Business: Phoenix #1 (16 page)

Casey

We decide we’re ready for bed just after 11pm; we asked
Hannah to stay since it was late and she had a drink and couldn't drive.

I follow her to her guest room and sit on the bed.

"There's something more to you and Andrew that you’re
letting on. Isn't there?" I question her.

She doesn't say anything, she just nods.

"I knew it!" I grin at her.

"We've been seeing each other for a while, it's been
hard with the distance but when we don't see each other we call, text and Skype."
She explains sitting next to me. "I really like him Case."

"Just think, we could really be sisters if things
worked out between you two."

"Woahh, slow down!"

~~~~~

I walk to the guest bedroom where Matt and I will be
staying and find him laid on top of the bed, only wearing his underwear, his
arms bent behind his head. My eyes hungrily run down his torso to his shorts
where I see he is even more excited than I am. Seeing his naked chest thrills
me, the way his shorts hang on his hips, abs of steel. I don't think I could
ever get tired of looking at him.

I go to the bathroom to change for bed, a short nightie
with no panties. I'm sure this will drive him crazy.

I walk out of the bathroom and he stalks me until I get
into bed beside him.

It isn't long until he takes me with his mouth, consuming
my mouth, ravaging me and I don't fight it. I give myself over to him; letting
him take me anyway he wants to.

With each demanding move he makes, I let him take a little
bit more of me as he teaches me how my body should be adored and worshipped.
How I should be taken and dominated. Like I am some sort of play thing. His
play thing. Like I was simply made for his pleasure and how he was made for
mine.

He licks and kisses me until I feel senseless. Like every
muscle in my body is relaxed. He makes me come numerous times and each time I
worry that my body will be able to take it. How many rippling orgasms can I
take?

He still pushes through and gives me different orgasms
each time. He has given me orgasms that rip through me violently and orgasms
that softly roll through me.

He is everything I need in a lover - confident, experienced
and he knows my body like the back of his hand.

After numerous orgasms pass through us we both collapse
onto the bed.

My body feels boneless and I feel exhausted.

It doesn't take us long to drift to sleep.

~~~~~

A stream of sunlight pouring through the window wakes me
up earlier than normal. Mum doesn’t have black out blinds in her spare room
since it doesn’t get used too often, but I think I may buy one anyway, just in
case.

I squint at the clock on the night stand, six-twenty
three.

I blink several times, adjusting my eyes before turning to
look at Matt. I watch him dreaming for a while. Thinking how beautiful he is,
inside and out. Reminding myself how lucky I am. Remembering the numerous
orgasms he gave me last night, how the touch of his hands sends shivers up my
spine.

"I know you are watching me sleep Case." He says
groggily.

"I can't help it, you're so cute." I laugh as he
opens an eye to look at me.

"Cute? Just cute?" He raises an eye brow at me,
both of his eyes open and fixed on me.

"Just cute until proven otherwise." I tease.

In a flash he is on top of me, his body covering me. He
laces his hands in mine and raises them above my head.

"Would somebody who was 'just cute' have you in this
position?" He asks.

"Oh definitely. It's a safe position isn't it?"
He licks his tongue along my lips as I speak.

"A safe position?" He questions and as if he
takes it as a challenge he pushes inside of me with one swift movement and I
cry out.

"A safe position." I confirm in between moans as
he pulls in and out of me.

His pace slow and steady, making sure he is fully inside
of me and then pulling out completely. Each time he pulls out my body craves
him inside again.

My orgasm comes quickly and Matt pushes into me harder and
faster to draw my climax out longer.

He holds my legs apart wider and begins a punishing rhythm
as he chases after his own release.

He tips his head back and moans as his hotness fills me.

Casey

"Aw Matt, look at this little guy." I say as I
bend down to stroke the black and white Spaniel dog through the bars. The dog
licks my hand and looks at me with big brown eyes.

"He's lovely isn't he?" Matt also strokes the
dog. "Hey look at the next one, it's a Lab." We move onto the next
dog and again make a fuss over him.

Matt said since we were in my home town that he wanted to
do exactly what I would be doing if I was here alone. He told me he wanted to
get to look into my life further, to get to know me better. So I decided to
bring him down to the local animal shelter. Before my win, I was here every weekend
spending time with the homeless animals. I used to volunteer to walk them and
bought them treats and toys. So far he seems to be enjoying it and is an animal
lover like me.

Before we came we stopped back at the local pet store and
spent a fortune on toys, treats and clean bedding to donate.

I could take every one of the animals home with me,
whether it was a dog, cat or rabbit. I love them all.

I have always said that animals are better than people an
animal gives unconditional love. They don't care if you have had a bad day or
look like crap and I have never been able to understand why people neglect
them.

"The hardest part is leaving them." I explain to
Matt. "I used to stay here right until the very last minute and when I
left I worried about every single one of them. Hoping that they aren't too
cold, scared or lonely."

Matt watches me intently, listening to my every word.

"There was a local shelter which couldn't afford to
keep above a certain number of dogs, so they had a period of time to try to
rehome them, something like two weeks I think and if they couldn't rehome them
they put the dogs down. When I came into money I paid for the shelter to be
extended to stop healthy animals getting put to sleep."

"You have a heart of gold Casey." Is all he
says, his eyes studying my face.

"I just love animals. When I decide it's time to stop
working, I want to open my own sanctuary." I laugh slightly, knowing that
I probably will never give up working.

"We'll do it together." He bumps my arm
playfully before bending back down to stroke the next dog. I watch him give
each dog attention and love. I watch the dog’s reactions to him and they love
him just as much.

When it's time for the dog walking we volunteer, walking
each dog for at least half an hour before returning for another dog. We spend
the afternoon walking and talking. Just me and him hand in hand and a dog each.

Our last walk of the day is with two playful cross breeds
Max and Jasper. When we get to the deserted path we have walked down at least
seven times today there is a man walking the opposite way to us, the first
person we have passed on this path all day. The man is small with long messy
dark hair which is covered by a cap and I can't really see his facial features
as he has a cap pulled down.

When he passes us, I offer a friendly smile which he returns
with a chin nod and continues walking.

We
take the dogs back to the shelter and set off back home.

~~~~~

Hannah

Andrew and I have had a lovely day; we spent the day
together.

As it was a nice day we decided to walk along the beach –
I don’t really get the chance to do that often with living in Newcastle. When
we lived in Saltburn we were forever on the beach, in summer we would go early in
the morning and not leave until late afternoon.

We spoke about everything we could, I updated him on the
stalker situation, I haven’t heard from them myself but I know Casey has been
plagued by emails and phone calls. She’s also been worried about Julie.  She’s
called her repeatedly and hasn’t heard from her.  She’s beginning to fear
something bad has happened. That was the reason Matt decided to bring her home
for the weekend, to give her time away. She hasn’t told me whether or not she
has heard anything over the past couple of days but I presume that Matt has
told her to keep her mobile switched off. I haven’t seen her with it anyway.

Andrew told me how his working life is going, he loves the
garages he runs and he works with a bunch of great guys, he tells me amusing
stories of the men and all that they do. There is one prankster who he keeps
speaking about – a guy called Mark and I can tell Andrew really thinks highly
of him.

We stop and sit side by side on the sand and watch the
waves. I tell him how I miss being home when I am back in the city and now that
Casey has got Matt we don’t see each other as much as we used to, I feel
lonely. I’m not pissed that Matt has come along and stolen my best friend, I’m
not like that and I am really happy that she has finally found somebody who
will treat her right. I’m just not used to spending too much time alone.

We never used to really spend too much time together at
work, just lunch time and whenever she needed something doing, so we used to
catch up on an evening, she would either come to my place or I would go to hers
and we would share a bottle of wine and a takeaway. Because of Casey’s status
she was invited to different parties every other weekend and I would go along
with her.

After our short break we continue walking, we walk until
my legs start to ache and I realize that we have walked all the way to Redcar
beach. We find a local café and Andrew orders us both a drink – a coffee for
him and a strawberry milkshake for me.

We sit for a while, my legs grateful for the rest. I most
definitely deserve a week off from personal training and running next week for
this.

Then
we set off back to Saltburn.

Andrew
comes to my mum’s house with me and we stay there for a couple hours.

~~~~~

Casey

“Shall we go out for a meal tonight?” My mum smiles.
“Possibly the Italian place in the town, we haven’t been there for a while.”

“Oh I love that Italian!” I grin and look to Matt “What do
you think?”

“Definitely. Sounds fantastic.”

“I’ll text Hannah and Andrew to see if they want to come
along.” I smile at mum and Matt and as I reach into my bag to pull my mobile
out I realize I don’t have it and I remember Matt’s no phone rule. As if Matt
can read my mind He smiles down at me.

“I’ll text them sweetheart, don’t worry.” He looks down at
his phone and starts to type a message.

I leave mum, dad and Matt downstairs and go shower.

The few days break have really relaxed me, I think if I
stayed at work and let myself take the emotional stress and read all the hate
mail the stalker was sending me I was definitely heading for a break down.

 Matt has been a fantastic support in this horrendous time
and I am so thankful he has stuck around. I’m pretty sure most men would have
run a mile by now. But not him.

Once finished in the shower I wrap my hair in a towel
turban and start to dry myself down, pulling on my dressing gown. I make my way
into the bedroom and start to blow dry and straighten my hair.

Matt appears behind me, his eyes meeting mine in the
mirror.

“Hannah and Andrew won’t be joining us; they’re having
dinner with Hannah’s parents.” He smiles and my heart skips a beat.

“Just us four then.” I return his smile.

~~~~~

The Italian is still as amazing as I remember.

The Spaghetti Bolognaise is to die for.

Matt opts for Spaghetti and meatballs and we share cheesy
garlic bread between us.

“So Matt, I was thinking of taking you to see the new project
I am working on tomorrow, if you fancy it?” My dad asks him politely.

“Absolutely. That’s if Casey doesn’t mind giving me up for
a few hours.” He replies jokingly, glancing at me and giving me one of those smiles
that makes my stomach do that butterfly thing.

I laugh, “Oh it will be nice to have a break, sweetheart.”
I use the nickname he gives me and I see his eyes widen a little before I wink
at him.

“Brilliant!” Dad smiles before putting a fork full of
pasta to his mouth.

“It will give me and mum a chance to go and do a little
bit of shopping. I was thinking of having a look around the local villages
since I haven’t been down here for a while.” I look at mum, “What do you say,
mum?”

“Oh yes, that sounds lovely Case.” She smiles sincerely,
love showing in her eyes.

I’ve always been close to my parents, it was hard when I
first moved away and I tried to get home most weekends but as I got older and
busier attending ‘red carpet’ parties it wasn’t possible for me to visit as
often as I would have liked.  It’s not like I live hours and hours away, it’s
only two hours or so down the road but with all our working schedules it is a
lot harder than it seems. So we resorted to weekly phone calls.

I can’t wait to spend some alone time with mum and tell
her all about Matt.

The banter around the table as we eat is non-stop. Everybody
seems to be getting on well and I know my parents approve of Matt. His charm
and good looks have won them over, just how he won me over.

A young looking waiter approaches our table carrying a
bottle of champagne and places it in the chiller in the center of our table.

“A gift from the gentleman over—“ He turns as he tries to
find who he is looking for and when he can’t find whoever it is he turns back
at us, his face confused. “He’s gone now and he didn’t leave a name he just
left some money. Sorry.” He turns and walks away.

I look at Matt, his face absent as though he is deep in
thought. He’s thinking the same thing as me. The champagne is from the stalker.

“How lovely!” Mum grins. “You must have a secret admirer
Casey.” She lifts the bottle and starts to pour into dad’s flute and then hers.

“Don’t drink it!” I shout and mums eyes flick up to meet
mine.  I stand and reach over to take the bottle from her, a little bit more
forceful than I expected because mum sits and looks at me expressionless. She
looks over to Matt and then me.

“What’s wrong Casey?” I turn to look at Matt, his face
tight in thought and I can tell he is annoyed. His eyes meet mine and I give
him a small smile to let him know I am okay.

I wanted to leave mum and dad out of the stalker situation
– I knew that they would worry. But now it seems as though I haven’t got a
choice.

I take a deep breath. “I have a stalker-“ 

“A stalker?” Mum is wide eyed – her voice high with shock.

“A stalker.” I confirm with a nod. “I’ve been receiving
emails for a while and at first I thought it wasn’t anything too bad, just
somebody who was really angry at me-“

“Do you know who it is?” My dad’s tone is demanding and
his face matches.

“Let her finish, Dave.” Mum nudges him.

 I look down at the napkin I didn’t realize I was pulling
to pieces, knot both of my hands together and place them on my lap.

“Then, the emails became more frequent and I started
getting funny phone calls. When I went over to America to visit Matt he turned his
attention to Hannah, she also started receiving calls and emails. She started
waking up to banging on the door in the middle of the night and when she went
out she thought she was being followed and then she did see a black car
following her.” I gulp. I realize how scary it all is when I am telling them.
How dangerous the situation is.

I feel Matt’s hand cover my hands which are still in a
ball on my lap. I look over to him and he nods at me to continue. I turn to
face my parents, both of their faces filled with despair.

“When I returned home, the stalker returned his attention
back to me. The calls and emails continued. Earlier this week Matt treated me
and Han to a spa day at Seaham Hall and he received pictures of us. The stalker
had followed us!” I wipe the tears away which are forming in the corners of my
eyes. “Now he has followed us here.”

“Do you know who it is?” Dad asks again, his voice calmer
than the first time he asked. But I can still see the emotion in his face. I
shake my head.

“I assume it’s a man who’s taken a fancy to me...from what
some of the messages have said,” I whisper, hoping Dad doesn’t ask for details.

Mum is crying and I know she is scared for me. I am scared
for me.

“Have you contacted the police?” Dad asks again.

“Yes, we contacted them but they wouldn’t do anything as
they aren’t direct threats, my life isn’t threatened.” I explain.

“Yeah for how long?” Dad asks and I gulp. “Do you have any
idea who it is?”

I shake my head. “I thought it may have been Darren at
first, but he got arrested when he turned up at my office-“

My mum’s mouth drops open, “Darren came to your office?”
and I instantly remember that I did not tell them about that day and I now know
why.

“That bastard.” My dad mutters his eyes focused on the
table, he is annoyed.

“Yeah, he came by and demanded that I give him what was
his – my money and my company.” I shake my head. “He threw a stapler at my head
and I had a small bruise for a little while, but security came just in time and
got the police.”

Matt stays silent beside me but I know he is listening to
my every word intently. I tangle my fingers between his so we are holding
hands.

“I’ll kill him when I get my hands--“My dad growls, his
eyes still staring at nothing in particular on the table.

“Dave, calm down.” My mother’s voice is soothing.

“I don’t know who it could be.” I ponder. Then it hits me.
I turn to face Matt. “William, I think it could be William!”

His eyes look at me intently as if he is thinking it through
and he nods. “I think you could be right, Case.”

“Who is William?” My mum asks.

“His mum used to work for me and he has a major crush on
me. Always has. He constantly came round to my office asking me to go on dates
with him and he never took the hint that I wasn’t interested. He called by the
other day with a gift for me – a necklace. I declined and when Matt walked in
he ran off.” It all makes sense.