FATED (4 page)

Four

The beads of sweat ran down my spine, literally racing each other. The music was so bloody loud that I could feel the vibrations inside my chest.  My feet were on fire in my new ridiculously high, black, fuck me heels. Why the hell I had let Bella convince me to buy them, I didn’t know. I shook my head and tutted, my mouth twitching in the corners with a smile.

I surveyed my surroundings in the second club Bella had got us into that night, resting the curve of my backside onto the only vacant bar stool I could find, and let out an ‘Ahhh’.

My eyes were immediately drawn back to my best friend; she knew how to have a good time. She was currently strutting her stuff and gyrating all over her latest conquest, in the middle of the dance floor.

Shit she was good.

Her tight, short red dress attracted a lot of attention, but given the height of heels we had on, and our already tall stature, we were actually taller than most of the men here. This fact hadn’t gone down well with a lot of the insecure Napoleon complex types. I was already picky in my choices, but we had narrowed the field even bloody further.

She was gorgeous, waist-length, blonde hair, with a figure any model would kill for, but with boobs! Why she ever wanted me as her wing woman, I would never understand, but would be forever grateful for. So much for erasing my Jabby thoughts, I was too tall to be approached by most men and was now receiving only the attention of the more drunk variety.

Turning to the bar, I awaited my turn. Holding up two fingers I gesticulated to the barman, ‘Two Southern Comforts, doubles please, on the rocks, and two slippery nipples.’

‘Sure thing.’

I felt every bit the tourist, as I listened to his American accent.

He placed the drinks down on the bar and took my cash. I was still having difficulty with the currency, all being the same colour. It reminded me of play money from when I was a child. I turned back around to search out Bella. When I caught her eye, I started waving frantically, nudging a group standing next to me.

‘Sorry,’ I said, shouting over the pulsating music, and smiled my apology.

But it was all slightly too late, as one of the guys in the group fell to the floor, letting go of the crutch that minutes before had been stabilising him. He looked up from the floor, but luckily laughed out loud, a full booming deep laugh. Thank God, either he’s a happy drunk, or he has a sense of humour.

Who the hell comes to a club on crutches?

‘OMG,’ I said as I clutched my hand over my mouth. ‘Can I get you another drink,’ after seeing the empty glass in his left hand, and the sight of his obviously recently spilt beverage, down the front of his expensive, white dress-shirt.

‘English, eh? You sure know how to make an entrance, lady.’ He spoke whilst being helped up and onto my now vacated bar stool. ‘I’ll have a JD please, not any of your crappy shots,’ thrusting the empty glass under my nose, and visibly wincing in pain.

Bella arrived just in time to watch me hand his newly bought drink over. Properly looking at him for the first time, face to face, God he was tall I thought, given my ridiculous heels, and the fact he was perched on a bar stool. What I saw in front of my eyes was breath taking. Shoulder-length, messy, dirty-blond hair and sparkling hazel eyes. He was wearing a day’s worth of stubble. He smiled a slow sexy grin that lit up all of his face and produced a dimple either side of his mouth. ‘Well hello, beautiful, or should I just call you chocolate drop? After seeing your gorgeous brown eyes,’ he raised his left eyebrow at me in question.

I stared, with my mouth wide open, not saying a word, realising I had just met/ pushed over the subject of the picture from my iPhone, my new client, Nathan Blackmore.

A few of his group parted to allow a petite, dark-haired girl through. ‘Oh Nate, baby, are you OK?... YOU NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL!’ she shouted after turning to face Bella and me, pointing a chipolata shaped finger at us.

‘Whoa, hold on a minute, girl, get your facts straight,’ shouted Bella fronting up to her, ‘It was an accident... And you need to call off your Jack Russell,’ she said reaching out and patting Nathan on the chest, her hand lingering much longer than needed.

‘Candy, enough, go back and dance,’ he expelled, glancing down at Bella’s hand and the movement in her fingertips.

‘Are you sure, Nate honey,’ she drawled. I could feel my face puckering into a picture of distaste. My face was good at giving away my thoughts and was always getting me into trouble. ‘Yeah go dance, Candy, if you know what’s good for you,’ shouted Bella. Candy turned back to the dance floor, after receiving a nodded silent permission from Nathan.

Nathan had interrupted my thoughts then, by roaring with laughter. ‘Who let you two fighting English girls out tonight?’

‘We don’t need permission to be out, from anyone, unlike your stray dog,’ Bella snapped back.

Nathan laughed, ‘goddamn, I like you two, you say it like it is, and that is fucking refreshing.’ He pushed the fingers of his left hand through his unruly hair. That act alone got Bella relooking at Nathan, she then turned to me and I raised my eyebrows, pulling together a tight-lipped smirk.

‘Oh bloody hell; you’re Nathan Blackmore, Aren’t you?’

‘And there it goes,’ he replied. ‘The refreshing truth just flew out the window, now you know who I am. So on that note, I bid you goodnight, blonde and sassy,’ he said, nodding at Bella. ‘Chocolate drop,’ he turned to look at me. ‘See ya around.’

I could feel myself biting into my lower lip, we watched him grab his crutches and slowly hobble away, to re-join his group of friends. We turned back towards the bar and savoured our drinks in silence. Not daring to turn around in case we were caught staring at the very hot Nathan Blackmore.

‘Bloody hell, that’s going to be embarrassing on Monday morning, isn’t it?’ Bella nodded at me, downing the residue of her Southern Comfort. ‘Christ, way to go, Frankie, you just tipped your new, very wealthy client on his arse,’ she exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

Quite frankly I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

We had spent most of the day shopping and sightseeing. I was very suddenly aware of just how knackered I was. It must be the jet lag, or the stress, or probably my consumption of alcohol. 

‘Do you mind if we call it a night, Bella?’

‘Hell, yes, it’s just got interesting.’ She took a good look at me, ‘Oh OK, I can see you’ve had it, let’s go home... There’s always next weekend,’ she said and hugged me close.

When we exited the club, I was so pleased to find Edwards waiting for us at the curb. We’d had too much alcohol to question how he knew where we were. Leaning back into the comfortable seats, I swore I could smell Jabby’s cologne.

Five

I held my mug of tea with one hand, and stretched out my other palm; I flattened it on the freezing cold glass and felt an involuntary shiver run over me. Standing staring out from our penthouse apartment was a novelty for me. I loved watching the New York day going past in front of my eyes. It was Monday morning and I had twenty minutes until my first proper appointment with Nathan, frankly, I was dreading the embarrassment of it.

I stared out of the window and lost myself in thoughts of yesterday. We had a lazy start to the day and then had explored our surroundings. Just so I could get my bearings. Now knowing how New York smelt and sounded, I loved it. I understood fully why Bella wanted to be here more than anywhere else, and I realised that it wasn’t just because of her job. But the highlight of Sunday had to be the arrival of a humungous bouquet of flowers, for me! I looked over at them again. They rested on, and took all the space of the coffee table, blue and lilac roses. Picking up the card from them, I started to read it again.

Hi Frankie

Just a small gift to celebrate your new job!

We are really pleased you are here.

Hope tomorrow goes well, if not, let me know

And I’ll kick my little brother’s ass!

Yours Alex

Well that had shocked me; I thought with a laugh. I had thought all along that Mr. Blackmore must be a father or maybe grandfather. Big brother... Interesting?

For the first time, I had replied to Alex.

Thank you so much for the gorgeous flowers, roses are my favourite!

How did you know? I’m looking forward to starting tomorrow.

Thank you for the opportunity

Frankie Jones

My phone had pinged back with an immediate response.

You are more than welcome! Don’t let Nathan give you any trouble. He can be a cocky little arsehole at times

Speak soon

Yours Alex

Bella and I had started our Monday morning with a freezing cold run around Central Park; where else indeed? I thought, hugging myself with excitement and rubbing my hands up and down my almost bare triceps. We had shared fresh bagels for breakfast, another NYC moment, and then Bella had left for work. ‘It’ll be fine,’ she had shouted over her shoulder, ‘you’re going to charm the pants off him,’ she grinned, ‘and if you don’t, I sure the hell will.’ With a well-aimed shot, I had thrown a cushion at her, her smirking face and the closing door.

Ok, time to put on my big girl pants. I left our apartment, taking myself off to the left and pressed the doorbell. I waited a few seconds, which seemed so, so much longer.

‘Yep, coming!... Man on crutches, going as fast as he can.’

The door opened and my gaze drifted upwards to take in the bare chested sight of Nathan. And boy what a delicious sight he was.
Christ does the man ever wear clothes?
He leant casually on the doorframe using his left forearm. His right leg was up away from the floor and he had one crutch embedded into his right armpit. His numerous tattoos covered the majority of his upper body. It took me a few seconds to take in the fact he was only wearing antique leather wrist cuffs and old grey sweat shorts. God help me they hung so low I could make out the start of a very well defined V. I took in a deep breath and forced my gaze into his sparkling, very amused eyes. He knew exactly where I had been gazing, so hungrily.

Bastard!

‘Unbelievable, if it isn’t one of the fighting English girls,’ he swung his body out of the way and moved his left arm with an open hand, indicating that I should enter. I could see the humour creasing his face, so much for not being recognised.

‘So, chocolate drop, can I get you a coffee?’

‘Can I have a glass of water please; hmm... Where would you like me to put my mat? Is the physio table set up somewhere?’ I had replied, glancing around the apartment’s main living space, but not finding what I was looking for. Trying to mask my embarrassment, with my professionalism and galloping speech.

Nathan’s apartment seemed to be a mirror image of ours, only larger. Instead of a corner view of Central Park, the floor to ceiling windows framed it like a painting. The colour scheme wasn’t the same as our browns and creams, it was blacks, greys and chrome. It screamed masculinity. Various black and white photos festooned the sides and walls. Taking a better look, I realised they were mainly of Nathan, on his motorbike, holding and kissing cups, snowboarding, bungee jumping, surfing and various other extreme sports. It was a wonder I hadn’t been called in before. He was quite obviously the ultimate adrenalin junkie. One photo caught my attention, my eyes kept lingering on it, I don’t know why, perhaps because the three men in it were all grinning. The photo showed the men somewhere up high in the mountains, in ski attire. It was Nathan, I had squinted closer, and another of the men looked like he could be his twin brother? The final guy stood in between them both, with his arms around their shoulders. He was slightly taller with dark hair and he wore ski goggles.

‘Seen enough?’ He drawled suddenly from directly behind me. For someone on a crutch, he could sure move around quietly. I broke my glance away from the photo.   

‘Sorry, always being told how nosy I am,’ I grimaced at him. ‘I have read your notes and...’

‘Whoa, we need to sit and talk first.... all work no play is definitely not what I goddamn live for,’ he said shaking his head. Nathan plonked himself down on the black leather settee, and he dropped his crutch on the floor in front of his feet. Carefully he repositioned his right leg on the table in front of him. The skin was pink and you could see the long scar, from ankle to knee. It showed where he had recently been operated on, after his accident. The leg scar didn’t hold my attention for long though, slowly, all too slowly I had let my gaze wander up his long limbs and over his comfortable, well-worn, grey shorts. I found myself involuntarily licking my lips as I took in a well-defined V and the smattering of fine hair on his abs, just below his navel, leading to well, I knew where...

The chuckle deep in his throat made my eyes shoot up to his suddenly. My face burned with embarrassment. He knew exactly what I had been looking at.... again. He patted the settee wanting me to sit.

Christ what the hell was wrong with me?
I needed to stop gawping at the client.

‘Hey, chocolate drop, I love a girl that can still blush... another thing I find very refreshing. Anyway, tell me a bit about you and I will tell you some stuff about me.’ He looked back up at me with his penetrating stare and ran his left hand through his unruly, just fucked looking hair.

Sitting down on the very edge of the leather settee and picking up my bottle of water, I sipped at it. I took a deep breath, I hated talking about myself.

I wondered where to start?

What could I possibly tell him, that he would find remotely interesting, Mr. Hot motorbike, sex on legs/crutch, who from the look of the photos on the wall, had been everywhere and done everything and got the T-shirts to prove it (although he obviously didn’t wear them). I hooked my hair behind both of my ears and sighed.

‘Well until recently I have been working, looking after injured soldiers...’

‘Yeah, Alex told me,’ he nodded ‘we have a lot of respect in our family for servicemen and women, but what about you?... who is Frankie Jones? And what makes her tick?’ I looked at him sitting comfortably; both arms now up, and out along the top of the back of the settee. The position showed off his well-defined pecs. My God, he truly was magnificent. Was he flirting with me? I was so mousey in comparison, it wasn’t possible.

Maybe he was this interested in everybody?

Or maybe just the women he came in to contact with. Or maybe he was just winding me up, just enough to make me blush and feel very uncomfortable. I looked at him again, but no, he really genuinely appeared to be interested in me!

‘Well I’m 24, come from a small town on the South coast of England, lived at home with my aunt and uncle,’ I was hardly drawing breath now and continued on my never ending path of boringness, but somehow I couldn’t rein it in. ‘I have a degree; my favourite animals are dogs.’

A loud laugh suddenly exploded from Nathan and his whole body convulsed forward, emphasizing his well defined chest and stomach muscles.

‘You are so cute! Where the hell did he find you, you sound like you’re being interviewed for Miss World.’ I started laughing too, he was right, and what the hell was I rambling on about?

‘Sorry, I get a bit tongue tied, I am not so comfortable talking about me,’ my face contorted into a grimace.

‘No problem, chocolate drop, my turn. I ride motorbikes for a living, I am 28 years old, and I am one of four. I have two brothers and a sister. I dropped out of high school much to the disgust of my mother, but then she’s disgusted at everything I do,’ he nodded again ‘so it’s not a surprise. I also love dogs.’ He stopped then, looked at me and we both laughed.  Ok he was trying to make me feel comfortable, and I appreciated it, I did feel more relaxed now.

‘My mother despises me, too; I don’t meet her never ending requirements as a daughter, so we have that in common.’ Nathan stopped smiling and pondered in thought. ‘Long story?’ he questioned, and I nodded in response and clasped my hands together in my lap.

We chatted for a while, and I realised the last time I felt like this with a guy, was talking to JJ. I had unknowingly curled my legs underneath me, relaxing into the expensive, very soft leather that moulded itself to me. A feeling of melancholy gently slipped over me.

‘OK, if you show me where the table is perhaps we can get started,’ I changed the subject suddenly, trying to shake the feeling away, but glancing at Nathan I could tell he had noticed my change in mood. Gratefully I realised he wasn’t going to ask why. So sex on legs was a sensitive guy as well, this must be too good to be true.

‘It’s in the spare bedroom,’ he raised his left eyebrow at me.

‘Oh OK,’ I blushed.

‘And there it is again,’ Nathan laughed, looking pleased with himself, ‘you’re so cute when you blush, don’t worry I won’t molest you, well not unless you ask me to,’ he smiled, showing me a beautiful lopsided grin and dimples.

Grabbing his crutch from the floor and pulling himself up onto it, he moved with well practised ease, to show me the way to the spare bedroom. Pausing to grab a remote from a side table he pressed a few buttons and music started to play. I recognised it instantly as a Nickelback track, OK now we had a similar taste in music, too. I couldn’t wait to see Bella later and tell her all about Nathan, I almost skipped into the bedroom behind him.

We started working through the various exercises I already had planned for him. Feeling really pleased I had done my homework previously. The time passed quickly and he worked hard with me. A feeling of satisfaction travelled through me.

‘If you carry on working this hard, we’ll have you up and about in no time.’

‘I will be ready for the start of next season,’ he didn’t ask a question; it was stated to me as a fact.

‘When is that?’

‘February, Phillip Island in Australia,’ came the reply.

‘OK, we’ll see what we can do.’ 

‘OH-I-WILL-BE-BACK-ON-MY-BIKE... whether this fucking thing is alright or not.’ This was the first time I had even seen the remotest sign of irritation from Nathan and he slapped his right thigh in disgust.

I passed over the exercise plan to him, ‘Well I will do my part of the deal and you can do yours, at least twice before tomorrow morning, when I’ll be back,’ pushing my index finger into his chest.

‘Hmm, I love a woman in charge,’ he muttered whilst getting off the physio table and once again throwing a wicked grin my way. I couldn’t help but smile back. 

I made my way towards the door. Freezing as I got there because it suddenly swung open and walking in wearing an oh too short skirt, a top that literally just held in her noticeably fake boobs and the tallest fuck-me heels I had ever seen, was the Jack Russell, Candy. Surprisingly she still looked like an overgrown child, even wearing the prostitute’s clothing.

‘Nate honey, oh there you are.’ I watched as she sashayed herself over to him, completely ignoring me and dropping her various shopping bags on the way. She attached herself literally to every curve of his body. Surprised by the fact he could still balance, on his one crutch with her weight hanging off of him, I quickly passed him crutch number two.

I knew as he looked at me my face had, as always, portrayed to Nathan exactly what I was thinking. She really was everything I hated in a woman. She was everything I wasn’t and would never lower myself to be. Putting my sneer away and uncurling my flared nostrils, I shouted a goodbye from the door.

‘See ya, chocolate drop,’ rolled off his tongue. And just before the door closed behind me I heard, ‘Right babe, we got some exercises to do,’ looking back I was just in time to see her sucking his face enthusiastically, he still had his eyes open... the bastard looked straight into my eyes and winked at me!

The blush came, but too late for him to witness, thank God. The door had slammed shut.