Текст книги "Frozen"

Автор книги: L.A. Casey

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"For the love of God!" Darcy's high-pitched cry was all that sounded when we fell... Well, that and the loud thud of his body smacking against tiled floor.

He sounded like he was in pain, but I was perfectly fine, which was all that mattered, because his hard, chiselled body broke my fall.

Wait.

Chiselled?

Darcy was chiselled?

Bleh.

I pushed myself upright, ignoring the tempting muscles of Darcy's back under my palms, then jumped up to my feet and hopped onto the empty spot in front of the now terrified looking young man.

"Thanks," I beamed to the lad.

He swallowed. “It’s the last one in stock. I’m sorry.”

I paused to read the lad's nametag, "Mark. No worries, this is exactly the doll I was look-"

"Oh, no you don't."

I yelped when I was suddenly lifted up from behind and violently swung around to face the empty doll aisle I stood alone in a few minutes ago. Darcy set me down on the ground then gave me a little shove making me stumble forward.

"Thanks, Mark was it? Nice one, man."

Death.

That was what Darcy just asked for.

I turned around, and in a primal manner much like a lioness hunting a gazelle on the Serengeti, I jumped onto his back and locked my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

"Drop the doll!" I demanded.

Darcy wheezed as he swung around in a circle.

"Ne-" I tightened my arm around his neck cutting his speech and oxygen off.

My victory was short lived though because Darcy quickly gripped onto my life-threatening arm that was wrapped around his throat with both of his large hands and pulled. Like I said before, Darcy was all man now so he easily – it was embarrassing how easily – pulled by arm away from his neck which allowed him to breathe once more. I wasn't bothered that he did this because he did as I asked by grabbing me with both of his hands. He dropped the doll box to the floor.

I lowered my legs to the floor and pushed away from Darcy causing him to stumble. I quickly scooped up the doll box, turned and sprinted up the aisle away from a wide-eyed Mark – who was on his phone undoubtedly to security – and a fast recovering and fuming mad Darcy.

"Neala!" he shouted.

I did a stupid thing. I looked over my shoulder to see how far away Darcy was from me, and when I seen he was hot on my heels I panicked. I tripped over my feet and screamed as I fell to the floor.

Pain.

That was all I felt radiate throughout my body. Hot burning pain. My knees were on fire, my shoulder hurt and my cheek slightly stung. I was hurting, but apart from my sudden scream I didn't whimper or make any sound of pain, Darcy would have enjoyed that too much.

I heard him sigh as he stood over me. "Are you okay, clumsy arse?"

No.

"I'm grand," I rasped.

I painfully pushed myself up until I was standing upright. I was a little wobbly on my feet, but I was standing, and that was the main thing.

Sure I was in pain, but at least I was up.

"Give me the doll, Neala."

I held the now slightly damaged box to my chest. "No way, this is Charli's doll."

Darcy glared at me. "No, its Dustin's. Now give it here."

Dustin, was Darcy's six year old nephew, he was a sweet kid, but right now, he was my enemy too.

"Dustin? Dustin is a boy, Darcy."

"Thank you for pointing that out, sweetheart. We would have never known he was a lad otherwise."

Eejit.

"Cut the smartarse replies." I growled.

Darcy grinned. "I can't seem to help it around you. You bring it out in me."

I bring out the smartarse in him? Fantastic.

"Whatever, this doll is going to Charli. Go get an action figure or something for Dustin."

I took a few steps back away from Darcy, but he quickly closed the space by advancing forward.

"No. Dustin specifically asked for the Fire Princess doll, so that is exactly what I am getting him."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Your six year old nephew wants a princess doll... Really?"

Darcy glared at me. "He is a kid, Neala – it's princess toys this week and next week it could be man eating dinosaurs. I don't expect judgemental people like you to understand that children like to play with all kinds of toys."

Judgemental people like me?

The nerve of him!

"I'm not judgemental! I just don't think Dustin would really have any fun with this doll or any doll for that matter. I mean, the kid cut the head off all of Charli's toys last week for his own sick and twisted amusement. He is a serial doll killer, Darcy."

Darcy looked at me with both pain and amusement.

"If I didn't know each member of your family like they were me own, I would think you were reared by a bunch of crazies."

He wouldn't be lying if he said my family was crazy, because they were.

"I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm crazy-"

"I'm not insinuating anything, I'm flat out saying you're a nut job."

I felt my eye twitch in annoyance.

"I can't stand you."

Darcy smiled wide revealing his perfectly white straight teeth. "I know."

Why did he seem so pleased by that?

"Don't you have somewhere else you rather be? Like mattress dancing with some poor unfortunate soul."

Darcy smirked. "Last night's adventures will keep me sedated for awhile... trust me."

Ew.

"You're disgusting."

I tried to turn and walk away, but Darcy reached for the box in my arms and with my lioness like reflexes, I sprung back away from him. I gasped when I lost my footing and fell back into what I can only describe as a mountain of pillows. Ok, so maybe I was a clumsy lioness, but I was still a lioness and it meant I was dangerous.

Very dangerous so Darcy should never underestimate me.

I was embarrassed when Darcy's laughter rang in my ears. My embarrassment quickly turned to anger when I opened my eyes and found I was buried under a bunch of smiling snowmen instead of plain old pillows.

"You know, you could give Charli one of these snowmen instead. She might be just as happy."

"Shut up," I growled.

Darcy laughed as he dug me out of the snowman mountain, and helped me to my feet. I brushed myself off with both my hands then glanced down and gasped.

The doll!

Where the hell was the doll?

I spun around in a complete circle searching for the doll.

"Looking for this, Neala Girl?"

I growled and turned to face him.

I was furious for two reasons. The first was that he once against took the doll out of my grasp. The second was because he called me Neala Girl, a nickname he called me two decades ago, back when we were still friends. I loved when he called me Neala Girl when I was little, but now I couldn't stand it. It hurt my chest.

"Don't call me Neala Girl."

Darcy smirked. "That's your name."

No, it wasn't.

I snarled, "Give me the doll. Now!"

Darcy had the doll box against his chest with both hands on it. His fingers tapped against the box while a smug smile stretched across his face.

He glanced to the snowmen gathered around my feet and teased, "You've got to watch your step, sweetheart."

I blew out a frustrated breath. "I swear if you don't give me that bloody doll I'll-"

"You'll what?" Darcy cut me off, his smug smile still in place on his handsome face.

Damn him.

"I'll shove me foot so far up your arse you'll need a surgeon to remove it."

Darcy's eyes widened. "You're a foot shorter than me, and at least fifty pounds lighter. You're a itty bitty thing, Neala Girl. I'm not scared of you. You can't hurt me."

Wrong.

He was so wrong.

"I can hurt you, and I will unless you give me the doll."

Darcy raised an eyebrow and snorted. "How about... no."

Bastard!

I curled my lip into a sadistic grin. "Okay, you asked for it."

Darcy shook his head at me and moved forward so he could brush by me. "I don't have time for– What the hell?"

When Darcy was close enough to do so I manoeuvred my body behind his, hooked my arms around his chest and searched for his nipples with my hands. When I found them, I grabbed them between my index fingers and thumbs and pinched.

"Me nipples, let go of me nipples!" Darcy cried.

I growled and tweaked his nipples a little harder. "Let go of the doll, and I'll let go of your nipples."

Wow.

There was a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself say.

"Neala!" he yelped.

I heard the doll box hit the floor, and as I was a woman of my word, I let go of Darcy's nipples. I didn't linger around long enough for him to recover. Instead, I moved around his body, grabbed the doll box off the floor and took off running up the aisle.

"NEALA!"

I squealed and continued to run until I was clear of the aisle. I turned left and almost tripped again but got my footing and stayed upright. I stopped running when I noticed every single person in the shop was staring at me. Granted there were only five or so people in the shop because it was closing soon, but still, they were all looking at me.

I lowered my head and briskly walked over to the only open checkout till. The young girl at the till was wary of me as she took the doll box from me and scanned it through.

"That'll be forty-five Euros and ninety-nine cents when you're ready, please."

For a doll?

"Bloody expensive," I muttered as I pulled my debit card from my pocket.

I placed my debit card in the girl's hand at the same time someone else did the same thing. I froze when I slowly glanced to my left then looked up.

Darcy's furious face was glaring down at me, and I couldn't help but smile and say, "Too late, Darcy, I'm buying it."

I looked to the girl and took out a Visa card from her hand and handed it to a glaring Darcy. I turned my head and nodded to the girl. She scanned my card, printed out a receipt, bagged the doll and handed everything back to me.

"Thanks." I smiled to her and began walking towards the exit.

I could feel him walking behind me, so I picked up my pace.

"Leave me alone, Darcy!" I hissed when I made it out to the car park.

"Not a chance, Satan," he snarled, stilling rubbing his recently abused nipples. "Give me the damn doll."

Oh, that was rich, this eejit was calling me the Devil.

Great!

"This doll is my property. I paid for it so feck off."

Darcy hissed. "If you think I'm letting you leave here-"

"Oi, you two."

Darcy and I halted our movements and turned our heads to the right. I was momentarily confused when I spotted two male Garda walking towards us, and neither of them looked happy.

"Are you talking to us?" Darcy asked the officers.

"Do you see anyone else out here?" one of the men snarkily replied.

I glanced around the empty frost covered car park and shivered.

We apparently were the only eejits stupid enough to come outside when it was below zero.

"No," Darcy replied and hung his head.

"We got a call that a female and male fitting your descriptions were causing trouble inside the toy shop."

I widened my eyes and glanced back to the shop.

They called the guards on us?

I looked back to the guards and swallowed. "We had a disagreement, but I don't think we did anything wrong... not really."

Darcy scratched his neck and remained quiet.

Smart lad.

"Look, it's coming up to Christmas, and I don't want to arrest a couple for mildly arguing in a shop so in the future keep it private. Got it?"

I knew we were being let off the hook for our behaviour in the shop, but all I could focus on was that this man thought Darcy and I were a couple. I felt both delighted and disgusted with his observation, and then I felt even more disgusted with my initial happy reaction to his observation. I should only feel disgust when it came to Darcy – I didn't have room for anything else when it came to him.

"Yes, sir," I replied in unison with Darcy.

The guards nodded their heads to us then went on their way back to their car. I didn't move a muscle, and neither did Darcy, until they drove out of the car park and out of sight. As soon as they were gone I took off running toward the bus stop.

"Neala! Damn it, woman!"

I didn't stop or look over my shoulder. I unleashed my inner lioness and ran. I kept my eyes on the ground so I could watch out for any black ice that would mess me up if I slipped. I heard Darcy let out a loud yelp then a grunt of pain follow by a spew of foul curse words and I smiled. He fell over.

I was breathless when I reached the roadside a few moments later. I was searching for a bus, but a blue taxi caught my eye instead. I instantly lifted my arm in the air and waved it down. I prayed the driver saw me, and when I spotted his indicator flashing, I squealed with delight. The driver was pulling over for me.

I ran up to the taxi and jumped into the back and slammed the door shut. I rattled off my address and asked him to pull off right away. The man did as asked and I relaxed back into my seat before I turned my head and looked out the window. I swallowed when I spotted Darcy.

He was stood in the car park still with his hands balled into fists by his sides. He was glaring at me with his jaw set. He was already pissed off, and since I had to have the last word and wanted to anger him further, I stuck my middle finger up at him as the taxi pulled away. I turned my head forward when I lost sight of him, and I giggled to myself.

Neala: 1 Darcy: 0.

I hated Neala Clarke.

I absolutely, bloody, hated her.

I growled in anger with just the thought of the thieving bitch.

She fucked everything up for me. Finding that God forsaken doll for Dustin in Smyths was my last option, everywhere else was sold out of the stupid thing. Any sites I found online that sold it wouldn't deliver until the New Year, which was no good because I needed it for Christmas day. I had the damn thing in my hands, twice, and she still managed to pull one over on me and take it away.

"Fecking cow," I snarled as I stared at the blank screen of the fifty-inch plasma screen TV on the wall in front of me.

There hasn't been a single encounter with Neala Clarke over the past twenty years that didn't end in my loathing her. It was always her fault, too. She just can't be civil with me – she has to be rude, physical, and has to one up me on everything. If I brought a girlfriend to a family party, she brought a new boyfriend who was always bigger than me and could probably kick my arse with ease. I was an easygoing lad – I was more of a lover than a fighter, but if someone ever came at me with the intent to harm me, I wouldn't back down. I would try to talk it out first, but wouldn't back out of a fist fight if it were for a good reason. I was a nice person who sometimes could be stubborn, but only when she was around.

I downed the last of my coke and squeezed the can until it crumbled within my fist. I momentarily imagined it was Neala's head, and I grinned.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Sean, my friend, asked me.

I was in his apartment. I had a key for emergencies, but I used it for random drop-ins and as usual, Sean was cool with it.

I continued to grin as I said, "No reason."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, stop it. You're creeping me out."

I snorted. "Sorry, man."

Sean fell onto his spot on the couch next to me and kicked his feet up onto his coffee table. That was how I knew Jess, his fiancée, wasn't home. He would never put his feet up on the coffee table if she were here.

"So, did you get Dustin's present?" Sean asked.

Here we go.

I grunted, "Almost."

"Almost?" Sean asked, quizzically.

I blew out a frustrated breath. "Yeah, almost. I had the fucking thing in me hands then she appeared and took it away."

Sean turned his head so he could look at me as he asked, "She?"

"She!" I growled.

Sean laughed. "Who is she?"

The Devil.

I looked to him and spat, "Your little sister."

Sean Clarke was my friend, but he was also the older brother to the bane of my existence.

Sean smirked and shook his head as he said, "Neala. I should have known."

He really should have.

"Exactly, who else pisses me off like her?"

Sean considered this then said, "No one."

Exactly.

"Because she's a bitch."

Sean punched me in the shoulder, and then grinned.

"She got the doll?" he asked.

I nodded my head. "Not fairly though, she attacked me... Twice."

Sean bit down on his lower lip to keep from laughing.

"It's not funny. She hurt me man, me nipples are fucking killing me. I thought she made them bleed at one point, either that or she ripped them clean off. She was like a wild animal!"

Sean fell into me when his laughter erupted from him like a volcano.

"Nipple... twisters?" he asked through his laughter.

I lifted my hands to my nipples and flattened my palms over them. I was still in pain. The nipple twisters were unexpected, and that made receiving them even more painful. I should have been ready for anything when it came to Neala, but in my defence I thought she was 'too good' now to resort to violence when it came to me.

She hasn't come at me in years. I think the last time she hit me out of anger was when we were fifteen and I 'accidently' spilled red fabric dye on her while she was wearing white jeans and told everyone she 'just became a woman'.

"Yeah, she twisted so hard I honestly thought they came right off."

Sean slapped his hand off his knee as he continued to laugh. I lowered my hands from my sensitive nipples and glared at him until he stopped, which wasn't for a solid two minutes.

"I'm glad you find this funny because I was robbed of the only chance I'll have to get Dustin that doll because your evil sibling fucked me over. Justin won't let me forget this."

I thought of my older brother by seven years and winced. I told him I'd get that damn doll for Dustin, and now I didn't have it. I was going to look like a shite Uncle on Christmas Day when I had nothing to give Dustin. He asked for this doll, and I stepped up to the plate and said I'd get it even though there was only two weeks until Christmas when he asked me.

Sean shook his head. "Jay will be cool about it."

I snorted and cracked my knuckles. "You're his best friend – I'm his little brother. He's gonna kick me arse for breaking my promise to Dustin and upsetting him."

Sean considered this then laughed when he realised I was right, he knew just as well as I did that Justin would want to throw fists if I didn't get this done. "So go over to Neala's place and get it back."

That was a suicide mission.

I grunted. "I can't because she bought it... She'd probably attack me again and claim I broke into her apartment. I wouldn't put it past her to call the guards on me either."

Sean snickered. "I'd usually defend her and say she wouldn't do that, but she does change when you're around."

I'll say.

"It's because she likes me so much," I said my tone laced with sarcasm.

Sean's mouth curved in a sadistic smirk, and I didn't like it.

Not one bit.

"What are you smirking at me like that for?"

"No reason," he said, mimicking my early voice.

Dick.

"Well, stop."

Sean continued to smirk then after a moment of thought he snapped his fingers, and jumped up to his feet. "I have an idea, let's go over to Neala's and get that doll back for Dustin."

Was this clown serious?

I raised my eyebrow. "You want me to break into your sister's apartment, and steal the doll she just paid for to give to your daughter on Christmas day?"

Is that what he was saying?

Sean gleefully laughed. "No, and no. We won't break in – we'll be invited in. You also won't be stealing an item belonging to her – you will take back the item that belongs to you. Charli is covered on the present thing, she will be happy on Christmas morning. Trust me."

He was losing it, but I wasn’t about to question him because it meant I could possibly get the doll back from Neala if he helped.

That aside, I don’t know how he thought I owned the doll when I told him Neala paid for the bloody thing.

"Man, I've no idea what you smoked, but I didn't pay for-"

"Neala's debit card is on the coffee table," Sean cut me off smirking.

Was it?

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion then sat forward. I reached out and grabbed the card he was talking about, and thoroughly looked at it. Miss Neala Clarke, the name on the card read.

How did I end up with Neala's debit card?

"I don't understand," I muttered in confusion.

Sean sighed. "It's not that hard to realise what happened, man."

For him maybe.

I grunted, "Enlighten me then, oh wise one."

Sean cracked his knuckles and said, "I'm guessing you and me sister both tried to pay for the doll at the same time, and the person behind the till paid for the doll with your card, and gave it back to Neala then you took her card thinking it was yours. Simple mistake."

I stared at Sean then looked back to Neala's card.

Holy shite.

"I own the doll?"

Sean grinned. "You own the doll."

Oh, hell yes!

I smugly smiled as I let what Sean just said sink in. I owned the Princess doll. I fecking owned it, and all I had to do was get it back from Neala.

My smiled dropped when I thought about that particular task, but after I moment I brushed it aside. I could do this – harder things have been accomplished.

I'd have to be vigilant and guard my nipples, but other than that it'd be fun... right?