Always with You (WIth You Trilogy) (33 page)

“Okay?” I raised an eyebrow, not sure why she was telling me this.

“I need a picture of you holding her because you both look so cute in your outfits,” she explained excitedly.

“Why does everyone keep calling me cute?” I grumbled half-heartedly. “Puppies and babies are cute.”

“And squirrels,” Jason shouted across at me.

“Quit your whining and hold your niece,” Karl grinned.

“Yes, boss,” I smirked, accepting a slightly grumpy looking six month old. “Oh, dear. She doesn’t look happy to see me.”

“Would you be happy if you were dressed up like an elf?” Karl grinned, prompting Elise to slap his arm and order him to shut his trap.

“But you’re a beautiful elf, aren’t you Gracey?” I asked, making stupid faces at her in the hope of coaxing a smile.

“You’ll make her scream with a mug like that,” Craig teased.

“Says the scary bald man covered in tattoos,” I quipped, prompting Karl to guffaw like a hyena.

“Feel safe with a baby on your lap
, do you?” Craig smirked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I feel safe, full stop,” I answered honestly, smiling at the
not-so-scary bald man.

His smirk dropped and he smiled back without th
e teasing look in his eye. He kissed my forehead, then Grace’s cheek, before moving out of the way so we could take the picture. Adam stood behind Karl and his camera and made ridiculous noises. He successfully got Grace to shake off her disgruntled pout and gurgle happily as she babbled in response.

“A man making noises like that is definitely in need of another beer,” Danny chuckled, handing one over to Adam.

“Cheers,” Adam grinned accepting the cold drink with a happy smile.

Wednesday, 27th December 2013

The Christmas hangover hit hard. Not the after
effects of alcohol, but the dwindling headache caused by the sense of loss you get when Christmas is pretty much over. The lull between Christmas and New Year was never fun but it hit me harder this year because Christmas had been so amazing.

I found myself in the kitchen far earlier than everyone else. Well, everyo
ne but Ian. As usual, he was awake at an ungodly hour.

“Morning, Jellybean,”
he smiled past his mug off coffee. Probably at least his second one that day.

“Morning,” I shuffled over to him to get a hug. “You off to work?” I asked, taking in his neatly pressed suit.

“Yup,” he sighed. “Figure the traffic shouldn’t be too bad and I don’t need to be there until nine so I’ve got a while yet.”

“Okay,” I yawned. “Want me to make you breakfast?”

“That’s what I was waiting for,” he winked.

I just shook my head at him and rolled my eyes. I blinked rapidly, shocked at the fact that he didn’t
pinch or flick my arm. I eyed him cautiously but he just smiled and pointed to the toaster.

I nodded dutifully and bent down to get the bread out of the cupboard.

“Actually, on second thoughts,” Ian interrupted me. “Want to go for a run before the mob wakes up?”

“I’d love that,” I beamed. I rarely got to go running with just Ian. “I don’t want to wake Jason up getting my stuff though.” I frowned.

“I put a load of your washing in last night. Use that if you don’t mind being a bit wrinkly.”

“Workout clothes don’t get wrinkly,” I grinned. “Thank you.” I darted out the room to fetch my clothes from the utility room.
In typical Ian style, everything lay neatly folded in piles. I laughed inwardly at Ian’s definition of wrinkly.

“What took you so long?” Ian smirked when I met him by the door to put my running shoes on.

I pursed my lips and bit back a retort because I’d been fairly quick and, even though Ian had been easing up in recent days, I wouldn’t have put it past him to set the pace too high just too torture me.

“Come on,” he chuckled at my expression. “I need to be back by quarter to seven if I’m going to make it in time.”

He was obviously feeling generous because he let me decide the tempo. I kept it pretty high because he still would have teased me relentlessly if he thought I was slacking, but I could still talk as long as we were running on the flat.

“Everything good at uni?” He quizzed me.

“Yeah, I love it,” I smiled happily. “Can’t believe I’m already half-way through.”

“Don’t get complacent,” he warned. “The hard stuff is ye
t to come.” He couldn’t resist bossing me around a little bit, it was in his nature.

“I won’t,” I promised.

“You’re still seeing Dr Flemming?”

“Yeah, once a week during term time,” I nodded, blushing slightly because I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about my meetings with my therapist.

“Good,” he nodded. “Does it help?”

“I think so,” I frowned. “It’s nice to have somebody neutral to talk to about it, I guess.”

He nodded once more, keeping his eyes on the road. It was sweet that he cared. I really don’t think he realised how bad I felt about our Mum’s passing. I hadn’t realised quite how much I’d let her death define me either.

“And
Jason’s treating you right?”

I breathed out a sigh of relief, glad to be on slightly safer topics. “Always,” I smiled happily.

“That changes, you let us know,” Ian said sternly.

“I can kick his ass myself if need be,” I grinned.

“Jelly,” Ian growled in warning.

“If I want him dismembered, I promise I’ll let you know,” I offered with a grin.

“Good enough,” he grunted, the corner of his mouth tugging up in a wry smile.

“Ian?” I prompted, already mentally kicking myself because I really shouldn’t
have been asking what I was about to ask.

“Yeah?” He looked over to me before focussing back on the road ahead.

“Do you really like Jason or are you just pretending to make me happy?” I cringed.

Ian barked out a rumbling laugh. “I like him, Jelly. You know I wouldn’t pretend.”

I nodded. “Do you think Mum and Dad would have liked him?” I asked, my voice quiet and uncertain.

I saw his eyes dart across to me before he answered. I
wondered if he could tell how important this was to me.

He sighed. “Yeah, Jelly. I think they would.”

My spirits lifted somewhat at his words and I closed my eyes for a brief second, allowing myself to imagine what could have been.

“Mum would have loved him because he makes you happy. Dad would have made him work damn hard for his approval but he would have given it in the end because he’d have earned it.”

“Like you did?” I chirped, chancing a glance at his face in time to see him smirk.

“Something like that,” Ian chuckled.

We chatted about much lighter topics for the rest of our relatively short run: the twins’ antics, Grace’s adorableness, Jake’s much-improved mood. Things which were making our family so much better. It was nice to get some one-on-one time with the man who practically raised me. I tried to badger him about his personal life, specifically when he was going to settle down and stop wooing leggy blondes all over the United Kingdom but, as always, he brushed me off.

“You know what I do for a living, Jelly. There’s no place in my life for that. It’s not something I’m interested in and my sex life is not something I want to discuss with my little sister.”

I pursed my lips and bit back a reply because I could empathise. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear about his sex life either. I shouldn’t have brought it up.

When we got back, I nabbed the shower on the ground floor and changed quickly into some white knit leggings and a long, over-sized, grey jumper. It had little reindeers stitched on it and was the sort of adorable you could only get away with wearing in the middle of winter.

“I packed you breakfast to go,” I greeted Ian with a zip-lock bag and a large thermos of coffee.

He’d redressed in his suit and I had to admit, he did look pretty sharp. Not that I’d tell him that. His ego would have exploded.

“Best sister ever,” he grinned, grabbing them and kissing my forehead before he strode out the door, exuding his usual confidence.

I took a second to enjoy the house in a moment of
seldom found peace and quiet. The kitchen was usually a buzzing hive of activity and it felt almost wrong for it to be so quiet and empty.

As I closed my eyes to ab
sorb the feeling, my hearing homed in on the faint sounds coming from down below. Apparently I wasn’t the only one awake. The noise sounded very much like somebody was making the punching bag their bitch.

I knew what I’d find before I opened the door and had come prepared. Craig was smashing the hell out of the poor punch
ing bag. The frustration on his face could only mean one thing: something had happened with Matt.

I sat myself on the edge of the counter, knowing he needed to work through whatever had him so riled up.

“How long you been sitting there?” Craig asked, finally drawing himself away from the beaten-up bag.

“Not long,” I replied quietly. “I brought you breakfast.” I patted the worktop next to me and scooted over so he could see the mug of fruit tea and the peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

He managed a weak smile and grabbed a towel and a bottle of water from the fridge before lifting himself effortlessly onto the counter next to me.

I grabbed one of his hands to check that he hadn’t destroyed it, carefully inspecting each finger and knuckle in turn.

“I know better than to mess up my hands, Jelly,” Craig sighed heavily, pulling his hand away from me.

I kept quiet because I’d see him with swollen knuckles on several occasions. Specifically on occasions where he’d let Matt get to him.
I kept quite as he downed the water. He was literally dripping with sweat. I figured he must have been at it at a while.

“Thanks.” He cocked his head in the direction of the sandwiches and I smiled in response.

I waited for him to chew his way through both of them before I attempted to talk to him. “You want to talk about it?” I asked softly.

He shrugged and
took a sip of his tea.

“Something happen with Matt? Did you two fight?” I probed cautiously.

“We would have done if he’d had his way,” Craig sighed, cracking his knuckles against his chest.

“I’m sorry,” I frowned. “I hate that you two don’t get along.”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged. “What ya gonna do.” He seemed so resigned and it hurt that their rivalry had lasted so many years. Deep down, I knew they cared for each other on some level, but there were too many years of bitter comments, bruised egos, and battered bodies to break through to it.

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Craig prompted, turning his attention to me.

“I had a protein shake after my run but I’m waiting for Jason to get up to eat properly.”

“Alright,” he eyed me suspiciously. “But promise me you’ll eat.”

“Yes, Craig,” I sighed melodramatically.

He nodded, satisfied that I’d acquiesced, and shuffled off the counter top. “A run sounds good about now. Think I’ll run to work.”

I bit my tongue because that was a good fifteen kilometres away and he’d just spent a while hitting the bag. Not to mention he’d be working a twelve-hour shift and probably hitting the gym after that. He seemed like he really needed it though and I knew exactly how much running therapy helped.

“
Don’t work too hard, please,” I blinked up at him.

He chuckled half-heartedly and pulled me into a hug. He’d mostly dried off but he still smelt kind of ripe so I pushed him away and wrinkled my nose, prompting his chuckle to become more genuine.

“You’re such a girl,” he grinned.

“And you’re such a boy,” I retorted, glad to see him cheered up, even if it was only slightly.

“See you tomorrow, Jellybean.”

I watched him leave, waiting until he disappeared off the end of the driveway before closing the front door. The clock showed it was only half past seven. I didn’t
think the others would be getting up any time soon since they knew Ian was at work so I shuffled back up to my room, figuring I could cuddle up with Jason until he woke up.

He looked delicious lying there naked with the
quilt only barely covering him. I took a few extra seconds to ogle him without him knowing. Not that he minded. It was just nice to be able to do it without him smirking.

Grinning wickedly, I took my phone out my pocket and snapped a few shots of him. It was only fair, he had several of me in rather compromising positions. I figured I’d show them to him once he woke up and delete them if he minded but I doubted he would.

He didn’t awaken as I carefully climbed into bed with him after stripping down to my knickers and tank top. He murmured in his sleep and one arm draped over my stomach to pull me closer. His face nuzzled against the curve of my breast and I chuckled inwardly that he managed to be a perv, even in his sleep.

With his warm, even breath blowing across my skin
, I was gently lulled back to sleep, perfectly contented to be in his arms.