“That’s quite cool. Speaking of the full moon—”
Marcus’ phone rang, cutting through the conversation. He took it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen, and sighed.
“Gordon.”
My heart dropped like a stone through water. I couldn’t hear what exactly he was saying and Marcus’ poker face gave nothing away either.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Marcus said. “I think you’ve done enough damage.”
Then after a pause, “You’ve never wanted to apologise in your life. What are you after you slimy weasel?”
Marcus glanced at me and then said, “I will ask her and let you know.”
With that, he ended the call.
“It would seem that Gordon wishes to apologise to you in person, for upsetting you last night.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh. Ok.”
Marcus shook his head. “Don’t fall for it, Caitlyn. He’s a rotten toad who does absolutely nothing without a reason. He’s up to something.”
“It’s an apology,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “What harm can an apology do?”
He snorted. “With him, a lot. It won’t just be an apology. That man has never apologised for anything in his entire miserable existence. He’s a scheming, narcissistic, manipulative b—”
“I get it,” I said, smirking. “You don’t like him.”
“No, you’re right. I absolutely despise him. He’s a wretched creature that should have been killed at birth. Or better yet, not even conceived.”
I rolled my eyes. “Marcus, he’s your family.”
“Just because I’m tied to him by blood, doesn’t mean I have to like him.”
I thought about that for a moment. “That’s a fair point. I’ll give you that.”
“You’re not going to accept, surely?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Why not?”
Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Well because of all the reasons I just gave.”
I laughed. “They’re your opinions on his personality. Not reasons as to why I shouldn’t accept an apology.”
“Those reasons are your reasons.”
“I think the least he could do is squirm as he says sorry to my face for all the trouble he’s caused.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Ok, fine, if that’s what you want, so it shall be.”
“Oh, stop sounding so doom and gloom. He’ll come over, say sorry, and that’s that. It’ll be all of a two-minute chat.”
“Whoa,” he said, lifting his hands. “What do you mean ‘he’ll come over’?”
“If he wants to apologise to my face, Marcus, he needs to come round.”
He shook his head. “No way. I’m not having him know where you live.”
“Do you really think he doesn’t know that already?”
“That’s not the point.”
“It’s not like I’m going to invite him in. He can stand outside and say it.”
“Born vampires don’t need invitations into places, Caitlyn.”
A spear of fright lodged itself in my heart. “I didn’t know that…”
“Are you going to listen to me now?”
“I still want him to say sorry to my face.”
Marcus sighed. “Fine. Then we can meet at mine. I’ll sort it out with him.”
“Thank you,” I said. “My bubbles are shrinking; I think it’s time for you to leave.”
He chuckled, leaned down and pecked my lips, then left the room.
I pondered over the situation with Gordon. When I thought back to how smug and sly he’d been when he spoke to me, enjoying the little riddles he spoke in, I realised that what Marcus said about him was more than likely true.
Realistically though, what harm could accepting an apology do?
Chapter Eight
By the time I emerged from my bath, my skin had wrinkled like an old plum and to my utter disappointment, Marcus had put his shirt back on.
“Hang on a minute,” I said, walking over to the bed. “How come you get to see me in nothing but a towel, yet you’re fully dressed? There’s something awfully one sided about this.”
He grinned. “You didn’t say that our agreement reached beyond the bathroom.”
I rolled my eyes and tutted. “Stop being so pedantic and get your shirt off.”
Chuckling to himself, he obliged. I couldn’t take my eyes off his body. Something about it seemed so…unreal. Then again, his very nature had been nothing but a fantasy to me several days ago.
“Having a good look?”
His cheeky voice dragged me back to reality. My cheeks immediately flushed with heat and I turned away to my wardrobe to dig out my pyjamas.
“You don’t have to point out my staring, you know,” I said, giggling. “Just enjoy it and be quiet. Like a live model in an art class.”
He laughed. “Your wish is my command.”
I pulled out a black and white spotty vest top and a pair of lilac pyjama bottoms. On autopilot, I undid my towel, then realised who was sitting on the bed behind me. Luckily, I had my back to him or he’d have gotten a good flash of my front.
“You don’t have to be shy,” he said, his voice suddenly soft and tender.
I turned around, my towel firmly replaced, and blushed. “But it’s just…awkward.”
He slid off the bed and walked over to me. “I’ve seen you in some stunning underwear. You laid on my bed and revelled in my touch. You weren’t shy then.”
I wanted to hide my face in my hands. “That was different.”
“How was it different?”
My heart pounded against my ribs. My entire body seemed to heat up ten degrees as the memory of that night flooded my mind. “We were…you know…in the heat of the moment and all that.”
He closed the gap between us, his sapphire eyes firmly locked onto mine, and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. “What if we create a moment now?”
My breath hitched in my throat. This man had a way of changing my entire emotions in a split second. Curiosity crept in, making me tempted to drop my towel and see his reaction. A very small part of me still screamed for decency though and kept the towel firmly done up.
He leaned in and pressed his lips to my left cheek. I held my breath and closed my eyes. He kissed me again but this time lower. I shivered. His next kiss hit my jawline and he touched a hand to my right shoulder, grazing his fingertips across my skin.
Goosebumps sprang up out of nowhere, taking my sensitivity sky high. He kissed me again, this time on my neck. An excited quiver took control of my muscles and I stood there absolutely helpless and lost to this incredible man in front of me.
He brought his lips to my ear and whispered, “Are you feeling in the moment?”
I licked my lips and nodded, still keeping my eyes shut.
He pressed his lips to my ear, and I gasped. He put both hands on me, running his fingers with a feather light touch over my collarbone, around the base of my neck, down my arms. All the time, he hovered near my ear with his mouth, his warm breath skimming across my skin, sending tremble after tremble through my body.
As he trailed his fingers down to the knot in the front of my towel, I leaned my head back against the wardrobe and found myself willing him to take the towel off. He pulled at the knot, releasing it from my body. I stood there fully naked, eyes closed, in front of Marcus, and the only thing I felt was power.
I opened my eyes and met his, almost gasping at the lust and desire blazing through them. After a couple of seconds, he broke our eye contact and inched his burning gaze down my body. The further south he travelled, the quicker my breathing became. I remembered that night in his room minute by minute, the feel of his hands on my body, and how fantastic it felt.
Before I’d even thought it through, the words escaped my lips. “Touch me.”
He flickered his eyes back up to mine in an instant. He reached out and skimmed his fingers around the base of my neck. The feather light touch sent a v
iolent shudder down my spine. As he trailed his fingers towards my cleavage, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Caitlyn,” he whispered.
“What?” I whispered back.
“Look at me.”
My heart somersaulted as I opened my eyes. I met his sapphire depths and found myself all but hypnotised. For the briefest of moments, I wondered if this was what being compelled felt like. I couldn’t have torn my attention from him to save my life.
As he moved his fingers between my breasts, I found myself willing him to go lower. He kept his eyes on mine, slowly tracing his fingers down my stomach. When he passed my belly button, I bit my lip and held my breath.
“Just relax,” he said, his voice so soft and gentle.
I let my breath out but couldn’t ignore the pounding of my heart against my ribcage. It almost hurt. I expected him to go straight down south but when he veered off to one side and grazed the top of my left thigh, I almost let out a sigh of relief.
He closed the gap between us and with his free hand, slid it around the back of my neck, pulling me in to him. Before I could even blink, his mouth covered mine, his tongue parting my lips with intense hunger. I curled my arms around his shoulders and pressed myself against him. His warmth made me want to be as close to him as possible. The feel of his hard muscles pushed against my soft skin sent my mind crazy.
So focused on thinking about his enticing body and the heat radiating from him, I completely forgot about his hand still being on my thigh until he moved it between my legs. I gasped and moaned into his mouth. My entire body seemed to come alive with excitement.
Just as he slipped a finger lower, between the folds of my skin, a loud banging came from my apartment door. I jumped away from him like a naughty child who’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t have been.
Marcus sighed, put his shirt back on in a flash, and stomped up towards the door. I bent down and grabbed my towel, rewrapped myself, and opened the wardrobe door, hiding myself from whoever had the world’s worst timing.
“Joanna,” Marcus said, the surprise in his voice hard to ignore.
“Cat?” she called.
I popped my head out from behind the open door and smiled, hoping there were no indications of what had just happened. “Hi. You ok?”
The edges of her mouth looked like they were tugging into somewhat of an amused smile. “Your dad is asking for you.”
“Oh!” I said, my entire face erupting with heat. “I’ve just got out of the bath. Let me get my pyjamas on and I’ll be right there.”
“Ok,” she said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “He’s sat up in bed drinking tea.”
She turned and walked back out, her and Marcus exchanging a momentary glance as he held the door open for her. I felt like smacking myself in the face. How could I be in here doing things like that, when my dad was mere metres away asking for me?
I snatched at my pyjama top and mentally cursed myself. I really was the epitome of a bad daughter. No, a bad person.
“Are you ok?” Marcus said, coming back to me. He reached out and touched a hand to my shoulder, but I shrugged him off. “Caitlyn?”
“No,” I replied, not even looking at him. I pulled my pyjama bottoms on and stood up straight as I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. “What kind of a person does things like that when their dad is feet away, dying?”
“I think you’re taking this out of proportion,” he replied. “It’s a part of life. Are you supposed to put a hold on everything you enjoy because of the situation?”
For some reason, his words struck a chord, an angry chord. I spun around and glared at him. “That ‘situation’ is my dad, Marcus. And it’s hardly right that I’m in here getting felt up by you when he’s in there asking for me.”
“You weren’t to know though, Caitlyn. You’re not psychic.”
“That doesn’t make it any better. You think Joanna couldn’t tell something had gone on? This is so embarrassing.”
“Being intimate with your boyfriend isn’t embarrassing, Caitlyn. It’s natural.”
I rolled my eyes and all but spat out my next words. “Stop making this about you. This is about anything but you.”
He reached out and grabbed my wrist, stilling me for a moment. “Actually, I’m making this about you. You have a life, Caitlyn. You have me. You have friends. Are you supposed to put all of that on hold and not have fun because your dad might want you at any given moment of the day?”
“I…”
“If you’d been out shopping with Hannah and Joanna had called, would you have felt like this?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Well, no.”
“So what makes going out shopping any different to this?”
“Because it’s seedy.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to rake them back in. It was just an instant response that clearly hit home. Marcus let go of my wrist and backed up a couple of steps. His eyes, moments ago full of passion and lust for me, were now filled with disappointment.
“Go and see your dad,” he said, sitting back down on the bed. “I’ll wait here.”
I forced this current problem to the back of my mind and ran into the house. As I approached Dad’s bedroom door, I could hear him chatting with Joanna about Midsummer Murders—one of his all-time favourite TV shows. He sounded happy and back to his normal self.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, shuffling from foot to foot in the doorway.
“Pumpkin,” he said, patting the empty space on the bed beside him. “Come here. Have a chat with your old dad.”
He looked…frail, old, weary. He didn’t look his young sixty-five, he looked like an old eighty at least. The bags under his eyes and the amount of weight he’d lost stood out like a sore thumb. How could I not have noticed he was in such a state before?
I glanced at Joanna who flashed me a smile and stood up to leave. “I’m going to get back to the twins. Guessing my neighbour is pulling her hair out by now. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Joanna,” Dad said.
“Thank you,” I said to her, giving her the warmest smile I could muster.
She left the room, leaving an awkward silence behind.
“I think I owe you an apology,” Dad said. “Sit down.”
I sat down next to him and he reached out and grabbed my left hand. That one single gesture had tears welling up inside me in an instant.
“I’m terribly sorry, Cat. I really don’t know how to express how sorry I am,” he said, his eyes watering. “I thought I was protecting you, well everyone really, but especially you, by keeping the truth to myself. I realise now what a terrible mistake that was and I really am sorry.”
“Protect me from what though?”
“The way I saw it, the less time you had to live with me being like this, the better. I could deal with a drawn-out death, but I didn’t want to put you through that. I…” his voice cracked “…I love you too much to do that.”
“Oh, Daddy,” I said, bursting into tears and flinging my arms around him. “I love you.”
He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight but it was nothing like the hugs he used to give; it felt weak and barely there yet I knew he was giving it his all. That broke my heart even more.
“I promise I’ll behave now. You can run around and nurse me as much as you like.”
I pulled back and eyed him with suspicion. “That’s a sudden turn around.”
“I’m tired, Caitlyn. I get up and get dressed and I need a sleep just from doing that. Trying to pretend everything is normal has completely exhausted me. This fall today has made me realise it’s time to take a step back. I need to get you up to speed on the books, so I want you in here every morning. Ok?”
I nodded.
“Now,” he said, grinning. “Tell me about your weekend.”
I took a deep breath and spent the next fifteen minutes detailing Dad on every aspect of my weekend. By the time I’d finished, I fe
lt rather tired. How had I gone through all of that in a weekend and thought nothing of it?
Dad smirked. “So you’re talking to him again now?”
“Only because Luke rang him to come here. Otherwise he’d still be in the dog house.
Dad chuckled. “You’re so stubborn and bloody minded, just like your mum.”
I grinned. “Would you rather I was spineless and let things go?”
“Not at all. At least I know you can stand up for yourself.”
“Do you think he was telling the truth?”
He pulled his lips into a thin line and sighed. “Yes, I do. Marcus is a stand-up, honest guy. He can give you things I could only ever dream of. He has no reason to lie.”
“Of course he does,” I shot back. “Not wanting me mad at him for one.”
“From what I know of him, he would admit to something and make amends for it if he was in the wrong. He thinks the world of you, Caitlyn. Don’t let some silly argument get in the way of what could be the best thing to ever happen to you.”
I giggled. “Are you sure you don’t want to date him, Dad?”
He chuckled. “Like I explained when you first came here, I want you to have a solid guy by your side who will look after you when I’m gone. I know you will have that in Marcus.”
“He let me wear his ex’s dress. In front of all his family. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?”
Dad pursed his lips. “Ok, say he’d told you it was her dress. Would you have still worn it?”
I automatically replied, “No.”
“Cat, if I know you, it’s that you hate being upstaged. If he’d told you that was his ex’s dress, you’d have done your damnedest to make sure you looked better in it than she ever did. Am I wrong?”
I couldn’t help but smirk. “You might have a point.”
“So really, the issue isn’t that it was her dress. The issue is he didn’t tell you, which by all accounts, I can wholly see why. You were excited, looking forward to this amazing dance he was taking you to with all his family. You put on this stunning dress and no doubt looked incredible. Why would he then risk popping your bubble by telling you who it actually once belonged to? It would be as dangerous as answering ‘yes’ to the infamous ‘does my bum look big in this?’ question. He was protecting your feelings and making sure you had a good night. If that cousin of his hadn’t turned up, you’d have never known any different, would you? And really what harm would that have done?”
Love, Lies and Blood Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 2) Page 7