Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (37 page)

Standing with her in that second though, with her beautiful grey eyes burning into mine, my hoodie wrapped around her body - I realised that we didn’t need music and flowers or candles and expensive food, all we needed was us.

“I love you too, Ellie,” I whispered, bending slightly so I could lose myself in her gaze.

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth as her arms looped around my waist. I didn’t move, not wanting to ruin the moment - I wanted to live in this perfect moment forever. The sound of her soft laughter brought me out of my happy daze. I looked at her curiously and she full on grinned at me.

“Usually now’s the part where the guy kisses the girl,” she teased, squeezing my waist in a prompt.

“I thought you were the king of corny stuff.”

I laughed and stepped closer to her, pressing my body against hers. “I guess I’m not as corny as you always make me out to be,” I joked. I smiled at how adorable she looked in the soft light of the moon and streetlights. “I love you, Ellie,” I repeated the words for good measure, and then bent my head and captured her lips in a kiss that showed her exactly how true those words were.

By the time I pulled back we were both a little breathless. “Let’s get inside then, Stud.” She nodded over her shoulder towards the house.

I sighed and didn’t let go of her. “You sure? You don’t have to do this, Ellie. I don’t expect you to do this, I hate that I’ve asked you to. You deserve better than this.”

She smiled and trailed one hand up my body, setting it against my chest, hovering above my heart that was slamming in my chest still from the confession that she’d made.

“Jamie, I know you. I know who you are in here,” she tapped on my chest, “if you tell me that you only went back into this stuff to help out your mom, then I believe you. You said you wanted to go straight, well, in two months when your agreement is up with this Brett guy, then you’ll be able to go straight. I wouldn’t love you any less for this, your past is the past. Hopefully after this it’ll stay there and you’ll get a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance,” she replied. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against hers. “Besides, who else would put up with my sleep talking that you claim happens?” she asked sarcastically, giggling sheepishly.

I laughed and kissed her again, clamping her against me tightly. The heavens must have been smiling down at me after all. “I love your sleep talking,” I admitted.

She pulled away from me, taking my hand. “Come on, let’s go to bed,” she suggested. “And by the way, my mother is going to hate you even more than when my parents find out that you snuck in last night,” she said, giggling wickedly.

I groaned at that thought knowing how right that was. Her mother was going to throw a fit tomorrow when they saw me, but I guess it needed to be done - people would need to think I stayed there the night for the alibi to hold. I pulled Ellie to me, bending and sweeping her into my arms so that she wouldn’t hurt her feet on the gravelled driveway. She smiled up at me and pressed her lips to mine as I carried her into the house, wondering just how I’d gotten so damn lucky.

Wriggling, she was wriggling against me, her body brushing against mine in ways that made the male part of me jump for joy. I smiled and pressed my face into her hair, breathing in the vanilla scent that made my skin prickle. I tightened my arms on her, trying to keep her still so I could go back to sleep but she was squirming, trying to get away.

“Jamie, I need to pee!” she whined.

I laughed and released my death grip that I had on her, rolling onto my back and untangling our legs. My eyes cracked open just in time to see her spring from the bed and hotfoot it to her bathroom. I was still tired so I settled back against her pillows, deciding on more sleep.

A minute later her bathroom door opened and she padded across the room. The bed dipped and then suddenly a heavy weight plopped onto my stomach making me let out a soft groan because I wasn’t expecting it. She giggled, her hands resting on my chest. Forcing my stinging eyes open, I looked up at the girl that made my whole body ache. She was straddling me, sitting on my stomach, smiling down at me. Her red hair hung loose around her face, tangles and snarls everywhere, her bangs flicking out the way she hated. In the sunlight that was streaming in though her window, she looked beautiful.

“You need to wake up, sleepy head. I can’t lie in anymore, I’m hungry,” she chirped. “Besides, it’s time you gave me my birthday present.”

FUUUUUUUUCK! Her present! “Oh shit, Ellie, I left it at my place. I didn’t know I was going to be coming over. I’m sorry.”

She rolled her eyes and bent forward, pressing her chest against mine, her face hovering close enough that I could taste her minty breath as it blew across my lips. She’d obviously taken the opportunity to brush her teeth while she was in the bathroom.

“Not that present, silly. This one,” she whispered. Her mouth pressed against mine in a soft kiss that took my breath away. I kissed her back immediately, running my hand up her back and twisting it into the back of her hair as the kiss deepened. She moaned into my mouth so I rolled her underneath me and broke the kiss, tracing my nose up the side of hers.

“Happy birthday, little girl.”

She grinned and nodded, looping her arms around my neck. “Yep, it totally is,” she confirmed.

I laughed at her happy expression and moved off of her but still kept my body pressed tight against hers. “So, I get you for the whole day, and the night, that’s what we agreed, right?” I asked, flicking my eyes to the alarm clock. It was almost half past ten; we’d already wasted most of the morning.

“Right,” she agreed.

I sighed contentedly, just looking at her face. I didn’t need anything else in the world other than that smile to always stay stretched across her full lips. “I love you, Ellie.” I loved saying those words -

I’d wanted to tell her for a long time, but I was waiting for the right moment. I guess last night wasn’t exactly the ‘right moment’ if you were looking at it on paper, but it had sure as heck felt pretty darn right at the time.

She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to me, her finger tracing one of my scars on my chest.

“Love you too.”

As usual my hands had a mind of their own around her, and were wandering across her body slowly, my hand grazing over her skin softly making my mouth water. When my fingertips came into contact with the cotton material of the shorts she was wearing, I smiled. I’d forgotten to ask her if they were mine, they sure as hell looked like the boxers that I usually sported. After we’d snuck into the house earlier, we hadn’t spoken at all. We’d just cuddled in the bed, kissing until we both fell asleep. I knew there would be a lot for us to talk about today but that could wait for later.

“Are you wearing my boxer shorts?” I asked, raising one eyebrow, trying to pull off the annoyed expression but I’m pretty sure I failed miserably. I actually loved her wearing my clothes - I think that was a guy thing.

She giggled and looked away from me uncomfortably as she nodded in confirmation. “Sorry. I like wearing your stuff. I borrowed them last time I was at yours and then kind of forgot to give them back,” she admitted.

“Should I be worried that you’re rifling through my stuff and stealing my underwear?” I teased.

She shook her head quickly. “No, you should only be worried when I start collecting your used Kleenex and keeping the loose hair from your brush,” she replied, letting out a theatrical evil laugh.

I grinned and pulled the covers up over our heads, starting a tickling war that didn’t finish until she had tears in her eyes and was begging for mercy.

“Maybe we should go and get that parent bit out of the way now?” she suggested a little while later, wincing as she spoke.

I groaned and nodded, reluctantly releasing her from my embrace. She kissed my lips softly before pushing herself out of the bed and picking up my hoodie that she’d thrown on the chair when we came to bed last night. I smiled as she put it on, zipping it up. I climbed out of the bed too, stretching before pulling on my jeans and t-shirt.

“Err…. Jamie?”

I turned, concerned by the tight tone of her voice. I realised what had caused that tone as soon as I looked in her direction. In her hands was my envelope from the boost last night, it wasn’t sealed so you could easily see the bundled cash that was inside it. She was staring at it with wide eyes.

“Err, yeah,” I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

She gulped loudly. “That’s not real money, right? I mean, it looks like real money but….” she trailed off, shaking her head and looking up at me with the cutest little bewildered expression on her face that I’d ever seen.

“It’s real,” I confirmed. “Doing what I did last night pays really well.” She drew in a ragged breath and nodded absentmindedly as she held the envelope out to me. I sighed deeply. She was clearly uncomfortably about it now. Maybe it was only just sinking in, maybe now that there was something physical in her hands that proved me to be a criminal, she’d have second thoughts.

“Don’t freak out,” I pleaded.

She smiled weakly. “I’m not. It’s just….. that’s a lot of money. I’ve never seen so much cash,” she replied quietly.

“You can have it if you want. Buy yourself something with it? A new car maybe so that I can stop spending my weekends fixing up your crappy old one?” I suggested, laughing. I didn’t need the money at all; I already had almost forty thousand dollars sitting in the bank from the last few weeks.

“I owe you anyway, for the alibi,” I added as an afterthought. She deserved that anyway for helping me out last night.

Her forehead creased with a frown as she closed the distance between us and slapped the envelope against my chest. “You think I want paying for that?” she asked, glaring at me angrily. “I don’t want your money, Jamie. I just want you safe and not in trouble. Money’s not important, you are!” she stated, her eyes flashing with passion as she spoke, showing me the truth of her words. If it was possible, I somehow fell even more in love with her when she said that. Most girls would have jumped at the chance of an envelope full of cash, no strings attached.

I didn’t have an answer for that so I just wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to me roughly, making her squeal. I smiled and bent, kissing her passionately. I had no words to describe how that little speech had made me feel inside. She was just too incredible for me, but I hoped she never realised it.

She pulled away from me and grinned, taking my hand and tugging me towards her bedroom door, obviously eager for the birthday breakfast she said was always her dad’s famous deep stacked pancakes. As we stepped out, I shoved the envelope into my jeans pocket, following her absentmindedly. She stopped almost immediately, making me walk into her back where I wasn’t paying attention.

Looking up to see what the problem was, I spotted it immediately. The
‘problem’
was just walking out of the family bathroom across the hallway. Her mom seemed to be frozen, half out of the door, her eyes wide as she looked at the pair of us exiting Ellie’s bedroom. Suddenly her posture changed, her shoulders pulled back as she seemed to stiffen all over. Her face turned hard and I would imagine that she was actually trying to murder me with her gaze based on the look she was shooting me right now.

“What on earth is this?” she asked. Her voice was tight and accusing as her death glare turned on Ellie.

Ellie’s grip tightened on my hand, almost crushing the bones in my fingers. “Umm…. I asked Jamie to stay over last night so that I could wake up with him on my birthday,” she lied.

Ruth’s eyes flicked to me, a disgusted expression on her face. Maybe she was mentally thinking of all the dirt or grime that I’d left in her daughter’s bed; it certainly looked like she was already planning on disinfecting her bedroom. “He stayed here…. all night?” she asked, with wide eyes.

Ellie nodded and I hated myself for putting her in his position. I needed to say something, something that would make this better. “Nothing happened, I swear,” I assured her. That was the truth; we’d not done much more than sleep last night.

Ruth made a little whimper sound as she closed her eyes, recoiling as if she’d just encountered something horrific. “I should hope not!” she snapped, shaking her head fiercely.

I gulped not knowing how to make this situation better. Ellie spoke first, “Sorry. I knew that if I asked that you would say no and I really just wanted to wake up in the bed with my boyfriend to make my birthday more special. It is my eighteenth.”

Ruth made a snorting sound on the word boyfriend. “Of course I would say no! You can’t have boys over in your bed, especially not that boy,” she snapped, nodding her head at me distastefully.

Ellie’s back stiffened. “
That boy?
” she repeated sarcastically. “Are you kidding me right now, Mom? Jamie’s not just some random guy, he’s incredible and if you can’t see that then that’s your problem not mine,” she retorted. “I’m not having this
‘he’s not good enough for you’
conversation again. You have no idea what you’re talking about as far as he’s concerned, you’ve never even tried to give him a chance, you’re just being judgemental as always. We’re going to get breakfast!” She stepped away from me and tugged on my hand while her mom just stood there with her mouth open, her hands clenched into fists looking like she wanted to skin both of us alive.

Oh shit. Damn, my girlfriend was feisty at times. I loved that she would defend me like that, even after what I’d told her in the early hours of the morning.

I followed her down the stairs with Ruth marching along behind us silently. I hated myself for causing this friction, especially since it was Ellie’s birthday - I’d wanted to make this day special, not cause a family argument. I guess her eighteenth was going to be memorable for a different reason to what I intended. As we stepped into the kitchen I smiled weakly as Michael looked up from his newspaper, a huge grin on his face.

“Ahh, the birthday girl’s finally up!” he chirped happily.