Forgotten Sweethearts: A Romance Novel

by Bender, Melissa

  “What are you confused about?” I asked a mere whisper in the middle of the night.

  He sighed, not once looking at me. “Everything, mostly you.”

  Of course, I knew it was coming. I was probably only adding to all this stress of being here, and I knew what I had to do. It would be hard at first, but there was no point in prolonging this. I mustered up all my courage and strength to tell him. “I’m going to move out after this trip.” I looked at him sadly as I awaited his reaction, but there was nothing. “It’ll make everything easier, and once we’re back, we can tell the kids what’s happening then.”

  “Oh, if that’s what you really want,” he said sarcastically. Grabbing his glass of alcohol, he swirled it around and let the cubes clink the glass. “I need the fucking bottle,” he muttered and downed it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Of course, this wasn’t what I damn well wanted.

  He got up and left to grab the bottle from the kitchen. I kept my eyes on my glass, trying to keep my cool. Unfortunately, I held it a little too tight as I finished it off and set it down with a clatter as it fell over. Christ, how many fucking glasses would break this weekend? I thought as I watched it fall to the ground, smashing into tiny shards of glass just as Brody walked back.

  Brody looked, about to open his mouth but I shot him a glare that had him shutting it again.

  “You think I wanted this?” I asked a seething low hiss as I stood upright. “You think I dreamt of being divorced and having to move out of the home I shared with my husband and children?” My voice became louder as I kept talking. “You have no idea, do you? You just think of yourself and your own feelings, Brody!”

  “What does that even fucking mean?” he yelled back, his eyes narrowing.

  “When have you ever asked me how my day was?” I said with a yell as I threw my hands in the air. “You never ask me anything about me anymore!”

  He looked surprised that I had become so vocal. He must have fucked it out of me last night. “Gabby, lower your damn voice. I won’t listen when you’re screaming at me.”

  “Screaming? You’re kidding, right?” I scoffed. “It’s all right for you to rant and rave about but when I become angry, I have to shut it, so you can have some peace and quiet.”

  “That isn’t what I meant. It’s after midnight, and you just sprung that you’re moving out on me like it’s no fucking problem,” he spat back angrily. “Of course, I’m going to be bloody pissed off!”

  With a roll of my eyes, I mocked a scowl. “What do you think was going to happen? That we’d live here still, divorced and fucking occasionally?”

  “Don’t,” he snarled low. His finger pointed directly towards my chest. “We didn’t just fuck, and you know it. I’ve never once just fucked you.”

  Stop saying fucked, I begged in my mind. I wanted to fuck again badly.

  I shook my head and began to walk away. “You’re drunk. Go to bed, and we’ll talk tomorrow. I can’t deal with any more of this arguing. I’m tired and exhausted from it, Brody. I hate it!”

  “You hate it!” he thundered as I passed him. “I am fucking sick to death of having the same arguments. God, you want me to ask how your day went? I’ll do it. I never knew it was such a big deal to you because you’ve never said anything before! You just complain that you’re at home all day doing the same damn things. I’m sorry that you’re so unhappy with this family.”

  Spinning around, I came back towards him. “Of course, you don’t think that. Just because my day is the same, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t appreciate you asking how it was. But no, you just don’t give a shit about anything that I do around here.”

  “That’s a lie,” he ground out.

  Shaking my head, I poked him in the chest. “No, it isn’t. You may pay the bills and provide the food that’s put on the table, but who is the one who cooks and cleans? Who’s the one who makes sure your work shirts are evenly pressed and hung up each morning ready for your day at work? I clean the house, me, not you! You don’t even know how to cook toast without setting off the smoke alarms.”

  “You know I appreciate everything you do around here!” he yelled, getting closer to my face.

  My hands were shaking as I scrunched them into fists and tried not to let his size intimidate me. “No, you don’t. The only time you have ever helped me clean up is when your mother might be coming around. Other than that, you don’t help me here!”

  “That’s another fucking lie!” He glared. “I help out.”

  “Yeah. I guess when you’re taking care of yourself,” I said as tears ran down my cheeks. “You know what would mean the world to me? If maybe when you made yourself a hot drink, you’d make me one too. Would it kill you to tell me I looked pretty?”

  He sighed. “How the hell am I meant to know any of that? I can’t read your mind.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as I leant more on one foot. “Did you read my mind when I walked in on that girl showing off her stockings to you? You came home pretty fast that day; must have known how upset that made me.”

  “Fuck sake, we’re back to this?” he sighed, looking exhausted. “I’m sorry that happened. How many more times can I apologise for it?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t give a shit anymore, Brody.”

  “What’s that mean?” He asked, his expression changing instantly from anger to worry.

  “I’m lonely, Brody. I’m so lonely and have been for years! I need your attention. I damn well needed it.” I diverted my eyes as they burned with more tears as I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head.

  His mouth snapped shut as he didn’t bother with whatever it was he was going to say. I hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but in a way, I was glad I did. He needed to know that in his big house, I felt so alone and craved someone to talk to me, to make me feel something other than a house maid.

  I couldn’t do this anymore. Backing away, I spun on my heels and began to take off.

  “Well, you’re not the only one, Gabriella!” he roared loudly, and then I heard a loud thud followed by an even louder smashing noise. “I need you too!”

  Spinning around with tears hot on my cheeks, my eyes were stuck in horror as Brody held his bleeding fist, our table now had a massive open space where the glass used to fill it.

  “What did you do that for?” I practically screamed. “My God, are you insane?”

  He was standing there cursing and began to pull out his phone. “Go to bed, Gabby,” he muttered. The wind picked up, and I shivered as the cool air hit my bare legs. “I’ll call your sister to come over while I drive you to the ER. I need to change. Stay there or follow me.”

  He was hot on my tail, and I could only imagine the pain that throbbed in his fist right now. It was probably broken after punching it in the bag and then doing that again to the table. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke a bone or two.

  His feet were behind me, and as I reached for the door, he grabbed my elbow and pulled me to face him. His good hand pushed me back into the door, which rattled as his lips came crashing down hard over mine. Kissing me furiously, I could feel his rage as I clutched at his chest. Grasping for anything that I could hold onto, I moaned against his mouth, needing his mouth as our bodies pressed tightly together.

  The last of liquor burning in my mouth was gone as I swept my tongue over his. Moaning, he pulled away. “I’m not drunk.”

  “No?” I breathed out, my lips tingling still from his. “You just punched the table,” I said, wanting to push him away but couldn’t.

  His blue eyes glassed over as he looked down at me. “I’m not drunk, just confused,” he said, his eyes darting back down to my lips again.

  “Brody, I gave you a way out of that. I wasn’t trying to make you confused, just trying to offer a solution,” I said and let my head fall back against the wooden door with a soft bang. “What are we doing? Why are we like this when we’ve never been before?” I asked in a lustful daze.

  �
�I don’t know, but I like it.” Leaning in closer, he rested his forehead on mine. “This is why I’m confused, Gabby. I can’t fucking keep away from you. I hurt my damn hand because all I could see was you in that damn lace, and I’ve smelled you on my skin all day and tasted you in my mouth. I can’t concentrate on anything but you!”

  I wish I had known that earlier. It probably would have saved an unwanted argument.

  I didn’t know what to say. I was stunned and in a good way. He had been thinking about me that was why he hurt himself earlier. The smile was twitching on the corners of my mouth and slowly began to grow.

  “I haven’t thought about anything except last night either,” I whispered, bringing my hands up to cup his strong jawline, leaning forward and placing soft kisses to his mouth, and nipping lightly as my fingers stroked over his skin.

  Whispering over my mouth, he kissed me once more tenderly. “I really need to get my hand checked before I pass out.”

  I had almost forgotten about that, distracted from our small confessions towards each other. I changed into some warm clothes and re-wrapped Brody’s hand that was now oozing blood. His sister and her husband came over, asking what happened. I didn’t know what to say other than sex gone wrong.

  Brody smirked but said nothing. We needed not anyone to know just how bad things could get between us. I didn’t want to deal with their help or advice. He and I needed to do this on our own.

  At the ER, I went in with him, not caring if he didn’t want me by his side. I grinned a little when the nurse raised a brow at him and mentioned anger management classes. That didn’t impress the patient one bit, who in turn told her to worry about cleaning up his hand rather than being a shrink.

  After his hand was clean, we stayed around until it could be X-rayed and that told us it wasn’t broken, but he did need stitches. Thank God, he didn’t need any surgery. That would hopefully teach him a lesson not to punch things.

  On the way home, Brody was on some pretty strong meds when he asked. “Do you think I need the anger classes?”

  I glanced over, shaking my head. “No, it’s not like you’re punching things all the time.” I then smiled. “I would recommend some happy pills, though,” I said, turning off on the highway.

  He just laughed. “Happy pills? No, I don’t need them. I just need to set my priorities straight. That’s all.” I felt his other hand on my thigh and a gentle squeeze. A small show of affection and it meant more than he would ever know. “Thanks for being with me tonight. It meant a lot that you took me.”

  The little things meant the most to me.

  “It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and luckily, it’ll be healed in a few weeks.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, we’re going to a place surrounded by water, and then you go and practically break your hand. You’re going to get so scolded by your mother when she thinks it’s just an attempt at trying to stay home.”

  His mum was going to lose her shit with him.

  Brody laughed, agreeing. “Yeah, she will. I’ll call her tomorrow sometime, and it’s not broken, just stitches.”

  “True, Noah will probably be disappointed that it’s not in a cast.” He thought his dad was pretty awesome then.

  Silence filled the car as I drove us through the night back home. “I want to ask you something.” He sounded incredibly nervous. He was never nervous. “Can I ask you something, Gabby?”

  Pulling into our garage, I parked and took the keys out. “I guess so, what is it?” I wondered, looking up at him.

  Swallowing, he ran his fingertips over mine and gently held my hand. “I was just wondering if you’d consider coming back into the house for a few nights?” he asked, glancing up towards me with hope in his eyes.

  My heart filled with nerves, and it wasn’t nerves of being afraid. It was nerves of, well, being nervous. I nodded slowly as I stuttered like a fool. “I… I… I’ll come back inside,” even it was for just a few nights.

  Brody offered me a heart-warming smile. “Thank you. You need any help getting anything from the guest house?”

  Shaking my head, “No, I will wait until your sister leaves, then go get my pyjamas.”

  “You don’t need them.” He winked.

  “I’m glad to see your humour is still there,” I muttered dryly. “I’ll be wearing them.”

  “All right, let’s go inside and send them home, so we can get some sleep,” he said and pushed open his door.

  Jessie and Leon were sitting on the couch, watching TV when we walked in, and she jumped up with a yawn. “I was almost ready to pass out,” she said as she tied her light brown hair up in a bun. “Is it broken?” she nodded towards Brody’s hand as Leon sat still.

  “Nah, luckily,” Brody grinned. “Teach us for drinking.”

  “Well, I’d tell mum if I were you. She’ll be pissed if you don’t,” she scolded teasingly. “Why didn’t you just have sex in bed, anyway? The kids could have come out and caught you.”

  I blushed. Brody shrugged, winking at her. “I take her wherever the urge comes on.”

  I blushed harder. “Oh, God.” He and I both wished.

  “Ew, you’re a pig!” Jessie shuddered, looking down at Leon. “Come on, babe, I’m tired and have Pilates in the morning.”

  He stood up and gave us a smile. “Night.”

  After they had left, we didn’t speak much. I just went to grab my pyjamas and hesitated as I went to reach for my usual ones. Placing them back, I grabbed the newer ones, and some clean underwear then went inside the main house. Sitting down on the bed after I had changed into the sleepwear, nothing extremely sexy, just a simple pair of cotton boxers with a thin tank top, I ran my hands over the top of the bed we’d shared for so many years. I flushed as I thought of last night, the lovemaking. I began to feel nervous again. I felt completely shy and wondered if he meant sharing a room again. I hadn’t asked him what he meant when he asked me to sleep inside.

  Was he in the spare room?

  My questions were answered as the door opened, and Brody walked in. Walking into our suite and leaving the door open. He brushed his teeth and then walked back into the room to undress. He’d never been shy or worried about the way he looked, and he didn’t have a reason to.

  “I haven’t been sleeping in here,” he said lifting the shirt over his head. “I’ve been in the spare.”

  “I was just wondering about where you were sleeping tonight,” I said, watching him. I had assumed he was on the other but wasn’t sure. “You know, I just assumed being out there was for the best, right?”

  He nodded as I stood upright and pulled the duvet back. “I get that. It wasn’t like I didn’t push that on you, though.”

  “Sleep in tomorrow. I imagine that your hand is going to be extremely sore.”

  He began to pull his side of the covers down and stopped. “You want me in here, right?”

  Nodding, “I do.” Tonight, I just wanted him to be close. “We’re going to be sharing a room soon. May as well get used to it.”

  That was far from my only reason. I wanted to sleep beside him again, to feel the comfort I once felt. He laid on his back, and I rolled to my side. Facing away, I whispered, “Good night, Brody.”

  He softly spoke back, “Good night, Gabriella.”

  I wanted to face him. My core was flooding with heat. Trying to fall asleep in such a state of arousal was proving to be difficult. I needed him. I was on edge but somehow, managed to fall asleep.

  During the middle of the night, I felt him shifting. I barely slept, too strung up on nerves and excitement. It had felt like the first night we stayed together, completely shy and worrying that I would snore. He’d made me feel so at ease. After talking, it all felt so new again.

  When he moved again, I made sure to keep my breathing steady in case he knew I was lying here wide awake. My hip felt a soft pressure of his hand, his body moving and closer to me.

  “I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you,” he w
hispered, and I felt his lips against my cheek before he pulled away and rolled over.

  Silent tears began to roll down from my eyes as I badly wanted to turn around and hold him back. I didn’t. I just couldn’t even move. I was completely taken off guard by his words, and I fell asleep with them rolling through my mind.

  When I woke up the next morning, I felt different. It was probably the best sleep I had in months. I went to get out of bed like I would usually do. But I stopped myself and laid back down. Looking over, Brody was still fast asleep. I couldn’t stop stealing glances at him.

  Not wanting to wake him, I reached for the book on my bedside table and began to read it. As I was getting on a page, my book knocked forward and almost hit me square in the nose. I let out a little squeak and pushed it away, almost hitting someone.

  Brody had rolled over and bumped it with his elbow. Giving me a sleepy smile, “Sorry.”

  “I almost whacked you,” I said with a soft laugh. I didn’t make any movements away from him, though, as we lay side by side and facing each other. “Are you sore?” I found myself reaching down to his wrapped hand and gently stroking it.

  “Very but I’m a big boy, and can handle it.” He grinned, sliding his arm underneath his pillow and watching me. “How did you sleep?”

  “I’ve missed this bed. I forgot how comfortable it is.” I also missed you and your sleepy morning voice. I kept that thought to myself. “It’s a nice feeling to wake up and see you still in bed,” I admitted quietly.

  Our eyes locked once more, and I could feel the warmth of his breath against my skin. We were moving closer, and it was unintentional. He went to talk when Noah came bursting through our door and screaming as he jumped up on the bed.

  Brody and I both broke apart as Noah tried to hide underneath the covers. “She’s going to get me!”

  “What?” I asked, sitting up as Lila came charging in the room with her hands on her hips.

  “Daddy!” she huffed defensively. “He called me a baby!”

  I almost laughed at how adorable she looked while so angry. She definitely had the Italian in her. Noah peeked his head up between us. “She was annoying me.”