by Liz Lovelock
“Believe me, you’re not the only one, I’ve had to change my train of thought about three times to stop myself jumping across this table.”
“Now that I wouldn’t mind at all.” He pats the seat beside him. Is he really wanting me to move? “Come here, pretty lady.”
Boom, there goes all my inhibitions. They melt away as I slide out of my side of the booth and ease in beside him. As soon as I’m settled, I look up from the dark wooden table I found so fascinating, into a hungry set of eyes.
Honestly, he’s every girl’s dream. He’s nicely tanned and has muscular arms. Those steel blue eyes take my breath away with each glance. I’d love to run my fingers through his tousled brown hair. Hell, those bloody dimples, simply gorgeous. Gah!
“What are you thinking?” His seductive tone doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I retort with a cheeky grin.
“Oh, I would.” He leans in, ever so slowly. The tips of his fingers trace my jawline, leaving it tingling after his touch. Our lips connect tenderly, slowly, and when his lips leave mine, they’re left throbbing with desire. It’s as if fireworks explode within me. Light, tender kisses invade my lips, once again.
I mean we’ve kissed before but, holy wow! This is something that feels like it should be written into a book. It feels breathtakingly like magic, that’s what it is . . . magical.
He pulls back slightly and I’m left wanting more, my chest vibrating with each lively pump of my heart.
“Wow,” I breathe.
“You . . .” Is all he manages, and he sounds as out of breath as me, only from a kiss, or I should say, a few. If we weren’t in a public place, I think we’d totally lose our clothes.
“Mmm . . .”
We’re both speechless until he finally finds his voice. “Let’s get out of here. I want to take you to a private place and have my evil way with you.”
I find myself nodding instead of speaking. We don’t even finish our drinks. We scoot out of the booth and through the door before we get stopped by anyone. We’re on a mission. Our mission, should we finally allow it to happen, is to devour each other in more ways than one.
We take our helmets and before I get to put mine on, Seth places his lips hard against mine, his tongue exploring my mouth before he slowly pulls back and does the gentlemanly thing, fastening the clip for me, nice and firmly.
He climbs on and starts the bike; it purrs invitingly. Stepping on the pegs, I press my body up against his, wrapping my arms tightly around him. Everything within me has to stop myself from tightening my grip too much. I want him.
We’ve been playing this game for so long, and it nearly didn’t get this far because of my stupid overreaction to Seth answering Ryan’s call. The buzzing sensation inside me feels as though I’m hyped up on adrenaline.
Seth shifts the bike into gear and begins to slowly creep forwards, moving out of the car park at Catfish’s. The thought of his name and then his face make me smile.
It’s then I notice where we are. Seth’s taken us for a ride down along the beachfront road. It’s very busy tonight, as it’s the weekend, and people like to get out of the big smoke for some fresh air. When we stop at a set of lights, his hand wraps over mine and squeezes. Then he leans back so I can see his shimmering eyes. My arms tighten around him.
It’s then this perfect night goes terribly wrong. A night of happiness is destroyed by a single stupid act. A set of lights reflect off his helmet, then it’s followed by the sound of tyres screeching. Seth’s eyes widen with fear.
“CHLOE!” Seth’s voice roars, filled with pain. There’s a sharp hit from behind and we’re jerked so far forward, I’m screaming.
Then nothing . . . no pain . . . just a light.
Do I follow it?
The lights shine in my eyes as I turn back to look at the beautiful girl sitting on the back of my bike. My stomach plummets when I see the speed of the car coming up behind us. It’s not slowing down.
“Slow down, slow down,” I chant, panicked, and when my gaze drops to those beautiful chocolate brown eyes, Chloe’s face contorts, as if she’s trying to figure out what the look on my face means. The light turns green and I accelerate. But it’s too late; I misjudged the speed of the vehicle. Tyres scream as the driver realises his or her mistake. My chest tightens. Not again, please.
The back of the bike is clipped. Chloe’s grip tightens before there’s nothing. Her embrace is gone, ripped from me. I’m falling and unable to stop. My head slams on the road, rattling me around.
“Argh!” I cry as the bike handle falls on my wrist, pinning it as I slide along the rough surface. A raw burning sensation shoots up my arm and down the calf of my leg that’s pinned under the bike. After what feels like forever, I stop moving; in fact, every car around me has stopped.
As the pain begins to spread and panic fills every fibre of me, I scan the area. Where is she?
I undo my helmet. A woman rushes over. “Are you okay?” She looks me over.
Looking down at the leg beneath the bike, I push the bike up slowly, with the help of the woman. I see a massive tear in my jeans and the skin is red, raw, and bleeding. My hand is in the same condition, but I don’t care about me right now. “I’m okay, I think. Where’s the girl that was on the back?” My voice is breathless, and tears threaten to fall.
When the woman raises her shaking hand and points, I turn my head to see another unknown woman kneeling beside Chloe. My heart stops . . . my pain completely forgotten. The pain shooting up my leg is excruciating, but I manage to get myself up. My legs carry me as fast as they can to the unmoving body on the road and another car which is close to her.
“Chloe!” I roar. “No, no, no, please no.”
My tears fall. After what feels like forever, I collapse to my knees beside Chloe’s head. Blood . . . there’s so much blood. Her helmet isn’t on her head, where is it? Seeing her lying there broken, and unmoving, her big brown eyes not opening, fills my heart with dread. There’s bloody scratches up her arms. Her jeans are torn and more blood spills from the gashes on her legs. It breaks me, bringing back so many memories I’ve been trying for years to push to the back of my mind.
The same lady I was talking to earlier comes up behind me, placing her hand on my shoulder. “The ambulance has been called.”
I don’t answer her; I just nod. I take Chloe’s head gently in my hands, so I don’t cause her anymore pain. “Chloe, please, if you can hear me, talk to me. Come back to me,” I beg through sobs. I place light kisses on her cheeks, and my tears slide down my nose and drip on her blood-covered face. In the distance, I can hear the siren of the ambulance. Once again, I’ve escaped with only minor scrapes. This isn’t right.
Why do I always lose the ones I love the most? Am I being punished for something I’ve done? Please not Chloe, I need her.
“WHY?” My voice echoes in the streets around me as I continue to stroke her hair and her face with a shaky hand. Her chest moves slowly, and that gives me some hope she’s all right, but she’s not moving or responding and that worries me. It scares the living hell out of me. The bright, flashing lights surround us. Only then do I notice that people on the street have made a safety circle, standing shoulder to shoulder with their backs to us. They’re blocking the people who only want to gawk. It’s very overwhelming.
“Sir, can you hear me?”
Looking up, I’m met with a man in a paramedic suit. “Please help her. Please.” My throat tightens at my final please.
The man nods. Kneeling, he assesses Chloe. I continue to nurse her head until a different paramedic speaks again, this time a woman.
“Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me your name?” She kneels beside me.
“Seth, Seth Thomas,” I croak, not taking my eyes from Chloe.
“Thank you. Seth, could you please come with me and let the other paramedics look after your friend?”
“I don’t want to leave her.” My gaze shifts, and I look at
the female paramedic. Her face falls at the sight of mine.
“Please let me assess you, and while I do that they will take care of her.” She inclines her head towards the woman who just moments ago, was kissing me.
“Her name is Chloe. She needs to be alright, please.” My head is a complete mess as all the memories come flooding back and I’m reliving my horror dream again––the day I lost my family in that horrific car accident, their lifeless bodies surrounding me. I called to them, but they never responded, I blamed myself. The blood coming from Mum’s nose, still haunts me. And now when I finally find someone whom I truly care about and want to be with, she’s fighting for her life.
“They will do everything in their power to assist her. Please come with me. Are you able to walk?” I nod.
Gently, I lift Chloe’s head from my lap and place it delicately on a picnic blanket a bystander hands me. As I move, the world seems to stop. It stops in its tracks. The night started out beautifully—now it’s shattering around me. The woman who holds a piece of me is at present fighting for her life. There’s so much blood on her skin. Her damaged body lies lifeless, and it’s all my fault.
“Are you okay?” the female paramedic asks, concern in her voice. She takes a hold of my arm to steady my wobbly body. With a gentle nudge from her, I slowly move forward, one foot in front of the other.
Each step breaks my heart. I don’t want to leave Chloe lying there. But I know she’s in good hands. There are police cars here now; I hope they have the bastard who clipped us.
Once I’m seated in the ambulance, the paramedic begins her assessment on my hand and leg. When she tries to rotate my wrist, I wince in pain.
“That hurt?” she questions. With a nod in reply, she makes a note and begins wrapping it. “We’ll need to get an X-ray on that. Could be broken. Do you remember what happened?”
“Yeah, some loser didn’t slow down and hit us. She is worse than I imagined . . .” The sentence is left hanging.
“We were informed she was clipped by another car as well. As she came off your bike, another car came travelling from the opposite direction and didn’t see her in time. They tried to miss her, but unfortunately . . .” She doesn’t need to say any more.
“She looks so bad.” My lip trembles.
The paramedic rests her gloved hand on my shoulder in comfort, a gesture I appreciate. My thoughts are consumed with Chloe. Each image I see is of her damaged body. I squeeze my eyes tighter, and more tears fall.
“This is all my fault.” I continue, “I shouldn’t have taken the bike.” I look up into the paramedic’s sad eyes. Does she even care about what I’m saying? She’s just doing her job.
“It’s not your fault, just trust me, we are doing everything we can. It’s not your fault, you can’t control what happens on the roads. They have her on the stretcher.” She nods towards the other two paramedics. They’re pushing a stretcher with her on it, covered, and a mask over her face. They move towards a different ambulance.
“Can I go with her?”
“No, sorry. They’ll need all the room to be able to work if something goes wrong. We can leave now and be there when she arrives. Please lie back and we’ll take care of you both.”
Reluctantly, I lie back, and the paramedic continues working and cleaning my shredded leg. She cuts my jeans off above the injury. My thoughts never move from Chloe.
Please be okay, I need you.
Startling awake with the feeling of suffocating, I inhale a lungful of air, and the awful sense of being unable to breathe subsides.
My eyes move around my surroundings. Where am I?
Before me is a beautiful lake. Bright green grass surrounds the large still bed of water. I’m sitting on the bench at Thomas Point Lookout, just near the cottage. A light mist floats above the lake. It’s such a beautiful place. No one else is in sight.
As if a light went off in my head, images of Seth’s broken face begin replaying through my mind, then I feel the hard jerk from behind and my body flying and tumbling along the black bitumen. Then I felt nothing.
“Seth!” I yell. Worry sinks in and I’m off the bench, pacing. “Where the hell am I? A dream? Am I dead?” I call out, hoping and wishing for a reply from someone. I hear one, but don’t believe who it is.
“Hello, Chloe,” a chirpy young voice sounds from behind me. Spinning around, I’m greeted with a bright smile.
“Olive? Is that you?”
“Who else would it be, silly?”
“What are you doing here?”
She calmly plonks her tiny butt on the bench before she answers. “Oh, just hanging around at my favourite place.”
Why is she so calm? “Where are we?” I keep pushing the question at her, as I’m freaking the hell out.
“We’re at my family’s favourite holiday spot. Or it was.”
“What? Why are we here?” Something dawns on me. “No,” I breathe, my throat tight with emotion. “Am I dead?” This can’t be happening—it’s not real. I silently beg to whomever might be listening . . . a higher power.
“Take a chill pill, will ya?” She sighs, rolling her eyes, irritation present in her voice.
“Take a chill pill? Are you kidding me? Last thing I remember is being in an accident with Seth. Oh my . . . Seth! Is he okay?”
Olive laughs as if this isn’t something I should be worried about. “You’re funny.” She snickers again. What is this girl’s deal? How can she not be worried?
“Seriously, you want to laugh right now while I’m completely in full-panic mode!” My arms fly everywhere as I yell at her.
“Go look in the lake,” is all she says, not moving from the bench. I race down to the lake, not knowing what to expect. I need answers, and if the damn lake is going to do that for me then I’ll flaming swim in it.
Reaching the edge, I peek into the water. My heart aches in my chest at what’s playing out before me.
On the surface of the water I see Seth—he has red-rimmed eyes and is sitting by someone’s bed in a hospital. I can’t see who it is because they’re facing away from me. He has a firm grip on the person’s hand. What’s happened? Is it me in the bed?
The tears well in my eyes and my vision becomes blurry. Oh, Seth. Flashes of the accident play in my head––the hard hit behind us, throwing me forward, then darkness. It is me lying there, motionless. At least I’m not dead. Seth’s other arm is in a cast—that must be because of the accident.
“See? He’s okay,” Olive says as she walks up behind me.
Turning towards her, I ask, “What’s going on?”
She smiles again. “You’re in the in-between or a dream—whatever you want to call it.”
The in-between? “So, like a place in between Heaven and Earth?”
She nods.
What does all this mean? My question list just keeps getting longer.
“Yes.” She stands beside me, looking into the lake, a sadness touching her eyes.
“Well, how do I get back to my life?”
“You will. Your body is healing. You suffered a lot of injuries, and when you came off Seth’s bike another car clipped you; you’re very lucky to even be alive.”
She’s right. “But will I get out of here?” My arms open to the area we’re in.
“Yes. They’ve put you in a medically induced coma and will wake you up when you’re stronger.” She doesn’t sound like a little girl right now.
I wonder why she’s here. “Why are you in here with me? Were you in the accident as well?”
Her sky-blue eyes shimmer with tears. “No. I was in another accident years ago.”
“Oh, but how come I saw you at the beach lookout?” This is getting too crazy, even for me.
“I wanted to meet the girl who’d caught my brother’s eye.”
My eyes leave the image on the lake of Seth’s lips, moving to the girl I met at the beach lookout.
“Your brother?” I choke.
“Yes, Seth is my brother.
” She smiles.
“Okay, this is all too weird.”
“Yes, it is, but it’s happening, and that’s all that matters.”
“What happened to you?” Curiosity gets the better of me.
“I’m not going to tell you because that’s Seth’s story to tell you.”
Damn. This could explain why he moved in with his Nan when he was younger and gives me some insight into those things he said when he was drunk the other night that he lets his loved ones down. How could he have let his family down? I doubt he would have. It seems we’re both keeping secrets.
“Oh, okay.”
“Please take care of him, and when the time comes that he tells you about me and our parents, please just love him like you already do.”
“Excuse me? Love?”
“Chloe, I may be young, but I’m not stupid. I saw the love between my parents and grandparents, and I see it now in the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. After you leave here, you won’t see me again. I’ve done what I needed to do.”
“And what’s that?”
“To let you know you should forgive those who have hurt you, and don’t ever have unfinished business in your life. Otherwise you’ll end up in a pit of darkness, like Seth. That was what he was like until you shone the light for him again, but he is afraid to hurt you. He is hating himself right now—I can see it, and it hurts me.” Her voice cracks, and tears stream down her olive cheeks. She quickly wipes them away, but they continue to fall.
My face is damp from my own tears. “But I’m not mad at him. He didn’t do it.”
“You and I both know that, but he’ll continue to blame himself.” Turning her head, she looks back down at the reflection in the lake. I follow her gaze. Now Sherri walks in the door holding two cups of what looks like coffee. Moments later, my parents rush in, all have fear and worry in their red eyes, creased foreheads and sombre, non-smiling looks on their faces. My chest aches, wanting to be back there with them, to let them know I’m all right. I’m alive, or at least I hope to be.