Chapter Thirty-Three
Liv
Istood in the kitchen, tapping out various reworded text messages to Adam then deleting them. I didn’t want to come across as needy. I’d been accused of that many times before, but when he left this morning, after that shower, I felt… empty. I guess in some weirdly twisted way, I missed him, but I needed to have a word with myself. As open as he’d been with me, I’d been here many times before and I was still scared of getting my heart broken.
On the fifth or sixth attempt, my phone started to buzz with an incoming call, and Emily’s name popped up on my screen.
“Hey, Em. You okay?” I asked.
“Liv! I thought I’d give you a call and find out how it went last night? You know… the big date with the mystery man.”
I wasn’t ready to share my secret with my friends yet. I would, but only when the time was right. They all hated Adam, and I had enough voices in my head to contend with, without adding theirs to the mix.
“It was… ugh. It dragged and I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again.” I did a good impression of sounding unaffected and so over it I couldn’t even be bothered to talk.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Em sounded more disappointed than I did.
“It is what it is. No big deal.”
“Okay, well I guess you might need a pick me up?” I didn’t, but I let Em carry on. “We’re having a picnic in the park later. Me and Ryan, Effy and Finn. I think Harper and Brandon are bringing the babies. I really want you to come. I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages and it’ll give you chance to have a good old moan and then indulge in some baby cuddles. What do you say?”
I didn’t have anything else planned. My brothers were loving it at the Spencer’s house so they wouldn’t be back yet. I knew Adam was busy with… whatever the fuck it was they did in the day. So, I figured I might as well join them. Be the spare wheel on their couples day out.
“That sounds great, Em. Count me in.”
* * *
I should’ve known better.
When I rocked up to the park a few hours later with a bag full of cakes and a few bottles of wine, I saw them all sat together, and there, on the end, was Kieron. He was some random guy that worked at Ryan’s dad’s garage, and was also my date for the day, no doubt.
Would they ever give up?
I stopped and stood still, taking a deep breath and rubbing my shell necklace in the hope that it’d give me some much needed confidence. They hadn’t seen me yet, so there was still time to turn around and hightail it out of there. But then my last drop of luck ran out, and Emily saw me, waving me over to join them.
“Liv! Come and sit over here.” She shuffled over to make space for me between herself and Effy, which I was thankful for. At least they weren’t going to shove me at the end with Kieron and expect me to make small talk with him. Don’t get me wrong, he was a nice guy. I’d seen him a few times around Sandland. But he wasn’t for me. He wasn’t Adam.
“I heard your date was a wash out,” Effy said, giving me a side hug.
I smiled to myself. As dates go, it was the best one I’d ever had, but I couldn’t tell them that.
“It was fine. We just didn’t click.”
Emily handed me a plastic glass filled to the top with wine.
“Here, you probably need this today. And if he didn’t click with you, he must be a bloody moron. Everyone clicks with you.”
We chatted and drank our wine, enjoying the midday sun and feeling carefree. But eventually, Emily and Harper became engrossed in talking about weddings and babies, Effy was cuddling up to Finn, and I was sat there, staring into my wine and trying to avoid making eye contact with Kieron. After a promising start, it was glaringly obvious that this whole picnic was a set up to try and push the two of us together.
“I don’t usually come to this park, but it’s nice, isn’t it?” Kieron tried to break the ice and I just nodded back with a vacant smile. “Weather stayed dry too,” he added.
We both looked up at the cloudless sky and hummed our agreement. Then an uncomfortable silence fell over us as the rest of the group remained engaged in their own conversations, ignorant of the awkwardness on our side of the picnic blanket. I wasn’t usually one to stay quiet or struggle in conversations, but I didn’t want to lead Kieron on.
“Em says you dropped out of uni. Any idea what you want to do?” he asked.
I had no idea, and I really didn’t feel like discussing it after a glass of wine on a nice day at a couples picnic.
“I’m taking a year out to get my head straight,” I answered. “I’m hoping inspiration will come to me at some point, so I don’t end up drifting through life for the next thirty years, sleeping on that park bench over there and eating out of the bins.” I was joking, but he didn’t see it.
“I’m sure one of us would help you out. Ryan’s dad always needs help in the offices.”
It was sweet that he was offering me a job that he didn’t have any say over, but my own dad ran a successful finance company. If I wanted to, which I didn’t, I could work for him and earn way more than Kieron made in a year.
“I’ll be sure to ask Mr Hardy when the time comes,” I replied. “I know how amazing he is to work for.”
Kieron smiled and started to fiddle with the tab on his can of lager. Then, when he cleared his throat and shuffled a little closer to me, my stomach filled with dread.
“Do you like Chinese food?” he asked in a low voice so the others couldn’t hear.
I swallowed before answering, knowing exactly where this was heading.
“I love it, but errr… Would you excuse me? I need the bathroom.” I stood up and he put his hand out to help me, not that I needed it.
“Do you want me to come with you?” He went to stand up too, but I held my hand out to stop him.
“No. It’s only that toilet block over there. I can manage,” I replied and started to walk off, not giving him a chance to argue.
Fuck. I needed to think of an excuse to leave. I liked Kieron. He was a good guy. But turning him down in front of all the others was going to be like kicking a puppy. It wasn’t going to go down well at all.
I made my way to the toilet block, opened the door and then headed to the cubicle at the far end. I was just about to shut and lock the door, when a force from the other side hit it, and I moved back out of the way. The door flung open, and there stood Adam, nostrils flaring, chest panting, and looking like he was about to self-combust. My heart suddenly kick started in my chest, beating erratically, and I held onto the wall to steady myself, shaking–but not with fear, more like anticipation.
Adam stalked into the cubicle, filling the space with his whole presence. Then he slammed the door shut and locked it, never taking his eyes off me as he did.
My breathing was shallow. My skin prickling at the nearness of him. It’d been hours since he’d fucked me in the shower this morning, and yet, I still wanted more.
He pushed his body to mine, pressing my back against the wall to the side of the cubicle, and then he cupped my cheek, stroking me with his thumb as he lowered his face to whisper into my ear.
“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”
I reached up to stroke him too, running my fingernails across the back of his neck as I answered, “I’m not playing at anything.”
He huffed a laugh and said, “I’ve been watching you… on your little date.”
“It isn’t a date. I didn’t even know Kieron would be here. I thought I was coming to a picnic with my friends. Anyway, I don’t need to explain myself to you,” I added, sounding like a brat.
“You don’t, but it doesn’t mean I won’t get jealous,” he growled. “I don’t like him being with you, Olivia. Talking to you. When he’s near you, it makes me want to burn the fucking park down. Destroy everything just so I can get him away from you.”
“I talked to him to be polite…” I reassured him.
“He touched you.”
“To help me up. Adam, you’re being a–” He cut me off.
“Fucking psycho?” he snapped. “That’s because I am one.”
“No.” I sighed. “I was going to say dickhead, but if you want to call yourself a psycho, go right ahead.”
I moved my lips, so they were hovering over his. As much as his anger was pissing me off, it was also turning me on. I liked jealous Adam. I liked it even better when I could feel that he was rock hard, pushing his hips into mine as he explained how furious he was that another man had looked at me.
“I think someone needs a little reminder about who they belong to,” he said, rolling his hips hard against me, his breath feeding into my own and the promise of his kiss just a whisper away.
“I don’t need a reminder. I already know. But I’ll play along if it means you’re gonna fuck me right here against this wall and make me scream.” I moved my lips to graze against his ear, and whispered, “I never used to be a screamer… Not until I met you.”
Saying that was like lighting the fuse to his fire. He ripped open the buttons of his jeans and pulled them down to his knees, then he pushed the skirt of my dress up and yanked my G-string to the side, running his fingers through my soaking wet pussy. Then he took his dick into his hand and pushed it through my folds, rubbing my clit with his piercing. Over and over again, he slid his dick over me, teasing me, until eventually we were both desperate. When we couldn’t stand the tension anymore, he lifted me up, grabbing the back of my thighs as I wrapped my legs around him. Then he speared into me hard and fast, making us both cry out into the empty bathroom stall.
His hips pistoned in and out of me and thrust up into my pussy as he held me where he wanted me. Legs open, body against the wall, arms wrapped around his neck, and me begging him to go harder because he felt so fucking good.
“This,” he grunted. “Is my pussy.”