The Bucket List (43 page)

"I'm going to get everyone up," she said as she dropped a kiss on the top of his head.

The doorbell rang before she could get up the stairs and she immediately got butterflies in her stomach. Corey? She hadn't expected him so soon. She still had things to plan; she had to get everyone out of the house so she could be alone with him.

But when she opened the door, she saw the last person she had expected to see.

"Nate! Oh my God, you're here," she shrieked happily as she bolted into his arms. "I missed you so much, you wouldn't believe it."

"I missed you too, darlin',"
Nate chuckled as he easily picked her off her feet in a bear hug.

"Hello? We're here, too."

She hadn't even noticed the other people standing with him, so she jumped a bit when Matt's amused drawl interrupted her little moment with her dear friend. Matt stood with Mandy and Shane, their good friend.

"Sorry, Matt," she said sheepishly as she hugged him, before she hugged the others. "I'm just so surprised. I wasn't expecting this at all."

"We have a show here tonight. We just thought we'd surprise you," Mandy smiled sweetly at her as she led them into the den.

"Oh, yeah. John said something like that," she said. "I'm glad you're here. And you're just in time for breakfast."

She delegated Mandy the task of getting everyone up, since she was probably just dying to see John, and directed everyone else to the kitchen. Nate stayed behind, like she knew he would do, and sat himself down on one of the chairs.

"So how've you been?" she asked, not quite sure what this visit meant.

Was he finally over her? Was he back in her life?

"
All right. Could be better but... you know."

"I really didn't think I'd see you so soon," she admitted.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. We were driving by, it would have been stupid not to stop and say hi," he shrugged.

"So will you be stopping by more often?" she asked hopefully.

"Maybe," Nate answered. "I mean, if I'm in town I will. I still care about you, so I'd want to know if you're all right."

She wasn't sure how it would work, or if it would work, but she hoped their
ill fated relationship wouldn't ruin what could possibly be the best friendship in the world. Next to Corey and John.

He looked different, like he hadn't been taking this too well. God, she hoped he hadn't been hurting as much as she had over
Corey. This unrequited love thing was total shit.

"How have you really been?" she asked softly.

"I haven't really had time to think about that, honestly," he answered. "I've been drafted to Cage Takedown, they've got me on a big push, so hopefully I'll get the belt soon. And I've been talking to Beth."

"Yeah? Are you two...?" she asked hopefully.

She knew how much he had loved Beth, he'd still been hurting when she got into the picture. Even though he'd claimed to love her more than he'd loved Beth, she couldn't really believe that now. What was one week compared to nine or ten years? It was the same with her and Corey. One week with Nate had only made her see how much Corey meant to her.

"No. We've just been talking. I told her about you, she told me about the prick she cheated on me with," he shrugged. "That's the one thing I never gave her the chance to do after I broke it off with her. I never let her talk. I had no idea how unhappy she'd been before, but she'd still put my feelings first. And she put up with a lot of my crap."

She had no doubt in her mind now that he would go back to her. Maybe they're brief fling had been exactly what he'd needed to see things in perspective.

"Well, you're here now, so I might enjoy it as much as I can," she smiled. "How do you feel about trying my world famous waffles?"

"Sounds good," Nate smiled back.

Corey
was nervous as fuck when he knocked the door the next morning, a bouquet of white and red roses in his hand. The girl at the shop had assured him Rae would be pleased. Apparently, the red ones were the universal sign of love and the white symbolized unity, purity and some other stuff like that. He'd had no clue, because he'd never bought flowers before. Not even for his dear mother.

He'd had a good soak in the tub, shaved and gone to have his hair cut. And for the first time in a while, he was sober.

This was the first day of the rest of his life; he had to make sure he got it right.

The door opened, unfortunately revealing the
Crusher’s on the other side.

He swallowed nervously when the man's eyes narrowed coldly on his.

"Um... morning, sir," he started.

"What do you want?"
Irving asked.

"Um... Can I talk to you for a minute... sir?"

How had he thought this was a good idea? The man looked ready to kill him; he could actually see smoke coming from his ear and nostrils.

"We're in the middle of breakfast,"
Irving growled before he turned away.

The door was about to be slammed in his face when he stuck his foot through.

The thing they never told you about this when you saw it on TV was how that shit hurt like a mother fucker. He would have screamed like a little girl if Irving hadn't immediately swung the door wide open and stepped out to put his face an inch from his.

"Unless you want me to break your little punk ass neck for what you've done to my daughter, I suggest you move along,"
Irving growled.

"Please," he whispered. "I really need you to hear me out."

Maybe it was how pathetic he sounded, maybe it was the sincerity in his eyes, he couldn't be sure; but the Crusher’s stepped aside and let him into the house. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding as his eyes quickly scanned the hallway, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rea, but the kitchen door was closed.

He heard voices in there, though, and his heart constricted again at the thought of its strongest desire just on the other side of those doors.

Then out of nowhere, he was grabbed by the collar and quickly pushed into the den.

"Talk. And make it quick,"
Irving growled when he'd closed the door behind him. "And if you waste my time, believe me you won't be walking out of here in one piece."

Maybe he wasn't safe after all.
Irving certainly looked unsettled, like he just wanted to finish him off before he got a chance to talk to Rae again.

God, the things people did for love.

Nervously, he cleared his throat again. It was now or never.

"Where has that man got to?" Sara asked as she covered
Irving's food and took it from the table.

"Oh, you know dad. He'd do anything to avoid eating my food," Rae chuckled as she cleaned her little brothers up and helped them off their chairs before they noisily ran out of the room to go and change as she'd instructed them to do.

"What are you talking about? This is the best breakfast ever," Matt said as he took his plate to the sink. "Thank you Rae, I haven't eaten so good in a long time."

"I could tell," she teased, referring to his cleaned plate.

"I'm a big man, I'm allowed to put so much food away," Matt said, defending himself.

"Excuses, excuses,"
Nate chuckled as he got up from the table, too.

"You boys don't need to do that," Sara protested when Shane got up as well and started clearing up.

"Ma'am, it's the least we could do," Shane said, easily pushing Sara's protest away. "The three of us will have this kitchen spotless in no time."

"Maybe I should have married a Southern man," Sara chuckled.

Rae looked over at John, who was sitting back in his chair next to Mandy with his hands over his stomach and shook her head.

"Shame? Guilt? Anything?" she asked.

"Not a damn thing," John grinned. "If them boys want to clean up, let them. "I'm fine right here."

She chuckled as she took the last of the dishes to
Nate.

"Thanks," she said to him.

"Not a problem," Nate smiled.

"See. Those boys from the South love doing stuff like that," John called out. "Now, if you excuse us, I think I'm taking this party by the pool. Bring the drinks out, will you Rae?"

Rae shook her head again as she watched John pull Mandy outside.

"Yes, Your Highness," she mocked.

"Damn right. And be quick about it, too."

She laughed as she went to do as she was told. John hadn't said anything else about
Corey the previous night so she assumed he had given in to her reasoning. She didn't think he'd be shocked, though, when he eventually learned of her new plan.

Since
Corey had destroyed the bar, she'd started keeping the drinks in the store cupboard next to the kitchen. She hadn't been exactly in the mood to do any redecorating.

It was still early and she knew all her friends had to work that night so she didn't take out anything strong; just something for a few light mixes and a bottle of crisp white wine. As she was closing the door, Drew and Timmy ran past her and almost knocked her over in their haste to return to their
fighting idols.

"Whoa, boys, slow down," she laughed.

"Rae..."

It was said softly, but she heard it loud and clear. Turning quickly, she saw
Corey standing with her dad by the sitting room door. Her heart started pounding loudly in her ears.

How the hell did he do that? How the hell did he look so good? He stood as tall and godlike as ever, maybe even more so now as she couldn't help eating him up with her eyes. His
chiseled face, those intense baby blues, the lips that could drive her to the brink and back again... He'd lost a bit of weight lately, but his very toned body still looked perfect beneath the blue shirt he wore. And those jeans... they hugged him up in all the right places; those large, muscular thighs; the bulge between his legs that she just couldn't wait to get her hands on.

He was lethal. She knew straight away that her first plan of remaining just friends would have been shot to shit seconds ago.

She didn't even notice her dad walk up to her to take the bottles she had in her arms from her.

"Hi,"
Corey said awkwardly.

She opened her mouth to speak but she forgot straight away what she'd been about to say. How did he expect her to think with him looking the way he did? All she could do was drown in those eyes and hope no one ever pulled her out again.

"I got these for you," he said, finally walking to stand in front of her.

It was only when the roses came into her line of vision that she was able to drag her eyes away from his.

"Flowers? Wow," she whispered, knowing Corey had never bought flowers before.

He must have really missed her.

"Thanks, Corey. They're perfect," she said.

Did he even know what they meant, or had he just bought them because they were pretty? She decided to go with the former, just to feed her imagination. She knew he would never have bought anything that was associated with love if he'd known.

"Is that it? I get you flowers and I don't even get a hug? Maybe even a little kiss?"

She looked up at him and saw his signature smirk on his face. Her heart immediately melted. Did he even realise what he was doing to her?

With a little smile of her own, she gladly went into his arms. It had been too damn long since Corey had held her like this; with his huge arms around her lower back, firmly securing her against the hard wall of his body. She put the flowers down on the side table that was next to her so she could savor the moment. Both her hands found their way to the back of his neck while she buried her face in the crook of his neck, breathing his intoxicating scent in.

Her whole body came alive at the contact and she couldn't help holding him a bit tighter. Would it be rude to lure him to her bedroom now, with all those other people in the house?

She couldn't be sure, but she thought she felt him hold her a bit tighter, too.

"I missed you, babe," he whispered.

Oh, God! Was she supposed to take it slow? Would he run off again if she were to rip his clothes off where he stood?

"I missed you, too, baby," she answered.

The kitchen door opened behind her and she almost screamed at the interruption.

"Whoa! Wow. This... Should I kick everyone out?"

It was John. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly let go of Corey all the while thinking of ways to kill John.

"Hey,"
Corey said, nodding his head to his old friend.

"Hey," John replied, walking towards him. "How you doin'?"

"Good," Corey answered.

John noticed the flowers on the little table; then looked from
Corey to her then back to Corey again.

"Flowers, huh?" he asked with a grin.