A Perfect Love (18 page)

“Not yet.” Ella half-laughed, half-grimaced. “We’re telling them in a couple of days.”

I laughed louder. “And what about what comes next?”

“Well, we’ll be doing it all. We’ve been grown-ups and talked it out. We even looked at dates for the best time to have a baby for taking time off work.”

A deeper laugh erupted. “You talked it out? What happened to romance and spontaneity?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve told Preston none of it will happen without hearts, rainbows and flying damn unicorns. I will be wooed and surprised, damn it.” She winked at me and proceeded to massage my feet.

I had no doubt Preston would go all out to achieve every one of her requests. “Try not to wait too long. Us having babies close together would be pretty aweso—” I didn’t finish off my sentence, horrified by my words. When the hell had I started encouraging pregnancy and all that it entailed? “Holy shit! Did you just hear the crap that came out of my mouth, El? If I say messed-up stuff like that again, you have permission to bitch-slap me. Next I’m going to be telling Liam to buy a station wagon.”

“The hell I’m buying a station wagon.” Liam stood in the open doorway, his face a ghastly shade of white. El and I looked at one another and burst out laughing. I held tightly to the moments of normalcy. It gave me a few instances of reprieve, allowing me to breathe before the tension set back in.

“Don’t worry, Jo. There’s no chance Liam would let you turn into a nightmare mum. Would you, Liam?” Ella looked toward Liam who sighed deeply in what seemed to be relief. Colour was coming back into his cheeks.

“Don’t be saying stuff like that, Jo. You about gave me a damn heart attack.” He stepped further into the room and headed toward me. As he bent to kiss me, he said, “Just so we’re clear, don’t ever be asking me to sell my bike. Not going to happen.” His lips pressed to my head on a smile. I allowed it, accepting the comfort and familiarity.

I admitted, “You look too hot on your bike for me to get rid of that. So no worries there.” I was deadly serious. One of the things I was most excited about post-baby, on top of the obvious, was riding snug against Liam.

His smile lit up his face as he stood upright. “You got that right, babe.” He winked and I rolled my eyes. “Preston was just talking about a weekend away with the boys, surfing and what not.”

I lifted my brows at his use of wording.

“You know, just chilling and hanging before daddy duty comes into full effect. You girls could go away on a spa weekend or whatever you like doing.”

I nodded toward El massaging my feet. “Should I be suspicious?” I asked around a light smile. I actually thought a weekend away from everything would be really good for Liam, and me. Work was not manic, with just a few easy jobs on the go, and with his mum’s passing, time out with the boys would allow him some downtime. More significantly for me, I needed time to re-find my bearings and my thoughts. I needed to deal with the muddle of emotions I was dealing with. I hated the heavy cloud hanging over Liam and me. It filled me with unease and dread, making me sick to the stomach. Not only did I hate feeling out of control, but it wasn’t good for the baby. I looked toward Ella. “Did you know anything about this boys’ weekend?”

“Nope.” Ella popped the ‘p’.

Just then, Preston walked in from outside. Lips tilting into a smile, he made a beeline for Ella and kissed her. Her head was tilted back, her lips waiting. “Has Liam told you about our weekend away?”

“He was just getting to it,” I answered.

“Suspicious of what exactly?” Liam had latched on to my last word to him.

“Well, you know guys have this stupid-arse idea of women’s sleepovers. I think the cliché involves pillow fights. Well, a boys’ weekend, which is apparently for no reason other than a boys’ get-together, evokes images of beer, porn—”

“Shaving foam, penises in permanent ink,” Ella interrupted.

I nodded in agreement, hoping my casualness would give him the reassurance he needed to go away for the weekend. I knew that with David still missing, Liam would not be happy with leaving me alone.

Preston shook his head in amusement, as Liam laughed lightly before he spoke. “Ladies, this is not schoolies. We’re not teenage boys looking to jack off to shitty porn and shave someone’s brows off. Don’t get me wrong, it was awesome when I left high school and did all that shit, but give us some credit.”

“Yep,” Preston added. “We can afford good-quality porn now.” He laughed, receiving a nudge in the side from Ella.

“Exactly.” Liam nodded in agreement.

“Fine, be off with you. But just so you know, if you come home with no eyebrows or a dick on your face, I’m filing for a divorce.” Liam flicked his gaze to mine, his face devoid of mirth. “Is Mace going, too? I think he should. It would be good for him,” I added.

“What would be good for me?” Mace entered the room and took a seat in the chair opposite where Ella and I were sitting. He’d scrubbed up well for his mum’s funeral; all of our men had.

“I need you to go and babysit this pair if they’re heading out for a weekend away.” I smiled and took in his frown.

Mace turned up his nose. “There’s no chance in hell I’m going on a damn surfboard.”

Liam grinned and sat on the arm of the sofa. I leaned into him, enjoying the heat and familiarity of his body. “Surfing is optional. I’m sure you can entertain yourself some other way.”

“Fine. When are we going?”

Liam looked to Preston for an answer. Preston shrugged before he spoke. “Next weekend? I have the weekend off.”

The boys made sounds of agreement, but not before Liam leaned down and whispered, “You going to be okay here?” I nodded my affirmation. I also knew he would speak to Mace and organise someone to look out for me, so I wasn’t concerned about being by myself. With a return nod of acceptance, he stood, and the men collectively headed out in a wave to get more beer, before leaving us once more for outside.

“Was it me or did we just get hustled?” Ella asked.

I leaned back deeper into the sofa and closed my eyes. “Don’t know.” I wriggled my toes. “Possibly, but they’re all big and ugly enough to take care of themselves.” In just three days, I would finally have the space I needed.

Chapter Fourteen

Liam

It had been a long time since I was last in the water. I tended to get a rush these days from my Ducati. After a few wipeouts, and Preston and a few of his friends taking the piss out of my failed attempts, I’d finally re-found my footing and tore up the waves.

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins with the last one I took. I revelled in the buzz, not concealing the wide grin on my face. “Hell yeah!” I shouted just before I flipped myself off, submerging fully before I came up for air. Looking back out to sea, I watched Preston, who had a pretty crazy skill set, on his board ride in.

Coming away was perfect timing. I knew Jo needed some time to process all she had discovered. I just hoped she was in a forgiving mood on my return. She was rational enough to understand why I’d withheld the truth from her, but hormonal enough for it to hit like a betrayal as opposed to protection. Time away also gave me time to put life and all that had happened into even greater perspective. While I hated myself for Jo finding out about David the way she had, wishing I had handled it differently, I wasn’t sorry for trying to keep her safe. I would do all I could to shield her from danger and unnecessary angst.

When I returned home, it would be time to talk everything through. We would then be able to work past the strain of the last week. While she hadn’t pushed me away, Jo erected a wall which was painted in repellent, telling me to back off. I had, to some extent.

Turning for one last wave, I paddled out hard, shrugging off my own unease of Jo’s anger and my own anxiety with leaving her. Jo had planned for a day and evening with Ella, as well as a night to herself to regroup. I knew she was safe; Mace had ensured that and had someone watching her back. With that thought, I released the tense breath I had been holding and turned as a wave headed toward me. Taking off, my hands pushed through the water. Garnering enough speed and feeling the slight tip and pull of my board, I waited a fraction of a second until the perfect moment to pop up. Once I did, I cut into the wave and rode it in, cutting parallel to the beach.

Every weave, every bob filtered through my body as I absorbed the rush of the wave. Beaming like a crazy man, I waited until the last moment to somersault in the air and throw myself in the water. As the ocean engulfed me, I revelled in the sensation tugging at my body. While I was not as young as Preston and his friends—hell, I felt like an old man at times in comparison—my excitement rivalled that of a teenager.

Once up for air, I grinned, took hold of my board, hopped on it and paddled to shore. I was ready for a beer, and no doubt, Mace would be getting antsy by himself.

Picking up my long board, I jogged out of the lapping water and made my way to Mace. He was lying out on the sand, leaning on his elbows while cradling a beer. Despite being in the peak of autumn, it was a sweet 26 degrees Celsius. But apparently, the warmth or the fact we were on a beach didn’t stop Mace from lying in the sand wearing his jeans. He had, however, removed his boots, so at least he was barefoot.

Putting my board down, I sat down next to Mace and reached to grab a beer out of the cooler. After opening the cap, I took a long pull and grinned down at Mace, who was watching me behind his shaded eyes. “You good, brother?

He nodded and drank from his bottle. “Yep.” He nodded out to the water. “You were looking good out there.”

I grinned my thanks.

“Thought I may need to wade in a few times at the beginning to save your arse, with the amount of water which was dumped on your head, but you survived.”

I laughed in amusement. “I need a crate of beer to flush out all of the damn sea water. Apparently, surfing is not quite the same as riding a bike.”

Sitting up, Mace chuckled. “You wouldn’t have a chance in hell of seeing me out there. Hell no!”

I scoffed. “I’ve never understood your reluctance to surf. You grew up ten minutes off the beach, just like me.”

“Never felt the pull. I prefer metal and rubber between my legs. Plus, you don’t get any damn sharks hunting you down.”

“Well, there’s no denying the pull of a bike, brother.” I clicked my bottle to his and gazed out to the ocean, watching Preston heading in.

“Have you spoken to Jo?” Mace was privy to Jo finally knowing about David. When I’d told him, he’d shaken his head at me, somehow managing to keep his ‘I told you so’ at bay. The worst of it was he’d encouraged me to tell Jo. The fool I was just chose not to listen.

“No, I’m just giving her some time. This weekend will give her that. I know we’ll talk it out and she’ll get to the point of kicking my arse, but at the moment, time is the only thing that will help her.”

He nodded in understanding. “He’ll show up eventually.” I looked out into the water as he spoke. “He’s a dumb twat and a meth-head. He’ll turn up.”

Bobbing my head at his words I had no doubt if anyone could make David magically appear, it would be Mace. Preston had since made it to shore, allowing for a topic change. “I think we’re going to go wash up and then head out for food and drinks. Sound good?”

He grunted. “Hell yes. Anything to get me off this God-forsaken beach. I’ve got sand between my arse cheeks, for shit’s sake. How the hell did that happen?”

I burst out laughing as he stood. “Nothing a shower won’t fix. Come on. Let’s head back.”

Once all of the boys dragged their tired arses out of the sea, we headed to the campsite and washed up. Once changed, we walked the one kilometre into town, passing a sex shop on the way. Rob, one of Preston’s buddies, called out, “We need to stop in there after food.” I grinned, totally down with that. The thought of buying something to play with in the bedroom with Jo sounded like a bloody awesome idea. It could easily be put high up on my list of how to beg for Jo’s forgiveness.

Our sex life was still great, despite the pregnancy and ignoring the last week’s events. About a couple of months ago, I’d almost turned her down as she was gagging for it all the time. She near enough wore my dick out. In the last few weeks, though, she was always exhausted. It took a hell of a lot of determined foreplay to get her to spread her legs. Rather than my dick almost wearing out, my tongue had never ached so goddamn much.

All of us nodded in acceptance of Rob’s plan, while Mace rolled his eyes. I had no idea if he was getting laid on a regular basis, but according to his constant tension and pissed-off state, I assumed not. I’d have to have a chat with Jo and see if she or El knew of anyone they could fix him up with. It was becoming
that
desperate. The fact I was worried about my bloody brother’s sex life was disturbing enough to force my hand into doing something about it.

After a couple of games of pool, where the Mason brothers were pretty much kicking arse, we settled down to eat. Looking around the table, I realised I was damn lucky to be surrounded by a good group of blokes. Life was filled with pricks at times; I’d met many over the years and I was grateful, especially considering how my own life was changing with my impending fatherhood, that I had friends who I could trust.