Fake (8 page)

I wanted to go to Lydia’s place – even though the building made me shudder – but I stayed away because I was working on lulling her into a false sense of security.

Insert evil laugh here.

She thought I was keeping my word, by staying away and letting her stand on her own two feet, but it was just a phase. On one hand, she’d spent her entire life being sheltered or protected by someone or another and she wanted to feel free to do her own thing. I know, I know, she was only eighteen and she
should
have been protected, but she didn’t see it that way.

But on the other hand, I just couldn’t stand by and let her struggle. I just wanted her to be happy and yeah, the tiny part of me that had always loved her; was growing by the day. I wanted to keep her locked away in a bubble and keep her from anything that might hurt her.

It could have been my guilt that made me feel that way, who knows? But that’s how I felt and I was hoping, maybe praying, that she’d find her way to me by herself.

If not...

Well, I hadn’t quite worked out the details in my head by that point. I knew one thing though, she wasn’t going to be alone for long, even if I had to force my way into her life – I’d do it.

A while later, I sent her a text reminding her to let me know when she finished work and when she got home safe. She wouldn’t, but at least I was trying. While I thought of it, I logged back on to my computer and clicked the live tracker. She might not let me know where she was, so I’d find out for myself.

Stalker, much?

Yep. I was officially stalking her. I shook my head at my own ridiculousness...but I still didn’t close the tracker. Glancing at the time in the corner of the screen, I noticed it was only six-thirty.  It would be another four or five hours before launch night really started to get busy, and a nap sounded pretty damn good seeing as I wasn’t sleeping much at night, through worrying about her staying in that run-down flat by herself.

I lay back in the computer chair, crossed my feet on the desk, and closed my eyes.

*~*~*

“Holy fuck, brother! Have you seen this shit?” Mase exclaimed, bounding into the room, sounding every bit the hyperactive child he was acting like.

I grinned at him. It was nearing ten-thirty and I was still sat in the security room at Blaze, watching the queue of barely-clothed women and half-drunk men, grow by the second. This night was Mase’s baby, his launch night – he’d planned the entire thing, right from the original promotions, to the cocktails they’d be serving on the sky deck.

He looked proud of himself, bordering on smug, but I couldn’t blame him.

There must have been four hundred people in the queue, three times as many inside and the doors had only opened twenty minutes before. They’d have to start turning people away at some point and I was praying that the security guys on the doors would stick to the rules about the body count limits.

I just sat back, my job was already done and everything was going smoothly. Bodies filled the dance-floor in the main room, mouths dropped open when they walked through the doors and my chest swelled with pride. Jackson and Mase did a damn good job.

Granted, it was Jackson’s third club, but I’d never been as heavily involved with the other two because he wanted us to finish school and go to college. Plus, in England, it’s illegal for under eighteens to work in bars or anywhere that serves alcohol and I think Jax would never want to take the risk of losing his license.

I was planning to enrol in the University of London later that year, not for any other reason that I wanted to be one of the first people to come from the estate...and have a degree.

The launch night made me rethink that plan.

What did a degree prove anyway?

Watching the club-goers pour shot after shot down their throats and dancing around with grins on their faces, I instantly saw why Jax had chosen clubs. I was under no illusion however, that it would stay that way for long. Give or take a few hours, I figured there’d be glasses smashed on the floor, drunk idiots puking in the corner somewhere and people being dragged out by their friends because they can no longer hold their own head up.

It was a nightclub after all!

The thought made me cringe; I didn’t want to see all of our hard work get puked on.
Literally.

So I decided to call it a night and head home. I’d been there going on thirteen hours anyway so I figured I’d earned my bed. As I was packing up my stuff, I noticed Jax on one of the cameras in the main room, he had his hands wrapped around the hips of some girl and I shook my head – that didn’t take him long.

Thinking that Mase would probably use tonight as an excuse to hook-up too, the idea of a good night’s sleep seemed a little less likely – so I rushed home to get a head start.

I was out like a light, the second my head hit the pillow.

Chapter Nine

Ruben

I blinked the sleep from my eyes and stretched lazily, shocked that I’d managed to sleep the whole night through.

I actually
had
received a text from Lydia the night before, just a simple ‘
Sweet dreams, Ruben
’ but it still made me smile because, one; I figured it was her way of letting me know she was ok, without actually saying the words. And two; it meant she was thinking of me right before she went to sleep.

I didn’t bother getting dressed before I left my room. I had a pair of loose grey pyjama shorts on anyway, so I wouldn’t be giving my brothers a show. I opened the door and strolled out, only to walk straight into some girl who definitely hadn’t been there when I fell asleep the night before.

She didn’t speak for a second, but ran her eyes up my naked torso and looked into my eyes.

Was she checking me out?

“Um¸ hey. Sorry about that, I’m Taylor.” She stuck out her hand and I stared it for a second before giving her a firm handshake.

“Ruben.”

“Are you um...Jackson’s younger brother? You look really like him. It’s actually kind of weird how alike all three of you look. You’ve got like really good genes because you’re gorgeous! Still, I bet you’re younger than me right? I’m twenty-three...so you must be what? Like nineteen? Twenty?...Yeah you definitely look younger than Mason and he’s twenty-one right?”

The girl could talk and it suddenly clicked that she must have been the girl I’d seen Jax dancing with the night before. Nicely done, brother.

“So you’re a talker huh? Yes, I’m the youngest brother, yes we all look alike, thanks for the compliment, yes you were right, I’m twenty, and Mase is twenty-one.”

I chuckled at her and walked away. Her nervous babbling made me laugh, but I wasn’t interested in hanging around for a chat. I had plans.

Plans that included one Lydia Romero, and a day that she’d hopefully never forget.

*~*~*

I rented a car.

Stupid idea, because I already owned a car and it was a damn sight better than the one I’d rented. However, it was a necessary evil as far as I was concerned. If I turned up in a brand new shiny
Astra Sport
, Lydia would ask questions. At that point, I didn’t have any answers to give her that wouldn’t blow up in my face.

She had been too ‘out of it’ on the day I saved her from Freddy to even ask about the car and I was glad. She definitely would have hated me a little bit more if she knew the life I had now.

I needed her to
know
me again first.

I knew turning up at her flat unannounced was the best plan of action because she wouldn’t have the time to concoct any new methods or schemes to get rid of me. She needed to start getting used to the fact that I was around, and I’d be around a lot more when she decided to let me.

I cringed jogging up the stairs, she was completely oblivious to just how revolting the entire building was. Then again, it probably felt like a home-from-home for her, even if she’d never admit it…or realise it. I stepped over a suspicious smelling puddle on the landing and strode towards her door, raising my hand to knock.

*~*~*

Lydia

As much as I despised it, I couldn’t deny the fact that I missed him.

He may have been in touch via phone and texts constantly, but the fact remained that I hadn’t seen Ruben in almost five days. Something about that reality, just didn’t sit right with me. He told me that he was never going to leave me again, yet that’s how it felt.

I fought the urge to smack myself in the forehead and give my stupid brain a shake. Of course he was avoiding me, I was acting like a raving bitch, nothing I could do would stop it, part of me didn’t even
want
to stop it.

It felt good.

It felt really pretty damn amazing to have that tiny semblance of control over my life and the people in it. He would try, I knew, to get his own way and to bend me to his way of thinking. Ultimately though, the decision lay with me, and I loved that.

Didn’t mean I couldn’t miss him when he wasn’t around though.

Obviously.

How does the saying go? ‘
Speak of the devil and they shall appear’
?

The gentle knock on the door made me startle, but I knew it was him before I’d even answered. To start with, he was the only one who knew where I lived and that I was not at work that day. Secondly, the neighbours were not exactly the friendliest of people – neither was I – They wouldn’t pop round for a cup of tea or to borrow some milk.

Subconsciously, I glanced at the blurry, stained mirror on the way to door and fluffed up my hair. I may have also adjusted the cut of my t-shirt to show a little extra cleavage too, but let’s ignore that shall we?

I threw open the door and gasped. I was greeted by a mass of blood-red roses and Ruben, grinning like a kid in a toy shop. I rolled my eyes, but accepted the flowers. They were beautiful, bringing a splash of colour to my dull home.

“Hello Ruben.” I muttered with a shy smile.

He leant forward and I froze but he just brushed his lips across my cheek.

“Happy birthday, Squirt.” He whispered.

I sucked in a breath.

What was he doing?

“It’s not my birthday.”

He shrugged. “I know. But it wasn’t that long ago, and I wasn’t around when you turned eighteen. It’s a big birthday, so I thought we could celebrate today.”

I was seriously stunned. The only person who had remembered my birthday since I was about thirteen was Lucas, and although he did the best he could, he was usually too ‘busy’ to celebrate with me. Therefore, for me, my birthday was just another day. I’d also never, not once, received flowers.

So celebrating my birthday a couple of weeks late? Yes, I was definitely up for that.

My feet were stuck. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to because my entire being was so overcome with emotion, I was even scared to breathe.

“Are you going to come open your presents?” He asked, making my body jolt.

I pressed my lips together. A stray tear fell anyway and he looked over, his face morphing into a horrified expression.

“Oh shit. Why are you crying?” He asked, alarmed.

I took a deep breath, and lied through my teeth, badly.

“I’m not crying!” I denied. “I have Hayfever, the Roses just set off my allergies.”

“Should I take them away?”

“No!” I answered forcefully, clutching the beautiful flowers to my chest. “I’ll just...go put them...in some water. Yes, I’ll put them in water and put them on the table and my um, allergies will just...be fine.”

I was
such
a terrible liar. He knew it too because his eyebrows shot almost to his hairline and he smirked, tilting his head slightly.

In the pathetic excuse for a kitchen, I cursed my own stupidity, again. I didn’t own a vase. In a moment of what I thought was domestic genius, I grabbed a pint glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. As ridiculous as the huge bouquet looked in the glass, I figured it would work.

Until I put them down on the coffee table in the lounge, and the entire thing immediately tipped over, splashing water across the floor and across Ruben’s shoes.

“Oh my God!” I screeched, scrambling away from the water.

He just laughed, jumped up and left the room, to return seconds later with both hands full of kitchen roll. He mopped up the mess and threw himself back down on the sofa whilst I gathered the scattered Roses.

Still laughing lightly, he leant forward, took the bunch from my hands and threw it haphazardly back on the table – I gaped at him.

He pulled me by the hands so that I sat next to him on the sofa and he handed me the bag of presents.

“Leave the bloody flowers!” He joked. “Open the rest of the presents first.”

I glanced back at the flowers, strewn all over the coffee table and tried to hide my giddiness over the presents.

He handed me an oblong shaped black box and grinned like he had a secret. My mouth dropped open when I saw the gold lettering on the top of the box.

“Harrods!” I exclaimed, gently peeling the box open.

To say I was stunned; was a colossal understatement. Nestled inside the box sat a
Vera Wang
crystal vase, surrounded by black silk and an actual certificate of authenticity. It must have cost him a fortune and I knew it was too precious to be in my hands...so I shoved the box back over to him.

He frowned, “What’s wrong with it?”

“I can’t accept that! First the phone and now some crazy crystal vase that I
know
must have cost a fortune!”

I was breathing heavily and staring at the box as if something was going to crawl out of it and attacked me.

*~*~*

Ruben

I
knew
the expensive presents were going to be a bad idea, but the thought of getting her something cheap and nasty left me feeling uncomfortable.

I sighed.

“I might not have a decent job, Lydia” I started, lying through my teeth. “But I don’t have a lot of bills, I don’t go out all the time and I don’t waste money. I have savings, and if I want to use some of those savings to buy the only girl who’s ever meant anything to me, something nice for her birthday, then I’m going to do it. Now take vase, smile, say thank you...and go put the flowers in it.”

She looked like she was debating her options.

Common sense won out, clearly.

She smiled, said ‘thank you’, took the flowers and the vase to the kitchen, returning after a few minutes with the flowers displayed as they should have been.

A fucking pint glass? What had she been thinking?

When she sat back down, I decided I needed to speak before she opened the rest of the presents.

“Prior warning, you’ll probably want to overreact and throw the rest of these at me too, but just be grateful and maybe don’t bitch at me for a few days – then we’re even, ok?”

She was going to argue, I knew it; I didn’t allow it. I handed her the next present from the bag.

I hadn’t wrapped any of them, I’m a guy! I just left them all in the packaging they came in. So when she took the box of the
IPad Mini,
she just shook her head at me, she was smiling though.

“What do I need an IPad for?”

I rolled my eyes. Rookie question. “No one
needs
an IPad, Lydia. You get an IPad s because they’re cool, you can store stuff, take photos whenever you need to, keep track of stuff, order stuff, and play games...”

She waved the box to the side. “I know all that! What I mean is, you already gave me an
IPhone
, so as lovely as it is, I don’t need an
IPad
.”

She was right, but she was also wrong. Everyone needed new gadgets and toys.

“Just take it and explore it. Trust me, you’ll thank me.”

“I already thank you. You’re crazy and more than a little bit stupid, but I love it, so thank you.”

Looking like she was acting on instinct, she launched herself across the sofa and ignored my whole body tensing as she climbed into my lap and threw her arms around my neck. I tried to subtly shift her away from my crotch, seeing as my cock had jumped to life the second she moved.

She clung on tighter.

Not helpful.

I gave in; my arms slowly wound around her waist and I buried my face in her neck, inhaling the smell of her hair.

Fresh.

No overpowering smell of flowers or fruits, she just smelt fresh and clean.

I was too busy freaking
smelling
her
, I didn’t notice her stiffen against me.

“A-a-are you...
sniffing me?
”

I nodded.

“Ok...” she stopped. “Why are you sniffing me?”

“You smell good.” I answered like it was obvious, because well, it was!

She paused, to let that information sink in, I assumed. I wondered if she’d taste good too, mentally making a bet with myself over whether I’d be right. Ignoring that pesky voice in my head that was screaming at me not to, I lifted my head and looked her in the eye.

Yep, bad move.

Her cheeks were flushed and she was looking at me like she wanted to devour me. As much as I wanted her to look at me like that, I wasn’t entirely sure that she was actually seeing
me
.

I thought it was about the gifts, the attention I was showing her...not about the fact that I was just, Ruben.