Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (38 page)

Ellie laughed and nodded. “Yep! Do I get pancakes this morning?”

Michael bobbed his head in confirmation, his eyes settling on me. “Morning, Jamie. Didn’t hear you come in,” he said, pushing himself up from the chair and walking over, pulling Ellie into a hug.

“Of course you didn’t hear it. He snuck in last night!” Ruth barked behind us.

Slowly the smile fell from Michael’s face and I knew that I should have just taken the risk of getting put back inside. I’d broken his trust and that was something I never wanted to do. I loved that he trusted me with his daughter, was happy for us even, but right now he looked seriously pissed off.

“Last night?” he repeated, his tone hard and accusing.

I smiled apologetically and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.” I winced, waiting for his reaction. He was perfectly within his rights to throw me out of his house for taking advantage of his hospitality.

His eyes flitted between me and Ellie, a shocked expression on his face like he was only just now realising that we were ‘together’, the look on his face clearly told me that he thought his daughter was some sweet innocent young child in a woman’s body. “You stayed with Ellie, in her bed?” he asked, his voice tight and controlled.

Ellie stepped forward slightly. “Daddy, nothing happened. I just wanted to wake up with him this morning. I asked him to come over. Stop looking at him like it’s his fault, it’s not. I practically had to beg him to stay because he didn’t want to go against your wishes,” she lied.

I really shouldn’t let her lie that much for me, I should man up and take the blame instead of her, but the words weren’t coming out of my mouth - probably because he looked like he was falling for it. Maybe his subconscious mind wanted to believe that Ellie was a virgin and that nothing really happened.

He frowned, running a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t have had him over last night, Ellie.

You have to be responsible and think of Kelsey. She wanted to come in and wake you up this morning, thank God I stopped her! She’s only ten. Can you imagine what she would have thought if she’d have gone into your room to find Jamie in your bed?” he asked, shaking his head in frustration.

Ellie sighed and gave him the puppy dog face and I knew the guy was done for. She was a complete daddy’s girl; he stood no chance against that look. “Sorry, I didn’t think about Kels, I just wanted to have Jamie over for my birthday. I should have asked you, I’m sorry,” she said, pouting.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Just don’t let it happen again, alright? I’m not up for this staying over thing, not with Kelsey in the house. I don’t expect this to happen again.” Ellie and I both shook our heads quickly, confirming it was understood.

Ruth was watching the exchange with wide eyes and an even wider mouth. “What? That’s it? She just gets to sneak boys into her bed and you’re not even going to punish her for it? Wow, you really are a soft touch, Michael! I didn’t know you were so spineless,” she cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

He frowned. “It’s not like she does it all the time, and besides, it’s not boys, it’s just Jamie. I don’t want it to happen again, but surely there can be a little lenience this time considering it’s her birthday,” he countered.

“Oh we’ll see how lenient you want to be when he knocks her up and ruins her life!” Ruth snapped, slamming her hand on the table in frustration.

Michael’s eyes tightened at her words and he looked up at me. I shook my head quickly, feeling slightly scared of him. Not that he would be able to hurt me physically, but he certainly had the power to come between me and Ellie. “Nothing happened, I promise. Ellie’s not getting pregnant,” I assured him, holding my hands up innocently.

He sucked his teeth with his tongue, seeming to think about it before he relaxed. He definitely wanted to believe that his daughter was still his little baby. Denial was a powerful thing. He sighed and frowned. “Just don’t let it happen again, alright? This was a one-time thing, a birthday thing but I’m pretty annoyed that it happened.” He looked at Ellie. “Pumpkin, you know I like Jamie, but just…. You need to respect that this is mine and your mother’s house and therefore our rules.”

Ellie smiled innocently, batting her eyelashes to perfection and I practically saw him turn into putty in her hands. “Okay, Daddy. Sorry, it won’t happen again,” she promised. I nodded in agreement of that, it definitely wouldn’t happen again that’s for sure.

He rolled his eyes and stepped back, seeming to ignore the hard glare that was aimed in his direction from Ruth. He shoved the sleeves of his sweater up and grinned. “Who’s up for pancakes?” he chirped.

Ellie squealed and clapped her hands excitedly. “Heck yeah!”

Breakfast was beyond awkward. Her mom’s face was hard and angry the whole time, she barely spoke apart from to throw some bitchy comment in my direction or answer a direct question when Michael tried to include her in the conversation. I honestly had no idea what a great guy like Michael could see in her - she was nothing like the rest of them.

I wondered what she was like when she was younger; if she was still the same stuck up, judgemental witch that she was now, or if time had made her like that. There had to have been something about her that attracted Michael to her in the first place.

After breakfast and watching Ellie open her presents from her family and friends, I headed home. I needed to get her gifts from me, also the day that I’d planned for us today needed to start too. We had a pretty packed day to get through.

When I picked her up an hour later, she skipped to my truck before I even had time to turn off the engine - she seemed pretty keen to get out of the house, maybe her mom was hassling her about me staying over, I hoped that wasn’t the case. She threw her overnight bag into the back and grinned at me. Her parents didn’t know she was staying at mine, they never did, they thought that she was spending the day with me and the night with Stacey. That was her usual lie when she stayed at mine for the night.

“Ready to start celebrating?” I asked. My eyes wandered over her body appreciatively. She was wearing skinny jeans that showed off her long legs, and a pretty little midnight blue silk top. It was V-neck and showed just enough cleavage to make my heart speed up. She was obviously dressed to impress. “I thought I told you to wear older clothes and that you might get dirty?” I mumbled, my mouth watering at the sight of her. It had been days since I’d had my way with her - something I would rectify tonight for sure.

She looked down at herself and frowned. “This is kinda old. What’s wrong with it?”

“Ellie, that’s like a designer shirt, it must have cost a fortune,” I laughed, shaking my head.

A smiled pulled at the corners of her mouth as she played with the soft material. “It’s not designer; it didn’t cost me anything actually,” she replied. “You like it?”

I grinned and leant in closer to her, her perfume attacked my senses and I was fighting with myself not to just drive to my place and ravage her instead of getting on with our plans. “It’s beautiful, just like you.” She giggled and kissed me quickly, she didn’t have to say the word ‘corny’ for me to know she was thinking it. I smiled against her lips and pulled back. “I have your present but I’d rather give it to you later if that’s okay?” I asked.

She grinned, buckling up her seatbelt. “Sure,” she chirped. “So where we going?”

“Surprise.” I drove to the destination with her singing along to the radio happily, and ignoring her questions about where we were going and were we nearly there - she was like a little kid.

When I pulled up into the parking lot of the zoo she looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “We’re going to the zoo?” she asked, her eyes lighting up.

I smiled. “Kinda. You’re gonna be a zoo keeper for the afternoon,” I replied.

Her mouth dropped open in shock as her breath seemed to catch. She definitely wasn’t expecting that judging by the look on her face. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Yep. You wanna?” Ellie loved animals; in one of her sleep-rambles she’d said that she had always wanted to be a zoo keeper. I was just praying that was one of the more serious unconscious conversations we’d had, as opposed to when she told me that she wanted to be the first woman to walk on the moon.

Her eyes widened. “Hell yeah! Really? Oh my God, thank you!” she practically screamed. The loudness of her voice echoed in the cab of my truck and made my ears ring. Without waiting for me she sprang out of the door, jumping on the spot excitedly. “Come on, slow poke!” I laughed and grabbed the paperwork for her visit before climbing out and slinging my arm around her shoulder.

She was beaming up at me. “I love you so much, Jamie. Oh God, thank you! This is gonna be awesome!” she cried, gripping the front of my shirt and kissing me fiercely, giggling against my lips.

I pulled back and grinned. “First stop, gift shop. Let’s buy you a zoo t-shirt to cover up that hot little outfit you’re wearing so it doesn’t get ruined.” Her smile widened as I led her towards the entrance.

The day was incredible. Ellie got a tour with one of the keepers while I trailed behind, watching her go inside enclosures and stuff. She got to feed the tigers and cheetahs. She had to bathe and play ball with an elephant. The best part for me by a clear mile was watching her go into the zoo’s nursery and feed an orphaned chimp with a baby bottle. She’d been crying the whole time - it was adorable.

The only dampener on my afternoon was a phone call from Brett. Apparently, Terry had been arrested and as soon as he was discharged from hospital he’d been taken in for questioning in connection to the stolen Mazda he was driving. Thankfully though they hadn’t linked him with any of the other twenty-four cars that had probably all been reported stolen this morning.

Brett told me not to worry, that he would take care of the situation and that he always looked after his boys. Although it kind of dimmed my mood a little at the time, as soon as Ellie was back at my side again my spirits were lifted. She’d finished her tour, so we bought a sandwich and sat on the grass outside of the lion enclosure. I sat there just listening to her gush about it and how this was easily the best birthday she’d ever had - including the one she spent at Disneyland when she was seven.

“So, should I give you’re your gift now?” I offered.

She looked at me with shock evident across her face. “This isn’t my gift?” she asked, waving her hand around at the zoo in example.

I laughed and shook my head, pulling out the palm sized gift box from my pocket. “No. This is your present.” Well, part of it anyway.

She gulped as I held the box out to her. “Jamie, I don’t need you to spend your money on me.”

“I’ll remember that for next year when I’m broke again,” I joked, waving the little box at her.

“Come on, take it. And if you don’t like it then we’ll change it, alright?” She chewed on her lip as she looked at me gratefully before tearing off the silver gift wrap. Her hand hesitated for a second, hovering over the lid of the box. “Open it,” I encouraged.

She smiled and pried open the lid. Her eyes almost immediately filled with tears as her free hand covered her mouth. “Oh, Jamie, it’s….” She shook her head and I started to panic that she didn’t like it.

“You can change it,” I offered.

She made a little whimper sound and shook her head. “Change it, are you crazy? It’s beautiful.

Thank you so much, this must have cost you a fortune,” she whispered, tracing her finger along the line of the silver bracelet I’d bought her. Ellie liked silver, she never wore anything gold.

“You sure?” I searched her eyes for signs that she was lying and trying to spare my feelings. “I don’t mind if you want to-” Her mouth pressed against mine stopping my insecure ramble. I smiled against her lips and pulled her closer to me, just loving the attention from her.

She broke the kiss; her eyes still glazed over with what I was hoping were happy tears. “Put it on for me?” she asked, holding out the box. I smiled and took the bracelet from its pillow, clasping it around her slender wrist. The bracelet was one of those ones with the beads that you collected and added on to it. Her one had only four beads so far, one of them inlayed with a little diamond. I planned on collecting them for her and filling it up as the years passed. She traced her finger over it once it was on. “Oh, Jamie, I love it, thank you,” she cooed.

“You’re very welcome.” I grinned and pulled her to me, making her practically sit in my lap. We just sat there, talking, watching the zoo slowly empty of the people. We stayed for as long as we could before heading back to my place for a couple of hours. I’d booked her favourite Chinese restaurant for tonight but our reservation wasn’t until nine o’clock - I still had the last part of her gift to give to her before dinner.

Once I’d pried myself off of her body, we showered and changed. When she slipped on a little black dress I almost didn’t want to go out, but I somehow managed to keep my hands off of her. On the way to the restaurant I drove a little out of town and stopped next to a deserted field.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, looking around at the nothingness around us.

“Last gift.” I pulled out another envelope from the glove compartment and held it out to her. She frowned and took it, opening it with the curious puppy expression on her face.

I watched her face as she read it over. “I don’t understand, what is this?” she asked, frowning.

“I had a star named after you. I wanted to get you something you could keep. It’s pretty lame,” I admitted, wincing and now wishing I hadn’t done it. I really was turning into one of those romantic saps that the boys all rip the piss out of at the warehouse.

She gasped, looking down at the sheet again. “I love star gazing! I had a telescope when I was a little girl. I used to sit there for hours on end and was always getting into trouble for not being in bed like I was supposed to!” she cried, shocked.

I raised one eyebrow, fighting to keep my expression neutral. “Oh really? I had no idea you liked stars and stuff,” I lied - I seriously loved her sleep-rambles, they gave me a lot of insight into the real Ellie.