An Unforgotten Bet: (A Contemporary Romance) (9 page)

Tom reaches for his phone for the tenth time in the past five minutes, his finger hovering over Rose’s name.
Just one click,
he thinks to himself.
Her voice is only one click away from me.

But for the tenth time in the past five minutes, he hesitates. No matter what Rose says or what she does, he can’t stay mad at her. His brain is telling him to call her immediately, to tell her he never wants to see her again and whatever they might have had is over — but he can’t. He’s just going to have to face that he will always be madly in love with this woman, no matter what the hell he does.

He moves his finger over to her name one final time, but this time he doesn’t hesitate. By the time he’s pressed ‘call,’ there’s no going back. Every second that she doesn’t answer seems to drag out longer, and he can physically feel his heart pounding in his chest. Eventually, though, she picks up.

“Tom?” her voice is weak and hoarse.

“Hello,” is all he can manage.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she whispers.

He tries to reply, but the words get lost in his throat. He can hear her breathing on the other side of the line, and his heart begins to ache.
Just tell her that you never want to see her again.

The silence is agonising, even for Tom, whose turn it is to speak. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself, and then lets all the words come rushing out at once.

“I love you, Rose,” he croaks, his hands sweating as he clutches his phone.

Then there is more silence.

“Tom,” she whispers eventually. There’s another short pause before she continues with her sentence. “Tom, will you come and meet me?”

He glances at the clock. 1 am.

“Yes,” he whispers, this time without hesitation. “Where?”

“I’m at a friend’s house. I left my boyfriend. I’m sorry.”

His stomach somersaults. There are so many emotions going through his head right now that he’s not even sure what causes it, but his heart starts beating faster.

“Where?” he asks, standing up and grabbing his keys from the arm of the sofa.

“I’ll meet you at Jennings Street? It’s quite far away, it’s in my town, but I don’t have a car right now, and—”

“I’ll be there,” he mutters, cutting off the call and heading straight for the door.

Rose tiptoes down the stairs and pads over to the door. It’s late and everyone is already asleep, so she decides not to wake Gina. Thankfully the door is unlocked, and she opens it just wide enough to slide through, closing it as gently as possible behind her.

The sky is black, the only sources of light coming from the dim orange streetlamps as she wanders past the houses.
It’s so peaceful,
she thinks to herself, closing her eyes to and listening to the wind whirling around her. It’s during moments like these that people remember to appreciate the true beauty of nature.

Jennings Street is only a ten minute walk from Gina’s house, so Rose gets there with plenty of time to spare. She sits alone on a crumbling brick wall while she waits for him, hugging herself with her arms to try and protect herself from the bitter November wind and chewing her lip.

After sitting for ten minutes, she decides to pull out her phone to check up on the time and text Tom to let him know she’s here. But as she reaches into her pocket, her stomach sinks as she realises that she left her phone on her bed.

“Shit,” she hisses to herself, her hands delving into every pocket she can think of. She redoes the process at least three times before sighing and sinking back down onto the wall, cursing to herself. She can’t go back and get it — everyone’s asleep, and besides, Tom could show up at any minute.
But what if he’s trying to call her? What if he gets lost? What if he has an accident? He seemed pretty eager to get here. What if—

“Rose.” Her head snaps up at the sound of his familiar voice, and she can’t stifle her smile as their eyes meet for the first time.

“Tom,” she breathes, heaving her cold body up from the wall and running over, throwing herself up into his arms when she reaches him. He holds her close, warming her body against his and breathing his warm scent into her face as he stares into her blue eyes.

“I’m never losing you again,” he breathes, bending his neck to hiss her on the forehead. She lets out a giggle and throws her arms around his neck, this time completely unafraid to hold back. She can feel him smiling as he kisses her, and those all too familiar tingles return to her body.

“You’re stuck with me now,” she says reassuringly, and he laughs.

“Sorry I took so long. You’re cold. Let’s go to my car.”

Still carrying her in his arms, he walks over to his car and sets her down in the passenger seat, where she relaxes into the leather of the chair. She can feel her eyes closing as he turns on the heater, and when she briefly opens them he’s staring right at her.

“Sorry, I’m tired,” she mumbles with a smile.

He laughs, leaning over to kiss her. “Can you tell me what’s going on, Rose?”

She flicks her eyes fully open and sits up to look at him. His expression is soft and warm, but there’s no denying the hurt in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she begins, shaking her head, but he puts up a hand.

“Don’t apologise, just tell me what’s going on.”

She exhales loudly, then takes a deep breath. “When I ran into you at the coffee shop, I was still together with my ex-boyfriend, Danny. We didn’t get on very well…he’d cheated on me a few times before and I was beginning to fall out of love with him. I guess we just stayed together for convenience.” She shrugs, her eyes glazed over. “Then I saw you, and everything just…changed.”

“Changed?” he raises his eyebrows.

“Don’t you remember how close we were?” she says, her voice suddenly desperate. “How we told each other everything, how we could rely on one another for anything?”

“Of course I do, Rose,” he says soothingly.

“I know we were only kids, but you somehow managed to make me fall in love with you…and that feeling just never left. Do you know what it’s like to think about someone constantly for twelve years, Tom? To compare everyone you meet to them, to always be disappointed because nobody ever quite matches up? But it’s awful, because it’s been so long since you saw them that you don’t even know what happened to them, what they look like anymore, or if they even remember you…yet you can still remember everything about them, from their voice, to their laugh, to their scent, to their weird quirks. And then, after twelve painful years of trying to forget about them and move on with your life, you see them in a coffee shop…do you know how that feels?”

“I do, Rose,” he says, his voice so quiet that she has to strain her ears to hear him properly. “I know exactly how it feels.”

She sits motionless, her mouth opening and closing as she stares at him. And then he leans over and kisses her, supporting her head with his hands as she lets go and allows him to take over. All Rose can hear over the sound of his heavy breathing is the noise of raindrops pelting off the windscreen as the black sky opens up.

Gradually, Tom edges himself closer and closer towards her, and before she can stop him he has her body pressed up against the window, kissing her neck and her shoulders and ravelling her golden curls around his fingers.

“You’re never leaving me again, Rose Evans,” he whispers between kisses, his mouth slowly making its way up to her jaw to nibble on her earlobe.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Tom Flynn,” she giggles, raising her head to expose her neck, and pressing her body closer to his.

His hands slide over to her shoulders, pulling down the straps of the thin tank top that Gina let her borrow. She’s not wearing a bra, and her nipples harden at his touch. Tom seems to notice, as his breathing suddenly quickens.

“I just can’t keep my hands off you,” he mumbles, slowly dragging his fingers across her body until he reaches her breasts, and cupping them gently. His hands feel warm through her shirt, and Rose can’t help herself from scooting closer to him.

“That feels really good,” she whispers, sliding her tongue between his lips.

“It feels really good to me, too,” he says with a grin, sliding an arm around her back and pulling her in close to his body. She groans and grabs his wrist, pulling his hand back towards her breasts.

“That was so hot,” he breathes. “I’m going to have to take your clothes off.”

She giggles, unsure whether or not he is joking, but when he grabs the bottom of her shirt and lifts it over her head in one single sweeping motion, his desire is clear. He’s much confident this time, much more relaxed, and within only a couple of minutes she’s straddling him in the backseat of his car, both of them fully naked.

His hands remain on her breasts as he kisses her, and the groping gets more and more aggressive. She moans whenever his fingers brush her nipples, begging for more through shallow breaths. When he moves down to begin kissing her neck, it’s almost too much to handle. Without even thinking about it she grabs one of his hands from her breasts and guides it downwards until it’s in between her thighs, and begins rubbing herself with his hand. His hard cock presses into her stomach as she leans into him to rest her head on his shoulder, and his breathing gets louder as he begins to tease her clitoris.

“It gets me so hot when you’re this wet,” he breathes, sliding a finger inside her. She gasps, digging her nails into his shoulders as he moves his finger around inside her, and then slides it back out.

He moves his hand to his cock and begins to pleasure himself, kissing her neck as she does so, but she shakes him away.

“I can’t wait any longer,” she moans, moving his hand and positioning himself over him. He watches in awe as she lowers herself onto him, and then sighs in relief when he’s fully inside.

“I’m so close already, Rose,” he says, biting his lip, as she begins to rock back and forth. She opens her mouth to reply, but all she can do is gasp. When Tom begins bucking his hips, Rose automatically reaches down to play with her own clit.

“It feels so good,” she breathes, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.
Everything
feels good — from the way she can feel his heart pounding beneath his sweating skin, to the way her breasts are bouncing as he fucks her. His big brown eyes are glazed over as he looks at her, and his attention makes her more excited than ever.

“I’m going to come,” she moans, barely able to speak. His moans are so loud and rhythmic now that she’s not even sure that he hears her, but suddenly she feels his hands on her ass, squeezing her and pulling her closer.

“Oh, God,” she breathes, arching her back as far as she can as her orgasm takes over, still rubbing her clitoris with one hand while the other grabs Tom’s shoulder. He pulls her closer as he climaxes, wrapping his fingers in her hear and swearing profusely in her ear.

Her heart is pounding as she collapses into him, and her hips eventually begin to slow down. Tom gives her one last longing thrust before he throwing himself back in the chair, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“That was the best sex I’ve ever had,” he moans, pulling her close so that she’s lying on his chest. The windows are completely condensed now, making it impossible to see through them, but they can still hear the rhythmic patter of raindrops on the rooftop.

“I’m staying at Gina’s tonight,” she whispers, leaning up to look at him. “Will you stay with me?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Gina? I’ve never met the woman. I don’t want her calling the police on me on the middle of the night.”

“No,” Rose laughs softly, leaning up to peck his cheek. “Gina’s my friend. You met her that day at the coffee shop. She wouldn’t mind if you stayed over…please? Just for me?”

“Okay,” he says with a smile. “I’ll stay.”

They awkwardly pull on their clothes and slide back into the front seats. The sweat on Rose’s body has turned cold, and she shivers as they drive the short distance back to Gina’s house.

“Are you okay?” he asks, glancing over at her from behind the wheel.

“Couldn’t be better,” she chatters — and for once, she’s telling the truth.

“Good,” he smiles, and they spend the remaining few minutes sitting in comfortable silence until they reach Gina’s.

When they reach the house, Rose climbs out of the car and pushes the door closed as softly as she can manage. Tom follows her lead, and together they pad across the driveway to the front door. Rose edges it open and walks inside, but Tom hesitates.

“Shouldn’t we just sleep in the car or something? I’ve never even met her, Rose,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.

“I’ve talked about you enough, she probably knows more about you than most people,” she hisses. “Now get inside.”

He obeys her, kicking off his converse when he steps inside and wedging them at the back of the pile of shoes so that they’re out of sight. Rose rolls her eyes as she watches him, grabbing his arm to lead him upstairs when he takes too long. The stairs creek softly under the weight of them both, and Tom winces with every step.

Eventually they reach the landing at the top of the stairs, and Rose sighs with relief when she hears Gina’s soft snoring from the room opposite, occasionally accompanied by her husband’s deep grunts.

Still holding Tom’s hand, Rose leads him to the room she is staying in and shuts the door behind them, only daring to breathe when she hears the soft ‘click.’ Tom runs his hand through his hair, evidently relieved to have made it unscathed, and sinks down onto the bed. Rose follows, clambering on top of him and pinning him down to the mattress. They lie still for a moment, admiring one another in the dim light.

Suddenly, Rose clears her throat, her eyes still fixed on Tom. His intense gaze makes her blush, but she doesn’t back down.

“Tom,” she whispers, her voice so quiet that it’s barely audible?

“What?” he mouths.

“Remember that bet you made when I stayed over last night?”

“You heard that?” he sounds surprised.

“Yes, I did, and I just thought I should let you know that you win.”