Chapter 8
Cole
Inever stopped loving you, either.
Those six words would’ve brought me to my knees if I wasn’t the only thing holding her up.
There had never been any mention of another guy, and I hadn’t imagined this between us the moment she got back, but, fuck, I needed to hear that.
She pulled back and tried to smile, despite the sadness in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Honestly.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, still gripping my T-shirt as if letting go would make her fall into a black hole.
Her actions contradicted her words.
“I need ice cream. Do you have to get to work, or do you have some time?”
The vulnerability in her voice made me want to burn down the whole prison her dad and Frank were in.
“I’m yours all day.”
Raising her head, she let go of my T-shirt, and that playful glint returned to her eyes. “They fired you, didn’t they?”
“Why would they fire me? I’m a fucking legend.”
She laughed, quickly covering it up with a cough. That was what I wanted, though—to make her laugh.
“I took a day’s holiday, actually.”
“You took a day off work so you could come with me? On top of the time you took off last week. You’re going to waste all of your holiday time on me.”
“It’s not a waste. Maybe I think you’re worth spending those days on.”
“Yeah?”
I chuckled at the look in her eye, shy but glowing. “Yeah. Now, let’s go get some ice cream.”
Instinctively, I reached for her hand, and she curled her fingers around mine. It felt so natural, even now… especially now.
“I don’t like the new place. They should change it back.”
“I tried that. The first time I went in there after the renovation, I nearly lost it. The booth we sat in… everything was gone. I asked them to put it back but of course they weren’t going to.”
“Really? They wouldn’t rip out all the new stuff and replace it with the old?”
“We are sarcastic now. Australia is a bad influence on you.”
She shook her head. “It’s not Australia. You just make it easy.”
Before I could react, she pulled her hand out of mine and shot around to the passenger side of my car, laughing. Seeing her big smile and hearing that husky laugh was worth her teasing the crap out of me.
“Shut up and get in the car,” I said.
“Shut up and unlock it.”
I tried not to grin as I unlocked the door. As soon as she reached out to grab the handle, I locked it again.
Raising a brow over the top of the roof, she asked, “How old are you, Cole?”
“As if you’re not having fun.”
“Open up, it’s cold today.”
It wasn’t.
“Want me to warm you up?” I asked, unlocking the car again.
She got in and turned to me when I sat down. “I was going to say yes then but you left it unlocked. Now your car is going to warm me up.”
Damn it.
I started the engine, smirking at her. This was a fun game. I just wasn’t sure how far she was willing to take it.
All the way, please!
She was on her phone as I drove, probably letting her family know how it’d gone.
“You missed the turning,” Oakley said, looking up as I purposefully drove past the road to the café.
“We’re going somewhere else.”
“Strip club, right?”
“I’m down. You going to give me a lap dance?”
She mumbled something under her breath that I couldn’t understand. Messing around with her had been fun before, but now, she had the confidence to properly give it back, and I loved it.
Watching me with questions in her eyes as I pulled up outside my house, she unbuckled. “We’re having ice cream at your house?”
“Yeah. Come on.”
“Okay…”
I let us in, and she followed me to the kitchen where I made two milkshakes and two bowls of ice cream.
“Okay, follow me.”
She frowned. “Cole, what?”
“This way,” I told her, carrying the tray. “Open that door, will you?”
“To your garage?”
“Just do it.”
She pushed the door open. “This is weird.”
I led her past the old wardrobes, car parts, and cardboard boxes. Taking a shaky breath, I walked around the clothes rail and stopped.
She gasped, and I knew she’d seen it, too.
“What…? Oh my God, Cole.”
I was far too much of a pussy to turn around and meet her eyes, so I set the tray down and busied myself setting up the food and drinks. My heart was trying to kill me as I waited for her reaction.
“Why is this here?” she breathed.
Clearing my throat, I finally looked up and told her, “I bought it.”
Her pale eyes welled with tears. “You bought our booth and table?”
Yep, at the back of the garage, tucked away in the corner, was our booth. The owners had sold the old booths, tables, and chairs when they did the remodelling, and I’d bought the one we’d spent so much time in.
It was kind of stupid, but it felt like the last little bit of her, and I couldn’t let it go.
She stared at me, not moving, breathing shallow breaths that were probably giving her a head rush.
I took a seat and waited for her. “Ice cream is going to melt.”
Sliding in opposite me, she said, “I can’t believe you did that.”
“Well, I didn’t want someone else to have their smelly arse on our booth.”
“Why would they have a smelly…” She shook her head and dug her spoon into the ice cream. “Never mind. So, how much did you pay for it?”
Dilemma. Should I tell her the truth and make her think I’m an unstable and obsessive, or lie so I don’t look crazy?
“I paid five hundred,” I said, going with the truth.
Her eyes widened. “Pounds?”
“No, buttons.”
She deadpanned and dug her spoon into the ice cream again.
“Wow, five hundred pounds. Cole, it’s not worth close to that.”
“I changed my mind. I didn’t miss you.”
And the booth wasn’t worth that without the memories.
“Liar… Hey, what are you thinking? Your face has gone all serious.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything.”
“Of course, you weren’t. It’s fine, keep your secrets.”
“You’re so dramatic. Anyway, I’m getting the keys to the house one day this week, so I can measure for carpet quotes and stuff. See if I want to pull out of the sale. Do you want to come?”
“Are you going to carpet shops after?” she asked, smiling hopefully.
I wasn’t going to. I couldn’t think of anything more boring. I was just going to call them up and get a quote, but her pleading eyes worked on me again.
I sighed. “Yes.”
“Then, I’m there. Oh, do you know what colours you want yet?”
“Something neutral? Grey. I don’t know.”
“We can have a look in a couple of places.”
“Great,” I responded with fake enthusiasm. I thought I would actually rather play golf than shop for carpets, and man, golf was boring.
“You have to buy everything, don’t you? Like a washing machine, cooker, and all those other appliances.”
“I was going to bring washing home to my mum.”
“You’re twenty-two years old, Cole! You’re doing your own washing.”
Laughing, I sipped my milkshake, wondering if we should maybe have beer since we were no longer teenagers. But this was nostalgia, revisiting our past, trying to figure out if we had a place in each other’s future. I already knew the answer to that one.
She held her hand up as I was about to say something. “Don’t even think about telling me you don’t know how. I’ll show you.”
“You just want to touch my dirty clothes.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Kinky,” I added, wanting a proper reaction.
“Yeah, I’m having a really hard time not jumping you and having wild sex on the table.”
I leant farther back, holding my arms out. “I’m not stopping you. In fact, I actively encourage it.”
She laughed. “Of course, you do.”
I looked down at my bowl and then back at Oakley, thousands of food fight memories flooding my mind.
A little gasp told me that she was right there with me.
“You’re an adult now, Cole!” Laughing, she loaded her own spoon. “I will fight back.”
I slowly stirred the melting ice cream with my spoon, watching her the whole time. Her smile grew wider as she waited for the inevitable. I was just about to flick it at her when cold ice cream hit my face.
My jaw dropped.
“Too slow,” she rasped.
Quickly recovering from the shock, I dropped the spoon and got a handful of ice cream, ready to wipe it across her pretty face, but she was already on her feet, heading towards the half-open door.
“No, you don’t!”
She couldn’t move very fast as she had to weave around all the junk Mum had insisted on keeping, so I quickly caught up with her. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her against my chest. Right where she belonged.
Squealing, she grabbed my arm, holding it away from her, and wriggled to get out of my grip. Her body writhing against mine, and her arse rubbing against my crotch had my dick hard within seconds.
I hissed through my teeth as she pushed back against me.
“It’s happening.”
“No! Cole!”
“I’ll give up if you say sorry.”
“Not a chance,” she mumbled, laughing harder.
I managed to get my arm closer to her face.
“No, no, no! I only flicked a little on you.”
“Fine, I’ll only wipe one finger across your face.”
Damn, she was a lot stronger than she used to be.
“Cole!”
“All right, all right. I’m going to let go.”
I wasn’t giving in. I was trying to stop a rather embarrassing moment occurring. My body craved her. I wanted to slide my hand lower and feel her soft flesh, to hear her come around my fingers.
When she turned around, her eyes were fire, a mirrored fantasy reflected in her irises.
It made it nearly impossible to step back. But I did. Clearing my throat, I sat back down and wiped my hand on a kitchen towel, hoping it’d also wipe away the raging hormones that just wanted me to grab her.
“I’ve been trying to convince Jasper not to come to the trial.”
“Oh.” I shook my head, trying to clear my lust-filled brain. “Why don’t you want him there?”
“Why would he want to hear what Dad did?”
“Probably for the same reason as you wanting to give evidence in person.”
She sighed and rested her chin on her hands. I knew what she was thinking. “I feel guilty.”
“Fucking hell.” Sometimes she completely gutted me. “Why do you feel guilty?”
“Jasper lost his dad, and as much as he says he hates him, there must be some part of him that still cares.”
“Some part?”
“Yes. You know, the part that remembers Dad teaching him to ride a bike and drive a car. Every Christmas when Dad would make a fort out of the empty boxes. When he took Jasper to the park or helped with his homework—”
“Okay, stop. That man wasn’t real.”
Her eyes glazed over, and I felt the temperature drop so low there was no chance of the ice cream melting. Our earlier playing around felt like it’d happened weeks ago.
“But that’s not true. He was real to Jasper.”
I moved quickly, sliding in beside her and wrapping my arms around her, needing the hug more than ever.
“The guilt shouldn’t be with you. It’s not your fault. Jasper might have lost his dad, but that’s not because of you.”
She nodded, leaning into my side.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“No one believes you, Cole,” she said with a shaky voice, trying to make a joke.
“That’s because you all suck,” I mumbled against her hair.
Her body shook lightly as she laughed.
“Sorry. Again. You must think I’m an unstable mess.”
“Not unstable. Although you are getting a little more like Jasper,” I teased.
“That’s the same as unstable.”
I chuckled quietly and closed my eyes, pulling her closer. Her body radiated a heat that I wanted to lose myself in.
“Do you want to go when the trial starts?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to be in there any longer than I have to be. I’ll go the days I’m on the stand and for the verdict… and that’s it.
“Me, too.”
“Thanks, Cole,” she whispered.
“Stop thanking me.”
“I need to get back to Ali’s soon. Mum will be stressing after my appointment with Linda.”
“Right. I’ll drive you.”
“Do you want to stay for a while?”
“You just don’t want to face your mum and crazy brother alone, do you?”
“That’s not the only reason.”
“Sure, I’ll come in.”
I didn’t want to leave her, either.
We cleaned the bowls and glasses, and I took her home.
Ali and Lizzie were out when we arrived, both of them working. I was going to have to talk to my boss about taking more time off. He knew about Oakley and that she was back.
I’d have to take unpaid time off after my holiday ran out, but whatever. It would only mean I had to renovate the house slower.
Oakley grabbed the post from the floor as she let us in.
“Oakley?” Sarah called. “Honey, how was it? Are you okay? We’ve been so worried. Oh, hi, Cole.”
“I’m fine. It was fine. Sorry I made you worry, but everything was all right.”
“What’s that?” I asked, frowning and turning my head towards the source of the awful noise coming from upstairs.
“Oh, Jasper’s showering. He sings in the shower,” Sarah answered.
Jesus.
“What’s wrong, Mum?” Oakley asked.
Sarah took a ragged breath, one hand flying to her throat as the other clutched a letter.
“It’s a visitation request from prison,” Sarah said. “Max wants to see me.”