by Wade, Maddie
“I don’t know. I don’t want to leave him.”
“I know, but Lucy and Drew said they will stay and we can sleep at my place in town, so we will only be a few minutes away. You haven’t slept properly since this started and I’m worried about you.”
“Okay, but only if he is okay with it.”
“Okay, deal. Now kiss me, so I can get back to work.” Skye gave him that secret smile that drove him wild and lifted onto her toes. She ran her fingers up his chest and looped them around his neck, bringing her body into intimate contact with his.
He hissed at the contact of her breasts pressed to his chest. He couldn’t wait to taste her again, and this time make her his in every way. He lowered his head to hers and she touched her mouth to his, sliding her tongue into his mouth. The sensation and taste of her made his body go hard. He moved one hand up under her shirt, caressing the soft skin at the bottom of her back–his other hand lifting to caress her ribs just under her breast.
His cock was painfully hard, and if he didn’t think he would get arrested, he’d be very tempted to push her back against the wall and drive into her soft heat. This woman made him lose control and he loved it.
He pulled back when he heard the lift’s ding, resting his forehead against hers. That was when he heard a voice that he’d hoped never to hear again.
“Nate!”
He cursed and his hands flexed on Skye’s hips. He looked up to see Nikki, his ex. She was in her nurse’s uniform, the material stretched tight across her fake assets. Her eyes went from him to Skye and he saw pain fleetingly cross her face when she noticed their closeness.
Nate turned to face Nikki. He hadn’t seen her since he’d cleared all her belongings from his flat and dumped them on her doorstep. He looked at her, now, and found it hard to believe he thought she was the one at one point.
She was pretty enough, but it was all made up–she never went anywhere without her full face done. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help comparing her to Skye, and she fell so short it wasn’t funny. Despite all that, they had had some good times and it wasn’t in his nature to be a bastard.
“Nikki,” he said in greeting. She was looking at Skye.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t come and see you when you got hurt. I wasn’t sure you would want me to,” she trailed off as if unsure.
“I wasn’t in for long, anyway.”
“I’m just on my way up to Obs and Gynae for my shift. How are your parents?” she asked quickly.
“They’re fine. This is my girlfriend, Skye,” he saw her wince slightly as he indicated Skye.
“Hi!” Skye said, putting out her hand and smiling.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Nikki replied hesitantly as she shook Skye’s hand.
“Well, I should get going, it was nice to see you and nice to meet you Skye,” she made to move towards him, to do what, Nate wasn’t sure, but he pulled back, anyway. Nikki stopped and blushed. Hurt crossed her face.
“Bye, Nate, Skye.”
“Yeah, bye.” He watched her walk away and felt nothing–no anger, bitterness…nothing. Just apathy. It was as if he had never known her or the pain she had caused him and that was down to Skye, she had healed him in a way that made everything that had ever hurt him seem insignificant. Her strength and kindness, and watching her around Noah, had shown him true strength in the face of pain. He couldn’t believe it, but he fell more in love with her every day. Yes, he was a cliché and he didn’t care. It was true.
Turning, he looked at her beautiful face.
“You okay, baby?” she asked, palming his face gently and tilted her head while looking at him.
“Yeah, mi cielo, why wouldn’t I be?” he was confused by her question.
“Well, that was your ex, and I know it ended badly.”
God, even now, she was looking out for him, worried about him. Did she ever stop thinking of others?
“I’m fine. She has no hold over me and when I saw her, I felt nothing, not even anger. The only people who have power over me are people I love, and that is my family and friends, and most especially you and Noah.” He held her round her waist with his arm and cupped her cheek with his hand. “You are everything to me, Skye.”
Nate watched as her eyes went bright.
“Really?” She whispered.
“Yes, really. I love you. You and Noah. You have my heart.” He figured it was good when she buried her head in his chest and held on tight. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her while she cried silent tears. She pulled herself together and looked up at him, giving him a wobbly smile.
“Sorry. I’m sure that wasn’t what you expected in response of a declaration of love,” she sniffed and wiped at her eyes, “I love you, too, Nate and I’m not just saying that because you did. I’ve felt it for a while and I know Noah adores you.”
“Well, of course, I’m the Lego Batman king,” he laughed, lightening the moment. It worked–Skye laughed and replied, “That you are, honey, although, not for long. When Noah gets home, he has plans to kick your butt.”
“Can’t wait,” he said. “Right, I have to go, I’ll pick you up from here later after Lucy and Drew arrive.”
“Okay, Nate.”
He dropped a kiss to her nose and stepped into the lift. He watched her stand there, “Go, baby, get back to Noah.” She smiled and turned to leave, “Love you, Nate.”
“Love you, too, mi amor.” He could tell by her smile she liked it when he called her that. He wasn’t pleased to see Nikki way down the corridor watching them, though. The doors closed and he decided he needed Drew and Lucy to keep an eye out for Nikki and run an in-depth check on her recent activity. After all, she had ties to Hugo Lockwood, too.
Chapter Nineteen
Rushing to his car, Nate made it back to Fortis in record time. He tipped his head at the new receptionist as he went by. She seemed nice–quiet, but pleasant. He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. He walked straight to the tech room a a sense of urgency came over him that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Drew was talking to Will over Face time, and Lucy had her head buried in printouts from Will’s new piece of software.
“Hey, guys. Have you seen Zack?”
“He’s in the conference room with Ava.” Lucy said distractedly
“Thanks.” He turned on his heel and went to the conference room. As he walked down the hall, he saw Zin coming out of the exercise room. He was covered in sweat from an obviously heavy workout and looked pissed.
“Hey, man,” Nate said by way of greeting.
“Hey. How is Noah?” he asked.
“He’s okay. Seems a lot better. Not as agitated about Kanan, either, which is good.” He watched Zin’s face darken at the mention of Kanan. He wondered what the history was, but didn’t ask. If Zin felt it was important, he would share, otherwise, it wasn’t his business.
“I need to speak to Zack, I’ll catch you later.”
“Yeah, later, man.”
Nate walked into the conference room. You could cut the tension with a knife. Zack stood at the top of the table with his hands on his hips, a scowl on his face. Ava was leaning over the desk pouring over the data they had collected from Marcus Preedy’s computer.
“For fuck’s sake, Ava, just take a break. You haven’t stopped since you got here.”
“No, Zack. I want this done so I can get home,” she glared right back. Nate was impressed by her backbone.
“Boss, can I have a word?” Nate asked. Zack ignored him and carried on looking at Ava, then seemed to capitulate.
“Fine, I’ll get some food sent in for you.”
“Whatever,” She waved her hand at him as though she didn’t care.
Zack walked to him, “What can I do for you, Nate?” Nate explained seeing Nikki and then explained her history with Hugo, leaving out any details that were not important.
“I see you point,” Zack replied, “What else is bothering you?”
“I’m not sure, I jus
t have a feeling that I can’t shake. I want Lucy and Drew to watch Noah tonight so Skye can get some rest.”
“No, I don’t want both of them off the computers. Ask Lucy and Zin. It might help his disposition and get him out of the office. I’ll also get Will to tap into the hospital CCTV so that we can keep an eye out. I’ll get him to monitor that remotely until he gets back. His deal is done in France, now, so he should be home by Friday.” Nate watched Zack as he looked back at Ava, “Have you eaten, Nate?”
“Not yet.”
“Come on, let`s grab a burger from the Wagon of Death, while I grab Miss Drake some food.”
“Sure, is there any progress?”
“Yeah, some. I’ll tell you on the way.” Nate followed Zack to his Landrover. He was starving, he realised, and a full breakfast roll from the Wagon of Death would hit the spot. Of course, it wasn’t a Wagon of Death, it was just a mobile fast food van. He wasn’t even sure how it had got that nickname, it’s just what everyone called it. His mouth watered and his gut rumbled at thought of it.
Zack proceeded to tell him what Ava had confirmed. The language was ancient, was, in fact extinct, and was only studied by a handful of people, of which she was one, thank God. The text spoke of an ancient disease being spread throughout the world and only the gifted and the new batch surviving to take the world in the right direction.
“New batch? What is that, and how will the gifted be safe from the disease?”
“That, we don’t know, yet. We need to get someone in to one of the clinics to find out. We, also, have an idea of a timeline, now. The text mentions five rings a lot, so we are thinking something to do with the Olympics.”
“Holy shit. That has massive implications.”
Zack just nodded “I have Jack in on this, now. It’s too massive for us on our own. Jack can get his international teams on it so they can do the groundwork in Europe and the States. But, we will lead from here with Eidolon.
“That’s good. Those guys are great, and we know we can trust them, which, at the moment, is most important. So, how we going to do this?” They had arrived at the Wagon of Death and sat in the car to finish their conversation.
“We will concentrate on unravelling the text and the medical facilities. They are the key to this. So, that is where we are at.”
“It’s funny how the last two things to hit the team are leading back to the Divine Watchers. Do you think we are being targeted?”
“Yes, I was thinking that. I think we need to increase our vigilance as a team and I’m going to speak to everyone later at the team meeting. We need all team members to brief their families, now. Come on, let’s eat.” Zack exited the vehicle while Nate brought up the rear.
Chapter Twenty
Skye finished reading Julia Donaldson’s, Monkey Puzzle, to Noah for thousandth time. He loved that book and always asked for it. He’d heard it that many times that he now repeated it with her as she read.
“Baby, how would you feel about Lucy and Zin watching you tonight?” Nate had texted that it would be Lucy and Zin, not Drew.
“I don’t mind, mummy. Are you going out with Nate?”
“No, baby. Mummy just wants to catch up on some beauty sleep so I’m going to put you to bed and then go get some rest.”
“Okay. You do look a bit sleepy, and girls have to get their beauty sleep or they get all grumpy,” he said with in all seriousness. Skye laughed
“Who told you that?”
“Aunty Lizzie,” he said in a stage whisper. “She said Mateo has to sleep until seven am so that she can get her beauty sleep or she gets grumpy. Seven o’clock, mummy. Can you believe he sleeps that late?”
“No, baby, I can’t,” she smiled and brushed his curls from his forehead. “Are you feeling okay about Kanan now, sweetie?” Skye said, changing the subject.
“Yes, mummy, it’s all okay, now. You can go and let Lucy and Zin watch me. I’ll only be sleeping, anyway, and I have Bruno and my special quilt.” Skye always made sure he had his Star Wars quilt cover and pillowcase and his teddy so that he had at least some comforts from home.
“Okay. I’ll let Nate know he can pick me up later.” Skye walked from the room to phone Nate and let him know it was all okay for later. She could have text but she loved hearing his deep voice. It was four o’clock and the doctor would be doing his rounds, soon. She hoped Noah could go home tomorrow for a few days until he had to come back to start his chemo in readiness for the transplant.
She had her head down, scrolling for Nate’s number, so didn’t see Nikki walking towards her.
“He doesn’t love you, you know.” Skye looked up and stopped, sure she had misheard the woman.
“Sorry, what did you say?” she asked in a deceptively calm voice.
“Nate doesn’t love you. He just wants kids so he’s latched on to you since you already have a readymade one.” Skye didn’t respond but observed Nikki’s screwed-up, malicious pout and the way she had her hand on her hip, her false assets pushed out.
“Well,” Skye replied, “that really is nothing for you to concern yourself with, is it?” She went to step round her, but Nikki blocked her path.
“Why don’t you and your sickly kid, just disappear and leave Nate to me? We were good together. We were going to get married and everything.” She said in a whiny voice.
“Oh, you mean before you cheated on him?” Skye asked coldly, seriously pissed off at this woman. How dare she refer to her son as a sickly kid? And to tell her to go away after the way she treated Nate? If Skye had to go into a verbal smack down in the hospital corridor, so be it.
“We would have gotten over that if his bitch of a mother hadn’t gotten involved.”
“Mimi didn’t like you? I knew I liked that woman.”
“Mimi? Who the fuck is that you stuck up bitch?” Nikki sneered.
“Mimi is Nate’s mum, you imbecile. Now, I’m going to give you five seconds to get gone before I call security.”
“Call them, they love me,” Nikki brushed her ponytail back from her shoulder and flicked her head arrogantly. Argh. Skye, so, wanted to punch her–and to think, she had felt sorry for her earlier.
“You know, Nikki, I feel sorry for you. Seeing Nate must have brought it home just how much you fucked up. He is good and kind, he has a good job, earns good money, and well, you have eyes. I don’t have to explain the rest. How could you have fucked that up so royally and still have the gall to think he would take you back?” Nikki was glaring death rays at her now.
Just then, the phone went in Skye’s hand. Seeing it was Nate, she answered. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey, mi amor. Can you give the phone to Nikki, please?”
Skye was stunned. How the hell did he know? Looking around, she noticed the CCTV.
“Umm, yeah, okay,” she held the phone out for Nikki, “It’s for you.” Nikki took the phone and held it too her ear. She went exceedingly pale and Skye saw her swallow and say “Okay. Yes, I understand.” She handed the phone to Skye with a cold glare and walked away.
“Uh…what just happened?” Skye asked as she held the phone to her ear.
“We have access to the CCTV in the hospital, so Drew gave me the heads up. What did she say to you?”
“Oh, just the usual bitter, ex-girlfriend shit. Nothing I couldn’t handle. More importantly, what did you say to her? She looked terrified.”
“Nothing much. Just threatened her job and told her he would report her to the chief Nursing Officer if she didn’t move along and stay away. Not sure it will work, but let me know if it doesn’t and I will follow through with the threat.”
“Okay. I was going to call you, anyway. I spoke to Noah. He is fine with me leaving him with Lucy and Zin, so you can pick me up later.”
“That’s great. I can’t wait to have you all to myself for a bit. I have to go, see you later.”
“See you later, babe.” Skye hung up the phone, body breaking out in a shiver. The thought of her and Nate alone for a w
hole night, with no extra worries and stress, sounded wonderful.
She’d been so worried about Noah, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed being curled up to Nate`s body every night. She felt the effect that had on him and she liked it–a lot.
He was the hottest guy she had ever known and the thought of him and her alone tonight sent her hormones into overdrive. Yes, she was tired, but somehow, not as tired as she was a few minutes ago.
She was deep into her delicious thoughts when Lizzie walked up the corridor.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said as she kissed Skye’s cheek. “How’s it been today?”
“You just missed the fun. I just had a run in with Nate’s ex.”
“Oh, do tell.” Lizzie linked arms with her while they walked back to Noah’s room, laying out the details of the encounter.
Lizzie visited with Skye and Noah visited for an hour, in which time the doctor made his rounds, and thankfully, decided that as long as Noah had a good night he could go home tomorrow.
Lizzie had left around five-thirty that evening. Skye was concerned about her friend, though. She seemed tired and not quite as bubbly as usual. When Skye had asked her about it, she said work was busy. She didn’t think that was it, though. In all the time they had been friends, Lizzie had never introduced Skye to her husband. She made excuses every time there was a get-together, saying he was working or away on business.
Skye was determined–when things settled a little–she would have Lizzie over for a girlie night and not let her leave until she had shared what was on her mind.
Noah was settled in his bed, just finishing their evening routine of a game of chess and three stories. They only did this when he was feeling well enough, though. Luckily the last few months had been better. He really surprised her with chess. His ability to see patterns and strategies, the next move in the game, before she made it was brilliant. Her boy was a natural tactician and he made her proud every single day.
She ran her finger down his cheek as he drifted off to sleep, he turned towards her. His eyes were heavy as he fought to open them and mumble, “Love you to the moon, mummy.”