Now that Tony is back out causing mayhem, I've put Windows on a bit of a flash sale which ends in two days time! The book is over three years old and to celebrate, it's available for $2.99 of your hard earned money. If you haven't taken the plunge yet, get on it!
Anniversary Convincing....
Never having felt more frustrated, he put the
key back in the ignition, ready to go home. He was fooling himself. There was
no chance of him cutting Gina out completely. He was a mug, entirely hooked on
the way that silly girl smiled at him and called him “dude.” He hadn’t been
able to stop being in love with her for years. In fact, the realization he was
in love with Gina had made him physically sick a single month after they’d met.
Nick had been raw from a row with his father,
involving phrases such as “Why aren’t you more like your brother?” and “wasting
your life.” The only way to drown them had been with beer, then tequila
following the huge DJ event on the beach in Brighton.
Annabelle had left in disgust, taking the
last train back into London. He would need to apologize to her in the morning.
Gina had gone from mildly amused at his inebriation to concerned in an hour.
She had forced a coffee down his throat and bought him a litre bottle of water
to drink through steadily. And their designated driver, Karl, had to stop every
ten minutes for Nick to void his bladder, bouncing off the walls of whatever
alleyway was nearest. In the car, he had flopped onto Gina’s mini-skirted lap
and gazed goofily up at her. She had trailed her fingers along his scalp, his
hair on her bare thighs.
“Dude,” she murmured.
“Wasted,” Karl snorted.
“Can you just concentrate on the road?” Gina
flashed. “He’s had a hard day—leave him alone.”
Nick started to laugh uncontrollably. Gina
held up a few fingers. “How many?”
“Five,” he guessed. Only to realize what he’d
said and laugh harder.
“Jesus,” Karl swore.
“Road, fool!”
“There’s only one of you, G, that’s a shame,”
Nick murmured.
“Silly boy,” she admonished, continuing to
filter his hair through her fingers.
He turned his face into her soft belly and
thought he could stay there forever if need be. What would he do without her?
Annabelle had fucked off; his father didn’t think much of him at the moment
because he was questioning everything his father did. And Gina, sweet,
beautiful, fantastically curved Gina, just accepted him as he was. She didn’t
want him to be anyone else, not like that insane Candace or credit-card obsessed
Kelly or what was that junkie called, the one who loved prescription drugs?
Sam! He loved Gina instead.
He sat up.
“What’s up?”
Bile rushed up his throat. “Karl, stop the
car!”
She pushed him out just before the car fully stopped,
and Nick heaved out everything in his stomach, and maybe his feet; he’d never
thrown up so much. When he was finished, Gina gave him a bottle of water to
rinse out his mouth. He sat down on the floor of the car; a small bottle of
fizzy water and a packet of ready-salted crisps were placed in his lap. Eyes
red from the force of vomiting, he looked up at Gina. She touched the tips of
her fingers to her lips and drew them over his cheek. “I know you.”
“You’re my best friend,” he stated, upset by
this fact and the indisputable realization that he would never be able to
change it.
“And aren’t you lucky!” she laughed.
He’d waited for his feelings to change, for
them to go away, or die down, to disappear altogether. He ended things with
Annabelle, but tried to have meaningful relationships and concentrated on
making his father happy by doing something useful. So he completed his studies
in accountancy, assisting with the family business in a committed manner. Every
effort he made was so much more worth it after a simple text message from Gina.
He treasured a hug from her more than three or four months of incarceration
with the girls he chose to replace her. He was the satellite to her world.
A few years ago, he’d finally resolved to
make her see what they could be together. He’d gone to Tiffany & Co. and
bought her an engagement ring. She had thrown him a congratulations party at
the restaurant/bar she had been working at and introduced him to her new
boyfriend, who had shaken his hand warily, having heard a lot about Nick. Gina,
with a glowing face, had silently asked for his approval, and he had given it.
Devastated, he’d kept the ring. He still had it. If Gina had opened the drawer
in his bedside table, she’d have seen it. It sat gathering dust while he waited
for the right time. There would never be a right time.
He drove back to her house and forced himself
out of the car. Brave it. He would
tell her tonight, and end his daily torture with her. He knew how amazing they
would be together, if she gave them the chance. As he approached the house, he
nearly came to a grinding halt. A man peering through a crack in the front
door. Instinct kicked in, and the heel of Nick’s hand connected with the man’s
chin, then a sharp chop to his neck left him in a heap on the floor. Nick
stepped over him, and for the rest of his days, he would marvel at how he
didn’t kill anyone.
Windows on Sale
