Our Hearts Entwined (17 page)

Cayd’s mouth turned up on one side, his eyes expressing a tiredness that came from days without sleeping properly. He was dressed appropriately for work but he had at least a day’s worth of stubble on his face and hair wasn’t as styled as it usually was.

“Tough weekend?” she asked as she finished taking in his appearance.

“You could say that,” he murmured, taking a pile of mail off her desk and leafing through it.

“I told you it was a bad idea to get involved with that girl,” she told him as she moved towards the kitchenette and started to make them both a cup of coffee.

“I’m not
involved
with her,” he pointed out, taking the milk from the bar fridge and pouring it into both mugs as she stirred the hot water through.

“Cayd, you obviously have this rescuers complex or something. No one gets involved with a girl as messed up as that one without it.”

“She’s not messed up. Stop trying to shrink me, last I checked I was the one with the credentials here – not you,” Cayd pointed out bluntly.

Cherry’s left eye narrowed slightly at his tone causing him to try and explain himself, “I’m sorry, that was out of line – I’m not trying to rescue her Cherry. I saw a girl who had no one to rely on – I wanted to help her.”

“You’re attracted to her though, and a person going through that much shit is not in the right place to be starting a relationship – it would be a disaster!”

Cayd took a sip of his coffee as Cherry continued to eye him, waiting for his response. When it didn’t come, she continued on.

“Don’t you dare try to deny it. I have known you for long enough to read your reactions to people and when that girl walked in here with all that glorious blonde hair you just about blew in your pants.”

“Cherry,” Cayd warned, “Can we just drop this please?”

“No, we can’t.”

“Alright, fine, I’m into her ok? I think she is the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. There’s something about her that draws me to her – I don’t know what it is. It keeps me up at night, it’s torturing me. I know this is no time to start a relationship with her. I know it’s stupid to pursue her. When I found out she didn’t need psychiatric help, I was ecstatic and selfishly so – I knew she had a boyfriend but I didn’t care, and I still don’t care and do you know why? Because I know that she’s drawn to me too and if I’m patient enough, she’ll come to me.”

“That sounds like a big bag of crazy to me. I hope you know what you’re doing,”

“I don’t know what I’m doing Cherry – I don’t have a fucking clue.”

***

When Eric exited the bathroom that morning, he was wearing a pair of black cotton boxer shorts and was still towel drying his hair. Glancing toward the kitchen, he was met with the watchful eyes of both Josh and Louise, who were sitting at the breakfast bar eating toast and drinking coffee.

“Did you talk to Mia last night?” Louise asked straight away, desperate to know if that’s where he went when he stormed out the night before.

Eric paused in the doorway of his room without looking back, and knowing a small amount of sign language, he turned slightly and signed,
yes, it’s over
, before stepping through and closing the door quietly behind him.

“What did he say? It’s over?” Josh asked, looking at her.

“
Yes, they broke up,”
Louise told him, pressing her lips together as her heart sank slightly. She had known that Mia and Eric weren’t right for each other for a long time. But she loved them both and felt sad that it was all over for them, even though she knew it was for the best.

Josh gave her a look that said ‘Well we knew that was going to happen anyway,’ before turning back to his breakfast. Admittedly, he was worried about Eric, he hadn’t said much since they’d brought him home from Mia’s after he found out about Natalie. The guy seemed crushed and Josh didn’t think it was over his breakup with Mia, it seemed that he was more upset that he was deceived, he had been so happy this past month and to find out that the woman he was falling for wasn’t who she said she was, was obviously a massive blow.

“You’re working?” Josh asked surprised when Eric emerged in his uniform.

“Of course. What the hell else am I going to do?” he asked, pocketing his wallet and phone.

“I don’t know, go and talk to Natalie maybe? Don’t you want to know why she did it?” Josh asked.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I know why she did it and she can go fuck herself, alright?” he said tonelessly, lifting his head as a car horn beeped outside. “Baz is here. I’ll see you both later,” he mumbled as he exited the townhouse.

Louise and Josh looked at each other, both raising their shoulders to their ears at the same time. “Maybe we should start staying at your house?” Josh suggested.

“I still live with my parents Josh. That could be awkward.”

“As awkward as being around the fall out of all this? I don’t think so.”

Ignoring him by rising from her stool, Louise carried her plate and mug to the sink, giving them a quick wash before setting them in the strainer to dry.

“I have to go to work,” she told Josh, kissing him goodbye and collecting her bag.

“Can we at least go to a movie or something tonight - escape the tension around here a bit? It can be a foreign one! That way we both have to read the subtitles,” he pleaded. Josh didn’t do well with confrontation and the last couple of day’s events were weighing down on him.

“I want to go and see Mia after work to see how she’s doing. Then I’ll text you ok?”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll just ply him with alcohol, that’ll mellow him out.”

Sitting in the ute while waiting on Baz to finish talking to the home owner, Eric was playing a strategy game on his phone to pass the time and distract his mind from thinking about the events of the weekend.

He jumped a little when his phone beeped in his hand, signalling that he had a text message. Dragging his finger down the screen, he opened his notifications bar, noting that the message was from Mia. Sighing, he selected it, knowing now that is wasn’t Mia at all. Natalie had obviously switched the numbers out and being your regular technology lover, Eric only memorised his own number, always relying upon having his phone with him to remember the other peoples – so he didn’t notice it had changed, it wasn’t something he would check on that often.

Can we please talk? Natalie

Visions of their time together and his strong emotional reaction to her danced through his mind causing his stomach to swirl uneasily as his thumbs hovered over the screen, debating on what his reply would be.

What for?
he settled on in response.

Please. Meet me after work, if you don’t want to see me again after we talk, I’ll never contact you again,
she sent back after a few seconds.

Chewing his lip Eric looked out the window as Baz made his way toward the ute. He tapped out a quick message before clicking his phone to silent and slipping it into his back pocket.

“Ready?” Baz said as he got into the car.

“Mate, I’m sitting here waiting for you!” he replied laughing.

“Where to next?” Baz asked, starting up the car and reversing out of the driveway. Eric checked their schedule and rattled off the address for their next job. Ignoring the faint buzz from his phone as it signalled another incoming message.

Impatiently, Natalie paced the length of her lounge area as she waited, trying her hardest to keep herself calm. She had sent a text to Eric containing the address of the serviced apartment she had been staying at, hoping that they could talk better in private instead of at a restaurant or his townhouse.

She had expected him to arrive over an hour ago, and now she was beginning to lose hope that he was going to show up at all.

Pacing seemed to be the only way she could manage the jittery feeling that overcame her body whenever she would sit still.

When a gentle rapping sound emanated from her door she froze, spinning to face it and rushing to open it before he had the chance to walk away. Grabbing at the handle, she threw the door open, her heart skipping through her chest as she saw him standing there as beautiful as always in his navy work polo and cotton drill pants.

“Come in,” she said, in a voice much smaller than she intended, standing aside as he removed his work boots and left them in the doorway before stepping inside.

Closing the door, she turned and found herself face to face with his chest. Her breath sucked in, becoming lodged in her throat as his scent filtered through her nostrils and swirled around inside her head, intoxicating her by his closeness.

“Talk,” he instructed, looking down at her, his eyes pools of blue that she wished she could swim in.

Her mouth opened, but her mind lacked the ability to form any words in that moment.

“You’re not talking? What the hell am I doing here then? ... Fine, I’ll talk instead. Were you ever planning on telling me who you really were?”

“I…” she started, unable to complete her sentence.

Eric continued on regardless. “I can’t believe you were willing to let me give up everything I have here to go up to Queensland with you so you could continue to be Mia! This is ludicrous – do you know how stupid I feel?”

Natalie’s eyes stung as her brows furrowed, her chest burned from the lack of air but still she just looked at him, biting on her bottom lip as she listened.

He stepped away from her and took a brief look around the apartment before returning his gaze to hers.

“And do you know what Natalie? I
knew
, I fucking
knew
something was up but I chose to ignore it because this feeling I get when I’m around you – it’s something I have
never
felt before. I didn’t want to believe that the woman who yelled at me for my phone being off was the real Mia and that you were…well, you. God Natalie, why couldn’t you have been honest? Why did you have to drug her? You have turned this entire situation into absolute bullshit.

“You could have come here, you could have met your twin, you could have met me, and things would have turned out entirely different. This thing between us could have happened anyway, but now…” he shook his head, his face folded with both confusion and frustration.

She stepped closer to him, closing the distance between their bodies so that they were mere centimetres apart. “Do you hurt Eric?” she breathed. “Do you hurt right here?” she repeated, placing her hand in the centre of his chest, in the exact place her chest was hurting.

Eric brow knitted closely together as his heart leapt in his chest to meet up with her hand, like she somehow owned it and it was desperately trying to get back to her.

“Fuck,” he murmured, grabbing her by the face and crashing his lips against hers, their tongues sliding desperately against each other’s as their teeth clashed and their bodies ached, a need inside them swirling and building as they pulled at each other’s clothes in desperation.

“Argh, stop!” Eric growled, pushing her away from him and holding her at arm’s length. “What the hell are we doing?”

“That’s why Eric. That’s why I didn’t tell you. Can you feel that? Like your body is humming so loudly that you can’t hear anymore? I ache to be with you Eric – I ache!”

Eric couldn’t seem to stop his reaction. Swiftly, he pulled her back against his body. His mouth met hers once more, exploring her, devouring her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she pressed herself against him, his arms wrapping firmly around her waist.

It was as if his body was on fire as he held her to him, lowering her onto the floor where they stood. Between heavy breaths and desperate kisses, he removed his shirt, dropping it on the floor next to him as he shucked his pants and socks.

He watched as Natalie sat up just enough to pull her sundress over her head, revealing her bare chest and a pair of pink lace panties. She was a vision with her long golden blonde hair cascading down over her shoulders, brushing like soft feathers over her breasts.

Suddenly, Eric froze, a heaviness settling in his gut as he looked her over. “I fucking knew,” he admitted. “I didn’t just suspect it. Deep down, I knew you weren’t her. All along, I knew.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she whispered unmoving, not sure what to do next.

“Because I’m in love with you, I didn’t care who you were. I didn’t want to risk ruining what we had.”

“I’m in love with you too,” she whispered back, moving toward him until she was sitting in front of him looking up at him longingly.

Dipping his head, he took her mouth in his, breathing her in, drinking in her moans as she melted into him.

Placing his hands on her hips, he pushed himself back from her, breathing heavily as he attempted to restrain himself.

“I need to leave,” he stated, rocking back on to his knees and picking up his discarded clothing.

“Wait! What are you doing? Don’t go,” she pleaded.

“I need some time Natalie, I can’t do this right now. Not after everything you’ve done,” he said, standing and backing out of the room as he hopped into his pants, heading for the front door, his shirt and shoes in hand as he opened the door.