Everything She Needs (The Everything Trilogy) (34 page)

He’d seen me. I couldn’t turn my head to look at him. It felt so painful to have to go there again. I knew if I gazed into his beautiful eyes, he’d know that he still held my heart.

I swallowed hard and pushed myself away from the wooden railing, keeping my head down as I tried to walk past him.

As my body motioned
past his, he caught my hand and tugged me against him. His touch was instantly familiar to me. The electricity current cascaded through me, sparking my nerve endings into overdrive. Making me feel excited and heightening my senses.

My
face brushed his shoulder. It made me want to sink my head in his neck.  His scent engulfed me, and I inhaled deeply, it was an involuntary act.

“
Hey,” he cooed. One small word and he had destroyed my defenses all over again, just like that. I jerked my hand away, and pushed past him, my palms felt hot against his strong chest.

“Leave me alone.” I started running for the safety of the restrooms.

From in there I would be able to ring Zack to come and get me. An adrenaline rush I had kept me buzzing.  The sudden energy from it, making me feel sick. Either that, or it was the shock him touching me again.

I ran into a stall and closed the door. I rested my head against the back of it trying to think.
The restroom door burst open hitting the wall. I heard the sound of running footsteps, and Alfie appeared above the stall partition wall. He climbed up and over it, landing inside the toilet cubicle beside me before I could move.

He pinned me to the door.  His hands went either side of me, his face only inches from mine. The feeling was also so familiar. He’d done that a few times when he was playing mind games.

It hurt me to look at him.  He was so breathtaking, and I immediately ached to touch him, for him to kiss me.

“Why did you run, Lily? I’m not a fucking murderer.” His face was scowling down at me. “Speak to me.” I stood trying to get my thoughts in place. I hated that I still loved him after everything he’d done to me.

“Please just leave me alone.” My voice was barely a whisper, tears rolling down my face.

He stood staring at me and shook his head. “No. I can’t. I don’t want to leave you alone.”

His words made me livid. “You hurt me. You almost destroyed me, hell, you’re still destroying me. You’re a selfish bastard Alfie. Can’t you even think of your wife and child?” He dipped his head and placed his forehead on mine, staring into my eyes. I tried to turn away from him, but his hand grabbed my chin and kept my face in place.

His eyes bore into mine, their
color changing from whiskey colored with green flecks to a darker, more dominant green. “I’m not married Lily. I told you, I’m not with her. You know the deal.”

My breathi
ng was shallow and ragged. “No? That’s not what Kara told me. She had no clue I existed. If she isn’t your wife, then why in the hell doesn’t she know anything about me?” I stood there indignant, staring back at him.

“You really don’t know me at all, do you?”
he muttered, his mouth coming closer. He brushed my lips with his.

I stiffened at his nearness. “Don’t, don’t touch me.” He smiled slowly, his eyes searching mine. “Sorry, but I’ve waited six months to touch you again. I can’t help myself. I’ve missed you.”

I closed my eyes to shut him out and stood silently. His scent was overwhelming. How could someone feel so right for me physically and wreck me mentally at the same time?

“I’m not married, Lily.
Kara is not my wife. Why don’t you believe me? Why do you find it easier to believe someone you don’t know than me? I’m the one who should be angry.” My eyes widened in surprise.

“Seriously?
You think I should believe what you’ve said after everything that’s happened between us? You’re fucking sick in the head, Alfie. I. Don’t. Know. You! I’ve never really known you. Do you know what it’s like to think that someone is everything, only to find out everything is a lie?”

He held me by my shoulders and locked his eyes with mine in a hard stare
. “Listen to me. Kara didn’t know about you. She would stick with the plan no matter what. She has Poppy to protect. She didn’t know about you because she would have stopped me from helping her, but she has no one else. There is no way she would have blown her cover at the campus.  She told you she was my wife because that’s the story. Her life depends on it.”

He stood staring at
me, unblinking, his face so close to mine. He seemed to relax, his eyes closed briefly, and he pulled me into his chest. My face nestled into his neck. His soft, silky skin brushed my cheek. I pulled back slightly, and he looked down at me.

I was breathless. No one else has the effect on my
body that he does. He moved his face towards mine, his eyes locking into mine. Slowly, hesitantly, his lips got nearer until they brushed against my mouth.

His kiss was soft and sensual, just the way I remembered him.  His tongue began to probe my mouth, teasing my lips apart
, and his hands swept through my hair to caress the sides of my face. He wanted to deepen the kiss. “Lily! Are you in there?” I froze. Zack had pushed open the restroom door and was calling for me.

I pushed Alfie back and stared at him for a second. “Yeah, give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be right out.”

Alfie scowled at me. “Who’s that?” I closed my eyes for a second, realizing I had just cheated again, this time because of Alfie.

“It’s Zack, my boyfriend. Sorry, I’ve moved on.”

He smirked at me, “Really? You’ve moved on, yeah, it felt like it.” He snickered sarcastically and touched his lips with his fingers.

I shoved him harder this time, and he almost lost his balance when his legs hit the porcelain toilet. His arms went out, his palms slapping the sides of the cubicle walls to stop him from falling over.

“I’m in a relationship now, my life is good. Don’t come and fuck it up for me again.” He smirked and held my wrists, holding me flush with his body.

He was hard
, and I could feel his arousal brushing against my leg. “Yeah, I know you’re in a relationship Lily, I felt it. Poor guy, he just doesn’t stand a chance with me around eh?”  My heart was racing, Zack was waiting for me. The last thing I was going to do was let Alfie back in to ruin things now.

“Stop pleading with your
eyes, Lily. We both know that it should be us. Not you and him, you and me!  Does he make you feel the way I do, Lily?”

I struggled in his grip. “Please Alfie
, let me go. He makes me feel better than you make me feel.” Alfie smirked and ran his hands up and over my breasts.

My breath hitched
. “So fucking responsive, you don’t feel that with him, do you? Don’t lie.” I took advantage that he was no longer restraining me and pushed him back again. “I. Choose. Him. Alfie. I want to be with him. Please, he’ll find you here,” I pleaded with him to let me go before Zack came back looking for me again.

“I’ll let you go, if you meet me later tonight.” I was due at
D’mond,  but Alfie wouldn’t know that.

“Okay, fine, whatever, but you need to let me go to him now.”  His eyes darted to my bikini
top in silent question, and with his thumb and index finger he pulled my cell out and called his number from my phone, so my number registered on his.

His
cell began to ring. “Make sure you answer when I text, or I’ll be back to speak to your boyfriend.” He stepped back, and I pulled the stall door open. I ran out of the restroom before he came after me.

Zack was sitting on some benches near the water machine.

“Is everything okay, babe?” I had been in there for almost fifteen minutes.

“Sore stomach, ugh.”
I felt terrible lying, but I also needed to get Zack away from there before Alfie came out of the restroom.

I stood up and began walking towards his car. I need
ed to go home. “Can you just drive me home? I don’t feel great, and we have to play later.”

Zack was worried about me. “Sure, maybe it’s the sun. You might have overdone it today.” My eyes kept darting towards the door
, and my heart was racing. I was petrified he was going to open the door, and Zack would ask what we were doing in there together. I wouldn’t be able to say nothing happened with honesty.

Zack called Cody on my phone and told him he would be back. He explained he was taking me home. The guys were concerned that I would
n’t be able to perform. I told them I would be fine. 

The short ride back to the apartment was mostly silent. Zack
offered to come up, but I persuaded him to get back to the guys. They had no ride home, because they had taken their gear to the club earlier and left their rides there. Zack had driven them from the club to the beach with me.

A minute after I entered my apartment my cell buzzed.

SEXPERT ID
. My heart leapt then sank, the number of times I’d wanted to see him call my cell in the past six months, and it had never happened because I chose to change my number, yet now it filled me with dread.

SEXPERT: I’m downstairs, you come down or I’m coming up, take your choice, but we need to talk.

He had obviously followed me home. I just wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Holly was due home from work and would go berserk if I was speaking to him. She seriously disliked him after what had happened with him and me.

I didn’t want him in here anyway. I had just begun to move around my apartment without imagining him on my couch, or lying in my bed
, or the things we had done there.

I took off my bikini and pulled on some underwear, then pulled on a short skater dress. I slipped my feet into some pumps and ran downstairs
, not answering his text.

We’d do whatever this was at his
car, then I could get on with my routine of getting to the club. As soon as I saw him my heart fluttered, but ached at the same time.

I’ve never known anyone that
could give me feelings so high and so low at the same time. I walked over to his car, but he didn’t get out. “Get in.” I shook my head vigorously.

“Get in I want to show you something. I won’t touch you.” I stared at him for a few seconds before reacting.

“Alfie, why are you doing this? Why after all this time are we doing this again?” Why couldn’t I say no to him? I was angry at how weak I was. I had struggled to overcome the heartbreak and misery I felt about him. My life had begun to have meaning again.

I was beginning to develop feelings for Zack
. It wasn’t love yet, but I did care about him, and the way he looked at me, I could see his affection for me.

“You called it off, Lily. Not me, you need to allow me the chance to let me walk away knowing I did everything I could to fight for you.”

“Alfie there’s nothing to say. You know I loved you, still love you. Feelings that strong for someone don’t just disappear.” Alfie cut in on my speech just as I was trying to express how I felt, and why he should leave me alone.

After today I was seriously considering trying to get legal advice about him staying away from me, the thing
was though, the beach was a public place, and he had as much right to be there as I did. “Last time, Lily, I promise. This will be the last time we talk, let me try to explain, and if you’re not convinced afterwards you won’t ever see me again.” He half smiled, but he had a wounded look in his eyes.

“Seriously Lily, don’t you think we’re worth this one last attempt to make things right between us?”  The thought of never seeing him again made tears well in my eyes. I must be a sadist to put up with all the angst that’s passed between us during the past nine months.

“Okay, you have an hour Alfie, but I am playing tonight, so I need to leave home in about two hours.” He smiled and opened the passenger door and fired the car up ready to go. As soon as I was inside, he began to drive.

I sat looking out of the window, tears silently falling
, and I was wringing my fingers in my lap. “It’s okay, darling, don’t cry.” His words made a sob escape from my throat, but I didn’t speak. He tried to take my hand, but I pulled it away. He drove onto the campus and around the back to the apartments where he and Kara had their place.

“What’s going on?”  I stared at him, confused that he would bring me back here.

He turned and stared at me. “Let’s go.” He shifted himself out of the seat and slammed the door, but didn’t come around my side of the car to help me out.

I swung the passenger door open and slipped out closing it softly behind me. It didn’t close properly so I leaned my hip against it and when
I did, I heard a soft click. 

Alfie began to walk up the stairs, and turned to see me still standing at the bottom. “What are you waiting for? You wanted the truth, you wanted answers.” He held his arms out at his sides. “The answers are right here, right now, Lily. Are you ready to hear them?” Alfie seemed to have lost
his normal cool exterior.