Blood Ties (21 page)

“Stop calling me Sarge all the time. We’re not at work,” he said sharply as he held out my chair for me. I parked my rear end and took the menu that Abe was offering.

“Sorry, it’s just habit. Finn.” I felt uncomfortable calling him that – I think I preferred Sarge. I waited until he was seated as well. “So Finn’s short for Fintan?”

He didn’t seem to want to answer me, probably because it was a stupid question. I’d already seen his driver’s licence and we both knew it. “Yes.”

“Fintan Maguire,” I said experimentally. “That sounds Irish.”

“It is.”

“Do you have Irish ancestry?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever visited Ireland?”

“I was born there.”

“You don’t sound Irish.”

“I left there a long time ago.” He obviously didn’t like talking about himself and I let it go because I could understand that – I didn’t either. He changed the subject. “I might want to jog with you. What time do you normally head off?”

“On weekdays I set off at six, on weekends at seven. If you want to run with me, meet me at my gate by then. Romi usually runs with me a couple of times a week, otherwise I just run by myself.”

We ordered and if I had been worried about it being an awkward evening, then I needn’t have bothered, because we barely got a second alone anyway. Romi, who wasn’t working that evening, must have heard that the Sarge was around because she came haring downstairs and sat with us while we ate, gazing at him avidly, her chin on her palm. Abe chased her back upstairs to finish her homework, apologising for her bothering us. Then, without any self-awareness of the apparent irony, he joined us at the table himself until Jake arrived. He cheerfully greeted Abe and the Sarge, plonking himself down next to me.

“Wow, Tessie! You are sizzling hot tonight, baby doll! I
love
that dress,” he said with undisguised admiration, staring openly at my boobs. He kissed me on the mouth, then on the neck. “Mmm, you smell wonderful too. I’ve had over fifty phone calls about you dressed to kill, out on a date with your new boss.”

“It’s not a date,” I insisted, glancing over at the Sarge, embarrassed. “Besides, Abe’s been chaperoning me the whole time, haven’t you, sweetie?” I winked at Abe who looked embarrassed himself that he’d been caught out being so obvious.

Jake laughed and slid his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him, one hand resting on his thigh. He stole the spoon from my other hand and wolfed down the rest of my dessert.

“This is good,” he said to Abe, his mouth full. “Tell the chef I give it two thumbs up.” Then he drank my coffee and ate the chocolate mint that came with it, before munching on some of our uneaten breadsticks. The Sarge regarded him silently, his face expressionless.

“What have you been doing today besides watching Des and Maureen move out?” I asked Jake, reaching up to wipe some crumbs from the side of his mouth. He grabbed my hand in his, brought it to his lips and kissed it, smiling at me.

“I’ve been hanging with Two Dogs and Harry, babe. Harry was off-roster and Two Dogs took a sickie.” His best friends since primary school, the mates he’d gone to the nightclub with on that night we had met again. Two Dogs, so named because when he was a kid he had two identical pet dogs that only he could tell apart, was tubby and balding and worked for the Council in the payroll section. Harry was tall, lanky and freckly and worked at the prison with Jake. As I said before, they were both really nice guys and Jake was a rare creature in the Bycraft family for having friends who weren’t also his relatives. “We went for a surf and played a few games of soccer with some of the young ones. Then I had dinner at Mum’s. Heard the girls gave you a hard time today. You okay?”

“I’ll live,” I replied, a little frosty.

“Babe,” he remonstrated mildly, running his fingers through my hair. I almost purred with happiness. “Don’t be like that. I’ve got no control over those girls, you know that. Besides, you should see their legs. Bruises coming up everywhere where you whacked them.”

“Good. I hope they’re in a lot of pain. I’m going to be covered in bruises tomorrow too where they kicked me. And where Rick tried to strangle me.”

He leaned in close to me, gently brushed my hair aside and whispered in my ear, “I’ll kiss all those bruises better tonight, my beautiful Tessie. Will that help?” He kissed me on the neck again. He held my eyes and I nodded, my pulse suddenly shooting up to the sky.

Abruptly remembering that we were not alone, I changed the subject and told him that the Sarge and I were planning on fixing up Des’ old chook house. He frowned.

“No need to bother someone else with that kind of stuff. I’ll do it for you. I’ve got tomorrow off, remember? I’ll pick it up in my ute and have it fixed and painted for you by the end of the day. Your dad can help me.”

“Thanks Jakey,” I smiled up at him lovingly.

“It was no imposition,” the Sarge said quietly. “I was glad to help.”

“Thanks anyway, Finn,” Jake said, friendly but firmly, looking across the table at him. “But it’s my job to sort out my girlfriend’s problems. That’s one of the reasons a woman keeps a man around, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Of course,” the Sarge replied, impassive. I guess he took the hint – Jake wasn’t exactly being subtle.

“Great! I’ll come by very early tomorrow morning to get it, if you don’t mind. That will give me all day to work on it.”

The Sarge said, “Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” He stood up. “I’d better get this lovely one home. She’ll need a good rest after taking on my relatives by herself,” Jake said, looking at me with those striking eyes in a way that left me in no doubt that a good rest was the last thing I’d be getting tonight. A thrill shot up my spine.

“I wasn’t by myself,” I reminded him as I stood up too. “The Sarge was there. He gave Rosie a face full of spray.” I laughed at the memory.

“I know. I heard all about it, believe me.” He turned to the Sarge. “You better watch your back when she’s around, mate. Rosie’s gunning for you now.”

The Sarge shrugged his broad shoulders. “She can bring it on. I’m ready.”

“At least it might take her mind off trying to kill Tessie for a while,” he laughed and held out his hand to the Sarge. “Thanks for taking care of my girlfriend tonight, Finn. I bet she had a great time.”

“I did,” I confirmed. “Thanks so much for the lovely dinner, Sarge. Sorry to run off on you.”

He stood up and shook Jake’s hand. “Don’t worry about it. I should hit the sack early anyway. The removalist van will be at the house first thing tomorrow morning.”

A thought hit me. “Sarge, what are you going to sleep on tonight? You don’t have any furniture. Maybe you should come back to my house? At least there’s a bed for you there.”

He smiled at me and it stayed on his lips a few seconds longer than normal. Jake was squeezing my shoulder tightly in a silent scream of despair, seeing his chance of some good loving evaporating for the second night in a row.

“I have a blow-up mattress and a sleeping bag to do me. I’ll be right. Thanks for the offer though, Tess. I appreciate it,” he said finally, and Jake relaxed his iron grip on my shoulder. Jake shook hands with Abe and I gave Abe a quick peck on the cheek for looking after me and hand-in-hand we left the pub for the drive back to my place in his ute.

Dad and his mates were still going strong when we arrived home, loudly swapping fishing stories so full of bullshit I could have fertilised my herb garden for a year with them. After a quick hello to them and a warning to Dad about not staying up too late that he brushed off scornfully, Jake and I retired to my bedroom for the night. And from the moment I shut the door and turned to face him until we both finally fell asleep hours later – naked, entwined in each other’s arms, utterly exhausted, our bodies pulsing with over-satiation – every thought about anything except him and me was forcefully driven out of my mind with the sheer pleasure of his wonderful lovemaking.

Chapter 10

I slept heavily and only woke up when Jake began stroking my breasts and kissing my neck. I rolled over to face him and kissed him sleepily. He kissed me back, his tongue snaking its way into my mouth. I reached down to find him as hard as a steel rod again.

“Didn’t I wear that out last night?” I teased as I kissed his shoulder.

“Yes, you did,” he murmured, his mouth busy with my breasts. “But this is a new one. I always bring a couple with me when I stay over at your place because I know how greedy you are.”

I giggled and let him have his wicked way with me once more. Finished, we lay on our backs, clasping hands, panting.

He sat up to peer down sadly at his deflating self. “Oh no, look. You’ve broken another one.”

I giggled again and hit him with my pillow. He hit me back with his pillow and we wrestled on the bed together for a while, laughing. He soon overpowered me and I was trapped underneath him as he sat on my legs, holding my arms down.

“I’ll only let you go if you answer three questions,” he said, trying to keep his face serious.

“Okay,” I agreed, smiling with relaxed satisfaction.

“First question: who is the best-looking man you’ve ever met?”

My smile widened. “You, Jakey.”

“Correct answer. You’re ready to move on to the second question. Who is the best lover you’ve ever had in your whole life?”

I giggled. “You again, Jakey. Hands down. Or pants down, maybe.”

He laughed and leaned down to kiss me slowly. “Another correct answer. What a clever girl you are! Now you’re ready to move on to the third and final question. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” I said, trying to look solemn, but failing miserably.

“Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

“That’s an easy one,” I smiled. “Dad.”

He tickled me pitilessly until I squealed for mercy. “That’s not right. Try again.”

“What was the question again?” I laughed.

“Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

“Oh, I know. That really cute guy in that TV show about the doctors . . . you know, what’s-his-name. I’m completely in love him.”

“That’s not the right answer either!” he thundered and I had to suffer through another tickling, giggling uncontrollably and nearly squirming myself off the bed. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

“Is it you, Jakey?” I laughed. He leaned down so that our noses were touching.

“I don’t know, Tessie darling. Is it me?” he asked, serious all of a sudden.

“Yes, it’s you, you goose,” I said and kissed the tip of his nose. He rolled off me and lay back next to me on the bed, smirking smugly.

I leaned on his smooth, muscular chest and traced around the intricate phoenix tattoo that spread across his chest and stomach with my finger. He’d had that done just before we met up again a couple of years ago. I always hoped it symbolised his deep desire to rid himself of his Bycraft heritage, rising up to leave it permanently behind in a new life. But maybe that was wishful thinking on my part because he’d professed ignorance of its mythological importance, only ever admitting to me that he’d liked the design when he’d seen it in the tattooist’s artbook.

His one other tattoo was the word ‘LIBERTY’ inked across his shoulder blades in gothic script. He’d had that done straight after he’d walked out on his wife for good and you sure didn’t need to be a psychologist to work that one out. When I’d first seen it, he’d told me with a crooked self-deprecating smile that the tattooist had suggested the word, tactfully noting that the word he’d originally wanted – ‘FREE’ – might indicate to the world that he was a cheap root. I’d laughed at his story, but I’d also felt deep sadness inside – this wasn’t a man who wanted to be tied down again anytime soon. Especially as he’d gone to the bother of permanently marking his skin with his philosophy.

“I’m hurting everywhere because of your awful relatives,” I complained, sitting up in pain at a twinge in my side.

“Poor baby. Show Dr Jakey.” I pointed out where my greatest hurtings were, and he confirmed that I was bruising up nicely over my torso. He took the time to kiss them all better. “You’re such a tough cookie, aren’t you, my little Tessie?” he sympathised proudly and we kissed lazily for a while before separating. I lay on my back, my hands behind my head, one leg thrown carelessly over his and yawned.

“You weren’t very subtle with the Sarge last night, were you? He was only trying to help.”

“I don’t want him getting any ideas about you. It must be frustrating for him to come here and find that he’ll be working with such a smart and beautiful woman, only to learn that she’s already taken.” He leaned over to kiss me. “And taken by someone who loves her madly and thinks that she’s the best thing that ever happened to him and will never let her go.”

“That’s so sweet, but you’re on the wrong track completely. He thinks I’m a yokel,” and I told him about the Sarge’s surprise at my proficiency on the computer.

“That was a stupid thing for him to say. Everybody uses computers these days.” He paused a beat. “Even yokels like you,” jumping out of bed before I could thump him.

He always lorded over me that he’d been born in the city, not Little Town, his mum going into early labour with him while she was visiting her husband in the maximum-security city jail. Consequently, Jake was the only Bycraft not born in Little Town and I’d sometimes wondered if that little accident of birth was what made him so different to everybody else in his family.