Blackbird (17 page)

She dialled his number, and he answered after only
a couple of rings.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Nate, it’s me.”

“Is everything okay?” Nate asked quickly.

“Not really.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, panic in his voice.

Claire calmly answered, “Nothing bad. Well, sort
of. Dave and I had a fight. I ended up getting him to pull over, and I got out
of the car. Long story short, I’m stuck here with no money and no way to get
home.”

“He just left you on the side of the road?”

“I told him too. I’m safely outside restaurants on
the esplanade, but I have no way of paying for a taxi to get home and my keys
are at Dave’s so I can’t even get into my house.

“So you need a lift and somewhere to stay?”

“If it’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. How long have you been
there?”

“Fifteen minutes or so.
I
know it’s a lot to ask, but there is no one else to ask.”

“It’s not a lot to ask. I don’t want you hanging
around the streets at night by yourself even if it is on a busy road. Jump in
the next taxi you see and come to my place. I’ll pay the driver when he gets
here.”

“Okay. There’s one here right now, I’ll get in
it,” she said walking up to the taxi and opening the door.

“Good, I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

“Oh, and Claire?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time call me first, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied, smiling and hanging up the
phone.

She slid into the taxi. Thankfully Nate was the
kind of guy you could rely on.

Claire arrived at Nate’s house
shortly after. He was waiting outside his apartment for her.

He approached the taxi as it pulled up and opened
the door to let her out.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” he replied, smiling.

He helped her out of the car and leaned into the
passenger seat to pay the driver. “Keep the change,” he said, turning and
facing Claire.

“Are you okay?” he asked as the taxi pulled away
and they were left alone.

“I am now.”

“I was serious before, though,” he said placing
his hands on her upper arms. “Call me first, for anything, okay?”

“Okay.”

It warmed her heart knowing that Nate cared that
much for her. Sure, he could be a cocky, arrogant guy, but he had a sweet side
to him that she was discovering, a side she was growing to love.

“Let’s get you inside,” he said, holding her hand
and leading her towards the building.

Once they were inside Nate’s apartment, she took
her heels off and left them near the door.

“Are you tired? I was going to watch a movie if
you want.”

“Movie sounds great.”

She slumped herself on the couch next to Nate. She
rested her head on his shoulder. It had been a long day and an evening she
hadn’t expected.

He lifted his shoulder out from under her head and
wrapped his around her, letting her head rest on his chest.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She sighed. “Not really.”

He switched the TV on. Claire didn’t catch the
movie he’d chosen because by the time it had reached the opening credits, she’d
fallen asleep in Nate’s arms.

CHAPTER
TEN

When Nate woke the next morning, he
went to check on Claire in the spare room. As he reached the room, he heard her
talking on the phone to Dave. Although he wanted to stay and listen to that
asshole get a talking to, he wouldn’t invade her privacy. So instead he left
her to sort things out and went and cooked them breakfast.

Claire emerged shortly after Nate plated up their
pancakes and placed them on the dining table. She walked out still wearing her
clothes from the night before, her hair pulled up into a messy bun on her head.

“Morning,” she half smiled.

“Breakfast?”

She nodded her head and sat down across from him,
picking up a couple of pancakes and putting them onto her plate. She poked the
pancake with her fork, stabbing it back and forth.

“If you don’t want it you don’t have to eat it.”

“No, no, it’s not that, I’m hungry…” she said
placing the fork on the plate and looking up at him. “When did life get so
complicated?”

You’re telling me.
Nate’s whole life had
been complicated and the minute Claire had walked into it, it got even more
complicated.

“Life’s always complicated.”

“True.” She picked up her fork then dropped it
down again. “Is it that bad to want to be your own person?”

“No, of course it’s not.”

If only he could read her mind, figure out what
she was thinking. No doubt it had something to do with dickhead Dave.

“If I want to travel, then I’m going to travel.
Just like if I want to work I’ll work, if I don’t, I won’t… and I don’t even
know if I want kids.”

Kids?

“What do you mean kids?” Nate asked, slightly
hesitant, not knowing where this conversation was going.

Claire didn’t seem to be paying much attention to
him, though, as she continued, “I mean, I eventually want kids, maybe. But who
says when? What’s it to him, anyway? It’s not like we’re married!”

“Claire?”

Claire was still forking her pancake, unaware Nate
had called her name. He said it again louder, “Claire.”

She startled herself out of her daze and looked at
him.

“I’m not going to get involved, but if I can say
this. You are twenty-one years old, Claire. You have your whole life ahead of
you to do what you want.” He grabbed her hand that held her fork. “If you want
to have kids, have kids, if you want to travel, travel. Don’t let Dave, your
parents, me, or anyone else tell you otherwise. If you don’t do the things you
want to do now, you’ll wake up one day and regret it. Life’s not about living
in regret.”

Would he regret these moments with her? Knowing he
might never get to be with her again.
Knowing that he could
potentially spend his life chasing someone who didn’t want him.

“You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” he said, winking at her. He
let her hand go. “Now eat some of your food before it turns into mush.”

She smiled a much better smile, one that bought
the confidence back into her, and took a bite of her pancake.

He was so close to telling her how he
felt,
telling her how much he cared for her. But now wasn’t
the time. She needed to sort herself out, figure out what she wanted before he
could tell her.

“So what are your plans for the day?” he asked.

“Nothing at all.
Dave
left my keys in his letterbox before he left for the airport. So I’m free if
you want to do something?”

“I may just have something in mind,” he said,
grinning.

***

“Thanks so much, Liam,” Nate said,
leaning against the bar.

“No
worries,
mate,
anytime,” Liam responded while adjusting the settings on the camera.

Liam worked as a photographer at a studio that
specialized in olden photos, like the ones where people dress up in olden day
costumes and take pictures. He’d always told Nate if he wanted a session to
come down free of charge, but it had never really interested Nate until now.

“You boys better be ready for me!” Claire called
out from the change room.

Nate could only imagine what she looked like in
the costume Liam had chosen for her. They had decided to go with the wild,
wild west
theme, mainly because Nate got to hold pretend
guns.

Yeah, yeah, you can’t take the boy out of the
man. 

Nate was looking at Liam when he saw him
straighten, his mouth opening as he stared past Nate.

Nate turned quickly to see what had caught Liam’s
eye, and there, standing there with the most self-assured look on her face,
dressed head to toe in probably the
most sexy
outfit
he’d ever seen, was Claire. “
Ho-ly
shit.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Liam
said behind him.

Claire’s smile widened, fully aware of what she
looked like and the effect she had on them, especially Nate.

“
Ya’ll
gonna
stand there all day or are we
gonna
take some pictures?” she said in her best southern accident.

Nate couldn’t help but take a long hard look up
and down her body. The black and red corset was tight around her waist and
chest, exposing her soft breasts. The slit in her skirt came up to her hips,
fully exposing her long slender leg. A matching garter on her thigh made it
even that much more tantalizing.

Claire shook her head and pushed him aside to walk
in front of the camera.

Thankfully, Nate was holding a fake gun that hid
his full blown boner, one that was unlikely to go away.

“Ok so just jump up onto the bar and bend your
knee up, leaving the other one hanging down the bar,” Liam instructed.

Nate watched as she followed his direction. The
moment she hitched her knee up all he could think about was how much he wanted
to fuck her right there and then.

He readjusted the tightening fabric around his
dick.

Yeah it’s definitely not going away.

Half an hour and three costume changes
later, they had finished their photo shoot. Nate had loved every moment of it.
They’d laughed together as they struck their poses, trying to be as serious and
sexy as possible, like Claire even had to try.

“Thanks, Liam, I owe you!” Claire said, kissing
him on the cheek.

“It was my pleasure. I’ve been hassling Nate for
months to come in for a shoot,” Liam responded, handing them a copy of the
pictures on CD.

“Well, I’m glad he chose me to come with him. And
seriously, if there is anything I can do for you-”

“Well, I was thinking-”

“Hell no!”
Nate
interrupted, pulling Claire away.

Liam shot his arms up innocently. “That’s not what
I was thinking, so settle down. No need to get all Mike Tyson on me. I was
actually going to ask if she had any friends that she could set me up with.”

Claire laughed and shrugged Nate’s hand off her.
“Yeah, I think I might just have someone in mind. We were planning on going out
tomorrow night if you guys wanted to meet us?” she asked, looking between Liam
and Nate.

“Yeah, we’d love to,” Liam answered for them.

Nate stared at him and his ridiculous lopsided
grin. Whatever Liam was playing at, he didn’t like it.

“Well, what do you say, Nate? You’ll come out and
meet me and the girls?”

Nate pulled himself from his stare-off with Liam.
“Yeah, of course I will,” he said looking down at her.

“Great! It’s settled then! This will be so much
fun!” she said excitedly, grabbing Nate’s hand and walking him to the door.
“See you later, Liam.”

“Bye guys,” Liam chuckled behind them as they left
the building to go out onto the street.

“What’s all that about?” Claire asked nudging him
in ribs.

“Nothing,” Nate muttered.

Claire jumped in front of him causing him to stop
walking and look down at her.

“It wasn’t
nothing
. Tell
me, Nate.”

He rubbed his hand over his head.
Was he that
easy to read?
“I dunno, Claire. Do you really have a friend or is it you
who wants to go out with him?”

Claire looked at him in disbelief. “You’re
kidding, right?” When Nate didn’t answer she continued, “I really do have a
friend to set him up with, and the only reason why I invited him was because I
thought it would be great for all of your friends to meet mine. I would never
go for any of your mates anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yes,
really
.”

Good. It was hard enough contending with Dave, let
alone his own mates.

They both smiled at each other. Claire turned and
walked back towards her car, speaking excitedly. “Now I just have to pick out
what to wear!”

“I thought you said you weren’t interested in
anyone? Why would you need to worry about what you’re wearing if you don’t want
to impress them?”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to impress you,” she
said, winking up at him.

“I think you’ve already accomplished that today.
Many, many times.”

She moved her eyes to his pants. “Yeah, I think
we’ve established that.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious.” He jokingly
covered his crotch with his hand.
“Like you can blame me.
I’m only human.”

“Oh, but a very hot and horny
human at that.”

He grabbed her hand and spun her quickly into him.
“Careful now.
Don’t tempt me.”

“I’m only human,” she whispered, licking her lips.

Every side of Claire he loved craved for more.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see her playful, flirty side often. He had no
idea what that meant. He hadn’t asked Claire what her relationship status was
with Dave and if they were even still together.

Regardless he had made a promise that he wouldn’t
try anything on her, not until she begged him to, and he would do everything in
his power to keep his promise.

***

Claire rubbed her stomach. “That
was so good!”

Nate laughed at her expression. Leaning forward,
he wiped the spilt sauce on her chin. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Your face
certainly says you did.”

“Hey!” Claire said, playfully hitting Nate’s arm.

After their photo shoot Nate had spent the
afternoon at the beach with Claire watching and training her surfing. She was
definitely getting good, better than he had expected her to be at this stage.
But she was too confident sometimes. She took on bigger waves than he liked, pushing
herself beyond her limit.