Page 60 of Save Me
At least the sight of Kai and Xander having to crawl down the stairs on their hands and knees and into the office cheers me up. Once inside of the office with us, they jump up and try to look all manly, even though Bodhi and I are smirking with a healthy dose of smugness over their having to hide from the beefy dude outside.
“Beth, your mom is due back in the morning,” Bodhi begins, now turning serious. “She’s planning on going to see Oliver with me but wants you to stay here. She doesn’t want you going anywhere near that place if we can help it.”
“That’s more than fine with me,” I reply truthfully, and with a calming sense of relief washing over my already slumped shoulders. “But you’ll keep her safe, won’t you?”
“Of course,” he replies with a casual shrug of his left shoulder, “besides, he’s not going to do anything to her. It would be too much of a headache to cover up if she went missing. It would also screw up his plans with you because you would connect him to a missing person.”
Though his reasoning is meant to put me at ease, it does nothing but makes me shudder over just how powerful and dangerous my intended is. Xander must feel it too because he instantly pulls me down to sit on top of his lap where he holds me tight as I fall sadly against his chest.
“Now, I’m pleased about this recent development,” Bodhi says with a grin as he points his finger between me and Xander, “however, you’re gonna have to keep away, Xander. Until we figure out what to do, you guys can’t risk being seen together. Any information you need on each other will have to go through yours truly. As for you, Kai, you can talk, walk, but absolutely no physical contact or unscheduled visits to the house. Sorry, man,” he says when Kai opens his mouth to argue. The guy is a teddy bear and loves to cuddle frequently, which is why I love him so much. “Oliver wants her cut off from everyone, so if he sees you as any sort of a threat, he’ll use it to argue about his shitty conditions just cos you’re a guy.”
“He threatened Riley and Mum,” I suddenly throw into the conversation, “I don’t see how I’m going to get out of this.”
The next few minutes are spent filling them in on all the information Oliver gave to me before he dragged me back to his mansion. I probably sound as clear as mud when I remember more and more in a totally unordered mess. However, by the end of my poorly thought-out speech, I think I’ve covered the main points - my grandmother, Carl Steele, how he had his sights set on me before the gambling game, and how he would go after my family if I tried to get out of our arrangement in any sort of way.
“Fuck! That’s messed up!” Kai voices what we’re all thinking, but the others can only nod in agreement as they come to the same conclusion as me; there are no answers and I’ll be walking down the aisle toward Oliver Lawrence before this time next year.
“Let’s just wait till your mom gets back and go from there,” Bodhi puffs out, sounding far too rational for the situation at hand. “We’re going to have to tread carefully with this one, and maybe some proper adult thinking will work in our favor. Lord knows I bypassed becoming an adult with a little help from my friends.” He smirks as he mimics smoking, momentarily making me smile over his theatrics.
“What about Mal and Riley? Where are they?” I ask.
“They’re staying with your grandad,” Bodhi replies, “your mom thought it would be safer for Riley to stay in the UK. As for Mal, I think your mother thought it would be safer for him to not be near her, if you catch my drift.”
“Oh, God,” I groan as I throw my hands over my face, “she must be fuming!”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t wanna be your dad right now,” Xander laughs.
“Right, on that note, I’m gonna take off and return in the morning when your mom arrives. Kai, I’ll divert Lug out there while you sneak out the back. Xander, you have one hour, tops, with your girl before I come back and divert his attention again. I mean it, Zee, you need to be ready to go as soon as I come back!”
I cling on to Xander that little bit harder, just as he reluctantly nods at Bodhi, who is now exiting the room with a neck stretch, readying himself to go and talk with the enemy outside. I give Kai a long hug before he gets back down on the floor, and shuffles along to his escape through the kitchen door.
Soon, it’s just Xander and me, closed inside of my father’s office, where we’re more than making up for the fact that we are a new couple in love, new to sex with one another, and only have this small window of time to squeeze in what most teenage couples have weeks to do. We don’t even make it out of the office before we take one another over and over again, exploring one another’s bodies with urgency, all the while knowing that Bodhi will be back sooner than we think.
We say everything with purpose, anything to keep us going while we can’t be with each other. We don’t stop kissing until the moment he has to leave. Even when we finally decide to get dressed, I end up straddling him, while he thrusts into me with gentle movements to make it last that little bit longer. If there was any hint of my virginity being left before this hour started, it’s certainly lost to Xander now. The thought has me clinging possessively onto his neck, just as I let tears fall over my cheeks.
“Don’t cry, baby,” he whispers as he makes love to me, “it’s not forever.”
For some reason, his words have me unraveling, and I emit a small scream as I come suddenly.
“Oh, God, oh, God,” I cry, “don’t leave me!”
“I will never leave you; I love you,” he says reassuringly and presses his lips to mine. The gentle throbbing inside of me tells us he’s about to fall into his own climax at any second.
“I love you too, Captain American,” I tell him with a smile, just as he comes back down to earth and grins over my nickname for him, “you’re my person.”
“And you’re mine!” He lifts my chin with his finger, much more gently and affectionately than Oliver ever has. “Always remember that. No matter what happens!”
After a long, sad kiss goodbye, I finally push him out the door, forcing us to break apart before we’re caught by Leo. He’s currently snooping around the front, probably looking for the guy who just threw half a dozen firecrackers into our garden. When Xander reaches the back fence, he turns around to blow me a kiss before we wave goodbye to each other. Inside I’m nothing more than a huge bag of worries, wondering if and when I’ll ever be able to touch him how I so desperately want to, again.
Chapter 20
Beth
My mum, my rock, doesn’t say anything when she first steps foot inside of the house. Instead, she lets out a loud, involuntary sob and practically launches herself at me. It’s one of the best hugs I’ve ever had, and I indulge in it. So much so, Bodhi has to make a weird sound from the back of his throat to break us apart.
“Beth, my Beth, my baby girl, what has he done to you?” she whimpers when she steps back to assess me more closely, squeezing her eyes shut with new tears when she takes in my fresh injuries. When she opens them again, there’s an angry expression on her face. It’s a look I’ve only ever seen her use once before. A couple of teenage thugs were trying to pick on Riley when he was only nine, but, unfortunately for them, Mum had arrived home early from the shops and caught the bullies in the act. They got this exact same look. At the time, I was surprised neither of them had peed their pants, for they looked that terrified of her. Suffice to say, they left him well alone after that.
“That motherfucker is going to pay!”