Still The One

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