Unplugged (29 page)

Moving day is the first day I see the place
, and Liam leads me around the already furnished house until we get to the master bedroom. I swear he’d had an interior designer in to co-ordinate the expensive brown and grey Jacquard linen and curtains, positive Liam Oliver would not buy the carefully contrasting cushions and wall art.

I push open a door at the opposite end of the large room.
“En suite.”

“
Not a big one,” he says.

I can
’t hide my amazement. “But
en suite
. I’ve never lived anywhere with an en suite.”

Liam runs a finger along my nose.
“I forget how you common people live sometimes.”

“
Cheeky!” I slap his chest and he grabs my backside, kissing me hard.

“
Do you like the house?” he asks.

“
Of course, your new house is beautiful.” The despairing look edges into his eyes but I ignore him. “Thanks for letting us stay.”

“
Cerys,” he growls.

“
Can we bring some boxes in now?” With Ella at Phoebe’s for the afternoon, I’m eager to get the house sorted enough to make her bedroom look as close to her old one as possible.

“
Sure, soon, there’s something I need to do first.”

I
’m about to ask him what, but I don’t need to. When he runs a hand along my side, and cups my breast, it’s clear he didn’t bring me into the bedroom to show me the en suite.

“
I haven’t seen you for a week,” he whispers, then kisses the hollow of my neck

“
There’s so much to do,” I reply, knowing I’m fighting a losing battle with myself and with Liam as he unhooks my bra.

“
Oh, yes, you’re right there.”

“
Jesus, Liam you don’t waste much time.”

He unbuttons the
old blue shirt I’d chosen for moving in, so slowly that each time his finger brushes my skin a new surge of desire joins. A week away from Liam makes the physical need for him stronger each time. He drops the shirt and bra onto the floor.

“
I missed you,” he says, circling my nipple with his thumb. “I’ve missed every single part of you.” Liam’s hands go to my jeans and he undoes the button. “Get undressed.”

“
No,” I say with a smile.

“
Cerys, don’t tease me because you know it makes things worse.”

I drag my fingernails across his tight abs and undo his button
s too. “Wrong, it makes things better.”

Liam finishes undoing my jeans and
, with a well-practiced move, he pulls them down and traces a finger along my panties before slipping a finger between the cotton and skin. The sensation weakens my legs and I moan, so he catches me with his hips, pinning me to the wall. His fingers find my wet heat and my body flares to life as he glides his thumb against my clit.

I
’m lost. Whenever we’ve been apart, the Liam who returns has a desperate hunger that overtakes him the first time we get skin on skin, and this Liam turns me on as much as it does him.

Liam pulls me toward
the bed, pulling me onto his lap and closing his mouth around my breasts, flicking a tongue across my nipple. “I fucking missed the taste of you.” Liam moves a hand back to my damp panties and I press myself against his palm. “I think you missed me, too,” he says.

I push my
fingers into his long hair and hold his face against me, relishing the feeling of his attention to my breasts. His kisses get rougher, sucking and tugging at my nipples; and I moan as I push myself against his hand, desperate for more.

“
Fuck!” Liam unbuckles his jeans and lifts me up as he shucks them to the floor, as I wrap my arms and legs around him as he does. When he sets me back on his lap, his cock slides against the fabric of my panties. Liam pulls my head back by the hair and nips my neck, the way he always does to indicate gentle isn’t coming soon. I whimper at the sensation, keeping my head back as he drags his face across my neck and shoulders, the nipping getting harder.

Cotton rips as Liam pulls apart my underwear and lifts me, e
asing his fingers inside my wet centre. Sensation shivers through every part of my being as he skilfully spirals me higher, stroking and teasing me. “Definitely missed me,” he murmurs and withdraws his fingers.

I moan at the loss of him and he
repositions himself, pressing himself at the edge of my sex. Holding my hips, he slowly lowers me onto his his thick length. I dig my fingers into his shoulders and attempt to slide back up but he holds me steady.

“
Not yet.”

“
Liam…” I attempt to move but his fingers bite into my hips.

“
Stay there.”

He holds and watches me
with hooded eyes of arousal, enjoying my frustrated rocking against him.

“
Tell me what you want, Cerys,” he says.

“
You… Liam…Please.”

“
You’re so fucking hot,” he whispers, closing his mouth around my nipples again, sparking more toe-curling arousal. “What do you want?”

Teasingly, he slides me upwards, before pushing me back down
onto him. Hard. I gasp, hoping this is it, but he doesn’t move again.

“
Liam!”

“
I want to hear you say it, or I won’t.”

“
You’re unfair!” I gasp and sink my teeth into the soft material of his T-shirt, wishing he wasn’t protected from my mouth by the barrier of cotton.

“
I can be meaner.” Liam pushes his thumb against my clit again, circling until my mind melts. He wins.

“
Fuck me, Liam,” I say breathlessly.

“
With pleasure.” He digs his hands into my backside and pulls me upwards, lowering me again so slowly I want to scream at him, the slide of his length inside liquefying my insides further.

I grip his hands and we move together until
I change the pace, Liam guiding my hips as I slide repeatedly onto him, the pleasure scorching through to my soul. My nipples brush his hard chest, pushing me further toward the apex I know will shatter me. The blinding explosion in my head courses through every nerve ending and I sink against him, wave after wave of bliss engulfing me.

Liam pushes
me down hard and moans, sinking his teeth into my shoulder as he comes. I shudder further and grip his hair, loving that I do this to him. I make Liam Oliver behave like this.

He sinks back on the bed and I roll off him
, trembling, and glowing. Liam drags my head toward him and kisses my face. “I will never get tired of the incredibleness of fucking you.” He touches my shoulder. “Sorry about the bite.” But he’s not.

“
Asshole. I just got rid of the last bruise.” I flick his nose.

Liam smirks his smug smirk, and buries the back of his head into the sheets. I rest my head on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat and splaying my hand against his stomach.

“Welcome to your new home,” he says.

****

Liam is back and forth between the States and the UK. For somebody taking a break he works a lot. Music is an integral part of Liam, I get that, but the selfish part of me would like him around more. Blue Phoenix has a tour to complete next year; what happens then? Liam gets frustrated with my inability to live in the moment, but how can I not?

Craig is pissed off I moved out of the old house, reinforcing Liam
’s theory he liked the control. Now I’m away from Craig. And now I have Liam, and I realise how imbalanced my relationship with Craig was. I accepted so much of what he did because I thought without him I couldn’t cope, and Craig enjoyed having someone who let him do whatever he wanted. So when I had enough of his behaviour and fought back, Christmas happened. And when I came back for Christmas, I couldn’t accept him anymore. Now Craig’s last attempt to cling onto his remaining control has gone.

The next two weekends, Craig arrives unannounced early Saturday morning for Ella. And each time I give in and let him take her.

Liam is in London this week, working on the tracks he started in LA and I haven’t seen him since the day after we moved. I’m disappointed when he doesn’t visit the next weekend but Liam promised Jem he’d go to Ruby Riot gigs in Scotland the following week so he’s busy again. When Liam says he wishes I could go too, the unspoken is underneath; I could go if it wasn’t for Ella.

Phoebe questions why I don
’t leave Ella with Craig and go. Scotland is too far. I don’t trust Craig either. The lack of interest he had in her until Liam arrived on the scene, coupled with his lack of parenting skills when he was around, means he’d probably dump her at his mum’s house when he got bored. Not that Marcella would complain about that, I’m sure.

I
’ve begun my job hunt, Ella begins school shortly, and I want to find something as soon as I can. This will be my next step toward independence.

Monday morning, three weeks after moving, a letter arrives that flips my
new, happy world on its head. Without discussing or attempting to come to an arrangement between the two of us, Craig has set us on the path to a custody battle. Out of the blue, he’s arranged a mediation appointment as the first step. Following a tearful call to Phoebe, she sets about helping me find who to talk to and what steps to take.

I don
’t tell Liam.

CHAPTER
29

CERYS

Since the letter with the mediation appointment arrived a week ago, I
’ve refused to communicate with Craig. Phoebe attempts to persuade me to talk to him; I think the fact I’ve agreed to attend a meeting with Craig is enough of a concession because I’m furious.

The woman running the meeting, Carol, takes us into a room with a plump-cushioned brown sofa and a scented candle burning on her desk. She
’s dressed down in a long floral skirt and floating blue top. The calm she’s attempting to create doesn’t come into the room with us. There’s a choice between the sofa and a desk chair for us to sit on and I choose the chair, shifting it closer to the wall as far away from Craig as I can. We haven’t said a word since we arrived and luckily, he was late so small talk while we waited wasn’t needed.

After a brief introduction about the process
, she asks us to discuss what we want.

“
I want Ella to live with me,” announces Craig.

I can
’t help myself. “What the hell?”

He turns to me, brown eyes hard.
“I don’t believe she’s safe with you and your new partner.”

To my alarm, Carol scrawls something on her notebook.
“What’s your concern, Craig?”

“
Cerys is involved with someone who has a lifestyle that doesn’t suit children. He’s had drug involvement in the past and I worry about Ella being around this. Now Cerys has moved Ella into this man’s house.”

“
You make it sound like I moved her into a drug den! That is so wrong!” I protest. “Liam isn’t involved with drugs. I would never let anyone like that near my daughter.”

“
He’s been arrested for it in the past,” says Craig coldly.

“
In the past!”

“
Okay.” Carol sets her pen on the table. “I do have to make a note of the allegation, Cerys. The child’s welfare is at the heart of any decisions made. But I would urge you to make a decision between yourselves and I can help you mediate this.”

“
I want Ella with me,” says Craig.

“
No. You hardly see her, and then suddenly want her around all the time? You work full time and are on call at all hours! Who would look after her?”

“
She starts school in September and my mum... her grandmother will help,” says Craig to Carol, ignoring me. “Seeing Ella on the odd weekend isn’t enough.”

“
Why don’t you discuss sharing care of Ella so she can stay alternate weeks, or something similar?” suggests Carol.

“
No! Craig, this isn’t fair. Don’t disrupt Ella’s life. If you want, you can see her every weekend!”

“
Oh, yeah, that’d suit you; leave you the weekends free for you and that loser.”

I focus on the picture hanging behind Carol, an abstract painting covered in circles of bright oil colours. Why is he doing this? I fight down the tightening anxiety in my chest.

“Craig, I’m happy to arrange something reasonable with you, but please don’t do this.”

“
She lives with me,” he says firmly.

“
I have to agree with Cerys that coming to a mutual agreement is a lot simpler than taking things further,” Carol says.