Love Resisted (Entwined Hearts #2) (3 page)

When I’ve had a shower and am dressed in one of Dane’s T-shirts ready to go to sleep, I text Pea.

Me:
Hey Pea, sorry to text late. Just didn’t want you to worry. I’m staying out tonight.

A minute later I get a reply.

Pea:
Okay hun. Where are you staying?

I contemplate whether to answer that, but then decide that it doesn’t hurt for her to know.

Me:
I’m staying at Danes
.

Pea:
Oh really? Is that why he rushed out of here earlier?

Me:
No Pea. I mean, yes he came to get me, but don’t get any fluffy ideas in your head. He’s just my friend. Like Con and Saul.

Pea:
A-ha. Okay. Night hun.

I shake my head at the phone. Bloody nutcase, always trying to pair me up with someone. I shut it off and roll over before sleep claims me.

“Tink,” I say as I stand in the doorway and look across at a sleeping Soph. She looks so peaceful and I don’t really want to wake her, but I need to head out today. There are some things that require my attention and although I don’t mind her staying here and seeing herself out, there are two problems with that.

Firstly, I don’t want her to wake up to an empty house. Secondly, my house is across London which means she will have to call a cab or walk to the bus stop, and I don’t want her walking. Not in the same outfit she came out of that shoot in yesterday. Skin tight leather trousers and this little tank that keeps riding up her stomach. Then topping it all off with a hot-as-fuck biker jacket, and fucking heels that make her legs look longer if that’s even possible.
No.
Waking her is definitely the best way.

She hasn’t moved yet. “Tink,” I throw out again. She stirs for a second then it looks like she’s sinking back into a dream, so I raise my voice slightly.
“Tink.”
This time her eyes slam open and she jerks. Unfortunately, she must have been sleeping on the edge of the bed as she falls out onto the floor with a thud. She’s fallen to the other side of the bed, so I can’t see her. A few seconds later a pair of eyes pop over the edge of the mattress and a set of fingers grip onto the bed sheets. She’s cute as fuck and I suppress a smile watching her and knowing I have no idea what she’s going to do next. One thing I do know is that she’s so comical and she doesn’t even realise it.

Her eyes dart around the room then look at me and widen. It’s like I can see her brain working behind her eyes, and then she seems to have a lightbulb moment and that’s when the rest of her face appears.

“Dane…I…urm…sorry…I didn’t hear you come in,” she mumbles. Yeah, she’s funny as fuck, and cute, especially in the morning.

“S’okay. Just need to get going, so I wondered whether you wanted a lift home?” She stares at me for a second. “You can stay here if you want, have a shower, breakfast, and catch a cab home or you could wait. I mean, I’ll be back later. I’m not gonna be out all day.” I don’t give her the option of the bus, not that I could stop her…well, that’s not strictly true, my teeth are clenched as I wait to see what she’ll say.

“Oh, um…well, it would be good to have a shower and wake up. I’m not much of a morning person,” she says and her cheeks pink. I know why, it’s because in all the time we were fucking, never once did I stay the night.
Stupid shit that I am.

“That’s fine, take your time, relax. I’ll be back around four if you want to stay.”

“Thanks but, I have some things to sort out at home, not to mention calling Sharon to see if any work has been booked in for me. Also, it would be good to change my clothes,” she says with a giggle.

“Yeah, sure. If you want, would you like me to wait and take you home?” I can’t really wait. I should be at the office now meeting a client that would only talk with the owner. But fuck, if she wants me to wait, I will.

“No, don’t worry, you’ve done enough. I had a really peaceful night’s sleep. When I’m ready, I’ll give Saul a call. I’m sure he won’t mind coming to get me.”

“I’m sure he won’t,” I mumble.

“What?”

“Nothing. That sounds good, Tink. I’ll catch up with you later, yeah?” I reply, then without waiting for her to answer, I’m down the stairs and out the door. Breathing out only when my car pulls away from the house.

I’ve known Soph for years. I was stupid to let her go the first time. Only realising my mistake when it was too late. I’m not sure she’ll ever want to give us another chance at a relationship. I think, maybe, she has always wanted just one person and I don’t think that person is me.

Hearing the door slam I sit in a heap on the floor rubbing my eyes and then my bum.
What the hell just happened?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around it ten minutes later when my phone alerts me to a text. I look around the room unsure of where the noise came from, and when I can’t see my bag, I check under the bed. Noticing it’s the other side, I crawl under the bed to get to it. I’m not sure what makes me do that rather than getting up and walking around, other than my brain is mush. It’s morning, I haven’t had any coffee, and I hate being woken up because my body takes ages to function.

I open the phone and the message from Pea.

Pea:
Con and I are going to the hospital for the scan today, but I want you all over tonight. 7PM. Then we’re going out.

Me:
Yeah, ok Pea, but where else do you think I’m gonna be? I live there.

Pea:
Blanket text silly! Don’t be needy!

This makes me chuckle. Whenever we moan at each other we try to lighten it, and we usually do this by saying,
‘Don't be needy.’

I pick myself up from the floor and debate what to do. I really want to have a nosy around Dane’s house. I know he wouldn’t stop me. If he were worried, then he wouldn’t have left me here alone. But I also don’t want to be cheeky and although that wouldn’t usually stop me, I’m un-caffeinated so I’m still not quite myself.

I tiptoe down the stairs to make coffee. I have no idea why I tiptoe. After all, nobody is here, but somehow it just feels appropriate. Finally managing to make coffee after searching almost every cupboard to locate the items needed, I sit at his big wooden table sipping, immediately feeling life seep back into me.

Deciding to stick to just one coffee as I really need a shower and I want to get home, I text Saul.

Me:
Would you be able to pick me up in an hour?

Saul:
Sure. Where are you?

Me:
At Danes

Saul:
See you then.

Me:
Wait, you know where he lives?

Saul:
Yep.

I don’t reply to that, figuring I’ll find out more when he picks me up.

I go back up to the bedroom to get dressed, luckily my bag always has an emergency overnight kit. It’s not something I’ve had to use in the last few months, but I haven’t removed it from my everyday handbag. I go in search of the bathroom and get the right door on the second attempt. Pulling out my old faithful, I’m glad to see there’s still enough travel shower gel, although I’ve run out of shampoo and conditioner. But as I’ll be having another shower before we all go out tonight, I’ll wash my hair then. I pull out my toothbrush and travel toothpaste and clean my teeth
. I like this sink
. That’s probably a strange thing to think, but at my old place and at Pea’s, the sink is against a wall with a mirror over it. This sink is under the window and the mirror is to the right. It means I can brush my teeth without looking in a mirror and therefore tearing myself to shreds before my day has even started. When finished, I jump into the shower and I’m thankful when I get out and realise there is a stack of towels on the side.

Squeezing into yesterday’s clothes is never fun, but it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve done it. Anyway, these clothes are pretty tame considering some of the things I’ve had to put back on when staying somewhere unexpectedly. Not to mention, some of the situations I’ve gotten myself into.

There was the time I went home with goat throat. Now that was the loving name we eventually gave to a bartender at The Grove, which was an up and coming scene a few years back. His name was Terry and as Pea, Con, Saul and me, would go to the bar every week we all got to know him really well.

He was hot. I mean smoking hot. He must have spent a lot of free time at the gym. He was at least six feet and had short dark hair and brown eyes, he had a cheeky grin too. He was always chatting up Pea and me, and he had good banter. I tried not to be taken in because if I dated him and it ended – which it inevitably would – we would have to find somewhere else to drink. Saul and Con used to get on my case about not believing every line that any guy gave me. And I didn’t. I wasn’t as stupid as they thought. I was just needy.

This particular night I’d decided that I was going to hell anyway, so I might as well find a new place to drink on the way. All evening there was the usual chemistry between us, but on this occasion I gave off the vibes letting him know that tonight was going to play out differently. Pea and Con left together, and Saul had some woman attached to his hip and his lips, so I could see where that was going.

I was chatting to Terry all night and in the end he invited me back to his for coffee. Of course, when we got to his house we only just made it inside and up to his bedroom before we were ripping at each other’s clothes. It was hot and heavy and I was ready for a release.

When it happened.

He threw me on the bed, pushed my skirt up, slipping my panties to the side he dived in with his fingers almost scissoring me. It was like he was going to win an award for the most pumps in and out within thirty seconds. When he realised that wasn’t getting anywhere, even if he was trying to burrow to the other side, he instead dove over me lapping at my sex. That wasn’t bad and I’d just started to get back into it when out of nowhere comes this weird, deep noise. It scared the shit out of me at first until I realised it was coming from him…somehow his throat was making a goat sound. If you have ever heard those songs where certain words are replaced with a goat noise…yeah…that didn’t come from a goat…that came from Goat Throat Terry! So, I’m lying there alternating between trying to get into it and thinking of a way to escape.

All while attempting not to laugh, when I hear another shout, “Tel, are you in…Tel?”

Goat Throat comes up for air. “I’m busy, Mum. What do you need?”

At this point, I think I snorted and I’m not sure if it was with laughter or the complete ridiculousness of the situation. As his mother shouted some more, I pushed him off me adjusted my knickers and pulled my skirt down. I got out of there as quickly as I could. Of course, I called Saul and he came to get me.

He made goat noises all the way home.

I’m just finishing getting ready when I hear Saul pull up outside. I let myself out of the house and slide into his car.

“So Dane?...Really?” are his first words, as he pulls away.

“That’s what you really think?” I reply back to him, knowing exactly what he thinks without even saying it. He’s right though, it’s not like I haven’t been with Dane before. But not again. The fact that he thinks I could be with Dane, and knowingly upset the relationship between me and Pea when it went wrong – which it would – is hurtful.