The Geary Series Boxed Set (61 page)

“No, way.” She whispered.

“Yep, that’s her. The waste of space who didn’t have the courage to raise me, who took money in exchange for her own flesh and blood. It’s no wonder that family is dysfunctional.” He bit out.

“That’s a bit harsh Mickey, you don’t know the circumstances.” Angie reasoned.

“Who cares what they were, I don’t, they’re just excuses.”

“I’ll leave you to it Mickey, safe trip back to Edinburgh,” Angie answered.

Angie handed back the pieces of paper to Mickey, he took them sceptically. Not understanding why she wished him safe travels.

“Where are you going?” Mickey asked.

“I’m going home, you’re not the man I thought you were. I’m going home because what you did upstairs was cold and went beyond just sex. I have had one-night stands with people that was more intimate than that episode. You’re too broken for me, you have too much shit to sort out and I’m not going to stick around to be fucked. I want sensual sex and perhaps love one day, not pure fucking. If you can do that, then you know where to find me.”

She left the room and Mickey was speechless, he wasn’t expecting for her to leave. Perhaps a blazing row where he would apologise and they would make up in bed, but for her to walk out, that was unexpected.

He heard the front door shut and realised that he needed her, he needed her to stay. Racing through the study, then out the door, he stopped and teetered on the top step. Angie was sitting on the bottom step searching her phone.

“You’re still here?” He questioned while sitting down next to her. He spied her screen and it was an airline site.

“I needed to book a flight and didn’t want to stay in the house to do it, you’ve got a rubbish signal in there anyway.” She said.

“Will you let me apologise?” Mickey asked quietly, he shifted closer to her on the step.

“No, I don’t want your apology, I would prefer a change in personality. That won’t happen overnight so I won’t hold my breath.”

“I am sorry Angie, our first time should have been better. I’m all over the place, I didn’t have the best relationship with my dad. He shipped me off to boarding school six months after, who I thought was my mother, died. I was alone and scared. The two people I thought I could always rely on abandoned me and one of them was still alive.”

He fiddled with the strap of her bag as he talked, repeating his apology and saying he was lost and alone once more.

“I can’t fix your head, Mickey, you didn’t show me an awful lot of respect upstairs. I want the Mickey back I knew for the last two weeks and never want to see your current version again. Can you try and do that?”

“I can try Angie, please will you stay?”

“You get one last shot, if mean Mickey comes back, then I’m done.”

“Deal, now let’s see how your cake turned out, I’m starving.”

He didn’t wait for her to answer, picked up her bag and took her phone, stuffing it in his trousers pocket. Angie followed him into the house and watched as he hung her purse over the banister, place her case at the bottom of the stairs, and carried on downstairs to the kitchen. Mickey confused her, he was mixed up and didn’t know which way was up, she didn’t know for sure she was what he needed.

“All right, let’s see if you can bake a cake, sit and watch,” Mickey ordered.

He took the square cake tin and a knife from the drawer, sliding the knife along the edges of the cake, he reached for a cooling rack from the cupboard under the workstation. Turning the tin upside down he rested it on the cooling rack, he pressed the bottom of the tin and then lifted it off. The golden brown colour of the cake shone under the lights, the sugary lemon juice had worked its way through to the bottom and into the greaseproof paper. He peeled it off and smelt the base, he smiled wide.

“This smells awesome Angie, I think this may be a good one.”

He turned the cake back the right way up and took the knife again and cut a slice. Circling the table he came to Angie and stood waiting for her to part her legs. Instinctively she knew what he wanted, she moved her legs and he stepped forward into her space.

“Open your mouth,” he said and broke off a piece of the cake in his hand and placed it into her waiting mouth. She took the piece obediently and chewed. Opening her eyes wide, she ate faster and swallowed and opened her mouth for more.

“I need a kiss first before you have any more,” he said and popped a piece of cake in his mouth.

Nodding his approval, he ate the rest of the slice.

“There’s no cake left, so no kiss.” She said.

“Don’t move,” he said and cut a second slice and held it in his hand.

He moved slowly towards her, his lips moving at a snail’s pace, he needed to know she wanted to be kissed. Her time was up to protest, his lips touched hers. She responded to his kiss eagerly, poking the tip of her tongue out to caress his bottom lip. Mickey groaned and opened his mouth to let her in, the kiss turned heated and passionate. While Mickey continued to kiss her mouth she found his belt buckle and swiftly undid it. Pulling open the buttons of his jeans, she pushed his jeans and boxers down far enough to wrap her tiny hand around his hardening cock.

He didn’t pause kissing her, dancing in and out of her mouth with his tongue, playing chase with hers, teasing and tempting her. He let her take control of this intimacy after his ungentlemanly conduct the last time they had sex.

Her words rang clearly in his head that she wanted a connection so he would take this at her pace. She fondled his balls and then stroked him with feather light touches. Her warm hands squeezing hard on his cock, he loved every moment.

His resolve was weakening, he wanted to take over, but he resisted long enough for Angie to change position. Breaking away, she lifted her t-shirt off her body and unclipped her bra, her breasts bounced a few times. Her nipples peaked and lured him, tantalising him to lick and bite them. He lifted his hand and held one of her breasts, squeezing softly, caressing and teasing her nipple with her thumb. While he was occupied, she undid the zip of her jeans and waited patiently until Mickey was finished playing with her boobs.

“I could touch you all day and night, your skin is so soft and warm. I need to kiss you again.”

He did, she held his cock once more, stroking up and down, firmly and quickly. He was erect and restricted, he pushed down his jeans and boxers further to his knees and then lifted his t-shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor.

“I can’t wait anymore, take your jeans off,” Mickey said and sheathed himself while she undressed. He kicked off his trainers and removed his jeans as well.

Angie hauled her body up onto the workstation and beckoned Mickey, he stepped in between her legs once more and lifted her legs so that she could wrap them around his waist. She leant back, hands flat on the table while she watched him position himself at her entrance.

“I want you to look at me while you thrust into me, keep eye contact, I want to see your desire as I feel you inside me,” Angie demanded.

It turned him on that she wanted to see him, he pushed into her, slowly, holding onto her thighs. His fingers dug into her flesh as he kept his rhythm, he lost the ability to keep a slow pace and sped up. As he pushed in her breasts moved and jiggled with his thrusting. Letting one of her thighs go he pressed his thumb to her clit, pressing hard, she cried out and he could feel her contract around him. It spurred him on to finish and reach his orgasm, he could feel that she would be there very soon. Three more thrusts and he came, yelling once. He grabbed hold of her thighs and kept still while he kept his cock deep inside her. She had started her orgasm as he finished coming. He had the pleasure of watching the ecstasy wash over her face, the silent cry, her mouth wide open as the waves hit. There were several more waves throbbing until she fell back onto the table and dropped her legs.

Mickey pulled out of her and discarded the condom in the bin. She lay there, sated and happy, unmoving while he collected their clothes.

“Come on wench, let me take you to bed and worship your body.” He said.

He pulled her hand and then in one move hauled her up and over his shoulder, he took them up through the house and back to her room and started to make her shiver all over again.

Mickey sat in his father’s study, looking at the letter once again. He had read it many times but tortured his heart with the words over and over again. The guilt ate away at his soul. He could never get back the time he had lost with his father, time that they could have spent together. The mere fact that his father had made sure he was in the same regiment as Elijah blew his mind. He hated a man for non-existent reasons.

“Are you going to speak to her?” Angie asked tentatively.

“No, I have no interest in seeing the woman, she gave me up,” Mickey answered without looking up. He had known she had been standing in the doorway for five minutes before she spoke.

Mickey didn’t know how he felt about his natural mother. He had been awake early thinking about the parents that had made him and the parents who had raised him. He’d spent the best part of two decades feeling lonely and now he had a new set of parents. He knew who his mother was but not his father.

The only way he would find that out is to meet with her.

“Do you want to know who your father is?” Angie had stepped nearer to the table, she had dressed casually in jeans and a shirt. She didn’t know what their plans were or when they would return to Edinburgh. Her sick leave was due to end in another ten days, she felt fine after being knocked out, but Mickey had insisted that she take the whole time off.

“You look lovely, come and sit here, I need a hug,” Mickey said pointing to the spot on the desk in front of him.

She hopped onto the desk and he scooted forward to hug her. She combed his hair while he sighed and snuggled in. Angie rested her bare feet on the arms of the chair and waited for his reply. It was none of her business, but she was curious.

“I think I do want to know who he is, or at least see if he is still alive. I’m assuming that she knows who he is.” He said.

“How much more do you have to do here?”

“Nothing really, Beverly will come back and close up the house and then I’ll put it up for sale. I don’t think I ever want to come back here, there are too many painful memories.

“Let’s go home Mickey, staying here is not going to achieve anything.” She said and kissed his head and squeezing her knees against his shoulders.

“All right, we can leave tomorrow, I’ll book the boat. I can show you, Dublin, today, you need to drink a pint of Guinness before we leave.”

She pulled his head away from her stomach by his hair and squinted, she did not want to go back on the boat. Indecision about making a fuss played a tennis match in her head.

“I don’t like the boat, can’t we fly?”

“No, we can’t, I need to get the car back and I’m scared of flying.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Mickey. I don’t believe you.” She said and heartily laughed at her big tough guy being scared of something.

“I’m human babe, I don’t particularly like snakes either. And may I remind you that you don’t like sailing.”

“Yeah, but I’m a girl that hasn’t been in the armed forces.”

“Good point, well, we’re going by boat and you’re coming with me. I’ll book a night sailing and a cabin and you can snore the whole way home.”

She slapped his arm in protest, he stood and bent down to kiss her. “I’ll look after you, you’ll be okay. There’s nothing wrong with snoring, your snores are quite adorable especially when you snuffle half way through.”

He didn’t let her reply and kissed her again to silence any rebuke she would undoubtedly be thinking.

Leaving the study, he picked up his wallet and keys and handed her, her bag. Opening the front door and bowing deeply, she haughtily raised her nose and waltzed out of the front door and into the sunshine. She put on her sunglasses and received a slap on her backside for her cheekiness.

“Come on wench, let me show you what Dublin has to offer, if you’re well behaved I’ll take you to the Leprechaun Museum. But first, we need to eat breakfast.”

“Get out of here, there is not a Leprechaun Museum.”

“Yes, there is, don’t mock the little men Angie, they’ll come and haunt you when you’re not looking.” Mickey cautioned.

Hand in hand they walked to the end of the street, and over the bridge to Siobhan’s cafe. They ordered food and spent a happy hour discussing his childhood. Siobhan regaled Angie on the shenanigans that Mickey got up to when he was a teenager. Mickey updated Siobhan on his parents and promised that he would tell her how it turned out. When they left he also promised he would try not to leave it five years until he visited again.

In his heart Mickey didn’t think he would ever come back, his future was in Edinburgh and his past remained in Dublin.

Jane put the phone down and hovered at the bottom of the stairs. Her sister insisted that the one and only telephone be placed in the entrance hall of the house. She put it down to Gale’s nosiness, the acoustics were perfect to hear a conversation anywhere in the ground floor of the house. If you stood at the top of the stairs and stood by the banister, you could hear perfectly too.

Gale had returned from the hospital a few days ago and had been a nightmare since. She barked orders from her bed upstairs and demanded a response immediately. She bellowed Jane’s name or Dylan’s and waited for one of them to appear. Dylan had been hiding out in the garden for most of the day, gardening, leaving Jane to be her sister’s handmaiden.

Jane couldn’t understand why Gale let her stay in the house if she disapproved so highly of her life decisions. She had a permanent room set up for her visits which were few, thankfully the room she had was on the opposite side of the house. In the evenings it was Dylan’s turn to attend to his wife’s needs, Jane spent the evening in the garden drinking wine and staring into space.

Michael had called the house to invite her and Gale to dinner the following night, he asked that Dylan came along too. She accepted the invite on behalf of them all, she wanted to confess everything, it wouldn’t get her nearer her son but at least everyone else would know.

Sighing heavily she trudged up the stairs, replying to Gale’s catcall. She had recovered well from her stroke. Her appetite had returned full force and when Gale thought no one was looking she was swift walking across the corridor to listen in on the phones calls below the banister.

“We’re going to dinner tomorrow night, so you’d better get your rest,” Jane said from outside the bedroom door. She could see Gale in her bed from the reflection of the mirror on the dressing table. Gale’s expression went from happy, leafing through Vogue to sullen when she heard Jane speaking.

Jane wasn’t paying enough attention to the footfalls on the stairs, Jane giggled as she entered the room. She considered how much energy it took to be grumpy all day. Collecting the dishes from the night stand she took a sideways glance at Gale to see if she had registered her words.

“Did you hear me, Gale?”

“Yes, I heard you and I’m not going,” Gale announced and continued reading the sunglasses advert. She found the page so interesting she underlined the words in small print with her fingers.

“You will be going, you won’t want to miss this dinner, it’s at Ruth and Michael’s place. We are going to discuss the past. Are you still not coming?”

Gale tossed the magazine on the end of the bed and threw back the duvet cover.

“Get me an appointment at the hairdressers this afternoon Jane, I need to look my best.

Jane rolled her eyes, “make your own appointment, if you’re well enough to go to the hairdressers, then you can stretch yourself to dialling a number.” Jane retorted and carried the breakfast tray away and out of the room, she didn’t stay for Gale’s reply.

She hummed as she descended the stairs, her dark cloud of gloom rose higher and almost out of sight. She felt lighter now that she had made her decision to come clean. Jane was under no illusion that there wouldn’t be any repercussions, but she still needed to try.

Dumping the tray next to the sink she sought out Dylan in the garden, he was at the far end sitting in a deck chair facing away from the house with a bottle of beer in his hand.

“Hi Dylan, are you hiding from the dragon?” Jane asked and sat down on the grass that hadn’t seen a mower in a month.

“Yeah, contemplating my life choices,” he said and took a long drag on his beer. “I have wasted my life with her, a spiteful, hateful woman. She is awful to our children and I never did anything to help. Anything for a quiet life.”

“You still have time to change that Dylan. Why did you marry her?”

Dylan didn’t answer Jane’s question. Instead, he stared at the trees and offered Jane a fresh beer. She shook her head and lay down in the grass with her hands behind her head.

“I loved Gale, I told you many times when we were in school, but she was so fixated on Michael. I thought that when she came back from Brighton that she would be over him. Especially after how he behaved towards her. When she called me out of the blue and suggested we go for a walk to become friends again, I was over the moon. Ecstatic would be a better word to describe how I felt.” He took another long drag of his beer and remained quiet for a few minutes.

Jane lay still, she wanted to hear this story, any movement from her may stop him from continuing. As far as she knew, Gale had not seen Michael since the party.

“We met up and spent the day in the park, chatting about school and my career plans. When she leaned in and kissed me, I was stunned. The girl I knew before was painfully shy and would bury her head in a cushion than speak to me when I tried to tell her how I felt. I kissed her back, I couldn’t have been happier. We had dated for six months before I proposed to her, she was the perfect girlfriend. She insisted on a quiet wedding, a registry office with a few friends and our parents.”

Jane had moved to her side, holding her head in her hand, she played with the grass in front of her. Acting indifferent, silently urging him to continue. Dylan drained his bottle of beer and opened a fresh one. He offered it to Jane and this time she took it, he opened another bottle and clinked the neck of his bottle against hers. They both took a long drag and she risked a question.

“What went wrong?” Jane asked and then lay back down in the grass, balancing her bottle on her rounded belly.

“What went wrong, was that I was hoodwinked into marrying her. She conspired with her father to get married. He bought us a house to live in once we were married, but it was a payoff. Her father had spoken of me years before, and had matched us up as a couple. Because Gale was in love with Michael the match didn’t go as planned and had to be abandoned. It seems that the only way her father would let her back in the family after she had shamed them was to marry well. He bribed her with a house and told her to seduce me into marriage. I didn’t find this out until years later. I should have worked it out when on our wedding night, she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her.”

Dylan stood up from the deck chair and collected the empty bottles and placed them back into the crate. He remained standing, the quiet garden was a peaceful place to hear his story. A couple of birds landed in the tree above them and sang in the morning sunshine.

“She lay in bed, in a long nightdress, from her neck to her ankles. She lay stiff as a board when I started to kiss her, her passion had disappeared. I didn’t know what to do, so I carefully undressed her, she didn’t stop me but didn’t help either. I had waited so long to make love to her, but she lay there unresponsive. Our lovemaking was swift and once I had finished, she got out of bed, picked up her nightgown and left the room and slept in the spare room. She never came back to the marital bed until after Lilly was born. I was over the moon that she had fallen pregnant, but she hated every moment.”

He sat back down in the chair and stopped speaking, Jane didn’t comment.

“It was my first time and I didn’t know what to do, I panicked, and then when you had sex with me anyway. I felt violated, you didn’t talk to me at any stage to see if I was ok.” Gale said from behind them, she didn’t wait for a response and walked away. She was dressed and heading to the hairdressers.