Broken Ever After (10 page)

“
No, I didn’t.” I said as he took my hands to pull me to my feet.

“
Hmm… Pity.” I stepped around him to pick an outfit from the wardrobe.

“
What should I wear?” I looked back at him, saw his smirk and turned away shaking my head. “Never mind” I pulled out some denim shorts, a white tank top and a black cardigan to match my black Converse. I twirled my finger in the air looking at him, signalling for him to turn around.

“
Seriously?” I nodded and he obliged in turning around for me.

“
I’m not an idiot, Jamie… away from the mirror” He sighed and let out a soft chuckle and turned a little more. I swapped my bikini for white lace panties and a bra; I pulled my shorts on and caught him peeking in the mirror again. I shook my head slightly and carried on getting dressed. He turned as I lifted my Converse to the bed and sat to put them on. “Where are we going?”

“
We can go for a walk, or go find some food somewhere?” My stomach answered him with a rumble; I blushed as he laughed at it.

“
Can we
please
go and find something to eat? I don’t think I can stand the wait for food again, I’m starved right now.” I threw myself back on the bed dramatically poking at my stomach. “See?”

He planted a swift kiss on the exposed strip of skin between my shorts and t
-shirt. “Come on then.” He laughed as he took my hand pulling me to the door. He shoved my room key in his pocket. “What do you fancy?” I couldn’t help the grin that appeared on my face.

We headed out a few hundred yards down the road to a fast
-food place; I was too hungry to sit around waiting for a restaurant to serve proper meals so I jumped at the chance of a quick burger and fries.

After we finished up our meals
we drove around to find a supermarket. Jamie noticed a DVD player in my room so we agreed to buy a couple of DVD’s to watch and spent a while debating which ones to get. I made him promise not to pick anything scary; I didn’t mind watching scary films with my friends as I knew they didn’t think it was funny if I hid behind a pillow as they often did it too, but I didn’t want to hide for half of a film with Jamie.

“
What did you pick?” I asked him as I kept browsing for a film that wasn’t too girly for him.

“
It’s a surprise.” I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he hid it behind his back. That meant it was going to be scary as hell, I knew it.

“
Hmm… If I have nightmares because of it, I. Will. Kill. You” I said, scowling at him. He laughed at me and pulled me into his side.

“
Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe, baby.” He planted a kiss on top of my head.

“
Right…
Avengers Assemble
it is then. If you’ve picked something to scare me shitless, I need
Thor, Tony Stark
and
Steve Rogers
to make me feel better again.” I picked up the DVD and threw it in to the basket he was holding; he gave me a small laugh and pulled me to the popcorn.

“
What? One man isn’t enough for you?” I looked up at him to see him wink at me. I shook my head as I grabbed a bag of popcorn, some crisps, sweets and some cans of Coke. “Are you hungry again? Or did you invite more than just me to your room?”

“
What? I like food when I watch movies, ok?” I shrugged at him and pulled him towards the till. “Besides… Who said you’re invited? You’re just buying the snacks and DVDs.”

***

Back at the hotel we headed upstairs separately in case either of my parents were wandering around the hotel. I entered first and made it up to my room before realising that Jamie had my room key in his pocket; I sighed and leaned against the wall waiting for him to follow me up. I heard laughter that sounded suspiciously like my mum coming from the stairwell, oh shit! How do I explain Jamie having my room key? I dived to the other end of the corridor knowing they didn’t have to go that way and hoped they didn’t see me. When they turned from the stairs to head to their room I ducked to hide in the stairwell.

I held my hand over my mouth to sto
p myself from laughing. My mum was an awful drunk; my dad was half carrying her to their room. I could guarantee she’d be asleep in approximately twenty seconds after entering her room.

I felt fingers pinch my behind; I yelped as I jumped and span around to see who it was. I smacked Jamie hard and put my finger to my lips to warn him to be quiet.

“What are you doing?” He whispered.

“
My parents just came up, I had to hide and duck in here when they went that way; my mum is wrecked!” I whispered back as I peered around the corner. I waited a minute and I was glad I did as my dad came out and walked a few rooms down to knock on my door. “Shit! I need my key” I held my hand out to Jamie. “Wait here!” I ordered him. I stepped out from the stairs and pretended to be shocked to see my dad standing at my door. “Oh hey Dad!” I called to him.

“
Hello, sweetheart. Where have you been?” He asked looking around me; mum had obviously told him I was with the biggest crush of my life.

“
I was studying. Didn’t Mum tell you?”

“
Ah yes, she mentioned something. Where are your notes?”
Shit. Think! Think!

“
Mr Matthews kept them to go over them. He wanted to check I had everything right. Where’s Mum?”

“
Passed out.” He sighed. “I told her not to have another glass of wine.”

“
When does she ever listen?” I laughed.

“
Yes, you definitely get your stubbornness from her.”

“
I’m not stubborn!” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Hmm… Never mind. Did you want something? Did you wanna come in? I was just going to head to bed; my brain hurts from all of the maths. We can maybe watch TV if you want?”

“
Oh no, sweetheart, not if you’re going to bed. I may go myself actually.” He stretched and yawned, then bent down to press a kiss to my forehead.

“
Night Dad.”

“
Love you, Princess.” Oh god, I really hoped Jamie wasn’t listening to this. Dad turned to go to his room and I called out to him a little louder than was really necessary so Jamie heard what I was doing.

“
Oh dad… I gave mum a book to bring as it wouldn’t fit in my bag, can I come look for it?”

“
Sure honey.” He turned and opened his door for me and I quickly placed my key in the lock for Jamie to get in. I wasted a couple of minutes looking in mum’s bag to give Jamie time to get into my room safely. I heard a door click down the hall and hoped to God that it was him.

“
I can’t find it; I must have already got it but I didn’t see it in my things. Oh well, I’ll go double check before I head off to bed. Thanks Daddy.” I tiptoed up and kissed his cheek.

“
Night, night.” I closed the door quietly behind me so I didn’t wake my mum. My door was latched open and I dived inside making sure to lock it behind me.

“
Oh my God!” I sighed as I pressed my back to the door, grinning wildly at managing to sneak around my parents.

“
I already told you, Princess, your parents have
the
worst timing.” He laughed from his position in front of the TV as he set up the first DVD. I kicked my Converse off while scowling at him and hit the light switch; I drew the curtains so the room was dark apart from the glow from the TV as the first credits rolled through.

“
Comfy?” Jamie asked as he kicked his shoes off and copied my position on the bed – draped over a pillow at the end, leaning on my elbows with my feet swinging in the air behind me.

“
Yes thanks.” I smiled around at him as
Avengers Assemble
began. I was just laughing at
Natasha Romanoff
trying to encourage
Bruce Banner
to join her when I felt Jamie’s foot brush against mine. He stroked his foot up against mine a couple of times before I pushed mine back against him. I felt him move to look at me but I kept my eyes forward on the TV pretending to be engrossed in the film, but it was too hard to concentrate with his gaze on me and the small contact that his foot provided.

We kept our feet entwined; stroking them against each other occasionally and I managed to regain my focus on the film. A little while later Jamie shifted closer to me on the bed and draped his arm over my back
, gently rubbing up and down the curve of my spine as I sat propped up on my elbows over a pillow.

I sneaked a glance sideways at him and shifted my eyes back as I saw him look round to me again; I couldn
’t help the smile that crossed my face so I looked back to him shyly. He gave me a really warm and soft smile in return, not one that I saw often, only if we were laughing about something and afterwards he would just look at me and smile, or if I had gotten something right in class and he was pleased.

“
I want to kiss you.” He whispered as he looked down to my lips. I pressed them together, anticipating the tingling that his lips always left behind. He slowly leaned closer to me, gently pressing his lips to mine; I turned on my side so that I could face him with my body and wound my arms around his back to pull him closer to me.

Our legs wound around each other
’s; he flipped me over on to my back and my hands found their way underneath his t-shirt. I ran them over the smooth skin of his back pulling him closer to me again; trailing my nails from his shoulder blades down to the top of his shorts, evoking a shiver from deep within him. He nestled himself between my legs and let out a low growl in to my ear as he pushed himself against me.

Jamie began kissing down my neck to my shoulder the point where the shoulder strap of my tank top was resting against my skin
, then kissed along the lines of the material across to my other shoulder and up to my ear. I opened my eyes sensing darkness in the room and noticed the DVD had finished playing; I let out a soft chuckle.

“
What’s so funny?” Jamie murmured in my ear.

“
We only watched half of the DVD.” I smiled up at him. He looked towards the TV and smirked down at me.

“
So we did.” He pressed his lips to mine softly. “Do you want me to put the other one on?” I nodded my reply and he pulled himself away from me, running his hands down the length of my body as he rose. I was made aware of a pressing need in my bladder and leaped up to the bathroom; I yawned and told Jamie I was going to change for bed. I changed into a nighty and grabbed the bathrobe from the hook tying it tightly at my waist. I went back into the bedroom to find Jamie laying in my bed rather than on it and noticed his t-shirt and shorts sat neatly folded beside the bed.

“
Why are you in my bed Mr Matthews?” I asked him with a playful tone and a wry smile.

“
Hmm… The question is Miss Stevens, why are you
not
in your bed?” He asked boldly. I walked over to the other side and Jamie pulled the duvet down for me to climb in. I slowly untied the belt of my robe and let it slide from my shoulders to land at my feet on the floor. Jamie’s jaw tightened and he ran his hands through his hair pleading quietly “Oh God,
please help me
” as he took in my choice of sleepwear.

I had a silk
, pale pink nightdress on, which just about covered the top of my thighs; he slowly exhaled as I climbed into the bed beside him, leaving a noticeable gap between us. He pressed play on the remote control and lifted his arm up along the pillows settled behind us and curled his fingers around my neck. “My side is cold, come and keep me warm.” I looked over at him, smiled sardonically and scooted over to him anyway, snuggling into his side. His arm slipped down to lay across my shoulders and his other hand took one of mine to hold in his lap.

“
I swear to God, if this is the least bit scary I will kill you Jamie Matthews.” He chuckled and pulled me closer to him. Sensing that it probably was a horror of some sort, I pulled my knees up to my chest and brought the duvet up to tuck under my chin. As soon as it started I recognised it as
Paranormal Activity
; I’d watched it late one night with Lily and Violet at my house, well, we watched the first thirty minutes before we got too freaked out. That night we each slept on my sofa together under my big duvet with all the lights on, just in case something happened in the house and we’d be close to the front door to escape. “Why did you pick this? I hate this film!” I pulled the duvet up so I could hide my face behind it.

“
You’ve seen it?”

“
Erm… The first thirty minutes I think. Lily made me turn it off.” He laughed at me. “And then I made Violet turn it off because I was too scared to go near the TV while it was still playing.” He laughed even louder and hugged me tightly.

“
I’ll keep you safe, Angel” He placed a kiss on my forehead and looked back to the TV. We settled into watching the film, I kept turning my face into Jamie’s bare chest when I sensed something bad was about to happen, concentrating on the fresh scent of him; he smelled like perfectly ripened oranges, it made my mouth water thinking of freshly squeezed orange juice sliding down my throat.