by Danielle Fox
“Do you want to go out for dinner tonight?” I asked her, in a desperate attempt to think of anything other than ramming myself into her. I was hoping my bubble bath idea would be a romantic one; I wasn’t planning on it turning into a fuck-fest.
“Hmm,” she mumbled. “I think I’d rather stay here and keep you all to myself.” Her tone was seductive, her words breathy, and I knew instantly that she was thinking on the exact same wave length as I was.
I pushed her hair over her shoulder to reveal one side of her neck and pressed my lips against her clammy skin. As I traced an imaginary line across her shoulder with my tongue, I could taste the vanilla essence of the bath oil, but I wasn’t too bothered. It only added to her sweet taste. As I devoured her neck, she let her head roll back onto my shoulder and a quiet groan escaped her. God, it drove me wild when she made those desperate little noises. I took her glass from her hand and placed it on the edge of the bath as I continued to lick and nip at her skin. I ran my fingertips slowly up her thigh and she shuddered in response. When my hand reached its destination, between her thighs, I could feel her readiness for me, even through the water that surrounded us. A groan rumbled deep in my chest and I pulled her chin around to face me, needing to taste her sweet mouth. As I kissed her hungrily, and my fingers circled steadily against her, she rocked her hips against my hand, over and over, teasing me with the friction it created against my erection. I was aching for her. And I couldn’t wait for her. I promised myself I would take more time with her next time, but right now, I simply had to be inside her.
I grabbed her hips and lifted her, spinning her around so that she was hovering over me. Her warm, wet skin stroked at my pulsing head as she bent forwards to kiss me and it was almost enough to have me coming there and then. She positioned herself above me and slowly, agonisingly slowly, began to lower herself onto me. I felt my eyes flicker and roll into my head as the sensational feeling encased me. God, she felt so good. I supported her hips with my strong grip and guided her up and down, up and down in a steady rhythm before sitting forward to deepen the contact. She screamed out as she rocked herself against me, her clit rubbing against me as she moved. Her hands were tangled in my hair, her head facing up at the ceiling as she moaned. Her fantastic tits slipped easily up and down my wet chest and I couldn’t help but take one of her pert nipples between my teeth. She gasped, and then groaned, and then I could feel a light shudder rippling through her body as she tensed around me. She lifted herself higher, almost withdrawing me completely, before slamming back down onto me. And the sound of our wet skin slapping together, and the swirling motion all around me as the water lapped up and over the sides of the bath, had me coming harder than ever. I pulled her tight against my hips, purposely circling my hips and pressing deeper into her as I poured myself into her, my body shuddering against hers. And then she was right there with me, screaming my name as she tightened herself around me.
I allowed my body to relax back against the bath, taking Emily with me and holding her close against my chest as I kissed her hair. Emily was incredible. She simply amazed me. Never before had any woman had the ability to pleasure me the way Emily always did. And Emily didn’t even have to try. I couldn’t imagine anyone else had it this good. I felt like the luckiest bastard alive at that moment. Emily was stunning. She was beautiful. We had the most powerful connection that I had ever known of; we had the most mind-blowing sex I had ever known of. And she was mine. I knew it, and she knew it. There would never be anybody else. I had never believed in soul mates and fate and all the bullshit that came with it. But now I was beginning to have a little faith. We were simply meant for each other.
Chapter Fifteen
Early on Sunday morning I took Emily with me to visit my mother. I had only planned to check in with security to make sure there hadn’t been any contact from my father, but Emily insisted on taking in the bag of luxuries that she had purchased yesterday.
My mother reminded me of a child on Christmas morning when Emily picked out each item from the bag and set it out on the small desk in the corner of my mother’s room. Which reminded me, it was only just over a month until Christmas and I hadn’t even thought about gifts yet, well, other than one particularly special gift, and I was sure Emily hadn’t done a single bit of shopping yet, either. I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Samantha’s number.
‘Could you keep Maia a little longer today? I was thinking of taking Emily shopping for Christmas gifts for Maia.’
I sent the text and received a reply before I had returned my phone to my pocket.
‘That’s fine; tell Emily she’s been asking me for a unicorn all day!’
Great, that’s the babysitting sorted but I wasn’t sure of where to start with a unicorn. Maybe a rocking horse would suffice.
“Why are you buying me bombs? What did I ever do to you?” My mother’s pained voice snapped me out of my thoughts of unicorns. “And I thought we were friends. Julian, why is your fiancée trying to blow me up?”
What the fuck had I missed?
“No, no. It’s called a bath bomb, you put it in the bath and it fizzes. It gives you lovely soft skin and smells amazing, look.” I turned around just as Emily held the bath bomb towards my mother. I must admit, I had wondered what that was.
“Get that thing away from me!” my mother shrieked before running and throwing herself into my arms.
“Gloria, it’s not what you think. It just makes the bath smell nice,” Emily pressed.
My mother pressed herself further into my embrace and appeared to be trying to hide her face in my arm pit.
“Mum, it’s okay. It’s not really a bomb, look, smell it,” I soothed whilst taking the bath bomb from Emily and holding it in front of her nose.
It took the two of us a good ten minutes to finally calm my mother down and convince her that Emily wasn’t trying to blow her up. I had watched Emily’s eyes pool with tears at one point, when my mother had sobbed, and my heart had ached for her. I wanted to go to Emily, to comfort her, but I couldn’t. I didn’t trust my mother enough to let go of her when she was so upset. What she had taken as a hug of comfort had actually been me pinning her frail body against mine so she couldn’t spring free and attack even if she wanted to.
Emily was less than impressed with the surprise shopping spree, complaining that her feet still hurt after yesterday’s exhibition. She was happy to begin with, that she now had the chance to get Maia’s Christmas presents sorted, but as soon as I attempted to buy Maia a gift her mood had changed.
“You’re not spending that amount of money on a bloody rocking horse,” she had scolded when I had picked up what was in fact a rocking pink unicorn with a white flowing mane, not a simple rocking horse. Maia would love it; I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw it staring at me from the end of an aisle in Hamley’s. It was perfect. Emily had no choice but to give up in the end, after all, it wasn’t a gift for her so she couldn’t refuse it, I had politely pointed out.
We picked out gifts together for Adrian and Samantha, both of which Emily had finally agreed to let me pay half of, then she helped me pick out a necklace for Natalie before complaining that her feet were going to burst and putting an end to our shopping trip. I did consider informing her that feet couldn’t in fact burst, but thought better of it, assuming it probably wasn’t the best idea to be making fun of a tired and exhausted female.
“I said we’d let Samantha know when we were finished,” I called to Emily as I stuffed the last bag of toys into the cupboard of my spare room. I found myself surprisingly excited about watching Maia open them all on Christmas morning. That’s if I was invited for that special moment, which I sincerely hoped I would be.
Natalie and I had never had a mountain of presents on Christmas morning; we usually just got one from our parents. In fact, we didn’t really do much for Christmas at all at home. The last Christmas Day I remember with both parents consisted of a single present each, not even wrapped, and placed on the tabl
e under a pre-decorated three-foot tree. I can’t even remember what the present was. Despite the fact my father made a hell of a lot more money than most; he had never taken kindly to my mother spending it, especially on us. My mother wasn’t even allowed to buy a turkey, ‘they can’t charge that fucking price just because it’s Christmas. They can shove their pissing turkey up their arse’, I could recall my father saying. So, my mother had cooked fish fingers and oven chips for me and Natalie, and then sent us to bed. We didn’t even get any ketchup with it, even though she knew we hated them without it. As soon as we were safely out the way, I could hear the banging and clattering that meant my mother was cooking dinner for herself and my father. Before long, my room had filled with the delicious aroma of roasted chicken and potatoes, and I remember hating her for it. Was it too much to ask for, for just one day of the year, to have a family meal together. I don’t ever recall eating a meal with all four of us at the table. My father couldn’t stand to see, or hear, us eat. I had once crunched my apple a little too loudly in front of my father and I promptly got a TV remote thrown at my head to punish me for my mistake. The remote missed me, by less than a centimetre, but that was beside the point.
I couldn’t wait to see Maia’s face when she saw this amount of gifts under a huge sparkling tree. I couldn’t wait to sit together around a table filled with real Christmas food. I couldn’t wait to pull Christmas crackers and wear silly hats whilst reading ridiculously lame jokes. This was the first year I could ever recall feeling excited about Christmas. I couldn’t wait. Emily really was the kind of mother that any child would wish for. She adored Maia and did everything she could to make her happy. It was clear to see that she loved nothing more than seeing her daughter smile.
“Maybe a little while longer won’t hurt.” Emily grinned as I joined her in the living area before flashing me that smile.
Within a matter of seconds, Emily was stripped to her underwear and panting beneath me on the sofa as I struggled with my belt. My mouth moved greedily over hers as her fingers raked at my back and pulled me closer. I heard a soft groan in her throat and almost growled in response. I wanted to worship her, to taste every inch of her smooth skin, but I don’t think I could stop myself from tearing off her underwear for much longer if she continued to make those cute little moans. Those same moans that seemed to completely possess me. I lost all sense of composure when those sexy little noises revealed themselves.
I startled at the loud bang that filled the quiet room and Emily let out a squeal as she tried to cover herself. I twisted my head around to face the door but kept my body firmly in place. At least I could cover some of her modesty and I’d be damned if I was going to let whoever the fuck had just let themselves into my apartment see my fiancée practically naked.
“Ryan, what the fuck?”
Something was obviously very wrong judging by the sombre expression on Ryan’s face, not to mention the fact that he had just let himself into my apartment, but I couldn’t move.
“Sorry, I did knock. Natalie’s been calling you!” Ryan said, the urgency in his tone proving my first thought to be right. Something was wrong.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Oh God, was it the baby? Please don’t let it be the baby, I silently begged, that would destroy Natalie. I wasn’t sure I could bear to see my baby sister go through something as heartbreaking as that.
“You need to come now, it’s your mum. I’ll wait outside.” He disappeared back through the door, closing it behind him.
Fuck! What was wrong with my mum? A little more information would have been appreciated.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to Emily’s forehead before climbing off her and refastening my belt.
Emily looked panicked. Her wide eyes were showing nothing but worry and concern as she hastily pushed her legs back into her jeans.
“Wait here, I’ll call you when I know what’s going on,” I ordered as I grabbed my keys and shoved them into my pocket.
“No way, I’m coming with you.” She jumped up from the sofa and followed me to the doorway whilst still shrugging herself into her jacket. I guessed she wasn’t going to take no for an answer so I took her hand in mine and led her out of my apartment.
After seeing Emily safely into the back of Ryan’s awaiting car, I climbed into the front beside Ryan, slamming the door loudly. “What the hell is going on?”
“Your dad has been in contact again, your mum hasn’t taken to it well. Natalie’s there now but no one can calm her down. I thought it’d be best to get you.”
“Fuck,” I hissed as the car pulled out into the busy line of traffic, my stomach twisting painfully as dread began to creep over me. Had my mother done something, had she harmed someone?
Ryan pulled up outside the entrance to my mother’s hospice and I flew out of the car, closely followed by Emily. It was kind of warming to see just how concerned she was for my mother who she barely knew. A flustered looking nurse with thick grey curls spiralling out from under a small cap practically ran through the doorway as we made up the steps to the front entrance. “Mr Scott, you must come quickly,” she gushed. “We’re very sorry; we just don’t know how this could have happened.”
How what could have happened? Why would nobody just give a simple explanation to what the fuck was going on? “What exactly has happened?” I urged as we hurried down a long corridor.
“Mrs Scott seems to have been deeply upset. I should warn you, she’s threatening to harm herself. We can’t get close enough to her without risking her safety; we fear if we try, she’ll do something terrible.” The nurse spoke through panting breaths, glancing up at me through uncertain eyes as if gauging my reaction to her words.
“Do something terrible? Surely she can’t hurt herself here?”
“She has a broken glass bottle and is threatening to cut herself.”
My stomach sank.
“How the fuck did she get a glass bottle in the first place? You all knew exactly what she was like when I bought her here,” I roared as the panic set in, crushing me from the outside in. I had quickened my pace to a jog now as we rounded the last corner to the corridor where my mother’s room was. My stomach twisted with dread and I felt physically sick as I silently prayed that I wasn’t too late.
“I don’t know how we didn’t see it, but it was in with the supplies you brought her earlier today. A bubble bath bottle.”
How the hell did I not see that? How could I not have noticed?
“Oh my God.” I heard Emily’s gasp and turned briefly to see her pained expression. Tears were pooling in her eyes once more as she stared at me hopelessly, desperately.
“It’s okay, you weren’t to know. I should’ve noticed,” I assured, reaching for her hand and squeezing it within mine.
Now I thought about it, I could clearly picture the luxurious looking blue bottle of bath essence that Emily had insisted on making me sniff. Fenjal, I remembered reading at the top of the heavy glass bottle. What an idiot, how could I have missed it?
The door to my mother’s room was slightly ajar so I pushed it slowly, taking care not to startle her. Natalie was across the room from her, sobbing and begging for her to put the bottle down.
“I won’t let him hurt me again!” my mother shrieked.
Her entire body was shaking visibly. I looked at her and saw the same agonising fear that I had seen many times when I was a child. Her frail, trembling hand held tightly onto a sharp and broken piece of the blue bottle as she pressed the longest point against her neck. If I moved towards her, tried to disarm her, I was certain that that bottle would be slicing something, whether it be her own throat or mine. She hadn’t flipped yet, she was still in control, I could tell by her tone of voice and her saddened eyes. Her eyes were still soft. When she turned, there was no mistaking it. She was like a completely different person, she spoke differently, she even looked different, and her eyes turned hard and cold, almost as if she wasn’t really there at all. I was c
onfident that she was still herself for now, but had no idea how long that was going to last.
“Natalie, go outside,” I whispered quietly, in the hope that only she could hear, whilst keeping my eyes locked firmly on my mother’s hand.
“I’m not leaving her!”
I reached across slowly and took Natalie’s hand in mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“Listen to me, I won’t let her hurt herself, but please Natalie, don’t put that life in danger,” I begged. Natalie knew exactly what I meant without me actually having to say the word ‘baby’, and she left the room without another word. I could hear Emily’s voice as soon as Natalie left and could just about make out the word sorry as she said it over and over. But it wasn’t Emily’s fault, it was mine. She was my mother and I knew of the danger, yet I had failed to see it.
“Mum, it’s okay, I’m not going to let him hurt you,” I soothed as softly as I could manage under the circumstances.
“He can’t hurt me if I’m not here to hurt. I’m sorry, Julian. I can’t be here.”
I watched the skin of her neck whiten as she applied more pressure with the bottle and my heart seemed to lunge into action, pounding hard against my chest. “Stop,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “I won’t let him hurt you. Tell me what he said.”
“He wants Isabella.”
“Why? Why does he want Isabella?”
“I don’t know,” she screamed. “If I don’t tell him where she is then he’ll make me. You know my mind, Julian, I could tell him without even meaning to. I can’t risk that.” She pressed harder again and I saw a glint of red as the glass pierced her skin at the side of her throat.