Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) (54 page)

“Thank you,” I said meekly.

Ian smiled back and kissed me gently on the forehead. He looked a little relieved.

“Happy Birthday, sis,” Ian said.

I was passed around for hugs, not that I was complaining. I’d never needed hugs so badly in all my life. When I reached Jason, I hugged him tight. I breathed in his scent, in desperate need of my Jason-scented sedative.

“You okay, little squirrel?” He whispered against my hair.

I nodded. I felt like I shouldn’t have been okay, but I was. It had been excruciatingly painful to hear what had been said, but I felt lighter for it. A little less burdened. Jason stood, holding me in his arms and gently soothing me.

“I have a question,” he said. I couldn’t see his face because I had my own buried in his chest, but I knew he wasn’t talking to me. From his tone I suspected he was talking to Ian.

“Do you ever
not
have anything to say?” Ian asked dryly.

“Let the man speak, Ian,” Granddad interrupted gruffly.

“Thanks, Peter,” Jason nodded, his arms still around me. “Why haven’t you celebrated Jamie’s birthday before this? You must have understood how that made her feel?”

I squeezed Jason gently, not sure how I felt about his question. I didn’t want to hear it. I understood why today was a hard day for my brothers. To them, it was the anniversary of my mother’s death, not the anniversary of my birth.

“I know,” I heard Ian sigh. “I’m sorry, Jelly.”

Another apology. I’d heard quite a few of those this year. More than I’d heard in the previous eighteen years. It was taking some getting used to.

“Dad never did. I know he wanted to. I didn’t ask him why. We understood. After he died…” he cleared his throat a little and Jason gave me a reassuring squeeze. “It felt somehow wrong to change the way he’d done things. By the time we realised how messed up it was, you’d already figured something was up and hated your birthdays.”

We remained silent for few minutes as I absorbed Ian’s words. I always just assumed I knew why we didn’t celebrate my birthday. It never occurred to me that they felt bad about it.

“Thank you for the necklace,” I said, turning to Ian.

He nodded and stood up from his chair, helping me to put the necklace on. I brushed my fingers over it gently and smiled. It felt somehow right to have this small piece of my Mum with me now, knowing that my Dad had wanted me to have it.

“Let’s go sort your make-up out,” Alex smiled, taking me by the hand.

I him take me towards the house, glancing back at my brothers who were all smiling back. They looked awkward, but they were smiling nonetheless.

“Now!” I heard my Granddad declare. “Where’s my Elise. I want to check on my great granddaughter!”

Chapter 40

Monday, June 10th 2013

The car travelled through the city centre. I had no idea where we were going. Jason held my hand in his whilst Ian drove. He was driving slowly again because Granddad was in the passenger seat.

“You look beautiful,” Jason said, bringing my attention back to him.

“Thanks,” I smiled. “The dress is wonderful.”

“I let Alex pick,” he laughed. “He threw a bit of a temper tantrum when I said I wanted to.”

I giggled because I could just picture Alex pouting. That boy was just too cute to say no to.

“You like the underwear?” He whispered in my ear.

“Very much,” I nodded. “You shouldn’t have though.”

“Why not?” He grinned.

“They must have cost a fortune,” I blushed.

“Only the best for you, Jamie,” he smiled, kissing the side of my head. “Besides, I know they’ll be worth every penny.”

“Chocolates would have been fine,” I blushed.

“You’ll get those as well,” he laughed. “As many as you want.”

“I like this one,” Granddad grunted to Ian. “A girl deserves chocolates.”

“He’s alright I guess,” Ian frowned, his eyes on the road.

I smiled at Ian’s version of a compliment and looked around excitedly as he turned off the road.

“Close your eyes and trust me,” Jason said.

I complied and felt him tying something soft around my eyes. Blindfolded for the second time that day.

He guided me out of the car and I felt the wind drop and the heat change as we entered a building. I could hear several footsteps around me, familiar heavy footsteps, so I assumed my brothers were nearby.

“Surprise!” A chorus of voices met me as Jason removed the blindfold.

I looked around me in complete shock, trying to take in the sea of faces. All my aunties and uncles, cousins, and friends seemed to be there. All the guys from Leeds were there, including all my flatmates. It was amazing. I couldn’t imagine the amount of organisation it must have taken to get everyone there.

I looked up at Jason and my brothers to see them beaming back at me. I hugged them all in a frenzy of excitement.

“Happy Birthday, Jellybean,” Ian smiled. “Let’s go do the rounds.”

I smiled for the first time ever upon hearing those words. Happy and birthday were not things that generally went together for me. That being said, I was having a hard time keeping the grin off my face.

I wasn’t a fan of being centre of attention. I never had been. Jason knew that and was doing a fantastic job of making me feel at ease. I was ushered round the room for hugs and birthday wishes from my large family. Having lots of children was a bit of a family theme and, by the time I’d hugged all my cousins, I was starting to feel a little sore. Jason was brilliant though. He had a way of drawing the focus discretely away from me and sheltering me beside him.

Whenever he felt me squirm with discomfort, he’d engage the relative in question in conversation, even though it often left him getting bombarded with questions about our relationship.

“How you doing, sis?” Craig asked, rescuing me from an interrogation from my Aunt Megan about the age difference between Jason and myself. As soon as we’d eaten dinner, she’d pulled the two of us aside to talk.

“A little overwhelmed,” I admitted.

“Understandable,” Elise smiled kindly from behind him. “Know what’ll make it easier?” She grinned.

“What?” I asked curiously.

“Getting very, very drunk,” she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the bar before I could protest.

“They don’t really like me drinking,” I reminded her, wrinkling my nose at the idea.

“So what?” She grinned. “Half the fun is winding your brothers up.”

I just gaped at her. I usually tried to avoid winding them up at all costs.

“I don’t want to make them mad after they’ve done all this,” I frowned, but she was too busy ordering me a glass of white wine and…
did I hear that right? Nineteen shots of Sambuca. Yes, she definitely said nineteen
.

“What’s this?” Ian asked, appearing beside me in his usual ninja fashion.

“It’s Jamie’s birthday,” Elise answered sweetly, a sparkle of mischief in her eye.

Ian narrowed his eyes at her before looking at the ever-increasing number of shots on the bar and then back at me.

“That’s a lot of alcohol, Jelly,” Ian frowned.

“What about the challenges?” Elise intervened again before I had chance to say anything.

Ian rolled his eyes, still looking at the shots like he was hoping he could evaporate them with the heat of his stare.

“What’s going on?” Jason asked, appearing beside me and wrapping his arm around my waist.

“Jelly’s shots,” Ian explained, nodding towards the bar.

I watched Jason’s eyes widen as he took in the many, many shots now lined up in front of me.

“I’ve never seen you that drunk,” he grinned. “This could be fun.”

Needless to say, I managed to get suitably drunk. I danced with my Granddad, Jason, and even with Ian. I’d never been so relaxed around them all in the presence of alcohol. I suspected a large part of that was the fact that there was no looming threat of punishment.

“You’re not going to tie me to anything are you?” I pointed my finger at Ian accusingly as he sat me down on the chair to rest my tired feet.

“No,” he grinned. “We contemplated it but your boyfriend made a fuss.”

I laughed and turned to Jason who was looking pleased with himself. I suspected he actually quite enjoyed arguing with my brothers. He wouldn’t be my Jason if he didn’t have a death wish.

“Morning kidnappings aside, your birthday’s will be fun from now on,” Ian smiled, leaning forwards to kiss my forehead. “I promise.”

Chapter 41

Friday, June 21st 2013

I hate shopping. I really hate it
. Luckily for me, Alex loved it. He’d taken the afternoon off work so that he could traipse around the high street with me. The twins’ birthday was only a few weeks away and my new niece would be arriving soon. I wanted to make sure I had presents ready for them.

Jason had disappeared to the University for the day once more. He didn’t really get a summer break, bless him. Adam had gone back to Leeds with a plan of action for Laura and a good luck hug from me. That left me and Alex free to shop together.

“Coffee break!” He demanded, stopping outside a coffee shop.

“Fine by me,” I sighed a breath of relief and eagerly picked up a soy latte, smiling to myself because soy lattes made me think of Jason and our first coffee together.

“You’ve got that look on your face again, Jellybaby,” Alex rolled his eyes.

“Sorry,” I blushed. “I was thinking about Jason.”

“That much was obvious,” he giggled. “But I’ll let you off. I miss Rab too.”

“You two are so cute together,” I smiled. “When’s he coming back?”

“Not sure,” he pouted. “He’s at his Mum’s in Scotland.”

I nodded in sympathy. Rab was good for Alex and it was so nice seeing him happy.

“Things still good with your brothers?” Alex asked. It seemed like an innocent enough question but I knew better. Alex had always been there. He’d seen a few bruises on me and received a few himself. But he’d also been witness to the many times my brothers selflessly sacrificed themselves for me. He understood how complicated my relationship with them had been.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “They’re all… different,” I smiled. “It’s nice.”

It was nice. I’d thought the weekend I’d spent with Craig was sort of a one off, that the relaxed fun environment was like a gift to be cherished, but I’d been wrong. It was like that all the time now, mainly with Craig, but it was spreading. I was feeling a lot more relaxed around them and it was incredible.

I wasn’t sure exactly what the reason was. It could have been because they promised they wouldn’t hurt me. It could have been because I was slowly learning to work through my guilt. Granddad had insisted he pay for me to see a private therapist to talk about the way I felt. Either way, I was getting on with them better than ever. I was still eternally grateful to them for being there for me as a child. I could never thank them enough for that.

“I’m glad,” Alex smiled. “You know Jake apologised to me?” He grinned.

“He did?” I laughed. “For everything? Like a blanket apology?”

“God no,” he giggled. “I’d never expect that,” he shook his head. “He apologised for accusing me of gayking.”

“Gayking?” I asked. I had no idea what that meant.

“Faking the gay,” he grinned.

“Oh,” I laughed. “Well, for Jake that’s huge, I guess.”

He agreed and we enjoyed our coffee and cake together, reminiscing about hours spent in our form room making up nicknames for our teachers.

“Come on,” he grinned, dragging me up from the comfy sofa. “There’s a sale at New Look.”

“What are you, fifteen?” I teased, following him out the door with my takeaway cup clutched in my hand.

“They’ve got some good stuff in,” he pouted.

I rolled my eyes at him but squeezed his hand so he’d know I was joking. I didn’t mind following him on a hunt for clothing. I liked his enthusiasm and I’d rather be looking for clothes for him than me. We’d finished getting the things I needed and the shops wouldn’t close for another couple of hours. As long as I got my soy latte, I was happy.

“I saw this jumper that Rab would look
gorgeous
in,” he continued.

“I’m sure he’d look gorgeous in anything,” I smiled.

“True,” Alex sighed happily. “He looks even better in nothing,” he grinned.

“Alex!” I admonished, slapping him on the arm and trying desperately not to laugh.

We were still giggling as we rounded the corner to take a shortcut through a quieter street towards New Look. I’m pretty sure he was about to divulge details of just
why
Rab was so attractive without clothing but we were interrupted by a black van driving like a bat out of hell and almost running us over.

“Jerk,” Alex scowled, glaring at the van that had screeched to a stop in front of us.

I nodded my head in agreement. The idiot had come within centimetres of running my toes over. As we neared the van, both still glaring at it, the back doors popped open.

Two men with balaclavas hopped out and my breath caught in my throat.
What’s happening?
Were we caught in the middle of some sort of robbery? I stopped dead in my tracks and grabbed onto Alex’ arm. I could see the look of terror on his face as we caught sight of the weapons in their hands and I’m sure it was reflected on mine.

I instinctively took a few steps backwards, pulling Alex with me. They were looking straight at us and I knew we were too close. The closest one was only a foot away.

“Run!” I squeaked, dropping my shopping bags and pulling Alex with me.

I took a grand total of three steps before I felt somebody tackle me from behind. I threw my elbow back and felt it make contact with something hard behind me but they didn’t release me. I felt myself being quickly dragged back towards the van and I tried to scream out, tried to get help. A hand quickly encircled my mouth and silenced my cries.

As the doors closed and I was taken into the darkness, the only though that ran though my mind was that I could see Alex’ figure disappearing at the end of the street and I knew he was safe. Alex was safe.