chance.”
Oh. My. God. I felt so hot I was sure I was about to melt into a gooey puddle all over Treacle’s pristine shag-pile.
“Well maybe it’s not your chance to take,” I mumbled, my voice literally vibrating with… nerves? Lust? Something more… Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve known him five minutes.
There wasn’t a single part of me that was expecting what happened next. He leaned forward faster than I could process what was happening and fixed his lips to mine. I melted into him. It didn’t even occur to me to pull away.
As Blaine cupped my face in his hands my fingers reached up into his smooth dark hair, grasping it, holding him in place, planning to never let him move. I opened my mouth as his silky tongue teased my lips, his perfectly manicured stubble tickled my chin and his body pushed against mine until I was lying backwards on the sofa. An unfamiliar yet delicious ache between my legs urged my hips up to meet him and I let out an animalistic moan which in theory should have embarrassed me. Instead it seemed to make him kiss me harder which in that moment made me feel like the most powerful girl in the whole world.
Blaine’s lips broke free from mine and he kissed his way down to my neck, his tobacco and mint infused breath blanketing my sensitive skin.
“Can I touch you, Maddie?” he whispered into my neck. “I want to touch you more than anything.” I nodded, quite certain I was breathing too hard to form words.
Then his hands wandered over my breasts, hardening my nipples faster than a jolt of electricity. Sliding his hand underneath my t-shirt he pulled down the cups of my bra, springing my breasts free before tugging and teasing my nipples, rolling them between his fingers.
“Blaine,” I whimpered, dropping my hands from his hair and finding their way underneath his black button down shirt. My fingertips trailed the contours of the muscles on his chest, revelling in their unapologetic firmness, and for a moment I thought my frantic heart might burst straight through my ribs.
“I want to taste you,” Blaine murmured. “Can I do that, Maddie?” Again I simply nodded. In that moment I doubted there was anything I wouldn’t let him do to me.
He lifted my shirt until it rested beneath my chin and groaned into my breasts as he kissed and sucked each nipple. His hips pressed into mine and I could feel how much he wanted me, his unforgiving erection pressing into my thigh and making the strange and wonderful tingle between my legs spread like wildfire throughout my body.
I allowed my fingers to roam the bare skin of his chest before they wandered down and around to his back of their own accord. Blaine’s entire body went rigid and in a nanosecond – he was sat upright on the edge of the sofa.
Bollocks.
“I’m sorry, lish, I just can’t-”
“Shh. It doesn’t matter,” I whispered. “Just hold me, Blaine.” He looked almost startled by my request but as I nestled myself into his chest he wrapped his arms around me and held me there for what could have been forever. I’d gone to his house with the intention of having a blazing argument with him. Hmm, that didn’t quite work out as planned…
We were relaxing on the sofa – Blaine lay on his back and I lay on my side, snuggling into him.
“The things going around about your mom… are they true?” Blaine asked cautiously, his bluntness taking me aback slightly.
“Are you asking me if she’s a hooker?” I replied calmly.
“No. Well… just forget it. I’m sorry, that was out of line.”
“I don’t mind. I’m not ashamed of my mother. Sometimes I think I should be, but I’m not. Anyway the answer is yes.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit,” I repeated, mirroring his flabbergasted tone and making him snort back a faint giggle. “But she’s not well. She’s never been diagnosed because she’s always refused to tell anyone her problems, convincing herself the authorities will take me away from her. I know that doesn’t excuse it or anything. It’s just, sometimes I think she doesn’t know any other way.”
“So what do you thinks wrong with her?” he asked curiously, sympathetically.
“I’ve no idea. Maybe bipolar or s
omething? Some days she’s high as a kite – although it’s hard to tell if that’s because she’s taken something or because she’s just being manic. Other days she doesn’t stop crying. She starts wishing she was dead and telling me to leave and make a new life for myself and shit like that.
“Being on the game is something she always seems to fall back on – but in recent years I’ve noticed that’s only when she’s pissed. The problem there is trying to stop my mum from drinking is like getting a dog to stop licking its dick.” I wasn’t being intentionally funny but Blaine threw his head back and laughed. I stared in awe at his thick, contracting neck muscles tightening around his Adam’s apple as it bobbed up and down.
“So where’s your dad in all this? Did he just leave you to deal with this shit on your own?”
“My mum would have to know who he was first,” I admitted, for the first time feeling a little flushed with shame. “But I don’t mind looking out for her. It’s all I’ve ever known. She’s my mum… I love her.”
I gazed into Blaine’s striking blue eyes which looked dark and heavy as if he was having difficulty processing something.
“How does Trudy know your mom?”
Oh shit.
“Don’t get me wrong, and please tell me to fuck off if I’m being offensive, its just your mom doesn’t seem the kind of person who would hang out in the same circles as Trudy.”
“Um, no, you’re right. Not anymore at least.” I contemplated whether to tell him the truth for a moment and then decided it’s not my job to protect the dirty little secret of the woman who abandoned us for a life of luxury.
“Are you saying Trudy was a hooker?” he asked, shifting in his seat and dropping his jaw clean open.
“From what I’ve been told, and from what I remember… yes. She lived with me and my mum for a few years after I was born, and then she met…”
Oh crap. I seriously didn’t think this one through.