Love, Lies and Blood Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 2)

by C. J. Laurence

  “Ding-box.” I laughed. “What a name.”

  He gestured to the microwave. “It’s a box and it dings when it’s done.”

  “At least mine is original. Yours has the logic of a six-year-old boy.”

  “Touché,” he said, laughing.

  I grinned and curtsied. “Why thank you.”

  “Your reward is taking the drinks upstairs.”

  I laughed. When he passed me a pint glass of Schnapps and lemonade, my laughter stopped. “A pint? A pint of Schnapps and lemonade? Are you trying to kill me?”

  “I’m just thinking ahead. I don’t want to interrupt Netfl—TV by having to come down for more drinks so I’d rather take too much than not enough.”

  Shaking my head, I grabbed my glass, and his pint of gin and tonic, and headed upstairs. As I wondered what his bedroom would be like, I suddenly became very aware of the fact that this would look incredibly wrong to any outsiders. Other than go to sleep at six at night, the only option for entertainment happened to be in Luke’s bedroom—in the form of a TV of course. However, I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

  As I opened the solid wooden door, the overwhelming scent of the woods and the outdoors hit me. I could pick out fir trees for sure, and a crisp cleanliness like early morning dew. Two huge windows dominated most of the facing wall, each one open and allowing the fresh air to blow inside.

  To the right, a sturdy king size oak framed bed, neatly made up with plain navy bedding. On the wall facing the bottom of the bed sat a huge TV with a soundbar on the top. I noticed the speakers hung up in each corner and looked behind me to see speakers in those corners too. Surround sound. Nice. Two small alcoves housed his clothes keeping the rest of the room free of furniture save for a large bedside cabinet on either side of the bed.

  “I normally take the centre of the bed so you can take the floor,” Luke said, coming into the room.

  I held up his glass and grinned. “Careful or I’ll drink your drink.”

  He’d brought two lap trays up with him with cutlery and put them down on the bed. He folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “Go on then.”

  I hesitated. Was he calling my bluff?

  He reached out and took my drink from me. “I’ll even hold your drink for you.”

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I took a sniff of the gin and tonic. It didn’t smell that bad. I’d never tried gin, but I’d heard plenty of my friends rave about it.

  “Go on then,” he said. “Good stuff that is. The best. Beefeater dry gin.”

  Bravado took over. He thought I’d back out. Without thinking, I put the glass to my lips and took a huge mouthful, all the while staring at Luke. The amusement dancing in his eyes soon became clear as I swallowed.

  A hot burning sensation, like a thousand little barbs, tore down my throat, combined with a vile aftertaste which I presumed to be the tonic. I spluttered and started coughing at which point a chuckling Luke grabbed the remainder of his drink from my hand.

  “That’ll put hairs on your chest,” he said.

  I tried to speak but I couldn’t stop coughing.

  “Here,” he said, handing me an open bottle of water. He rested a hand on my back and gently rubbed it up and down. “That was a hefty mouthful you took. Not even I drink that much at once.”

  I took the water and poured it down my throat. It eased the raging fire but didn’t quite get rid of the rancid taste.

  “That is the devil’s drink,” I gasped.

  He laughed. “It’s a man’s drink. That stuff is how you differentiate men from men.”

  I shook my head and took another swig of water. “No. That is how you differentiate psychos from normal people. Jeeze. That’s pure torture in a bottle.”

  He kept chuckling to himself as he pointed at the bed. “I think after that I’ll let you have the bed.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s big enough for the both of us.”

  His jokey energy evaporated in an instant. “Cat, I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “You’re hardly going to be comfy sat on a wooden floor and it is your bed.”

  He closed his eyes and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Why do you have to make this so hard?”

  “It’s not the middle of the night,” I said, in the sweetest voice I could muster. “It’s still daylight outside.”

  “Cat…” His voice sounded strangled, as if his voice broke when he said my name.

  My heart actually ached when he spoke. The agony in that single syllable made me want to rake my words back in. “I’m sorry. I’ll shut up. What do you want to watch?”

  I sat down on the bed and grabbed the TV remote from the middle of the pillows. When I turned back around, I found Luke kneeling at the side of the bed, at my feet. Taken aback, I jumped a little, but my heart kept on jumping.

  “Look,” he said, taking the remote out of my hand and cradling my hands in his. “If you were mine and you were in Davenport’s bedroom, cuddled up on the bed, watching TV with alcohol and a film, I’d go spare. I think I would genuinely lose my mind.”

  “So now you’re concerned about Marcus’ feelings?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m just not willing to use you as a pawn in this…” He pressed his lips together, I guessed searching for words “…thing we have between us.”

  “Shared abhorrence for each other,” I said.

  “Yeah, that.”

  “Whilst that’s very considerate of you, what about what I want? Or what you want?”

  He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “What I want doesn’t even come into the equation. Of course what you want does but I still have to be mindful of boundaries.”

  My heart somersaulted into my throat. What he wanted? What did he want? I licked my lips and dared to ask the question. “What do you want?”

  A couple of seconds ticked by. Then he opened his eyes. When I saw the longing mixed with pain swirling around in his chocolatey depths, I knew the answer right to the core of my very soul.

  “Oh…” I whispered. “Luke, I…”

  He squeezed my hands and whispered, “Don’t.”

  Water glazed over my vision. I recognised the fact I liked Luke, right on the edge of more than a friend, but I was spoken for and that was a cold harsh reality we both had to take note of.

  “Can I have a hug at least?” I asked.

  He smiled. “Of course.”

  He let go of my hands and rose up on his knees, still a head taller than me in that position. As he slid his arms around my back I sighed in contentment and closed my eyes. My head seemed to find its own way to his shoulder and I nestled against his neck, inhaling his earthy smell. I wound my arms around his middle, his width meaning my hands barely reached each other around his back.

  I felt his face buried in my hair and when I heard him suck in a deep breath, I knew he was smelling it.

  “I love your smell,” he whispered, his lips moving against my ear. “So vibrant. It’s like it’s all around me, coconuts, lots and lots of coconuts.”

  He nuzzled into my hair further giving me goosebumps. Was I supposed to reply? Was I supposed to say something equally as sweet to him?

  “I—”

  “Don’t,” he said, his voice quiet and soft. “Just let me have this moment.”

  I relaxed into his warmth, enjoying the feeling of something familiar and sturdy around me. I felt safe, safer than I ever had done, and I knew the second this ended, I’d only be craving more.

  In that instant, I understood why he wouldn’t approach the boundaries, let alone cross them. My feelings for Marcus, although muddied by last night, were still as strong as before. It would be nothing but wrong and disgusting of me to drag Luke into the middle of this. Whatever this was with us was just something born out of insecurities and needing comfort, nothing else.

  He moved a hand then and before I could even think I said, “No.”

  With a gentle sweeping motion, he moved his fingers up and
down my back. “That’s all I was going to do,” he said. “I want to hug you tighter but you’re so fragile.”

  I shook my head. “Hug me tighter. I don’t care if you crack all the bones in my body.” Silence fell between us. He didn’t hug me tighter. “Luke, I have to say something.”

  He shook his head. “No, Cat. You don’t. Some things are best left unsaid.”

  I opened my mouth to argue with him, but my moment became lost to a loud knock at the front door.

  “Food’s here,” he said, still not moving. “This is the end of crossing boundaries, Cat. It has to be.”

  For some reason his words felt like an axe chopping through my heart and soul. It was as if he were breaking up with me even though there was nothing but a friendship to break. I fought back a wave of tears and nodded.

  He pressed a kiss to the side of my head and then in the blink of an eye, he was up and out of the room. That was it. Moment over.

  Chapter Four

  I expected things to be odd after that hug but when he returned with the food, it was nothing but business as usual. We joked and laughed and shared the obscene amount of food he’d ordered as we watched The Witcher on Netflix.

  “Wouldn’t it be so cool to live forever?” I said, purely musing as I chomped down on some prawn toast.

  “I don’t think it’s all it’s cracked up to be,” he replied, shoving an entire chicken ball in his mouth at once. “There are drawbacks.”

  “I don’t see any.”

  “Imagine having to see everyone you love die, over and over again. It would be soul breaking.”

  “That’s no different to a mortal life, Luke.”

  “Of course it is. It’s on a grander scale to start with. The friends you’d make over the years, they all grow old, but you don’t. You can never settle anywhere for more than a decade without questions being asked of why you’re not aging. It’s essentially the life of a nomad.”

  “Some people like that though. Not having a fixed place to live.”

  He nodded. “Sure. But it’s not for everyone. There’s a big difference between choosing to live like that and being forced to live like that.”

  “That’s fair. I don’t know if I could do it or not.”

  We fell into silence and carried on watching the episode. After I couldn’t take another mouthful, I made the fatal mistake of laying on my side just as the next episode started. My eyelids instantly grew heavy and the harder I tried to fight them, the heavier they became. I decided to give in, just for a second. Or several.

  The constant shrill ring of my phone roused me from my food coma. As I grunted with the effort of throwing my arm out in a lame attempt to try and grab it, I heard Luke’s voice.

  “What? Ok, stay there. We’re on our way.”

  I forced my eyes open to see Luke coming towards the bed. Next thing I knew, his hands were on my body, gently shaking me awake.

  “Cat, you need to wake up. Caitlyn, wake up.”

  I rolled over onto my back and groaned. “Tired.”

  “I know but we need to go. Your dad has had a fall.”

  That pierced right through my grogginess like a spear. I sat bolt upright, nearly colliding my forehead with Luke’s. “What? Is he ok?”

  “I don’t know. Joanna is with him. He’s alive at least.”

  I scrambled off the bed, almost falling over as my legs tried to coordinate themselves. I felt like a new-born foal. “Knew I should have gone home tonight.”

  Luke reached out and stopped me from falling over and hitting the doorframe. “Cat, now isn’t the time to play the blame game.”

  My eyes welled up with water. “At least if I’d been at home I would have been there, maybe stopped it.”

  “How? You’d have most likely been in your apartment and known nothing of it.”

  I had no response. He was right. I glanced down at the floor as I furiously blinked away my tears. With nothing to distract my mind, I couldn’t help but focus on his hands on my waist. The heat from his touch radiated through my body like a thermal wave. I found myself staring at his forearms, mesmerised by not only their thickness, but the clear definition of each muscle.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I raised a hand and started moving it towards his left forearm. I wanted to touch what my eyes were so hypnotised by.

  “Cat,” he whispered, dropping his hands from my waist.

  The spell had been broken and I suddenly woke up, wondering what the hell I’d been thinking. I stepped back and looked up at him, not sure if I should apologise or not.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  He nodded and led the way out to his truck. Even though we’d fallen into silence, he still did his usual chivalrous routine of opening the door for me. The entire journey back to mine we said nothing. The more I thought about it, the more poignant the silence seemed to be.

  As Luke pulled up around the back, I jumped out of the truck before he’d even brought it to a stop. I ran to the back door like the devil himself was chasing me.

  I burst through it and careered through the kitchen and down the hall to Dad’s room. The door was open already and I could hear Joanna’s soothing voice talking to him.

  “Dad!” I said, running into his room.

  He laid on his bed, on his back, his skin the colour of milk except for a streak of blood down the left side of his face and a painful looking bump on his temple. He turned his head to look at me just as I rocked back on my heels, shocked at how dreadful he looked.

  “What are you doing here?” he said, his voice hoarse and his lips tweaking up into the beginnings of a smile.

  I approached the bed and smiled at Joanna, who sat at his side holding his hand. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it,” she said, standing up.

  Taking her place, I took Dad’s hand in mine, sucking in a breath at how cold he was to the touch. “I think we should call an ambulance,” I said, pulling his duvet up over him.

  “I’m hot,” Dad said, making a feeble attempt to push the duvet away.

  “I’ve already called one,” Joanna said. “They should be here soon.”

  I nodded to her and then turned back to Dad. “Dad, you’re freezing to the touch.”

  “I’m hot,” he repeated.

  I pressed the back of my hand to his forehead. Sure enough, his skin was sticky and hot to the touch. “The paramedics will be here soon.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Don’t bother them. I’m fine.”

  A lump caught in my throat and I fought back tears. I couldn’t let him see how upset I was.

  “I think I’ll just take a little nap,” he said, his eyelids fluttering closed.

  “No, Dad. You need to stay awake. You’ve had a nasty bump to the head. What were you doing?”

  He furrowed his eyebrows together. “I can’t remember…”

  I wrapped both of my hands around his, my instincts telling me to warm him up. Seconds later, I heard the front door open and close. Thinking it was the paramedics, I stood up to allow them access.

  “Hey…”

  I startled at the sound of Marcus’ voice. He put his hands on my shoulders and started kneading at the tension in my muscles. I didn’t have it in me to ask what the hell he was doing here. This was about Dad.

  Just as I was about to sit back down, I heard Luke at the front door, welcoming the paramedics in. Marcus took my hand and pulled me away to give them all the room they needed.

  A tall dark-haired man walked in, his face set into a grim look. “I’m David,” he said. “And this is my colleague, Emma.”

  A petite blonde who couldn’t have been much more than five feet tall followed him in, a smile on her face. “What’s happened here?”

  I looked at Joanna who then jumped into answering all their questions. From what she said, she hadn’t actually seen anything, just heard a bang and found him laid in the doorway. Guilt gnawed at me something chronic. I was his daughter and yet Joanna, an employee, was the one
answering all their questions. It should have been me, I should have been here. I felt nothing but dreadful. Joanna shouldn’t have been put in a position like this.

  I watched as Emma cleaned up the blood on Dad’s face and felt around the bump whilst David asked him questions.

  “I think we should take him to the hospital for observation overnight. His vitals are stable but he seems confused and disorientated,” David said, glancing around the room at all of us.

  I nodded.

  “No,” Dad said. “No hospitals.”

  “Dad,” I said. “You’re not well. It’s only for the night.”

  “No.” He said it so firmly he started coughing. “I’m not going to die in a damn hospital.”

  That was it for me—breaking point. I burst into tears. Marcus wrapped his arms around me and buried me into his chest. I couldn’t understand how Dad could be so ok with dying. Every time he closed his eyes, he didn’t know if he’d wake up again. The thought alone terrified me to my very soul. Yet, Dad seemed to not care. It seemed as easy for him as breathing.

  “If he refuses to go, we can’t force him,” David said.

  Marcus spoke, his voice vibrating through his chest. “I’ll stay up and monitor him all night. If I see any decline, I’ll take him to the hospital myself.”

  I heard the paramedics packing up their stuff and giving Marcus a rundown on what to look out for. All the time, I concentrated on the steady beat of his heart, trying to time the space in between each beat.

  Turning my head, I smiled at the paramedics and thanked them for coming. As Luke showed them out, I sucked in a deep breath and freed myself from Marcus’ embrace.

  “Dad…” I said, my voice shaking as I approached him.

  He held a frail hand up and glared at me. “No, Caitlyn. Now is not the time.”

  “I was only going to say they know what they’re talking about, Dad. You don’t look well.”

  He huffed. “Well then I finally look how I’ve felt for months.”

  I bit my lip. Now was not the time to bring up yesterday morning’s argument in a snide comment. “Dad—”

  “Caitlyn Eloise Morgan Summers, you drop this subject right now or so help me God I will banish you from this house until I’m worm food.”