‘I will miss you, but it’s a bit of luck I nicked one of your T-shirts previously. At least I’ll have something to sleep with.’ Without any warning his hands came up to mine rapidly and pinned them easily to my sides. My mouth was set about by his and my back was forced backwards onto the steering wheel. His tongue probed into my willing mouth. Once I had been kissed nearly breathless, he pulled away slightly and made straight for my tart button, my neck. He growled in-between licking and biting me.
‘Don’t make this easy for me will you, baby?’ The voice I so loved had deepened with his arousal.
‘No, Sir... I want you back ASAP.’ I grinned and reluctantly started to remove myself from him. He didn’t move from the driver’s seat and slowly I got out of the vehicle.
‘I will always find my way back to you, baby, always... I love you too much not to.’ His eyes found mine when he said those words and he offered me a small smile and a wink of his eye.
‘I love you too... so much.’ I closed the car door, hating the finality of the click it made and began to walk towards the lift. Edwards was there trying to be discreet, holding the door open for me. As I reached the lift door I turned to watch Alex leave. I watched him drive up the slope and out of the garage until the red brake lights could no longer be seen and it felt like Coronado all over again.
Thirty-Five
I made my way quite sadly into the apartment Bella and I shared. A smil
e found its way to my lips to find Nathan there too.
‘OK?’ Bella offered.
‘Yeah, I’m fine, just... oh you know... I would just prefer Alex to have still been here... you understand?’
‘I’m always available ya know, chocolate drop.’ I looked down at a spread-eagled Nathan stretched out on one of our settees.
Laughing and shaking my head at him, I gently tapped the bent knee of his good leg.
‘Yeah... right. It’s not quite the same you know?’ I raised my eyebrows in question to him. He started grinning, using his full on bad boy smile to great effect. The relaxed atmosphere had at least brought a smile back to my face. I sat down with a jolt at the opposite end to Nathan. He deliberately put the bare foot of his good leg on my lap. I grimaced at him laughing. Bella was slowly wandering around the apartment unpacking. On the way past the telephone she pressed the answer machine button and the quiet of the room was broken by my aunt’s voice.
‘I know you’re away, Frankie and Bella. I do hope you are having a wonderful time with those lovely men of yours.’ There was a short pause then, ‘Oh girls I don’t know how to tell you, I don’t want you to worry. But, well Uncle Robert let down his guard the other day. Well Karen had turned up on our doorstep asking about you. He let it slip where you were... we’re both really sorry, I’m sure she won’t turn up, but you know your mother, love.’ She sighed, ‘Anyway, sorry again. Phone soon OK. Let us know..........’
The answer machine shut off then, obviously the message had been too long and she had cut off at the end.
Bloody hell, crafty bitch... what the hell does she want?
My eyes found Bella’s and we both sighed. Nathan had been watching us both.
‘I take it, girls, this isn’t a good thing?’ He asked turning his head from one of us to the other, waiting for an answer.
‘You could say,’ I answered. I didn’t really know where to begin.
‘I have no parental relationship with her, Nathan... at all. All she ever wanted to be was a bloody kept woman, I was too much hassle for her... you know? I was too much of a commitment. I tied her down. She floats in and out of my life as and when it bloody well suits her, usually when she wants or needs something. It has never mattered if I wanted or needed anything.’
I lifted his leg up and away from my lap and stood up. ‘God only knows what she’s after this time.’ I said almost as a thought to myself rather than a statement.
‘You may never find out, chocolate drop, you’re a long way away from England,’ came from the voice on the settee.
‘You don’t know her, Nate... if she wants something, she’d fly over on her broomstick just to guilt Frankie enough to try and get it... OK enough about mutton dressed as lamb, otherwise known as Karen,’ Bella added as she gave me a quick hug, ‘Let’s sort ourselves out and shouldn’t you two be getting some physio done?’ she glanced at us both.
‘You are a slave driver, darlin,’ Nathan smiled up from his still prone position. His hands tucked under his head, looking like a fairer version of Alex.
I started to leave the room to go and unpack. I had to stifle a giggle and was relieved my back was to them both as I heard, ‘I need you back on that Harley Davidson, don’t I?’
Nathan laughed and answered, ‘You sure as hell do, darlin, you sure as hell do.’
We managed to do Nathan’s physio that afternoon. The difference in the strength of his leg was amazing and I hoped that the end result would be so good that you would have to really scrutinize his leg and study hard, to see any signs at all of a lingering limp. Unbeknown to me, whilst I had been getting laundry done, Nate had been down to see the security team at the front desk. He had updated them all on the state of affairs regarding my mother and her possible arrival in NYC.
The next morning was chillier than ever. The presenters on TV had even been discussing the probable amount of snow due in between now and Christmas. I had wrapped myself up fully and had gone out for my morning run. Bella was nowhere to be seen and I thought it was extremely plausible she was in a bed somewhere with Nathan, tucked up and warm. My bed had held no such luxury this morning and I wanted to be out of it as soon as my eyes had opened in the winter’s gloom.
The run was just what the doctor ordered; I ran fast and allowed my brain no time to think what I had possibly missed the night before. The run helped to erase the heightened sense of lust that seemed to occur every time I thought of Alex. I couldn’t wait to be back in his arms. Upon finishing my run I stopped to stretch out at my normal place, across the road from our building. The traffic was quite light being early on a Sunday.
After stretching out my hamstrings I stood back up. I could see Edwards talking to a woman outside the building. I hadn’t needed to scrutinise the figure any further. It was her, but then I’d known she would come. To have turned up at my aunt and uncle’s showed she was desperate for something. For once I hated being proven right. Now the question was did I cross the road and face the music or wait until she was turned away from the building. Edwards had noticed me there, but he was doing a fine and very polite job of keeping her from entering. Being with Alex these past few weeks had given me the confidence to face her. I stood tall and started walking, intending to cross the road as quickly as I could.
‘Karen,’ I spoke to her back and she turned around at the sound of my voice.
‘Oh there you are, Francesca.’ She turned slowly, everything she did and every movement she made was choreographed to absolute perfection. I had always been convinced that my mother had never played as a child. She would have practised her movements, hand gestures and expressions over and over, until she was entirely certain they had the desired outcome on all that she bestowed them on.
I was one of the few people that knew the bitch within. She just couldn’t help herself and I saw her look me up and down in disgust. Sweaty running clothes and comfortable, well-worn trainers were simply not the sort of attire I should be wearing. I could hear her think it, so loud it was almost as if she was shouting. She would prefer me to not eat at all and then I wouldn’t need to exercise.
‘I was just telling this man here that I am your mother,’ she bestowed a well used, but fake smile on Edwards and myself. I stopped a grin breaking out when I grasped that Edwards was the first man I had ever seen that was completely unmoved by the whole staged performance.
‘Really? How obtuse of you,’
I retorted.
OMFG for the first time in my life, I didn’t care what she thought of me, it was the most fantastic and exhilarating feeling.
I’d secretly wished Bella was there to see it. I could mentally see her high fiving me.
‘So what can I help you with?’
‘Where are the manners I brought you up with, Francesca? Do you no longer invite people in out of the cold anymore?’ She threw me a condescending look.
‘Right first thing, you spent no time on my upbringing whatsoever. Anything good about me was definitely not shaped by you!’
This felt damn good!
‘Secondly, I will invite you up, just to hear you out.’ I nodded at Edwards and he side stepped his large frame away from the entrance of the building. I was sure of one thing and one thing only; I was in charge of this meeting, not her. I made sure that I led into the penthouse lift and that she, for once in our relationship, followed. Edwards squeezed in with us, making it fairly obvious he was here at my discretion, should she need to be shown the way out again. All too soon we arrived at the penthouse level. I could see she was impressed, well who wouldn’t be? But to her material things like this, meant everything.
‘Well I must say, Francesca; this is a turn up for the books. Who would have thought it, my little girl living in a beautiful place like this.’ She had only seen the marble hallway and yes it was impressive, but quite frankly I was gobsmacked at the sheer audacity of the woman. I couldn’t retort just yet, I was waiting until we had entered the apartment. I let us in and walked in front of her, making sure my body language still confirmed that I was in charge of this meeting, not her. The deep voice of Edwards reached through to me.
‘Frankie, I’ll be outside the door.’ I nodded at him in understanding, and smiled my thanks to him. ‘Can you tell me has Alex arrived home yet?’ I knew it was a long shot, but hope was building up inside me as I wanted him to be around for what I knew was going to be one of the most difficult confrontations of my life.
‘No, not yet. Sorry.’
‘It’s OK, I was just checking,’ I smiled my answer, making sure my words conveyed my strength. I knew she would feed off of any form of insecurity.
The door closed and I was alone with her. Her tone changed instantaneously, the moment we were unaccompanied. She had walked herself over to the full length windows. She spun suddenly, a look of contempt now covering her expensively moisturised face.
‘Well now... haven’t we done well for ourselves?’ She couldn’t help the hint of jealous sarcasm pouring off her tongue.
I stood tall, for the first time ever; I wasn’t going to break under her condescending look. My hands found the settee and behind the cover of the large cushions I gripped the back until my knuckles had quite possibly turned white.
‘Yes I have, thank you for noticing.’
‘So you are working here, I understand.’ She ignored my sarcasm and carried on with her script.
‘Yes I am... OK, enough of the twenty questions, we need to move away from the small talk and get to the nitty gritty of exactly why you have sought me out?’
‘You haven’t even asked me to sit.’
‘You don’t need a seat. Just spit it out.’
‘My goodness, you have at last grown a backbone, my dear.’
I inhaled and fixed my eyes straight up to meet hers.
‘The trouble is, Karen; you no longer have any hold over me whatsoever. There are only so many times your so called parents can push you away and turn their backs on you, before you decide to walk away from them altogether. I suggest to you now, that you tell me what you want from me this time, before I have you escorted from the building. Your time is fast running out.’
Movement came from the other side of the room. I became aware that Bella and Nathan had joined us. I looked up to see Nathan only wearing sweat shorts and showing off his bare torso and Bella wore his T-shirt from yesterday. The look of surprise instantly covered Bella’s face, at seeing our house guest.
‘Frankie, are you OK?’
I lifted my hand to her to get her to stop talking.
‘Karen here is just going to explain exactly why she has come to see us.’
I watched my mother take in Bella and Nathan’s state of undress. ‘Arabella, how are you?... And this young man... I don’t believe we have been introduced, but I believe you to be some sort of bike rider?’
Alpha males obviously ran in Alex’s family, I could almost physically see the dominance exuding from the normally playful Nathan’s pores. He stood himself unconsciously up to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest.
‘Where’s Edwards?’ He growled.
‘I don’t need Edwards, Nathan,’ I turned myself back to my mother, ‘so? I’m waiting.’
She sat herself down uninvited on a corner of the settee. ‘Well, so it’s a brothel you girls have here is it?... albeit a very high class one.’ I saw from the very corner of my eye Bella put out an arm to stop Nathan moving. ‘Francesca you should come home.’
‘What the hell for,... just bloody well tell me what the hell you want from me?’
‘I am getting divorced,’ she finally admitted. ‘Luke McMorran’s father is my solicitor... He feels you two were so good together; he would love to see you back together... and well he feels he could get me a much better settlement if we were family.’ Luke was my first and only ever boyfriend, before Alex. Momentarily I was stunned.
Christ knows why? This was typical of our relationship. I stared at her then, feeling like I could finally see her warts and all for the very first time. Before I knew what was happening I was laughing, I mean really laughing.
‘So let me get this right... you accuse Bella and I of being prostitutes, which quite obviously we’re bloody not and then you expect me to leave my life here and come home to sell my body, all so you can get a bigger divorce settlement?... You are not only delusional; you are the most selfish bitch I have ever had the misfortune to come across... I cannot believe… YOU… GAVE BIRTH TO ME!’ I could see Bella grinning like a Cheshire cat out of the corner of my eye.
‘I have a fantastic job here,’ I waved my arms around the huge apartment. ‘I am in love for the first time in my life, with the most fantastic and loving man... you really are under some sort of misconception,’ I was shaking my head.
I watched her face change then, from manipulative cow to evil snarling bitch and I knew I had awoken the beast.
‘I think you have to ask yourself, Francesca... why would a man like Alex Blackmore want you? Especially a fantastic and loving one, you are a mousey little thing. I am sure given a few weeks, when you have served a purpose, he will throw you away like the trash you seem to constantly dress in. Let’s face it; the whole love thing could be simply a ruse, to stop a civil case looking into JJ’s death, couldn’t it?’
My wonderful new found confidence was slipping at her put down and her thoughts.
‘My brother is in love with Frankie,’ Nathan came and draped his arm protectively around my shoulders. ‘Not that it has anything to do with you,’ he looked my mother up and down with as much disdain in his expression as he could muster. I had to say I visibly saw her shrink somewhat.
‘And I am in love with her best friend,’ Bella recoiled slightly upon hearing that statement.
‘As we’re rich, talented, extremely successful, and very protective, I seriously doubt you will have anything you can offer either of them ever again, except maybe a heartfelt apology. But I know your sort, that will never happen.’ Without taking his arm away from my shoulder we walked, him leading, without a limp, to the door. He opened it forcefully.
‘Edwards, this woman is leaving.’
I watched as my mother stood and made her way to the door. My grip on Nathan’s waist strengthened.
‘Oh, Karen... just before you go.’ We all turned to look at Bella questioningly. ‘I just wanted to let you know... it’s the sort of thing a friend should tell you... but of course you don’t have any of those... The fillers and Botox you must be paying a bloody fortune for... Well, they’re not working. You are looking worse than the Mona Lisa and... She is...well, she is fucking old!’
My mother raised one hand to her face and disappeared quickly through the door.
She must have heard us cracking up with laughter at Bella’s bitchy swipe and the sheer relief of her departure.
‘So proud of you, my bestie,’ Bella quickly made her way over to Nathan and I, the three of us hugged and I felt myself finally relax, for the first time since I had glimpsed her figure from across the road.
‘It’s a joke, isn’t it?’ Nathan was shaking his head and speaking to both of us, ‘Family is supposed to be where we find the most support and comfort; more often it’s where we find our biggest heartaches.’
Thirty-Six
It was Wednesday and I was staring out of my windows from the penthouse lev
el, just watching the world go by. I still hadn’t seen Alex; I had however woken up on Monday morning in my bed and by the indentation next to me in the bed, coupled with the smell of him and that cologne permeating from the pillow, I knew he had been there at some time during the night. Although I had taken some small consolation from that realisation, it didn’t help with the ever growing feelings of loss and loneliness I was beginning to experience. The confrontation with my mother had started to put seeds of doubt in my head and I needed to extinguish them as quickly as possible.
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