The Bucket List (33 page)

"I'll be here for you, too, you know," she said softly.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine," he smiled broadly. "Rae and I are going to kick the
tumor in the butt then we'll live happily ever after; just like in the movies. Just wait and see."

He saw the look in her eyes just as the waiter brought his bag of food but he didn't dwell on it. He wasn't in denial; he just wasn't going to let anyone bring him down, not now, not today.

"I'll see you later, then, babes. When you kick John out, tell him to go somewhere. If that little punk knocks on our door before I call him, I might just kill him for it," he said as he got up and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll see you before I head out, I've got a present for you."

"You didn't need to do that, Mandy."

"You only turn twenty eight once. Besides, with everything going on, I wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you," she smiled up at him.

"You're a good friend," he said sincerely as he gave her another little kiss. "I'm a lucky guy, having you in my life. But if you'll excuse me, there's someone upstairs just gagging for a bit of me! Later, sweetheart."

Corey
's phone rang as he walked through the lobby to the elevator.

"Hey, Tammy. What's up?" he answered with a little frown.

Rae's assistant never really called him unless there was an emergency and she couldn't get in touch with Rae.

"Hi, Randall. Are you with
Rachael? I've been trying to get in touch with her since yesterday."

"We're in Orlando for Flair's party," he said as he pressed the button to call the elevator down. "Why? What's happened?"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm just a bit puzzled by some things," she answered. "Her lawyers came to see me yesterday. Apparently, she's going to leave me the whole business in her will and I have to sign some things so they can get things moving. I just got worried, I mean, I know lots of people do their wills and everything but Rae isn't exactly someone who worries about things like that. Is she all right?"

"Um... I'll let her tell you that herself," he replied as the doors opened. "I'll be with her in a few minutes if you want to call back."

"What's going on, Randall?"

"Tammy... It's not my place to say. Just call back, yeah?" he said a bit sadly.

He supposed it was only to be expected. When one faced something like this, they had to make plans like that... just in case. But it still shot him in the heart. He didn't want Rae thinking like she wasn't going to make it because she would. They said third time was a charm; no way would the cancer take someone else close to him, would it?

"Apparently, she wants it done quickly so she can sign whatever she needs to sign before she leaves the country. She isn't doing some other crazy thing on her silly bucket list, is she?" Tammy asked. "Where's she going this time? Iraq? I wish that woman would just tell me what goes on in that head of hers so I can schedule her appointments correctly
... "

"Wait. What do you mean she's leaving the country?" he asked, the frown on his face growing.

"Yeah. The lawyers said she needs it finalized by the end of the coming week so she can fly out then. Didn't you know?"

Obviously not.
Why would Rae make plans like this without even telling him? Something about it wasn't right. Maybe, like Tammy said, she was doing something on her bucket list. She'd certainly feel like she had to do all of it now, understandably. But maybe not.

"No," he answered as he got out of the elevator. "I'm going to have to get her to call you back, Tammy. Rae and I need to have a long talk first."

He hung up just as he got to the door. He had no doubt Rae would have a perfectly good explanation why she was planning on going away without even telling him anything about it. Especially since she was supposed to be undergoing treatment.

***

When he opened the door, Rae had her iPod hooked up to some speakers with the volume high as she danced, naked of course, to slow sexy song. Her eyes were closed and she had the biggest smile he'd seen on her face in a long time. He'd put that on her face. She was smiling because of him.

For a moment he forgot about Tammy's phone call as he watched her. How could he be so incredibly lucky and unlucky at the same time? She didn't seem to realise she wasn't alone; she was so lost in her own little world. He put the bags of food down and perched himself on the table by the door so he could
savor the moment a bit longer.

She twirled around and did a particularly sexy wiggle of her pert butt that had him biting down on his bottom lip. His eyes roamed her body, from her heels up her long, slender legs, past her gorgeous butt and tiny waist to the tips of her dishevelled golden tresses. How had he looked at her naked all his life and not realised how he felt? How could he have been so blind and wasted so much time? He loved her. With every breath in his body, he loved her. He felt it in the pit of his stomach; it consumed him, burned through every ounce of his being.

She twirled around again and stopped when she saw him and he saw her smile widen even more. He held her eyes for a minute, still biting his bottom lip before he did a slow, deliberate inspection of her body. With every inch of skin that his eyes glazed over, the need in his groin intensified and she knew it. His eyes travelled back to her eyes and the heat in them almost knocked him over. He was sure the heat in his was even stronger.

"Come here," he whispered.

She did as she was told, walking slowly towards him until she stood between his legs. He hissed at the contact as he put one hand on her butt to pull her closer while his other hand gently trailed the side of her face before cupping her chin.

"I'm in love with you,
Rachael Taylor," he said hoarsely. "So in love with you."

Her smile lost some of its shine at his words and something fleeting passed her eyes.

"Really? Aren't you just saying in coz... you know?" she asked a bit sadly.

"No. I hate the fact that it's taken all this shit to make me see it, but I mean it, baby," he assured her. "You've been with me all my life that I've never had to learn to breathe without you. It's only now that I've realised that I couldn't breathe without you, Rae. You're my air, my life. I love you. I really do."

Tears fell down her cheeks as her smile grew again.

"I love you, too," she said. "I don't think I ever stopped."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've been remembering it this past week, remembering how I thought I could never feel for anyone what I felt for you. It took me so long to put it all behind me."

"And me. But I never really could. I know now that's why I couldn't let you be with Nate," he said. "I mean, I preferred your meaningless lays because there was no chance of you falling in love with any of the bastards. Then Nate came along... I couldn't let you be with him because deep down I knew you were meant to be with me. You've always been mine, Rae. And I've always been yours."

He held her closer as he said this, burying his face in her hair and closing his eyes as he kicked himself again for wasting so much time.

"I need you to promise me something."

He almost didn't hear her because she said it so softly. He pulled away from her slightly to look into her eyes and he knew straight away what she was going to say.

"No," he said a bit roughly before she could voice her request.

"
Corey. I'm dying," she said softly again. "I need to know that you'll be all right, that you'll move on."

"No," he repeated. "Don't say that. Not now."

She held his gaze for a minute before slowly nodding her head. He'd been granted a temporary reprieve. And he wasn't about to waste it.

He brought his lips down to hers to ignite the already smouldering heat in his body and a second later her fingers were expertly undoing the buttons of his shirt.

Then she'd proceeded to make him forget every single thought in his head by just one little move of her delectable body. She did it so well that the minor interruptions they had throughout the day weren't even been enough to make him remember anything, not even Tammy.

John and
Alyssa stopped by to pick John's stuff up and drop off a few birthday presents... he vaguely remembered John pulling him to one side to apologise again and him accepting but he couldn't be sure. He didn't take his eyes off Rae for a second. He would have forgiven the guy now, anyway. And since he was going off to Alyssa's house that day before flying to the arena for Monday's show, he was pretty sure the guy wasn't a threat to him anymore. Even if he held Rae a bit too long when he said his goodbyes.

Then
Nate stopped by with Rae's bag. Now that pissed him off. He didn't even let him in. Rae was in the bathroom so he hoped she hadn't heard the soft knock. The painted freak asked to see her though, for what reason, he didn't know. It was obvious that something was bothering him, maybe the fact that Rae was now officially and in all senses of the word, his woman. But before he walked off he mumbled something about finding out what the fuck she was doing. Very weird, yes, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with the complexities of Nate's mind.

Then
Irving came to see her and that was probably the most puzzling thing of that day. He told them he was going to see Sara and the kids before flying out again for Tuesday's Cage Takedown tapping, which in itself wasn't weird as he'd spent the entire week with Rae. But then he pulled him to one side and gave him one of his intense Crusher’s stares before he threatened to take his life if he took his eyes off Rae for even a minute. That was enough to make him swear he wouldn't without even asking the reasons why.

But after the
Crusher’s had gone, he remembered Tammy call and asked her about it. Her response?

"Oh, that? It's just a stupid old trip I planned before all this
... nothing important. Good thing you reminded me, I have to cancel all my travelling arrangements."

Total bullcrap, of course. He saw that straight away. But she used her body again, turning him once again into a mindless idiot.

But then Monday rolled on and he found himself sitting in the lounge in his home, a cigarette in his hand as he went over the events of the past weekend. Nate, Irving and Tammy. The more he thought about Tammy's phone call, the more he believed she'd played him. She'd lied to him. She was going somewhere. And the more he thought about that, the more the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach increased.

And
Nate acting weirder than normal? Why would he think she was up to something? He had his reasons for believing she was up to no good, but what did Nate know? Had she said something to him while they'd been together?

Irving
threatening his life was nothing new, but that Saturday he'd looked like he'd actually meant it. He'd sensed something in him that was never normally there. It had been enough to actually make him follow Rae around wherever she went. That hadn't been weird or hard at all since they'd hardly been out of each other's arms since his birthday. But still... why would Irving just all of a sudden decide to fly back to Austin? Why now? He knew about the doctor's appointment he'd made for her, surely he would have wanted to stick around to find out what happened, or even to go with them. Something wasn't right.

"Are you going to tell me what this surprise is now or am I going to have to use my excellent interrogation skills?" Rae asked for the umpteenth time that day when she finally walked into the lounge after a shower.

"You tried that already, babe. Next time you want to get something out of me just remember my mind will go completely blank once you take your clothes off!" he chuckled as he put his cigarette out and stood up. "The taxi should be here soon."

"Why can't we just drive there?" she asked as she applied a bit of
lip gloss and checked her hair in front of the large 'welcome' mirror on one wall of the room.

"Because we're both going to be drinking," he answered as he walked out of the room to head to the kitchen.

"Come on, Corey. Just one clue," she said as she followed behind him. "Are we going to our old secret place, you know, that place by the creek? That would be so cool; just you, me, a bottle of champagne and no clothes necessary."

He stopped by the kitchen table where he'd packed a picnic basket just for the effect.

"I'm not telling, Rae, so just quit already."

The doorbell rang before she could carry on, and he let out a relieved breath when she went to answer it.
She could always tell when he was lying, it worked both ways.

Picking up the picnic basket, he let out a steadying breath. This was it.

"The fuck was you thinking?" she snapped angrily as she looked outside the cab window.

Corey
was gripping her arm so tightly she was sure if she struggled some more, it would fall off. He'd been holding on to it from the second she realised where the taxi was heading and almost bolted out of the moving vehicle.

He hadn't said a word to her, he hadn't even looked at her but something told her, her number was up. He'd never swallowed any of that bullshit she told him about the treatment. The way he was angrily biting down on his jaw proved that.