The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (50 page)

“Fine, maybe one day,” I murmured, not quite convincing myself.

“I’ll fix something up between us, I promise we’ll all soon be great friends.” He gave me one more squeeze before walking off. That’s what I loved about Elijah, that he was ever the optimist. Though this time I was certain he really had outdone himself, thinking I would be friends with B. There was more chance of spotting a flying pig.

* * *

I finished off the last of my drink and leaned back into Joel. The party had been going on for several hours, and I was slightly tipsy and tired. I was contemplating dragging Joel home when a voice called out from behind me. I turned to see Ryan dressed as The Cowardly Lion, beaming from ear to ear, admiring every inch of my costume.

“Hey, Ryan.” I beamed, happy to see his face. I hadn’t seen him in a while and was beginning to miss our Netflix marathons together.

He pulled me into an awkward hug while Joel’s hands continued to cling onto me. “You look amazing, you make one sexy cat.”

Joel grunted as Ryan’s eyes danced with humour. “Oh hey Joel, didn’t notice you were there. I can’t take my eyes off Izzy here, you need to wear this more often.”

Oh boy.

I felt Joel stiffen behind me and not in a good way.

“We sure do make a right pair,” Ryan said, acknowledging our costumes. “Both from the same family, you know what they say great minds . . .” He winked, and my heart dropped, feeling Joel grab me tighter. I knew his jealousy would be off the Richter scale. I didn’t need to turn around to know his eyes would be practically bulging with rage.

“I haven’t seen you around lately, I miss our Netflix dates.” Ryan pouted.

Oh god.

“That’s because she’s been spending all her time with me,” Joel spat out, leaning over my shoulder to kiss me.

No to claim me.

Ryan blew out an air of frustration. “Well, don’t be greedy, Joel, it’s rude to not share.”

Joel’s head snapped up. Ryan was goading him, and Joel took the bait. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”

“Ryan, I think you’d better . . .” I motioned with my eyes for him to drop the smug look he was wearing. He needed to walk away while his head still remained on his shoulders, but the steely look inside his eyes told me he thought differently.

“We all need some Izzy time too, after all some of us were there to pick up the pieces.”

Oh shit, here we go.

“What the fuck? You have no clue how hard it was to walk away,” Joel bit out, the iciness in his voice sent shivers through me, taking me back to that period of darkness in my life.

“All I know is I couldn’t,” Ryan taunted.

Fuck.

Joel’s hands dropped from my body in response to Ryan’s cruel words. Ryan had clearly touched a nerve, a raw nerve, and I was scared of just what that would do to Joel.

“Outside now.”

“Joel,” I gasped, turning to face him, to hold his chest back with my hands as he moved to leave.

“Izzy, this is between me and Ryan.” The fire that blazed there in his eyes was enough to scare me. He was going to kill him.

“Whatever, Joel, you want to sort this out? Then it’s fine by me.”

I spun around to face Ryan. “Ryan, you need to leave.”

But Ryan’s eyes never left Joel’s. “No, I think I want to see what this guy has to say.”

His defiant words sent a wave of panic through me.

“Are you okay, Iz?” I almost cried hearing Elijah’s voice. He quickly marched over, his eyes flashing between Joel and Ryan before resting on mine.

“Elijah, get Ryan out of here before Joel tears him limb from limb.”

Ryan snorted. “Yeah, I’d like to see him try.” He banged down his bottle onto the ledge like he was clearly gearing up for a fight.

Joel lunged forward, knocking me out of the way. I staggered a few steps, quickly regaining my balance. “Don’t fucking push me, mate,” Joel snarled.

I grabbed Joel’s arm, but he pushed me out of the way, squaring up to him, both staring each other down.

His shove was enough to make me lose balance, and I fell back awkwardly landing on my leg. I let out a scream. The leg was already fragile from the accident.

Joel’s eyes instantly shot to me. “Fuck, Iz, are you okay?”

Elijah quickly ran over to help me stand back up as I attempted to straighten out my leg. I winced in agony when I tried to move it. “Sweetie, come to my room, I need to look at it.

“I’ll come to,” Joel insisted, attempting to put his arm around me. To claim me again, but I’d had more than enough of his possessive behaviour tonight.

“Don’t bother,” I snapped. Joel’s eyes flashed with a look of hurt, but I was too angry to care.

“Iz, please . . .” he pleaded.

“No, you carry on with your little brawl, that’s far more important.”

Ryan attempted a half smile but the look of disgust I shot him soon turned into a frown.

“And you, grow the fuck up. You know nothing about us so don’t pretend like you do. There’s never been anything between us, so stop acting like there is.”

“Izzy, just listen . . .” Ryan pleaded.

“No, I’ve had enough of the pair of you, just leave me alone, both of you.”

“Izzy, please,” Joel shouted as Elijah guided me out of the room while everyone looked on in amusement.

Just great!

Pain shot through my leg and I grunted, walking the last few steps before dropping down onto the bed.

Elijah pulled out a T-shirt and I slipped it on, peeling off the costume, to cover my modesty. His hands nimbly worked my leg. He’d helped with my physio exercises after the accident, so he knew the various ones I had to do. After a few minutes the pain eased, and I let out a sigh.

Elijah lay down beside me, stroking my hair back. “Do you want to tell me what happened out there?”

“What the pissing contest?” We both laughed together.

“You mean the my dick’s bigger than yours contest.”

“Joel would win that,” I said without hesitation.

Shit! Did I just say that out loud?

Elijah’s smile spread wider “And how would you know, I thought you and Ryan were just friends?”

I covered my face groaning. Were we really having this conversation right now? “We are, and I’ve never seen it, but Joel’s well . . . he’s . . .”

“Hung like a donkey?” Elijah added.

“Elijah.” I batted him on the arm as he threw his head back laughing.

“He’s just well hung.” I didn’t care to elaborate further even though I knew Elijah was hoping I would.

“Lucky bitch, that’s why he’ll always be number one on my list.”

“Elijah, you need to tone that down, you’re kind of scaring him, he thinks you’re going to pounce at any minute.”

“I wish.”

I smacked him again, and he flashed me that cheeky grin that always won me over. “Elijah, please.” I turned to face him so we were barely inches apart.

“Okay, Iz, I’ll take it down a notch just for you.” He pressed his lips up against my forehead as I snuggled up against his chest.

We lay like that for a while before a knock at the door brought us back to reality. Joel popped his head through the door. “Iz, can I come in?” he almost pleaded.

I felt my body melt at his words, I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him for long, but I wasn’t about to give in that easy.

“Fine, come in.” My voice was cold, and Elijah looked at me to check I’d made the right choice. I nodded, and he kissed my hair.

He got up, quickly checking his outfit in the mirror, straightening his wig before leaving the room.

Joel hesitantly walked in, sitting down at the end of the bed. “How’s the leg?” he whispered.

“Fine now, no thanks to you.”

His face dropped at my harsh words. “I’m sorry, Iz, I just saw red—”

“Yeah, I was there, you don’t have to paint me a picture.”

“But Ryan—”

“You didn’t have to take the bait, Joel. He was winding you up to get a rise out of you. If I wanted to be with Ryan then I would be.”

His eyes dropped down to the floor. “Do you still want to be with me?”

He annoyed me by even asking, but the pained look he held thawed out the last of the frostiness from my veins.

“I’ll always want you,” I whispered.

I always would.

His head snapped up. ‘Really?” he asked again uncertain.

Give me strength.

I opened up my arms. “Come here and let me show you how much I need you.”

He scrambled up the bed until his lips pressed against mine. I gasped feeling his tongue flick along my bottom lip, as I opened to allow him to go deeper. “Izzy,” he whispered between each kiss.

“I’ll always want you, Joel,” I moaned. “Just you.” We sunk down onto the bed continuing to kiss, touch and taste each other.

Joel was busy sucking that sweet spot beneath my ear when the door cranked open. Elijah’s amused face peered through. “Well, I see things are back to normal then.”

Joel chuckled against my skin as my cheeks flushed.

“You could say that.”

“Let me know if you ever want a threesome, I’m definitely game.” Joel stiffened beside me. He knew he would be the main target, and I shot a look of annoyance towards Elijah.

“Elijah—What did I just say?”

He held his hands up in mock surrender. “I know, my bad. Joel, you’re safe around me I promise, I just love to see that hot body squirm.”

“Elijah . . .” I warned.

“I know. I’m going.” He flashed me a smile and a wink before closing the door behind him.

“He is just . . .”

“Relentless, I know. Hey, help me back into this suit. I’m ready to go home.”

Joel shot up from the bed, looking more than pleased to be guiding me back into the tight little number.

His fingers slowly caressed against my cheek, but his eyes held a look of concern. “Are you tired, baby? I can run you a bath when we get in.”

“Oh hell no, you owe me amazing wall sex,” I blurted out, not at all ashamed by my little commanding act that was now resurfacing.

Joel’s face split in two. “But I thought . . .” His eyes dropped down to my leg, a look of concern quickly crossing his face.

I grabbed his chin, lifting it back up to look into my eyes. “And after this evening’s performance I think you have a lot of making up to do.”

“Well, I’m sure I can certainly do that.”

“You sure you have the stamina?” I teased, but who was I kidding? He was like a machine at times, I seriously couldn’t keep up.

He lifted me clean off the floor, my legs wrapped around his waist with his face barely inches from mine. “I’m sure I can keep up, how about you?”

My nose nudged against his. “Oh I could last all night.” I felt him twitch at my words. “Outfit on or off?”

“On,” he growled.

Oh this would definitely be a night to remember.

We met with Elijah and Sam the next day for a late breakfast. They both shuffled in looking worse for wear. I stifled a yawn but for a different reason after christening more than one wall the night before. Joel sipped on his orange juice, his eyes taking in their hungover expressions. He smiled in a wicked way, after all before we’d got together this was typically how he spent his Sundays.

“Hey guys,” I chirped, taking great delight in the fact each syllable would be like nails down a blackboard.

They both grimaced, slithering down into their seats. The look they shot me was so pitiful like they would need a vast amount of coffee within the next hour.

“Keep it down, Iz. We’re dying here.” Elijah groaned.

A smug smile spread across my lips, I didn’t want to know how they got in that condition, but I was guessing within minutes he’d be filling me in with all the gory details.

“Nice to see you looking more like yourself.” My remark was within reference of his choice of costume, dressed as a woman for the night. It was good to see him without all the fakery, heavy makeup and beehive wig.

“Well, I normally keep that kind of thing behind closed doors,” he remarked winking.

Sam choked on his coffee that had just arrived. Elijah patted him on the back, looking delighted he’d stunned us all. I shook my head in amusement, he was lying but by the look on Joel’s face, he obviously hadn’t realised. I smiled letting that thought linger a few moments before whispering him the truth. His face broke out into a grin as he continued to devour the mega deal breakfast that was sat in front of him.

“It was a good night though. We got the karaoke out just after you left.”

Thank god we’d been spared that agony.

Sam’s face grimaced in obvious recall to that memory. I could just imagine Elijah half cut, hogging the microphone all night.

“I did a fabulous rendition of all the big gay anthems.”

Oh jeez, I was sure the neighbours wouldn’t agree, already cursing their arrival and they’d barely been in the flat a week.

“So what did you sing?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Joel’s face instantly lit up. “I Will Survive.”

“Five times.” Sam groaned.

Oh dear god, once was bad enough without inflicting that kind of torture even more. But five times that was just cruel.

“Well the audience loved it. I had to give them more.”

From the look on Sam’s face, Elijah’s story was slightly fabricating the truth, probably more to do with the beer goggles he had been wearing at the time.

“Did you do Gaga?” I enquired. It was his usual party piece after all.

“Of course.” He smiled taking a sip of coffee while the toast still sat untouched on his plate. “You know that’s my song.”

Didn’t I just.

I wasn’t a Lady Gaga fan, but I knew her albums back to back thanks to the relentless amount of times they were played.

“I could give you a quick rendition . . .”

“NO.” We all yelled together, making Elijah look slightly perturbed by our united response.

“Fine,” he snapped as Sam soothingly stroked his back. His eyes flicked to mine in amusement before returning to Elijah’s pandering to his ego. “You know you have to rest those vocal chords, you probably put a strain on them singing for three hours straight.”

Both mine and Joel’s eyes widened in horror. In general Elijah had an amazing voice, but him singing high-pitched ladies’ songs was enough to make your ears bleed. Sam gave us the ‘I know’ look. I felt bad for him having to put up with that all night, but I couldn’t help being grateful we’d escaped that kind of hell.

Elijah clutched his throat. “Yeah, I may have wrenched my chords reaching those high notes.”

The kind of notes that would shatter glass no doubt.

Elijah sipped on his coffee, his eyes flicking between both Joel and me, our silent exchanges bringing a smile to his face. Little did he know our amusement was down to him, Joel whispering several strangled cat references in my ear.

“So it looks like you two more than made up then?” he asked, placing his cup down on the saucer. He crossed his arms in contemplation as we waited for the string of personal questions to follow.

My fork stilled mid-air, my appetite suddenly gone. The way that twisted mind of his worked, he would be after specifics.

Joel quickly jumped in to spare my blushes. “Yeah, you could say that.” He pulled me towards him and kissed my hair. My face quickly changed to tomato red thinking of all the amazing wall sex. I had the injuries to prove it, my back ached from the harshness of the hard walls, but every second had been worth it.

“If that beautiful shade of red is anything to go by you more than made up for it.”

My eyes instantly widened at his directness. He was unbelievable.

“Elijah,” Sam warned, sensing my unease on discussing the matter further.

Really?

He always had a way of embarrassing me further, but I was keeping tight lipped, in fact the exact opposite to last night. I think I might have wrenched my vocal chords too. It was a good job we had a detached house, I’d never be able to show face in front of Betty otherwise.

“Iz knows I’m joking, if I had sex god in my bed I’d be grinning from ear to ear.”

Joel stiffened beside me. Did Elijah have a short memory? I glared at him, and his smile dropped.

Elijah let out an awkward chuckle. “Joel, you do know everything I say is just harmless banter, I’m perfectly happy with Sam. He’s my Izzy, he’s my future and we’ll keep each other smiling even when we’re old and grey.”

Sam let out a soft aww before placing a sweet kiss on Elijah’s lips. I squeezed Joel’s knee, and his arm encircled me, pulling me into a hug. I nuzzled against his chin, breathing in his rich intoxicating scent. Just enjoying the serene moment.

“But if you ever change your mind, we’re always up for that threesome.”

Joel sagged into me as Elijah and Sam chuckled loudly. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

So close . . .

* * *

“What are you reading?” Joel asked, walking in the door. He’d just finished a shift at the pub and looked tired after a long, hard day. I was tired myself. Elijah had dragged me around the streets, searching for some furnishings for the flat. I swear I never wanted to look at another cushion again. He had rewarded me with a large caramel latte at Starbucks, but to be honest by the time we found the perfect shade of cushion, I was about to physically suffocate him with them.

“Nothing, errr, just a book.” I tried to disguise the smile I had been wearing only moments earlier.

Joel’s eyes scrutinised mine before narrowing, taking in the expression on my face. “Are you reading Kellan again?”

I gasped in mock horror. “No, I’m not.”

Yes I was.

“Don’t lie you have that goofy grin on your face, I can tell which books you’re reading through your facial expressions.” He moved closer, and I went to hit the home key to hide the evidence. But I was too late when he snatched the Kindle from my hand.

“Aha, I was right, caught in the act.” He held aloft the Kindle revealing my blatant lie.

Dammit!

I rolled my eyes at his smugness.

Yeah, yeah whatever.

“One of these days I’ll have to read this Kellan book to see what all the fuss is about.”

That was NEVER happening.

“I don’t think Kellan is quite your cup of tea, unless you have something to tell me?” I raised a brow in amusement as he narrowed his eyes.

A smile spread across his lips. “Well, I’ve got to see what my competition is. I can’t be out done by a . . . what is it you call them again?”

I smiled at the sheer fact we were even having this conversation. “A book boyfriend or BB for short.”

He bit back a smile. I could tell he was finding the whole thing completely amusing.

The cheek!

“Well I’ve got to keep my eye on these BBs, can’t have anyone outdoing me.” He tossed the Kindle, and his eyes locked on mine. In two full strides, he was standing over me. His hands reached under lifting me up into his arms.

“Joel, what are you doing?” I asked confused. Where the hell was he taking me?

He nibbled lightly against my lips. “I’m going to take you upstairs and make you forget about this Kellan. My name is the only one you’ll be screaming tonight.”

My eyebrows rose with intrigue. “Really? He’s going to take some forgetting, he’s my favourite BB, remember?”

“Well, then I need to take it up a gear and make you forget even your own name,” he said, without missing a beat, quickly heading towards the stairs.

My eyebrows almost hit my hairline.

I didn’t doubt him for a minute.