by Beth Abbott
“Shit, you’re so mean!” Suzy moaned. “OK, so my first question is…. Did Luke spend the night with you… in your bed?”
Ellen was amazed! Suzy hadn’t gone straight in with the sex question.
“Yes, next question.” She responded solemnly.
“Wow, you tart!” Suzy giggled rolling on the floor laughing.
“Ok.” Suzy sat up and tried to appear serious. “So, did you have sex with him?”
And there it was! Ellen rolled her eyes. She knew Suzy wouldn’t hold back for long.
“No.” Ellen answered truthfully.
“What?” Suzy was completely shocked. “You had that utterly edible hunk of flesh in your bed all night and you didn’t have sex with him? Are you freaking crazy?”
Ellen smirked. “Is that your third question?”
“What? No!” Suzy squealed. “Ok, my third question is… did you do anything remotely sexual last night?”
Ellen could feel the blush start at her chest and spread north, until the whole of her face was crimson.
“Oh God, you did!” Suzy giggled, before holding her hand up for a high five. “What a trollop!”
Ellen giggled, raising her hand to meet her friends.
“That’s your third and final question missus. So, don’t ask for any more details.” Ellen smirked. “Suffice it to say, we fooled around a bit, not leading to sex, and it was very nice.”
“Clothes on or off?” Suzy persisted.
“On.” Ellen laughed. “And that’s definitely all you’re getting.”
“Yeah, but I’m betting that won’t be all you’ll be getting.” Suzy giggled.
Before Ellen had a chance to respond, Suzy put her hands up in the air, admitting defeat. “Ok, Ok. No more questions, or jokes at your expense. But just take it from me, Luke’s a really good guy. Matt looks up to him like a big brother, and we both know it takes a lot to get Matt’s respect. You could do a whole lot worse.”
“Yeah.” Ellen snorted. “And he could do a whole lot better.”
“What?” Suzy was shocked and not a little indignant. “No bloody way, sister! YOU ARE BLOODY AWESOME! Why would you even think that?”
Ellen waved her hand at her own face and body, as if that was adequate explanation.
“Look at me Suzy.” She sighed. “And look at Luke. He’s gorgeous! And I’m, well, I’m just not.”
“Ok, lady!” Suzy choked out. “First thing? You are gorgeous! You have beautiful skin, and pretty eyes, if you’d ever leave those damn glasses off long enough for people to see them. You have a gorgeous body! Hell, even Matt thought you had a great rack.” Suzy smirked.
“He actually said that and he still has his balls?” Ellen couldn’t believe it.
“He was trying to describe you to Luke before we set you two up, and those were his exact words. He qualified it by saying that it wasn’t as awesome as my rack!” Suzy confirmed, giving the girls a jiggle. “Which is the ONLY reason he still has two nuts in his sac.”
Ellen couldn’t help but laugh at Suzy’s smug expression.
“No doubt. And I agree. Your bazookas are pretty freaking awesome right now.” Ellen conceded.
“I know.” Suzy laughed. “Still, I sometimes wish it wasn’t partly down to my little man sucking the life out of them at all times of the day and night.”
“No, you’d rather it was your big man sucking the life out of them all day and night.” Ellen rolled on the floor giggling, while still managing to hold her hand up for a high five.
“Ok.” Suzy snorted. “I’ll give you that one!”
“Come on, sister.” Ellen stood up, holding her hand out to help Suzy up. “I need to get some shopping done, and then get home to do some washing and cleaning before I head into work tonight. I can’t sit on my backside around here all day shooting the breeze with your lazy ass.”
Suzy allowed herself to be pulled up.
“So, do you want to call into Ann Summers to pick up some sexy lingerie and sex toys?” Suzy laughed. “Maybe some handcuffs, a blindfold and a few paddles?”
Ellen almost choked on her tongue.
“Methinks someone has been reading too much mommy-porn again!”
Suzy’s smirk said it all.
Ellen shook her head.
Suzy was the most outrageous, badass, ball-busting female she had ever known.
And she loved her to bits.
Chapter 25 - Ellen
It was past two o’clock by the time Ellen got back home with her shopping.
She may not have gone to Ann Summers, but she did stop in the clothing department of the supermarket, and found some pretty decent sexy lingerie.
Not exactly Victoria’s Secret, but a whole lot better that the stuff she had in her panty drawer.
When she’d put the groceries away, she took her ‘extra’ items into the bedroom, and having removed the tags, tried them on quickly to check that they looked Ok.
Her mirror confirmed that the bras and panties were a great fit, and she took them off quickly and placed them in her drawer. She’d change into them after work, when she got out of the shower.
She’d bought a set especially for work. Not too sexy, but in the event that Luke got carried away before she had a chance to have a shower later, she thought he’d be pretty pleased with the result.
As she reached down to pull fresh work clothes out of the bottom drawer, she had to nudge Luke’s bag out of the way to get the drawer open.
As the bag slid, it gaped open, and a folder of papers slid out, spreading itself across the carpet.
“Shit!” Ellen knew this was part of the work that Luke was doing, and she certainly didn’t want to snoop into his business.
However, as she gathered the papers together, one photograph came loose.
As Ellen picked it up and looked at it, the rest of the papers slipped from her hands.
The photo was of a crime scene, and in the centre lay the body of a dead man, blood pooled around him.
She’d never really seen it from this angle, and she’d barely registered his face before he was shot, but she knew instantly whose body this was.
It was the man with the split eye. The man who’d saved her life.
Any thought that it had been a coincidence that Luke had the same eye flew straight out of the window.
They must be related, cousins at least…
Ellen felt her stomach roll, and lurched into the bathroom. Yanking up the toilet seat, she lost the entire contents of her stomach in less than ten seconds!
“No, no, no, no.” Ellen couldn’t believe her luck. Of all the people in the world she could meet and…what, fall in love with?
Maybe? She thought.
She all but crawled back to the bed. She had to get to the bottom of this. Why was he here, and did he know about her?
The fact that he had been looking into the occupants of Hanson Road was evidence enough that he knew something.
But did he know who she was? Was he using her? Starting an affair with her to get information from her?
No. Ellen didn’t know much for certain, but she knew that there was no way Luke would have responded to her sexually, if he’d suspected her of being involved in Casey’s death.
Ellen started flipping through the papers, and soon found what she was looking for.
The man in the photograph, Casey - the man who had saved her life, was Luke’s bother.
Oh, God! They were twins! Casey and Luke Roberts.
Her stomach heaved again, but luckily, there was nothing left to come up.
As she scanned through the papers, she realised that whilst she still didn’t think he knew who she was, the reality was that Luke had been searching for her for years.
When she came to a photo of her father, she nearly fainted.
It was taken during one of their summer holidays together, and her father was sitting pointing at the pyramids over his shoulder. In another one, she sat next to him, her fingers in a pinch position
, pretending to be pinching the sphynx in the distance.
She knew these photos well. She should… she had put them in the frames herself, and the date and location of each photo was written on the back in her own neat hand-writing.
“Dad and Emma at the Sphynx. June 2004”
“Dad and Emma at the Pyramids. June 2004”
She had been just sixteen, and her father had taken her to Egypt for her birthday treat, as it fell within the Easter holidays.
Ellen looked at the photo and saw the girl she’d been then. Happy, carefree, loved.
She’d had no idea what her future would become then.
And her dad? She didn’t have much idea what had happened to him since the night Casey had died. She’d spoken to him for only a minute or two, no more than six times in the last few years. Just long enough to establish that they were both still alive and well.
Ellen had gone through all of the stages usually associated with mourning. Disbelief, despair, anger, then acceptance.
She’d tried to blame her father for everything, but then come to accept that he’d just been a naive pawn in a much bigger game.
Had he been greedy? Probably. But then almost every penny he had went on his daughter’s happiness, so if she wanted to blame anyone, then maybe she’d better start looking in the mirror.
How many times had she done the ‘pretty please’ routine to get him to buy her something she really could have lived without?
She might not have been a completely spoiled brat, but knowing her father couldn’t ever refuse her anything, she hadn’t really needed to try that hard.
So, was she to blame for her father’s decisions?
God, she hoped not!
Noticing that the clock by the bed said it was nearly time for her to report for work, she gathered the documents together and slid them carefully back into Luke’s bag.
She needed to think about what she should do with her new-found information.
She had spent a lot of years being invisible, and wasn’t sure whether she wanted to give that up. Her choices were so limited.
She could refuse to see Luke anymore and go back to her invisibility.
She could pack up and run, and hope he didn’t track her down.
Or she could tell the truth, and risk that he would turn her in to the police, or worse, that he would turn her over to Georgie.
None of the choices appealed to her as whichever way she jumped, the only certainty, was that she would end up without Luke.
Chapter 26 - Luke
Just as he’d done the previous night, Luke slipped into the restaurant just as Ellen was serving a customer at the back of the room.
The hostess at the door recognised him straight away. ‘Fran’ it said on her name tag.
“Can’t keep away from her, huh?” She smiled at him genuinely.
“Looks that way.” He grinned back.
“Will you be dining tonight, or just making cow-eyes at our girl over there?”
Luke laughed.
“I was hoping to catch her on her break first, and then grab something to eat.”
“Oh?” Fran seemed genuinely surprised. “Ellen took an early break this evening. She mustn’t have known you were coming in.”
Luke tried not to show his surprise. Of course she had known he was coming in. They’d discussed it.
“Then I guess I’ll have a table and a menu, if that’s Ok?” He smiled politely.
“No problem.” Fran led the way to a quiet table for two.
Luke sat in the seat which gave him the best view of the restaurant, and also the best view of Ellen.
When he finally caught her eye, she gave him a small smile and a quick wave, before scurrying off toward the kitchen.
Odd, Luke thought, looking around. They were busy, but not fantastically so. And yet she managed to stop by several tables and exchange a few words with customers, whilst studiously avoiding his table.
Had she suddenly been overcome by a fit of embarrassment over what they had done the night before?
Luke supposed it was a possibility, but that didn’t really make sense. He thought they’d pretty much ironed that flat this morning, before they’d left her place.
When one of the other waitresses came to serve him, he was even more surprised. He was almost certain that Fran had seated him in Ellen’s area.
When he saw Fran and the boss, ‘G’ had Ellen called him, whispering and looking between him, Ellen and the other waitress, he was pretty sure something was going on.
For the life of him he couldn’t work out what.
When she finally came close enough to him for him to reach out and grab her arm, he didn’t hesitate.
“Hey.” He said softly. “Is everything Ok?”
Ellen looked nervous, and barely made any eye contact with him at all.
“Yeah, good. Just really busy, y’know?” She replied quietly.
“Are you sure that’s it? It doesn’t seem as busy tonight as last night.” He knew his observation was also an accusation.
Last night she’d been super busy but still found plenty of time for him. Tonight was the exact opposite.
Ellen was wringing the cloth in her hand as if she didn’t know what to do with her fingers.
“Ellen? Talk to me, please?” Luke wrapped his big hand around her agitated fingers.
Ellen’s eyes finally met his.
“We do need to talk.” She said abruptly. “But not here and not now. Later, when we get home.”
Ellen stopped, and Luke realised what she’d said. It was her home, not Luke’s.
He could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes.
“I have to get back to work.” Ellen pulled her fingers from his, and stepped away from him before he had a chance to react.
What the hell? Luke’s chest tightened. Wasn’t the ‘We have to talk’ line usually a prelude to ‘I’m dumping your ass!’?
He couldn’t believe that was what Ellen wanted to talk to him about, but what else could it be?
Had he come on too strong or too fast?
Shit, a week ago he promised her that he’d be patient, and put no pressure on her. Then five days later, he’d had her half naked, his hand inside her panties, damn near killing her with a phenomenal orgasm!
Whilst he’d been patting himself on the back for that, what if she’d been having second thoughts?
God, he hoped not!
He ate his meal in lonely silence.
Fran had come up to chat with him once, when he was finishing his food, but he had the feeling she only did so out of pity.
“Why don’t you go have a drink at the bar?” Fran suggested, smiling kindly. “Ellen will be off at twelve tonight.”
Glancing at his watch, Luke noticed that it was already half past eleven. God, who knew time could fly when your stomach was in knots, and you feared your world was going to come to an end at any minute.
“Thanks, I will.” Luke smiled back.
As he relocated to the bar, and sat on one of the high stools, he couldn’t help notice that the barman was scowling at him.
He ordered his drink politely, but when the guy slammed the glass down in front of him, it was as much as Luke could do not to get up in his face.
He looked at the asshole’s nametag.
“Do we have a problem here…. Gary?” Luke enquired, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.
Gary glared at him in return.
“Yeah, we have a problem.” Gary spat at him. “Ellen’s a nice girl, and she doesn’t need a dick like you fucking with her head, pretending to be interested in her.”
Luke almost laughed out loud. Jealousy? That was what this was about?
“Ok, so I agree that Ellen is a nice girl, but that’s about the only accurate part of your statement.” Luke took a sip of his drink before speaking quietly. “To correct the other points you made, firstly, contrary to your opinion, I am not a dick! In my time, I’ve been called many things. A bastard, a killer,
and a mean mother-fucking bad-ass to name but a few. Take your pick or choose your own, but at least come up with something a damn side less pansy-ass than ‘dick’!
Secondly, I am not ‘fucking with her head’, as you so crudely put it, nor am I pretending to be interested in her.” Luke looked over at Ellen.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I am extremely interested in her. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I’m actually fascinated by her. And if I’m going to be doing any fucking at all with Ellen, it’s damn sure not gonna be her head I’m fucking!” Luke looked back at Gary, and seemed to grow six inches as he leaned over the bar-man.
“So why don’t you keep your attention on your job and off my girl, and shove your opinion up that self-righteous ass of yours!”
“Here-here!” Luke swung around to see who the voice belonged to.
Gianni stood there smiling at Luke like he was royalty sitting at his bar.
“Gary! Get back to work and clear some tables.” G didn’t even look Gary’s way.
“I think you’re going to be good for our little Ellen.” G smiled. “Very good indeed.”
Luke smiled, conscious of the ‘conversation’ he and Ellen were going to be having later. “I hope so.”
G looked towards Ellen who was busy scurrying around, never looking in Luke’s direction.
“She’s wary.” G commented. “Scottish, yes? Like a little foal?”
Luke grinned. “Skittish, you mean?”
“Whatever.” G brushed Luke’s comment away. “Just be careful with her heart, hmm? I think it’s been broken once already. You make sure you look after it properly.”
Luke nodded, taking Gianni’s words seriously.
“I will, I promise.” And he meant every word!
Chapter 27 - Ellen
Despite the fact that they’d barely exchanged twenty words since he’d seated himself at the bar, Luke was still waiting for her at midnight.
They walked back to her flat in silence, but within a few paces, Luke had taken hold of her hand, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away.