Love Resisted (Entwined Hearts #2) (27 page)

“Come on, let’s get you back to Tink,” he says getting up.

I shake my head at him, even after what’s happened to him today he still puts others first. My brother. My hero.

I watch as Saul tries to creep into the bedroom, the darkness engulfing him. I lean over and turn the bedside lamp on.

“Shit sorry, babe,” he says while collapsing on the end of the bed.

“It’s okay, honey, I was awake. Is he all right?”

He puts his face in his hands for a moment then looks back up the bed to me. “I hope so.”

“They’re staying for a while. Will that be a problem, do you think?” I ask.

“No, I think the longer they stay the more chance Dane has to help Libby remember.” I nod at his answer but feel my stomach in knots, worried about the consequences of him not being able to remind her. Of him having to keep losing her over and over again.

“How long did they say?” he asks.

“I think about a month, but I guess nothing’s decided.” He slips his clothes off and gets into bed next to me.

“I suppose we’ll just have to see how this plays out. Not much we can do if the girl can’t remember shit, Soph,” he says and I slap his arm.

“What was that for?”

I cross my arms. “For being callous.”

He smirks. “I want him to sort this out, babe, but I’ll be there for him if it doesn’t work out. And right now, ten years without remembering, not sure that it’s gonna work out how he wants,” he tells me gently.

“I know.” I sigh and slip down the bed as Saul envelopes me in his arms.

“I love you, Saul,” I whisper.

“Always mine, babe. Forever,” he replies before I slip into sleep.

THREE MONTHS LATER

Standing behind the curtain I try to calm myself. Everything is still, and there’s not even a shard of light, so I close my eyes shutting the darkness out. I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth leaning forward to allow my arms to hang and stretch out in front of me. I hear chatter on the other side of the curtain, which means I have time. Counting to ten and back down again, I try to check my nerves knowing how important the next few minutes will be. Suddenly the chatter ceases and my heart starts banging against my ribcage like it’s trying to escape. Just like my body is telling me I need to do right now.

Escape…while you can.

No.

Be brave Sophie. Be brave.

I hear footsteps on the other side of the material wall.

“Okay everyone, this is now the last act for the night. I hope you’ve enjoyed the production.”

Clapping.

Silence.

The music starts, it’s the same song I showed Eric all those months ago. ‘Yours’ by Ella Henderson. The curtains pull back and the spotlight blinds me. Closing my eyes and letting the music seep into my veins I listen to the words and just dance, hoping that Saul really heard me earlier when I said this was for him, and that this was the physical expression of my love. Trying to show him the only way I really know how. I move for him, everything is about his love and my love combined. I stretch toward him, or where I picture he might be in the audience. I didn’t look beforehand because I didn’t want to know. I added a couple of acrobatic moves to this routine as soon as my shoulder was strong enough.

The other reason for this dance is to show what I can do. I’m hoping to get picked up by a dance company. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be well enough to dance again, but I’ve put in hours and hours of work trying to get my life back on track.

I wasn’t going to let Patrick stop me.

Thankfully he isn’t an issue anymore. I don’t know what happened, but Saul assures me that I don’t need to worry about him ever again. I feel free and so happy, my family are all here tonight to support me, even baby Eleanor.

The song comes to the end and I realise I have tears streaming down my face. Happy tears. I bend down to say my thanks and when I stand, I see that the whole audience are standing too, a sea of people smiling and clapping. For me. Which does nothing to help my bloody waterworks.

I move off the stage in a dreamlike state. Standing to one side, I just take a moment. A moment to breathe and to take in what I’ve just achieved, because it passed in a blur.

“Babe,” I hear suddenly from behind me and I spin just as Saul reaches me. He lifts me up swinging me around. “That was fucking ace. You were beautiful,” he says putting me down and kissing my mouth gently.

I hear a throat clear from beside us and look over to see Ms. Denver, the Manager of Moving Electric the dance company I was hoping to impress.

“Ms. Rawlings, I’m Marianne Denver. I’ve just had the pleasure of watching you perform. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. You may be aware that I have a dance company? Most of the dancers I take on are somewhat younger than you, I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, it is however, just a fact. Even so, I love the potential you bring and what some of my younger dancers have with technique, they lack with emotion, and you convey the emotion of the song in spades, Ms. Rawlings.”

I smile. “Call me, Soph, please.”

She smiles back. “And I’m Marianne.”

“Thank you for your praise, Marianne,” I say elated.

“We at Moving Electric require many types of performers and I would like to offer to have you on our books. Then as and when shows come up, which I think you may be suitable for, we would call you in for an audition. Does that sounds acceptable to you?” she asks and I find I’m flapping my head like a nodding dog. So much so that Saul snorts at me and I glare at him. Marianne chuckles. “Okay, well, I have your details, so I’ll be in touch. Great job tonight.” She offers one more smile then walks away.

Miss Macado joins me next. “Sophie that was fantastic. Thank you for being our showpiece tonight. Your father would’ve been so proud.” I smile at her words determined to keep my emotions in check. “Your friends are waiting for you,” she says pointing to the side of the stage where they’re all standing. Pea is jumping up and down with Eric, Con is standing behind her with Eleanor in his arms keeping his back to the crowd. Although, he doesn’t need to worry as Rich and Dane stand behind him.

I look over to Dane. The light has left his eyes recently. Libby stayed here with Sam, Tyler and Lewis for four weeks, but he couldn’t get through to her. To me, she seems scared of something. Who knows? She was quiet and slightly aloof, but I’m not sure if that’s her way or if it was because of Dane on that first day. Either way, it’s like his life-force has seeped out of him and I see more darkness in his eyes lately.

“Come on, babe.” Saul gestures me down to them and once there, I get wrapped in a multi-person hug.

I love my family.

I’m glad we came to a hotel after her performance. We needed some time to ourselves. The last few months have been fucking crazy. Con and Pea are getting to grips with a new baby and I’ve been trying to rein Dane in wherever possible, occasionally having to call in the big guns to help me – Pea. She seems to be the only one he’ll listen to sometimes. Fuck…but I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m probably making him worse. I get out of the shower and towel myself off. I’ve just had some of the best sex Soph and I have had…fuck…that I’ve
ever
had.

It pays to be with a dancer
, I smirk to myself.

Walking back into the room I stop taking her in. She’s laying on her front, diagonally in the bed, her arms are spread out on either side with her hands hanging over the edges. Her long blonde hair fans out across the pillows above and the sheet just kisses the top of her bum showing me her bare back. I feel myself getting hard again.

“Shit,” I murmur.

“What honey?” she says sleepily and it hits me in my dick and my heart at the same time. She raises her head from the pillow, so her hair trails down and some slips across her back.

“Sorry, babe, I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say sitting next to her on the bed.

“That’s okay, I like to fall asleep in your arms anyway.” Her blue eyes twinkle up at me and I know she’s my forever, and it’s that moment that I wonder why I haven’t done anything to cement it.

“It’s still you and me, babe,” I tell her sliding my hand up the side of her face, so my fingers slip into her hair.

“Of course,” she answers with no hesitation.

“You still want that always?” I ask and she nods.

“Let’s get married,” I say.

She jumps slightly. “Married?” she breathes out quietly. “When?”

“Next month,” I reply and her forehead creases.

“Next month, Saul? How?” I smile at her then lean down kissing her mouth softly.

“Vegas,” I whisper.

Her eyes widen. “Vegas,” she confirms, and at her one word answer my dick gets the better of my control.

TWO HOURS LATER

“You know, I used to feel like I was broken. Broken like glass, into so many shards that I would never be healed. You brought all my pieces back together Saul,” I tell him while we’re in bed, my head on his chest.

“That’s strange, babe, because that exactly how I used to feel. I mean literally identical to what you just said,” he answers while lazily stroking his fingers up and down my arm.

“It’s karma you know, that helped bring us together. We get each other as repayment for the shit we’ve had to go through,” I say.

“You know what I think?” he asks and I shake my head and look upward to his face catching his eyes with mine. “I believe that we were broken, so broken we were almost unfixable. But I don’t think our pieces had to be fixed, I think they just had to come together. I think they couldn’t heal before because some of the pieces were missing, and when we got together all the pieces were there. Ready to become one, babe.”

I smile at him. “Are you being all soppy Mr. James?” I ask with a smirk while my insides have just turned to mush.

“Only with you, the soon to be Mrs. James. Only with you.”