BETWEEN CLOUDS AND STARS: A Sexy Standalone Romance (12 page)

“How the hell do you know that?”

“I read all the celebrity rags. His exes praise him no end. And I need a man who can last at least two hours, but alas, my Steven is getting old. As if that wasn’t enough, lately we’re always fighting over his parents. They’re constantly meddling in our relationship and saying nasty things about me behind my back.”

“What an outrage!” Why did such underhand people exist?

“Exactly! I love him as he is. He’s my Steven, and I want to grow old with him. Why are they trying to break us up?” She flicked her hair to the side and rested her elbows on the table.

“Because they’re morons. Haven’t you told them that their actions only undermine your relationship and if they don’t stop, you’ll never speak to them again?”

“No, but I will,” she replied decisively.

“You should’ve also warned them that they’re starting a war in which they might lose their son, that they might piss him off so much that he’ll stop talking to them.”

“Well, no, I didn’t think of that.” She hung her shoulders.

“And for the killer blow, you could tell them that if they keep behaving like this, they might never see their grandson. Since they don’t respect you.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were such an expert in family problems,” Jeremy interjected.

“Well, yeah, but only when it comes to other people’s problems.”

“You’re right, Estelle. That’s exactly what I’ll say to them.” Giovanna rubbed her pregnant belly. “They have no right to ruin our family, especially since I’m pregnant. To top it all off, they also want to be involved in deciding the child’s name. They don’t like Victor, sounds too Russian to them. Oh, and my stupid father-in-law blurted out that everyone he knew with that name was an asshole. I don’t think I’ve met a bigger idiot than him. They’ve now ruined the name for me and I’m at a loss what other name to choose. And guess what all this fuss was for? Because they wanted the baby to be called Dick, after my father-in-law.”

“Dick, cock. Very sexy,” Jeremy laughed, and Giovanna fired an angry look at him.

“Precisely. Please don’t go on about it. It’s making me feel sick. We have the right, as his parents, to choose the name, not the grandparents.”

I wiped my mouth with a napkin and threw it on the table. I’d now completely lost my appetite. “What century do these people live in?”

“In the Middle Ages,” Jeremy interjected again, making us laugh.

“Definitely. I hope your husband has taken your side.”

“He supports me for now. Let’s hope he keeps doing it in the future.”

“If he stops, I’ll come over and kick his ass with my artificial leg. That one’s harder, so it’ll hurt him more,” Jeremy said, and I got the urge to give him a hug. Jeremy had gone through so much suffering. Next month, he was scheduled to have an operation in which his new leg would be transplanted. A suitable donor had been found. But until then, the doctors had given him an artificial limb so he could get from place to place more easily. He wasn’t completely steady on his feet with the prosthesis because he hadn’t got used to it yet, but it was still a thousand times better than being in a wheelchair.

Giovanna burst out laughing at his comment. “I depend on your support. God, the pregnancy makes me feel really tired, and my belly is so stretched I feel it might burst open at any given moment.”

“Wait until you reach the last stage of pregnancy.”

“Jeremy, do you really have to remind me? Do you think I don’t know it? But as my granny said, when you’re expecting a boy, the belly bulges out at the front, whereas with a girl, it stretches sideways—”

“Ha, I didn’t know that,” Jeremy interrupted her and leaned back in his chair.

“You don’t need to know it. You can’t get pregnant,” Giovanna said and giggled, her pleasant laughter filling the restaurant.

“Very funny.”

Giovanna checked her watch, stood up and, slinging her bag across her shoulder, added, “I have to go. I want to visit my grandmother at the old folks’ home. Her sclerosis is making her shake uncontrollably and it might be turning into full-blown dementia. She’s very sick. One day she was looking for her glasses, which were on her face the entire time. Another time she’d put her shoes in the fridge… But the worst part is that she can’t remember when I go to see her. Fifteen minutes after I leave, she asks the nurse when will I come, whether I’ve called, why don’t I come to visit her.”

“Getting old is scary. If you haven’t managed to stay healthy, it’s a real nightmare.”

“You’re so right, Jeremy. And now I have to stop babbling or I’ll be late. I’ll call you next week so we can meet up again,” Giovanna replied. We air-kissed and she left. The words of my best friend made me think deeply. Giovanna’s grandmother was ninety years old but at least she’d enjoyed a good life, whereas Jeremy was only twenty and he’d had to go through so much already.

He leaned in and kissed me on the temple, putting his arm around my shoulders. Then he looked at me more closely and frowned.

“What is it?” I asked.

My friend shrugged. “Nothing. I’m trying to get rid of this nagging thought tormenting my mind.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Not about what, but about whom. And that we’re finally alone, I can be completely candid with you. Are you sure Nicholas Frey is right for you?”

Damn it, was he implying something? Had he seen Nick with another woman? My heart began to beat so fast that for a moment I thought Jeremy could also hear it.

The hell with that Swiss bastard if he was cheating on me.
I wouldn’t take that sitting down. My ex-husband may have had affairs, and I’d tolerated his wild life because I was afraid of him, but enough was enough. I wouldn’t let another man trample my dignity. I wasn’t eighteen anymore. I was old enough to bravely stand up for myself and face any problem.

“Jeremy, what’re you trying to tell me? If you know something I should know too, then spit it out. Just give it to me straight.”

He took a deep breath, and I realized I’d completely stopped breathing. So much for
bravely standing up for myself and facing any problem
. “Nicholas Frey is the kind of man who isn’t used to being satisfied by just one woman. I don’t want him to hurt you.”

“Did you see him with some bitch or something?”

That’s it—if he says yes, I’m done with Nicholas Frey.
No matter how much I loved him, I couldn’t imagine sharing him with another woman. “God… Jeremy, are you trying to give me a heart attack? You can’t say something like that and expect me to remain calm.”

“I didn’t see him with another woman,” he replied.

I poured the remainder of the sparkling water into my empty glass and downed it in one. My throat and stomach burned like I’d swallowed a jellyfish.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that you have nothing in common with the women he’s been with in the past. The difference is like that between a breeze and a hurricane.”

“What’re you trying to say now?” I felt offended. Was he implying that I wasn’t good enough for him?

I straightened my back and raised my chin.

He saw me, and his frown became even deeper. “Don’t be angry with me. I get the feeling you don’t understand what I’m saying. Clearly, you haven’t been curious enough to browse pictures of his exes on the internet.”

Why would I do that? I wasn’t a masochist, after all. I didn’t want to cause myself pain, and that would be unavoidable if I started to scour Google. The search would probably display thousands of pictures of thousands of women, who were most likely prettier than me. I’d never considered myself a great beauty.

“I don’t see any point in doing it.”

His eyes were gazing at mine when he added, “Okay. I’m sorry if I’ve upset you. It’s just that Nicholas Frey has always gone out with experienced women. In fact, I’d go as far as to call them bitches who have more silicone than brains. Whereas you’re a modest and sweet girl—”

“You’re implying I’m incapable of satisfying him in bed,” I interrupted him. A note of anxiety immediately crept into my stupid mind. What if Jeremy turned out to be right and I couldn’t measure up to his exes?

Jeremy tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and kissed me on the forehead. “You’re a sensitive girl, and I don’t want him to hurt you. You deserve someone who’s prepared to place the world at your feet, who’ll always put you first. However, Frey’s like a beast that’s currently sitting still and keeping quiet, but you never know when it’ll become enraged and bite you. You’re so much more than his exes. I’m very grateful to him for covering the cost of all my operations and hope he really has changed, because I want to see you happy.” He put his hand on mine and gently stroked it.

“Don’t touch me like that. Someone might see us and turn an innocent friendly gesture into hot gossip. And then before we know it, rumors will abound of our secret relationship.”

His laughter was incredibly infectious, but at this moment nobody could make me laugh.

Jeremy leaned toward me and said quietly, “Impossible. I’m gay and don’t hide it from anyone. Our relationship is purely platonic. I don’t wish to throw myself at you and fuck you, because I see you as a sister. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”

I exhaled noisily. “I know, and I feel the same way.”

From the very moment I’d met Jeremy for the first time, I felt for some inexplicable reason like I’d known him my entire life. And how nice it would’ve been if that were true, if we’d grown up together… I would’ve known what it meant to be happy. I would’ve laughed and enjoyed every instant, because with Jeremy around, I would’ve never been bored. He was like a refreshing spring wind that overwhelms your senses and makes you feel alive. I wouldn’t have experienced all those dramas and tragedies in my life, because Kimberley and Stephen would’ve taken care of me as if I were their own daughter. They’d said as much when they found out I was their niece.

Many things would’ve been different. But unfortunately, we couldn’t turn back time.

A crash had taken the lives of my real parents, Janet and Scott, and another had brought me together with my relatives, Jeremy and his family. All the pain and suffering had taught me one thing at least: One must savor the good times. Because nobody knows when the bad times will arrive.

W
hen I went
back to my apartment, I noticed the front door wasn’t locked. How could I have been so careless? That question popped into my mind as I entered. I locked the door behind me and headed for the living room.

“Good evening, Estelle. It’s been a while.” On hearing my ex-husband’s voice, I froze on the spot. My heart rate spiked so high that I felt my pulse in the vein in my neck. My skin became sticky with cold sweat, as if a bucket of icy water had been poured on me.

“What do you want from me, John?” How had he gotten out of prison? Maybe he’d escaped?

“Is that how happy you are to see your husband, Estelle?” he asked sarcastically as he stood up from the couch.

He started to slowly pace around the room. “You have millions of my money in your bank account and live like a pauper.” He tsked and shook his head in disapproval. “You can never take the poor out of some people. Even if they find themselves in money, they don’t know how to spend it, how to invest it. You’ve always been dumb, Estelle. So why am I surprised by your squalid apartment?”

I’d never wanted to benefit from his blood money. But John had no way of knowing this.

He seemed more muscular than before. Clearly, he’d had plenty of time to work out in prison. His terrifying, satanic-black eyes regarded me in a threatening manner.

“How did you find me, John?” Nobody knew where I worked. Had he hired someone to follow me?

“Didn’t I tell you that you’ll
never
get rid of me? Only death can part us, dear wife of mine.” He approached me and I took several steps back.

“Don’t try to run and provoke me, because you’ll only make things worse for yourself,” he threatened me and, seeing the terror in my eyes, smiled crookedly.

With every step he took, my heart rate went up higher and higher, even though that shouldn’t have been possible. When he was right in front of me, I realized my entire body was shaking with fear. John hadn’t come here with good intentions. He’d come…to kill me.

“You know, Estelle, despite your betrayal, I still want you. In prison, I constantly thought of you and masturbated, picturing your beautiful face over me, your tits, your ass. You, on the other hand…forgot me very quickly and started fucking your boss. And I thought you were a modest girl.” His nostrils flared when he took a deep breath and exhaled. “I didn’t manage to get rid of Frey by tampering with his airplane. But I still have thousands of other ways to deal with him.”

At the precise moment he reached out to grab me, I raised my foot and kicked him between the legs. John doubled over, so I tried to run, but he managed to grab and lift me with just one hand. I kicked into the empty air and began screaming. He made me sit on a chair, tied my hands behind my back, and then slapped me so hard I saw stars before my eyes. Dazed, I slumped my head and blood starting pouring from my nose.

John grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it back. It felt like he might break my neck. “I’d always known that the spirit of an easy woman was hiding inside you, and you’ve now proven I wasn’t wrong. You don’t give a shit about me, you slut. Fucking him behind my back without giving a moment’s thought to the pain you’re inflicting on your husband. You’ve hurt my dignity.”

“John, we’re divorced. You tried to kill me.”

“I’ve never wanted to kill you. I was angry with you, absolutely furious, because you ran away from me, because you didn’t love me.”

When he released my hair, John struck me again, knocking me down sideways together with the chair. I heard a bone crunch, and in the next second, indescribable pain shot through my elbow. I tried to get up, but didn’t even have the strength to move a muscle.

Knife in his hand, John leaned over me. “I think I’ll maim your beautiful face so nobody can possibly find you attractive.”

At the very moment he uttered those words, his body flew back and Ben leaned over him, delivering iron blows to his chest and face. The robot then flung John’s body at the wall so hard that bits of plaster fell on impact. But my ex-husband was not to be sniffed at. John was a hard man and recovered swiftly. He took another knife out of his pocket and stuck it into Ben’s head, tearing off a piece of skin and hair. With his other hand, he fired a small pistol at me, hitting me in the ribs.