Perfectly Obsessed (22 page)

“I’ll be back.”

I leave Claudia and Stan muttering between themselves and follow my girl outside. The balcony turns out to be huge and accommodates at least another thirty tables. Stairs lead down to a small garden area and that is where I find her.

Holding her arms, her shoulders rise and fall with every deep breath she is working through.

“Babe, what are you doing out here?” I ask, coming up behind her.

She whirls round hearing my voice, instead of answering, she reaches into my inside pocket and pulls out my cigarettes and lighter.

I watch as she swiftly takes one out and lights up, inhaling like someone who has been smoking for years.

I frown and hold my hand out for the smokes back.

“What’s going on? You don’t smoke and I don’t think I like it,” I tell her.

“You’d rather I smoked right now than throw the fancy china at your head and pour over-priced champagne over that woman’s fake hair extensions. And if she calls me, darling, one more fucking time, I’m going to stab myself in each ear.”

She inhales deeply on her cigarette after her rant and closes her eyes as she exhales a long stream of smoke.

“I did promise you I’d tell you everything tonight, I didn’t think she would open her mouth like that.”

“I’m only pissed because I felt humiliated being the only one in the dark. What’s going on, Drake?”

I light a cigarette for myself and move closer so no-body can hear what I am about to say.

“I know the money was running out and then when Tommy turned up, I knew you were both planning something,” she says, before I can say a word.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I ask her.

“Because I told myself I didn’t need to know. But then you bring me here and I’m the only one out of the loop. I had no idea what she was going on about, it was embarrassing.”

Stubbing the cigarette into the provided ashtray on a nearby table, I see she isn’t upset with me doing a job. But she is upset I didn’t tell her.

I should have told her as soon as I got out, especially when Tommy turned up yesterday, most definitely before we came here tonight.

“Her husband is a very rich man, rich like you or I couldn’t believe. Claudia has been with Tommy for a long time, longer than you and I have. Like us, they spent every visiting day together. Plotting to steal a very valuable diamond from under her husband’s nose. That’s what the party is for, it’s our way in to take it.”

There, I’ve told her now. I step even closer to her so she can’t escape me.

“How is she involved?”

I don’t miss the disdain dripping in her tone asking after Claudia. My girl has good taste, the same as me, I can’t stand the woman either.

“She will be the dutiful wife and hostess. She has been planning this party for months, I only found the date out yesterday. She has given us invites, under different names so we can’t be traced.”

She turns to look out over the garden and sucks in her cheeks, thinking.

I give her time to take it in, not worried at all that she will tell a living soul about the plan, not that she knows the whole plan.

When she faces me again, I know by her serious face that I am not going to like what comes out of her mouth.

“I’m coming with you,” she informs me.

“No,” I reply, instantly.

That is never going to happen, no way am I going to put her in a position like that.

“When you got out, you said it was us together, whatever happens. Was you lying to keep me happy?”

“Of course I wasn’t, I have never lied to you, ever.”

“Then I’m coming with you. Us together, like you promised.”

She leans up on her tip toes and kisses me before taking my hand and leading me back inside.

Tommy and Claudia are huddled together when we return and pull apart when I scrape the chair back for Cammie.

“We ordered for you, I hope you don’t mind?” Claudia informs us, “Seasoned Chicken for us with…”

“And Steak for us,” Tommy pipes in, interrupting her.

Claudia places her bony hand over Cammie’s and I’ll give the woman her dues, her face looks genuinely remorseful.

“I hope everything is okay, I didn’t mean to upset you. I assumed you knew.” Like fuck is that true, the bitch knew Cammie didn’t know a thing.

“Oh, I’m not upset, Claudia. I know now and you can add me to the guest list. I’ll be there, Drake will make it work.”

The thought of Cammie in danger doesn’t sit all that good with me, but fuck me if the new found assertiveness and power Cammie is showing isn’t turning me on.

“Splendid,” Claudia claps, joyfully.

This time, Tommy throws me a glare, I shrug him off and find that this job just got a hell of a lot more appealing having my girl beside me.

I don’t know how it will work yet, but like she said I will make it work. I shoot back my drink in one and raise my hand for the waiter to bring me another.

Claudia kept the conversation going for most of the dinner, not letting us get a word in. As soon as dinner was done and we got the first chance to leave, I had Cammie out of there as fast as I could.

Thinking I was getting lucky when she began taking her dress off in front of me in the middle of the living room, she shocks the shit out of me when I approach her and go to wrap her around me.

“I don’t think so,” she mutters, grabbing for a shirt of the washing pile still perched on the sofa.

“How fuckin dare you keep that from me,” she yells, adding, “We’re meant to be in this together. You haven’t been out of prison six months and you’re already going behind my back.”

She storms past me and into the kitchen. I backtrack and lean against the door frame so she can’t pass me to get out. I was waiting for this reaction at the restaurant, I should have known she would bottle it up till we were alone.

“I was going to tell you but I didn’t want you worrying until you had to, not that you do have to worry,” I clarify.

She turns on her heel and glares at me. It would be terrifying if it weren’t making me hard.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“I’m not worried that you’re doing another job, I know who you are, Drake. I worry about losing you again. That’s why I said I would come with you, I’m not going to risk not being with you if you get caught, or whatever else could happen.”

“Babe, my days of getting caught are done. This job will be my easiest job to date and the chances of me caught are non-existent and that, I know for a fact. You have to trust me,” I plead.

The moment I see her relent and lose her fight, I cross the small space and hold her in my arms.

“You better tell me everything then.” 

Chapter Twenty-Six - October 2005

Cammie

“You’re very different these days,” Lorna murmurs, from where she is sitting on my bed.

I stop fiddling with the new dress that arrived earlier this afternoon and turn to face her.

“How so?” I ask, intrigued to hear her thoughts on me.

She shrugs lightly and stares down at her hands, almost numbly.

Frowning, I cross the room and sit beside her.

“What’s the matter, Lor? You’re making me worry.”

“You’ve changed, in a good way though. You’re more in control of what you want and nothing touches you like it did before you met Drake.”

This sounds more like her comparison between our relationships but I don’t say that, instead I say, “Drake makes it possible for me to be that way. With him, I can be who I want to be,” I shrug myself, finding it hard to say what I mean.

She bursts into heavy sobs and I regret opening my mouth. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around her and hold her until the sobs ebb away, waiting for her to tell me what is wrong, because obviously something is.

“I wish Stan was more like Drake. Drake treats you like a God damn queen and Stan, well, he confuses me to the point I don’t know if I’m going left or right.”

I have seen their relationship in play and while the turbulence is enough to make you dizzy, I have seen the way he looks at her and it is with affection.

“What’s happened?” I ask, soothingly.

“I’ve messed up, Cam. Stan is going to go mad and I don’t want to lose him,” she cries.

“What have you done that you think is so bad?”

I have never seen her like this over a man before. Usually, she couldn’t give a shit if things weren’t working with a guy. Things must be more serious between them than I thought.

“I’m pregnant,” she whispers, quickly looking at the closed door.

She needn’t worry, Drake and Stan disappeared out a few hours and have yet to return.

“Why would Stan be mad? He’s the one who put the baby there,” I say, patting her stomach softly.

“That’s true but he told me not to expect babies and definitely not a ring from him. We’re about fun, nothing more than that.”

“What are you going to do?”

I hate that she is scared to death of telling him, it isn’t like she made this baby by herself.

“I honestly do not know,” she sighs, heavily, “Half of the time he pisses me off and I wonder what I’m doing with him. Then the other half, I’m trying not to fall in love with him but failing miserably.”

She begins crying into my shoulder again and I let her. Lorna hasn’t been this vulnerable in a very long time and now that she is again, I feel like slapping some sense into Stan myself.

“You have options,” I say, quietly.

She straightens up and wipes her eyes, her face scrunching up in confusion.

“What do you…oh,” she says, catching onto what I mean.

From her reaction though, I can gauge that she wants this baby. She wouldn’t be this upset if she didn’t.

“No, that isn’t an option,” she says, adamantly.

Relief washes through me and I smile warmly, letting her know that I think she has made the right decision.

“Anyway, you are going to look incredible in that dress,” she smiles, looking at the floor length, black, backless lace dress.

It was chosen by Claudia and is for Claudia’s Halloween slash diamond robbery party. In two night’s time, we will be attending the party that will keep us financially comfortable for the rest of our lives.

Lorna doesn’t know about our plans. She thinks Drake is taking me to an uptown party in a swanky hotel.

While she gazes adoringly at the dress, she holds her stomach, already protecting it from the world.

I push away the memories that still haunt me of the baby I lost and take hold of her hand.

“Don’t change the subject. If Stan doesn’t stand by you then you will still be fine. I’m here for you always, whatever happens,” I assure her.

She will never be on her own.

“This is so fucked up.”

“It’s not as bad as it could be,” I offer, knowing myself how true that is.

The front door slamming shut vibrates through the flat and we jump apart. Lorna viciously wipes her eyes again with her sleeve and I jump off the bed to fiddle with the dress.

“Babe?” Drake calls.

“In the bedroom,” I call back, “Go and freshen up in the bathroom.”

Drake barrels into the bedroom glimpsing Lorna’s tear streaked face before she slams the door closed.

“The dress arrived then,” he notes, eyeing approvingly.

“Yes, Claudia chose well.”

“What’s wrong with her?” he asks, nodding towards the bathroom door.

“I’ll tell you later if you can keep a secret?”

The water runs in the bathroom and I return to sit on the bed.

“Is she running a fucking bath?” Drake asks, lifting his t-shirt over his head, revealing his chest.

“No,” I laugh, “She was upset, she’s washing her face.”

No one but me seems to hear the knocking at the front door.

“I’ll get it,” I mumble as Drake continues to re-dress.

The knocking doesn’t stop until I throw open the door and find Stan on the other side.

“Is she here?” he asks, stepping past me.

“Come in,” I mutter, “And yes she is. She’s just in the bathroom,” I tell him.

“Good, we’re all here,” Drake grins coming into the living room, completely dressed in a fresh t-shirt and hoodie.

“We’re going out, all of us,” he informs me.

“Where?” I dare to ask.

“Only down the pub, I thought we could relax before we leave tomorrow.”

The plan is to travel as far as Rothwell tomorrow, stay the night at a bed and breakfast and then travel to the party from there as we can’t be seen in the area, before or after. When Drake and Tommy have the diamond we will be driving straight back to London.

The night began tense and slowly relaxed the more people joined us. Lorna came out of the bathroom to three sets of eyes on her and I wanted to scream at Stan to wake up to his girlfriend wanting and needing him. He sat on my sofa and glared at her until she joined him and he had his arm around her. The Lorna I knew back in the day would’ve chewed his ear off for her not knowing where she stood. This Lorna needs him and I suppose I can relate to that.

To me, Stan should have noticed something was up with Lorna especially when we got to the pub and continually kept refusing alcoholic drinks. He hasn’t.

Drake’s warm breath tickles my neck as he nuzzles his soft lips behind my ear.

“I’m loving life and it’s all because of you,” he whispers.

“Funny, I feel exactly the same,” I smile.

“I love your smile,” he continues, kissing the back of my neck.

“As I do yours.”

“I love your crazy, wild hair.”

Again, kissing along my jaw line.

“There is nothing that I don’t love about you. You are perfect and you’re mine.”

His lips travel from my jaw to my mouth and I do not deny him access. I am far from perfect, I only have to look at my reflection in the mirror to see the imperfections. Drake sees none of this. He tells me I am perfect because that is how views me. I see it in his eyes, I hear it in the way he speaks to me and most importantly, I feel it with the way he touches me.

I deepen the kiss, trying to get as close to him as humanly possible. Every time his tongue caresses mine, tingles shoot across my body, enveloping me in a web of ice. There is never a chance of melting around him because my body is too high on alert and the ever growing need that I can get even closer to him never subsides.

It is a hunger that will never be tamed.

He breaks the kiss and rests his forehead against mine.

“I love you,” he breathes.

“Are you going to tell me what your fucking problem is?”

Drake and I both turn to Stan’s booming voice directed at my best friend.

I’m itching to yell at him but Drake tightens his hold on me. Stan is standing in front of where she sits at our table and there is no room for her to move past him.

“I don’t have a problem, but you will if you fucking speak to me like that again,” Lorna harshly spits, giving back as good as she got.

Everyone in the pub looks our way and the volume of conversations quieten.

“And what problem would I have,” he sneers, almost arrogantly.

Lorna stares at him, half of her looks at him like she is pleading for him to let it go, and the other half is about to blow.

“Come on then, give me a problem, I want to know what it is.” Stan yells at her.

She pushes to her feet bringing her directly in Stan’s face and keeps her voice low.

“I’m pregnant and I’m keeping it. There, deal with that,” she hisses and tries to move round him.

At the last minute his arm shoots out and stops her.

“Is it mine?” he asks, more quietly.

I have seen her angry before but she is about to lose her mind and Drake still won’t let me move.

“This is between them,” he whispers in my ear.

I shoot him a dirty look and turn back to Lorna and Stan.

Before anyone can expect it, she grabs for his pint off the table and chucks the entire contents over him.

“How fucking dare you…you arrogant piece of shit. Get out of my way, now.” she screams.

He doesn’t react to being soaked in beer and moves closer to her.

“You’re having my kid?”

This news is slowly registering and his face softens.

Lorna nods unable to look at him in the eye.

“For real? This isn’t a joke?” he stammers out.

Her chest deflates and she scowls.

“Yes Stan, this is a joke. All day, all I’ve been planning is how I can cause a scene in the pub in front of everyone.”

By this point, the whole pub is quiet and watching. Awkward.

A slow smile creeps across his face and he pulls her into arms. He whispers something in her ear no one else can hear and she surrenders to him and wraps her arms around his neck.

“Then we’ll get married,” he says, more loudly.

Lorna freezes and looks more upset.

“You don’t have to marry me. I know you never wanted to.”

“You are joking with me now,” he mutters, “You’re carrying my baby, you just became the most important woman in the world. We’ll do this properly, me and you together. Marry me,” he implores. 

All her worries and insecurities seem to have been for nothing.

“Yes.”

The pub erupts with cheers and Stan kisses her until she pushes him away claiming she can’t breathe.

“Drinks are on me, fuckers.” Stan yells, throwing his arms in the air like he’s won the lottery.

Lorna looks to me and I smile, she’s finally getting her happy after ever.