From the Heart (A Valentine's Day Anthology) (17 page)

“I only wanted to let him know I was heading out, so not to worry about dinner. Could you relay the message?” she asked, without waiting for an answer.

Aria then hailed a cab and gave the driver instructions to Dexter’s house. She almost banged down the door when she arrived, and was so eager to go inside and finally claim the prize she’d held herself back from. Dexter’s band mate, Alex, flung open the door in surprise.

“He’s upstairs, I’ll go get him,” he offered, but Aria was hot on his heels. They rounded the corner and he knocked. When a low murmur sounded, he poked his head inside. “Aria’s here,” she heard him say, and his tone made her go cold. He said it as if he was sorry, and the second Dexter’s door opened and she saw inside, she knew why.

He was half-naked, just in jeans and socks, and sat on his bed was a woman. She was young, much younger than Aria, and she too was only half-dressed. They all stared back at her with wide-eyes, and Dexter reached his hand out to her.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he said, shaking his head. His wide-eyed, sorry stare made her want to reach for him, but her anger forced her not to care enough to soothe his guilty conscience. She felt his betrayal far more than she’d felt Brad’s, and felt herself die a little inside at the sight of the smirking young thing staring up at her from atop his ruffled sheet. Aria turned and ran.

She was out the door and down the street before she could even think straight, and didn’t look back. Heavy grief swallowed every one of her senses, and when she finally stopped running she hailed a taxi and cried the entire journey home.

“You okay, love?” the cabbie asked, turning to look at her from the front seat.

“Fine,” she managed, thrusting the cash into his hand before taking off inside. She turned off her phone and curled into a ball on the bed. Aria was a heaving mess, and felt lost and so unbelievably alone. Both the men in her life had betrayed her on the same day, and she felt like such a fool for having trusted either of them.

Eventually, she unfurled her exhausted body and stripped. She climbed into the shower, where Aria let the last tears she was determined she would ever let herself cry for Dexter Fray fall. She washed them away along with her shame and the pain of losing him, and promised herself she’d never fall for the lies men told ever again.

As she dried her hair, realisation struck. Brad was having an affair, and she had nothing. Aria knew she should leave, but where would she go? She had no money of her own, and no backup plan. She needed time to think, and figured that until she had it figured out, she’d just have to stick with the devil she knew.

***

Weeks of unanswered phone calls and ignored text messages ensued. Her doorbell rang a few times, but Dexter was a coward. He never came when Brad was around, and he didn’t fight for her. Aria watched from the bedroom window each time as he gave up and walked away after just a few minutes.

She listened to sad songs about breakups and heartache, while faking closeness and attentiveness for the husband she knew was getting his dick wet inside his boss. She didn’t let him touch her, but Brad didn’t seem to notice the extra iciness behind her sweet exterior, and Aria was glad. Her head wasn’t straight, and she knew she should be making plans to leave, but didn’t know where to begin or who to turn to.

One morning after he left for work, she headed straight down to her local library to use the computers. She didn’t want to risk her husband discovering what she was researching, and spent the time getting her finances in order and finding herself a decent divorce lawyer. After a few hours spent on edge, yet driven towards finding her future, she returned home, where she found a single pink rose sat on her doorstep. Aria picked it up, and read the note attached.

I’m more sorry than I can ever express in words or even gestures. Please, please, please forgive me? I’m leaving for the tour today, and my flight leaves at noon. If I don’t hear from you before then, I’ll walk away and never, ever try to contact you again. But I had to tell you one more time. I had to know for certain if I was gonna be forced to fly away without you, but I don’t think I can. I need you.

I love you,

D x

Aria’s heart broke even harder, which she hadn’t thought was even possible any more. She had to stop him. Dexter had to know she loved him, too. Aria no longer cared that he’d caved and been with another woman behind her back. She should’ve known she couldn’t keep stringing him along. After telling him over and over they were just friends, why shouldn’t he have been free to have some fun? Her jealousy had made her blind to what she’d truly known ever since that day they’d met on that rooftop—they belonged together. All she’d had to do was say it, and he would’ve come running. But she’d pushed him away. She’d chosen her rotten, cheating husband over him, and now they were broken, and she was as much to blame as him.

She ran inside and grabbed her phone from the kitchen drawer. Her trembling fingers dialled, but his number rang and rang, with no answer.

“No! Stupid thing.” She peered up at the clock on the wall and felt her legs buckle. It was already past noon. “Five minutes, I couldn’t even get five minutes?” she cried out, screaming at the world as her tears returned after weeks of fighting them away.

Aria gripped the sink before her with her hands, and stared out at the pristine gardens behind the home she didn’t care a thing about. All the luxury and decadence—it meant nothing. He was gone. Dexter Fray had boarded a plane and left her behind, and it was all her fault.

She barely registered the phone vibrating on the counter, and her tears blurred her vision as she answered and held it to her ear. Aria had no idea who was on the other end, and didn’t care any more. It could be her lawyer telling her it was fruitless taking her husband to court for his infidelity. It could be CeCe ringing to gloat about her naivety. It could even be Brad himself calling to tell her he was leaving. Nothing mattered to her any more. “Yes?” her voice was cold, empty.

A deep sigh. That was all Aria heard, but it snapped her right back into reality, and she sucked air into her lungs at such a rate she let out a high-pitched squeal. “Dexter? Is that you?”

“I thought you’d let me go, Bluebird. I thought I’d have to travel the world with a fake smile on my face, when all the while I would be dead inside. Please tell me you called to say yes?”

“I don’t know if I can forgive and forget, but I’m ready to try. I need this to be over, I need to know you again. I know you’re going on tour, but will you come and see me when you get back?” she asked, and hated herself for asking, but she needed something to hold onto. “I won’t be living here, but I’ll keep your number and text you my new address. I’m leaving Brad, it’s what I came to tell you that day…” she tailed off.

A knock at the door made her jump. As she pulled it open, Aria almost fell to her knees. Dexter was stood on the other side, grinning broadly, yet she could see the pain in his red eyes.

“I’m already here,” he said, sliding his phone closed and stashing it in his pocket. “I had to see you one last time, so I waited after I brought the rose over. I saw you come home at noon, and watched your face as you read the note. I knew I couldn’t get on that flight until I spoke to you, and that I can’t go anywhere without you. Will you fly away with me, Aria?”

“I don’t know if I can—if I’m strong enough.” Her voice was a trembling, sobbing, whine. “Can you put me in your pocket and keep me safe until my wings are ready?”

“I could,” Dexter replied, his grin widening. “But you can’t stay in my pocket, ‘cos you’re already in my heart.” He held out his hand. “Fly away with me?” he asked again, but this time more insistently.

She nodded, and took his hand, but instead of leaving, she led him to the bedroom. Aria grabbed a bag and started packing, while he stared at the bluebird painting with a smile, and then plucked it from the wall to take with them.

After grabbing her essentials, Aria took the painting from his hands and put it down on the floor carefully. Her bags were packed, and her life was about to change, but she didn’t fret. The shackles of her old life were already falling away, and she grinned up at the gorgeous man before her. Aria wrapped her hands around his waist, and Dexter pulled her close, curling solid arms around her shoulders protectively. She looked up at his strong chin and powerful cheekbones, and had to kiss them. Dexter seemed surprised at first, but quickly thawed and leaned into her.

“I was wrong to push you away. I’m sorry,” she whispered, and gasped when his hand found the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. Their first real kiss was electrifying. She both melted and exploded at the same time as his tongue invaded her parted lips without any resistance. Aria soared in his arms, and knew she’d found her freedom at last.

“Don’t ever say sorry, not to me. I don’t deserve it. I’m the one who can never be sorry enough. I was such a fool, but never again. I promise.” He kissed her hard, this time full of urgency and desire. Without hesitation, Aria unbuckled his belt and pulled his shirt over his head, before sliding off her dress and climbing back onto the bed, and she loved their small act of defiance to her cheating husband.

“Prove it,” she teased, sliding off her knickers. Dexter was naked in a second, and he joined her on the bed. They writhed and grinded against each other, desperate to have more, to be more. Nothing was in their way this time, and Aria wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in all her life.

She held his heavy hardness in her hands, stroking and teasing, while his fingers rubbed her throbbing core. When Dexter’s teeth tore at the packet he’d retrieved from his wallet, Aria even helped guide the rubber over his glistening shaft, and when he slid inside it was heaven. He stared into her eyes as he made love to her, moving slowly back and forth rather than throw his body against hers hard and urgently like Brad always had. Dexter was big, stretching her wonderfully and hitting places deep within that made her yelp, and Aria was soon seeing stars. He commanded her body in a way she hadn’t known in years, and she gave everything she had back to him in return.

“You and me, Bluebird. You and me,” he whispered in her ear, kissing and holding her close when her climax burst out of her. He wasn’t far behind, and stared down into her eyes when he came. Dexter looked vulnerable and real, and Aria loved him more than ever. They held each other tight, neither one willing to let go of their wonderful moment of epic initial connection.

“I love you, Dexter Fray,” she whispered, and kissed him.

“I love you, too. I have since the moment you caught me hating everyone and everything in the world. You asked me to find what keeps me grounded, well you’re it, Aria. You’re it.”

When they’d gotten dressed again, she grabbed her bag. She then took Dexter’s hand and held the painting in her other one. They were the only things in her and Brad’s luxury home that meant anything to her, and Aria knew she wouldn’t miss anything else about that old life. She then followed Dexter out into the bright sunshine. Together as one, they simply flew away.

***

They’d never forget that summer where love had claimed them so violently, and neither ever looked back to a time where the other didn’t exist. Together they were one, and knew they’d never care what Brad or anyone else thought of their relationship.

Aria went on tour with Dexter and his band, where she watched a hundred gigs from beside the stage, and adored every moment of it. Brad had no choice but to let her go, especially when she threatened to take him for all he had for his infidelity, and theirs suddenly became an amicable break-up when her shark of a lawyer confirmed her plan.

The band changed management, and went back to their older, acoustic style. Dexter was happier being back to his old self, and Aria found her place alongside them as they toured the world. Regardless of how they’d found each other, all that mattered was that they hadn’t given up in the end.

Dexter went on to write her hundreds of love songs over his long career as both a member of
Another Wa
y and then as a solo artist. Aria sang his heartfelt lyrics to their children as they laughed and played together happily, and they had the most wonderful life together. It was more than she ever could’ve imagined.

While the course of true love had brought with it overwhelming pain, it’d also delivered them a love so powerful it could never be broken, and they knew no one would ever dare try.

“There’s a woman for me, and she’ll always be mine.

I won’t keep away, ‘cos she’s on my mind.

Love is powerful, a blissful agony.

And it’s the only way I can live, the only way I can be.

I’m whole because of your love, you complete me.

Spread your wings and fly. Fly to me.

An Aria in my soul, you make me soar,

Let me be the sun on your face and the one you adore.

I’ll hold you forever, protect you, lover of mine,

You set my heart alight, and together we’ll fly,

Until the end of time.”

The end.

Acknowledgements

I want to say a huge thank you to my incredible street team. You wonderful ladies have encouraged and supported me amazingly and some of you I’ve never met, but I know we’re already firm friends. You talked me through my dilemmas, shared promo after promo, and have given me magnificent feedback on my work all along the way. I can never thank you enough!

And of course, thank you to the lovely JA Heron for arranging this anthology. You're an amazing writer and friend, and I cannot wait to continue working together x