Unbind (34 page)

“No, I’m actually moving again.”

“You are? How’s that?”

She’d be gobsmacked when I told her. I was still in shock myself. I still didn’t believe it was true which was probably why I had waited until the last minute to call her. It’d been really difficult getting Kay not to blab but I’d forced her not to, just in case the whole thing fell through.

“I met a man and I’m in love with him.”

“Oh… not that one you were pictured with?”

“Oh, yeah… you saw that?”

“Durr, yeah, I guess I just thought he was another fling though… sorry, Chloe.”

“No, he wasn’t. Never was. He’s in love with me, too. He says he is, anyway.”

“Of course he is, if he’s got any sense!” She laughed light-heartedly.

“He’s American,” I said slowly, scared to upset her, “so I’m moving to be with him, over the Pond. What do you think?”

She took a huge deep breath, then let it out. “Bloody hell, that’s the best bloody news I’ve heard this century! Oh I am so, so happy for you!”

She burst into tears and it made me want to weep too. “I knew you’d understand. It’s just… I’m flying out tomorrow. It’s all been a bit sudden. I got a job at
Frame
!”

“
Frame
!!!! Sshiiiiitttt!!” A string of expletives and screaming followed. Then I heard my mum and Amanda in the background while Anabel screeched, “Oh my god we’re so proud of you! Oh my god!”

When the hilarity died down and it was just Anabel and me again, I asked, “How’s she doing?”

“Really well, actually. We think she’s been clean since you visited that time. We think so, anyway. She’s got a job at a graphics place, just volunteering. It’s better than nothing though, eh?”

“Oh, that is good!” I breathed a sigh of relief to know I wasn’t leaving them in bad shape.

“What a year it is turning out to be!” Her excitement was infectious and it suddenly made me feel a lot more excited, too. “What is he like?”

I giggled. “Girl to girl?”

“Oh, yes, tell me all the gory details!”

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, resting my head back against the headboard as I got comfy enough to tell her, “I just love the way he takes care of me, like he always knows what I am thinking and feeling. He holds me so tight and doesn’t ask anything of me, just that I’m myself. When he makes love to me, it doesn’t feel like sex. It feels spiritual. He’s got the most gorgeous blue eyes, dark hair and big hands. He makes me laugh and he tells me he loves me, every day.”

“Oh.” I heard her sniffling. “Not gory at all, then?”

“Nope, just perfect.”

“I am so happy for you,” she said. “I mean it.”

“Listen, he and I talked and we want to fly you and Amanda out sometime, so, say you’ll come!”

“Try stop us!” she gushed. “Try stop us!”

“Kay agreed to come too, of course! I’d love it if we could all get together because I think I’ll get homesick but…” I sniffled.

“You’re our hero, you know that right?” she squeaked. “If anyone could make it, you could. You know?”

Tears welled in my eyes so big I could no longer see. “Flying the flag for you babes,” I said as seriously as I could.

“Love you, Chlo. Safe flight.”

“I’ll mail you. Love you, too.”

The next day as I sat waiting to board that plane, Klaus sent me a simple message saying:
Told. You. So. Ha.

I sent one back:
You’re an ass
.

IT was very early morning when I landed at JFK. I jumped in a cab and as it coasted through the empty freeways and then the streets, I couldn’t stop smiling. I should have felt exhausted and frightened but all I felt was exhilarated. I saw refuse collectors and late-night cafés, uniformed men at bus depots ready to begin their days, police cars slowly scanning the streets and those random people on sidewalks who didn’t seem to have a destination. They just were.

Though Cai was the ultimate draw to this city, I couldn’t help feeling excited to discover what else this place held for me. Dawn just breaking, the sky had an effervescent quality, limes and stark pinks circulating the tops of distant skyscrapers.

I felt like I was visiting a place I had never been to before. This time, it was all different because it was him and me, finally. I had two large suitcases in the trunk and I wasn’t going back anytime soon. This was it. New life. Everything looked different through my love-soaked eyes.

When we got to Brooklyn, the cabbie tried to stiff me with an inordinate fare until I asked, “Really?” He smirked and knocked a whole 20 bucks off the bill, adding, “A guy can try, right?” He shrugged and I gave him the extra 20 anyway.

In Cai’s building I rode the elevator, weary and jaded, nervous and emotional too. This was it. We could be together. I wheeled my huge cases to his door and before I could knock, it was open and he was there. In his
X-Men
boxers.

“Hi, gorgeous,” he grinned, and pulled my luggage in for me. I stepped inside and as soon as the door shut, he slid his arms around me and pulled my coat off. “It’s bedtime baby.”

“You don’t say?” I grinned.

I kicked my shoes off and the next thing I knew, I was wrapped around him as he carried me upstairs. I yanked my top off, and my bra, on the way. I could feel a bulge pressing against my jeans and I was wet, already.

He dropped me on the bed inelegantly and my breasts nearly slapped me in the face. I fiddled with the fly on my jeans and he grabbed them at my ankles, shuttling them off me so fast I was dizzy.

“I’m a lucky man,” he declared.

He quickly pulled off his boxers and I purred when I saw his lovely cock. He was on top of me quickly, his body pressing and seeking mine. His tongue worked my mouth open and we were a tangle, squeezing each other fiercely. His tongue was on my nipple next and he was so urgent.

“Make love to me,” I asked feeling tearful.

He wrapped his arms underneath my body and we kissed, slow and tender. Eventually he pushed inside.

“I love how it feels like this… when you’re holding me tight against you. I feel safe, really safe, Chloe. When you’re wrapped around me—”

“Kiss me.”

While he drew in and out of me, he kissed me with the same languid pace he was fucking me with and I was on fire. I looked into his eyes and all I saw was hunger and love. He dragged his teeth through my lips, sucking too.

“I’m so close,” I warned him. The full press of him inside me while we were so tightly embraced was gorgeous.

“Come and I’ll come. I love watching you.”

I kept my eyes locked on his and wriggled my hips, just to gain that extra bit of friction. Our hips rolled together and he circled himself inside me so well, I felt the blast of heat cascade from my clit to my pussy, whirling and kneading him deep inside me.

“Shit, oh god,” he cried.

“I’m coming…!” I yelled, clawing at his ass, pulling him into the most hard to reach place.

He pinned my arms down above me and fucked me harder. My knees hit my ribs so he could fuck the last remnants of joy from my insides. He pounded me hard and I screamed, “Yes! Yes!”

“Ah fuck!” He held himself deep inside and the pulse of him sent me delirious. I closed my eyes and moaned. I was exhausted and sated and so painfully in love. I couldn’t believe I was here.

He cuddled up just behind me and we covered ourselves with the duvet.

“So amazing,” we both agreed.

He chuckled in my ear and held his arms tight around mine so I was locked in his embrace, his hands clamped around my tits.

“I love you,” he whispered.

His leg rested between mine and our feet caressed each other’s, our warmth and heady tenderness glorious. I turned my head and found him blushing. God, he was lovely. He reached over and slid his tongue between my lips only for a moment, before pressing his kiss to my mouth.

“I love you.”

“You’re my saviour,” he told me.

There was me thinking it was always me who needed saving.

I turned my head back into the pillow and fell so swiftly, not giving his desperate tone a second thought.

“I can remember everything.

That’s my curse, young man.

It’s the greatest curse that’s

ever been inflicted on the

human race: memory.”

Jedediah Leland, Citizen Kane

I SPENT THE following week after my arrival unpacking, relaxing around the apartment, having dinner out every night. Even one night when Cai was on a late shoot, I went to a pizza place round the corner and sat with a stack of magazines. I never would have done that before, not on my own. I walked the streets like I belonged and let my legs take me wherever because there was no rush. Late September was what they call Fall and I fell in love with everything about the city then, autumn being my favourite time of year anyway… period. It meant I could rake out my leather boots and various skirt/tights combos. I loved tights. Especially ones with the weirdest patterns. Pity Cai liked to rip them off with his teeth.

After I got over the neck-craning, I discovered my favourite thing was to take the subway, use Cai’s library card to borrow tons of books, then go sit in Central Park for hours, watching everything passing by. Scrutinizing clothes and runners and dog walkers and celebrities. I thought for a moment I saw Stanley Tucci jogging, but I didn’t want to stare too long.

I found out from my lover that Jennifer had pulled strings for my work visa to be rushed through so I could start quicker. So little more than a week after landing, I found myself nervous on another one of those tremulous Monday mornings in a new job. I guess this time I felt less terrified, just more curious as to why a rebel like me had been given access to a world I didn’t belong in. I didn’t follow rules and I expected a few of the people I’d be working with wouldn’t like it.

I walked into Hervé Tower and had to take a deep breath. Whoa. I mean, I’d not understood until I walked through the doors, just what exactly I had gotten myself into. The reception hall was intimidating! Secured to buggery and well, plush beyond my wildest dreams. It seemed like I would wake up any second.

Craning to look up, I only started rubbing the ache at the nape of my neck when a security guard walked up to me, a serious look on his face beneath his peaked hat—ooh what would my mother say to a man wearing a hat indoors?

“Ma’am, you got someplace to be?” His smile said he wasn’t treating me like a suspect.

“Umm,” I stammered, trying to catch a breath, “gosh, it’s my first day! I’m just taking it all in. You know?”

“You’ll fit right in,” he reeled off, eyebrows raised, eyeing me up and down. “Welcome desk over there, missy. Go get ’em.”

Beam me up Scotty
. I was still waiting to be taken, shuttled up, to the real dimension. Not the one I was currently in. This couldn’t be real.

I went to the desk and was given a temporary security pass and a floor to head for. I queued with all the other people and got a few looks—men offered to let me go ahead of them.