by Andi Bremner
“I know I shouldn’t go,” I told him.
“But?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. She sounded upset.”
“You got that from a text message?”
“I can always tell,” I told him honestly, “something must have happened with Kent.”
At the mention of his name Luke’s jaw hardened but he didn’t say anything.
“Maybe I should just go,” I told him.
“Are you kidding me? That woman tried to kill you last time you went there,” he reminded me, “and if Kent has kicked her to the curb for good this time then I say that that is fucking great.”
“Luke,” I flinched at the hardness in his voice.
“Listen to me,” he gripped my shoulders tightly, pulling me to my tiptoes as he stared down into my eyes, “listen to me carefully, Trin, because I need to make sure you understand. You are not to see that woman. You are not to go there and you are not to answer any of her fucking text messages. Am I making myself clear?”
I nodded and then struggled out of his hands. “I get it.”
“Promise me,” he demanded, “I know how you get with her. Promise me you won’t give in.”
He was right. I was a coward when it came to my mother. I let her push me around like no one else. I gave in all the time when it came to her, always hoping and praying that this time it would be different and it never was. “You’re right,” I told him with a confidence I didn’t quite feel. “I promise. I won’t even reply.”
He smiled, and kissed the top of my head. “Good girl. Now tell me, what are we doing today?”
I shook my head. “We aren’t doing anything at all, and I have the gig tonight remember. Molly is picking me up in a couple of hours and driving me to the country club.”
Luke’s smile fell. “That’s right, you are gone all night. You sure I can’t come?”
I giggled. “I would love it if you did but unfortunately the invitation was just for us. I’m not sure that they would appreciate me bringing a date.”
He frowned. “Well I guess I can be without you for one night, although I don’t know how I am going to stand it.”
I ran my fingers over his chest and leaned in close to him, inhaling deeply. He smelled like sweat and orange juice, a weird combination that did strange things in the pit of my belly. But then this was Luke, everything about him did strange things to my body. Delicious things.
“Well, we do have a couple of hours,” I whispered into his ear, “Maybe I could make it so that you are so exhausted you won’t even notice that I’m gone.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” He walked me backwards so that we were headed for his room.
“Well, we could start with this…” I reached up and pressed my lips to his, tugging on his lower lip and swirling my tongue across his lips.
He groaned against my mouth. “Tell me more.”
“Tell or show?” I teased, just as we reached his room. He picked me up and threw me back on the bed.
His eyes glowed down on me as he pulled his shirt off over his head revealing his hard, muscled body. I gasped at the sight of him, still slick with sweat from his run, the smooth planes of his chest, the narrow hips, and the thin line of hair that disappeared beneath his shorts.
“Tell me first,” he muttered, grabbing my shorts and tugging them over my hips, “tell me what you want me to do to you. I know you like to talk like that.”
I swallowed. He was right. I did like to talk dirty, but so did he. As I began to speak, I could see his erection pressing against his shorts and felt my desire stirring. “I want to feel your hands on me. I want to feel your fingers sliding over my skin.”
“Here?” he asked, sliding his fingers up and down my thighs.
I gulped. “Higher.”
He pushed my t-shirt up and traced circles over my stomach. “What about here?”
I moved my legs up and down on the sheets in frustration and groaned. “Lower.”
He pulled his hand away and sat back on his heels his eyes glittering darkly. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand pushing it between my legs. “Why don’t you show me exactly what you want me to do?”
I flushed and moved my hand away, embarrassed, but Luke grabbed my hand and pushed it back.
“Show me,” he insisted, “I want to watch.”
Feeling a mixture of brave and nervous I moved my fingers tentatively at first, unsure. Luke’s eyes left mine and instead he focused on what my fingers were doing. A small sound escaped the back of his throat as he watched me and I grew braver and more wanton, spreading my legs further for his view.
“Fuck, babe.”
His words only served to increase my own desire and I moved with more confidence, my fingers sliding back and forth over my clit. The tension was building in me, further enhanced not just by my actions but by the way Luke was looking at me. God, his eyes alone would send me over the edge.
“You are so beautiful,” he muttered, “so fucking sexy.”
I smiled and then felt my body began to clench but it wasn’t enough, I was close but I needed more. “Luke,” I moaned, “I need you.”
He wasted no time but pulled of his shorts and before I knew it he had plunged himself deep inside me, his hands holding my ankles out to the sides to surge deeper. I cried out at the first contact and came instantly, feeling my body clench against him as he thrust deeper and deeper inside me. Then I heard him call my name, his hands reaching down to pull me up to meet his demanding kisses as he reached his own release.
“Oh my god,” he muttered against my mouth, “do you know, Trin? Do you know how much I love you?”
I smiled. “You love me?” It was the first time he had actually said he loved me.
“So fucking much it hurts, babe,” he muttered collapsing on the bed next to me, “so much I can’t breathe just thinking about it.”
I stared into his eyes, feeling my chest swell. “I love you too. I love you.”
****
Trinity
Molly picked me up from Mark’s house. I still officially lived there even if I spent nearly every night at Luke’s apartment. I knew he wanted me to leave Mark’s and move in permanently with him but I couldn’t do that to Toby. It was bad enough that I was there all the time and he had to put up with Luke and I. I knew the walls were paper thin, Toby made sure to let me know that, and I was also treated to the sounds of his own love making. He had a steady stream of girls in and out his room, girls that no longer included Gwen. I frowned at that thought. I had a feeling that he had hurt her bad.
“You ready?” she asked as I climbed in the back seat next to Olivia and Shawna. Gwen was in the front.
“Yep.”
“I almost expected to see Luke,” Shawna teased. “How is he coping letting you go for one night.”
I shrugged, “I think he is going to visit his family or something. I think they have some family function.” He had mentioned it briefly but hadn’t gone into detail. I suspected that it involved the Newtons. Even though Luke hadn’t said it out loud I knew that his family didn’t approve of me. I was the wrong kind of girl for him, I came from the wrong type of family and basically everything about me was wrong. After that horrible lunch he hadn’t taken me back to see them, instead going to visit when I had rehearsals or was at work. I hated that he was torn between them and me and vowed that I would never make him choose. They were his family and they loved him, they needed to be a part of his life but in saying that I knew that I too needed to be a part of it too. That I was not going to give him up for them, no matter what.
“Just think, girls,” Gwen said, with a grin, “ten grand for one night of singing.”
“And the contract.”
We all whooped at the mention of the contract. After last Saturday night we had all gone to Sunlight Records and met with Charles Murphy, signing a contract with him just yesterday. In two weeks we were headed into the studio to record our first single. I could pinc
h myself and was sure I would wake up any moment. It was all too perfect. Between Moonstone and Luke I felt as if life was being way too kind to me at the moment. I was terrified to think too much about it though, scared to be too happy in case it all got swept away.
After all just six weeks ago I had been sleeping in my car, with no money and a busted up face.
We pulled into the country club and waited as Gwen booked us in, following a valet as he led us down to our rooms. We had two rooms. Shawna, Gwen, and Olivia were sharing one and Molly and I had the other. We had a couple of hours to settle in and get relaxed before we needed to get ready for the wedding reception later that evening.
“Come on,” Molly tugged on my arm just as I had lay back on the bed, “let’s go and check this place out.”
“Can’t I rest first,” I groaned, suddenly feeling tired. My body ached all over from the bedroom activities I had shared with Luke, but it was a welcome kind of pain.
“No,” she grinned, “no rest for the wicked, now get your ass up.”
I followed her out of the rooms and down the corridor. I had never been to a country club before and it was a part of a world I wasn’t familiar with. Everything was beautiful and elegant, including all the people that milled about everywhere. We stumbled into a beautiful dining room and stopped dead. It was set for a wedding and was obviously where we would be performing later on. Waiters and staff milled around setting things up still but it was breathtaking.
Massive chandeliers hung from the ceilings and there were flowers everywhere. Massive pink and white bouquets covering the tables and spread across the bridal table. About a hundred pieces of cutlery lined each place setting and bottles of wine were placed in front of each setting.
“Cute,” Molly muttered, picking up one of the bottles of wine and holding it up for me to see, “the wedding couple.”
I had never met the groom and bride, Gwen having taken care of all the arrangements. Now I took a moment to examine them. She was tall and slender with long blonde hair that hung down her back, he was taller with dark hair and they smiled at the camera looking for the world like the perfect couple. Glancing around the opulence of the reception venue I couldn’t help but wonder if they were not in fact the perfect couple.
“Come on,” Molly tugged on my hand I replaced the bottle of wine as I followed her outside and down the rolling green lawns to where a floral arch stood. I pulled her back when I realized what we were about to intrude upon.
“It’s the wedding,” I hissed.
“I know,” she told me, “we are just having a peak. C’mon.”
Reluctantly I followed her as we crept up on the couple who were exchanging vows. The girl was beautiful, dressed in an amazing figure hugging lace wedding dress, a simple veil tumbling down her blonde locks and pooling in a swathe of fabric at her feet. The groom was repeating his vows, his eyes locked on hers. I drew in a breath. They were in love. Deeply in love.
Around them sat hundreds of wedding guests, their eyes fixed on the bride and groom as mine were. Suddenly the celebrant told them they could kiss and I couldn’t bring myself to look away as he pulled his bride into his arms and locked his mouth to hers.
Everything was just so perfect.
Tears pricked my eyes but I blinked them back. I wanted that, I realized, I wanted the perfect, the happily ever after. My eyes went the older couples in the front rows. His family and hers. I tried to imagine something like this for Luke and me but it was impossible. I couldn’t have my mother at my wedding, if I ever had one, and Luke’s family would never clap and look so happy at the prospect of him and I marrying.
Suddenly an overwhelming sadness settled in my chest and I bit my lip to stop for crying out as I realized for the first time how pointless Luke and I were. I loved him, of this I was sure, and he loved me, I was sure of that too. Truth be told, I knew he loved me long before he told me that morning. I knew it in the way he looked at me, the way he touched me and the way he had protected me on more than one occasion.
But so what? What did that love matter if we couldn’t have this? If we couldn’t have a future together? Luke would graduate from college soon and probably move to a big city for work. I couldn’t go, I couldn’t leave Moonstone, they were my family and my future. We were just beginning and I couldn’t give up our dreams now, not that Luke had even asked me to. All we had was now. And whilst now was fucking awesome, not was not going to be enough. There was a future out there that I couldn’t imagine how would work for us.
“Trin?” I heard Molly mutter beside me, “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”
I nodded and brushed away the single tear that had escaped my rapid blinking. I straightened. “Sorry. I guess I am just a big romantic at heart.”
She smiled. “Aren’t we all, hon?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Luke
Opening the door I stepped into my parents’ home, calling out a hello as I did.
Brooke appeared from the living room, a smile on her face. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to visit,” I told her, “they here?”
She shook her head, “Nope. They’ve left already.”
That’s right. I remembered now that they had the Newton function on, something I was supposed to go to but had reneged on. I didn’t want to be around that family at all. I didn’t want to be around him.
“They’ve gone early haven’t they?” I said. It was barely six p.m., most of the society functions didn’t start until much later.
“They had to drive to the country club,” Brooke told me with a shrug, “that’s where the wedding is.”
“Wedding?” I repeated, my heart stammering to a halt in my chest.
“The Newtons’ wedding.”
I shook my head. “Hang on. Bianca’s wedding isn’t for another few weeks,” I corrected, referring to Melissa’s cousin, “I thought tonight was something to do with a merger.”
“Duh,” Brooke rolled her eyes, “the merge of the Newtons with the Houghton’s. The merger through the wedding. They brought forward the date because Bianca is pregnant and they didn’t want her showing. It’s a secret.”
Fuck. My mind was racing to join together all the dots that I already knew were connected. The Newtons and my parents were at a wedding at a country club. Trinity was performing at a wedding in a country club. It was not possible that there were two different weddings or two different country clubs.
“Wait,” I said, “how did you know Bianca is pregnant if it’s a secret?”
She grinned. “When will you learn Luke? I. Know. Everything.”
I stared at her. “Is Trinity playing at the wedding?”
“Sure. Moonstone is the entertainment. I don’t think Mom and Dad realize it’s her band,” she giggled, “but I reckon Melissa is going to be real pissed when she realizes who it is.”
“What do you know Brooke?”
“I know that there is another reason why Melissa hates Trinity so much,” she said casually, “a reason that has absolutely nothing to do with you either.”
“Little sister,” I began, “you are going to get yourself into serious trouble one day with your gossiping.”
I turned to go.
“Wait!” she called, “where are you going?”
“I have to get to the wedding,” I told her, “before the shit hits the fan.”
“Wait for me!” she ran upstairs and then emerged a few minutes later having pulled on some shoes. “There is no way I am missing this.”
“Brooke,” I groaned, “this is not fodder for your gossip. This is real life. This is Trinity’s life.”
“And we need to make sure that Melissa doesn’t do something to ruin it,” she agreed as she ran past me and out the door.
I nodded, my chest tight as I followed her. She was damn right. I had no idea what I would be walking into but I was scared.
There was something not right about this. Not right at all.
****
Melissa and her family were at the wedding.
My parents were at the wedding.
Trinity was at the wedding.
Surely nothing would happen. As far as Trinity was concerned Mr. Newton and Melissa were simply parents of my friends and nothing more. I had kept the secret, as much as I hated it I realized that Mr. Newton was right. There was no point in telling Trinity that I knew who her father was when it wouldn’t change anything. Mr. Newton would never do anything for her, knowing the scumbag he was wouldn’t change a thing in her life.
I didn’t dare admit that the real reason I didn’t tell her was because I didn’t want to lose her. I was doing this for her, I told myself whenever I felt the doubts and guilt creep in, not me.
It was for her.
Brooke prattled on the whole way to the country club but I barely paid her any attention. It was dark by the time we pulled into the car park which was filled with expensive cars. I spotted parents car and Mr. Newton’s, but parked a long way from them by what I suspected were the staff cars, cars of older makes and models. Climbing out I ran a hand through my hair thinking this through for the first time.
Fuck. How was I going to explain my presence to anyone there? Trinity would want to know why I was there, Melissa too, not to mention my parents. What if I had panicked for no reason at all? What if Melissa said nothing, what if she did nothing more than shot daggers Trinity’s way. What if Trinity didn’t even know she was there, I mean, these affairs could be pretty big things. What if I had completely overreacted?
Beside me Brooke giggled and I glanced down at her, having almost forgotten that she was there. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said with amusement, “I’ve never seen anyone that drunk before though. I mean Emma got really drunk at a party once but she just threw up and then fell asleep, but that lady is stumbling and literally falling off her shoes.”