Lost : The Little Sisters Book One Page 16

  But will Richard let Jace be hers? Lucy couldn’t stand what was happening. She reached over, past the bedhead, to switch the room light off and turned to look at his profile shrouded in darkness. Lucy felt the familiar tug, the pain of loss. It was a recurring feeling for her, always haunting the back of her mind. The fear of losing him became more real with each passing moment with him.

  “Hush, baby, don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine,” he murmured softly in her ear, but Lucy could hear the steely edge to his tone. Sighing in defeat, Lucy settled against him and drifted off into uneasy sleep.

  That first night together under her roof was not what it was meant to be. Neither of them got much sleep, nor did they have the guts to confront the sudden awkwardness between them. Uncertainty hovered in the air between them and Lucy knew it was all her fault. She didn’t yet understand her reactions to Richard, and Jace was too afraid of what Richard might do to tear them apart. Their worry was not unfounded, and the resulting sleepless night resolved nothing.

  At the break of dawn, Jace got out of bed in silence, dressed, and then just as quietly slipped out the way he’d come in, out of front door. Lucy could only shake her head at his boldness. She slept then, but it was the unhappy sleep of sheer exhaustion.

  The chirping at her window announced the morning. Lucy tossed aside her covers and rose to her feet, still heavy-lidded with sleep. Recalling the night before, Lucy’s heart trembled. Jace? It snuck up on her like a dark cloud pouring its shrivelling-cold drops of sorrow on her.

  “Hurry up.” Emily pounded on the door. “We are going to town. I need to shop for a new dress and I need your opinion. Cat always just agrees with me.”

  “I’m coming,” Lucy called out forlornly. The day had only just started, but she could already tell it was going to be a long day. Lucy got ready and then made her way slowly down to breakfast. Mum and Dad had thankfully already gone off for the day and so that left just the three girls to do as they pleased until they returned home in the evening.

  The breakfast was all laid out on the table. Lucy could see Emily was going the extra mile. Bribery? To sweeten her disposition for the day of shopping ahead? It didn’t matter though, Lucy was going to suck up to her big time anyhow, and if that meant spending the day at the shops with her then she would do it willingly. There had been no need for bribery. Emily had been so wonderfully supportive in all this that Lucy would not let her down. She’d get her the best damn dress there was out there.

  Lucy took a bite of her favourite breakfast—butter and jam on toast. It tasted like ash in her mouth. But she swallowed regardless. Then took another.

  “Right. I’m ready. Let’s go,” Lucy announced to the empty but listening room. A squeal of excitement rang out from one corner of the house and a clatter of feet made its way down the stairs. Then the twins were beside her—one eager and the other with a reluctance to match her own. But Emily’s excitement was catching, and Lucy found herself suddenly happy, excited to be headed out. To set all her doubts behind her and start anew.

  For some unfathomable reason, shopping was that way forward. Feeling a little lightheaded, she ran up to grab her things before rushing to join the girls out in the garage. Where the cantankerous old car that was Lucy’s transport of little choice awaited them. Driving was, as always, going to be a massive feat.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Lucy asked Emily with all the seriousness she could muster. Having strict parents who dictated their purse determined their choice in cars; Lucy’s greatest regret was in not slumming it a lot harder in all her many summer jobs over the years.

  Still, this vehicle had come to her for free. Courtesy of Jace, her one-time-best-friend-and-now boyfriend. That still took some getting used to. But eyeing the Woggy now, as she fondly liked to call it, Lucy was once again questioning the sanity of her decision. Shaking her head in bemusement, Lucy moved over to the driver’s side before stopping to eye the baleful-looking twins.

  “We have to shop, Lucy. Whatever it takes,” said Emily, bravely.

  “Right, let’s do this,” declared Lucy, before stepping back to holler out jokingly. “All on board!”

  The Woggy was an old Commodore station wagon that had seen better days, possibly only centuries ago. It had come to her as a birthday joke when she turned seventeen and got her licence. Jace bought it, thinking it would shock her into hysterics, but Lucy was made of sterner stuff than that.

  Still, eyeing her car anew each time she chose to drive it, the old doubts assailed her. Lucy doubted she could get it out of the garage, let alone across to the other end of town, but miracles do happen. And with this car, oddly enough, it happened more often than not. All she had to do was gun the engine and believe.

  What she still couldn’t believe was Jace’s nerve in gifting it to her in the first place. As a birthday gift, this piece of scrap metal had been disappointing; even if Jace did get a laugh out of it, she sure as hell hadn’t. What an immensely deflating day that turned out to be. That was two birthdays in a row suffering the same fate, and all at the hands of Jace. Perhaps there was something in that? But the Woggy had her uses, and Lucy had kept her on in all her rusty glory. More out of necessity and the lack of affordability.

  Lucy got in the front seat, and with fingers crossed she turned the ignition. When the car started with nothing more than a rumbling purr they heaved a sigh of relief and then both Emily and Cat dived in beside her.

  A giggling bunch of girls, they made their way slowly down the slope. Controlling the pace of the car, Lucy slowly released the clutch and shifted gear to pick up more speed. Then, like a bolting horse, the car leaped forward to burst down the road. They screamed out in mutual fright and shot off to town.

  Lucy turned off the ignition. The silence in the car was deafening. They all took in large calming breaths before urgently reaching for the door handles to clamber out to safety and set their foot to firm, unmoving ground. Emily, with her usual penchant for drama, flung herself to her knees to kiss the ground in thanks for making it there alive. Cat rolled her eyes at her theatrics but heaved a grateful sigh. Lucy burst out in hearty laughter, the hilarity of the moment subduing her wildly thumping heart. She really did need to strangle Jace for Woggy. What had he been thinking?

  Feeling more alive than before, they exchanged amused glances then marched off determinedly to the shops. The day went sluggishly slow after that. Finding Emily’s dress took forever, and then there were the shoes to match and the accessories. It all seemed like a total waste of time, but being frustrated and exhausted was relatively better than anything else Lucy had on her plate for the day.

  “Bessie!” Emily called out on spotting her friend within the same dress shop. “Are you going to the party too? Cat and I will be there.” With Christmas over and New Year around the corner there were parties going on every other day and popular Emily had been invited to the lot of them.

  Lucy looked at Cat and knew instantly that this would be a long conversation that they’d want no part of.

  “Ice cream?” Lucy mouthed to Cat, who nodded eagerly. Together, they retraced their footsteps back out to the footpath and then promptly took off at a jog, giggling as they went. They had to time it just right and have their ice creams to go so they could be back before Emily noticed they were gone.

  The ice cream shop around the corner was packed to the brim with whiny kids, fresh on their school break. It would be more of an effort getting in and back out than Lucy could emotionally afford right now. Looking at Cat as they approached, Lucy indicated for her to go on in while she waited outside. She smirked, watching Cat battle her way in through the throng of noisy kids.

  That was when it happened. A matter ill-timed to perfection. Mr and Mrs Neil walked out of a restaurant just beside the ice cream shop, and behind them were Celine and Jace. The four of them out to lunch together.

  “Got you chocolate,” said Cat, surprisingly quick.

  Staring straight into Jace
’s blue eyes not a yard away, Lucy said a little dazedly, “Is it lunchtime already?”

  “More like close to tea. Em is an awful shopaholic, not that she’s bought anything yet. But what else do I call it? Browseraholic? Besides, with her it’s always about the chase and never the kill.” Cat shrugged dismissively, missing the fact that Mr and Mrs Neil had walked past them without any acknowledgement.

  Lucy watched on as they climbed into the Merc parked on the opposite side to the street, the vague wave of farewell from a shrugging Celine but more importantly, of Jace’s calm dismissal as he turned the opposite direction and took off on foot. Why had he done that?

  Lucy could understand the Neils’ and Celine’s casual dismissal, but Jace? Was he still upset about what Lucy had told him about Richard?

  Lucy felt the tingle of reaction on her hand just recalling Richard’s lips all over it, but her heart ached at the thought of Jace being angry with her about it. A quick check of her phone told her there were no new messages. Jace had not tried to contact her.

  But then, she hadn’t tried to call him either. Her fingers hesitated over her phone, undecided whether to try and reach him. Glancing back up, she saw Jace’s silhouette fade away into the distance. No doubt he was heading back to work after having lunch with his parents and Celine. Did she want to do the nagging girlfriend thing and start questioning him?

  If anything, Jace was likely being the more trustworthy of the two. He was not the one who’d allowed another to be all over him like a rash. No, that failing had been Lucy’s.

  But Jace was, first and foremost, her friend. The fact that she loved him as something more was neither here nor there. Especially when she’d allowed Richard liberties with her hand. Who knew it was even possible? An assault on a hand, leading to an assault of the senses?

  The rest of the afternoon went abysmally slow. So it was with some urgency that Lucy approached Woggy for their trip home. But the drive home was oddly silent. They were all exhausted from their day out.

  Lucy slowly pulled the car back into its usual spot in the Little’s garage, cutting the engine off. Emily was quick to clamber out, her bags of shopping secure in her grasp, but Lucy lingered where she sat behind the wheel. The tense feeling she’d been having wouldn’t leave her. Instead it only intensified.

  The need to sing was strong. But the urge to repress that instinct was stronger. Shrugging off her feelings had become second nature to Lucy. It was either that or break into a falsetto at every turn. That would only render her singing mad. There had been way too many upheavals in her life to break into a song each time, but that didn’t stop Lucy from trying.

  A hum broke free from her lips. Its rhythm soothing and familiar. It took her only a moment to place it and when she did, the song within her fell silent. It was the tune to the latest single by Knyte Starr. Humming to her father’s songs was the last thing she wanted to do.

  “Are you alright?” Cat asked Lucy, concerned. Lucy turned, offering her a smile that was neither reassuring nor appeasing.

  “Never felt better,” she murmured tightly.

  It was as if the walls were closing on her, making it hard to breathe. The past was coming back to haunt her while the future threatened to crumble beneath her feet. Lucy cracked open the heavy door and shoved at it to get out. Cat stepped out with her, and after another concerned look she to ambled towards the house at a more sedate pace than her sister Emily.

  Lucy took a deep breath, staring out at the approaching dusk. She knew instinctively he was there. Waiting. Feeling intensely glad and yet intensely worried at the same time only froze her feet. Lucy stood there, lingering indecisively. Fighting the urge to simply give in and run to him.

  She looked around searchingly toward the dense bush surroundings but couldn’t spot him in the looming dark. Was it just her overactive imagination acting up? Conjuring what her aching heart so blindly desired?

  With a heavy sigh, Lucy turned away, moving towards the front door that had been left wide open for her. Taking a last look around, she moved to step in. Out of nowhere, Jace moved in before her, stepping ahead to just as quietly march up the steps, making silently for her room.

  Joy had her heart thudding frantically in her chest. Lucy moved in hurriedly before casting an anxious look around, but none were around to witness Jace’s arrival save herself. Attempting to calm her unsteady nerves, Lucy followed only a pace behind.

  But her attempts to stem her excitement were void. As soon as she stepped into her room she was in his arms. The door clicked shut behind her and Lucy was pushed up against the door. Lucy opened her mouth to speak but he took it in a drugging kiss that rendered her mute. The kiss went relentlessly on. Their first official kiss as a couple.

  He had studiously avoided taking her lips before now. And now, he couldn’t seem to keep theirs apart. Lucy clung hard to Jace. Her arms going about his shoulders, and her hands buried in his hair. They plundered each other’s depths, long past the point of tiptoeing about each other in a fake pursuit of friendship.

  There was nothing remotely friendly about their lips and tongues assaulting each other. All those years of being together had clearly been building up to this point. This point of famished intensity.

  “I won’t let them tear us apart,” he promised, ripping their lips apart to pant hotly down at her. The intensity of his heated gaze only served to send her already galloping heart pounding off the charts. Her breath caught in her chest. An unexpected lump formed in her throat and the tears she had always refused to spill now splashed down her heated cheeks.

  “Jace?” She breathed out in a hoarse undertone. His name came out as a shiver in the wind. But it wasn’t the cold that gave her this delicious chill running trembling down her spine, it was the heat rolling off his melting gaze.

  “Lucy…” His lips returned helplessly to hers. Like a drug, the pull of her attraction drew him back for more and more. He took her willing lips again and again in pleading intensity. The pressure of his demanding assault on her senses lifting her literally off the ground. With her back up against the closed door, Lucy could only lift her long legs about his waist. With Lucy wrapped about his frame, Jace rocked his hip back before jerking it up against her. Lucy felt the door move against her back but was oblivious to the implication of the movement. She was lost in the sensation Jace was arousing in her.

  Her hands moved over him in wild abandon. Silently urging him on to greater liberties. Responding on instinct, Jace drew back, taking her with him before spinning on his heels and taking the few steps needed to make it to her bed. And then they were tumbling across it. Hot to have at each other and finally ready to leave off the years of mere friendship and opt for something so much more.

  Her hands flew all over him, shedding off clothes as she went. The urge to feel him skin-to-skin was overwhelming. Lucy raised trembling hands to cup his bristled cheeks between them. Carefully parting their lips from an all-consuming kiss, Lucy took a moment to stare up at him.

  Her amber gaze molten gold as she slowly took him in. Seeing him for the first time in a completely new light. Gone were all her childhood impressions of him, in that moment, Jace, as he was, was all that remained. Heated eyes of passion clouded blue, drooping lids that held her adoring gaze half-mast, Jace held a sensual beauty that slowed the thud of her heart almost to a still.

  She took in the strong bridge of his nose and rested her eyes on the sultry softness of his lips. A new awareness of him rose within her. Something more substantive than mere love.

  “Jace?” The hesitance in her passion roughened voice drew a flare of answering heat in his gaze.

  “I’m here, Lucy,” he murmured soothingly in complete understanding. He saw in her gaze what he had always been hoping to see—the same fierce passion that he felt for her. That he had felt for her for a long time. Biding his time. Waiting for her to feel the same. In that moment, all his doubts were gone. The jealousy that had been eating at him, knowing Richard’s in
terest in her, was subdued. A feeling of intense relief had Jace drawing Lucy back into his arms in a hug that was filled with more warmth than mere passion. It was love. Deep and abiding. The kind that spelled forever.

  “Always.”

  Lucy made an incomprehensible mewling sound of panicked distress in a response that shocked even her.

  But Jace only chuckled, nuzzling his face against the shorn length of her frizzy hair. Lifting his head to smirk his signature lopsided grin in a move he knew would only taunt her to further distress, Jace found the usual sardonic twitch to the corner of his lips still and then waver, as the heat of her gaze melted his insides. Spurred into action, his lips came down crushing hers against his in a desperate kiss that dragged on and on.

  Softly, article after article of clothing, this time hers, flew across the room to land where they would. Jace continued to kiss her, and Lucy continued to crave him. She whimpered and moaned each time his lips left her to struggle with her remaining clothing but then her bra came off and his chest meshed hungrily against her own. His kisses grew almost violent then and her grip on him was just as cruel. Lucy twisted her hand in his hair almost painfully as she craved even more and Jace rocked himself against her soaked panties, panting for the same.

  The peal of the phone brought them to their senses. They drew abruptly apart. Lucy made a mad scramble for the phone, blind panic guiding her actions. She pushed off him and clambered off the bed in search for his pants from where the wailing phone hailed. Finding it strewn across her desk. Lucy grabbed it and tossed it to him.

  Then, seeing where his hungry gaze was trained, Lucy grabbed her own shirt off the floor and shrugged into it. She was still shell-shocked over what just happened. Everything had blown out of hand too quickly. Like a blaze lit to dried hay, she’d felt her insides go up in flames of love and lust. Having been in no way able to talk about it or even look at him just yet, Lucy needed him to leave so that she could come to terms with what just happened. How in the span of minutes had everything changed? Lucy stared obsessively at Jace, finding herself unable to tear away her gaze, even knowing her doubts and hesitancy like she did. What had he done to her?