Night Fires (27 page)

I
SMILED WHEN
I felt my husband’s arms slip around my waist and he pulled me back against the hardness of his body. Burying his nose into the crook of my neck, he took a huge breath of me, as if I were the oxygen needed to keep him alive. Lowering his hands, he gently stroked his fingers over my large belly. “She’ll come today.”

“She will, huh?” I smirked.

Carter nodded behind me. “They say lots of sex helps to induce you.”

“They do, huh?”

Again, he nodded. “Lots and lots of hot, hard sex, sweetheart. You think you can manage that?”

“It could be quite the chore,” I murmured, moving my head to the side to allow his sweet kisses more of my skin. “I mean, my poor pussy, taking all of your cock, over and over, it could be rather… brutal.”

His breath heated, triggering a path of goose bumps to break out in the wake of his light touch. “Oh, it will definitely be brutal, Alice.”

I couldn’t hold the shiver of excitement back. Carter laughed, his deep rumble delighting my heart as I turned my head and guided his mouth to mine. His kiss, as always, was passionate and full of adoration, each brush of his tongue against mine full of worship and love.

“Mummy!”

Carter broke away and we both turned to Billy as he ran up the beach screaming, his hands to his chest as he tried to protect his ice cream from a slobbering Buddy, the looney golden Labrador, and the latest addition to our family.

“Buddy!” Carter ordered in the stern voice Buddy would only listen to. The dog glanced at Carter, his ears pricking up at his master’s tone before he eyed up Billy’s ice-cream again, deciding if it was worth time locked in his cage.

“Buddy!” Janie shouted. “Look what Aunty Janie has!” She waved a sausage about from where she stood with Bray who was manning the barbeque.

Bray gawped at her sneakiness and turned to lift her off her feet, her squeal of delight as he hoisted her over his shoulder making me laugh. “You and that dog are a law unto yourselves.”

She swung the sausage around, tempting Buddy who galloped along behind them, jumping up as he tried to snatch his prize from his best friend. Bray marched her straight into the sea and unceremoniously dropped her into its cool water.

Betty clapped loudly, grinning at her daughter and son-in-law’s antics. There was never a dull moment with the Harrisons around. Cary laughed heartily from where he lay lazily in the sun, watching the exploits with a large grin on his face.

David ran from where he stood with Helen, his new wife, and scooped up Billy, swinging him around playfully. His whoops of delight warmed my belly, his happy giggles making my chest swell with love.

“Knock, knock.”

Both Carter and I turned to find Niall trotting down the stone steps towards us. His wife, Kit, waddled down behind him, her belly as full of arms and legs as mine. Niall waited for her, grabbing her hand to help her down the last few steps, before he strolled over to us.

“Where’s the birthday boy?”

Carter nodded towards the sea where David stood holding my four year old boy’s hand as they both jumped with every rolling wave.

“Should have known.” He chuckled. “Those two are inseparable.”

“Well it’s either him or Janie,” Carter grumbled. “And I opt for David any day.”

They both nodded knowingly when Janie emitted another squeal as Buddy leapt into her embrace.

“She’s fine with the dog,” Carter added.

I couldn’t help but smile as I watched my family play around in the heat of the summer sun.

Turning, still embraced in Carter’s arms, I reached up on my toes and deposited a kiss to his nose. “I’ll be right back.”

He smiled tenderly, the love in his eyes making my soul stronger day by day. “Okay, sweetheart. Take your time.”

As I climbed the stairs, Carter shouted. “Oh, it’s in the cupboard above the sink. Buddy had hold of it!”

I spun round and gawped at him, then scowled at Buddy as he shook himself and looked at me guiltily as if he’d understood exactly what his master had just informed me.

I stood still for a moment, watching all the playful activities. Every single person on my beach loved me. They all held me up when the darkness threatened to engulf me. They all took my heart in their hands to protect it from the days when it all came back to me. But those days were rare, and becoming rarer. I still grieved for my family. I still yearned to hold Josh, but now, the light engulfed the darkness. I had been given a chance at happiness and I made sure that I relished every second of life. Not that I needed to try; Carter also made sure I was as happy as I could be.

My husband loved me with a vengeance that filled my heart with strength and cocooned my soul with devotion. Every time he looked at me I saw the total look of awe in his eyes. Every time he kissed me I could feel his love for me filter in and give me even more reason to love him back just as hard.

The house was quiet and peaceful as I reached into the cupboard, moving aside the title deeds for Kingfisher House Carter had given me for my birthday four years ago, to find what I was looking for.

Sitting at the kitchen table, I opened my journal on the very last page.

And I wrote for the very last time.

Hello, Billy.

It’s time, kid. We’re both ready now.

No longer will I put pen to paper because I no longer need to. You’re in my heart, and when I need you, I know your soul will hear me.

Death doesn’t control me anymore. Life does. And I’m ready to take it back and live it. I’m ready to hold you in my heart instead of on paper, and I’m finally ready to let you go safely to where you should have gone five years ago.

I held you back with my grief, and I never had a right to, yet I know you understood.

As always, tonight at 7 I will light a candle for Josh’s birthday, as I will every year. And I know that you will light yours with me from wherever my release takes you.

This isn’t goodbye, Billy, because you will always be with me, my dear, wonderful brother.

Your ever loving sister,

Alice xxx

The End

Out Now

After her mother abandoned her when she was just a child, Dove fled the only life she’d known with her younger sister, Serenity, frightened that the authorities would tear them both apart.

Leaving behind a life of poverty and constant hardship with the group of travellers she had grown up with, Dove has no choice but to turn to a life of debauchery and crime to feed their bellies and provide them with shelter and security.

Fast forward ten years and life is now so very different for Dove. Her once best friend and fellow traveller, Flick O’Kane, now a Hollywood star, appoints Dove to accompany him to a charity ball, unaware just who exactly his companion really is.

Both their lives come together in an explosion of sex, drugs and secrets. The friendship they once held close is about to be tested when their past threatens to rip them both apart and endangers not just their own lives but the very life Dove has broken her own soul for – Serenity’s.

*This is a standalone book recommended for ages 18+. It contains scenes of sex, violence and substance abuse.

Ten years old I fell in love

Ten years was the price of that love

Ten years later our world’s re-collide

Alexandria (Alex)

My brother Jonah was possessive when it came to the things he owned; this unfortunately included the people in his life. The forbidden love between his best friend and me was just that… forbidden.

Our families were from different walks of life and as a sheriff’s daughter being with a Moore’s kid would never be tolerated. To my parents their son and Dalton Moore were on different paths and their friendship would end as soon as college began but it was my brother who had a craving for trouble. He was always looking for danger, committing petty crimes and getting away with it because Dalton would take the fall, blackening his already stained name. When Jonah found out we broke the rules by loving each other, his consequences impacted us all with immeasurable suffering.

Betrayal comes with a debt and it would be paid by all of us.

One with their heart,

one with their mind

and one would pay in blood.

Coming Soon

Tiny Bloody Lies

An erotic thriller

By D H Sidebottom

Milly Evans has been PA to the head of Sparrow Towers for over eight years. And Milly loves her job. Her boss is the most affectionate and compassionate man she’s ever known. Geoffrey Sparrow’s high profile status and company prestige never changed the old man, and with his and Milly’s love for his respected company, their relationship gave them both something to cherish in the workplace and build an even better future for themselves and all Sparrow’s employees.

That is until her boss is brutally murdered and Milly witnesses the whole horrifying ordeal.

And then everything changes.

Warne Industries has been tyring to snatch Sparrow Towers for years, their snidey underhand ways not once swaying her much loved boss.

And now the Warne brothers are quick to move in and take what they always wanted – Milly included.

Her new boss, Noam Warne, is an arrogant, narcissistic and cruel boss. His new ways, his reputation and the way he sneers down his nose at Milly give her many reasons to flee her new employers. Yet, driven by her love for Geoffrey and his resolve to create a traditional company, Milly is determined to stay and make sure his lifetime’s commitment isn’t torn to shreds and fed to the lions piece by piece.

But when it surfaces that Milly is a witness to her boss’ murder, she’s soon running for her life, and the only man that can help her stay alive is the man that she hates more than her ex’s new piece of flesh – her boss!

Lost

A dark romance

By

Ker Dukey

&

D H Sidebottom

We came from nothing and were given a second chance at life, and life was pretty good until it tipped on its axis and my world came tumbling down around me.

My Baby Sister is missing…

Stolen…

Lost…

I’ve never felt this helpless before now, the vacant hole inside me expanding with each passing second of not knowing where she is.

What’s she going through?

Is she hurt?

Suffering?

Alive?

The more I learn of her disappearance the more fear implants itself inside my heart, hardening - darkening.

The world is a depraved place, full of evil lurking behind normality.

Behind smiles.

Behind deception and facades.

She needs me and I will do whatever it takes to find her.

Whatever.

Whatever.

86400

Seconds

An Intense Dark Thriller

By D H Sidebottom

The day I died began with a sharp rush of breath and a fierce thud of my heart against my ribcage. A heavy sheen of sweat that clung to every millimetre of my icy skin, and the scent of decay in my nostrils so raw that I knew I’d never smell purity again.