“You actually caught them?” he asked as he took a sip of his wine.
“Yep,” she replied and quickly flashed a look at Cole who was studying her face. “He was working late and I called to his office. I was supposed to be out on a breakdown call and I walked in while she was giving him a blow job.”
“I’m sorry,” Cole said quietly, surprising Ally.
“Don’t be,” she said and smiled. “It was the best thing that could have happened. It helped me see the relationship for the train wreck it was.”
“Why did you think I was him?” Cole asked and Ally could feel her face burn as she remember the hostile way she had answered the door to him.
“He called me earlier,” she replied and Cole stiffened and sat up straight and put his wine glass down on the table. Ally tried to read his face but it was completely expressionless except for the slight tightening of his jaw.
“What did he want?” Cole asked he voice almost a growl and Ally knew he was not happy.
“He wanted to talk,” she explained shifting nervously in her seat. “He said he missed me and he made a mistake and he regretted it every day since. He said he was sorry and that I belonged with him.”
“And what did you say?” he asked. It was Cole’s turn to shift uncomfortable in his seat.
“What do you think I said?” she answered him and rolled her eyes and sighed. “I told him to take a run and jump. Cole, he cheated on me. I don’t do second chances. I would never lie to someone and I would never cheat, so I won’t accept it off anyone else.”
“Absolutely,” he replied with a sharp, single nod to the head but his eyes didn’t meet hers. Ally suddenly felt uncomfortable but she didn’t know why. She thought maybe he wasn’t convinced himself and when he didn’t let his eyes meet her she got the feeling she was missing something entirely and she felt her stomach knot. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she announced standing up abruptly. Without pausing she turned and headed straight for her en-suite.
She was about to close the door behind her when she could feel it being pushed from the far side.
Cole was standing in the doorway.
“What the hell are you doing?” she exclaimed confused by his behaviour.
“Why are you running from me again?” he replied stepping forward and taking her by the arms.
“I am using the bathroom,” she replied and tried to pull her arms free of his grasp.
“You are putting up a wall,” he replied. “You are hiding something from me. You said you didn’t lie. What are you hiding?”
“I am not hiding anything,” she replied angrily.
“There is something you’re not telling me,” he replied. “You are so determined about this Jason guy. What else happened?”
“There is nothing else,” she protested. She was not ready to tell him about her father. She didn’t really like to talk about him to anyone. She hadn’t even told Jason the reason she didn’t talk to her father, even after two years. She just told him she hadn’t seen him in a long time and had no desire to every do so again.
She also had horrible feeling Cole was hiding something from her and it scared her. She knew it could be just her own standard insecurities but she wasn’t sure. She wanted to asked him straight out but she was afraid of the answer she would get.
“You just said you never lied,” he said standing so close to her she could feel his breath against her face. “Yet you are lying to me right now.”
“IT IS ABOUT MY DAD!” she choosing the less confrontational "issue" at hand. She was suddenly feeling angry. She pushed him away and stormed out...of the bathroom into her bedroom.
“Ally,” Cole said as he grabbed her arms and pulled her too him. “I’m sorry.” She tried to pull herself free from his embrace but instead he just held her closer to him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers one more time as slowly the fight left her and she allowed him to enfold her in his arms. He reached up and softly brushed a tear from her face that had suddenly broken free, with the back of his fingers.
She pressed her face against his chest as she tried to calm her breathing down. Each deep breath filling her senses with his glorious scent.
She tipped her head up until her eyes locked with him and the anger slowly melted in to desire. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and pressed her lips to his and she instantly melted into his body.
She let her fingers find the buttons on his shirt as she impatiently began to pull them open as the need to feel him became the only thing she could think of. She pushed it from his broad shoulders and let it drift to the floor.
She moved them both backward until she could feel her bed behind her legs. Breaking away from her breathlessly, he looked in to her eyes and his face was full of desire and want.
Slowly he unbuttoned her pyjama top as he traced kisses across her jaw and down her neck. He slipped the top off her shoulders and let it hit the floor. Bending down in front of her he took her bare breast in his mouth and sucked and nipped it hard as desire exploded inside her.
She ran her hands through his hair pulling him closer to her as his mouth dropped from her breast to her bare stomach and he ran his tongue down it until he reached the waist of her pyjama bottoms. He hooked his two fingers inside the waist band and slid them down her legs trailing his tongue downwards as he did so.
He pressed his lips against the apex of her thigh and then, holding her by the waist, slowly lowered her on to the bed. He grabbed her hips firmly and quickly pulled her closer to him before he spread her legs open and ran his tongue up the inside of her thigh and Ally gasped as her heart began to bang rapidly in her chest.
Finally his mouth met his goal as he pressed his lips against her and flicked his tongue against her already swollen clit. Ally fisted the bed clothes and cried out when he took her it in his mouth and sucked it hard. She could feel his fingertips slid up the inside of her legs until they reached just below his mouth and then they slip inside her.
“Oh God, Cole!” she cried out breathlessly. She tried to move herself against him longing for some relief but suddenly his other hand clamped down on her pelvis, pinning her to the bed so she couldn’t move.
It wasn’t long before the build up inside her was taking over and spreading out to every part of her body, making her convulse as her orgasm ripped through her.
She was still trying to calm her breathing when she felt the bed dip as Cole pushed her further up the bed and climbed over her. He was naked. When he had stripped, she wasn’t sure. He slipped his legs between hers and pushed inside her hard and stilled.
She opened her eyes which she had pinched shut and found his eyes staring back at her. They were so dark and intense; his gaze made Ally hold her breath.
Suddenly, very slowly he began to move in inside her as he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her hard and deep.
Ally hooked her feet behind his ass and pulled him deeper into her.
He pushed into her harder and harder, again and again. Breaking his lips away from hers breathlessly he quickly dropped them to her neck and pressed them against her and moaned.
“Ally, you are so fucking amazing,” he whispered against her tingling skin. “I just can’t get enough of you.”
He pushed on harder and harder and she could feel her head spin and her body shake with the pleasure as he brought her higher and higher.
Suddenly he kneeled up and pulled her up with him so she was straddling him. Gripping her hips tightly he raised her just enough so he could stretch his legs out and then he began to move her back and forth over him as he push himself up and down beneath her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to move on her own, grinding in to him and meeting him thrust for thrust.
They were wrapped tightly around each other; their hot sweaty bodies were moving almost as one.
“Come for me, Ally,” Cole growled as he pressed his mouth against her neck. As if on cu
e, she threw her head back and cried out his name as her second orgasm thundered through her body like a freight train. Cole slammed against her three more times and came inside her, her name almost a cry from his lips before they both flopped down on the bed still wrapped tightly in each other’s arms breathlessly.
They lay entwined in each other’s arm silently for the longest time.
“You didn’t use a condom!” Ally exclaimed when the thought crossed her mind.
“I saw your pill in the bathroom,” he said looking a little embarrassed. “You don’t have to worry. I have never had unprotected sex before.”
“Then why did you now?” she asked looking at him in surprise.
“I wanted - no - needed you. And only you. I can’t get close enough.” he said and kissed her softly.
They lay side by side for a long time. Listening to each other ragged breathing slowing gradually until finally they were both calm.
Cole suddenly rolled on to his side and stared at Ally and she turned to him and smiled shyly and rolled over so they were face to face.
“What happened with your Dad?” Cole asked as he softly brushed his fingers up and down Ally’s naked back. She tensed at his question and rolled away from him.
“Ally,” he said softly as he leaned up on his elbow and watched her. “You know you can trust me.”
“When I was thirteen my Mom was diagnosed with stage one cervical cancer. The doctor said they had caught it early enough and that she was going to be fine. So she began her treatment and sure enough she went into remission. We were all terrified we would lose her but she beat it.
“But then three weeks before my fifteenth birthday she collapsed and was rushed to hospital,” Ally stopped and sat up in the bed and took a deep breath. She hated talking about her Mom like this.
“They said the cancer had come back and that it was already at stage four and was extremely aggressive. She died three weeks later; the day of my fifteenth birthday.”
“I am so sorry Ally,” he said sitting up as he reaching out and taking her hand.
“The reason I hate my Dad,” Ally continued as she turned to look at him. “Oh, did I mention I hated the lying bastard?”
“No, you didn’t,” Cole replied now watching her closely.
“Well the reason I hate him is because while my Mom was fighting for every extra day she could get,” Ally said her voice was now cold and hard and so unlike her, “that scumbag was off banging his bit on the side. The night my Mom died she called for him again and again. He was off fucking his tart”.
“Jesus!” was all Cole could say.
“That’s why I don’t do second chances,” she replied sadly. “My mom knew what he was up to. And she died with a broken heart. I will never give anyone that power over me. Jason said he loved me but I guess not quite enough because he still cheated on me.”
“And that’s why you were worried I was married?” Cole asked.
“I could never be the other woman,” she replied turning and looking straight into his eyes. “I could never be the person who ruins a kid’s life the way that tramp ruined mine. All I could think was if it wasn’t for her he would have loved my Mom. After she died I just couldn’t stand to see him and ‘the tramp’ together so I went to live with my grandparents. And I haven’t seen him since.”
“And you blame the other woman for taking him from you Mum?” he asked.
“She didn’t just take him from my mother,” Ally replied and turned to Cole. “She took him from me too. When my Mom died, it was clear I became an inconvenience to him and his tart. I hated her and there was nothing but arguments between me and him and me and her. And when I said I was going to live with my grandparents, he seemed relieved. He picked her and I hate her for it. And I hate him, too. That’s why I could never do the stepmother thing. I know no matter what I did the kid would hate me and with good reason”.
Cole just stared at her but didn’t reply. In fact he said nothing else. Not an “I’m sorry” or anything, not a single word for the rest of the night. Ally looked over at him and his eyes were filled with sadness and suddenly he seemed filled with uncertainty. Again, she got the gnawing feeling there was something she was missing.
Unlike the night before they didn’t fall asleep in each other arms and Ally was acutely aware there was a sudden distance in Cole. He seemed angry and like he was lost in his own thoughts.
When she woke the next morning, he was already dressed and sitting at the side of her bed watching her closely. His face looked strained with what Ally could only assume was some kind of inner struggle. The look on his face instantly put Ally on her guard.
“Hey,” she said nervously.”
“Hey yourself,” he said, his voice cold and a little distant.
“Are you okay?” Ally said sitting up suddenly in the bed and pulling her sheet over her.
For a moment he didn’t reply instead he just stared at the floor.
Ally could feel her heart racing and as soon as his eyes met hers she knew what was coming so before he could speak she did.
“It’s okay, Cole,” she said and forced a smile. “Don’t stress about it. It was fun but it got a little deep and I freaked you out. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“Ally, please just let me explain,” Cole replied looking almost surprised by her remark.
“Honestly there is no need,” she said and forced smile on her face she really didn’t feel. “I think it would be best if you just left.”
“Ally, you don’t understand…” sitting up straight on the end of the bed, he tried to explain but Ally didn’t want to hear it.
“Just go!” she snapped abruptly refusing to look at him any longer. She has behaved so out of character for her, the past two days and now she felt stupid, embarrassed and little hurt.
Cole sighed and stared at her for a moment and Ally thought her heart was going to burst. Then he stood up and walked over to her. He bent down and kissed Ally softly on the cheek.
“Goodbye, Ally,” he sighed as his eyes held hers for a moment. They seemed filled with pain. Ally thought he was going to say more. The look of sadness in his eyes tugged at Ally’s heart. But he didn’t say another word. He stood up, turned and walked out.
Ally sat motionless until she heard her apartment door slam. Then she finally released the breath she was holding with a sob. She curled into a ball on her bed and began to cry.
And just like that- it was over.
Chapter 7
All Sunday, Caitlin and Hannah rang Ally's phones, which Ally avoided and let go to voice mail. She wasn't ready to tell them what happened with Cole. The truth was she didn’t really know what had happened with Cole herself.
She had spent most of the day in bed crying which she knew was completely ridiculous. She had two nights of…well, really amazing sex … but that was it. He never promised to love her forever and she hadn’t wanted him too, either. She had wanted a little fun and that was what Cole had been. So why couldn’t she just get him out of her head.
She spent all day Monday checking her phone again and again. She tried to convince herself it wasn’t in the hope that Cole might have called. But there were no calls and no text from him.
But then why would there be. She told him to leave. He had wanted to explain but she shot him down and didn’t give him a chance.
Earlier than normal, Ally donned her fuzzy pink pyjamas and crawled into bed. She lay there staring at her cell phone. She opened the 'Contacts' menu, and scrolled down to COLE THOMAS. Over Chinese food on Saturday, they'd exchanged numbers properly so they wouldn't miss each other's calls again.
She hovered her finger over the call button for what seemed like forever. But she couldn’t press send. She threw her phone on to her bedside table and reached over and switched off her lamp.
She lay there in the darkness and every time she closed her eyes, she could see his face. She could feel his touch on her skin and his lips on hers.
She could take no more. She sprang up in the bed and reached for the phone. She brought his number up on the screen once again. She looked over at her alarm clock and the time was 10:35pm. She stared back down at the phone for a moment and pressed dial. She listen to it ring a couple of times before she chickened out and hung up the phone.
She blew out the breath she had been hold and giggled nervously. She powered off her phone and put it back on to the bedside table before she lay down and drifted off into a restless sleep.
When she got to work on Tuesday she made a conscious decision to leave her phone in her locker. She knew she would keep checking for messages. And she was finding harder and harder not to call him, having dialled his number already once that morning and hanging up again. No, she was going to avoid temptation. He weirded out on her and she was fairly sure there was something he wasn’t telling her. She was better off out of it.
She grabbed her iPod and got to work on the car she was due to service.
A little after lunch, Anna from reception came in to the service area with a huge bunch of red roses in a beautiful glass vase and an equally huge grin on her face.
“Hey, Ally,” she called as she walked to up her with the flowers. “It looks like someone is making a grand gesture.”
Ally took the flowers from Anna and pressed her face into them and smelt their beautiful scent. Her heart banged in her chest as she tried to pretend she wasn’t hoping they were from Cole.
She pulled the little white envelope suck to the side of the flowers and quickly slid out the card and read the message. It simply said,
“ xxx ”
“Who’s it from?” Anna asked with a cheeky grin.
“Now that would be telling,” Ally replied and laughed. She smile as she pressed her face into the flower and inhaled their glorious scent. She couldn’t believe Cole would do this. He really was full of surprises. But why hadn’t he called her? Why hadn’t he tried to talk to her? She felt so confused.
By the time it was time to leave for the day, she was feeling a little deflated once again. She had checked her phone when she pulled her bag from her locker and she was a little disappointed there was only a couple of message from both Hannah and Caitlin.
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