Locked Together (In Chains) (21 page)

“Believe me, I’ve been with a man like that, I know the difference.”

He stares at me. “You had a boyfriend who assaulted you? Why haven’t you told me about this? I would never have hit you on the butt if I’d known.” He frowns at me. “What happened, do you want to talk about it?”

I kneel in front of him and put my arms around his neck. I gaze into his eyes, they’re soft and loving. I tilt my head and press my lips against his, our tongues mingle, he tastes of ketchup. “It’s past and he’s no threat to me, he’s dead.”

He cups my face in his hands and strokes his thumbs along my cheeks. “I don’t understand how any man could ever hurt you. I promise you, you’ll never have to worry about that from me.” He lies back on the grass and pulls me down beside him. I fling my arm across his waist and rest my head on his chest. I smile and close my eyes.

We’re at a club I’ve never been to before. It’s full of sweaty bodies; crushed together, dancing to a pounding bass beat. I’m easily the ugliest woman here, everyone else is slim, with long legs and dresses that barely cover their butts, I feel like a frump wearing a dress that comes down to my calves. I’m hot, I feel awkward trying to dance among all these beautiful people, I want to sit down, my feet are aching. Nathan is one of the few men I’ve ever known who can dance, he moves better than I do and he’s getting a lot of appreciate looks. It’s so loud I have to shout to make myself heard, even though I’m standing right next to him. “I’m going outside, I need some air.”

I sit down on the wall outside the club and light up a cigarette, I can hear the boom of the bass even from out here. I look up at the sky, it’s a clear night and I can see the stars, there’s a full moon. I look over as the door opens and Nathan walks out. He sits down next to me. “Do you want to go home,” he asks as he slips his arm around my shoulders. “It’s getting late anyway.”

I do want to leave but I don’t want to spoil his fun, he didn’t complain when I dragged him to all the book stalls earlier today. “I just need some air; I’ll be back inside in a moment.”

“You’re so sweet Savvy,” he says as he ruffles my hair, “but you look tired and anyway, my feet are aching, I don’t think I can dance anymore.”

We hold hands as we walk to his car. He opens the door for me, then gets in and fiddles with his ipod. “See what you think of this, it’s Citizen Cope, Sideways,” he says as he drives out of the parking lot. He reaches for my hand and sings along. I’ve never heard this song before, I love it.

I glance at the clock on the dashboard as we pull up to the house; it’s two in the morning. He’s still holding my hand as he cuts the engine. He gazes at me; his eyes are sparkling brightly in the dark, such a beautiful clear blue. “Savvy, my feelings for you, they have been knocking me sideways.” He leans across and his lips meet mine, he kisses me slowly and gently. His eyes lock with mine. “I think I love you, Savvy.” He brushes my bangs from my face and plants kisses on my eyelids. He loves me, I didn’t see that coming. I sit, stunned as he gets out of the car and opens my door for me. He holds my hand as we head to the house.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Kayden

I’m sitting on the ground, hidden in the shadows when his car pulls in. I watch him lean over to kiss her, the slick son of a bitch. I want to run over and pull him away from her, my girl, my baby. He gets out and opens her door for her. She usually has a smoke before she goes to bed, I’m gonna go talk to her then. She opens the door to the house; they both go in and close the door. My shoulders sag and I stare down at the ground. I just wanted a chance to talk to her, to explain. I look over at his car, it looks like it cost a lot, I could trash it but what good would that do.

Savannah’s bedroom light comes on and then my baby comes to the window. She looks even more beautiful than I remember, I wonder if she’s missed me as much as I’ve missed her. My fists clench as I see him standing behind her. I get a pain in my chest as I watch his arms move around her and he kisses her neck. She closes the curtains and I’m left to imagine what they’re doing in there, and I do, I don’t wanna but I can’t stop the pictures playing in my head. His hands on her body, her kissing him, him inside her, her telling him she loves him. I wipe the tears from my cheeks. I need to get away from here.

Clay, Kaci and Trent are sitting by the fire; they look at me as I sink down to the ground. “I wanna be drunk already,” I say. Clay throws me a big plastic bottle of hooch and I slug it down straight from the bottle. I wipe the back of my hand across my lips and glance over at Trent. “You were right, I can’t just come back.” I down some more hooch.

Kaci frowns at me. “What happened Kade?”

I look her in the eye. “She’s got someone else.” I guzzle some more hooch, I need to be drunk so I can’t think, and most of all so I can’t feel. “At least I know she’s okay and now I gotta move on, I’m gonna go tonight. I can work for food and I’m used to sleeping outside.” I lift the bottle to my lips.

Kaci gets up and comes to sit down next to me. “Do you still love her Kade?”

I glare at her. “What kind of stupid question is that?”

She stares back at me. “Then why are you giving up without a fight?”

I frown and take another big gulp of hooch before I answer. “A fight?” I put the hooch down and shake my head. “He’s got money; he’s good looking and guess what…he’s human.” I take a few more gulps of hooch; I look down at the ground and sigh. “What have I got to fight with?”

She puts her hand on my shoulder and leans in to whisper in my ear. “Love, that’s what you’ve got Kade, love.”

I spin my head around to glare at her. “Well thank you genius, problem solved. I mean, it’s not like he can love her, is it.” I snort and down some more hooch.

“Hey, fucktard.” I look up, Clay is scowling at me. “Insult my girl again and I’ll lay you out.”

His fists are clenched and I can see he’s up for a fight. I get to my feet and snatch up the hooch. “Thanks for the advice Kaci. Now I know, all I gottta do is love her and it’ll all be okay.” I walk away; last thing I wanna do is get in a fight with Clay right now. I feel someone tug on my arm.

“Kade, don’t go, you need to be with your friends right now. I’m just trying to help.”

I stop and turn to face her. I’m an asshole. I put my arms around her and hug her tight. “I know, Kaci. I’m sorry.”

She holds my face in her hands. “Talk to her, at least give her a choice, but make it a no brainer. Be better, love her more.” She grabs my hand and pulls me back towards the others. “But right now you’re gonna get drunk with your friends. Then you can sleep it off and talk to her in the morning.”

I let her lead me back to the fire. Clay comes over to us, he smiles at Kaci. Next thing I know I’m falling backwards and I hit the ground. I crawl to my knees and hold my hand over my right eye. “That’s for insulting my girl,” he says to me.

“Clay,” Kaci says.

I get up off the ground. “It’s okay Kaci, I deserve it.” I stare at Clay. “But you could have waited until I’d talked to Savannah before you gave me a black eye.”

Kaci sits by the fire and pulls me down beside her. “Rest your head in my lap and get drunk. Trent, chuck us over another bottle of hooch,” she says. I lay my head in her lap and she strokes my hair. “And you leave him alone, Clay.” Clay glares at me, so I poke my tongue out at him and he laughs. I’m starting to feel a bit better. Savannah’s my girl. Mine. I’m not gonna let him steal her away from me. I’m gonna go see her tomorrow.

“Anyone up for a game of poker,” Trent asks.

“Strip poker?” Clay says.

I frown at him. “Are you for real? Who have I got to look at, you, or Trent? If I look at Kaci you’ll give me another black eye.”

Clay busts up laughing. “Okay, we’ll keep our clothes on,” he looks at Kaci, “…for now.”

Trent deals me a crap hand; I keep the king and toss the rest. “D’ya know, Savannah told me we never used to be slaves.”

Kaci sticks with what she has, I watch Clay pick up two cards. “That’s bollocks,” he says. “We’ve always been slaves. You should know, you grew up in the Pound with me.”

I frown at him. “No, not us, I mean our kind, ya know…Neanderthals.”

Trent changes one card, I think I’m gonna lose this hand. I knock back some more hooch. Damn, I’ve only got half a bottle left.

“So how come we’re slaves now?” Trent asks.

“Savannah looked it up. We used to live in another part of the world, not that far away but we didn’t have much, there wasn’t much food or anything. People in England were poor, there was a recess…recess…well, they were poor anyhow. They couldn’t afford to pay people to do work that needed to be done and no one wanted to work for nothing.”

Kaci wins the first hand. I take a swig of hooch and deal the next hand. I look at my cards and blink, they’re blurry. “So let me guess, they somehow found us and forced us to work for nothing,” Clay says.

Damn, I dealt myself a crap hand this time. I have another swig of hooch and throw away four cards. “Something like that. Savannah said they were more advanced than us, they knew things we didn’t and they could tell we were different. She said at first they got a few of us to work for food, but then they got greedy and went and found the rest of us. Savannah said there weren’t many of us to begin with.” I look down at my crap hand and decide to fold. “Anyway, they locked us up and started making us breed because they needed more of us. They killed any of us that wouldn’t do what we were told.” I hold up my hooch bottle and frown, it’s empty. “Have we got anymore hooch?” As I’m watching Kaci shuffle the cards, something hits me on the head. I rub my head and frown, then I look down and see a full hooch bottle. I pick it up and take a gulp. “Cheers.”

I look at my cards and try to focus, I’ve got too many cards and they’re all blurry, I drink some more hooch. “That’s the thing about Savannah…ooops.” I try to pick up the cards I’ve dropped on the ground, I get some of them, Kaci picks up the rest and hands them to me. I frown. “What was I saying…oh yeah, Savannah, she’s beautiful, and clever. She knows long words and she taught me how to write my name, did ya know that?” I ask them.

I don’t hear what they say because a song comes on the radio. It’s ‘Don’t Let Him Steal Your Heart Away.’ I know this song. I’m not gonna let him steal her away from me. She’s mine. She’s my baby and I don’t even wanna live without her. I pick up my hooch bottle and stand up and I sing. I sing loud, like I’m singing the song to my baby. I will be back and I do need one more chance. I can hear people speaking but they don’t make sense. “Grab him.” “Fire.” “Fall.” Whoa, someone yanks me backwards, I reach out to grab something to stop myself falling, I think I’m holding onto Clay. His face swims in front of me, no, two faces, Clay’s got two faces. I frown, has he got a twin, is one of them a fake face? I poke one to see if it’s real.

“Ouch.” Both of the Clay’s cover their eye with their hand. “You poked me in the eye, you asshole.”

I can’t stop laughing. Whoa, the world’s spinning. How did I get on the ground? I look up at the three Trents and I’m still laughing. They grab my arms and pull me up, they’ve got their arms around me and we’re moving. “Are you givshing me a shcuddle?” They don’t answer me. “My legsh won’t shwork.” I bust up laughing. “I gotta tellsh shavansha, nothinsh shworking.” I can’t stop laughing. “SHAVANSHA, I LOVE YA.” I dunno where I am. “My legsh won’t shwork. I feelsh shick.”

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Savannah

I wake up and feel something brushing against my cheek, I open my eyes, Nathan is propped up on his elbow, gazing down at me, tracing circles on my cheek with his finger. “Good morning angel,” he says. I reach up and stroke his cheek, it’s smooth, Kayden would have had bristles by now. I roll over so that I’m facing him and he wraps his arms around me, I kiss his soft lips. “Have you got any plans for today?” He asks.

“I plan on spending it with you.”

He stokes his hand down my back. “I’ve been thinking, we’ve been dating for a month, maybe it’s time you met my family.”

I stiffen. “Erm, okay, I’ll meet them sometime.”

He brushes his fingers down the side of my body. “Chicken,” he says.

I shiver. “Stop it, that tickles.”

“There’s a party at the golf club tonight. Come. My family will be there and you can meet them. Your brother’s going.”

I bury my head in his neck. “I don’t feel comfortable meeting them yet. What if they don’t like me?”

“Then they’re fools, with no taste.” He chuckles.

I hear a knock and look towards the door. “Are you decent?” I hear Simon ask. “I’ve made breakfast.”

Simon has fixed cereal, toast and juice. “I’ve invited Savvy to the club tonight, to meet my family,” Nathan tells him.

“Have you met them?” I ask Simon.

He takes a sip of juice. “Yes.”

I’m waiting for him to elaborate but he doesn’t say anything else. “Do you think they’ll like me?” I ask.

“They’ll love you,” Nathan says.

“You’re biased,” I tell him. “Simon, do you think they’ll like me?”

Simon finishes his mouthful of toast and marmalade. “They’ll be horrified that their son is dating a bimbo, Nathan will be banished from the family and they’ll cut off his inheritance.” Simon and Nathan burst into laughter and I can feel my cheeks heating up. “Seriously Savannah, you’re an intelligent woman, you’ll be fine,” Simon says.