Crystals (18 page)

“I don’t know,
Crys. She never spoke to me enough for me to know any of the things you’re
saying is true.”

When he finally
looked at her, it was with so much uncertainty it made her feel sad. He was
such a loving and kind person, and it was precisely those traits that made him
so dear to her—yet he didn’t know his worth as a man.

If only he could
release the stigma of his family, he would realize just how worthy he was of
love. He had only been back in her life for a matter of hours, and here she
was, in his bed contemplating her love for him.

“I thought I’d
come to terms with the way you disappeared from my life years ago. I guess I
was fooling myself.”

“Fooling yourself
how, Crys?”

“I suppose what
I'm saying is that we both need to stop looking back.”

The quietness that
stretched between them seemed to Crystal to hold infinite possibilities. They
had two choices. Take each other’s hand and move into the future, or remain
mired in the past.

“I think I
understand what you’re saying, but it’s tough. Leaving the past behind is hard.
It’s like every day I’m battling the same demons and I can’t seem to beat
them.”

“I know it’s hard,
but we both have to try. It’s time, and we at least owe ourselves that much.”

~~~

What she said was
the truth but, there were things Crystal still didn’t know. Ollie was just one
facet of their lives that still needed to be unraveled.

For the past five
years, anger simmered inside him, and if he let it, it would ignite into an
inferno of rage.

He was in no doubt
that he would deal with Ollie. But the thought that remained at the forefront
of his mind was whether she would turn around and run once she realized just
what he was capable of.

“I know you think
you have everything all figured out, but you don’t.”

“Maybe not but I’m
willing to confront whatever I need to.”

“Will tomorrow be
soon enough to face reality?”

Always a man of
few words, Shane hoped she understood what he was trying to say. He was just an
East London boy who had made good. Fancy words were never his strong point.

“You were right
when you said I was holding out on you when we made love. I promise I’ll take
care of the past—make it right. But can we have tonight where the only thing
that really matters is the two of us?”

“Shane–”

“Just one night,
Crys. That’s all I ask.”

“What do you have
in mind?”

The night before
he had turned her around because he had been sure he couldn’t have kept his
expression steady. One moment, he wanted to blurt out how much he loved her and
the next he had wanted to wring her neck.

They only made
love once, but it was enough for him. It was everything he remembered and more.
It brought back memories of the last time they had been together on her
birthday. Gone was the world renowned sports star. All that remained was a man
loving a woman.

Chapter 15

Shane woke up knowing their night’s idyll was at an
end. There was still so much to do. First on his list of concerns was Dara’s
involvement in their estrangement, and how it would affect Crystal’s relationship
with her cousin.

He didn’t know how
she would react to what he had to say, but he wouldn’t leave her in the dark
about anything. That included matters that would hurt her.

Once they were
dressed and had eaten breakfast, Shane suggested they go for a walk. The rain
hadn’t made a reappearance, and he needed to get out of the house and into the
fresh air.

Shane opened the
back door and waited for her. When she didn’t move, he followed her eyes toward
her feet.

“As lovely as this
idea sounds, unless we can solve this little problem, it’s not going to
happen.”

Looking around he
spotted a pair of Wellington boots sitting by the side of the door. “You can
borrow these,” he suggested picking up the boots. The footwear
was covered
in a psychedelic mass of blue and red circles,
and just looking at them made his head spin.

Giving her a
dubious look, he waited to hear how she would respond to his suggestion. After
the incident with the body lotion, he was relieved when she didn’t pass
comment. The Wellingtons obviously belonged to a woman, Shane just didn’t know
who.

When she was
ready, feeling protective, Shane wrapped her up to guard against the winter
chill. He then took her hand and led her outside.

Crystal may not
like his house, and looking at it through her eyes, he couldn’t really blame
her. It was a huge, rambling, money guzzling monstrosity, plus it was a bitch
to keep warm. What he loved about the property, and the reason he had purchased
it, was the land on which it sat.

Barking caught his
attention and his dogs rushed towards him. When they reached him they jumped up
and down with excitement, and for a few moments, he allowed it.

“Heel!” The dogs
obeyed his command and immediately sat down.

“Where do they
keep coming from?” Crystal asked.

“Normally, they
stay with me when I’m at the house. But for some reason, Emmie took them with
her to the cottage.”

“What cottage?”

“There’s a cottage
about half a mile down the lane,” Shane pointed off into the distance. “Mystery
solved, huh?”

“Yeah, I was
wondering where they came from last night.”

“Emmie must have
brought them with her when she came to drop off some groceries.”

“Correct me if I’m
wrong, but didn’t you go downstairs naked?”

“Sure, but I
promise I didn’t show her me cock.”

“Shane!”

“What, did you
want me to show her me dick?”

When she only gave
him a dirty look, Shane laughed, petted the dogs before he sent them bounding
down the lane with a one word command.

When the dogs were
out of sight, he began walking again. Reaching the corner of the house, he came
to a halt as they faced fields of open, green rolling countryside. The air was
crisp and a chilly wind blew around them while the sun made a valiant attempt
to push its way through the low hanging clouds. The weather and the scene
before him was quintessentially British, and it was exactly what he needed.

As they walked,
they bypassed Birch, Elm and mighty Oak trees whose bare winter branches
stretched endlessly upwards in gnarled distortion. Coming to a shop beside a
Hawthorn hedge, Shane took a moment to appreciate the patchwork of lush green
fields before he began to speak.

“I’ve told you
about being attacked. But I didn’t tell you everything…” breaking off, he
glanced in her direction while he carefully considered his next words. “Just
before I lost consciousness, I was given a warning.”

“Did it have
something to do with your father or brother?”

“No.”

“What then?”

“When I was still
in the hospital, I had a visitor.” Holding her gaze, Shane tagged one more word
onto the end of his sentence, “Dara.”

“Dara came to see
you? I don’t understand. Please don’t tell me you think she’s responsible for
your attack?”

As her agitation
grew, Crystal wrung her hands and frowned in confusion. From experience, Shane
knew how hard this information was to process. He didn’t want her to have to
attempt to untangle the coil of suspicion he had lived with for the past five
years. So, he would fill her in as best he could.

“I’m only just
beginning to understand all that happened myself.”

“Then make me understand
because none of this makes any sense. What has Dara got to do with any of
this?”

Disregarding her
growing anxiety, he took time to gather his thoughts. “When Dara came to see
me, for a moment, I thought it was you. I asked her where you were. She said
you didn’t want to see me—that you were seeing someone else–”

“That’s a lie!”

He knew that now
but refrained from commenting because he wasn’t finished. “She also said that
you thought being involved with someone like me would ruin your business and
your mother’s reputation.”

“And you believed
her. You knew me, how I felt about you—how could you think that of me?”

With her emotions
on the rise, Shane realized he had to get her to step back and try to put
herself in his place.

“Think about it. I
had a meeting with your mother, then there was the argument outside your party.
I begged you to come with me but you wouldn’t. By the time I got back to my
place, two men attacked me right outside my home. I thought I was going to die,
Crys, and in my last moments of consciousness, your name was the last thing I
heard.

“My name?”

“I was warned to
stay away from you.”

“I don’t
understand any of this!”

“At the time
neither did
I
. But now, maybe you can see why I’ve
been thinking the way I have.”

Her defense of her
family had been swift and sure. Now, for the first time he saw doubt enter her
eyes. Although he felt for her, he offered no words of comfort because he wasn’t
finished with what he had to say.

“When Dara came to
see me, I chose not to believe what was staring me in the face. It took seeing
you with that man for me to finally accept what she’d said and walk away.”

Shane expected her
to be upset. Instead, her reaction was the antithesis of his assumption. She
had regrouped and she came out fighting.

“I’ve already told
you Owen and I are just friends. And I know my cousin wouldn’t do something
like that to us without good reason. There has to be something else we’re
missing! How did she even know where you were?”

“Ollie told her.”

“Ollie…” Crystal
spat his name with disgust as a faraway look glazed over her eyes. “Why would
he tell Dara what had happened to you and not me?”

“He phoned you
repeatedly but you never answered or responded to his messages!”

“He didn’t, I
didn’t get a single call from him. I even saw him at your house two days after
you’d disappeared and all he said was you needed a
break
after what had
happened at my party. I even left you a note. When I went back a few days later
it was gone. I thought you’d seen it and had chosen to ignore it.”

With each word,
Shane felt blood rush to his head until he thought it would explode. “I never
got a note!”

“Who found you?
Who found you the night you were attacked?”

“Ollie–”

“And that didn’t
set off alarm bells? He just happened to be the one to find you after someone
cut your throat?”

“At the time, no
it didn’t. You know he used to stay over at my place all the time. I have to
admit that while I was in the hospital, I thought he was acting odd. For a
while I thought he might have had something to do with the attack, but I
dismissed it. He was the last person who would want me dead because I had
something he wanted.”

“What, what did he
want from you apart from getting me out of your life?”

“What does that
mean?” Shane snapped.

“Come on, Shane,
you know that man can’t stand me!”

“Why are you
saying this now? You never said anything to me in the past.”

“He was your
friend. Lots of people can’t stand their friend’s partners.”

“Tell me what he
said to you,” Shane demanded.

“He never said
anything. It was more of a feeling and the way he sometimes looked at me when
your back was turned.”

“What aren’t you
telling me?”

“Nothing.”

He didn’t believe
her. There was something she was keeping from him. “Now’s not the time for
secrets, Crys.”

“Ollie’s in love
with you.”

“I know. I’ve
known almost from the first time I met him. But that isn’t important,” Shane
said relieved that was her only revelation.

“You don’t think
his being in love with you is significant in what happened?”

“No I don’t. If
this was about Ollie’s feelings for me, he would have hurt you, not me.”

“Don’t you care
that he loves you?”

“Nah, I don’t. He
knows I’m not into blokes, so his feelings ain’t my problem.”

“God, this is all
so bloody confusing.”

Shane agreed. But
more importantly, he was also now considering the fact that Ollie could well be
a psychopath.

“When I questioned
him while I was in the hospital, I thought he was hiding something. He admitted
he’d known what Dara wanted to tell me. That Dara had been with you when he
told you where I was and what had happened to me. He said he’d tried to keep
Dara from coming to the hospital, but she’d ignored him. That she’d insisted because
she thought I deserved better than the way you were treating me.”

“That man is the
most manipulating shit I’ve ever come across. He must have something on her for
Dara to act in the way she did.”

Knowing she was
probably right, but as Dara wasn’t his favorite person at the moment, he said
nothing. “I have one more question for you. Why didn’t you return my telephone
message?”

“I didn’t get a
message, maybe you left it after I misplaced my phone.”

“Misplaced it?”

“Well, actually, I
lost it.”

“When?”

“It was about a
week after my party. Dara and I were out and…”

Without comment,
Shane took Crystal’s hand and headed back towards the house. “Let’s get out of
here. This mess has gone on for long enough.”

Thirty minutes
later they were heading towards his car. Crystal hesitated at the sight of her
vehicle still sat on his driveway—tilted sideways in a pothole.

“What about my
car?”

“Leave it. You
don’t need it right now.”

“What am I
supposed to use if I leave my car here?”

“You can use this
one when we get back to London. Or, if you like, you can use cabs and bill me.”

“Well, that very
magnanimous of you, but I’d rather use my own car. If you’ll just help me get
it out of the–”

“Sorry, love,
there’s no point. I heard the chassis break the other night.”

Telling the
bald-faced lie, Shane hoped she wouldn’t call him on it. If she did, he was
sticking to his story.

When Crystal gave
him a dirty look and got into his car, he breathed a sigh of relief and joined
her.

“You and I both
know there’s nothing wrong with my car apart from your messed up driveway. For
attempting to take me for a fool, I expect you to return it in showroom
condition.”

Her smile told him
she wasn’t really angry and he gratefully accepted his reprieve. “Deal.”

The return journey
back into London passed quickly with Crystal and Shane lost in their individual
thoughts. For his part, he just wanted an opportunity to speak to Dara. He
already had a good idea of what she would say, but he needed to look her in the
eyes when she gave her explanation.

After he had dealt
with Crystal’s cousin, his next port of call would be Switzerland. It was now
late November and the Formula 1 season was over. Shane knew Ollie was already
back in London where he normally spent the off season. He was pleased that when
he finalized matters on his business trip, he wouldn’t have to trek halfway
across the world to locate the other man. But even if that had been the case,
he would gladly circumnavigate the globe to get the answers he was due.

“Call Dara and
have her meet us at your place.”

Crystal didn’t
question him, she just made the arrangements. When they pulled up outside her
apartment, Shane was surprised at the contemporary look of the glass and chrome
building. Apparently, her taste had changed over the years.