by Lizzie James
14
Luke
Banging my fist against Christopher’s door, I grinned when I heard his voice shout out from inside. I knew that my being here was going to screw his day up, but the way I saw it, I had three friends that were important to me. Two of them were meant to be—no matter what they thought about it—and one of them had got stuck in the middle of it all.
“I’m coming!” he shouted. He opened the door roughly and looked at me with a pissed off scowl. “What do you want?” he asked, with an attitude that I chose to ignore.
“Can I come in?” I grinned at him brightly before I stepped over the threshold, not waiting for his response. “Wow!” I flicked my eyes around his lounge, pretending that I couldn’t see the empty beer bottles on the cabinet or the Chinese cartons on the coffee table. “You didn’t have to clean up just because I was coming around, you know.”
“What do you want, Luke?” he repeated. His voice sounded defeated. He slammed the door shut and turned to face me. “If this is about work, I could have come in later to see you.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “You and I have the day off, and Thomas is covering my shift.”
“Thank the lord for Saint Thomas,” he muttered. “So, why are you here?” He put his hands in his jeans pockets as he watched me. He looked kind of nervous.
“I thought we could go out. Maybe we can go and watch a movie. That new alien invasion film is out. Fancy it?” I raised my eyebrows, waiting for his response. “We could grab some food later and maybe have a few drinks.”
He stared at me for several moments before he slowly nodded his head. “Sure. Let me go and get changed and we can go.” He walked past me, heading to his bedroom.
“Take your time!” I called after him. “I’ll just clean up.” I shook my head as I grabbed the Chinese cartons and took them to the kitchen, dropping them in the bin. I hadn’t thought he was struggling this badly. I hadn’t thought it was anywhere near serious between him and Lauren, but as I grabbed the empty lager bottles and dropped them in the recycling bin, it was obvious I was wrong.
“Ready?” he called from the lounge. He grabbed his coat and placed his wallet in his back pocket.
“Sure. Let’s go.” I followed him out of the door, shutting it tightly.
We walked further into the city, heading for the cinema venues near Leicester Square. There’d be plenty of places to choose for lunch.
I looked down at my phone as we walked, checking out the movie listings.
“So?” Christopher asked from next to me. “Any seats left?”
“There’re not a lot of showings, truth be told, man.” I looked ahead and saw a pizza restaurant up ahead. “Fancy a slice and a beer first?”
He followed my line of sight and nodded his head.
“Sounds good.” He grinned at me. “First drink on me.”
I left him to get us a couple of drinks at the bar while I grabbed us a table. After getting us some plates, I loaded them up with a few pepperoni slices from the ‘all you can eat’ buffet and a helping of spicy wedges.
“There you go.” He placed a couple of bottles of cold Budweiser on the table and eyed the pepperoni pizza on his plate. He took a large bite of it before he pinched a wedge. “I think I needed this,” he said as he finished his slice. “So, come on then.” He waved his hand at me. “Hit me with it.”
“Hit me with what?” I asked. I took a swig from my bottle, trying to cool down the spicy flavour in my mouth from the wedges.
“With whatever today is about.” He looked at me patiently. “I mean, I can’t help but notice it’s just you and me.” He chuckled. “It’s usually the three of us.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly bring Thomas, could I?” I asked. “Damn, I don’t even know if you two are talking at the moment.” I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t know, man.” He blew out a breath before his shoulders drooped a little. “I mean, fuck, I don’t know.” He took another swig, draining half of his bottle.
“Can I ask, man?” I hesitated, not really knowing how to ask it nicely.
“Go on.” He nodded his head at me for me to continue.
“Was it serious? Between you and Lauren?” I fiddled with my bottle, peeling the corner of the label.
He snorted at me. “I don’t know. I liked her, man. I really did.” He went quiet for a moment. “I think I could have fallen for her. I think she could be so damn easy to fall for.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think it was more that I was hurt. I mean, shit. Couldn’t they have figured out how they felt about each other before she started dating me?”
Well, he had a point there. Lauren and Thomas didn’t exactly have the best timing in the world.
“I wouldn’t have classed us as boyfriend and girlfriend, but I think it could have gone in that direction.”
“That makes sense,” I replied. “Not to butt in or anything,” I started.
“Yeah, of course,” he joked. “Because you never poke your nose into other people’s business or anything.”
“Funny.” I rolled my eyes at his mickey-taking. “Nah, I’m serious. I mean, if you want me to butt out, just say, man.”
“It’s cool.” He shook his head at me. “You can say it.”
“Well, Lauren has always had feelings for Thomas. You knew that. Right?” I looked at him, waiting for him to agree.
“I knew that,” he muttered quietly. “I mean, I kind of thought that she was getting over it or past it or whatever when she agreed to go out with me for coffee, but I guess I was wrong or something.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what changed things, man. I think, seeing you with her made Thomas realise what he was missing out on.” I grinned at him. “I think you woke him up.”
“Oh, great.” He laughed, lifting his hand and waved at the waitress to bring us a couple more beers. “Just call me Cupid.”
“Dude, she’s had feelings for Thomas since she was a teenager.” I flattened my lips in a thin line and continued. “Did you really think she could pass on that if he gave her the green light?” I cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to respond.
“I guess not,” he muttered. “I was a real asshole to her when she told me about her and Thomas.” He laughed loudly, pointing his thumb to the window. “She told me outside on the wall down the square.”
“What did you say to her?” I asked.
“I was mean, man. I told her he was never going to stay true and faithful to her and that he would just break her heart like all of the other women before her.” He made a cringing face at me and nodded his head. “I know, man. I felt like shit when I said it, but I was upset when she told me she had basically chosen him.”
“Wow.” I slumped back against my seat. “You are an asshole.”
“I know.” A waitress brought some new bottles to our table, taking the old ones with her. “I need to apologise to her.”
“Damn right you do. You also need to take Thomas’s apology.” I raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a serious look. “He didn’t do it to be mean. He just realised what he wanted and unfortunately, as a side effect, the three of you got hurt because of it.”
“I know, man.” He blew out a breath. “I’ll try.”
“That’s cool.” I raised my bottle and clinked it against his. “I’d like it if we could all be friends after this.”
“Me too, man.” We both took a swig of our bottles and finished our pizza slices. “Me too.”
I walked in through the doors to Dominic’s, chuckling when I saw a very bored-looking Thomas standing at the bar. He was filling a few pints of lager up before passing them to the customer with a tray to carry them on.
“Hey.” He turned to face me with a grin on his face. “I thought you were out for the night.”
“Yeah, I am. I—” I stopped talking as I approached the bar, noticing a woman’s coat hanging on the back and a white purse on top of the bar next to a near-empty plate of food. “What’s going on?” I eyed t
he purse before looking back to him. I knew that I was probably being a bit too judgemental right now, but if that coat belonged to some other woman after I had spent the day chilling Christopher out over the two of them, I knew I was going to lose it.
He cocked an eyebrow at me with a pissed off expression on his face, reading me right.
Before I could say anything more, we were interrupted by Lauren coming out of the ladies' toilets with a bounce in her step and a happy smile on her face.
“Hi, Luke!” She placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned up to kiss my cheek. “How did it go today?” She turned and took her seat at the bar, smiling as Thomas leaned across and kissed her.
“Sorry, man,” I apologised, taking a seat next to Lauren.
“Sorry for what?” Lauren asked, looking between Thomas and me.
Thomas laughed beneath his breath and uncapped a few bottles of Budweiser and placed one in front of each of us.
“Luke thought I was flirting with another woman.” He grinned at me, taking a swig.
“What?” She giggled at him before turning back to me.
“Funny.” I rolled my eyes at her. “I saw the coat, the purse and…” I chuckled. “You don’t usually hang out here in the evenings so…”
“Ah!” She nodded her head. “So, you were going to defend my honour?” she asked, teasing me further.
“Whatever.” I looked to Thomas and nodded my head down the bar a little. “Can I have a word about the delivery tomorrow?”
“Sure.” He followed me down the bar, away from Lauren a little for some extra privacy. “I spoke to Christopher.”
“He okay?” he asked.
“He will be.” I grinned when I saw that she was already pulling her kindle out of her bag. “Whatever I say to you, does not go back to her or Christopher. Okay?”
He stared at me for several moments before he nodded his head.
“Okay, sure. What is it?”
“So, Christopher told me today that when Lauren ended things with him, he was kind of mean.” I made a silly face at him.
“How mean?” He glared at me.
“Dude, he was upset.” I sighed. “I mean, I think he was starting to feel things for her and then she told him that she was basically dumping him for you.” He sighed at me, looking regretful. “How did you think it was going to go?” I tapped my knuckles against the bar. “He told her you would break her heart.”
He huffed, shaking his head, looking down at the wooden surface between us.
“Of course he did,” he muttered to himself. “Thanks, man.” He clapped me on the shoulder and walked back down to Lauren.
I moved around the bar, tapping him gently on the shoulder and nodded my head to Lauren.
“I’ll take over. You two go on home.” I nodded my head towards Lauren. “Besides, someone is a tad bored.”
He laughed at Lauren who was too engrossed in the book on her kindle.
“Thanks, man. Let’s go, Laur. The boss is letting me off early.” He grabbed his coat and did it up before he moved around the bar. He wrapped his arm around her waist after she buttoned her coat up and guided her to the door, both of them saying goodbye.
As I watched them leave, I hoped like hell all the drama was behind us.
15
Thomas
Walking home hand-in-hand with Lauren that night, I knew my silence was worrying her. I was normally the talker out of the two of us, but with the way she kept shooting glances my way, I knew that she was picking up that my mind wasn’t here with her.
“Thomas, are you okay?” She flicked her beautiful eyes up to mine, quickly looking back down to the floor. “You’ve been quiet since we left Dominic’s.”
“Just thinking.” I swung our hands lightly in between us. “Can we have a talk when we get in?” I stared down at her, patiently waiting for her response.
“Of course.” She sounded a little nervous. She nodded her head, taking a few steps ahead of me, leading me to the door to our building.
Standing behind her while she grabbed her keys to unlock the door, I placed my hands on her hips needing to touch her. I loved having my hands on her, since we kissed, whenever I could.
She quickly unlocked the door and disappeared to her room, slipping her coat off her shoulders. She was gone only a moment until she came back, shoes now off and her bright yellow socks covering her toes.
I took a seat on the sofa and patted the seat next to her, holding my hand out to her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. She took the seat next to me and snuggled into my side as she wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Is it Luke?”
“No.” I blew out a breath. “Luke hung out with Christopher today, and he kind of told me something that I wish you had told me.” I hated the look of hurt that appeared on her face, but she should have said something.
She ducked her head, avoiding my gaze. “What did he say?” she whispered.
“He told me that Christopher said to you that I would break your heart—that I wouldn’t be loyal to you.” I stared down at the top of her head, aggravated that she wouldn’t look at me. “Hey.” I reached out and placed my finger beneath her chin, tilting her face up to mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders at me. “I think I didn’t want to cause any more problems. I guess, I didn’t want to make it worse.”
“Laur. I don’t think that we could have made this any worse if we had tried.”
We both laughed before she cuddled her head against my shoulder.
We sat like that for a little while, just holding each other until I asked the question that had been plaguing me the whole walk home. “Is that why you said you’re not ready for sex with me?” I rested my chin on top of her head. “Is it because you’re afraid that I’m not going to stay?” She felt so tense in my arms. “I mean, do you secretly think that I’m going to be gone by morning or cast you aside by the time the sun comes up?” I waited for her response. I half-expected her to quickly explain her thoughts or feelings but she didn’t. She just sat there, leaning her weight against me and staring past me across the room.
Several moments passed and she still hadn’t answered me. Her silence was saying everything to me that her words weren’t.
Before I could completely run out of patience, she finally spoke.
“I’m just afraid, Thomas,” she whispered. “I’ve seen you with all of those other women.” She flicked her eyes up to mine, showing me how much it hurt her to say it. “I don’t think I would ever be able to get over it if you did that to me.” A tear leaked out of her eye and it killed me. She quickly reached up and wiped it away. “I know it’s different with us, though but it still scares me a little.”
I stared at her for a few moments, not knowing what I could say to wipe out the last I don’t know how many years and all those women that had been in and out of my bedroom. I didn’t think there was anything I could do. I just needed her to trust me and tell me that it was okay.
“You know that you and I aren’t like that, though. Don’t you?” I stared at her, not knowing if I was just making it worse. “I mean, you trust me, right?”
“I do,” she whispered. “Of course I do.”
I looked into her eyes before I leaned forward, closing the gap between us. I pressed my lips to hers, swallowing the moan that left her as I thrust my tongue in between her parted lips.
Whenever I had kissed her previously, I had always made sure to keep it gentle and slow. As I kissed her now, though, I let her feel how badly I wanted her—how crazy she had my thoughts twisted up and how badly I wanted her to need me as desperately as I was beginning to crave her.
I pulled back, loving the sight of her swollen mouth from our kiss. I rubbed my thumb across her bottom lip, noting the look of lust that I could see reflected in her eyes.
“Do you want me, Lauren?” I stood, not giving her a chance to reply. I held my hand down to her, secretly thrilled whe
n she immediately placed her small one in mine, and I tugged her up from the sofa. I wrapped my arm around her waist and tangled my fingers in the ends of her hair as it hung down her back. “Do you want me as badly as I want you?”
Her eyes flicked down to my mouth as she slowly nodded her head.
I reached my palms down and grasped her ass cheeks, massaging them tenderly. I gently lifted her up, loving the way that she wrapped her legs around my waist and placed her arms in a loose hold around my shoulders. I leaned forward and kissed in between her collar bones, loving the shiver that travelled through her from where my lips touched her.
“I want you,” I whispered. “Can I make love to you?”
She stared down at me for a moment before she slowly nodded her head. She slightly lowered her head and began kissing along the side of my neck, her tongue peeking out and tasting my skin. “My room,” she whispered.
I walked through her door, groaning when I felt her rock her hips gently against my belt buckle. I unwrapped her legs from around my waist and lowered her feet to the ground. She gazed up at me, and the way she was biting her lip was almost enough to make me come in my pants. Of all the times I had looked at her over the years, it had never been anywhere close to sexual between us. That was different now.
As I stared down at her, the only thing that I wanted to do was throw her on to the bed and lose myself inside her. Fuck her hard and slow. Fast and soft. Over and over again. Our first time, though, couldn’t be anything like that. Right now, I had to stay in control. Lauren wasn’t the girl that you fucked. Soft and slow was what she deserved, and I was determined to be the man to give her whatever she wanted.
“I know you want me, Lauren.”
She slowly nodded her head agreeing, stopping as she grasped the hem of her T-shirt and slowly lifted it up her body. She was so vulnerable and innocent right now and incredibly fucking sexy. With every patch of skin that was revealed as the material moved up, I could feel my cock get harder, trapped in the confines of my jeans. She pulled it up over her head and tossed it to the side.