The Driver

by Heidi Austin

  I smiled at the memory of what should have been an awful moment, remembering him hitting me in the chest repeatedly saying that he didn’t understand why I hadn’t asked him to move in with him, and that he loved me and everything was falling apart because he didn’t have time to travel between our flats. He had been ranting through his tears that if we just lived together everything would be much easier and that I never had told him I loved him since that first day and that meant that he thought I hated him. He had sat on the floor and sobbed with my arms locked around him for several minutes until I’d told him he was an idiot and he’d moved in the following week.

  Since then it had been wonderful. It was still hard on some days and the press had given him grief to start with, but we had, at least, always spent the night together and that had made all the difference.

  I jumped as he sprang up the stairs and bounded into bed, seeing that I was awake.

  “Morning,” he said as he settled himself full length on top of me and the duvet, “you’re awake.”

  “Yes.” I said without inflection. “Now I’m awake.”

  He chuckled and gave me a morning kiss then sat up so he was straddling me. He gave me a knowing smile as I grunted, he knew seeing him like that always got me going.

  “So Martin says we need to be at the restaurant opening by eight, as we are VIP’s and all, and apparently you have to wear a tux but I don’t because I look too good in all my clothes and make everything look smarter than a tux anyway.”

  I groaned. ”Marv did not say that.”

  “Oh he meant to though, I could tell.”

  “Great, you’re perfect and I’m an old man.”

  “And he said to make sure you don’t drive because he’s getting us super drunk.

  I groaned again. “I’m going to go and live at the gym. That way I won’t lose my figure and have you jump the nearest beautiful model at the earliest opportunity.”

  Cal lay back down on top of me. “Fat chance. You’re fit as fuck.”

  “So romantic.”

  “What are you going to wear?”

  “I thought I was wearing a tux.”

  “I was kidding.” He rolled off me and I missed his warmth instantly. He went over to the wardrobe that I had had installed when he moved in. We were definitely going to need to move eventually just to accommodate all of his clothing, but he seemed to be looking for something in particular.

  “I could probably wear what I wore to that weird gala thing you forced me to go to.” I said.

  He didn’t say anything so after I stretched languidly for several seconds I turned and saw he was holding a cover bag for a suit and looking worried.

  I frowned at him. “What’s that?”

  “Look, I know you hate it when I buy you things, but I’ve bought you a suit and I want you to wear it tonight.”

  “I have hundreds of suits,” I said, without really thinking it through. His face fell instantly so I got out of bed and quickly walked up to him and hugged him. “Sorry, sorry, thank you, I’ll wear it.”

  He was still frowning slightly but his expression cleared when I kissed him. “It’s sequined,” he said irritably, “you’ll still wear it?”

  “I’ll wear whatever you want, baby.”

  ~

  Mama’s Hut had now morphed into a beautiful cafe come restaurant, which Cal had personally helped to develop with Martin and Thea. I had mainly been there to help Martin stay calm in the face of overwhelming stress and babysit the girls, but we both realised pretty quickly he needed to do it on his own.

  It was his vision much more than it was mine and after a few painful exchanges I’d been able to let go of my love for Mama’s Hut and realised this was something new. The one thing we had agreed on was the name. Marie’s Place. It had popped into both our heads one evening over a bottle of wine, and although a little cheesy, it had remained the only option right from the start.

  Unfortunately, I had also needed to pay for a new gym membership due to all of the food I had had to “sample” at Cal’s bequest from the restaurant. I hadn’t quite realised how brilliant my brother was at cooking until I’d sampled nearly the entire menu over several weeks.

  I looked at myself in the mirror appreciatively, realising that my boyfriend was not only so hot I couldn’t breathe sometimes, but he also had fucking great taste in suits.

  Cal had picked out a dark charcoal, that, though I said it myself, brought my eyes out to perfection and he paired it with a light pink salmon shirt, just like the suit I had so admired in the early days of our relationship. I looked great, and he’d even picked out the shoes for me which were a little high fashion, and more his style than mine, but on this occasion this clearly mattered a lot to him, and that meant I’d wear whatever he wanted – even something with sequins on.

  I descended the stairs from my bed into the living room and saw Cal standing in his suit trousers and shirt, his jacket draped over the dining room table chair, looking at his phone with his back to me.

  I waited. He looked great, as always but was wearing a suit I had at least seen before so my ‘reveal’ moment was held with a little more anticipation.

  He put his phone down and picked up his jacket, pulling it on and turning around, as though in the act of coming to get me. He stopped.

  He stared and then he walked slowly forward, appraisingly. He knew I also hated it when he did this, as I was always uncomfortable when he complimented me, but I stayed still because I didn’t want to disappoint him.

  He frowned.

  “Come here.”

  He walked past me back into the bedroom, and, thinking I might have left a pocket square in the bag, or something, I followed him.

  As I walked up the steps he grabbed me and shoved me onto the bed.

  “Take the suit off, carefully, and then get naked.”

  “W-what? Cal, we have to go in about five minutes and we cannot be late. We’re the VIPs.”

  He checked his watch. “Thirty minutes if we get a cab, and I am not going to be able to concentrate on anything if I don’t fuck you before we leave.”

  I laughed but then stopped abruptly as he raised an eyebrow at me.

  “You’re serious.”

  “Very. Please get naked.” And he began to do the same. I swallowed, because it had been a few days since we’d had a chance, with everything else going on, and he grinned as he saw how hard I already was.

  When I removed my boxers he straddled me and gave me a hard, wonderful kiss. “I’m taking you for a ride, old man.”

  I smiled. “Didn’t that used to be the other way around?”

  “I’ll do it better,” he said, and then proceeded to do just that.

  - The End -

  About the Author

  Heidi Austin is a London-based writer. When she isn’t staring out of the window thinking up new characters and stories, she loves hearing from her readers.

  If you would like to get in touch please email creation.publishing.house@gmail.com

  Thank you so much for reading The Driver.