Inevitable (22 page)

‘I’m so tired, Nate…I think the day is catching up with me. I know we were thrown into this, I know this wasn’t a date and everything, but I’ve really enjoyed myself today… thank you.’ His lips came down onto mine in a loving but chaste kiss.

‘You’re welcome… darlin. Come on let’s get some shut eye.’ Jumping up he stripped his trousers off, leaving on just his fitted boxers, and climbed into bed with me pulling me abruptly towards him, then he stretched over and flicked off the light.’ We were so close I could feel his hard-on pressing into my bum.

‘Nate what about you?’ I started to turn in his arms.

‘No worries, darlin… I got a date with a shower cubicle early tomorrow, it’s time for sleep now.’ His weight and strength held me in place.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, after all that we had been through together today and he still didn’t bloody trust me. I fought to turn over in his arms.

‘Do we have a problem, Bella?’

‘I don’t understand what’s going on, Nate.’ He had allowed me to turn over and he now lay on his back, in the dim light I watched as he placed one bent arm under his head. His eyes looked down at me. ‘I thought we were getting somewhere… really getting somewhere… but you still don’t bloody trust me and I’ve got to say that hurts.’

‘That isn’t true…darlin, I’m holding back… Yeah I know that sounds far too fucking adult to be me, but for once in my goddamn life I want something to be done properly.’ He pulled me closer to him and I slid my arm over his chest, feeling his warm skin beneath my fingertips. ‘Until everything is laid out in front of us… How do I explain? I want to have no more secrets between us, nothing about our fucking pasts will then come back to bite us in the ass. I think we’re doing great, you know more about me now than anyone else on this earth, not Alex or Scott or any fucking one else.’ He shifted us slightly and pulled me up and on top of his body, his grip on me was tight but not uncomfortable. ‘I trust you, Bella, with all my fucking heart… but… I just need to do this right…OK?’

‘When you put it like that, how could I refuse.’

‘Believe me… darlin, once I sink my cock into that hot, slick, tight pussy of yours… you’re going to find it extremely fucking difficult to continue riding that bike outside.’ A deep rumble came up from his chest that I felt underneath me as I laid my head down on it, which made me smile.

I could wait, for him I would do anything. I settled down and let my tiredness sweep over me.

BELLA

W
e left St Louis early, it had clearly rained in the early hours as the roads were glassy and the sun shimmered in the puddles. The air was fresh and clean and it was good to be alive. I had the man that I loved in my arms and although I wasn’t looking forward to another day on the bike, the fact he was there was somewhat of a consolation prize. We were headed to Tulsa. The famous song kept going around in my head this morning and I certainly hoped it wouldn’t take twenty-four bloody hours to get there. I giggled lightly at my stupid thoughts.

The broad hard figure in my arms moved.

‘You laughing to yourself now, Bella?’

‘Just trying to keep myself amused, sex God, that’s all.’

He laughed and turned on his music. I let myself drift off, trying to take in some of the country we were too quickly zipping through. One day I would like to come back, when we could take our own sweet time about it. It was funny but after our conversation last night I was now allowing myself to actually think about being with the man I loved, for the rest of our lives. I felt stronger when we were together and I think he felt stronger with me.

Who the hell was I and what had he turned me into?

Not since I was a little girl had I had dreams like this and it was warming, it made my soul light and I felt carefree. How crazy, I had some bloody frightening sons of bitches doing their level best to find me and sort me out, and I felt warm and fuzzy.

The music in our helmets muted as a call came in.

‘Morning all,’ I heard the now recognisable tones of Hunter as he came over the speaker. ‘How are you both doing?’

‘We’re good,’ replied Nathan. ‘Whatcha got for us?’

‘I’m just checking in with you both as Mr. Blackmore has taken his wife to the clinic, he just asked that I check-in with you then I can report back.’

I interrupted, ‘Is Frankie OK?’ I grabbed a tighter hold onto Nathan’s jacket.

‘Yes, Ma’am, she is. It’s just a routine scan.’ The relief I felt was palpable. Nothing could happen to that baby, I would never be able to forgive myself.

‘Yeah, well you can tell them we’re all good. We set off early today so we’re making decent time. Tell Alex I’ll speak to him later.’

‘OK, bye.’ The click of the call ending reverberated around my torture chamber and I settled back into the ride. I don’t think I had ever had so much time to just sit and think before and I wasn’t convinced as yet, whether that was a good or a bad thing. I must have spent the last fifty miles of the journey wondering how the hell I was going to finish my story.

Give Nathan his due he had been relentless on the road today, almost as if he too had been thinking that the quicker we arrived, the sooner we both could finish reliving our past histories and move forward. He had been quiet and thoughtful and we had spent the last six hours and twenty minutes in the saddle, listening to music. Fleetingly we had stopped to relieve ourselves and grab some caffeine. The huge breakfast had sustained us in our haste to reach the conclusion of our journey in rediscovering each other. Apart from bathroom breaks, we had been connected in some way all day. I loved the fact that he seemed to need that connection as much as I did.

The motel we pulled into, just before Tulsa, was the best yet. It wasn’t the decoration, but the happy vibe it seemed to have around it. We came to a stop and Nathan switched off the engine, and as he went through his routine of getting the bike sorted I had a quick look at our surroundings. I spied a small pool in the middle of the complex and in the heat of the early evening, children were happily splashing each other. I glanced around, there was a take-out place that seemed to do a variety of food and a small coffee shop. No bar for dancing, that was a slight disappointment, as boy could he dance. Apparently, all of the siblings had received dance lessons when they were younger.

‘Well this one looks OK,’ I offered.

‘Yeah… I’m not sure if that’s a fucking good thing. The place looks busy.’ Nathan swung his leg up and over the front of the handlebars. He was wearing his jeans today and the way they fitted him always caught my attention. I loved the way he always wore his belt buckle over to the side, just another one of his little quirks and his non-compliance to the normal. I just found him as sexy as hell whatever he was wearing and I had recently been reminded, whatever he wasn’t wearing. I watched, still sitting on the bike, as he shook both of his legs waiting for his jeans to fall comfortably back down his legs, after having been pushed up so long.

‘You coming, darlin? Or you waiting for me to pick ya up off my fucking bike.’ He bestowed on me a lopsided grin.

I smiled up at him and placed my helmet down in front of me. I ran my hands through my hair and fixed my eyes to his. His leather jacket was unzipped and an old maroon coloured T-shirt was stretched over his muscular torso.

‘You’re OK… I know you’ve been building up those muscles, but I think carrying me is probably a bit more difficult than you think, with your bad leg.’ I winked at him as I teased him.

I watched as he took one step back towards me and easily swung me into his arms.

‘Grab your rucksack, darlin.’

I leant back and did as I’d been told. I placed one arm behind his neck and the other hand found his shoulder as he hoisted me up further into him to a comfortable position. I was so proud of myself. I didn’t even squeal. He walked a few steps towards the door labelled reception and tapped it hard with the toe of his boot. The door swung open with a bang and Nathan manoeuvred us both in and around the doorframe. I peered out from inside his jacket, as he had walked us here I had been breathing in the smell of him, the body wash I loved and the sweat of the day on his body just spoke so loud to my libido it practically screamed.

‘Hi there, can I help you both?’ the middle-aged lady asked us. I could see the fact that Nathan was carrying me, was giving her a cause to smile.

‘Yep we’d like a room please, just for the night… If you have a honeymoon suite that would be great.’

I moved my hand down and pinched his barbell a little, just to let him know I wasn’t amused.

‘We do have one of our deluxe rooms available, we don’t have a honeymoon suite here, sorry.’ The poor woman looked serious and I increased the pressure on his taut and puckered skin around his barbell, to show my displeasure at his continual teasing of her.

‘That’ll be fine, thank you,’ I smiled to her. I removed my hand from his jacket and took the key she was offering.

Nathan passed over the cash she asked for and managed somehow, by sitting my bum down on the edge of the counter, to sign in her book as Mr and Mrs More. I was hoisted back up higher into his arms as we made our way out to our room.

‘You’re bad… you know that, right? The poor woman looked mortified that she couldn’t offer us some sort of bloody pink pussy palace.’

‘Pink… Pussy… Palace?’ He questioned, smiling widely.

‘Yeah that’s how last night’s room will remain forever imprinted on my mind.’

I could feel and hear him laugh as he began to carry me up the flight of stairs towards our designated room with, it appeared, very little effort. I could however feel his limp was becoming more pronounced with every step.

‘If this is causing you pain, put me down.’

‘Bella, you’ve caused me pain before… this is nothing and I’m never putting ya down again, even when you goddamn fucking ask nicely.’ His hand playfully squeezed my bum cheek.

I gripped hold of him tighter and buried my head into his chest, offering him my silent thanks for the meaning behind his words.

Nathan pushed the door open with his foot as I had bent down to unlock it. The door flung open to reveal a half decent place. He carried me in and dropped me unceremoniously onto the bed. I bounced a little and then pushed myself up onto my elbows, watching as he threw his jacket down onto a chair and went to check out the bathroom.

‘Nathan, when can we start? I’m so nervous,’ I called out to him.

He appeared back in the doorframe, both arms up on the top of it, above his head. Quite simply the man took my breath away. The maroon T-shirt had risen up and away from his belted jeans, revealing his defined abs and exposing the V that I longed to follow with my tongue. Unconsciously I licked my lips. I forced my eyes back up to his face.

‘How d’ya want to go about it… darlin. Shall we get comfortable and talk now, or do ya need some alcohol in your system?’

‘I need to do it now, but I think some Dutch courage would help to relax me.’

‘That’s fine, I’m gonna order some food in and get a bottle of JD. I’ll be ten minutes tops… OK?’ He started moving towards the bed and me. He bent down and kissed my forehead. ‘OK?’

‘Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.’ I watched him remove his wallet from his jacket and stride out of the door, placing his old baseball cap on his head and pulling the peak of it down low over his face. I got myself up and took my rucksack to the bathroom. While I waited for him to return I was going to wash the dirt of the road off my body. I rummaged in the rucksack and removed my shorts and a clean T-shirt, I didn’t have enough of anything else so commando I would go, I thought to myself with a smile. Looking into the old mottled mirror I quickly tied my hair up to stop it from getting wet. After waiting a few minutes for the water to heat up I stripped off my clothes and stepped in, lifting my face to the wide shower spray. I left my face in the stream of water hoping to clear my head. I could hear Nathan’s ringtone from his phone, he must have left it when he ran out. There was nothing I could do, I’m sure they would ring back again in a minute. Sure enough the phone stopped and I got on with soaping my body.

‘Honey… I’m home.’ I heard the loud laughter-filled shout from Nathan, as he arrived back into our room.

‘I’m just taking a shower; I’ll be out in a few,’ I shouted over the sound of the running water. I stopped the water and inhaled the biggest breath, in anticipation of what I now needed to do. I dried my hair and body off using the rough towel provided. Just as I finished up I heard Nathan’s phone blasting out again.

‘Speak… Yep… You’ve got to be fucking with me man… seriously? So now what?’

I pulled on my clothes listening to the only side of the conversation I was party to, with increased concern. I was just doing up the button on my shorts and walking out of the small bathroom when Nate spun around, he was running his other hand over and over through his hair. He caught my questioning look and mouthed “Alex.” I sat down on the edge of the bed and waited.

‘Well that’s a fucking relief… yeah I know!’ His voice started to raise in volume. ‘Of course we fucking didn’t, man… yeah OK do what you can. I’ll speak to ya later.’