Page 54

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Confrontation

I climbed off my bike, and I was at the door ringing the bell without any idea of how I was going to do this.

DJH answered the door.

“Hey, Stink. I thought you were doing weights at the gym this afternoon?” His tone was subdued. I missed the flirty one, the tone that, now it was gone, seemed to have been so easy between us before we’d complicated things with sex. Well, I was about to make things even more complicated.

“You have a brother?” I hissed. Nothing like jumping straight into the deep end.

His mouth dropped open in shock and he threw a glance over his shoulder. “Keep your voice down,” he muttered, dragging me inside, upstairs and along the hallway to his bedroom. He closed the door behind us and sunk down onto the edge of his bed. I momentarily forgot why I was there.

I’d never been inside Joel’s room before.

I was surprised at how neat it was. I don’t know what I’d expected; naked girls on the walls, dirty socks in the corner and an unmade bed perhaps.

It was nothing like that. The king-sized bed was made immaculately with a blue comforter spread out on top.

The walls were decorated with black and white cityscape photography.

A couple of personal photos graced the top of a chest of drawers, nestled in between a phone charger, a bottle of cologne, cufflinks, and Joel’s wristwatch.

I found myself walking over to the photos to take a closer look. One was Joel with his mother and father. He looked about seventeen, younger than he’d been when I’d met him. He had been a gorgeous teenager, but that was only to be expected, really.

The other photo shocked me. My eyes were staring out of it.

I was laughing, my hair wet around my shoulders.

Joel’s arm was slung around me, but he wasn’t looking at the camera.

He was looking down at me, a grin on his face.

I couldn’t remember the photo being taken, but judging by the bikini I was wearing, it had been at the pool party that Steve had thrown for me when I finished high school.

I reached out towards the photo, but before I touched it, I stopped myself. I turned back to Joel, who watched me warily.

“How did you find out?” he asked.

I crossed my hands over my chest, reminding myself that I was furious with him for lying to me. “I ran into Julie at the gym today. She had Shaun with her.”

Joel paled. “Did she say anything to you?”

I nodded. “Of course she did! She had to. Joel, Shaun looks so much like you it’s not funny! I thought he was yours ! I totally freaked out and she had to tell me everything, so I’d stop thinking that you had a son!”

Joel looked up at me from his hands. “You thought he was mine and you freaked out?”

I glared at him. “Would you be freaked out if you found out that I had a kid you didn’t know about?”

Joel paused, then nodded. “Okay, I get your point. So now you know.”

I noticed the look of relief on his face. “Yes, now I know! And if you’re so relieved that I know now, why didn’t you tell me yourself? You have no idea how horrible it was for me to find out the way I did!”

Joel looked taken aback. “I promised Julie I wouldn’t tell anyone!

And now that you know, you have to promise not to tell anyone either.

Stink, you think this has been bad for you – imagine how I feel, keeping this a secret from Mum!

It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’ve managed. Please don’t say anything to her.”

He looked beseechingly up at me and I felt my anger fading. “I won’t tell her, Joel.”

I saw his shoulders relax as he realised that I was telling the truth. I couldn’t feel as reassured. I was too nervous about the next thing I needed to talk to him about.

“So … I guess you were pretty mad at your dad when you found out?” I asked tentatively.

Joel looked down at his hands. “That’s an understatement!

Cheating disgusts me. And … it hurts too, you know?

Realising that the perfect family you thought you had wasn’t enough for your own father.

But I had to rise above my personal feelings, for Shaun.

He needs me now that Dad’s gone. I’ve got to be there for him and to support Julie. ”

I was so close to sitting down beside him and drawing him into my arms then.

But I had to see this conversation through.

I had to do what I’d come here to do, but I was scared; scared to ask, scared to hear his answer, and not just because if he answered yes it would mean he was a murderer.

Scared because I wasn’t sure that him saying yes would make any difference to how I felt.

“Joel, was it you?” I blurted, my eyes fixed firmly on his face. His brows furrowed in confusion. I couldn’t blame him; I wasn’t exactly making myself clear. I forced the words from my mouth, before I lost my nerve.

“Did you … kill … your dad? Julie told me that the night it happened you left her place for a couple of hours early in the morning. You were angry … you’d just found out he’d been having an affair. Did you want to … to punish him?”

Joel stared at me with such an expression of horror on his face that I kept talking, stumbling over the words that came bubbling up next. The words that I had been trying not to say to him since Wimbledon.

“I need to know, Joel, because I think that … well … I might want … more … with you. But I need you to be honest with me. I need to know if you killed him … them, because if you did … well, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

My words clammed up in my throat when I realised Joel was staring daggers at me. He sat, glaring at me, for the longest moment of my life.

“I thought you didn’t want things to change?” Joel sounded furious, and his brows knitted together over his eyes. I stared at him wide-eyed. That was the most important thing he’d taken from everything I’d said?

“Well, maybe I … maybe when you asked me before, I was too confused about what I was feeling. You didn’t give me much time to process it, you know.”

Joel looked away, running a hand through his short hair.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You came around here to accuse me of murdering my father, and to tell me that you want to … what, start a relationship with me?” He turned his icy eyes on me then, and the world came crashing down around me.

“Um, well, yes … maybe? But … also Ben.”

Joel glared at me. “What about Ben?” His voice held a warning, and involuntarily I took a step towards the door.

“Well, Julie told me about Ben threatening you, trying to blackmail you into giving him access to the money in the trust for Shaun. I just thought that you might have … you know … to protect Shaun?” My voice shook.

I’d never seen Joel look so angry. He stood up and towered over me. I took another step backwards but Joel caught me by the arm. He held on tight enough that I wouldn’t be able to shake him off. I stared down at his hand on my arm, paralysed with fear.

Joel’s other hand snaked up and tilted my chin until I couldn’t help but look up at him. He flinched when he saw my expression. “You’re afraid. You’re actually afraid of me.” I didn’t like the hurt in his voice.

“Stink, do you actually believe that I could have killed my father and my uncle, no matter how selfish and … and greedy they both were?”

I didn’t respond, but he could see the answer in my eyes. He sighed, but he didn’t let go of me. Instead he stepped closer, until the fronts of his thighs pressed against the fronts of mine.

I couldn’t think straight when he was that close to me. I was stranded somewhere between fear and desire. I had no idea which one would win out.

Joel didn’t give me the opportunity to figure that out. He gripped me by the back of my neck, kissing me fiercely. I was stunned momentarily, but it didn’t take long for my body to take over and reciprocate.

I could feel a lot of things in Joel’s kiss. Frustration. Fear. Need.

My mouth mirrored his need. I needed to be closer to him. It was never going to be enough. An overwhelming emotion was brewing in the pit of my stomach, but I pushed it away. It was just too complicated to deal with right now.

I gave in and let him draw me down.

He hadn’t answered all my questions. I started to realise that the answer didn’t matter to me. That if he’d done it, I would never tell another living soul about it. I would do that, for him, I realised. Oh shit!

“Melanie Black!” Joel growled at me and my attention snapped back to him.

“Don’t be afraid of me, please, Mel,” he whispered, his hands stroking my face gently. He leaned down and kissed the hollow at the base of my throat. I moaned and arched myself towards him, my body responding automatically to his expert touch.

Everything felt raw … intense … altering. His hands undressed me, roved over my skin. His lips trailed down from my neck to my stomach and between my legs, his tongue making slow, sensuous love to my pussy, my clit, until I rocked to his mouth, crying out and knotting my fingers into his hair.

His body was a warm comforting weight as he crawled up, fitting himself against me, the expression on his face as he pushed into me like a homecoming.

Afterwards we lay naked on his bed, my legs still entwined with his and his arms encompassing me, holding me against his chest. It was then that I realised that my suspicions were stupid. This was Joel. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a killer. How had I ever even entertained that thought?

As if he could read my mind, Joel spoke very softly against my hair. “If I tell you now – and I promise you that I’ve never been more serious in my life, Mel – that I would never, could never, kill my father or anyone else for that matter, would you believe me?”

I gazed into his eyes and I answered him truthfully.

“I feel stupid for even letting myself think it in the first place. I’m just so confused about so much.”

“Me too, Stink. Believe me. But let’s try not to think about all those confusing things for now, okay?”

He turned me so my back fitted against his chest, my butt tucked against his cock. His hand stroked over the curve of my hip and around to my stomach. I could feel his heart beating steadily and strongly against my back. My own slowed, changing pace to match his.

Oh, God! I’m in love with him! And not just in a let’s see where this goes sort of way, but in a want to spend the rest of my life with him way – a let’s move in together and get married and never spend another night apart again sort of way.

I must have gasped aloud with the sudden revelation, because Joel shifted behind me, his fingers moving away from where they’d been stroking my belly. He turned me until he could look at me properly. “What’s up?” he asked.

I looked up to face him, but I found the sentiments that had seemed so true in my head just a moment ago, were suddenly terrifying when I opened my mouth to voice them.

I tried; my mouth opening and closing over and over like a goldfish that had just jumped out of its tank. Joel grinned and my heart ached at how beautiful his smile was.

“Spit it out, Stinky, whatever it is.”

I leapt off the bed, climbing back into my clothes with lightning speed.

“Where’s the fire?” Joel asked, propping himself up against the bed head. I shook my head, clipping my bra back on with hands that trembled. I already had his door open while I still had my head stuck inside my shirt.

“I’ve got to go!” I choked out as I made my escape.

Heavy clouds were gathering as I pushed my bike down the drive. I turned to look at them, hoping I’d make it home before the rain started. I caught a glimpse of Joel standing in the doorway of the house, wearing only a pair of jeans and leaning against the door frame, watching me leave.