Page 37 of In My Heart
So I had hedged my bets somewhat, and asked them to just give me time to get comfortable with things. I’d told them I was fine with us all getting closer, but I just wanted things to progress naturally. They’d agreed, so that was where we were – stolen kisses when Rafe wasn’t around, cuddles, and them holding me at night when they could.
We needed to tell Rafe. I hated keeping such a huge secret from him, but we just hadn’t found the right time. Rafe was working himself into the ground, running his business, managing the docks, and doing everything he could to track down the bastard who had killed Gia. He was exhausted, and stressed to the max, spread too thin and running on barely any sleep. The last thing I wanted was to add to his stress, and the others agreed.
Cal grabbed my arm and pulled gently until I was laid across the sofa, still half on Arran, but with my head landing in Cal’s lap. I laughed as I landed, then stopped abruptly when Cal leaned right down and slanted his lips over mine, kissing me teasingly.
“I could get used to this kind of attention,” I grinned when Cal pulled away and instead stroked a hand through my hair.
“Ye’ll need to, lass. We’re no’ going anywhere,” Arran promised.
I found myself smiling again as I sat up between them and settled in there. It was so easy to smile with the fuzz, which the pills filled my head with, blocking out all the worst stuff. That was why I needed them – because with them I could be alright,but without them, I was just a pile of smashed up pieces of who I had once been.
“Good,” I nodded happily. “You’re not working?” I asked Arran, surprised to have him home without his laptop open before him.
“No’ ‘til later tonight.”
“Then we should do something!” I declared. “I’m so bored.”
“What did you have in mind, gorgeous?” Cal asked. He closed his laptop and sat forwards so he could set it down on the coffee table.
“I don’t know. I guess we’re kind of limited with you on crutches, but there must be something we can do around here that doesn’t involve staring at a screen.”
“We could bake somethin’” Arran suggested.
“You two bake?” I scoffed.
“Well no, but we could watch you bake somethin’ then eat the finished articles,” he laughed.
“Hard pass then. I don’t know how to bake anyway,” I sighed. “I wish we could go out. It’d be fun to see all the sights, maybe get on one of those open top buses.”
“I promise we’ll make sure you get to do all of the tourist stuff as soon as it’s safe, babe. Being stuck in this house is only temporary,” Cal assured me.
“I know, and I get why it’s important. It’s just weird for me. I’m not used to having so much free time on my hands. At first it was fine, but now I kind of miss my crappy jobs back home, which is insane because I hated those jobs!”
“How about we go up to the games room? There’s plenty’a stuff to do up there,” Arran suggested.
“There’s also a bar up there too. How about you try your first ever beer?” Cal asked me with a lift of his eyebrows, making me smile.
“Maybe.”
I never wanted to drink before because of my Mum, but what harm would there be in trying a beer when I was already popping unknown illegal drugs. My determination to never become like my Mum was already gone, the fight lost the day I decided to pull that baggie of pills from the trash.
CHAPTER 11
CARA
I stood, and was watching Arran help Cal get steady on his crutches when my phone started to ring from the pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out, expecting it to be Dio, or possibly Rafe, but instead it was an unknown number.
“You guys head up there. I’ll just get this,” I told them.
Cal and Arran were just leaving the room as I picked up the call, feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing.
I didn’t speak, but just listened at first. I could hear steady breathing and the background noise of traffic.
“Cara?”
My heart instantly sped up and a rush of cold flowed through me at the sound of an American accent in just that one word. It was fear, of who it could be and what the hell was coming for me next.
“Who is this?” I asked shortly.
