Broken Ever After (20 page)

“
Hmm?”

“
I love you” I whispered. I felt a flutter run through my stomach as I said it.

“
I love you too.”

***

It was still dark when I woke up, I was alone and naked in a strange room. I realised I was in Jamie’s room, but where was he? I picked my clothes up from the floor. My dress was in pieces, my underwear was ripped to shreds and the heel on one of my shoes was broken. I specifically remembered Jamie slowly pulling the zipper down on my dress. Why was it so torn? I grabbed a sheet from the bed, wrapping it around myself and made my way to the door. The house was completely dark and lifeless as I wandered through it. I could feel eyes on me but I couldn’t find Jamie anywhere. I went back to the bedroom to see if he had gone back to bed but it was still empty. After a few minutes of me sitting on the bed alone the bathroom door opened. Why didn’t I think to look in there?

“
Hey, I was looking for you”

He came over to the bed
and crawled his way up to the top, pushing me over. He lay on top of me and began holding me down a little rougher than I anticipated.

“
Jamie, that hurts!” His hands slipped up to my throat and laughed.

“
I knew there was something between the two of you.” Lucas? How the hell did he get in here? Where was Jamie?

“
Get off me!” I said as I struggled against him. “
GET OFF ME!
” I began screaming. He started pulling at the blankets with one hand whilst the other pinned me down by my throat. He started shaking me violently. “
Get off me!
” I yelped again.

“
OLIVIA!” I could hear Jamie’s voice, but I could still feel Lucas’ hands around my throat, I couldn’t breathe. “OLIVIA! For fuck sake wake up!” I opened my eyes and it was Jamie there, I sat up with tears pouring down my cheeks. From what I could see my clothes were just as Jamie had left them, they weren’t shredded. Lucas was nowhere. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare.

“
Lucas… He was here.” I sobbed into my hands. Jamie grabbed me in a big hug and began gently rocking me.

“
Shh… It was just a dream, you’re safe here I told you, you are safe with me; you’re ok” His voice was so soothing, but I couldn’t stop crying.

“
I’m s-sorry- It felt so real. I- I was so scared, Jamie! It was horrible.”

“
I know, baby, but it wasn’t real; come on, let’s get you in the shower, you’re absolutely boiling.” I touched my hand to my head; I was sweating and the thought of a shower was a welcomed one.

I followed him into the bathroom and
watched him switch the shower on. A shudder crept through my body as I looked at the unfamiliar shower. I had to suppress every thought that I had in my mind when he stepped in and pulled me in too. Another shiver ran through me as I looked at Jamie standing in the shower with me and not the good kind, I had to close myself off from everything and not think.

The shower head fit us both under it easily as we stood there with his arms around me. I couldn
’t move my arms from around his waist, I felt frozen in place with thoughts of Lucas and my childhood flashing through my mind; how I’d probably never feel safe ever again apart from with Jamie.
Why does everyone want to hurt me?
Jamie held me tightly as I sobbed into the water running over his chest. I knew in that moment he would never hurt me, he’d protect me. I needed to tell him. I just didn’t know when.

“
Can we go to the police station in the morning?” I whispered to his chest.

“
Do you want to press charges?”

“
Yes. He’s terrorised me for weeks, even before everything with you and me and it all came to a head last night. What if he comes back for more? I can’t have him think he can get away with that. What if he does it to someone else? What if no one stops him? Now I can’t even get away from him in my sleep! How am I supposed to feel safe walking down the street when I can’t even dream without him being there?”

“
You know you are safe with me, Angel. I will never let anyone hurt you, ever. What about your uncle that you mentioned?” he kissed the top of my head before grabbing his shampoo to wash my hair.

“
I’ll let my uncle have words with him soon enough, but you can’t be with me every minute of every day. You don’t finish for summer yet, you still have to work. I have to go home; I’ll have university soon too. There will always be a time where…” I sighed loudly. “Never mind.” I grabbed the shampoo and started to wash his hair too, loving the feel of it soapy and wet in my hands.

“
I’ll quit and you can be here as often as you want. I can take you to uni if you want? And pick you up to take you home again.” I looked at him like he was crazy.

“
Jamie, you sound seven kinds of crazy, right about now.” I gripped my fingers in his hair pulling him to me. “You need to do less talking and more kissing.”

Climbing back into bed he pulled me to him pressing his front along my back. He buried his nose into my still damp hair.

“You smell good”

I chuckled remembering his shower in my hotel room.
“I smell like you.”

“
Precisely.”

I woke again and looked at Jamie’s bedside clock; it was a little before eleven am. Jamie was wrapped around me so I had to snake out of his grip to get to the bathroom. I remembered my bag was still in there so I could brush my teeth and put some clothes on. After examining myself in the huge mirror and seeing the lovely bruise that covered my throat I dressed in my skinny jeans and a little tank top that I had put in my bag for meeting Jamie, knowing he liked my rear I thought skinny jeans would be perfect to drive him crazy all day. I shook my head thinking that if last night with Lucas never happened, I wouldn’t have spent the night with Jamie. I looked in the mirror taking in the mess that my hair had turned to while sleeping with it wet. Somehow I managed to tame it down before Jamie saw and died laughing at me.

Jamie was still sleeping when I came out of the bathroom; I smiled as I looked down to our clothes still strewn over the floor
, quickly picking up his jacket and my dress to lay them over the back of a chair. My stomach growled so I decided I’d go and make him some breakfast in bed. I had no idea where the kitchen was and felt more than a little awkward to be snooping around Jamie’s house.

Making my way down the huge staircase to a hallway filled with bright sunlight, I found that I could see everything a lot differently. The other front room that was shrouded in darkness twelve hours previously was actually a formal sitting room. I edged in slowly.

It was decorated with beautiful, cream coloured sofas, with lots of small cushions in every shade of blue imaginable. The curtains were navy blue reminding me of one of Jamie’s sexy suits, my favourite one. There was a huge fireplace with logs beside, with a family portrait hung above, an older couple with a little boy which I presumed to be Jamie. He was so cute, his hair the same dark, floppy mess it is now with beautiful pale green eyes.

The second living room which Jamie had taken me in when we first arrived
, was much more ‘Jamie’. In front of the black leather sofas I noticed that the big coffee table was cluttered with remotes and controllers for at least three games consoles.

W
ith a clearer head I noticed that the TV was the biggest TV anyone had ever seen in their life and rows upon rows of CDs, DVDs and games lined a cabinet at the back of the room taking up the whole wall. I found Jamie’s study next; it was in complete disarray. I giggled to myself at all the papers and books strewn over every surface. It was a total juxtaposition to the rest of his tidy home.

A loud clang of pots startled me in what I assumed was the way to the kitchen. I walked in to find a huge open plan dining area with a table that would comfortably seat twelve people. A woman of about sixty stood up; we both jumped at the sight of each other.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to startle you.” I apologised, gripping my own heart. “I didn’t know anyone else was here.”

“
No that’s ok. It’s a surprise to see someone other than Mr Matthews.” She smiled politely at me.

“
Sorry. I’m Olivia, Jamie’s umm… girlfriend.”

“
Girlfriend?” she looked puzzled. “Oh… Umm ok then. Well, it’s nice to meet you Olivia. I’m Mrs Carter, Mr Matthews’ housekeeper, but please call me Anna.” She extended her hand for me to shake. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“
I just came down to make Jamie some breakfast.” I looked around the kitchen for a hint at where anything was, but everything was kept hidden away.

“
I can take care of that.” She smiled at me warmly.

“
Can I help?” I looked around again spotting a coffee maker on the counter. “Maybe I could make his coffee”

“
Ah he likes that-”

“
Really white with two sugars.” I smiled at her “It was my job before class sometimes.” she looked at me oddly. “I was in his maths class.” she raised her eyebrows then nodded. Crap she must think I’m too young for Jamie and he’s obviously mega rich. Great, I bet she thinks I just want his money. “I mean, his sixth-form class, not one of his high-school classes. Well, I was in his high-school class, but then I went to sixth-form” I found myself rambling on like an idiot as she continued to busy herself whisking eggs. “I’m eighteen and I just left so it’s not-”

“
Do you want to make the toast? The bread is just in the pantry over there, I made it this morning.” She interrupted, pointing to a doorway that I quickly headed in to and slapped myself behind the door.

The pantry was huge
, I was sure it was bigger than my whole kitchen at home, with food of every kind stacked in rows. After a few deep breaths I found the still warm loaf and headed back out.

“
Wow! At least if a war begins any time soon then you guys won’t run out of food for about three decades.” Anna laughed at me.

“
He’s a hungry man; with equally hungry friends.” she laughed shaking her head.

I gulped at the thought of his friends being here. How could I be introduced to them? Especially when his best friend was Mr Morris, the PE teacher. Surely he’d recognise me from school, even though I’d never had a class or a conversation with him, he’d seen me around in the hallways or outside.

I began to feel nervous over how everyone would take our relationship. What would his friends say? How would we explain it?

I refused to think of it any more. Today was supposed to be about us and our first date. As it was it was already going to be ruined by my visit to the police station.

When I’d made my way back upstairs Jamie was lying diagonally over the bed, his arms wrapped around my pillow. I gently climbed up between his legs and began trailing kisses up his back to wake him. He began to stir as I reached between his shoulder blades; I kissed over his cheek, down to his lips, smiling as his eyes fluttered open.

“
Good morning sleepy head.” I kissed him again, deeper this time. “I brought you breakfast in bed.” He took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of the food.

“
Oh God, morning person alert.” He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands as he yawned. “You cooked me breakfast?” I sat up against the pillows on the bed, pulling the tray to my lap for Jamie. He sat up and rubbed his eyes again. I chuckled at his morning grumpiness; he looked so gorgeous like this. Not surprisingly he still managed to wake with perfect hair, that I reached up and unashamedly ran my fingers through. He leaned into my touch, sighing contentedly.

“
I tried… But Mrs Carter wouldn’t let me. I made your toast and coffee though so blame me if you don’t like those.”

“
You didn’t need to do that, Angel, I was rather looking forward to having you again for breakfast, but thank you.” I blushed and he sat up to kiss me once more. “Hey! You got dressed.” he stuck his bottom lip out and furrowed his eyebrows giving me a sad face that would rival an abandoned puppy’s.

“
It’s a good job I did after bumping into your housekeeper. I gave her enough of a heart-attack when I appeared, never mind being half naked”

“
Ahh… I probably should have left her a note, but we didn’t exactly plan for you to be here.” he chuckled.

“
So when should we go?” Jamie looked at me confused. “The police station, remember? I want to see if I can still press charges.”

“
As soon as we eat, I’ll get ready to go. You are really brave you know that?” He said before scooping a big heap of eggs into his mouth.

“
I can’t help but feel I’m making a fuss over nothing, but if he tries it again I might not be able to stop him. I was so lucky you got there when you did.” I smiled at him weakly. If he hadn’t stopped Lucas, I don’t know what would have happened. Well, I did, I just didn’t want to think of it.

“
It’s not a fuss at all, baby. He attacked you and probably would have done a lot worse had I not pulled him from you.” He swept a piece of hair behind my ear. His fingers trailed down my neck and to my throat, hovering above the bruises. “Do these hurt?” I shook my head.

“
They aren’t so bad.” They hurt like hell when I touched them, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. “We probably shouldn’t tell the police about last night.”

“
I doubt they’ll ask anything like that, but if they do just say you stayed here and I slept on the floor beside you, you were too scared to go home and tell your parents, which you were and didn’t want to go with your friends as they were also shaken by finding you the way we did. You didn’t want their pity all night or something like that.”

“
Ok.” I didn’t like the thought of lying but I didn’t want us to get in trouble with school or anything. Well the only lie was where he went to sleep.

We both ate our breakfast
, chatting happily just like we would on the phone in the morning, flirting with each other and making each other laugh. He got up out of bed and I groaned at the sight of him naked again.

“
What?” He laughed as I grabbed a pillow and covered my face with it, sighing.

“
Nothing… How did I forget you were naked under the cover?” he laughed again and I felt the bed dip as he got on, crawling on top of me. “I swear you had better have pants on now or we’re never leaving this room today!”

“
Nope, not a thing” I could hear the sexy smile in his voice as he lifted my top to kiss his way up my stomach.

“
Jamie; we need to go.
Please
don’t do this to me.” He laughed and got up from the bed, pulling me with him. “You are such a liar!” I pushed him as hard as I could making him stumble slightly. I’d hardly ever seen him in jeans and t-shirts apart from the odd time I’d bumped in to him in the supermarket or on a couple of school trips. He looked hot in jeans; I couldn’t help but ogle him as I followed him down the stairs. I headed for the front door when he suggested we go to the car.

“
Where are you going?”

“
The car?”

“
Garage is this way; I moved it while you were sleeping. I don’t like them left out unless I plan on using them again.” He took my hand pulling me through the kitchen to the garage. It was huge. There was enough room for ten cars inside; I counted seven, all black and shiny and screaming luxury and expense at me. I froze in the doorway.

“
Are you kidding me?” I whispered to myself.

“
What?”

“
Is this for real?” I said gesturing to the cars and he shrugged.

“
What about it?”

“
Why do you drive that if you have a DB9 in your garage? Or even any of them for that matter! No offence, it’s a great car… But” I stared at them all in disbelief. “Why keep it all hidden? What’s the point in any of it if you don’t show it off even a little?”

“
To keep a low profile. There’s hardly anyone that knows about this, I don’t like them all judging me because of my grandparents.” He looked around as he waved his hands, gesturing to everything. “I don’t want to be known for this.” He paused for a second, taking a deep breath. “Which one shall we take out then?” I grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

“
I get to pick one?” I beamed at him and he nodded. “All of them?” he laughed at me and pulled me over to a board full of keys and covered my eyes.

“
Put your hand out and grab a key.”

“
I can’t, I’m too nervous. I feel like a five year old in a sweet shop.” he grabbed my hand and waved it in front of the board.

“
Point to one.” I pointed and he removed his hands. I jumped and clapped when I saw the Aston Martin badge on the key. “It looks like it’s your lucky day. C’mon.” I squealed as I took his hand again. We got inside, the seats were soft black leather and the comfiest seat I’d ever sat in. Uncle Austin liked his flashy cars but he’d never had an Aston Martin. “Can you drive?” He asked.

I shrugged at him.
“I can… my uncle takes me to a track sometimes but my dad won’t let me get my license; he says there are too many idiots around. Every time he has to put a kid back together because of an accident he says that’s another ten years I’m not allowed to drive. So far I’m going to be three hundred and sixty before he lets me. He would pitch a fit if he knew that Aussie was letting me drive, he’d definitely have a heart attack if he knew I’d been on his bike.” I giggled thinking of the first time Uncle Austin let me on his bike and how I’d screamed so loud that my ears were ringing. “Austin is trying to talk to him but it’s not going so well.” I sighed. I really wanted to learn, I had already picked out a couple of cars that I liked and my uncle promised to buy me one for my next birthday, provided we could get my dad to back off. Only three months to go! I smiled to myself.

“
He has a point, don’t you think? I’ll tell you what… when you eventually do get your license, I’ll let you take this out.” I looked at him in shock. “In the driveway of course, there’s nothing to hit out there, that’s if you don’t get close to the walls.” he chuckled.

“
I could be a very good driver for all you know.” I furrowed my brows at him.