Текст книги "Frozen"
Автор книги: L.A. Casey
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
"Are you nervous?" Sean asked me as we walked down the hallway of Neala's apartment building.
I swear I could hear my heart beating against my ribcage with every step that took me closer to Neala's apartment door and this fool asked me if I was nervous? Try down right terrified.
"Nah, man," I lied. "This'll be easy."
I was well aware that I was visibly starting to bead sweat from my forehead, but if Sean noticed it he was being a good mate and not mentioning it. I could have hugged him for that, but being that I didn't want to deal with gay jokes from him for the rest of the day I refrained from showing any sign of gratifying emotion. I kept my face expressionless, it was extremely difficult, but I managed.
"Ah, here we are," Sean announced as we came to a stop in front of a door made from human skeletal remains.
Okay, it was oak wood, but it might have well been skeletons, Neala was the Devil after all.
My breathing picked up its pace, my heart pounded faster, and the sweat turned from beads to droplets as they fell from my forehead down to my cheeks. I was very aware of how much of a fucking bitch I was being, but I didn't care. I was on her territory, somewhere I have never been before. She could outsmart me here and I couldn't do a single thing about it.
This was the stuff nightmares were made of. My nightmares anyway. Neala was always the star of my nightmares... She was also the star of some of my nightly X-Rated dreams, I mean nightmares, too. I tried not to think about those though.
"You could at least try to not appear so terrified," Sean muttered to me as he lifted his hand and knocked three times on the door.
Each pound of his fist against the varnished wooden door made me flinch.
"I'm not scared," I said after clearing my throat... Twice.
Sean snorted. "Could've fooled me, man."
I scowled at him and straightened myself up to my full height of six feet three inches.
Stop being a bitch.
I repeated the thought over and over in my head until I was semi calm. The door to Neala's apartment opened seconds later, and the semi calm feeling that was previously upon me fled without a seconds warning. I was back to being a sweaty bucket of nerves.
Lovely.
"Hey little sister." Sean grinned to Neala who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
I wanted to laugh the moment her eyes slid to mine. Her whole demeanour changed once it hit home that I was standing in front of her. Her hands balled into fists, her slender body tensed, her lip curled in an oddly attractive snarl, and her eyes narrowed to slits.
Oh yeah, she was pissed.
"You," she growled.
The nervousness I felt moments ago disappeared, and my usual snarky attitude that came out when Neala was around was ready to play and I was grateful for it. Being a dick to her was something I could play well, anything else was out of my comfort zone.
I grinned as I said, "Me."
"What are you doing here?" she hissed.
I blinked when a bad, deploring really, thought entered my head.
I momentarily thought that Neala was hot when she was mad and that was not cool, not cool at all. I only thought of things like dead puppies and homeless kittens when I thought of Neala, not her damn sex appeal.
I shook my head clear and said, "I'm with him," and jammed my thumb in Sean's direction. I felt like I suddenly couldn't speak, so putting the attention on Sean was all I could think of.
Neala switched her burning-mad gaze from me to her older brother.
"Explain," she growled.
Always straight to the point.
I hated to admit it, but I liked that about her. It was probably the only thing I liked about her, besides her body – Stop it! I blinked away the sudden internal battle inside my head and focused on Neala and her brother's conversation.
"It's Christmas next week, and I know it's been tried before, but I figured it was time to finally squash this bullshit you and Prince Charming here have had for the last twenty years. I'm not sitting through another Christmas dinner of awkwardness only for it to turn into an Irish remake of Gladiator." Sean glanced between both Neala and myself and shook his head. "The kids, your niece and your nephew, are old enough to understand the hate you have for one another, and I do not want it to rub off on them. Get your shite together and act like the adults you are."
What the hell?
I thought he was here to help me get back my property!
"But-"
"No buts, Neala. I will not have me child around you both when you're together, and since our families do everything together it means you both won't be invited to anything. Do you understand that? You won't be welcome at birthday parties, anniversary parties, engagement parties-"
"Engagement parties?" I cut in, and asked.
Sean looked to me and grinned which in turn made me grin. I instantly knew he and Jessica had finally picked a date for their engagement party. This news would come as a delight to my mother and Sean's. Our mother's were the best of friends, so it meant they did everything together, and I mean everything. They have both been waiting to get Sean and Jessica's engagement party out of the way so they can buckle down and start planning the wedding.
Hopefully the engagement party would lift Jessica's spirits, too. She has been down since money hasn't been coming in like it used to which was the main reason she didn't want to waste money on an engagement party. She works in O'Leary's Pub in the village along with Justin's wife, Sarah, but their pay wasn't the greatest. I work in construction, I co-own Clarke & Hart Construction with Sean and Justin. It was passed down to us a few years ago from our father's, and unfortunately we have had only have one major job in the last year and a half, rebuilding the Holiday Inn hotel in the village.
The job brought us in a decent wage, but we had to be smart with the amount we continued to invest into the company as well as our own paycheques because we needed to survive too. Luckily, the owners of the hotel were going for bigger and better so that meant longer work for our company, but we would have ideally liked to have more jobs to work on throughout the year to help distribute out more hours for our employees. It killed me and the brothers having to let our lads go when we didn't get enough work. Especially coming up to the holidays.
"You and Jessica picked a party date, for real?
Sean nodded his head. "For real, she wants it before Christmas."
I widened my eyes. "Before Christmas? As in this Christmas on Tuesday?"
Sean laughed. "Yeah, she want's a small party in the local pub on the 21st. This Friday"
Today was Wednesday.
Talk about short notice.
Neala flung her hands up in the air. "Friday… That's in two days!"
Sean rubbed his neck and looked between Neala and myself. "I know, it's short notice, but this is what Jess wanted. You know she is stressed about cut backs at the pub and us not getting another job for the business so she wants this to brighten everybody's spirits."
I was all for a party so I slapped my hand against Sean's outstretched one and bumped my chest against his as we hugged. Neala quickly got over the short notice of the party and put a bright smile on her face when both Sean and I looked back at her. Her smile was for her brother of course, never for me. If her lip was curled up in a disgusted snarl then it would be for me.
"When was this decided?" Neala asked as she stepped into Sean's opened arms.
"Last night. Jess rang Bob and asked could we have it this weekend. Since he needs the business he said yeah without a problem, and since Jess works there we got a discounted rate on the food too – so that's a plus."
Neala chuckled at her brother's excitement and hugged him tightly.
I waited for the brother and sister moment to end before I made my play to move my plan along. I needed to get inside Neala's apartment and I could only think of one logical way that wouldn't be suspicious to her.
"Can I use your bathroom, Neala Girl?" I asked, smiling wide.
Neala slid her green frosty eyes to me and growled, "No, piss yourself for all I care."
I blinked.
Well... that made things difficult.
"Neala, don't be like that. We're here to squash childish drama, remember?" Sean said as he leaned his shoulder against her doorframe.
I hid my smirk by rubbing my hand over my mouth. Neala was eating up every word Sean said because she had no reason to doubt him, he was her big brother after all. I felt a tiny bit guilty that she trusted him when he was on my side. That was Sean's problem though and his own fault if he was found out and received backlash from Neala for it. I appreciated his help of course, but he was a big boy and made the decision to help me all on his own. It was actually his idea to come here in the first place.
"Please, for me?" Sean asked, his tone soft.
I watched as Neala gave in to him before she spoke the words.
"Fine," she sighed and stepped aside as she gestured us into her apartment.
I let Sean go first because I needed a moment to gather myself. I wasn't a bitch, but I was about to enter her lair, and I was both excited and terrified for reasons I couldn't explain. I stepped forward when Neala cleared her throat. I glanced to her and grinned as I passed her by. I lightly chuckled to myself because if looks could kill, I would be dead and buried with the glare she shot my way.
"The bathroom is down the hall and to the left, Darcy."
I smirked.
I always liked the way she said my name... even if she did spit it out of her delectable mouth each time she said it.
I blinked at my word choice.
Delectable mouth?
Since when did I think any part of Neala was delectable?
"Thanks," I said to Neala after a long period of silence.
I didn't look at her or Sean as I turned and walked down the hallway in search of the bathroom. It wasn't hard, Neala's place was tiny and apart from the bathroom on the left side of the hall there was only one other room that I guessed to be her bedroom. Perverted things entered my mind the longer I looked at her bedroom door so I quickly entered the bathroom. I went to the sink and turned the taps then waited a few moments for the water to run cold before I cupped my hands together, gathered some water and splashed it over my face. I rubbed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to relax myself.
I could do this.
I could find the doll and take it from Neala.
It wasn't stealing when it belonged to me... right?
"Get it together," I grumbled, and splashed some more water over my face.
I dried my face and hands with a small towel before I exited the bathroom and re-joined Sean and Neala in her sitting room. They were both seated, Sean on the couch next to the Christmas tree and Neala on the lounge chair facing us. I took the spot next to Sean and cleared my throat.
"Nice place," I said as politely as I could.
Neala's lip quirked. "Thank you."
She said 'Thank you', but what I heard was fuck you, and it made me grin.
"I bet you're both crying on the inside right now for being nice to one another," Sean said as he looked between Neala and myself.
I snorted, but didn't deny the obvious truth.
It was easier to be horrible to Neala than to be nice to her.
Did that make me a dickhead?
Probably.
"Is that why you're both really here? You want us to... get along?"
Sean looked to me so I took the lead with the well-rehearsed lie I practiced in my head on the drive over here.
"Yep, I want us to get along, and God knows so does everyone else so I'm taking the first step here. Literally. I came here to try and come to some sort of truce between us."
Neala huffed and folded her arms across her ample chest.
"We aren't two countries at war, Darcy."
"No," Sean cut in, "but you are two people at war, and to be honest, when you both get together it's the equivalent of two counties fighting. Two highly weaponised and equipped countries."
I swallowed.
Were we really that bad?
Shite.
I knew we acted somewhat – okay, a lot – immature with our feud, but damn, I didn't think we were that far gone into fighting with one another. And the chances were when I took the doll back from Neala, and she realised I had it, it would spark a war like no one has ever seen before.
Why was I so excited about that?
I was sick in the head, that's why.
"What are you smiling at?" Neala's voice snapped.
I flicked my eyes to her and shrugged my shoulders. "Just thought of something funny."
Well, funny in a twisted and demented kind of way.
Neala obviously didn't believe me, I could tell by the look on her face, but I didn't give her the reaction she wanted because I didn't want to fuel her speculation of me, I wanted her to be at ease. Or at as much ease as she could be with me in her home.
"So... how are we supposed to do this? We hate each other, Darcy."
I stared at her for a long moment unblinking.
She was actually considering mending things between us?
I wasn't expecting that.
"Um... I'm not sure," I said then swallowed. "I know how we feel about one another, but I guess we could start by not attacking one another or cursing when the other person's name is mentioned... That could be a start to... tolerance?"
Neala was silent as she mulled things over in her constantly on-the-go mind. I knew her like the back of my hand so I knew she would over think this until she made up some flaw that I was out to get her. I wasn't giving her the chance to do that.
"Stop trying to think that I'm playing you," I said.
I inwardly winced as I said that.
I was playing her, not about the mending of our 'relationship' because that would actually be kind of cool, but with playing the peace card so I could get the doll back from her.
Damn, she was really going to hate me more than ever when she eventually found out what I was doing to her.
"I don't trust you, Darcy."
A wise decision.
"But I trust me brother, and me family, and if they think we can get to a point were we can tolerate one another then okay – I'll give it a shot. But know I'm doing this for our families, not for us."
Seemed fair.
"Noted." I nodded.
Neala nodded her head back to me then cleared her throat as she stood up.
"Can I get you both anything?"
I looked to her brother and waited to see what he would ask for because if I asked for anything, even though she asked, she would probably bite a chunk out of my face. I could feel the anger radiating from her hot – pun intended – little body. She was open to the idea of us getting along, but she wasn't happy about it.
Sean shook his head though so I smiled and said, "A water please."
After a curt nod she went into the kitchen, and Sean nudged me with his elbow.
"She is going to kill you when she finds out that-"
"I know."
"And me for helping you-"
"I know."
Sean sighed, and muttered lowly, "This better work or I'm gonna kill me ma."
What better work?
Finding and taking the doll?
At the thought of the doll I forgot about Sean and Neala, and looked around the room. If she had the doll in her bedroom I was fucked because there was no way I could come up with a viable excuse that would result in my having to go into her bedroom. I looked around the sitting room, and my eyes locked onto the well-decorated Christmas next to me. I looked down and spotted wrapped presents. I glanced up to the kitchen door and when I was sure Neala wasn't coming into the room I dropped to my knees and picked up each present up.
None of the presents had nametags on them so I went for the presents that were a similar size to the box I held earlier in the day. I dismissed the first two I held because they were heavier, a lot heavier than the box I was looking for. I reached for a pink box I spotted behind the other presents. I held the box in my hand, and I instantly knew it was the doll without even unwrapping it. It felt the right weight, and as I ran my fingers over the wrapping paper I could feel the dents in the box that were caused from mine and Neala's tug of war for it earlier in the day.
"This is it," I whispered to Sean.
"So hide it," he hissed.
I spun around in a circle and realised I couldn't hide it without Neala seeing it so with a desperate thought I ran for the door and quietly opened it. I placed the box next to the doorframe outside and very carefully closed the door again. I quickly retook my seat next to a bemused Sean and tried to calm down.
"Why did you put it out there?" he mumbled.
So she wouldn't see me with it and beat me to death with it after she got it back.
I swallowed. "So she wouldn't see it. I'll pick it up on the way out."
Sean raised he eyebrows. "But what if someone outside takes it?"
I froze.
I hadn't considered that.
"Then I'll hunt them down and kill them, then I'll take the doll back."
Sean blinked. "Okay, Rambo."
I unexpectedly chuckled, and mentally thanked him for easing the tension that was building up in the room.
I licked my lips. "Do you think she will notice it's gone?"
"No. Or at least not right away," Sean replied.
We'd have to leave soon just in case she did spot it was missing, I'd die in this apartment if that happened.
"What the hell is she doing in there?" I muttered.
Sean snorted. "Probably talking herself out of killing you, and me for bringing you here."
That sounded like Neala.
I smirked. "I think you might be right."
We sat in silence for a minute or two then sat up straight when Neala entered the room with a single glass of water in her trembling hands.
"I put ice in it," she mumbled, and looked down as she handed the glass to me.
I blinked.
Did she remember I only drank ice water, or was it a coincidence?
"Thank you," I said and took the glass from her.
She nodded and moved back across the room and sat back down on the lounge chair. I didn't mean to do it, but I ran my eyes over the glass of water, inspecting it for any signs of foul play. It wasn't that much of a dick move. It was Neala we were talking about after all, she could have easily poisoned it for all I knew. I wasn't taking any chances.
When I was sure, or a sure as I could be, I took a sip of the water and swallowed. I sighed as the ice cold liquid slid down my throat and quenched my sudden thirst. I took a large gulp of the water, followed by another, and another, until the glass was drained of water and left with only ice cubes gathered at the bottom.
"Thirsty?" Sean asked from my side.
His voice was teasing.
"Not anymore," I said, smiling.
I looked away from Sean, and looked to Neala who was watching me with interest.
"Is this were we set up a playdate?" she sarcastically asked.
Sean laughed and stood up. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea because we have to get going. I have to get Charli from her last day of school before the holiday break and this fella is giving me a lift since Jess took the truck to work with her today."
Neala shot upright. "Okay, that's fine. Thanks for stopping by."
I smirked.
She couldn't wait to be rid of us, mainly me.
"It was nice... talking to you, Neala," I lied.
It wasn't nice, it was both torture and amusing as hell.
Neala swallowed. "And you, Darcy."
Bullshit.
She was physically sick just saying that.
I stood up, turned and walked to the door, opened it and stepped outside. I quickly scooped up the pink wrapped box and held it in front of me as I walked down the hallway not waiting for Sean, who was still back in Neala's apartment probably getting his arse chewed out for bringing me by.
I didn't care though because I pulled one over on Neala for a change.
I got the doll, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
Ha-ha-fucking-ha.
I stared at my hall door and wondered what the hell just happened.
Sean was always weird and came over to my apartment at random times, but Darcy, that eejit never stepped foot in my place for good reason... until today.
Why?
He was even... nice to me.
He smiled at me a few times, too.
Not a grin or a smirk, an actual smile.
"I don't get it," I muttered as I locked my front door and backed away from it like Darcy could burst back through it at any moment.
Why was he here?
I know it wasn't so we could 'start getting along with one another' like he claimed. Even Sean, who was all for us getting along, gave Darcy a funny look when he said that. Like he knew, just as well as I did, that what Darcy was saying wasn't remotely true.
I could see right through Darcy's bullshit, but I didn't understand why he'd said the nonsense he did. I didn't even understand why he was in my apartment in the first place. Everyone, apart from Darcy, was sick of our feud. I knew he liked it, I knew he looked forward to seeing me just so he could piss me off. He was demented.
"Something's not right," I said aloud, and began to look around my apartment.
I had no idea what I was looking for, but I searched anyways.
I spent most of the evening searching for something and after finding nothing I gave up. I got a glass of water and drank it as I leaned against my kitchen counter exhausted from trying to find something out of place.
Maybe Darcy did just want to try and smooth things over and I was just being paranoid.
I shook the silly thought away. There was no way in hell Darcy Hart would willingly want to befriend me. Like I said before, he enjoyed our feud and random arguments so I wasn't buying him suddenly wanting to be best friends again. He was up to something, and I just had to find out what.
I was tired, and just as it hit ten o'clock I found I couldn't keep my eyes open. I decided to call it a night and turned everything off in the apartment and double-checked the front door and windows were locked before I headed to bed. I relaxed under my covers and unwillingly retraced Darcy's steps in my head from the moment he entered my apartment with my brother. He came inside and went to the bathroom, but I searched that room from top to bottom and nothing was out of place. When he came out of the bathroom he didn't leave the living room and I was the one who went into the kitchen to get him a glass of water.
Whatever he did, he did in the time that I was out of the room.
The crazy side of my brain said I was overreacting and simply hoped Darcy did something wrong so I could throw it in his face. While the logical side said I was right to be wary. Darcy took every opportunity he could to piss me off, even if it was something little. I really doubted he would miss a chance to mess with my apartment now that he finally gained access to it.
I knew he did something, I felt it in my bones.
I sat up in frustration when my mind wouldn't allow me to sleep, and then got out of bed when my body began to overheat. I stomped out of my room and down the narrow hallway into my living room where I turned the lights on and, once again, looked around for whatever it was that Darcy did. I closed my eyes and thought back to Darcy's movements. When he came out of the bathroom he stayed in the living room with Sean while I got him some water. He was sitting next to my Christmas tree when I came back into the room.
I walked over to where he was seated and sat down and looked around my living room trying see saw from his perspective.
"What am I looking for?" I thought aloud.
I was seconds away from giving up when I glanced down to the presents I'd wrapped earlier that day. I tilted my head and stared at them. The colours weren't right, I had three blue presents, one red, one yellow and one pink. I widened my eyes and quickly pushed off the couch and fell onto my knees as I pulled the presents out from under my tree in search of the pink wrapped box.
The doll.
Where was it?
Where the fuck was Charli's Blaze doll?
No. No fucking way!
He wouldn't.
Wouldn't he? my mind taunted.
"Darcy!" I snarled and pushed myself to my feet.
I spun around and placed my hands on top of my head and screamed.
He robbed me! The callus bastard came into my home and robbed me blind... and I think my bloody brother helped him.
Neala: 1 Darcy: 1.
"Dead. They're both so fucking dead!" I growled in anger.
I was going to get that bloody doll back and destroy Darcy in the process. There wasn't a place on Earth he could hide from me. If he wanted a war, I'd bloody well give him one.
Let the games begin.