Sexy Love (14 page)

“
I bet your
parents are gonna be so proud,” I say to Starlet. “Imagine us being
the ones who got rid of Snider.”

“
I know, I
still can’t believe it,” she says happily, “and I really hope they
are proud, if they really are watching over me.”

I smile and
pull her close for a long kiss. We finally part from each other
moments later and she gazes into my eyes. I feel lost in them and I
love her so much.

I’m about to
go for another kiss when Kat interrupts us.

“
Carl!
Rickie!” she says urgently. “There’s someone here to see
you.”

Me and Carl
exchange glances, wondering who it could be and why they want to
see us.

“
Who is it?”
Carl asks her, a little suspiciously.

“
Her name is
Marlene, she says you both know her pretty well,” Kat
explains.

That’s when I
get the shock of my life.

Chapter
29

When I finally
see her come towards us, I can hardly breathe. I can’t believe my
mum is standing right in front of me, especially when we haven’t
seen her for years. I’m still feeling stunned. She looks the same
as when I last saw her. She’s tall and thin, with long black hair
and brown eyes, just like me and Carl.

Her eyes fill
with tears as she smiles at us, “Carl, Rickie, I’ve missed you both
so much.”

She puts her
arm around me and the other around Carl, hugging us both close. I
hug her back, feeling my eyes water a little as I smell her
familiar perfume.

“
Mum, what are you doing here?” Carl asks
her
.

“
I needed to see you both
,” she says, wiping her tears away. “I’ve been looking for
you both for years and I’ve missed you every second you’ve been
gone.”

“
We’ve missed you too, Mum
,” I say and smile at her. “It’s awesome to see
you.”

“
Why did you run away all those years ago?” she asks us,
looking upset and hurt, like she doesn’t understand at
all.

“
Don’t
you know?” Carl
asks her. “We didn’t want you and that idiot making us work for
Snider when we knew it was wrong.”

“
You were so unhappy about it you really wanted to leave
me?” she asks, looking so hurt and starts to cry.

“
Sorry Mum, but we needed to be freedom fighters,” I explain
awkwardly. “We never really wanted to leave you.”

“
W
e had no choice, your
husband made sure of that,” Carl answers, annoyed.

“
I’m so sorry I let you down. I was very upset when you both
ran away and I was so worried. I searched for years, hoping that
one day I would find you…” She continues to cry.

I
put my arm around her, trying to comfort her.

“
Don’t cry, m
um,” says
Carl. “We know it wasn’t really your fault.”

“
Yeah, we’re together now, right?” I say.

She smiles, “Yes, we are and I’m so relieved that I have
found you, I was almost giving up hope. I was so proud of you
working as freedom fighters; you must have worked so
hard.”

“
But why couldn’t you have
become a freedom fighter with us?” Carl asks. “We really needed
you.”

“
I wish I could have, but it was not the right time,” she
answers. “I still let myself be bullied and ordered around by your
stepfather and I couldn’t get away; but no matter what he said or
how much he tried to make me forget, I still loved you both and
thought about you.”

“
So where he is now?” I ask, feeling hatred at thinking of
our stepdad. “I thought he wouldn’t have let you see
us.”

“
Don’t worry, I left him shortly after you both ran away,”
she tells us. “At least having something so awful happen made me
see sense about him.”

“
Cool,” says Carl
happily. “So we can live together again, at
home?”

“
Of course we can,” she answers, and I can tell she’s been
dying for that to happen ever since we left.

“
Mum, since you’re here now, there’s someone I really want
y’ to meet,” I say, take hold of Starlet’s hand and lead her
over.

“
Mum, this is my girlfriend, Star,” I introduce
her.

“
Hi,”
Starlet smiles at
her shyly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

My mum smiles back at her, looking pleased that I have such
a nice partner.

“
Hello Star, I’m pleased to meet you too,” she looks back at
me. “I suppose it’s serious between the two of you?”

“
Yeah, they’ll probably
get married one day,” Carl tells her and grins at
us.

Starlet and I just stand there and blush, a little
embarrassed.

“
In that case, I can’t wait
to meet your parents,” she says.

I
see Starlet look away sadly and squeeze her hand, feeling bad that
my mum unintentionally brought up her deceased parents.

“
Star’s parents died when she was a baby,” I tell my
mum.

“
Oh, I’m very sorry,” she looks shocked and apologetic to
Starlet. “Well you’re very welcome to be part of our family,
Star.”

“
So she can really stay with us?” I ask excitedly. “Please,
she hasn’t got anywhere other than here to stay.”

“
I would be happy for you to stay at our house,” she tells
us and Starlet looks so happy her eyes water a little.

“
How about we go back home tonight?” mum suggests. “I can
easily make up the beds and you can get your things and move in
properly tomorrow.”

“
Okay,” Carl agrees, “but first we’ve got a party to
attend.”

After all the excitement of being back with Mum, we almost
forgot about the party happening around us.

We all join in the celebrations and e
veryone is congratulating us and looks really
happy. I dance around with Starlet happily and let her snuggle up
into my arms.

“
This is the best day ever,” she tells me. “We’ve got rid of
Snider and you’ve found your mum, plus I get to be part of your
family and stay with you.”

“
Yeah, I can’t wait. It’s gonna be awesome, me and bro being
back with our mum and you being there with me too,” I say, thinking
about it all. “It’s a new beginning…”

We look into each other’s eyes and kiss under a night sky
full of fireworks.

Chapter
30

The next
morning we gather all our stuff and move back into our old house.
Mum is waiting for us eagerly and I can tell she’s so happy to
finally have us back living with her.

It feels so
weird walking through the door again and looking around at our
home. I was expecting to notice changes but it looks just like when
we left three years ago, same wallpaper and mostly the same
furniture. It feels like going back in time.

The house does
feel different though. It feels empty and a little better now that
my stepdad isn’t lurking around. I see that there are only mum’s
stuff hanging on the coat rack and feel sorry for her. It must have
been pretty bad living here alone without her husband….without me
and Carl.

“
Go put your
things upstairs,” she tells us. “I’ll make a start on
lunch.”

Carl goes off
towards the direction of his room, so Starlet follows me up the
stairs and across the landing to my old bedroom. It feels so weird
opening the door and seeing it again.

I’m used to
seeing my single bed messy and unmade, but mum has changed and made
it, with clean, ironed covers that smell of fabric softener.
Everything else is just as I left it and I feel a twinge of sadness
at how much I’ve missed it. The walls are dark blue and covered
with music posters, all the rock bands I’m still into. I have
wooden blinds at the window instead of curtains and my carpet is a
lighter blue, faded with use.

My wooden bed
is near the window and I have a matching wardrobe and a set of
drawers at the opposite side. My TV and old video game console is
sat on my oak desk, near the bottom of my bed. My video games and
DVDs are lined up at the side, almost falling over.

“
Your room is
nice,” Starlet says politely.

She notices a
poster of a sexy girl on the back of my door and gives me a teasing
look. I smile sheepishly and take it down, throwing it into my
small rubbish bin.

“
I’ll have to
get a double bed,” I say, since me and Starlet can’t both fit in
this single bed. “You can take this and I’ll use a sleeping
bag.”

“
Are you
sure?”

“’
Course. I
can’t let my girlfriend sleep on the floor.”

“
Okay,” she
agrees happily.

“
And I’ll
clear out some of my stuff,” I volunteer, realising how untidy it
is, “since it’ll be your room too.”

“
Are you sure
you want us to share?” she asks. “I feel kind of bad coming here
and taking over your old room…”

“
No, it’s
cool,” I insist. “I want to be with you. I’d offer you this room if
you weren’t happy sharing, but I really don’t wanna share with
Carl.”

She giggles,
“thanks Rickie. I really appreciate all this.”

“
It’s
okay.”

We quickly get
to work, tidying the room to make space while listening to my rock
CDs in the background. When it’s done we start to unpack our stuff.
I chuck away most of my clothes that are already in the wardrobe,
because they’re too small for me now, and Starlet takes over half
of it to hang up her clothes. I also empty two of the drawers so
she can use them too.

“
How are you
two getting on?” mum asks, looking into my room.

“
We’re good,”
I answer, deciding to take down my posters from the
walls.

I think
Starlet would prefer it if the bedroom at least looked normal
instead of the high school boy theme I left it in.

Starlet is
busily emptying the rest of her rucksack into her new drawers and
organising it.

“
Lunch is
almost done,” mum tells us. “I’ll call you down when it’s
ready.”

“
Thanks, Miss
Granger,” Starlet says politely.

“
Call me
Marlene,” she insists.

I can already
tell that my mum is thrilled to have a girl living with us. She
probably already wants to adopt Starlet as her new daughter and ask
to be called ‘mum’.

I have to
shake my head to get rid of that thought. No way is Starlet
becoming my adopted sister! I want her to stay just being my
girlfriend, even if mum has taken her in.

“
It feels so
weird living in a real home, with a real family,” Starlet tells me
blissfully. “I bet it was like this when I was little…”

“
Yeah,” I
answer softly, “but you’re part of our family now too.”

She smiles
happily and I feel warm inside. I know it’s a big move having your
girlfriend come and live with you, but I’m sure I can handle it
with Starlet.

The story and
characters are based on

my current teen,
action series ‘Freedom Fighters’.

Read the full story
about Starlet and Rickie so far:

Freedom
Fighters:

Twilight City
(book 1)

Starlet has
always wanted to be a Freedom Fighter like her parents. However,
being a Freedom Fighter has a lot of risks and life on the run
isn't easy, but Starlet is determined to put her life on the line
for the price of freedom, no matter how dangerous it is.

Available to
download now at Amazon!

UK:
£0.77

USA:
$0.99

Freedom
Fighters:

Dragon City
(book 2)