All Saints: Love and Intrigue in the Stunning New Zealand Wilderness (The New Zealand Soccer Referee Series Book 1) (10 page)

Jack was
right when he said alcohol and painkillers don’t mix. I’d drunk him under the
table by the end of the second glass of sherry, which was all I could find in
the back of the kitchen cupboard. I settled him in the spare bed and took his
shoes off, not sure I wanted to cope with another naked male in my personal
space. He cut a pitiful figure in the single bed; his tee shirt rucked up and
his feet poking off the end of the mattress. I covered him up and put myself to
bed, after assembling my marking by the front door ready to grab in the morning
before school.

I dreamed about Jack and Lacey,
arguing over his refusal to have children. She screamed at him in her peach
wedding dress and in my dream, I stood up and clapped, inserting myself between
them with a sense of glee as I shoved his wedding band on my own fat finger.
The beautiful band of gold wedged itself between the first and second knuckle
and I looked down and saw all the soft rolls which used to encase my body.
Panicking, I sat up in bed, sweat blistering across my forehead.

The digital numbers on the alarm
clock betrayed the midnight hour as I cast around in my confusion and a
familiar noise drew my attention to the hallway. The light knocking echoed in
the darkness. I slipped from my warm bed and padded along the carpet, standing
on tip toes to peek through the peep hole. Teina Fox leaned against the wall
opposite, hands thrust deep into his pockets and one foot resting on the wall
behind him. As I watched, he appeared to give up and turned to leave.

“It’s late!” I squeaked, whipping
the front door open. “How did you get in downstairs?”

He faced me, his eyes tired and
his pale blue shirt undone at the collar. He looked rumpled and careworn. “You
told me to slam the door on my way out the other day but I didn’t see if you
grabbed any keys. I took the ones off the hook by the door but couldn’t find
you. I drove around a bit and then tidied up here and went home. I meant to
come back but got called into work. This is my first chance to come over.” His
arms snaked around my waist and he pulled me into him. “You ignored me at the
soccer ground.” Wounded ego leaked through his voice as he ran his hand
underneath my pajama top and touched my soft skin.

“You’re a lawyer,” I said, my
voice muffled in his shoulder. “Why would you get called into work?”

“I just did,” he said. “Trust
me.”

I rolled my eyes, recognising one
of my father’s stock phrases. He usually said it at the exact moment I’d be
better off mistrusting him, the words uttered from desperation or a guilty
conscience.

Teina’s lips sought my neck and he
nuzzled beneath my hair. I opened my mouth to speak and he covered my lips with
his. “I know, I know,” he breathed. “You don’t want anyone to know about us.”

“There’s an ‘us’ then?” I asked,
my heart skipping in my chest. His dark, sultry eyes studied my face and he
lifted his hands and pushed them into my long hair, snagging against the messy
ponytail at the back of my head.

“Yes, there’s an ‘us’ and no, you
won’t get rid of me as easily as you might think.”

“I don’t want to get rid of you,”
I murmured, enjoying his kisses on my face and the hardness of the body pressed
against mine. “I’m a self-saboteur.”

He snuffed out a low chuckle.
“Yeah. I can believe that.” He bit the underside of my jaw before pressing his
forehead to mine. “I’ve never met anyone like you.” His greater height meant he
craned his neck to look me in the eye and I wrinkled my nose and pushed my
fingers under his dark jacket. I teased his shirt out of his pants and he
groaned and stepped away, holding me at arm’s length. “I need to go, babe. I
just brought your keys back.”

Disappointment felt like a knife
in my chest and I pursed my lips. In defeat, I held my hand out for my spare
keys and Teina placed them into my palm, his fingers brushing my skin. We both
felt the connection and he held my gaze, letting his fingers wander onto the
soft skin of my wrist and quirking his lips upwards when I shivered. He took a
step forward and wrapped his arms around my back, crushing me into his strong
chest. I sighed into the sense of safety he brought and let my fingers wander
under his jacket again, caressing the smooth fabric of his shirt in the small
of his back. I remembered the guilty ache between my thighs and turned my face
up to him, inhaling as Teina’s warm lips pressed against my cheek and travelled
across to settle on my mouth in a breathtaking kiss. “Sorry about before. Are
we good now?” he asked, breaking away and nuzzling in my hair.

“Come in and I’ll show you,” I
whispered, wondering how I could explain away Jack’s existence in my spare bedroom.

Teina’s lips left a kiss on my
forehead and he gave me one last squeeze before letting go. “Not tonight,
babe,” he replied, his voice a low hush. His thumb ran under my left eye in a
soft arc and tracked down my cheeks to rub my bottom lip. “Why did you go to
the game tonight? I didn’t expect you’d be there after Saturday.”

I shrugged. “Wasn’t going to but
Uncle Larry offered me a ride. I get fed up of my own company.” Surprised at my
own admission, my cheeks coloured and my obvious discomfort embarrassed me.

Teina caressed my cheek with
tenderness and his eyes softened to the colour of treacle. “There’s a storm
coming Ms Saint,” he whispered, shaking his head in a slow movement. “I don’t
want you caught in it.”

I screwed up my features in
confusion, regretting how it made my face looked squished. But by the time I’d
straightened out my dignity, Teina had already mentally vacated my presence.
“What storm?” I demanded and he put his finger up to his lips and shook his
head.

“Be careful, Ursula,” he said and
turned away, ignoring the lift and striding towards the door to the stairs.

“Did the cops ask you about Mark
Lambie?” I hissed after him and he turned for a second; just long enough to
nod.

“Yeah. Just tell them the truth.”

I swallowed and shook my head but
he didn’t see, already gone with the click of the door into the stair well.

His absence left a disquieting
vacuum in the hallway and a cool breeze accentuated my sense of isolation. I
tracked it to an open window at the end of the hall and padded across to close
it. I used the excuse of fixing the dodgy catch closed to watch for Teina’s
exit, hoping for one more glimpse of him before I returned to my loneliness.
“What else could I tell them?” I mused.

Feeling the vibration of the
downstairs door click shut, I pressed my face against the glass and watched as
Teina skipped down the front steps, his hands jammed into his pockets. The
aftershave he transferred to my face from his, seemed to shroud me in his
essence as I watched the top of his dark head move onto the street. He checked
left and right before crossing the road, although no traffic moved around my
silent neighbourhood at that hour. I scoured the street for his car, looking
for its sleek outline under the street lamps but saw only familiar vehicles
with their glowing residents’ passes glinting in the eerie darkness.

A vehicle slid along the street,
pulling to a stop next to Teina. From above, the saloon looked long and glossy,
it’s colour indeterminable in the street glow. He slipped into the passenger
seat and the car waited for a heartbeat before moving off and turning left
along a street running perpendicular to mine. It moved in short, jerky runs as
the speed increased and the vehicle pushed through its gears, as though the
driver’s foot was a little too keen on the gas pedal. It paused at the junction
ahead and indicated left to head back to the motorway and I realised how little
I knew of Teina Fox. He’d given me no contact number or address; a secret,
mystery lover whom I possessed no way of reaching. I gaped in surprise as
Teina’s car did an emergency stop after beginning its journey onto the main
road and a white van sped by much too fast. My hand fixed itself across my
mouth at the realisation I’d almost witnessed a nasty crash.

The colour drained from my face
as the familiar blue and red lights flashed on in the rear window and the long
car took off after the van. I gripped the window sill until my fingers ached
and concentrated on breathing in and out at regular intervals, desperate to
push out the feeling of faintness which started from my chest and worked its
message to my brain.

“Ula?” Jack’s voice forced me
upright and I turned with a look of confusion plastered over my face. “Why are
you out here?” His hair stuck up on one side and he looked handsome in a rugged
way, carrying his broken wrist close to his body. He stood on my pathetic
doormat in his socks, his jeans hanging low having parted company with his tee
shirt to display a muscular abdomen covered in silky olive skin.

“Why would a lawyer get into an
unmarked cop car?” I asked, my voice echoing in the hallway. I shook my head
and ran a hand over my eyes, letting the swearword slip from my lips.

Jack tilted his head to one side
and gave me a look of fondness. “You’re sleepwalking, Ula,” he said, putting me
into the basket with all the other cute crazies he dealt with most days. “Come
back to bed.” He held his arms out to me and I padded towards him, glancing
back out of the window. With a clunk, the dodgy catch released itself and the
unmistakable sound of a police siren drifted through the gap. Jack glanced
through the glass, instinct piquing a cop’s interest in the plight of brothers
in arms. Seeing only a reflection of the dimly lit hall, I watched him brush it
off and beckon me with his good hand. “Come on, sweets,” he crooned, brotherly
affection in his eyes. “I forgot you did the whole sleepwalking thing.” He
enfolded me into his chest and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll get you a drink
and settle you back in bed.”

My bed felt cold and unwelcoming
as I pushed myself beneath the covers. I heard Jack in the kitchen fighting the
microwave one-handed. As good as his word, he brought me the overcooked milk
and I scraped the skin away with my fingernail, finding it burning hot on top
but cool and gloopy near the bottom of the mug. I sipped, trying not to pull a
face at my cousin’s botched kindness. Jack settled on Pete’s side of the bed,
stretching out and laying his head back against the headboard. It felt like we
were children again, the solidarity spreading between us like fine copper
threads. “I remember when you sleepwalked into the garden at Terry’s place,”
Jack said, his tone light. “Alan stopped you falling in the pool.”

I nodded, remembering the shocked
sensation of the cold water on my toes as I walked down the first step. The
boys hid my near accident from the adults, covering it up as high jinks,
cuzzies together having a laugh when Margaret found us and sent us all to bed
in disgrace. My sleepwalking became legendary within our generation of the
Saint family and proved a source of much teasing and embarrassment growing up.
Within the annals of my memory were visions of waking up with a shock, as my
mother walked me round and round the cold tiles of the kitchen at our house in
Mount Eden. She would find me in the strangest places, looking for things which
weren’t lost or trying to leave the house in my pajamas. I missed my mother
with a familiar ache and tears welled from somewhere near my heart. I
suppressed them, not bothering to correct Jack in his inaccurate recollections.

“We’re like a pair of odd shoes,”
Jack sighed, sympathy in his eyes for my unshed tears. He held his good arm out
and I put my mug on the bedside table and scooted over, snuggling into his chest.
Instinct stopped me explaining about Teina’s visit and I let my gentle cousin
believe I still grieved for Pete, my mother and our broken marriages.

My alarm woke us at six, clanging
into the silence and making us both jump. Jack’s cast rested over my thigh and
he spooned me from behind, his chin on my shoulder and his body pressed in
close. I leaned forward and his face slipped onto my pillow with a groan so I
couldn’t lay back and resume the comfortable cuddle. I shifted sideways and
looked at him. “Do you have work today.”

“No.” He spoke into the pillow,
his voice muffled. Raising the cast, he waved it in my face. “They gave me this
week off to recover. I’ll go back on light duties next week.”

“When does the cast come off?” I
asked, yawning and stretching my arms above my head to touch the headboard.

“Three weeks, then they check the
stitches from the surgery.”

“You had surgery?” I turned to
him in surprise.

“Course. The bone stuck through
my forearm like a bloody shipwreck.”

“No wonder it hurts,” I conceded.
“Sounds awful.”

Jack grunted and rested his head
on my shoulder. “Everything’s awful,” he sighed. “My life’s a heap of crap.”

I put my arms around him and
stroked his hair. “Only temporarily,” I soothed. “It’ll work out. It just feels
bad right now.”

Jack’s cast felt scratchy against
my bare stomach as the pajama top rode up and his fingers stroked the soft
skin. “My wife screwed another guy to get pregnant,” he said, his voice a low
growl. “How can that work out?”

I frowned, not understanding. “So,
is she still with him?” I asked and Jack shook his head, his hair tickling my
neck.

“No. She thought I’d accept
another man’s baby just to please her. What kind of crazy logic is that?”