Treacherous (11 page)

Nathan

I couldn’t believe I was giving in. I
was weak. But I didn’t care. Our layers came off between us as we
moved together towards the bed.

“
I
don’t want to be alone tonight,” she whispered to me as she pulled
me down on the bed and wrapped her limbs around my body. When our
underwear came off and nothing but bare skin was between us, no
barriers were stopping us, I gave myself fully to her. I was one
with her desire, and our fates were intertwined. We got lost in the
passion of our love. In that moment, everything came lose, and even
though it was oh, so wrong, it also felt—
oh so right.

Chapter
Nineteen

Charli

Falling into bed with
Nathan was easy, but the thought of Frankie still entered my mind.
I had tried calling him before leaving my parents place to go back
to campus the following morning, but his phone had gone straight to
voicemail. I had no clue what I was doing. Was I messing around
with two guys? Were they messing around with me? When I had
unloaded all of the bags out of my car and taken them up to my
room, I decided to go down to the café for a coffee and reassess my
thoughts. As soon as I pushed the door to the café open, I saw him.
He was sitting in the exact same chair he had when we met. My
breath caught in my throat and then left my lungs all together. I
couldn’t breathe and felt as though I might pass out. I leaned
against the counter.

“
Are you alright?”
asked the cashier.

“
Huh?” I looked up and
saw her watching me, concerned. “Oh, yeah. I just had a dizzy
spell. I have them sometimes. I’m alright.”

“
Would you like a
drink of water?”

“
Oh, yes, please.
Thank you.” The girl left to get me some water, and I stayed
standing near the coffee grinder at the counter watching Frankie.
He was deeply immersed in the book he was reading. It was a
well-loved and old novel. I couldn’t see the title but the cover
looked familiar. He was wearing glasses, and as he turned the page,
he pushed the brown-rimmed frames up on his nose. He was sexy as
hell, and I wanted to go over there and tear the book away from his
hands and kiss him like no tomorrow. But I waited, and I watched,
and I observed him.

“
Here’s your water,”
said the cashier, sliding a plastic cup towards me. I took it
without moving my gaze from Frankie. He must have sensed me there,
because all of a sudden he looked up, took his glasses off placing
them on the table in front of him, and rubbed his hand over his
face. As he turned his head my direction, he stretched out his arms
and grinned a lazy grin. My heart raced and again I felt
breathless. I was torturing myself.

“
Charli, hey. You’re
back.”

“
Yeah.” I came and sat
opposite him. “You left without saying goodbye.”

“
Oh, yeah. Something
came up and I…” he was lying. I could tell. “I had to leave
quickly.”

“
Oh, that’s okay. You
should’ve texted me.” I put my head down to pretend I was hurt. I
had to play along with his game, if that’s what he was
playing.

“
Charli…. I’m sorry.”
He reached across the table for my hand. I let him. “Let me make it
up to you. I promised you a date, didn’t I?”

I looked up at him and gave him a small
smile. “Yes.”

“
Okay. Well, tonight
I’m taking you out. Somewhere nice.”

“
That sounds lovely. I
can’t wait.” I reached over the table and took his other hand,
squeezing. I didn’t want to get in too deeply with Frankie,
especially if he wasn’t whom he said he was, but I had to find out
what he was doing, if he was blackmailing my father.

“
Good. I’ll come get
you at six.”

“
Great.” I sat back in
my chair then realised I needed coffee. Well, real coffee. I had
only had black instant coffee at my parent’s place.

“
I need a coffee,” I
said, standing up and grabbing my purse.

“
Here, let me.” He
pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed me a ten- dollar
note.

“
Are you
sure?”

“
Yes. I owe
you.”

I grinned. “Yes. You
do.” As I stepped up to order my coffee, I could feel his eyes
burning through my clothes. It was unsettling, but also made me
feel good. I didn’t let him see my smile.

When I sat back down,
Frankie had his laptop out, typing away.

“
What are you
writing?” I asked, stirring my coffee.

“
Oh, just an essay. I
hate these things.”

“
Me, too. What’s it
about?”

“
It’s about the female
psyche.”

“
The female psyche?
Are you trying to get inside my head, Frankie?” I
teased.

“
Not yet. But I want
to. If you’ll let me?” He leaned forward over the table. I
automatically leaned forward too, to taunt him.

“
Hmm. I’ll have to
think about that.”

“
You’re already in my
head,” he whispered. Oh My God, this man was impossible. He made me
want to abandon any feelings I had for anyone else, giving into him
completely. He stood and brushed his lips softly over my bottom
lip. His breathe smelled of coffee, chocolate, and mint. I felt my
breath slip away again. I wanted to kiss him and give into him… Oh,
to hell with it. I kissed him pushing aside any thoughts and
feelings for Nathan.

Nathan
.
No!

My head screamed at
me to stop kissing Frankie, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know what
it was with Nathan. It was like the good girl side of me loved
Nathan, and the bad girl side loved Frankie.
My life was starting to mirror a science fiction
novel. Either that or I had split personality disorder.

Put it this way, I was kissing Frankie
for Nathan, I told myself. I had to get inside his head like he was
in mine.

Frankie pulled away for a moment, still
holding onto me but leaving his face extremely close to mine.
“When’s your next class?” he asked me, rubbing his thumb over my
knuckles. It distracted my mouth from forming words.

“
Um… um… at
two.”

“
Excellent. Come on.”
He stood, pulling me up with him.

“
Where are we
going?”

“
To study.”

My mind travelled to
all sorts of dangerous places as we headed to his room. I knew
exactly what I was in for...

Chapter
Twenty

Nathan

What on earth was I
doing? I woke at the normal time I usually woke on a weekday, 6am,
which was before Charli. As I sat up on the side of the bed to find
my pants, I looked back over my shoulder at Charli’s naked body on
the other side of the bed. Her hair was fanned out over the pillow
behind her head, and she looked like an angel. Last night I knew I
shouldn’t have stayed, shouldn’t have given in to my desires, but I
couldn’t help myself. I could feel myself falling for her very,
very fast. I leaned over to plant a kiss on Charli’s forehead, but
she stirred and rolled over, exposing her breasts to me. God, she
was beautiful. And I was going to hell.

“
Mm, are you leaving?”
She mumbled with eyes still closed. She reached out for me, and my
hand found hers automatically.

“
I have to go to
work.” I couldn’t lie about that. How else would I explain my
absence from the Campus? I had to go back to the station to follow
up on my case at some point.

“
Mm. Okay. I better
get back to school.”

“
I’ll call you later.
Okay?” I kissed her sweet lips and brushed hair away from her
face.

“
Sure.” She watched me
as I dressed and smiled when I looked her way. I didn’t want to go
back to the station. I wanted to climb back into bed with her and
make love to her again, but that would have to wait. Really, last
night shouldn’t have happened. I kissed her once more before
leaving and watched as she went back to sleep, and I snuck out the
door.

* * * *

“
Here’s the frat boy,”
shouted my partner as soon as I entered the station. A couple of my
other work mates cheered and patted me on the back as I walked by.
I told them to piss off or something along those lines. They only
knew about the party. Didn’t they?

“
What’s new?” I asked
Mark as I hung my jacket over my chair. Mark leaned back on his
chair and pointed to a manila folder on my desk. Intrigued, I
dropped my bag and picked up the folder. Inside was Levi’s full
profile.

“
Good
work.”

“
It
wasn’t exactly a secret.” To us it wasn’t a secret but Levi/Frankie
had sure tried to cover his tracks. He had done well, until now.
When I had skimmed through Levi’s basic biography, which was stuff
I already knew, I turned the page and got into the police reports
and statements. The first report in the file was from three years
ago—the accident in which he had killed his girlfriend at the time.
That was what everyone initially thought anyway. As I read deeper
into the report, I saw that wasn’t the case. He had been charged
with manslaughter for killing seventeen-year-old Winter Matthews in
a car crash caused by driving intoxicated. He had been sentenced to
25 years then, but Miss Matthews’ death wasn’t the only one he had
caused. When I read the following report, I wanted to scream. One
year earlier, he had been charged with drunken driving causing
bodily harm leading to death of a child on a pedestrian crossing.
Which meant the second charge was null and void. Under current New
South Wales law, major crimes where the sentence is over twenty
years could only be retried if there were new and compelling
evidence. I threw the folder down on the desk and shouted in
frustration. That had been the reason he had been let out on bail.
There was no new evidence the courts would be interested in, yet.
Then I remembered the conversation Levi had been having with
Stephen and picked up the folder again. I flicked through the pages
to find the new report, but there was none. I had to talk to
Stephen. There was something he was keeping from us. It must be the
reason why Levi was now blackmailing him. If there was new
evidence, it was our right to retrieve it. I grabbed my jacket and
keys and headed out the door.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Charli

“
So, why’d you pick my
room over yours?” Frankie asked me as he unlocked his
door.

“
Oh, you know, so we
don’t get interrupted. Plus, I thought we could finish what we
started.” His eyes widened and he smirked, pushing the door open
with his foot.

“
After
you.”

“
Thank you.” As soon
as I was inside his apartment, I stopped in the centre of the room
and turned back to face him. He dropped his laptop bag at his feet
and walked towards me, grabbing my face in his hands, and then
kissing me. I kissed him back, pulling on his shirt to pull him
closer to me. We walked backwards and fell back onto the lounge.
This time there was no foreplay. We got straight down to business.
He ripped off his shirt, and I slipped out of my jeans. He had the
pleasure of removing my tank top and bra. When he was only in his
briefs, and I was in my knickers, he moved over me and considered
me like a big cat might consider their prey. He was so close that I
could feel the bulge in his pants as he leaned against
me.

“
Ready?”

“
What are you waiting
for?” I wanted to rip off his underwear right then and pull him
inside me. I was impatient like that. But he teased me and taunted
me.

“
Be patient. I’m
studying you.”

“
For your
essay?”

“
Yes.”

“
And what have you
discovered?”

“
That the female mind
is delicate and is easily persuaded.”

“
Is that
so?”

“
Yes. It didn’t take
me long to lure you into my bed.”

“
Who said you lured
me? Maybe I came of my own accord?” Before he could speak, I traced
kisses along his collarbone while my hand caressed his bulge.
“Maybe it’s the male mind that is the most delicate and easily
fooled.” He closed his eyes and moaned as I massaged
harder.

“
Oh, bloody hell,
Charli. Why are you doing this to me?” He moved his pelvis closer
to me so his penis was pressed right up against me. I gasped but
continued playing my game.

“
Maybe it’s me who wants to taunt you? Maybe I wanted to
lure
you
in. Did you ever think about
that?”

“
I… I can’t really do
much thinking with you doing that.” I could tell he was ready. So
was I. I pulled his pants down as he did mine.

Having sex with
Frankie was different from having sex with Nathan. With Nathan, it
had been more the passionate and hot kind of sex, but now with
Frankie, there was passion, but more lust than anything. I could
finally see that now. After a few minutes, Frankie pulled out and
grabbed his underwear off the floor. I grabbed mine and got
dressed.