The Geary Series Boxed Set (36 page)

Elijah felt a warm hand smooth across his forehead, he liked the comforting feel it gave him. A smile played on his lips as he focussed on where he was. As the soft hand left his forehead and slid down to his cheek he moved his head to snuggle into the warm hand. He could smell the aroma of orange fill his nostrils.

“Sit up and have an orange wedge, they are so juicy.” He heard Lilly whisper.

Opening his eyes and sitting up, he felt the edge of the blanket that covered him fall to his waist. Lilly must have covered him while he slept which meant she had finished drawing him. Grabbing one of the wedges Lilly offered him from the bowl, he bit in to one of the wedges. The juice squirted out in several directions which made Lilly laugh. He was delighted with the noise, he loved to hear her laugh, it was throaty and addictive.

He was mesmerised as she used her thumb to wipe away the excess juice and then wipe her hands in the cloth napkin resting on her bare thigh. Lilly was wearing a short shift dress that sat high on her thigh in her sitting position. Elijah’s eyes darted to the gap between her thighs and only saw darkness. He wasn’t sure if she were naked under her dress or not. The excitement that she might be started to make him twitch. Finishing off the orange wedge he placed the peel in the bowl and took it from her. Elijah put the bowl on the floor and pulled Lilly down onto the sofa with him and pulled her close. They lay still, Lilly on her side with a leg hitched over both of his and her hand resting on his stomach. He could feel her warmth down his ribs and his legs, he felt content.

“Will you make love to me Elijah?” Lilly asked him.

“No.” Elijah said.

He snapped his answer without thinking, it sounded sharp and cold, he didn’t mean to sound so direct but he was taken by surprise. Lilly raised her head to look at him, she wore a frown and a face full of sadness.

“Why ever not? We’ve practically done everything else.” Lilly said.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Elijah answered.

“What’s the matter, should I let you wake up first? I didn’t realise making love was such a big deal, you proposed to me earlier, have told me you wanted to.  You’ve been frustrated whenever we have been interrupted, why are you being moody about it?” Lilly asked, irritated.

Elijah shifted slightly in his position so he could sit up but not let Lilly drop to the floor. He thought he was going to have to tell her earlier and he had his carefully prepared answers ready. Now that Lilly was asking him now, his mind had lost the prepared answers and all he was left with was the truth. He was scared to death to tell her why he couldn’t make love to her when she asked.

He wasn’t ready to tell her the truth, he didn’t want to see the pity in her eyes. He had moved passed the embarrassment of it and had become proud of it. Clambering over her prone body he stood naked before her. Lilly’s face flicking from different emotions, concern, hurt, lust when she glanced at his cock and back to concern. This was the wrong time to tell her, he couldn’t utter the words, he had to leave.

“I can’t make love to you on demand Lilly, I’m not a machine, and I need to leave.” Elijah said.

“Oh, ok, don’t you want to see your drawing?” Lilly asked.

“Not really, I didn’t ask you to do it, so it’s not for me is it?” Elijah said.

Elijah hurriedly dragged on his jeans without his boxer briefs, he didn’t have time to find them. He could feel rage surge up in him, like he always did when his emotions ran high. He didn’t want to make things any worse.

“You don’t have to be an arsehole Elijah, I thought you might like to see it, but it doesn’t matter. Why don’t you want to make love to me?” Lilly asked.

“Because I don’t want to Lilly, I thought my tone told you that the first time.” Elijah yelled at her.

Lilly was standing by this point, and was frozen to the spot, her body not moving at all, he couldn’t even see her chest rise from breathing. He kept staring at her, trying to control his anger, he wanted so much to sit her down and tell her why and they could work through it together but his instinct prevented him.

He found his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, he felt better already that he was clothed.

“Look, Lilly I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you.” Elijah said in a calmer tone. “I’m just not ready to tell you.”

“Get out Elijah,” Lilly said, her demeanour had changed, and she was taller, sternness washed over her face. She had turned into courtroom mode and she was in control. “You do not get to yell at me like that, so get out of my home.”

“I’m sorry Lilly, don’t be like this.” Elijah said.

“Tell me why you won’t fuck me?” Lilly asked.

“Don’t be crude, I’m not ready to tell you.” Elijah answered in an instant, it wasn’t the truth, he could tell her but his pride had kicked in. She was kicking him out for yelling at her.

“You can Elijah and you will if you still want me to marry you.” Lilly said.

“That’s ridiculous. You can’t hold that over my head, I’m sure there are things that you’re not ready to tell me.” Elijah said.

“I will tell you anything you want to know, I will answer any question you ask, right here, right now. No secrets Elijah, tell me now or get out.” Lilly demanded.

Elijah looked around the room, he spotted the drawing over in the corner, and it was stunning. Charcoal lines depicting his body and orange and red colouring for his tattooed chest. Lilly had drawn him perfectly and his heart melted that she had spent so much time on him. He must have been asleep for quite a while for her to have finished.

“What time is it?” Elijah asked.

“I don’t care what the time is, what is it to be?” Lilly said.

“Well I care what time it is as I have a job to go to unlike some.” Elijah snapped and instantly regretted his words.

“It is seven thirty, now get out, I no longer want to know. You had your chances to tell me.” Lilly said.

Elijah watched as Lilly left the room, the air had turned cold and he wanted to find his jumper. Looking around the room again he found it folded on the chair next to Lilly’s artist stool. He took a second look at the picture, close up this time. It really was excellent, he was proud of her and delighted that she had drawn him so well.

He was being an arse but she didn’t give him much chance to answer. He needed time to tell her but he was late for work and needed to leave. He didn’t believe that she didn’t want to marry him anymore she was just reacting to his yelling. He knew he could be intimidating when he was angry and always tried his best not to show it.

Leaving the morning room he walked through her apartment and didn’t see her in the semi-darkness, so left without saying goodbye. He would talk with her later, once the shift at Blue’s was under control, he would leave early and comeback to talk to her. He just hoped that she would listen. 

Elijah walked passed his doormen and nodded. They knew better than to talk to him when he had his angry face on. By the time Elijah had left Lilly’s apartment and had arrived at Blue’s he was fuming mad. More at himself than at Lilly’s questions. He had no reason to be angry with her, she was only asking questions and she was right, if they were going to get married then he should tell her everything but he wasn’t ready. It was that simple.

Shouldering his way through the crowd he politely smiled at his regulars and chatted to a few along the way. He needed a drink and he needed to calm down. What he would really like to do is let off some steam and that usually included a drinking session with Mickey. Now that he was going to talk with Lilly that was out of the question. He needed to be sober when he talked to her later.

He eventually passed through the crowded bar and pushed his way through to the door leading to his office. He needed to hide and think. He needed to work out how to tell his story to Lilly now that he had made an arse of himself. Dropping down into his chair he swung from side to side staring at the back of his office door. It was blank and he pictured him pressing Lilly up against it not so long ago. It was a fond memory that made him smile, he would go back to Lilly after the shift was done and explain, he would beg her forgiveness for walking out on her and his cruel words.

Elijah’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the corridor door open and then a knock at his door. So much for his quiet contemplation, it was about to end.

“What is it?” Elijah answered the knock at the door.

Pete walked in and looked nervous, he had news to tell that Elijah wouldn’t like. Pete knew to get to the point straight away.

“Steve and Simon are in the bar.” Pete said, moving to the side to let Elijah pass him.

Elijah was back at his anger mode, his couldn’t believe that those two would enter his bar after what they had done to Lilly. He left the dark corridor that housed his office and entered the busy bar. It didn’t take more than a minute to locate them and he pushed his way through the crowd not caring if he had spilled any of their drinks along the way. He muttered to get another at the bar on the house. The locals knew Elijah well and just muttered their unhappiness and went back to their conversations.

Elijah kept going until he spotted Simon, he punched him once. An uppercut to his chin and knocked him out cold. Steve started yelling blue murder at Elijah but didn’t try to fight Elijah.  He stood there shouting at him. Elijah looked at Steve and raised his fists in preparation for round two. Steve raised his hands in defence and backed away.

The police had entered the crowd within minutes. They were at his premises far too fast to be called straight from the punch. They must have been waiting and Elijah smelt a set up and he had fallen straight into it. He placed his hands behind his back in readiness for the cuffs. He knew what was going to happen next and didn’t protest.  He knew there was no use pleading his case. Simon and Steve had obviously set this scene up so Elijah wasn’t going to make it any worse for himself.

He looked down a second time in a week to see if he had killed a man and was relieved that he saw Simon come round from being knocked out. Steve leaned into Elijah and whispered. “Payback for getting us arrested, think twice before you do it again.”

Elijah struggled against the cuffs and head butted Steve for good measure.

“You don’t scare me, you piece of shit.” Elijah said back, loud enough for all to hear.

Satisfied that he was ok, he turned and waited to be led out of the bar. The murmuring voices of the customers were to be expected, their normally jovial bar owner had struck another man and to them this was out of character.

He didn’t look any of them in the eye to see their disapproval, he could feel it in the air. He couldn’t change what was done and left the bar. Elijah whispered a few words to Gareth and he nodded and watched as his boss was manhandled into the waiting police car. The car was neatly parked outside the bar, further sign that they were waiting.

The drive was quick to the police station and he was processed and escorted to a waiting cell. The policeman that closed the door invited him to cool off and when they decided that he was calm enough they would let him go. Elijah declined to make any calls and entered the cell and sat on a stone bench and lay down. He would finally get some contemplation time and figure out a way to sort all of this mess out.

Getting fully dressed in the middle of the night for anything other than to catch a flight to a holiday destination seemed alien to Lilly. Angie had given her a quick call a few hours earlier, Gareth had phoned her to say that Elijah was in jail.  He had left her very angry so could only imagine how the other guy looked, especially when it was Simon on the other end of his fists.

Lilly pulled her satchel over her head and tugged it about her body until it sat straight, going to a police station was the last place she wanted to go.  She felt like she owed him, he had supported her in her recent decisions and that was the only reason why she was going. Pulling her jacket straight under her bag she made fists with her hands and thumped the sides of her thighs. Giving herself a mental pep talk, to rise above her pride and help Elijah.

At four in the morning the streets were empty, she had left him stew for a few hours.  If she had gone any earlier the police wouldn’t have let him out. When she called, the desk sergeant had advised her that Simon was not pressing charges as it was a misunderstanding and they were keeping him in until he cooled off.

The modern looking police station was filled with people, the noise levels were high. It seemed to have all the drunk and angry people that the city had to offer. Police stations had always made her nervous, she much preferred the courthouse. She felt more comfortable with the predictability of people’s behaviour in a courthouse. In a police station, anything could happen when emotions were high.

The early hours of the morning brought out the worst the Edinburgh had and she was among them. He would pay severely for this, she would make sure of that. The quicker she got him out of here, the quicker she could get on with the rest of her life and her debt would be paid.

She waited in line to see the desk sergeant, there were a dozen or so people in front of her and she waited impatiently. Trying not to make eye contact with anyone, she concentrated on her phone, playing an addictive game. The constant arguing to her left was in competition to the constant sobbing to her right. She couldn’t decide which noise would send her over the edge of impatience first. Thankfully the queue sped up and she was next.

“My name is Lillian Harrison and I am here for Elijah Geary, I’m his lawyer.” Lilly said.

“He said that he didn’t want one.” The police officer replied without looking up. He sounded weary and slouched at his desk.

“What he wants and what he needs is two different things, where do I need to sign to get him out of here?” Lilly replied hoping to get this over with as soon as possible.

“Just sign these and I will go and get him, he should have cooled down by now.” The officer said and looked up and was delighted with what he was looking at, someone sober, a non confrontational member of the public. It was a rare sighting at this time of the morning.

“I doubt it when he sees me” she muttered under her breath, the police officer heard and smiled as he turned and walked through the door behind him.

“Oi, love, come over here and sit on my lap” A drunken voice said to the side of her.

She shivered inside her warm jacket at the crassness of his invitation. Trying to ignore the inebriated lout she stared straight ahead to the door where Elijah would walk through. She shivered again, he would not be happy to see her after the way they parted. Blocking out further invites from other early morning drinkers, she waited for him to appear. The cold dread that she felt when the door opened and the police officer came through made her heart drop through to her stomach. She then caught sight of him and they locked eyes, they smiled for a moment and then the annoyance seeped through. He was angry and it showed, he tried to turn around and go back through the door but the police officer wouldn’t let him back track.

“Go and say thanks to the lovely lady who has bailed you out, otherwise you would be rotting in here with the other drunkards until dawn.” The desk sergeant told him.

Elijah grunted and moved forward towards her, looked at her and walked passed her. She suspected as much, but it still hurt to be shunned.

“You didn’t have to come and get me, they would have released me sooner or later, and they had finished questioning me hours ago.” Elijah said.

It angered her that he was so dismissive, he didn’t have to be rude about it. It was her fault that he was in jail in the first place.

“Well, I’m here now and believe it or not I didn’t want you to sit in a jail cell all night because of me. You were a world class shit to me earlier and I don’t know why but you will explain it to me tonight if you want to see me again. So get your arse to my car and we are going to your place and sort this mess out.” Lilly told him.

“That’s a bit bossy Lilly, but you’re right, now where is your car?” Elijah asked.

Lilly didn’t answer and left the police station assuming Elijah would follow, she was in no mood to molly coddle him and wanted to find out what had him all pent up. Using the remote key, the car came to life and they both got in the car. The air was thick and neither of them dared talk for fear of saying the wrong thing. It didn’t take long for Lilly to reach Blue’s and park around the back in Elijah’s parking space. She got out and waited for him to follow suit and locked the door again.

Following Elijah through the back door of the bar, Lilly wondered what he was going to say to make up for his angry outburst that afternoon and his temper at his own bar. It would have to be something pretty special, she didn’t like the abrupt change of mood with Elijah. She didn’t like unpredictability in anyone least of all someone she loved and wanted a future with.

Elijah stomped through the bar with Lilly following along behind him and he turned around and pointed a finger with the order to stay. He was in no mood to argue with her and needed to reach for some Dutch courage. Whisky. He went behind the bar and picked up a bottle and two tumbler glasses and walked back to where Lilly was standing.

“Right then Lillian, let’s do this, I will tell you what has got me wound up and then we will see where the cards fall.” Elijah said.

Lilly frowned at his statement, his irritation with her was apparent in his look and his stance. She was not going to hang around for him to yell at her again. She wasn’t in the mood to be his verbal punch bag this evening.

“Don’t worry about it Elijah, I’m not going to bully you into telling me. I’m not staying around here just for you to be pissed off with me. I have an entire family who can do that to me. Sleep the anger off and maybe we will talk again, but at the moment I don’t want to know this version of you.” Lilly said.

Lilly turned on the spot and walked purposefully out of his bar and back to her car. She didn’t want him to chase after her, she was angry with him and wouldn’t listen to anything he had to say with a clear mind. She couldn’t understand how she could be in love someone so much and then hate them at the same time. She was disappointed that he could be so cold and demanding. It seemed that he was punishing her for his secret, which he wanted to share.