Call On Me (14 page)

“Okay. I’m
making a hot Milo, do you want one?”

“Love one,
thanks.” Placing the comb back in the drawer, Ali took a last look
at herself before leaving the bathroom.

There was no
way she could tell Lori what had happened. Until she worked out for
herself what she was going to do, she wasn’t telling anyone. She
definitely couldn’t turn to her best friend now, not when he was
the problem. Damn it.

Minx was
sitting in the doorway of the kitchen and Ali scooped her up,
sitting her on her lap when she took a seat at the table. Stroking
the old cat’s ears, she was comforted by the rusty purring and the
head rubbing Minx gave her hand.

Pouring the hot
water into the cups, Lori glanced at Ali. “Going to tell me about
it?”

Ali froze.
“What?”

“I got a phone
call from Mrs Swanson. You dumped water over Chris Smith and left
the restaurant.”

“Oh.” Ali
relaxed a little. “Turns out he’s not my type of bloke.”

Lori poured
milk into the two cups, stirred and brought them over to the table,
placing one before Ali. Sitting down, she studied her. “And?”

“He’s a jerk. I
don’t want to see him again.”

“Kind of hard,
seeing as we live in a small town and you fuel up at my service
station. Where he works.”

“Okay, so I
just won’t look at him or speak to him.”

“I’ll speak to
him.” Lori’s eyes darkened.

Ali sighed.
“You have to work with him. My issues shouldn’t affect you.”

“When he tells
my sister she needs to lose weight, then I have an issue with
him.”

“Lori, personal
problems shouldn’t interfere with work, you know that. You like
your job.”

Lori’s lips
tightened.

Rubbing Minx’s
ears gently, Ali said, “Look, he’s a go-getter, a career
ladder-climber and a health nut. He wants the same for me.”

“Sounds like a
stalker.”

“What?” Ali
couldn’t help but grin.

“You know.
Obsessive?”

“I hardly think
so. Maybe egotistical. The jerk didn’t think before he spoke.”

“If he doesn’t
like you the way you are, then he shouldn’t have asked you on a
date,” Lori insisted. “It’s insulting what he said to you, and in
public, too!”

“Okay, I give
you that. However, he also wore a jug of water in public.”

Lori’s lips
twitched.

Ali grinned.
“Tit for tat.”

“It still
doesn’t excuse his behaviour,” Lori said.

“Right. But
it’s his problem, not mine.”

“He made you
cry.”

“No, he
didn’t.”

“He upset you
enough that you didn’t come home right away.”

“I just needed
some alone time.” Ali shrugged.

“Ghost found
you, though.”

Ali glanced at
her sister’s face, but there was nothing but concern in her
expression. “Well, yes. Like always.”

“He always
knows where to find you.” Lori took a sip of Milo. “It’s uncanny,
he was always able to find you when you were upset. I’d look in the
obvious places and never find you, but he always seemed to home in
on you as though you had a beacon straight to his brain.”

Not wanting to
muse any further on that particular subject, Ali stroked under
Minx’s chin. “We just had a little talk and then I came home. End
of story. Chris is a jerk who isn’t worth my time, you’re not to
allow it to affect your work with him, and all’s well that ends
well.”

“Huh.”

“Besides, I’ve
decided I’m quitting the dating scene.”

Lori’s eyebrows
shot up in surprise.

“Yep.” Ali
nodded. “I’ve had it with chasing men and attracting the wholly
unsuitable kind. From now on it’s me and Minx, right kitty?”

Hands cupped
around the mug of Milo, Lori studied Ali. “I think it’s a good
plan.”

“You do?” Ali
kept her gaze on Minx.

“Yes. Sometimes
when you look too hard, you miss what’s right under your nose.”

“Seeing as
there’s nothing to miss, that’s a moot point, isn’t it?”

“Whatever.”
Lori smiled a little. “So what are you going to do with all this
new-found freedom?”

“For starters,
I’m going for a drive to the city tomorrow.”

“Really?”
Lori’s brows rose in surprise. “Why?”

“Fresh air, get
away from here for a few hours. Want to come?”

“For a three
hour drive each way?”

“Come on, Lori,
live a little.”

“And what,
exactly, are we going to do there on a Sunday?”

“Window shop?
Go to the zoo? We haven’t been to the zoo in years.”

“Sister, you
are seriously whacked.” Lori stared at her for several seconds
before laughing. “Sure, why not? What better way to celebrate your
best idea yet?”

An even better
way to avoid Ghost, but Ali wasn’t going to say that aloud.

“There’s a
program on TV about people who really believe they are vampires,”
Lori said.

“Really?” Ali
was curious. “I read an article about it.”

“Apparently
they go to dentists and have their teeth sharpened, or even have
fake long eyeteeth put in. Go the whole she-bang.”

“Ewww. That’d
make kissing kinda uncomfortable, wouldn’t it?”

“Guess if
you’re into a little pain, it wouldn’t hurt.” Lori grinned.

“Pass on the
kissing with fangs, but I’m all for having a gander at the film.
What time does it start?”

Lori glanced at
the clock on the wall above the kitchen bench. “In about ten
minutes.”

“Let’s go,
then.”

Curled up on
the sofa with Minx snuggled up on her little blanket between them,
the sisters were soon watching the TV show, but Ali had a hard time
concentrating. Every now and again thoughts of Ghost moving behind
her slid through her mind, just the memory of the sensation of him
thrusting inside her making her heart pick up pace. When a person
on the show mentioned that being a ‘vampire’ gave them power, she
couldn’t help but recall the power with which Ghost took her, the
dominant streak that had undeniably broken through his easy-going
persona. The way he’d held her, positioned her, his hands strong
and sure, his every move definite.

Ghost had
always been a man who knew what he wanted, going after it with
dogged persistence, but she knew he hadn’t meant to go after her
with any sexual slant on the situation. He’d gone from comforting
to sex. How the hell that had happened she still didn’t know.

With Lori
caught up in the film and the tension-easing luxury of time having
passed and her nerves calmed down, Ali was able to mull over the
happenings with a clearer mind.

Except
regardless of how calm she was now, she still didn’t have a clue
what exactly had changed between them, when it had changed. To be
truthful, she wasn’t so sure it was pity sex. Ghost didn’t do
anything intimate out of pity, she’d known him to break up with
girlfriends even when they cried and begged. He’d been kind but
firm, knowing when things weren’t going well between them. As he’d
said to Ali, when the spark wasn’t there and things just weren’t
moving forward, it was time to move on. To anyone else that might
sound callous, but she knew that deep down he didn’t believe in
stringing along girlfriends on false hopes. Once he recognised the
relationship was going nowhere, it was time to break. Once his mind
was made up, Ghost was rarely swayed, especially when it came to
relationships.

So what had
changed between them to bring about the evenings events?

Sure, she could
go over and talk to him about it, he’d be more than open to that,
but the problem was that she wasn’t ready to face him. Not because
she was a coward, but because she needed to mull over the situation
herself until she was ready to discuss it.

Also, there was
one big fear. Things had changed between them, it had to, there was
no way they could go back to the easy-going friendship they had.
The realisation had her heart suddenly fluttering, panic tightening
her throat.

“Ali?”

She swung her
gaze around to find Lori looking at her curiously, a touch of
concern in her eyes. “What?”

“Are you
okay?”

She swallowed
past the lump in her throat. “Sure, why?”

“You just seem
a bit distracted, and not in a good way.”

“I’m fine.”

Lori eyed her
dubiously.

“I’m just going
to kick Chris’s arse when I see him next,” Ali joked, rather having
Lori believe she was still a little upset about the disastrous date
than know the truth.

Cripes, how
would it affect Lori to find out Ghost and she had had sex? Hot
sex, over a car bonnet? Just the memory had heat pooling low in her
loins.

“Are you sure
you’re okay? You’re a little flushed.”

“Am I?”
Look
cool, get a grip!

“Maybe you’re
coming down with something.” Lori settled back against the sofa,
her hand gently stroking Minx’s back.

“Maybe. I feel
okay, though.” Ali glanced back at the TV. “Oh, look! Can you
believe there are actually clubs for these so-called vampires?”

“Hey, whatever
turns them on.” Lori returned her attention to the program.

Relieved that
her sister was diverted, Ali sought to shove the troubling thoughts
to the back of her mind. The last thing she wanted was for Lori to
guess what was going on, not that she could ever really guess what
had
happened, but Lori could usually get to the bottom of
things if she kept digging and she didn’t want to give her sister
any hint of dirt to start that digging.

With supreme
effort she managed to focus on the film, even if at the back of her
mind was the niggling lure to indulge in a little pleasure and
remember how good it had felt to be at Ghost’s mercy, his –
Stop!
Taking a deep breath, she eased her feet up on the
footstool and refocussed on the TV. Even if it killed her, she was
not going to think about that passion-filled episode at the river.
Not with Lori sitting right beside her. No way, no how. Just no. If
she really had to torture herself, she could do it in bed.

Somehow that
thought didn’t produce quite the picture it had meant to and she
had to bite her lip to stop the sudden nervous giggle that
threatened to erupt.

Besides,
regardless, she was off men now. No more men, no more dates, no
more chasing a husband-to-be. Men were off-limits, and right at
that moment it included Ty ‘Ghost’ Sinclair. He was a worry for
another day.

Good
intentions, but she gave herself a headache from concentrating so
hard on the TV while trying to keep her thoughts under tight
control. By the time she went to bed at midnight, she had to take
two paracetamol to get the headache under control.

Just went to
show that men in general were trouble.

~*~

Ghost was
trouble. It had taken all her skill to avoid the man. Going to the
city had helped but he’d been lurking in wait for their return.
Holy cow, they’d just been pulling into the driveway when she saw
his handsome face peeking through the curtains of his lounge room.
Upon spotting them, he’d disappeared from the window.

She had the car
in reverse before he’d even come properly through his front
door.

Lori gawked at
her as she’d practically torn out of the driveway. “What the hell,
Ali?”

“What?”

“Where are we
going and why are we in a hurry?”

“I thought we’d
buy tea and then we need to get back to check on Minx.”

“Seriously?”

“What?”

“You came out
of the driveway like a bat out of hell, I was just wondering.”

“Sorry. My
thoughts were elsewhere.”

“You must
really be hungry.”

“Ha ha.”

Shaking her
head, Lori resumed gazing out of the window as they drove through
town. Ali pulled up in front of the restaurant and turned to look
expectantly at Lori, who was getting out of the car. When her
sister bent down to peer in at her, Ali said, “I’ll have the
Chinese special.”

“Why aren’t you
coming in?”

“Now it’s my
turn – seriously?”

Lori
frowned.

“My humiliation
is still pretty fresh in my mind. Burned into it like a freakin’
brand, in fact. I’m happy for you that you appear to have gotten
over your only sister’s embarrassment.”

Lori rolled her
eyes. “I get it, I get it. Sheesh.”

“Just reminding
you.” Ali reached for her purse.

“Forget it. My
treat.” Lori straightened before bending down again to add, “My
apologies for forgetting, even momentarily, your horrific
episode.”

“Thanks.
Really.”

Rolling her
eyes again, Lori shut the door.

Watching her
sister walk into the restaurant, Ali tapped her fingertips on the
steering wheel. Maybe they should have gone in to eat, sat down,
wasted a few hours in the hope that Ghost would grow tired of
waiting and go to bed. Or write. Or something. Watch a horror
movie.

Without
her.

That made her
grimace and feel sad all at once. Cripes, her fun sessions moaning
about his horror movies while sitting with him, enjoying his
company, would surely be over now. Slumping down in the car seat,
she started moping.

Life wasn’t
fair. Why did the only man who had made her orbit go out of, well,
orbit, not be the right one? Best friends did not shag one another,
it wasn’t done. It just wasn’t. If Chris hadn’t turned out to be
such an arse, she might even now be out with him laughing, admiring
him and getting to know him, instead of basically wanting to punch
his lights out.

Men
. She
sighed.

A thump on the
door had her jumping and she looked around, one hand to her
erratically thumping heart, to find Chris leaning down looking at
her through the window.

Oh goody. Just
what she needed right now.

“Alissa-” he
began.

She wound the
window up.