Forever: Broken #3 Read online

  “They’re great. I missed Emily so much.” I watch my baby girl play happily beside her brother.

  “Why didn’t he take Dillan instead?” She enquires.

  “Dillan wouldn’t have sat still while Nathan worked. Emily is less of a handful.”

  “Makes sense. I need to come and see you all.”

  “You do!” I really wish she could. It feels like a lifetime has passed since we saw each other last. “You’re always welcome here.”

  “You too, we’ll have to make a plan. What about in August?”

  “Well I’m away for Sasha’s birthday and then there’s work… apart from those two things I’m free.”

  “I’ll speak to my boss about the rota and let you know. Now go and look after your fiancé. I can hear him whining in the background.”

  Nathan has been whinging like a baby for the past twenty minutes. He likes me to cuddle him when he’s poorly; he says it soothes him. To be fair, I enjoy him cuddling me when I’m poorly and I do like holding him. Feeling his heart beating in his chest settles my own nervous heart.

  Unfortunately, he’s fallen ill at the worst time because I have the kids and in an hour I have work. I can’t leave them to cuddle him.

  “Will you get up and stop being such a wuss?” I yell up the stairs.

  “I just need a cuddle before you go.” He blows his nose and then sniffs heavily. “Please?”

  “Come downstairs then,” I order and usher my kids back into the room. They’re like little chubby shadows of mine.

  “Ugh,” he grunts but I hear the bed creak as he moves. “I feel awful.”

  “I know, Baby,” I say softly as he descends the stairs, wrapped in a blanket. “But you’ve got to start being active or the kids will kill you.”

  He nods and opens the blanket for me to embrace him. The heat his body is emitting is crazy. I feel sweaty before I even get my arms around his toned waist.

  “You’re so soft,” he coos in my ear and nips the lobe with his teeth.

  “I need to make something for the kids for dinner.” He doesn’t let me pull away so I add, “Unless you feel like cooking for them?” His arms, blanket and heat leave me faster than water from a tap. Giggling silently, I pad into the kitchen and pull a few things from the fridge.

  “With you working so much I hardly get to eat your food anymore,” Nathan pouts from the doorway. I love it when he pouts; he looks so adorable. His cheeks are glowing pink through his light stubble; no doubt his fever is a leading contributor to the colour. It’s not often that I get to see him with a bit of scruff on his face and I really like it. “Stop staring at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you want to eat me.”

  I wag my eyebrows. “I do want to eat you.”

  “I’m too poorly today, you insatiable creature.”

  My head falls back with a laugh. “You’re insane.”

  “I’m also too poorly for your sexual deviance. Away with you. He backs out of the room, his eyes dragging down my body so slowly it feels like a caress. He’s not wrong. I am insatiable at the moment and that look that he just gave me has not helped at all to soothe my latest case of horniness. If anything it has only poured fuel onto that fire.

  To distract myself I make them an easy to heat pasta bake and leave it in the oven for later. I just hope Emily likes it; she’s so awkward with food at the moment. She survives solely on biscuits, raspberries and milk.

  When I enter the room, almost ready for work, I sigh happily when I see my entire life snuggled together under a duvet on the couch. Some kind of kid’s TV show is on the TV and Nathan and Emily are lightly napping. I had wondered why they’d quietened. Dillan is sat by Nathan’s hip, enthralled in his TV show, so I back slowly and quietly from the room and close the door behind me.

  Gwen: I didn’t want to wake you or disturb the mini demon so I’ve left you with air kisses and dinner in the oven. I love you, good luck and take it easy. Xx

  I have a feeling he’s going to need all the luck he can get.

  Chapter Nine

  When I left for work I had this daunting, sinking flutter within, a peculiar nagging that something wasn’t quite right. At first I thought it was because Nathan is ill. Now I’ve discovered it was a sixth sense, my instincts warning me of something coming my way.

  A woman I haven’t seen in years, whom I never want to see again, is sitting only four tables away from the kitchen with a man who I don’t recognise.

  Nathan’s mother.

  She’s so pretty. It doesn’t suit her ugly soul.

  I’m surprised when she leans around her companion and peers into the kitchen.

  “The nerve of her!” I gasp and my hands tighten around the carrot and the knife that I’m slicing it with.

  “The nerve of who?” Harold asks, flipping a fish in a sizzling pan.

  “Nothing,” I mutter, still seething over the fact that vile woman just waved and smiled at me. As though she knows me! How fucking dare, she?

  “Calm. You’re going to cut your fingers off.” Kerim’s hands cover mine. “I notice you have seen her?”

  I nod.

  “Do not let her bother you. She’s not worth it.” Kerim doesn’t know about what happened to Nathan but I have no doubt that he’s aware of Nathan’s sour relationship with the bitch. “We don’t have time for drama. Come.” He pulls me towards the desserts. “You can finish these.”

  I nod, willing myself to keep my mouth shut for fear of losing control and running it where I shouldn’t. The urge to go out there and slap her across the face, job be damned, is just unbearable. So I distract myself with the desserts.

  From my position in the kitchen I can no longer see her, but that doesn’t stop me from tensing every single time I think I hear her laugh. How dare she find any joy when her poor son suffered for so long?

  “These look great,” Kerim compliments as he passes. “Keep up the good work.”

  That small gesture has helped me smile a little bit. Though only a little.

  I need my break so I can call my fiancé and vent to him about this.

  What are his parents playing at? First his dad calls and now his mum is where I work. Why can’t they just leave us alone? Haven’t they done enough? Does she know that I work here? If this is intentional, what does she want?

  Patience, adding to my discomfort, decides to sneer at me from over the metal table on which she is now preparing plates for table delivery. Which was my job. Her beady eyes narrow to almost slits and I now know that Kerim’s kindness towards me has earned me an enemy in this kitchen, which is disappointing because I don’t want any conflict. I just want to work in a hassle free environment, where I enjoy coming to every day.

  “Don’t mind her.” Harold winks at me as he passes. At least now I know I’m not going crazy because I’m not the only one to notice her animosity towards me.

  There is one thing I’m grateful to her for - her dramatic glaring has distracted me for long enough to almost forget about the infamous Mrs Patricia Weston.

  Hopefully she’s gone already.

  I daren’t look to see. I just want her out of my mind. Her and that poisonous husband of hers.

  How on earth he got away with what he did just sickens me. Nathan needs to come forward. I know it’ll be hard but that man is roaming free. And what will happen if something happens to Nathan and I? They have money. They’ll gain custody of our children if they wanted! What if his father is as vile as his father before him?

  My heart stops and tears fill my eyes at the thought of my babies, my beautiful babies, being subjected to such a torturous life.

  With trembling hands and a roiling stomach, I plough through my work, willing it to end so I can go home and speak to Nathan. We need to safeguard the future of our children. If this is the only way to do so, it needs to be done. His feelings be damned. He has me. I’ll help him through this. I’ll be there every step of the way.

  Unfortuna
tely, when I get home and I see my beloved Nathan snuggled into our blanket, his arm around my pillow, I just can’t bring myself to disturb his peaceful rest to bring up such awful times. My revelations and worries can wait until he’s better.

  “Mm.” Nathan’s arms come around my middle and his chest presses against my back. “Something smells amazing.”

  “That’d be me,” I joke, tilting my head so that he can kiss the tender space beneath my ear.

  “Bacon scented perfume? You spoil me.” He licks the space he just kissed, leaving a cool trail of tingles and unfortunately no small amount of saliva.

  “Gross,” I laugh and wipe at the spot with my sleeve.

  “NEEOOOR!” Dillan yells and flies his toy plane around the kitchen and then back into the hall. Emily sits in the doorway and watches him, a teddy in her hand.

  “How are you feeling today?”

  “Better.” He slides his hands down to my groin and cups it over my jeans before grinding his own into my arse cheeks.

  A shudder pulses through me but I shake it off and concentrate on the sizzling pan in front of me. “Let me cook lunch.”

  “I can be your lunch,” he whispers and nips at the lobe of my ear. My thighs press together and my teeth sink sharply into my lip. I feel him swell against me and the ache it causes makes me want to collapse onto the ground and beg to be taken. I may or may not have done this before.

  “Food,” I mutter, my energy all in one place, not leaving enough for me to speak at a normal volume.

  Soft lips move across the back of my neck as one of his hands gathers up my hair.

  I moan; I can’t help it. My hands leave the pan and my arse pushes back against his swollen length.

  “Fuck,” Nathan hisses when the sound of the doorbell has us both instantly alert. “Such crappy timing.”

  “You’re telling me,” I breathe and focus again on the bacon which is now crispier than I’d planned to cook it. “Can you get that?”

  “Certainly my lady,” he bows playfully and backs out of the kitchen, almost tripping on Emily’s abandoned teddy as he goes. I can hear Dillan babbling to her from the living room so I know they’re okay. There’s nothing dangerous for them to get their hands on thanks to Nathan and his paranoia when it comes to the safety of his children.

  “Who was it?” I call when I hear the door close.

  A low whisper comes from the hall and then I hear her sweet voice cry, “SURPRISE!”

  My best friend, Sasha, appears in the kitchen doorway.

  I scream, she screams and then we embrace.

  “HEY!” Dillan yells, unhappy with our noise.

  Nathan shakes his head, his smile emitting happiness as he scoops up his son and leaves Sasha and I to reunite.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to surprise you. I’m only here for a few hours. Tommy has a meeting at a sports place somewhere over that way.” She points at the far wall. “I figured I’d come and spend it with you.”

  I hug her again. “I’m so glad you did.”

  “I come bearing gifts.” She points to the bags she dropped upon entering and gives one a little kick. It rattles. “For the kids, not for you.”

  “Oh,” I feign disappointment, she punches my arm. “Aggressive.” When I see her look over my shoulder at the abandoned food I smile. “Hungry?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Sit, I’ll finish this.”

  “I’m going to properly greet Nathan and my beautiful God babies. You make us all some delicious food.”

  I kind of wish I’d planned for something better than just bacon sandwiches, though the bread is homemade so it’s not a complete shame and I just know Sasha will enjoy it regardless. She’s a greedy bitch.

  When I’ve served the food, Sasha and Nathan take their seats at the small, drop leaf table as I usher the kids to play. They’ve eaten theirs already.

  “Nobody makes bacon like you,” Sasha groans and Nathan quickly quips, “She cooks it, she doesn’t make it. Pigs do that.”

  The blank look she gives him has me stifling laughter with the back of my hand. I almost choke on the bread in my mouth.

  “I’m guessing by the lack of ring, he has yet to propose,” I comment, bringing her face back to life as her eyes come to me.

  “He will.” She sounds so sure that I really hope he does. I hope they’re both in the same place emotionally and mentally otherwise she’s going to be in for a world of hurt.

  I’m being a pessimist.

  It’s all of this drama and stress.

  “How is everything going with you two anyway? Have you set a date yet?”

  “No,” I say as Nathan says, “I’m trying.”

  We fall into an awkward silence. I take Nathan’s hand over the table and give it a reassuring squeeze. It’ll happen; we just need to take our time with everything else first, especially now he’s opening a new store.

  “How excited are you for Alton in August?” I’ve mastered the art of subject change.

  Sasha’s frown is quickly flipped. “Literally I am dying. We’ve never done anything like this before because you’re always pregnant.”

  “I am not.”

  “Are too.”

  “Well, no more for me. I’m done now. Time to focus on our futures and careers.”

  Nathan nods. “For now anyway.”

  Maybe one day we’ll have more, but it’s unlikely. We got lucky having one of each sex. Besides, until I’m certain that I can put both of them through college, I’m not even going to consider having any more. I know that Nathan feels the same… or am I being as blind as Sasha could be in regards to her marriage wishes?

  Wow, I really am a pessimist.

  “I love what you’ve done with your hair.” Sasha tugs on my trimmed, brown locks. “It’s grown nicely since...”

  “That it has.” Nathan threads his fingers through the back of my hair. It sends a pleasant feeling down my spine.

  My hair was a mess, it took over a year to get it all level and for a long time I had a bob that just didn’t seem to grow. Now it skims my shoulders and rests in layers around my face. I might actually prefer it to how it was before, long and wild. I feel more grown up and womanly with it this style.

  “I feel pretty,” I say around a broad grin, no doubt making myself look anything but pretty.

  “Ey wah wah la la,” Emily sings as she waddles into the kitchen with a headless doll.

  “That’s not creepy,” Sasha sniggers and holds out her arms to my chubby little princess. “Are you coming?” Emily’s face lights up and she quickly forgets the headless baby doll and rushes past Sasha and straight to her father.

  “Good girl,” Nathan grins and nuzzles his daughter’s nose with his own.

  Sasha looks on, offended. I just laugh, used to my daughter choosing her father over all else. Especially now that they get so much time together alone, their bond is stronger than ever. I love it and hate it all at once.

  “Sell out,” Sasha grumbles and turns her attention to Dillan who is now in the kitchen with the head of the headless doll. “Come here little boy, come to Auntie Sasha.”

  “Oh no,” Dillan gasps, his little lips form the shape of an O. He rushes to his dad and clings tightly to Nathan’s trouser leg.

  Nathan snorts, I wince and Sasha glares at Nathan as though it’s all his fault. Which in all fairness, it is.

  “Don’t worry, they treat me this way too,” I explain but her death glare doesn’t subside at all. Now it’s my turn to snort.

  Nathan looks unaffected. He’s always been unaffected by anyone’s ire but mine. Possibly because mine is the only ire he cares about.

  “So, where do you want to get married anyway?” Sasha asks, bringing the subject back to one I’d rather avoid.

  “Kensington Palace orangery,” Nathan states and the look I give him should surely freeze him in place.

  “Never heard of it,” Sasha admits, her head tilted in thought. �
��I was thinking of somewhere like the Washingborough Hall hotel for mine.” And that was her plan all along, to talk wedding details. I can’t help but smile secretly at her cleverness.

  “I want a pastel colour theme, which means you’ll probably be wearing a mint green dress. I do love mint green.”

  “It is a nice colour,” I agree and sip my drink.

  “I already went to look at wedding dresses.”

  “Sasha,” I laugh, rolling my eyes.

  She giggles with me and leans closer. “I can’t help myself. I’m so excited. I’m considering booking the venue now to guarantee my place.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “I wish my fiancée shared your enthusiasm,” Nathan deadpans and I feel a small amount of guilt.

  “She will, when she’s got time to become enthused about it.”

  I mentally cheer my friend on; her defence of me is appreciated. At least somebody understands.

  “Maybe my wedding will help elevate her levels of excitement.”

  Nathan winks at me and then stands. “I’ll leave you ladies to do your catching up. I smell something foul brewing in our child’s nappy.”

  “Have fun with that,” I tell him and smack his jean clad arse as he steps around my seat.

  “Don’t touch me,” he snaps, though I know he’s only joking. His lips touch the top of my head and then he leaves the kitchen.

  “The love that man has for you makes me fucking swoon,” Sasha sighs, her cheek resting on her hand.

  “Tommy loves you just as much.”

  “Tommy loves me. Nathan worships you. There’s a massive difference.”

  She’s not wrong. Nathan certainly is one of a kind.

  She continues, “It makes you wonder how two such noble, loving men came from such vile beings.”

  “Amen, sister.” we share a look of disgust at the mere mention of Mr and Mrs Weston.

  “Speaking of his parents, what’s going on with the trial? Is Nathan’s lawyer appealing to reopen the case?”

  I shake my head. “There’s no point; nothing will happen.”

  “So he’s basically gotten away with it?”