Delicious Desires (13 page)

David grinned.

“No problem with that. The more I sell the quicker I get my money back, and that may have to be quite soon if Natalie won’t take me back.” He threw Caroline a wave and dashed out of the door.

C
hapter Fourteen

Adam didn’t know or
even care which day it was. He had been lying in his spare room staring at the ceiling for a very long while. He had spotted several glimmering cobwebs with tiny spiders running over the gossamer strands while he had been flat on his back.

The dark stubble on his chin had turned soft, so it was maybe four or five days since he had last shaved but he barely cared anymore. He rolled over miserably and faced the dresser as someone knocked tentatively on the door.

“Go away!” He shouted, his voice rough, but the door opened anyway. He would have th
rown something at the intruder but he had nothing to hand. He could see in the mirror that it was Tricia though so he kept his hands under control.

His
best friend and personal doctor Daniel stood right behind Tricia, trying to shift her out of his way. Adam closed his eyes and pulled the duvet over his head.

“It’s okay Trish. I’ll handle this. I don’t think he’ll attack the family doctor anytime soon. He may actually need me someday.” Daniel
’s voice was mocking.

Tricia didn’t sound convinced.

“Well alright, but you’ve seen the state of downstairs so on your own head be it if he suddenly comes over all moody.” She made a tutting sound and left the bedroom.

Daniel
raised his eyebrows as he nearly tripped over an empty vodka bottle that sat in his path. He picked it up as he crossed the room and stood it beside the half full one already on the bedside table. He wrinkled his nose as he noticed that there were no glasses in the room.

He flicked the
edge of the duvet.

“
Drinking straight from the bottle Adam? That’s a bit extreme even for you… Having a bit of a shitty week, I’d guess.” He directed his words at the lump in the bed. He shoved Adam’s great feet across the mattress and sat down in the space he had made. “Do you want to talk about it?

Adam remained
stubbornly silent.

Daniel gazed about the untidy bedroom
and then spoke again.

“I guess you don’t want to talk about it then. Tricia called me after Alf came in to see if you were okay
and found the downstairs… Well, wrecked. I suppose that’s the only word to use. Apparently after telling Tricia to leave last week, they were too scared to come in any time sooner. I take it there wasn’t some sort of mad alien invasion that nobody else noticed over the weekend?” He paused and waited for some sort of reaction but carried on when he was met by an even deeper silence from inside the duvet. “Adam? Look at me, will you? What happened here? We’re just worried, that’s all. This isn’t your normal sort of behaviour. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want, but I am your doctor and it’s in my oath that I help you.”

A muffled grunt came from somewhere under the covers and Daniel gently pulled them back. Adam grabbed at the
m, wanting to cover his head again but Daniel gasped suddenly and spoke sharply.

“My God man! Your hands! Let me look at them.” His voice was shocked and he pulled the duvet back once again. This time with more force than Adam could ignore.

His knuckles were bloodied and the skin was ripped open in several places. The cuts had started to scab over but the bruises were coming out nicely, turning his knuckles a frightening shade of deep purple. He still didn’t speak but grudgingly let himself be examined.

Daniel turned Adam’s fingers in his hands. “Jesus! These look more than broken Adam. You’ve smashed your hands to pieces.” Daniel was firm. “I’m going to have to get you to hospital
. You don’t want them to set like this.” He paused, thinking for a moment. “You never caused all that damage downstairs with just your fists, surely?”

Adam spoke at last as he lifted his stubbly face off the pillow, his voice dry and hollow.

“I think I used my feet too, but they had shoes on so the damage isn’t quite as bad, and in case you’re wondering, I didn’t drink all the vodka, I thought I should sterilize the cuts so I poured at least a couple of measures on them.”

Daniel winced at the thought as he studied Adam
’s newly grown beard. He looked down again as Adam glared back at him furiously.

“Can you move these fingers for me? Turn
them, rotate them.” He ignored Adam’s hiss as the pain sank in.  He tested his fingers one by one. “Hmm, maybe not as bad as I thought, probably not as bad as you deserve. Trish was petrified and Alf is livid with you.”

Adam clamped his jaws together and stayed silent as he bent his fingers, and Daniel tried again.

“Something hit a raw nerve? I mean that’s some kind of mess down there Adam. It looks like a battle zone. I should know. I was in one once. Trish says you’re going to have to pay her overtime to clear it all up.” He looked into Adam’s angry but sad eyes. They had deep black rings underneath and his hair looked unwashed.

Adam shrugged
and spoke at last.

“It’ll give her something more interesting
than normal to do. I would have carried on up here, but I was too knackered what with jet lag and drinking the vodka. Probably just as well I did drink it actually.” He sighed and sat up. The sheet fell away from him revealing his broad shoulders. There were cuts and bruises on them too. He carried on as he stared back at Daniel with hollow eyes.

“I’ve never felt rage like it
Dan. It just boiled over and over inside me. Nothing would have stopped me. I think I turned myself into some form of human battering ram.” He grimaced as Daniel went to work on his hands, pulling out bits of embedded stone and wood with tweezers from his bag.

Daniel nodded slowly.

“Hmm… Yes, a battering ram would do that kind of damage. You must be truly awe inspiring when roused. I’m glad I wasn’t around to see it. You would have terrified me.” He picked up a bag beside his feet and rummaged for some antibacterial salve and some bandages.

Adam examined his hands and squeezed his fingers into a fist. It was painful but not unbearable.

“If I’m honest, I terrified myself. I didn’t know anger like that was possible, I thought I was going to explode.” Adam replied and his shoulders shook slightly as he shuddered.

Daniel gave a grunt.

“It looks as though you did downstairs. I hope you’re well insured. Do you want to start by telling me why you’re in here and not your own room? What set you off? If you don’t mind me asking… Please warn me if you feel any sort of anger coming on so that I can leave. I don’t want to die today…My wife may sue you if I do. Be aware, she has very expensive tastes and won’t settle for anything less than the best.” Daniel added as he dabbed the ointment on Adam’s left hand.

Adam winced
. The ointment stung. He breathed out slowly before he answered.

“A woman. The perfect woman.” His
voice was anguished and Daniel looked up, surprised at his friend’s hopeless tone. He took one glance at his friend and then avoided looking at Adam’s agonized expression.

He
dropped his eyes back to his patient’s hands and nodded knowingly as he remembered the woman Adam had rescued.

“
Ahh! The pretty drugged one with all the hair I take it? She’s certainly a looker.” Adam nodded in confirmation and Daniel carried on. “Well, I hope she was worth it, because replacing that lot downstairs isn’t going to be cheap. I doubt if you can replace some of it anyway.” Daniel was still looking at Adam’s hand as he had second thoughts about the bandage.

Adam lifted his chin in resignation.

“No. I don’t expect I will be able to either. They were all special commissions. Damien is going to be especially annoyed about that angel. Still I can always commission another one.” His voice was still sad. “And yes, she was definitely worth it. I had the most fantastically beautiful night of my life with her. Ever. That’s why I came in here. I just felt closer to her. And that bloody trip to Dubai! What a waste of time and effort!” He sighed hopelessly and then carried on. “Oh… you should know I sold the business. Well the project in Dubai.” He qualified.

Daniel
’s head shot up this time. “What! You have to be kidding me! Why?” He was genuinely shocked now.

Adam looked at his friend and sighed deeply.

“I’ve had enough of it all. I don’t want to be working like this anymore. And, stupidly, I assumed she wanted to be with me, to share her life with me. That’s why I went away in the first place, so I could get rid of the Dubai contract. I thought she wanted me. But apparently not. What an idiot I’ve been… Not about the business, no I’m glad I’m shot of that.”

“Well I’m not!” Daniel sounded more than a little annoyed. “You could have
told me that was the plan. I might have sold the shares I had in the project if I’d known you weren’t going to be doing it. I bet the price has gone down since last week now. I haven’t had time to look at my portfolio. You do realize I may have to put up my fees to cover any shortfall.”

At last Adam laughed.

“You twerp! I’m still on the board, I couldn’t get a buyer without keeping myself on the company listings, but I will only have a minor role now. I’m going to be paid for doing almost nothing at all. The share price won’t go one way or another because of it. Great isn’t it? I’m thinking of doing the same thing with my other companies. Especially the one in Japan. I never want to go there to work, again. Every time you put something up a bloody earthquake hits the place and you have to start all over again.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I need to wash; finish doing this when I’m done.” He stood and walked, naked, to the bathroom.

His chin was smooth by the time he came out of the shower and his hair felt clean again. The hot water had made him feel better. He wrapped a towel around his waist and strode back to the bedroom.

He could hear Tricia, and probably Alf going by the swearing, clearing up the bombsite downstairs.

He stopped by the side of the bed
listening to his housekeepers cleaning up his mess and he felt heat rising in his cheeks. He had behaved appallingly.

“I must apologiz
e later, I think I really scared them.” He was looking at Daniel again, and he stuck his hands out in front of him to let them be re-examined. Most of the chips had come away by themselves in the shower, but the cuts still looked pretty deep.

Daniel looked
at Adam’s hands once again and reapplied more ointment. “What had she done to offend you? This woman I mean.”

Adam bit back a snarl.
He couldn’t bear to think of the wimp of a man who had been embracing her.

“She exists, isn’t that enough?” He growled as his whole body bristled.

Daniel glanced up at his friend and quickly looked away as he saw the raw fury in his eyes.

“Phew! The sex must have been good! You do have it bad. Didn’t she give you the reply you wanted when you told her you loved her?” Daniel continued wrapping bandages around Adam
’s fingers. “There, that’ll do for now until we can get you to hospital…Well, come on spit it out man, you might as well tell me everything now. What did she say to you?”

Adam flexed his fingers inside the bandages.

“We didn’t just have sex, Dan. We made the most perfect love ever… you know how difficult it can be for me, but she was just perfect. I didn’t have to hold back a thing…” His eyes glazed over at the memory. Daniel gave a small cough and Adam looked down at him, angry again. “And she didn’t say anything.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “I didn’t get round to actually telling her I love her…I didn’t think I had to. I made it completely obvious how I felt. I had the best, most beautifully memorable night of my life. I thought it was the same for her too. But I never actually got round to telling her that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.” He looked down at the top of Daniel’s head, suddenly feeling like the biggest clod on earth. “Shit! What an idiot!”

“Ah!…
I’m glad you realize it. Well there you have it then.” Daniel nodded wisely. “What did you tell her exactly?”

Adam gulped noisily before answering.

“I told her I needed her and wanted her and that I would phone as often as I could but…”Adam trailed off, thinking about how he hadn’t been able to speak to her for weeks.

Daniel grunted
knowingly.

“But nothing…
that lot doesn’t mean anything to a woman, unless you say the three magic words. Even I know that. Maria gives me hell if I don’t tell her I love her, at least three times a day.” Daniel stopped and stood up beside Adam. “So why haven’t you gone and told her now? Why are you wrecking your house and moping about here in bed? ”

Adam shook his head.
His knees suddenly felt weak.

“Because I’m too late.” He sat down on the bed again with his head in his hands
, his fingers pulling distractedly at his damp hair. “I’m too late Dan. I took a cab at Heathrow and went straight to her flat after I got off the plane, but she was with another man. They were hugging in the middle of the street.”

Daniel grunted again
, obviously unimpressed.