Chapter 16 #3
‘Car accident. They clipped a barrier and flipped off the road into a river.’
She gasped. ‘Oh, Danny, that’s awful.’
He nodded, feeling the familiar heavy weight pressing against his chest whenever he thought about the accident. ‘We never got on, but it didn’t stop me loving them and hoping things might turn around one day.’
Elena shook her head. ‘Considering your upbringing, it’s amazing how different you are with Connor. No one could accuse you of not showing him love or kindness.’
‘It’s what you said earlier about the pendulum swing, I guess.
No way was I going to allow Connor to suffer like I did, so I became the opposite of my parents.
Every opportunity I had I showed him he was loved and wanted.
Our situation wasn’t ideal, I had no money, and I was clueless about parenting, but I knew he’d suffered a huge loss and needed to feel loved, and that was something I could definitely do. ’
Her hand settled on his shoulder. ‘You’re quite an extraordinary man, you know that?’
‘Not really.’ He opened the album, revealing a set of photos he hadn’t seen for years.
Elena shuffled closer so she could see. ‘Talk me through them.’
Photos of days at the beach and picnics at the lake stared up at him, the tape securing them to the pages faded and yellowing. ‘These are from our first summer spent here after Connor arrived in the UK. I owe Hugh and his family so much, they took us in and included us in their lives.’
Elena pointed to a photo of Connor in Spiderman swimmers. ‘He was such a tiny thing, look at those spindly legs.’
Danny smiled. ‘All skin and bones.’ There were times when he still saw Connor as that fragile little boy, and had to remind himself it was no longer who Connor was. He was a man now, capable and resilient, even if he was vulnerable at times.
‘He was a beautiful child.’ Elena turned the page and laughed. ‘Is that you?’
‘That was taken New Year’s Eve. Virginia insisted on booking a childminder so Hugh and I could attend one of their infamous lavish parties. It was black-tie event, but I didn’t own a suit, so Nigel loaned me one of his velvet smoking jackets.’
Elena laughed. ‘Did you pull?’
‘Several times, I was a hit with all the ladies aged seventy and above.’
‘I can imagine,’ she chuckled, resting her chin on his shoulder. She was so close he could feel her warm breath on his cheek. ‘Even then you looked good in a suit. You look happy.’
‘I look drunk. I threw up all the next day.’ He turned another page.
‘These are from our trip around Europe.’ A series of photos showing Danny, Connor, and sometimes Hugh, posing by the camper van, diving off rocks, eating pizzas and visiting waterparks.
‘And these were taken the day we moved into our first home.’ It was strangely emotional seeing them carrying boxes into their tiny starter home, especially when Danny was still so young himself.
‘You’re smiling in every photo.’
He stared at the photos. ‘I hadn’t noticed that before.’ She was right, he looked carefree and excited. ‘It was a happy time, despite everything.’
As he turned another page, a loose photo slipped from the album.
Elena picked it up before he realised what it was, and it was a moment before she spoke. ‘I’m guessing this is the woman you referred to as trouble?’
He took the photo of him with Maisie from her. It had been taken outside Brixton Academy after watching a band. ‘How did you know it was her?’
‘The look on your face is a mixture of love and fear.’ She squeezed his shoulder. ‘You said she died too? What happened?’
He blinked at the photo, Maisie’s blue hair and black nails matching her gothic dress. ‘She died of an overdose the same week as my parents.’
Elena closed her eyes. ‘Oh, Danny.’
He tucked the photo inside the cover, unwilling to torture himself by looking at it any longer.
‘We’d split up a few days before. She hadn’t taken the break-up well and begged me to take her back.
I ignored her calls. And then everything happened with my parents and Connor arrived, and the next thing I knew … she was gone too. It was a grim time.’
‘Why had you broken up?’
Danny closed the photo album and placed it on the floor. ‘I couldn’t deal with her addiction issues. It wasn’t just the drugs, it was the lying and the stealing, and the mayhem that surrounded her. It was exhausting and very—’
‘Dramatic?’ Elena’s sad smile told him she understood where his aversion to living a disorderly life came from.
He nodded. ‘It didn’t stop me feeling like I’d let her down. I still feel guilty now. I wanted to help her, I loved her, but I was out of my depth.’
‘And then you had Connor to deal with and the death of your parents.’ She sighed. ‘To think I called you a suit.’
He turned to her. ‘You weren’t wrong, I am emotionally restrained.’
‘No, you’re not.’ She shook his shoulder.
‘No one could love Connor and Hugh, and the Spencer-Harrisons, like you do and be emotionally restrained.’ Her arm slid around his shoulder.
‘Your parents didn’t show you love, and yet you loved them back.
The woman you loved abused your love and made your life hell.
It’s not a suit you wear, Danny, it’s armour.
’ She gave him a squeeze. ‘You’ve been burnt, so you’ve built a protective barrier, only allowing those close who you know and trust, which is absolutely understandable … but I imagine incredibly lonely.’
He was unable to stop the choke in his voice. ‘I am lonely.’
With that, no further words were said. They just stared at each other.
The light had faded outside, only the glow from the fire prevented complete darkness, accompanied by the crackle of flames. He watched her watching him, an unanswered question hanging in the air between them.
Elena Romero was beautiful, kind, and giving. Why hadn’t he seen it before? He reached out and touched her hair, letting his fingers trail down the side of her face. Her skin was warm and so soft it was like velvet.
She caught his hand before he could lower it and brought it up to her face, guiding his thumb across her open lips and making his breath hitch.
Her eyes were fixed on his, intense and searching as she kissed the tip of each finger.
She tilted his hand and kissed his palm, and then his wrist, creating a thud in his blood.
And then she sat forward and lifted her fleece over her head, discarding it on the floor, leaving her wearing only a blue vest-bra. Still her eyes never left his as she knelt up and straddled him on the sofa, lifting his T-shirt over his head and pushing him against the cushions.
She took his hands and slid them slowly up her thighs, settling them on her backside, before lowering herself until her chest touched his.
Her hands caressed his chest, trailing across his skin, and exploring his body. She kissed his forehead, then his eyelids, and finally each cheek, before twisting to gain access to the side of his neck, where she licked the twitching nerve there and flicked it with her tongue.
His body convulsed in response as wanting surged through him.
His hands gripped her backside and he pulled her towards him, needing to feel her against him, closer, wanting to taste every part of her.
Her hands laced into his hair and she pulled his head back to kiss him, pressing against him, moving her lips against his and sending him over the edge.
In one movement, he lifted her and flipped her on her back, still between her legs and needing to kiss her.
It was frantic, and urgent, and when her hands slid beneath his jeans and drew him closer, her nails raking over his skin, it left him with no option but to submit any control and unravel in a way he hadn’t done for nearly two decades.