Lost : The Little Sisters Book One

by H. M. Irwing

  “In that case, I’d be happy to let you pay,” he said facetiously. Joking? Now? Really?

  “Richard! Be serious.”

  “Oh, but I am, Lucy,” he said, smiling sweetly. As if! There was nothing sweet about Richard Reeves.

  Lucy stamped her foot. She couldn’t help it. It was not as if she had any other means to vent her frustration. She would probably be in jail soon enough anyway on charges of fraud shopping on the pretext that she had money.

  “Look, Lucy, I brought you here to shop at my expense. Whatever you like, it’s on me.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” Lucy said earnestly, feeling a little mollified that his intentions were noble… or were they?

  “Do you think you can stop me?” He smirked annoyingly. Lucy merely shook her head at his arrogance and wrung her hand free from his grasp. Then she turned heel to head back the way she came.

  “Stop,” Richard called out angrily.

  “No, you stop!” Lucy called back just as angry. She hated the way he treated her. As if she didn’t matter. As if she were a puppet whose strings he could pull and twist at will. Her hand was caught and Lucy was tugged back unceremoniously to land with her back against his hard chest.

  “Don’t leave!” He instructed softly even as he breathed heavily in her ear. Her little act of rebellion had served to work him up into a fine seething rage. He buried his face into the curve of her neck, pressing his lips to her skin. It was an unexpectedly intimate move that left her shaken. Lucy struggled within his hold, trying to break free. He opened his mouth to suck hard at the base of her neck drawing a whimper of pain to escape her lips.

  “No don’t!” Lucy hissed back in a whisper wanting him to stop. She knew what he was trying to do…to mark her… his.

  “Do not fight me on this,” he said roughly, as his lips left her sore skin. His tone implied that she not fight him on anything else either.

  Lucy found herself being marched back to face an array of expensive clothing. She lost what little desire she may have had to shop at all. It suddenly didn’t matter if she looked like shit over the weekend. Jace abandoned her there at the mercy of this lunatic. Lucy decided she would look shitty for him… for them both. It was only fair.

  So, decided, Lucy made for the gaudiest ensemble on display and was caught up short with Richard’s arm tight about her waist.

  “Uh-uh,” he tutted, shaking his head reprovingly at her and then chuckled outright. “I knew you would be more trouble than you were worth.” Richard whispered huskily in her ear before calling out loudly to the sales assistant watching on the sidelines with avid interest.

  “We’ll take that one.” He pointed out a gold dress. Then casting Lucy aside, he went on as he moved through the racks, “and that one… and that.”

  Lucy stood back and observed as he completely commandeered the shopping, turning it into an expedition of massive proportions. She watched on as the heap of clothing grew and struggled hard to contain the smirk that threatened to emerge every time she noted the various shades of gold that each article of clothing he picked blatantly displayed.

  She recalled back to his conversation at the beach party that had marked his birthday. Gold, he had said; he would clad her in gold to match the colour of her eyes and here he was doing just that.

  Lucy shook her head at his extravagance, long having given up on the mental tally that was bound to leave her with a life-altering headache later. She merely made a point to ask the ecstatic sales assistant on her way out if the clothes were returnable. It would be disappointing to part with the clothes, but it would have to be done.

  Lucy accepted the fortifying glass of champagne from the assistant that was presented to her with a flourish and tossed back its contents without ceremony. Then she moved back further to perch herself on a comfortable settee, request more of the liquid gold, and drink herself silly.

  The ride home was strained, to say the least. Lucy watched his grip on the steering tighten. Then gulped when she saw his two hands become four. She honestly didn’t think she could have gotten drunk on a flute of champagne… ok, several flutes.

  The assistant had kindly left the bottle by her side at her third request for a refill. Richard had been livid to return from his little shopping spree to find Lucy slumped to the side, lolling on the settee.

  “Say something,” she slurred out finally, unable to take the silence between them anymore. She was much more used to Jace, who was never without words to begin with. They rarely had silent moments between them. That was until recently. But then there were many stranger things than usual happening of late.

  “What would you have me say? How I’m right that you’re unfit to be in Jace’s company? How Jace is a fool to want you? How I am a… never mind,” he bit out sharply.

  “No. No, why stop at that? Go on. Get it all off your chest,” whispered Lucy, the hurt she felt at his words turning her voice hoarse. Instantly, her eyes welled up in tears. But she was not about to cry over something he said. Lucy sobbed and looked about for something to mop up before they spilled, and finding nothing but the used hanky from earlier, Lucy used the hem of her t-shirt.

  Richard’s fluent curses pulled her up short. Temper was back to the rescue. She turned, flashing gold sparks and opened her mouth in a hissing fit that showed him she was every bit as versatile with her tongue as he was. Then she wiped up on her sleeves and opened her eyes wide, determined not to cry anymore, at least until she got home.

  Richard pulled up at the front of her house. Lucy immediately fumbled with the door latch trying to get it open, but failing miserably. She stopped finally to turn to face Richard. “It won’t open,” she got out meekly.

  Lucy heard Richard sigh in frustration and refused to meet his eyes. She kept her gaze fixed on her lap as she waited and waited. Lucy waited for what seemed like forever before Richard leaned over to reach across her and with a simple pull had the door opening as if by magic.

  She felt her tension suddenly drain away. Freedom beckoned. She could escape at last. Lucy beamed up a smile at Richard and saw his own amused expression fade away to be replaced by something else. Something darker that was tightening his features even as his face closed in on hers.

  “What…?”

  His lips slammed onto hers with all the impact of a bullet train. Her question cut off midway and muffled by the open-mouthed assault of his lips. It was no ordinary kiss, this. He fed on her with a hunger she didn’t understand. His hands came up to capture her head, stilling her movement and controlling the angle of her head, so he could mould her lips any which way he chose. Lucy’s muffled moan was what had her jerking apart. But Richard had only just gotten a taste. He was not ready to release her yet.

  His hands tightened about her and her mouth, opened in protest, was again swiftly devoured in an onslaught of the senses. Her lips clung to his of their own accord. Her will gone. There was only the rush of sensation now. Mindless and fiery in its heat. Lucy struggled to remember… to think why this was wrong, and then she did.

  “Jace,” Lucy sighed, just as his lips released hers for air. They panted heavily down at each other. Then a string of tightly restrained curses had her flinching again. But this time she deserved it. This time she was guilty. Richard released her and moved back to his seat. He stared stonily ahead, refusing to look at her.

  Lucy tumbled out of the car, distraught, and without a word and made her way into her home.

  Chapter 14

  The next few hours were surreal. Lucy had made straight for her room and locked herself in before collapsing on the bed to sleep off the alcohol. She had clearly not been in her right mind with Richard. It had to be that, as the alternative was too hard to consider. When she came to, the house was abuzz with chaos and someone was hammering on her door. She opened the door and blinked sleepily to find her mum summoning her downstairs.

  Lucy immediately followed her, wading through the heaped boxes of clothing that Richard had arranged to
have dropped off. She hadn’t realised just how many purchases there were, but seeing them littering the path to the stairs had her cringing in renewed anxiety. Lucy jogged down closely on the heels of her mum. Admiring her mother’s ability to refrain from questioning her on the obvious—What the hell? and How in the hell had all these boxes arrived from the most exclusive store in town?. But the fact that those questions remained unvoiced said a lot for the state of mind her mum was in.

  As she neared the dining room, she could decipher her dad’s disappointed tones, “…you bring disgrace to our family”

  Suspecting the worst, Lucy sped up her pace to intervene and save Cat’s ass. But what she saw pulled her up short.

  It was not Cat who was getting chastised, but Emily. As soon as Cat saw Lucy, she rushed over, sobbing hard. Lucy wrapped her arms about her then looked in askance at Emily. What the hell was going on?

  “Ah there you are, Lucy. Perhaps you have the answers I seek? Why did Emily go off and punch her friend’s brother in the face?” Dad put forward the enigmatic question to Lucy.

  Lucy stared back uncomprehendingly. What the hell had happened? Then the bulb clicked in her fuzzy mind and she rounded on a cringing Emily, to cry out unwittingly, “You didn’t!”

  Emily hit Lisa’s brother Mark. What the hell good would that do? Unless of course he knew exactly which of his friends made use of his bed and her sister, that night.

  “So, you do know what all this is about. I’m glad someone has an idea. Care to share, my dear?” Her dad stared down at her expectantly. Lucy could only stare back stumped. She had backed herself into a corner with that one. But then she clearly wasn’t the brightest when it came to thinking on her feet.

  Lucy turned to Emily imploringly and heard her sigh in frustration before rolling her eyes in annoyance. Just then, the doorbell pealed out a lifesaving tune. Lucy sighed with relief. Saved by the bell, she turned to scuttle off and answer the door but her Dad beat her to it.

  “Mary? Answer the damn door, will you.” Dad passed the privilege on to Mum. Lucy stared on disappointed at having her escape route so effectively blocked. Time was ticking, and she drew up a continual blank over how to address this without igniting matters further.

  “I would like to see Emily,” a deep, markedly male voice rang over the softer tones of her mum’s initial greeting. There was a muffled conversation that followed and then the footsteps could be heard leading up to the kitchen where they had all gathered. She looked in horror at Emily, wondering what new development this was, and watched her turn a paler shade of herself when a tall, good-looking young man appeared behind her mum. Mark!

  “Sir, I am Mark, Lisa’s brother. I’d like a word with Emily, please,” he said with considerable congeniality, considering the bruised chin he was sporting was from Emily’s impressive efforts.

  Lucy hid the grin that threatened to emerge before throwing a congratulatory wink at Emily. As luck would have it, the wink was not missed by Mark, who barely contained his ire to inflect only the slightest narrowing of his gaze.

  Dad gave up about then and sent Emily off to have a word with her guest, telling her implicitly that she must apologise. They watched Mark and Emily step out of the house to discuss in private. Cat and Lucy used the opportunity to grab their plates of food from the kitchen and dash upstairs to eat in Lucy’s room.

  As they drew past the door behind which Emily was conferring with Mark, they could hear their sister’s agitated tones rise in berating Mark, “… If you had been in your own bed last night, you would have known…”

  “Have you made a doctor’s appointment yet?” questioned Lucy. It was the uppermost concern now. There was no knowing anything about the man Cat had slept with; he could be diseased, and Cat wasn’t even sure if they had used protection. “Have you taken a morning after?”

  “I went this morning while you were out shopping. The results won’t be out for some time yet. But in no way am I going to take a morning after pill,” said Cat, quite decisively.

  Lucy stared on at her incredulously, her mouth stuffed with food that she was suddenly finding hard to swallow. “Excuse me?”

  “I am going to be a doctor, Lucy. It’s my lifelong dream. I cannot start that journey by taking the life of my own fetus!” She gasped, horrified. “Do you even know how the pills work?”

  “You won’t be becoming a doctor at all with a baby in your belly, Lucy,” said Lucy aghast. “You’re too young.”

  “Look, we don’t even know if it will come to that. Besides, this might be the only way I could keep a part of him with me forever.”

  What the hell?

  Who wanted to keep the part of a one-night-stand with them forever? “What are you high on, Cat? This isn’t at all like you.” Lucy drew back, shaking her head, confused. “You’re supposed to be the one with sense. The rational one. The brainy one. You’re the one we come to when… wait… it is you, isn’t it Cat? You and Emily are not pulling one over me, are you?”

  The twins had tried, in the past, time over time to hoodwink Lucy by exchanging identities, but they’d failed every attempt. She could always tell them apart, no matter how they dressed. Even looking at Cat now, she could tell she was Cat, only Cat didn’t say things like that. But then Emily wouldn’t say such things either. Even she had more sense than this. What was this? Hormones?

  Cat quirked a brow before offering Lucy a small smile. “I am me, Lucy. That hasn’t changed.”

  But Lucy only shook her head in confusion.

  “Have you ever felt a moment that was just so right that you never want to lose it, even as a memory?” Cat questioned, her eyes gleaming with an intensity Lucy had never seen before. “That was last night was for me, Lucy. It was not just sex. It was need. A need I didn’t even know I had. He was divine, Lucy. Why wouldn’t I want to wake up to a memory of him every day for the rest of my life?”

  The slap was unexpected and instinctual, shocking them both. It was a moment later before Lucy’s heavy breathing subsided enough for her to form a rational thought process again. “Sorry.” She said, feeling not at all sorry. “But I had to at least try.”

  “Knock some sense into me,” said Cat, nodding her head in understanding. “I would have done the same.”

  Lucy gave her an eye roll at that. “You must have been bingeing on too much Romeo & Juliet. Love is fiction, Cat. Swayed easily with the passing tide,” she found herself saying with unexpected bitterness, directed at no one other than herself. Lucy still couldn’t believe she’d let Richard kiss her… and then responded. Were her feelings that fickle? Lucy was too confused herself to properly advise Cat. But she still had to try.

  Cat shook her head. “You would understand had you seen him.” Her blue eyes pierced hers again earnestly. “He was not simply just a freeloader at a party, Lucy. His voice, his tone, his accent, his stance, his very bearing spoke of so much more. There was just this vibe about him. It’s really hard to explain, Lucy.”

  They sat there a moment munching slowly. The solitude away from prying ears offered them a chance to speak of matters in confidence and Lucy needed to understand the whole of it. She needed to see what Cat saw in this man. She needed to know if Cat was being rational in her decision and she had curiosity to be appeased over what exactly transpired with Cat and the man the night before.

  “He was gentle, Lucy. Intense but gentle. Thorough but gentle… and then not gentle.” Cat breathed out softly, her eyes unfocused in the distance.

  “Have you considered that this may be some manifestation of long-suppressed ideals? I mean, you might have secretly been longing for a guy to notice you that way but…”

  “Let me stop you right there, Lucy. I know I am blond, but I am not that blond,” she said pointedly. It took a moment for Lucy to process that and Cat sighed. “I mean I am not the dumb one, and I have been propositioned quite possibly as many times as Emily. I am her twin you know. Her identical twin. We look alike, so naturally, men find me as attr
active. They just don’t approach me first, when they could approach Emily. I don’t dress to encourage their attention. You know that.”

  “Yes, yes, I do.” Lucy muttered, a little shocked by all she’d missed. She had always thought that no guy approached Cat with interest. Just as none had approached Lucy. That was until now, that is. What was it about this time of the year?

  Lucy and Cat trashed through her evening with her mysterious man to some detail, one with the hope of finding a flaw that went beyond the obvious and which would render Cat’s unfounded infatuation with him mute, and the other, with a need to simply relive it all over again in memory. That Cat was clearly besotted was obvious, and Lucy, for the life of her, didn’t know what to do about it.

  “Well whatever it is, I do think you should speak to Mum about this, Cat,” said Lucy sensibly, knowing when to call it quits. She was already at her wit’s end to do more but their mother would know what to do. She had to. She was their mother. “She ought to know what you should do, Cat.”

  Then they moved on into uncovering what Emily’s efforts to find out Cat’s mysterious stranger had festered out. No one noticed the time ticking away. It was well past the hour when the dragging footsteps of a very tired Emily could be heard marching on silently past to her room.

  “Em?” Lucy called out as she passed by her closed door, but rather than coming in she only called back out, “I’m tired; we’ll talk later.”

  After that, Cat went off to her room, no doubt to mope over her mysterious stranger, and Lucy tucked herself comfortably into a corner and began the tedious process of packing for her trip. Jace would be there at any moment and Lucy was not yet half done with anything, and on top of all that, she still had to get ready. They would arrive that night at Richard’s farmhouse for the New Year’s Eve party. A party that was expected to carry on to the early hours of the morning. But Lucy was not at all looking forward to any of it. Not to wear the new dresses, not to meet Richard’s glances, and mostly not to stare Jace in the eye. How could she face him? How could she ever face him again? The trip to the States was looking more and more enticing by the moment. If only it were sooner and not on the eve of Valentine’s Day of all things.