Seductive Truths (Seductive Trilogy) (33 page)

    
‘
You’re not thinking straight, he’s brainwashed you…
’

    
‘
No, no,
you’re
the one that’s deluded if you’d think I’d believe any of the crap that is coming out of your mouth.  No, for once in my life I am seeing crystal clear and it has taken me being kidnapped to realise this.
’

    
‘
Come on Alex!  Gareth?  Seriously?  Don’t tell me you have fallen for his charms?
’
  My eyes drop to the floor. 
‘
Oh my, you
are
serious.  This is too funny.  Of course, I see it now!  He clearly has everything going for him.  Lovely firm beer belly, a one bedroom apartment settled in the heart of the dingiest part of London and he smells like a brewery.  Oh yes, every woman is crying out for a man with those attributes!
’

    
‘
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
’

    
‘
You can’t deny the truth now Alex, I’ve seen it in your eyes.
’

    
‘
Yes!  The truth!  That’s what all this mess has been about in the first place.  Thinking about it, the only person who knew absolutely everything was you!
’

    
‘
So did Gareth…
’

    
‘
No he didn’t.  He knew about you but not that you were part of the family his
father
killed or that
you
killed his son!  Do you actually have a decent bone in your body?  Are you capable of telling the truth?
’

    
‘
He had to go.
’
 
Huh?

    
‘
What?
’

    
‘
His son.  He had to go.
’
 

    
‘“
He had to go
”
? 
“
He
had
to go”
?  Is that your answer to everything?  If something becomes a threat, you have them bumped off!  Is that what you will do to me next because I know the truth, I know who you are, what you’ve done?  You’re despicable!  No! You’re worse than that.  You’re a monster!  How can someone who’s so kind, loving and playful towards my niece be so heartless towards another child?  You’re not right in the head.
’

    
‘
I’m
not right?  Look who’s talking!  I’m not the one who has fallen in love with a serial killer!  He’s like the mafia, but a one-man show!  He’s killed more men than I’ve had hot dinners!

    
‘
He’s played you for a fool, Alex.  A few simple come hither looks, the pleading pout, the odd sympathy story and you’re putty in his hands.  You’re his little plaything.  Once he exhausts of your simpering ways, he’ll dump you, disappear off the face of the Earth and shack up with the next willing woman, all without a second glance.  You’re a fool for believing he’d want more.
’

     Breathing is uneven.

     Heart rate hits its maximum.

     Eyes lock in battle.

     Sparks crackle in the distance between us. 

     Silence descends.

     Nothing can be taken back; everything is now out in the open.  We are striving to hurt each other intent on doing maximum damage.  It’s all or nothing.

     But then something shifts.  William’s eyes begin to soften, shoulders realises tension as his sigh rolls through the air.  His head drops slightly, eyes squeeze shut and he brings his right hand to rub his forehead, the battle leaving him.

    
What’s going through his head?  What’s happening?

     After a moment or two, his eyes return to mine. 
I remember them.  These are what I fell for
. 

    
‘
Is he worth dying for?
’
he abruptly says. 
‘
Is he?  Because if you stay with him, undoubtedly that’s where you’ll end up and I can’t bear the thought of never seeing your face again.  I don’t want to lose you, not for a second time and especially not to a man like
him
.  I love you.  God how I love you, but I can’t keep you safe if you love him, want to be with him.  Do you realise what you will be risking if you choose a path by Gareth’s side?
’

     Energy drains from me as I make my way over to the bed and sit on the edge.  My eyes settle on the beige, padded carpet.

    
‘
Many times I’ve wondered why I’m willing to risk my life to be with him.  Questions and questions have been constantly spinning around in my
head.  Hardly any of them make
sense.  I was scared once, no longer.  Until tonight, I was so lost and confused about the whole thing, but gradually, bit by bit things started slotting into place.  It wasn’t until I walked out of that hospital, leaving him alone lying helpless in that bed, did it come to me.  I felt the answer whisper in my ear.  I’m in love.  I love him more than…more than you.
’
  I shyly gaze up to William to catch his reaction, but all I get is a slight flinch, the only indication my confession has hit a nerve. 
‘
I thought that
wasn’t
possible but then Gareth came along and proved me wrong.  He has shown me what it is to really love and, hopefully, be loved in return.
’

    
‘
You’ve known him all of five minutes!
’

     It’s amazing how situations change.  Soft and mellow one minute, fiery and boisterous the next.

    
‘
You can’t put a time on love!
’
  I leap up, propelling myself forward. 
‘
It’s an emotion you can’t control!  I didn’t want to fall in love.  Hell!  I even denied it, but there are only so many times you can put it off!  It crept up on me!  It’s true what they say; you really
can’t
help who you fall for.
’

    
‘
Yeah,
’
he scoffs. 
‘
You’re telling me,
’
then looks away only to begin pacing around the room, occasionally making gestures with his hands. 
‘
I fell in love with a conniving slag!
’

    
‘
You bast…
’

    
‘
And the funny thing is I actually panicked.  Panicked!  Me!  When you didn’t turn up half an hour after I called you at Zoe’s, I became frantic with worry.  Heck!  I was frantic after ten minutes!  I had this sinking feeling in my stomach.  I felt like I was going to be sick.  I have never felt like that before, not about anyone, not even for my family.  Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you Alex?  Do you?
’

     But he leaves me no room to reply.

    
‘
I was up and out of this place, pounding the streets looking for you.  I used every contact up my sleeve but they came up with nothing.  I even resorted to threatening, blackmailing and simply paying people off for information, still no result.  You had vanished off the face of this Earth.  I was going out of my mind!

    
‘
I neither slept nor ate for days.  The little I did manage to shove down my throat was soon back up again.  I couldn’t keep anything down!  I was falling apart!  Just when I thought I wouldn’t find you I finally got my wish.  Even now it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    
‘
You looked like his whore.  The bile rose at the thought of you being anything of his, but seeing you like that, with
him
, well, I simply saw red.  The more the images flashed through my mind of what he could have done to you the more the snake grew inside, eating away at my innards until there was nothing left but the hunger for revenge.  I had no control over what happened next.  I was on automatic.  My gun came out and I gave chase, firing bullet after bullet until there was nothing left for me to fire and still the little fucker survived, taking what’s mine with him!
’

    
‘
Y-you could have k-killed me,
’
I stutter.

     He stops his pacing, stands and stares at me as if what I had just said was spoken in a foreign language.

    
‘
There was no chance of that.  My aim is accurate.
’

    
‘
Well it can’t be
that
accurate, you missed Gareth several times before giving up!
’

    
‘
Hitting a moving target while they are carrying precious cargo isn’t the easiest thing to do.  Darting into alleyways makes it that extra bit harder.  And I didn’t give up, I ran out of bullets!
’

    
‘
You’re the one that endangered my life in the first place!  If you never killed my brother in that hit and run, Gareth wouldn’t have needed to kidnap me in order for me to find out the truth, and then we wouldn’t be in this ruddy mess in the first place!  God, I feel like I’m in a Western what with all these guns and shoot offs!  All we’re missing are the bloody horses!
’
 

    
‘
Look sweetheart…
’

    
‘
D
on’t start with the “sweetheart”
thing; you lost the right to endearments the day you ran my brother down and left him for dead.
’

    
‘
For goodness sake Alex, just listen will you!  Yes, I am not the person you thought I was and I am not the most law-abiding citizen, but I am still that guy you fell in love with.  I still love you as much as ever.  I care
about
what happens to you, I look out for you, provide for you.  I’ve never laid a finger on you, I couldn’t do that, never do that to a woman, especially you.
’
 

     He starts to walk in my direction, intent shining in his eyes.  Pupils dilate, breathing quickens, and a small smile makes its way onto his face.  Every move
so precise and
is
work
ing
to his advantage. 

    
What is he doing?

     The atmosphere drops and becomes electrically charged.

     My mouth goes dry and my heart quickens, pumping warm liquid exceedingly fast around my blood stream.  I see the pulse beat at the base of his neck and I suckle my lip at the desire to lick it, to feel it caress my tongue leaving my taste buds tingling. 

    
What has come over me?  One minute we were spitting hatred at each other, now we are…we are…what are we doing?

     Soon enough his right hand glides up to cup my cheek and the velvety touch of his fingers leaves my skin flushed.

    
Don’t do this to me William, please.  Please don’t make it any more difficult for me than it already is.

     I feel his eyes watching my every move, from the twitching of my lips to the rise and fall of my breasts as my breathing quickens.  He leans in closer to my ear and like hot honey on flesh his words trickle through me.

    
‘
You are my world, Alex.  Losing you would be like losing a limb.  I just wouldn’t function properly without it.  I love you so much, words aren’t enough.  When I first saw you, I knew you were the one for me, and you know me well enough to know that, when I have my mind set on something there is no going back.  I go for it until it’s mine.  You and me, Alex, we’re meant to be.
’

     He still has the power to reduce me to a quivering mess.  I’m like a young teenager again, hormones all over the place with a school girl crush and the most popular guy in the college has just asked me out.

     My eyes flicker towards his tempting, flush lips then back towards his penetrating brown orbs.  The hunger deepens and like some magnetic force our faces draw closer and closer until there is nothing between us but a finger’s gap.

    
Oh God, he’s not going to…

     Before I know it, our lips are touching.  Feather light at first, but soon I feel his pressing down on mine causing the fire burning in my stomach to ignite the hungry glow and it blazes out of control - teeth tantalising, lips locking and tongues entwining.  Our hands do not linger for long and soon join in with the foray.  I snatch fistfuls of his shirt, yanking him as close to my body as I can.  The heat is overpowering and I simply want more.