Fragile (17 page)

We drove in silence until I couldn’t take it anymore. “Rick,” I whispered. He ignored me or pretended he didn’t hear me and we continued to drive in awkward silence.

“You’re going to the function with him?” Rick’s voice was angry.

“He caught me off guard when he asked me.”

“So you just agreed to go with him?” His knuckles turned white as he held onto the steering wheel.

“What was I supposed to do? He caught me off guard. He looked at my surgical schedule and saw that I didn’t have anything for that night.”

“So you just agreed to go on a date with another man?” His voice had risen and we were both getting angry. “I’m trying here, Lu. I am trying so hard to be with you, to prove to you that I would never do anything to hurt you the way that my family has and you decide to go on a date with another man?”

“You walked away from me! You chose to believe her before asking me about it. I did nothing wrong and you walked away. I don’t even know if we’re anything anymore. What are we, Rick?” As I spoke, Rick pulled the car over to the side of the road. “What are you doing?” I asked, pissed off. He had barely put the car in park when he crushed his lips into mine.

I tried to pull away. I was still angry but he held me to him, making it impossible to get out of his embrace. He doesn’t loosen his hold until I gave in and kissed him back. He felt like home and I missed that feeling.

“We are as we were before my family stuffed us up. We don’t care what they think or say about us being together. We are exclusively together which means that you tell Dr. Douche bag that you’re not doing anything with him. That’s what we are, Lu.” He rested his forehead on mine and breathed deeply. I could feel his breath against my face. My eyes were closed, but I could feel him looking at me.

RICK

I put the car into park and practically ran around to where Lu was sitting. She laughed as I picked her up out of the car and wrapped her legs around my waist. I felt her giggle against my skin; I needed to get her inside. I rushed her over to the front door, crashing into it as I fiddled with the house keys and the door handle.

“That feels good, but I can’t find the key with you...” I trailed off as Lu kissed the corner of my mouth then down my neck.

“Agh, if I don’t get you inside soon,” the keys fell from my shaking hand and dropped on the ground. “Fuck it,” I said as I pushed Lu against the door and attacked her neck, like she had mine. Her hands found the hem of my shirt and I briefly lifted my lips from her sweet skin as she lifted it up and over my head then dropped it. I pressed closer, making her groan and her hands reached down to my pants. I didn’t care that we were outside. I would have taken her against that door if we didn’t end up on the ground with Aiden sitting beside us. Confused I looked up and saw Dad smiling down at us. Lu’s top had come undone revealing her purple lace bra and way too much skin for anyone but me to see. I covered her with my body as she re-did her buttons. I smiled down at her red cheeks and her swollen lips. I loved that I could get her this flustered. I could feel my bulge against Lu’s stomach and I wanted to get it under control before I got up from the ground and faced my father.

I cleared my throat as I watched Lu hold her shirt together. I had broken some of the buttons and she couldn’t do it up completely. I sat up, pulling Lu up with me, keeping her chest to mine. She ran her hands through her hair and around her mouth, making herself look a little more presentable.

“Hey, Dad.”

“I thought I heard someone knocking,” Dad passed over my shirt.

“Ah, yeah, I couldn’t find the keys,” I lied as I put my shirt on Lu, making sure that she was covered.

“These keys?” I heard a jingle and stopped pulling my shirt down, my eyes focused on Lu who was chewing her lip.

“There they are,” Lu says quietly.

Clearing my throat again, I stood up helping Lu up too. Straightening her clothes one last time, I saw Dad smiling to the side.

I took hold of Lu’s hand as we walked into the apartment to the kitchen. “You ok?”

“No,” she replied.

“I didn’t know he was here.”

“It’s good to see you again, Lucy.” She spun around to face Dad. She was embarrassed and I didn’t blame her. What we were about to do was something private. Granted it was outside, against the front door, but still. I would have gotten her inside before too much happened…I think.

“You too, Mark. How are you?”

“Good, you?” Dad sat down at the bench across from me and Lu.

“I’m good.”

I started to get food out of the fridge, putting together some sandwiches. “What brings you here, Dad?”

“I’m hiding. My house has been taken over. Between bloody Mather, Ireland and Luke...” He shook his head. I looked over to Lu, who was looking at the bench top, “I hate him, by the way, Lucy. He’s all, ‘we should do this’ or ‘why don’t we do this,’ thinking he knows what’s better and that his word is gold.”

“Dad,” I whispered, shaking my head at him.

He frowned at me. “Lucy doesn’t know?” He looked at her, “Lucy, I...”

“I know, Mark. It’s alright. Luke’s a part of your family now. You don’t have to tip toe around me.” Lu is always surprising me with how strong she is with this whole situation.

“You’re something, Lucy. If it was anyone else who was going through this I don’t think they’d be standing the way you do.”

“That’s because Lu’s strong, Dad.” I kissed the top of her head as I passed a sandwich across to her.

“Yes, you are,” Dad agreed as he took his sandwich too.

LUCY

“I have to go,” I said against Rick’s neck.

“No.” His lips found mine, stopping my protest instantly.

“But...but I need to go and save lives and stuff.”

Rick’s laughter lit my skin on fire. “Fine.” He rolled off of me, getting up from the bed and leaving me cold from the loss of contact.

“Why are you lying there? You need to get ready for work.” Rick stood to the side of the bed raking his eyes over my sheet covered body while mine were glued to his naked body.

“My clothes are at home. I need to go there first.”

“Move in here…permanently. It makes sense, Lu. I can’t spend a night away from you. When I do I don’t sleep and I miss you. There’ll be no running around between two apartments to get ready for work, which means we can stay in bed longer in the mornings. Plus Aiden is here.”

“What if your family comes around? I know that sounds selfish and everything, because they’re your family, but I can’t be around them.” My voice was soft as I spoke, and my eyes were focused on the wall behind Rick, but it didn’t stop Rick from wrapping his body around me and lifting my head up so that I was looking at him.

“They’re not welcome here. Mather knows that she isn’t welcome here. Ireland isn’t speaking to me, which I don’t mind. I could never forgive her. And I told Luke that if I ever saw again him, nothing would stop me from doing what I really want to do to him.”

“You threatened him?”

“I warned him that if I ever saw him again no one would be able to pull me off him.”

“You would cause grievous bodily harm to him?”

“Without a second thought.” He declared before his lips met mine.

I arrived late to work thanks to Rick, but I still went to the coffee kiosk and grabbed two cups of coffee then went looking for Brooks.

“Brooks.” I approach her with a cup of coffee, it was a bribe and she was smart enough to see it for what it was.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t freak. It’s not poisoned or anything.” I took a sip of mine and Brook did the same slowly, her eyes fixed on mine.

I couldn’t help but smile at her. “I need to schedule something for the night of the function. Our story isn’t flying anymore. He’s checking the schedule and calling me out on it.” I looked around to make sure that Dr. Hunter wasn’t anywhere around.

“Oh, ok. I can do that.”

“Awesome.”

My shift wasn’t too bad and made the day seem to fly by. Before I knew it I was doing my final rounds and heading home.

“Hey, honey,” Dad greeted me as soon as I stepped through the door.

“Hey.” I walked further into the apartment, putting my bag down on the bench when an all too familiar face smiled over at me.

“Hey, Lu.” Rick came across to me and kissed my cheek.

“Hey.” Another familiar face sat in the lounge room, “Hey Mark.” I waved from my position by the kitchen.

“Hey, honey. How was your day?”

“Good, long.” I shrugged. There wasn’t much to tell. It was a straight forward shift.

“Life of a surgeon.” Dad said over his shoulder.

I smiled at his use of Rick’s words. “I’m going to go and soak in the bath.” I eyed off the scene like I had just stepped into an alternate universe and started to walk away slowly.

“Need some help?” Rick came up behind me lifting me up, catching me by surprise. I wrapped my body around his upper body as he carried me toward the bathroom.

Rick set me down on the bathroom floor and started the water. I was taking my clothes off when Rick started to help. “I got you,” he whispered softly as he unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down my legs. I slid out of my shoes before he pulled my jeans over my feet and tossed them in the corner of the room.

His hands travelled lightly over my skin, causing goose bumps to rise across my body. When he reached my stomach, he laid a soft kiss under my belly button before he finished working his way up my body. When the bath was ready Rick picked me up and placed me in the bath but he stayed out of the water.

“You’re not going to join me?”

“Not yet,” he whispered and kissed my shoulder. Rick reached behind me and grabbed the bath sponge, soaking it under the water. He lifted it up and squeezed it over my back, making the day’s tension drip away with the water.

“That feels really good.” I closed my eyes and let the sensation of the running water over my skin relax me. I wouldn’t say I dozed off, but I was relaxed enough not to notice that Rick had climbed in behind me and was running the sponge over the front of my body.

“Feel good, baby?” His voice was soft and light in my ear.

“Mmm,” I moaned with my eyes closed. I felt his lips on my shoulder, trailing up my neck, and my cheek.

I rolled my neck back, giving him more room to kiss me. “I needed this.”

“Mmm,” Rick continued to kiss me, making his way down my neck, resting his lips on my shoulder. “You work too hard. You need to relax more.”

“I love what I do. I need my work.”

Rick rested his chin on my shoulder and continued to run his fingers over my skin. “I know, but I need to make sure you relax more. It keeps me sane knowing that even though you’re working insane hours you’ll relax at home wherever that is.”

RICK

I love being with Lu this way, so intimate and relaxed. “You falling asleep on me?” I whispered into her ear after some silence.

“Just about. It feels so good.” Her voice was soft and definitely relaxed. I placed my hands on her stomach and just held her, running my fingers up and down her smooth skin. There was some cheering coming from outside the bathroom. Our Dads were in the living room playing a game on the X-Box. Dad was getting sick of being at his house, and I was sick of having him at mine so I called Ray to see if he would mind if I brought him over. Now, well, they get on like a house on fire.

Lu sat up, her eyes wide open. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I ran my hands over her goose bumped arms. .

“I forgot that our Dads are just out there.”

“Yeah, it’s not like they don’t know we’re together,” I offered, trying to get her to relax again.

“I know, but still, my Dad is just out there.” I smiled against her shoulder. “I hope you’re not thinking this is funny.”

“No, but just remember that it was my Dad who caught me pinning you against a wall outside.”

“Oh God,” she groaned as she fell back against my chest, her hands coming up to cover her face. “I was so embarrassed,” she said through her hands. “Do you think he told my Dad?”

“I don’t know.” I stood up and got out of the bath, wrapping a towel around myself and then helping Lu out of the bath and wrapping a towel around her. Lu left to get dressed in her room and I got dressed in the bathroom, and then waited for her in the hallway. When she emerged I held her to me and lead her to the kitchen. My baby needed to eat.

“Want to order something in, or do you want me to cook?” I asked Lu as she watched me from across the bench top.

“I don’t know what I have for food. Dad...” she turned to face him to see that both our fathers were staring at us. “What?”

“Nothing,” both men said in unison turning back to their game.

Sensing Lu’s uncertainty, I reached for her and held her to me. “We could let them fend for themselves and head back to our place.”