The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (65 page)

“Oh, you were totally checking him out, Elijah,” Kara shrieked as we all laughed together. It had been a great day at the spa. We had spent the whole day being pampered and relaxing and were now heading home from the spa. Of course, Elijah had been on top form, even Kara was left speechless at times, but I think she may have even fell under his spell a little more. He always had that ability to draw people in; you couldn’t help but fall for the charm and his personality.

“I am not even going to deny it, me and Sam have an agreement, look but don’t touch and if a hot masseuse walks by then it is a crime to not look, in fact it’s an insult!”

“Oh, you are so lucky. Mike hates me looking but that is all it is, just appreciating a little eye candy that happens to be in my eye line.” She shrugged, like it was impossible not to.

“Joel doesn’t like it either. He can sulk sometimes, but then we end up having the best makeup sex, so it’s a win win.” I smiled just at the thought.

“Oh Joel, I still think it’s a crime that god never made that guy gay cause I would jump on that horse,” Elijah mused, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Elijah—”

“Oh you are so bad!” Kara shrieked, snorting. I, on the other hand, didn’t find it remotely funny.

Elijah’s face dropped at my not so happy response. “Izzy, seriously lighten up, you have a hot as fuck fiancé that is completely devoted and so much in love with you it’s beyond sickening. You really have nothing to be jealous about. You know I struggle to contain what I feel. I’ve had a crush on Joel forever, but what I say is in jest. I love Sam. It’s purely just a fantasy, that’s all.”

“He is hot, Iz, no scratch that, unbelievably hot. But shit don’t tell your brother as I’ll never hear the end of it. You are both so in love, the kind that is unbreakable. It gives me hope that maybe Mike and I might be in that place one day.” Kara sighed.

“Mike loves you, Kara. Trust me, you are the best thing ever to happen to him. I couldn’t take any more of his man whore ways so when you came along, we were all thankful. There is a side to him that he doesn’t show. You get glimpses of it every now and then. We’ve had our ups and downs, but he’s my brother at the end of the day and I’d be there if he needed me.”

Elijah pulled me into him kissing my hair. “You are such a great sister especially after what he did. Personally, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive him for that.”

“He did tell me about that,” Kara added, and I immediately spun around so my eyes met with hers.

“He did?” I asked shocked.

“Yeah,” Kara nodded. “I was surprised that he openly admitted it myself, but he said he wanted it all out in the open so I knew everything. I think that day I fell in love with him a little more. Not that I condone what he did, and trust me, I told him so. But I admired him taking the time to tell me when he could have easily taken the coward’s way out and kept it hidden.”

“I think he’s grown up a lot since then, yeah he’s still an annoying git, who loves to wind me up, but I see a softer side now. I think meeting you has brought that out of him, he needed someone like you to give him a kick up the butt at times.”

“Oh I more than keep him in line.” She winked and we all laughed. She was a pro at putting my brother in place and that thought alone made me smile.

“I love your little off the cuff remarks, you remind me so much of myself.” I could see an alliance forming in front of my eyes.

“I do try.”

“So is everyone able to come ’round for my little get together on Saturday night? Are Joel and you in the pub, Iz?” Elijah asked, his question catching me off guard.

“No, we actually have that night off—”

“Great stuff, well I can start to plan once I have numbers.”

“Yeah, but I’d have to check with Joel, he might have something planned,” I added, a little annoyed he hadn’t given me time to actually finish speaking.

“Oh trust me, you two, won’t be doing anything as good as what I’ve got planned.” He clapped his hands in glee.

I huffed in response. “Charming, just assume we haven’t. But how would you know we could be planning a night in, just the two of us.” I didn’t want to add anything else it was pretty self-explanatory, and I knew his mind would soon wander to other places.

“Oh but I’d love for us all to get together.” Kara pouted a little. I could already see she was quickly picking up Elijah’s persuasive ways. “Me and Mike will be there. He’ll complain but I’ll make sure to make it up to him later.”

“Seriously, Kara?” I shot her a look of disgust.

I wanted to be sick.

“Shit, Iz, sorry, I know I wouldn’t want to hear it myself. I’ll try to keep all the bedroom talk from you.” She smiled in an appeasing way.

“Oh but please feel free to share with me, I have no qualms of hearing what you and Mike get up to. In fact, the more information the merrier.” He grinned as I rolled my eyes. He really was too nosy for his own good.

“I’m sure Mike would not be happy with me oversharing, but sometimes girls like to talk.” And Kara did all the time.

“I can be an honorary girl, anytime you have anything to spill, hit me up we can do Starbucks while we perv. Speaking of which, I may have a major crush on the new guy in there. He is freaking hot.” He was almost drooling at the thought of him.

“Oh I haven’t been in there lately, might have to drop by to check him out.” The delight in Kara’s voice was clearly evident.

“Believe me he is more than worth checking out, in fact I may have even dribbled a little into my mochaccino.”

“Then I definitely need to go there.”

“So what is the plan for Saturday night?” I asked, trying to change the subject. Or else we’d be talking about Starbucks guy all day long.

“Well, there will be an array of different alcohol, we cater to all tastes.”

“Please tell me you’re doing cosmos, they are my new favourite drink. Where did you discover your obsession with them?” Kara asked.

“Sex and the City,” Elijah replied.

“Oh I’ve never watched that.”

“Hold up, rewind.” He looked alarmed, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was about to convert someone else. I could see many marathons ahead. “You’ve never seen Sex and the City?”

“No, I thought about watching it but then life got in the way so.” She shrugged as Elijah’s eyes widened even more.

“There is never enough going on to excuse never having seen an episode, that whole box set is TV gold. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve seen them.”

“Hundreds,” I piped up poking my tongue out at him. I had literally watched them over and over and that was just with him. There was no counting the number of rewatches he had done on his own or before he met me. He truly was one of their biggest fans.

“Oh don’t worry about Charlotte over there, she loved every minute of it.”

“I am not Charlotte!” I glared at him and he grinned.

“You are so Charlotte.”

“Whatever, Samantha,” I quipped.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I am Carrie, always Carrie.”

“Yeah, right.”

“You’d better take that back,” he warned, giving me a look.

“Or what?” I challenged.

“Then you’re not coming to my fab night.”

“Fine, Joel and I will plan something else.” I was quite happy for it to be just us having some alone time.

“Who are Samantha and Charlotte?” Kara asked.

“Samantha is the how do I say, lady that likes to get around. She has great oral skills and is very flexible when it comes to trying new things. Charlotte on the other hand is a bit of a prude, likes to act all ladylike, but we know better and has strict views, doesn’t like to hear graphic details when it comes to those of the bedroom kind.” His eyes flashed in my direction as he finished describing.

“I am not Charlotte. I listen to your graphic details all the time and I am not a prude. Joel can testify to that.” I snorted.

How dare he!

“I might ask him to confirm that but until then you are the Charlotte of the group, and I am the Carrie,” he announced looking superior.

“Well, who will I be?” Kara asked, looking intrigued by it all.

“Miranda of course, you are very straight to the point, and I like that you don’t hold back with your views.”

“Fine, I can work with that.” She smiled.

“Oi Samantha, can you put your foot down, I would like to get home sometime today.”

“I am not Samantha,” Elijah barked.

“Fine Samantha/Carrie, whatever, just hurry up. I need to pick Ruby up and go to the supermarket for tonight’s meal.” So much for a relaxing day.

“Just order in its far easier,” Elijah suggested. Takeaway was sounding better by the minute.

“Maybe, I don’t feel like cooking tonight.”

“Give yourself the night off and order extra prawn crackers, it’s supposed to be a relaxing day after all,” Elijah cajoled, like I needed much convincing. I was not in the mood for trawling around the supermarket after today.

“Yeah, I think I will.”

“I can pick Ruby up as well and have her for the night,” Kara offered, giving me a pleading look. Ruby was always keen to have stay overs. She was spoilt that way and she knew it.

“If that’s no trouble?” I asked.

Kara smiled. “No, we love to have Ruby over. In fact, Mike gets all soft when she’s there. I think we might need to get a dog. I don’t think Mike would be happy if I tell him I’m feeling broody, he doesn’t want babies just yet. As you’ve seen from his response, he gets quite horrified over it.”

Oh we had seen his reaction at the party.

“That’s most men’s responses but when they actually see the scan photo and get their minds around it, they soon change their tune. I want two babies with Sam, we’d love a boy and a girl, but really I’d be happy with any. I just hope we can find a good surrogate to help us when the moment is right.” He sighed looking sad.

“You will do,” we both said together. I was certain he would get his happy little family, the one he dreamed of.

“I hope so.”

I didn’t want the drive home to end on a sad note so I clicked on the CD, turning the volume up as Lady Gaga belted out. If anyone could lift Elijah’s spirits she could.

* * *

“Why did you agree to this again?” Joel huffed, pulling on his T-shirt. He was just fresh out the shower and smelled gorgeous. In truth, I wanted to pounce on him but we didn’t have time. There was a large part of me wanted to stay home, but it wasn’t worth the pain of being nagged to death the whole night about why we hadn’t made an appearance.

“Because Elijah wanted us to have a night together, he’s really excited about it. He just wants to spend time with us all.”

“But this was our only Saturday night off this month,” He groaned, looking pissed by it all. He had a point but I had agreed, so we were going.

“I know but I’ll make it up to you later,” I offered teasingly, hoping to lift his spirits.

A smile tugged on his lips. “So can we slip away early?”

“We can try.” I winked and he grinned.

“How long do you think we need to be there? An hour?”

“Joel.” I slapped him playfully on the chest. He was just unbelievable.

“What? An hour is being sociable.”

“Seriously?” I knew where his head was at.

“I just want to get back home so I can get this hot little body of yours naked,” he breathed, moving closer, with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” he asked innocently. “Oh I recognise the flush, are my words turning you on?”

“Stop it now.” Any more and I highly doubted I could stop myself.

“Or else what?” he challenged, he was definitely enjoying himself.

“If our first born is a girl, I’m calling her Chelsea.”

His eyes widened in horror. “Over my dead body, my child will never be called after that team.”

“Is that so?” I taunted, enjoying getting a rise out of him.

“Oh I know so." He pushed me up against the wall, his breath tickled against my face and his eyes dropped down to my lips as I bit my bottom lip in anticipation.

“I think we’d better go before things get more heated.” I could already feel myself stirring, a few moments more and I’d be gone completely.

“I think we better had.” Joel blew out, pushing himself off me. Leaving me to wonder what tonight had in store.

We arrived to find Mike and Kara already there. Sam took our jackets and gave us drinks. Elijah was in the kitchen preparing the food. We had told him that a takeaway would be fine, but he insisted on cooking.

Sam quickly closed the door behind him and gave us all a grave look. “Whatever the food tastes like, say it’s amazing.”

“I’m not going to lie.” Mike snorted.

“Yes, you will.” Kara batted him on the arm as he gave her a look.

“Please Mike, he’s gone to a lot of trouble, he will take it to heart if it’s not perfect.”

“It will be perfect,” I insisted and Sam smiled.

“But just in case.”

“We will nod and smile and pretend it is, don’t worry,” I said, placating him.

“I think we might need to hit the chip shop on the way home,” Mike moaned and Joel smiled. It didn’t last long until I dug him in the ribs.

“What the hell was that for?” he groaned, glaring at me as he rubbed his side.

“A warning.”

“I never said anything; he was the one that said it.” Joel’s eyes flashed over to Mike. Kara slapped Mike on the bicep when he grinned.

“Ow seriously, Kara?”

“I mean it, Mike, you say one bad word to offend him and you will have blue balls after this.”

“You don’t mean that, you couldn’t keep that up if you tried. I get my way every time,” he replied smugly much to my horror.

“Oh not this time, I have my BOB to keep my entertained should we have a dry spell.” Kara grinned in delight, while Joel and Mike looked on confused.

“What the hell is a BOB?” Mike barked.

I laughed as she winked. “Oh so you don’t know already?”

“What is it?” Joel asked confused. I whispered in his ear and he frowned. “Have you got a BOB?”

“Do I need a BOB?”

“I think not, I never have my hands off you,” he teased.

“Exactly!”

“Can someone tell me what the hell a bloody BOB is?” Mike snapped, his eyes flashing around us all waiting for an answer.

“It’s a battery operated boyfriend,” Kara announced, putting him out of his misery.

“A what?” Mike asked confused. I had to stifle a giggle.

“It’s a vibrator, sheesh do I have to spell it out for you?” Kara shook her head in disbelief, but my brother was always a little slow.

“What do you need a vibrator for?”

Talk about asking an obvious question.

“Well, if you have to ask.” Kara snorted as the rest of us laughed along with her.

Mike’s face physically turned red with rage in front of us, I think he’d just reached boiling point. “I swear if I find it, I will snap it in half.”

“You will not, I paid good money for that.” Kara shrieked.

“The only place it will be going is in the bin.”

She pointed her perfectly manicured finger in Mike’s direction. “You touch my vibrator and that signed Arsenal shirt that hangs up on the wall will be burned.”

“You wouldn’t fucking dare!” Mike growled, looking completely horrified.

“Try me, Mike, test me and see how far I can go.” From the look on her face it was all the way, even I was scared.

“What is it with you ladies being so anti Arsenal, your own sister said she would call our baby girl Chelsea earlier,” Joel pipped up.

“You did not!” Mike sent an angry glare my way.

“Oh for god’s sake, it was a joke!” I exclaimed, feeling irritated by it all.

“Not a funny one,” Joel muttered still looking pissed.

Mike nodded. “Yeah, couldn’t agree more, football is more than a game to us. We live and breathe it.”

“And you call me overdramatic,” Kara snorted. She did have a point he was blowing a stupid joke completely out of proportion.

“It’s not a joke and you, little sis, you’ve grown up in an Arsenal home, you do not mention the C word ever.”

“Sheesh, calm the hell down,” I muttered as I took a swig of wine. The mood was now growing darker, and we were all supposed to be here for a nice evening.

“What the hell is going on through here?” Sam ranted as he walked through the door, cutting our little argument short.

“Well—”

“I don’t care what it is, put a smile on your faces because first course is served, remember, he’s slaved over this all afternoon, so plenty of compliments.” He gave us a look of warning, even I felt slightly scared.

“I can’t believe you dragged me along to this,” Mike grunted, giving Kara a dirty look.

“Oh, quit your bitching and suck it up,” she hissed back.

“You’d better be sucking something else later to make up for it.”

“Seriously, Mike.” I hurled a bread stick at him that just missed his eye.

“You nearly blinded me.”

“And the overreaction award goes to.”

“Oh shut it, Iz,” he snapped, giving me a look of disgust.

“He’s coming through with the starter, butternut squash soup, warning you now, it has a weird taste.”

“Well I’m not eating it then,” Mike replied adamantly.

“Oh you will,” Kara hissed.

“I will not.”

“Neither am I,” Joel added. “We could have been eating pizza, watching a film, but no, we’re stuck here,” he fumed.

“Listen up, you two, you know the deal to get you tickets for Arsenal, well one word from me and that will be dropped. You understand?”

“That’s blackmail,” Mike snorted, looking completely horrified.

“Yeah, well whatever it takes to get you two fuckers to lie. So do we have a deal, every course is amazing.” His eyes stayed pinned on Mike’s before moving to Joel’s.

“Ugh, I’m not a great actor,” Joel protested.

“Just smile and eat, that’s all you need to do, even you two can manage that,” Sam quipped, shaking his head.

“Ha bloody ha,” Mike retorted.

“I mean it, any negativity and those special tickets I helped get for you guys are revoked indefinitely.”

“Fine, we get it, smile and eat,” Mike muttered sarcastically.

“Oh and you maybe need some extra wine, you know to wash it down,” Sam muttered, pointing towards the drinks cabinet.

“Good god, how bad is this soup?” Mike whisper yelled.

“Shush, he’s coming back through. Hey Elijah, I was just telling them you cooked up a treat in the kitchen.”

“God, I’ve been slaving away all day. I hope you all like it.” Elijah grinned. His face as proud as punch. He placed down the pot, and we all wrinkled our noses slightly before Sam shot us a look and we smiled.

“Now just tell me, boys, if you want second helping as I know you are all growing men. You especially, Joel.” He winked at him, and Joel nearly broke the bones in my hand.

“Extra ladle for you, Mike.” Elijah winked.

“Oh wow, thanks,” he bit out, focusing his eyes on the thick orange concoction in front of him.”

“Oh shit I forgot the cream.”

Sam grabbed his hand. “It’s fine we don’t need—”

“It helps to bring out the flavours more,” he shrieked running through into the kitchen.

“Trust me, we do not need anything that will give it anymore flavor. God, it smells like something died, that or cheesy old socks,” Mike mumbled.

Kara gave him a swift kick under the table.

“Ow, what the hell was that for?”

“You know fine well, keep it shut and eat,” she warned, her eyes boring into his.

“I don’t think I can …” I muttered, almost gagging at the smell of it.

“Please, Iz,” Sam pleaded.

Oh he owed me big time.

“Here’s the crème fraiche, now how many spoonfuls do you want?”

Mike doused his in crème fraiche, and I wasn’t surprised, anything that could disguise this putrid taste was welcome. I learned if I held my nose, the taste wasn’t as severe. Thankfully Elijah hadn’t given me an overly big bowl so I had just about managed to finish it. Joel looked green around the gills throughout, and he would normally eat anything. I’d seen him scrape mold off food in the past, much to my disgust.

“Does anyone want any more?”

“NO,” we all replied way too quickly.

Sam gave us a look and we all smiled. “We wouldn’t want to be too full for the other courses,” Kara offered. Even she looked queasy.

“What is the second course?” Mike asked, almost looking like he was going to puke right then and there.

“Steak.”

“Oh thank god—”

Mike suddenly looked pained and Elijah looked at him confused, Kara must have kicked him under the table.

“I meant oh thank god, the soup was so lovely and rich that I wanted a course that wasn’t too fancy.”

“Well I did my own sweet potato with a special sauce to go with the steak.  Think you boys will love it, I know you love your red meat.”

“Yep,” was all Mike could get out.

“So Joel, what was the score today?” Elijah asked, as both Mike and he looked confused.

“Errmm well it was …”

“I’m kidding, I couldn’t give a toss. Now I need to go see my sweet potatoes, they should be done. You guys will just have to entertain yourselves.”

“Oh we’re fine, you go and get that second course ready. I can’t wait to taste your special sauce.” Sam winked and Elijah chuckled, stacking up the bowls before walking back through.

Mike’s eyes met with Sam’s. “I don’t care what Arsenal tickets you get me. They could be in the box area, I will never eat soup like that again. God, it’s going to take me all week to get rid of that rancid taste. He chugged down some more beer in the hope that it would mask the lingering after taste that was plaguing us all.

“I know, I know and thank you all, though I thought you weren’t going to make it at one point, at least there was bread to try to dilute the taste.”

“Now that was good, I enjoyed that part,” Mike replied, taking another long draw of his beer.

“Yeah, you almost ate half the loaf,” Kara added sarcastically.

“I ate the soup, didn’t I, so please stop complaining.”

“I feel sick,” I muttered turning to Joel. I was seconds away from my starter making a reappearance.

“I could have been at home with a beef chow mein,” Joel muttered bitterly.

Mike’s face lit up in agreement. “Oh god, I could just eat that right now? Do you think he’d miss us if we happened to bow out early?”

“Yes, he would. Keep those bottoms parked you’re not going anywhere, capisce?” Sam snapped, giving them a look of warning.

“Jesus, Sam, it’s not Goodfellas. I’ll be waking up to a horse’s head next.” We all laughed hard at Mike.

“You’re quiet, Joel,” I remarked, but his frown soon changed to a smile when his eyes locked on mine.

“Oh I’m just sitting here thinking of ways to torture you when we get home.”

“What kind of torture?” I asked intrigued. I could feel my body stirring at just the thought.

“It’s a surprise, but you have to wait till later. We have this torture to get through before I can unleash my own.”

“Maybe just a hint?” I pleaded, giving him a look.

“Not gonna work, Iz, you get nothing till we get home.”

“Are you sure about that?” I ran my fingers up his thigh to be met with an ever-increasing bulge.

“Always ready I see.” I remarked.

“You know me, hard at the drop of the hat when you’re in the same room.”

“Ewww, Joel, that’s my sister.”

My eyes flashed to Mike’s. “Oh purlease, what about your blow job remark?”

Kara laughed and planted a long hard kiss on Mike’s mouth. “These lips of mine are amazing even if I do say so myself.” She winked.

Wow, too much information.

I think the soup was definitely about to make a reappearance.

“Anyone want any more wine or beer.”

“Yes, beer,” both Mike and Joel piped up.

“Seriously, guys, do not get wasted, loose lips and all that,” Sam warned handing over them over.

“I need to be pissed so I don’t taste the food anymore,” Joel said, chuckling.

“Shhh, he might hear that,” I hissed.

“What warbling as loud as he is with Lady Gaga on in the background, I highly doubt it.”

“I might need to fish out my old CD, he’s really getting me back into her. I love a bit of bad romance,” Kara replied, singing along.

Mike scoffed. “Trust me when I say that CD will last two seconds before it’s tossed out the window.”

“I’d take the Foos over Lady Gaga any day,” I remarked, sipping on my wine.

Joel smiled. “See, that’s why we work so well, we have the same amazing taste.”

“Unlike Elijah,” Mike added, chuckling.

“Was that my name I heard being mentioned?” Elijah remarked, breezing through the door. “Now are my ears burning? I bet you were trying to prize out of Sam the recipe for my amazing soup, but Sam knows better, don’t you, Sam?”