by Dawn Doyle
“Holly, Your Dad’s here.” Rami shouted through the door.
“Ok thanks!” She said.
“I don’t want to leave you.” She said at the same time Alex said, “I don’t want you to go.” Which made them snort a laugh.
They were sad to be apart.
“I enjoyed picking out a new bed with you.” Alex waggled his eyebrows. “But, don’t let what happened this morning upset you. I know you’ve been thinking about it, and understandably so. What she did to you…” He was so angry with what she’d done to Holly’s garden and memorial.
“That can be fixed in a day or two.” She said, stroking his cheek. “We’re helping too, babe. Ok?” He said and Holly nodded.
“I should go. I don’t want to keep my Dad waiting.”
Alex walked Holly to the door and Dev practically flew downstairs.
“Don’t go without saying goodbye!” she yelled as she ran, eyes red from crying, and hugged Holly tightly.
“See you tomorrow Hol.” She said. “I’m sorry about this morning.” She whispered and gave Holly an extra squeeze.
“It’s over now” Holly whispered back.
Dev released her and Alex held her again.
“I love you, babe.”
“I love you too.” She replied and Alex gently pressed his lips to hers.
“Text me as soon as you get home.”
“I will. Bye babe.” She said as Alex’s parents walked into the hallway.
“Bye Holly.” Evie said with a sympathetic smile. She held out her hands, to take hers, and placed one hand on her cheek.
“If you need anything, just let me know, ok?”
Holly knew Evie was trying to say sorry for what had happened but didn’t want to upset anybody with the details.
“Thanks, Evie. Bye everyone.” She said as she walked out of the door, Alex walking her to her Dads’ car.
He pulled her in for one last kiss.
“I’ll miss you.” She said in a whisper.
“I’ll miss you too.”
Alex watched Holly go, and then walked into the house, head down and his hands in his pockets. He walked towards the stairs when he heard his Dad making a comment.
“He’s found his missing piece, hadn’t he? Even though they’re so young!”
“Without a doubt.” Evie said. That made Alex smile…until he got to the landing.
His ‘old’ rooms’ door was closed.
He didn’t even want to open the door because he remembered what he saw the last time he did. The nauseous feeling returned and he turned away, walking to the spare room, ‘Ben’s room’.
He opened the door and his laptop, phone charger, and art pad were there on the bed.
He rushed over and opened it.
“Oh, thank fuck.” He said to himself. All of his sketches of Holly were still there and not ruined. The larger one on the loose papers, the one that had taken him the longest…the one he completed not long after he realized how much he loved her. The smaller ones; in A.Bio with the daffodil, sitting in the pool room at Riss’ house, standing against the wall with her head back and eyes closed, outside Delaney’s class.
All from memory.
Of course, he’d taken some photo’s in class. In English, he’s taken a snap as she’d been busy writing. At the lunch table, when he pretended to be busy on his phone. The selfies they had taken the night before… Alex saw a note on the dresser. It read: -
Alex, Honey. I know you don’t want to talk about this right now, but we’re here for you. Always.
We love you so much, our precious boy.
Mom & Dad.
P.s. I’ve filled the drawers and closet with things definitely not touched. They’re from the laundry room and the others, I picked up from the dry cleaners whilst you were out.
Alex checked everything out. His Mom had done it all for him, and he was grateful. He didn’t have to go into the other room to retrieve anything, and he was truly grateful.
Alex’s phone beeped, and his stomach flipped with anticipation. It was Holly!
H: Hi babe. Just got back. Are you ok?
Alex was relieved Holly was home safe.
A: I am now. I’m glad you’re back safe. Are you ok?
H: No. I’m lonely. :(
A: Me too, babe. Will I see you in the morning?
H: What time do you go to the gym with Ben?
A: About 9:30am. We’re usually only there for an hour, though. Is after that too early?
H: I’ll be over before you go. ;)
A: Really? Awesome! :D
H: I’ll get Dev to help me for the hour. :D What are you doing now?
A: I’m sorting through my stuff in the spare room.
H: I’m sorry you have to do that, babe.
Alex knew Holly wasn’t happy, at all, about him having to change rooms. He didn’t like the fact that she was more worried over his situation than her own. He hated that her garden had been ruined, and her Dad’s memorial had been torn apart, yet she was more upset over what happened to him.
His stuff could be replaced easily. Her hard work had been destroyed in a matter of minutes.
A: I’m sorry about your garden.
Alex’s phone rang. It was Holly and he was happy she was calling. He preferred to hear her voice.
“Hey, babe.” He said.
“Hi baby. Look. You don’t have to be sorry about what she did. I can fix it. If my Dad’s ashes had been…” Alex could hear Holly blowing out an angry breath.
“…Then, I wouldn’t be so calm about it. Everything else can be replaced. His plants will grow again.”
“But, babe, all your hard work…” He began to say.
“Yeah, she trashed it and killed a lot of the flowers. I can fix it.”
“We can fix it, remember? All of us.” There was no way they were letting Holly do all of the work on her own.
Not a chance.
“How are you so perfect?” she sighed into the phone, making Alex’s skin tingle.
“I love you.” He said quietly and so full of emotion, his eyes misted.
“I love you too.” She said, and her breath caught as if she were going to cry.
“Baby are you ok?” He asked gently.
“Yeah.” She said, sniffling. “Just emotional… again.” And she snorted a short laugh.
Alex just listened to Holly breathe for a few seconds whilst he switched on his laptop.
His wallpaper…Holly at the lunch table.
“You’re the wallpaper on my laptop, you know.” He said.
“I am? Is it a picture from last night?”
Was she going to freak when he told her?
“Um…no. It’s one that I took a little while ago. At lunch.” He said and waited for her to reply.
“What? How did you get a picture of me at lunch?” Holly didn’t sound mad. She sounded as though she was happy about it, and Alex relaxed.
“I…may have pretended to be texting, and I took you picture when you were texting Emily.”
Holly laughed.
“Oh my God!” She said, still laughing.
“What?” He asked. He didn’t understand why it was so funny.
“I wasn’t texting Emily. I’ll show you what I was doing…hang on.” Whilst Alex was listening, he heard a small ’ping’ from his phone. He’d received a picture from Holly. As he opened it, he realized what they’d both done.
He’d taken a picture of Holly, taking a picture of him!
It was his turn to laugh.
“Wow, that’s crazy!” He said, still chuckling.
“That’s why I was wary of giving you my phone at Riss’. I was worried you’d see it.”
Alex remembered Holly holding her phone back, before she handed it to him to translate the lyrics she’s sung.
“I would have loved it. And I do. But…if you’d have just asked, I would have posed for you.”
“Oh my God!” She squealed.“ That wouldn’t have been appropriate th
ough.” She said with mischief in her voice.
“Why not?” Alex really wanted to know the answer to that question. He had a feeling it was going to be hot.
“Well…telling you to take off your shirt and lay on the table, so I could take a picture, might have been a bit much for lunch time.”
“I see your point.” He said, still chuckling. “Oh yeah…” He said as he remembered something. “I think you forgot your bag of stuff you left in my car.
"“Yes I did! I’ll have to remember then in the morning.”
“I could go outside and get them. You know…have a little peek inside…just to see.”
“Don’t you dare!” Holly whisper shouted as he chuckled.
“Why not? I was wondering what you’d chosen out of the things you picked up.” He said innocently.
“No, Alex. You cannot see them.” Holly sounded shocked but with humor too.
Alex was certainly having fun with it.
“Aww babe, just a little tiny peek?”
“Not a chance, Mister!”
“Tell me what you chose, then.” He said with a threat that was ‘tell me, or I’ll see for myself’.
“You really want to know what underwear I chose?” she asked, sultrily.
“Yes I do.” He said in the tone that he knew Holly loved so much.
“Well!” She said in a mock gasp. “Mr. Valencia. I thought you were so sweet and innocent.” Holly giggled.
“I kind of changed when as very sexy British girl almost walked into me at school. I don’t think sweet and innocent things around her…at all.” He said in that same tone and he could hear Holly’s breathing quicken on the other end.
“You are a bad boy, Alexandro.” She breathed into the phone.
“Because of you, babe. But, you still haven’t told me.”
“All of it.” She said.
Holly had bought everything Justin, the nicer assistant, had suggested.
“Holy fuck!” Alex said as he almost shouted.
He remembered the white lacy set. That was fucking awesome imagining Holly wearing it. The red set was too hot to even think about because his pants had gotten too tight as it was, and he may just explode.
He also remembered black sets, pink sets, teddy’s (he heard the assistant saying) and that Holly had to have special ones because of the size of her ‘ladies’.
“Alex, are you ok there?” Holly’s voice was amused on the other end of the phone.
Alex had growled, sexily down the phone and Holly’s breath was coming even harder down the line.
“Yeah, just remembering what…” He swallowed hard “…You had looked at.” His hand gripped his phone tightly as he scrunched his eyes closed and took a deep breath to calm himself.
“Yeahhhhh.” Holly said with a purr. “They’re very nice.” Alex whined a complaint into the phone. “I’m sorry babe that was mean.” She said even though she was laughing. Alex knew she never meant to make it painful for him, even though he was in agony. His body had broken into a sweat during their conversation, and he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. There was one thing he knew he could say that could quickly escalate the way their thoughts had turned during their call.
“Holly?” He whispered in a low growl, breathless, trying his hardest to control himself.
“Yeah?” she asked with a breathlessness to her tone too.
“Nine days, babe. Nine days.”
Holly gasped with a shaky breath.
“Just remember that, babe. In under two hours, it’ll be eight.”
“Mhmm.” He heard her say as she breathed into the phone.
“That’s so not fair.” She finally said.
“Neither is you telling me about your new underwear.” He said with a smile.
“You asked, I told. Anyway, I saw what you bought today, too.”
“I know you did. I’m wearing a pair very similar to them right now.”
If she’s going to tell me what she has on I’m going to burst.
Alex carried on talking before Holly could reply, as he was on his way to the main bathroom to get ready for a cold, cold shower.
“They’re black, with a white waist band saying ‘Calvin Klein.”
“Oh my God.” She barely whispered. “Just like the ones you bought today?”
“Yep” He said as he blew out another breath. “I could tell you what I’m wearing…but it’d be pointless.”
“Why?” He asked, a bit confused as he was removing his clothes to get in the water.
“I could tell you.” She teased.
“Tell me, Holly.”
“I’m not wearing any.” She breathed, sexily, into the phone and Alex stopped breathing.
“In fact, I’m naked and just getting in the shower.
"“Fuuucckk!” He said and he started to recite his sporting lists. It wasn’t helping.
“I can hear water, are you getting in the shower too?”
“Yes.” He managed to say though gritted teeth.
“Are you naked…right now?” Alex could hear, in Holly’s voice, that she was turned on. It was how she sounded earlier on the sofa.
“Completely.” Alex’s tone low to stir Holly even more. He heard her take a quick breath, and he whimpered, slightly. The way she did when she would bite her lip to stop herself from crying out.
“No more, Holly babe. I can’t take it. You haven’t even touched me and I’m losing control.”
“Neither can I. Just talking to you drives me crazy.” She rasped.
“I think I need to let the cold water cool me down. I love you, Holly.”
“I love you too, Alex.”
“I just need to say one more thing before I go.” He said, his voice dripping with sexiness.
“What is it?”
“Nueve días. Nueve días hasta que tenga desnuda… En la cama.” Alex barely whispered his promise into the phone.
“Oh my fucking hell!” she squealed.
“I’ll leave you to translate that, babe. But, I assure you…I mean it. Goodnight my sexy girl.”
“Goooo aaaahhhh” Was all Holly managed.
Alex stepped into the water and cooled himself down as the water didn’t help much…at all.
“Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!” Said Holly as she held onto the edge of the sink.
She’d translated what Alex had said to her. It wasn’t difficult to make out the words, as he’d said them slowly enough for her to catch them. Holly looked at her phone.
‘Nine days. Nine days until I have you naked…In bed.’
He said he’d meant it too!
“Oh, my, ah!” Holly got under the cold water. Her skin was burning, her breasts were heaving, nipples hard and painful. She was aching between her thighs so much, she could feel her pulse throbbing there.
“How can he do this to me?” she asked out loud, to herself. “How can he get me this way without even being here? Without touching me?”
Holly knew the answers to those questions immediately.
“Because he’s Alex and he’s sexy as hell.”
And all mine.
Once Holly had gotten her wits together, she dried, dressed, and got into bed, the conversation still playing in her mind. She had a good idea that that was what phone sex would be like.
Suddenly, the thought of Alex doing things to himself, because of her, made her tingle all over. She liked turning him on and the thought of him ‘helping’ himself, because of her…she liked it.
She went to bed running his words over in her head.
“Nine days.” She said and smiled to herself before falling asleep.
Chapter 24
Holly found herself drifting into her own world when she heard Alex talking.
“Hey, babe. What are you thinking?”
“About you.” She said dreamily.
They were in Alex’s car, headed towards Olympia.
“Where are we going?” she asked, excited that it was just the two of them in a romantic day
out. She felt bad for leaving Dev, today, but she’d said she was studying for the test she had coming up for art class. Alex took art class too, but he’s said he had already finished his so they could go out.
“It’s a surprise.” He said with a wink. “You’ll like it. I promise.”
Holly’s stomach was filled with butterflies, her heart racing. The anticipation of being alone, not counting the car ride, close together was overwhelming.
“You’re killing me!” She cried as he laughed.
As Holly looked in the wing mirror, she noticed a black car. She couldn’t tell the type because there was no badge on the front. It was pretty close to them too, but not close enough to see the driver. She had a horrible feeling in her stomach that something was very, very wrong.
Alex took the next right turn at the junction.
So did the black car.
It might be a coincidence. She thought, until it turned with them again.
“Alex. The car behind us…I think they’re following us.”
“I noticed.” He said. “I took the last turn to double check. It could be coincidence, but I’m not sure. I don’t want to take the chance.”
“She’s still in custody, right?” she asked, now afraid.
“As far as I know.” Alex replied. “The police haven’t called, and I wouldn’t have driven out here if she had.” He said, checking his mirror again. “I’ll carry on going to where I was taking you. If they end up there, then they’ve been following us. There wouldn’t have been any reason for them to make the turn back there if they were just headed to the same place.” He paused. “We’re going to the new botanic gardens. They’ve just opened a rare tropical flowers and plants house. I thought you’d like it.”
“Oh my God that’s excellent!” She said excitedly. “I heard about it and wanted to go. Aw, thank you, babe.” She said as she kissed his free hand.