“Bethany, where do these go?” Joe Brooke entered the shop floor, with clusters of tulips in his arms.

Bethany looked up after pocketing her phone, a smile on her face. She had been writing the prices of the flowers on tiny black boards.

“I’m going to assume that the call you just took placed that goofy smile on your face.” Joe’s brows pulled together.

Bethany grinned. “Yup.”

Her father’s face cleared and he chuckled. “So where do this go?”

“There are spare buckets inside the workroom. Just put enough water, please.” She placed completed the final board and stretched her back. “Is that the new delivery?”

“Yeah. Told the driver to go around the back. It’ll be easier to unload.”

The stress of caring for a fledgling business trickled out of her. “Thanks, Dad.”

The phone rang.

“Expectation Blooms.” She cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“Hi Bethany.”

“Hey, Lissie.” A smile wove through Bethany’s voice. “How are things?”

“Busy as always. Corinne and I are going to be nearby. Care to join us for lunch?”

“Oh.” Bethany paused then resumed putting away the pen and tape. “Sure. Where are you going? I can meet you there.”

“We’re going to Clique.”

“Great! That’s just a stone’s throw.” Bethany’s smile kicked a notch. “Gracie joining us?”

“Not this time. Brother dear has a meeting in Paris. He’s taking Gracie and Flynn with him.”

“Lovely! That should give Flynn a chance to run around Disneyland.”

Lissie laughed softly. “I bet that the other person running around like a kid will be Luke. Gracie will have her hands full.”

Bethany chuckled. “Meet you in half an hour?”

“See you then.”

She called to her father who was still at the back, putting the phone back on its base. “Dad, I’m meeting Lissie for lunch. It might be a while before I return. Debbie and Adi are here to help.”

“Go on with you. We’ll do just fine. Have a great time.” He waved at her.

She turned to Debbie and Adi. “Take care of things while I’m gone? I’ll have my phone with me.”

“Sure,” Debbie said, grinning. “Enjoy.”

Bethany rushed to Clique and stood by the door searching for Corrine and Lissie. Dark and light wood panelling, secluded extensive booths and high tables with high chairs greeted her. It was easy to spot Lissie and Corinne and Bethany waved at them.

“I’m here,” Bethany said, a tad out of breath.

“You didn’t have to rush,” Lissie chuckled somewhat bemused looking at her with a critical eye. “You coloured your hair blond?”

“This is my real hair.” Bethany grinned.

“Has Drake seen you?” Lissie asked.

Bethany shook her head and waggled her brows. “It’s a surprise.”

Lissie nodded in understanding, her blue eyes twinkling. “Looks better. Sorry, it’s just that black looks good on you but your natural hair colour makes your features softer. Drake will be all the more smitten with you.”

Corinne pulled a lock of her hair and looked at it. “I need to change my hairstyle.”

Lissie rolled her eyes. “That’s Corinne.”

Bethany was giddy with excitement. Her belly fluttered, anticipating how Drake would react to her shedding her camouflage. It had taken a while for Bethany to trust Drake. To trust herself. Last night after Drake made sweet love to her, she knew in her heart it was the right time to let go and accept what Drake was offering.

True to his word, Drake made sure her house was a mini fortress for her and Amara. Every egress and windows had a sensor to know if someone had forced it in. Infra-red motion detectors were placed in the garden and in front of the house. Drake did all of it even though Bethany had protested that it was over the top.

Drake didn’t care. After that day, Drake often took her home and stayed. Amara lived with her grandparents during the week. Much to Bethany’s embarrassment, Amara hinted she was watching Drake by pointing two fingers at her eyes then at him. Then she’d winked.

Make-up sex during the week exhausted Bethany. Drake didn’t make her leave the room for two days and she couldn’t even if she tried. Her father and Cinzia had been more than happy to tend to Expectation Blooms.

“Are you okay, cara?”

“Headache.”

Bethany heard Cinzia’s disbelieving snort through the phone.

“Honest!”

“I’ll let you off the hook this time,” Cinzia quipped. “Enjoy and make sure you tire him out too.”

Drake laughed.

Breakfast in bed was fruits, cream, and honey on her body that Drake partook. Lunch by the bath tub included Drake massaging and soaping her after he took her against the wall. Dinner by candlelight included sexy saxophone music, champagne and strawberries dipped in chocolate before Drake took her gently, bringing them both to blissful oblivion.

Drake nestled her to his side, spooned her when she slept facing the other way, laid on her belly while he look up at her with such tenderness and adoration. He regaled her with stories of his cage fights, of places he’d been to while she combed her fingers through his hair. Bethany wasn’t much of a MMA enthusiast but just watching Drake animatedly talking about the sport made her want to learn to enjoy it for him. In all the time they were together, he didn’t prod her about what happened to her while they were apart. He accepted what she told him, the sanitized version. But Bethany saw the flicker of hurt in Drake’s eyes before it disappeared behind his smirks.

By the third day, Bethany was adamant that she had to go to the shop. She threw a pillow at him when she wobbled on her feet and he chortled. She giggled when she reached for his cock and he evaded her saying it was sore. When Drake dropped her off, she didn’t want to leave the car. She already missed him.

Term time arrived and Amara happily worked in the flower shop beside her grandfather making floral arrangements for orders that came in fast after Expectation Blooms designs graced The Retreat. Today, however, she was at the movies with a few of her friends.

“Let’s go inside.” Lissie’s voice broke through Bethany’s reverie.

Bethany was perplexed. “Inside where?”

“The kitchen.”

“Why—” Bethany expelled a slow breath. “You guys own this place, too?”

“Yup.” Corinne winked leading the way through the hallway along the left wall before pushing the double kitchen doors.

“Wow,” was all Bethany could say. “What else do you own?”

“A few more bars under our company, Piedmont Enterprises. But The Retreat is the flagship. We rotate checking on all of them. Me, Corinne, and Eddie.”

“Eddie?”

“Our other partner. He’s not here at the moment. He’s treated his mother to a trip to the continent and hasn’t returned,” Lissie said, entering the small enclosure with a set table. “I can’t wait for him to come back.”

“You and me both.” Corinne sank down to her chair with a sigh. “I’m shattered by the time I come home. Dominic’s starting to grumble. When he does, I go to my studio and sleep there.”

Bethany chuckled. She stared into space. “I can understand that. Having two businesses and keeping them afloat can be taxing.”

Lissie waited, head tilted in curiosity.

“Do you own another flower shop?” Corinne asked. She placed a blob of ketchup on her plate. “C’mon let’s eat some grub.”

Bethany stifled a smile. “No, I don’t.”

“What’s it then?” Corinne slightly frowned, the side of her mouth bulging one cheek before chewing once more and swiping a french fry on the ketchup.

She cleared her throat weighing her words carefully while she took out the toothpick from the top of her burger’s bun. Her pulse raced. She heaved a breath.

“A burlesque club… Well, Cinzia and I own it really.”

Bethany bit slowly into her burger. Her ears cringed at the deathly silence around her. Heat rose to her cheeks at their stares and when they both placed their burgers back on their plates.

Her own food began to taste like sawdust. Her head shook imperceptibly as she quelled the sour taste of disappointment at the back of her throat. She was going to enjoy her food. Who knew when she’d be able to eat this way again? Besides, she had been intimately acquainted with hunger on more than one occasion. No way was she going to waste a single crumb.

“Wow.” Lissie exhaled. She placed her hand on Bethany’s arm.

The warmth startled Bethany and she instinctively froze.

There was no disdain or censure on either Corrine’s or Lissie’s faces. Their eyes sparkled with amazement and …excitement?

“That’s so cool!” Corrine resumed choosing and stuffed her mouth with fries. “How long have you had it? Is it hard to learn?”

“Do you dance too?” Lissie followed up. “Shit, Gracie is so going to get a kick out of this!”

Bethany’s lids fluttered. She was confused. “You’re not…disgusted with me?”

“What?”

“You’re shitting us right?”

Lissie and Corrine blurted out at the same time.

“Where did you get that idea?” Lissie asked stunned.

Bethany took a quick sip from her sparkling water to unclog her throat but hiccupped instead.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…” She sighed. “Look. Much as it sounds like a sob story, I’ve learned not to expect any sympathy when I say I own a burlesque club and dance there too. There are still a lot who peg dancers like us as—”

“Whores?” Corinne quipped then snorted. “Bet people like those are either righteous pricks and bitches or are sorely lacking sexual partners. Like I told Lissie before this is the Age of Fuckquarius.”

Bethany’s drink nearly went down the wrong part of her throat. She coughed, slapping her chest before wheezing, “Age of what?”

“Fuckquarius.” Corinne shrugged while Lissie resumed eating. “Fucking has entered a new age.”

Bethany couldn’t stop herself from laughing hard. God, she was going to like these two women.

“Bethany,” Lissie began. “We like you. That’s all there is to it. And our burgers are getting cold.”

A weight lifted from Bethany’s shoulders like water melting a boulder. Her throat tightened with emotion making her cough more until she had to noisily clear her throat. Mouthing a silent apology, she was still hard pressed to swallow the food she vowed to enjoy. Karma must be in a good mood right now to bring Lissie and Corinne into her life.

The rest of the hour was filled with talk of burlesque dancing, snickers, and stories of what went inside the club. Corrine kept excusing herself from the table whenever the bar’s manager came in.

“It’s not Corinne’s turn to check on the bar.” Lissie stirred her coffee. “It’s Eddie’s”

“Oh?” Bethany breathed in the aroma of the espresso that had been set in front of her.

Lissie’s eyes twinkled. “He’s going to get a kick about knowing you’re a burlesque dancer.”

“Well, not anymore. Drake requested I  stop.”  Bethany let out a soft partly suppressed laugh as her fingers did quote marks in the air at ‘requested’.

Lissie slightly titled her head in understanding. “That man is seriously into you.” At Bethany’s blush, her face softened. “You love him, don’t you?”

Bethany exhaled. “That obvious?”

“Bethany, Oliver has been trying to call Drake for two days and he couldn’t reach him. He said it wasn’t like Drake not to return his calls.”

Bethany’s hands were on her fiery cheeks.

Lissie chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that. Have you told him?”

Her hands fell to her lap. She shook her head. The espresso fascinated her.

“Why?” Lissie leaned back in surprise.

Bethany looked away. “There are still some things I haven’t told him and if I do, I’m afraid it’ll be game over.”

“Oh Bethany.” Lissie reached out for her hand under the table. “I can’t say I really know Drake but I’m sure things will work out.”

“It’s not that easy.” She looked up trying to plead with Lissie to understand.

And just like that, she told Lissie everything. From the first time she met Drake fifteen years ago and the next time they saw each other during Oliver and Lissie’s wedding reception.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see him again,” Bethany said dully. “Then when we did… We’re two different people now, Lissie.”

“After all these years the pull is still there. Different people but same attraction that’s never disappeared? Give yourself and him a little more credit.”

Bethany blew out a breath.

“Oliver was a different person after the bombing,” Lissie began, her face showing the pain of the memory. “I left because someone said it was the best thing to do for him, so I did. One time he was drunk and made a mistake of banging the door of Luke’s flat where I was staying. I realized then that I couldn’t live without him. He meant more to me even without his leg than if he had been whole. That whole time, he had been protecting me even when I didn’t know he did. I guess in his own way that was how he showed he loved me.

“One thing you have to know about men like Oliver, Luke, and maybe even Drake is that they have a funny way of showing how much we mean to them. They’re bull-headed, won’t listen to reason and if they had a chance probably beat their chests with their fists and roar like Neanderthals.”

Bethany tittered as the image of Drake doing just that popped in her mind just as Corinne returned.

“What are you talking about?” Corinne angled her head before her face cleared. “Oh yeah, your men.”

Lissie grinned before she continued.

“But once they see reason, they will calm down and ask you to take them back because we already hold their hearts.”

Hope was a persistent seed inside Bethany and it was cracking through the shell.

“Do you think he’ll listen?” she asked. “I’m scared as shit.”

“One day, I’ll tell you how gaga Oliver was over Lissie.” Corinne waggled her brows.

Lissie rolled her eyes.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” she began. “I think it will be difficult. But if he loves you as much as I think he does, you’re both going to get past this.”

Bethany exhaled a long drawn out breath.

“I’ll be here for you, too.” Lissie smiled.

“Me too,” Corinne quipped, grinning.

“Thank you.” Bethany looked at her phone. “Oh God, I’ve been here for almost three hours. I have to get back. My dad’s helping out and he hasn’t had his lunch.”

“I’ll have something prepared,” Corinne stood. “On the house.”

Bethany clamped her teeth over her lips but a smile still curved the sides of her mouth. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem.” Lissie checked her phone. “Ohh…our client’s arrived at The Retreat.”

“You go ahead,” Corrine said, over her shoulder. “I’ll have the kitchen prepare your takeaway.”

“Let’s walk together.” Lissie suggested, pocketing her phone.

“I just need to go to the ladies’ room.” Bethany returned her seat making sure she left her place as tidy as possible.

“I’ll wait for you by the entrance.” Lissie said, before making her way to the front of the bar.

Bethany traversed the corridor, her thoughts on Drake. She felt light, happy. Her mouth quirking so that anyone who saw her would immediately think she had a secret.

Now that she had returned to being a blond, would Drake still like it? Or did he prefer her hair to be dark? It was a spur of the moment decision to change back to who she had been for Drake. They’d be seeing each other later.

The sensual possibilities of what she and Drake would do later crowded her mind, each erotic act jostling for first place. The last time she had been with Drake, he had taken it slow.

“Look at me Bethany.” He commanded her in that deep voice that could make the threads of her clothes unravel. “I want to see your eyes fill up with me…only me when you come.”

She did as he asked looking up at him as he thrust hard into her just the way she liked it. Every thrust in brought at strangled hiss, a rolling moan out of her. He coaxed, teased, demanded, stole her breath when she had already willingly given it to him. For her, this was no longer about sex and no longer afraid of her heart being broken. She realized then that what was broken could be pieced together, the memories and heartaches the glue that left a scar of change. Somewhere along the way, her fear of having a relationship with Drake melted. She didn’t know how long this was going to last but hoped it would lead to the path to forever.

It was now about showing Drake she loved him when she still couldn’t make herself say the words her soul wanted to say. It was about laying herself bare for him to see who she had become. For taking the risk of seeing the anguish in Drake’s eyes, not because she wanted him to suffer. She wanted to be honest with him no matter how ugly it was.

As her response burned hot inside her and her vision started to cloud for another climax, she felt her body follow Drake’s beat, cradling his hard body in a slow dance with her. She allowed him to witness the ecstasy coursing through her as pleasure singed its way from her sex, exploding through her body, her lips, and igniting her soul. Drake took what she offered thrusting back into her once more to fill her with his warmth, his body, his acceptance.

The sound of the door to the Men’s restroom closing pulled Bethany out of her thoughts. She suppressed a laugh. She’d been inside so long Lissie and Corinne might think she’d been flushed down the toilet.

Shaking her head as she left, she checked her phone as she passed through the hallway hoping to see a text from Drake. And as though he heard her from the distance, he rang. Her heart tripped a smile on her face. She pressed the green button when an arm suddenly shot across in front of her.

“Bethany Brooke. I didn’t think you were good enough for places like this.”

Her smile slowly disappeared and her blood crystallised into ice staying in place beneath her skin. Her heart plummeted pulling her stomach with it. She stared blindly at her phone, heard Drake’s voice in the distance but couldn’t answer.

Memories of the day that had broken her poured over as if Clique’s roof had been blown off and a deluge drowned the corridor in her terror, remembered pain, and shame.

“What’s wrong?” His voice tilted as if he was baffled at her reaction. She smelled the beer in his breath, heard the malice snaking through his words. “Missed me?”

Energy slowly cut through the lethargy, sparking her vow never to be a victim again. “Move away or I swear to God—”

“You’ll what?”

He grabbed her jaw cruelly and so suddenly, she didn’t have time to react. Bethany bit her inner cheek to stop from whimpering at the pain of his hold. Oh God, his mouth was so close to hers. Her stomach pooled with bile making her want to vomit. She shuddered, her fight or flight instinct scrambling inside her head.

“You’ll what, slut? Scream and cry for your precious Drake to save you again?”

Something inside her snapped. Going by instinct, she jammed her knee up his crotch with as much force she hoped to puree his balls.

“Fuuuck!” He crumpled to the floor in agony. He held his crotch, letting go of Bethany.

She spun around and sprinted out to the dining area almost delirious that she’d worn trainers. Heart racing, she tried to present a semblance of calm. But calm was nowhere near when the devil himself was on the floor.

“Bethany, hey! The food’s not ready!”

“Sorry, Corrine. I’ve got to go.” She said in a rush at Corrine who stood by the bar counter. She wove her way through the tables already plotting the route she had to take to get back to the shop. Terror made her gait stilted, cold wanted to freeze her in place yet rationality was the lantern guiding her way out of the dark.

Bethany couldn’t breathe no matter how hard she tried. Her throat started to close, her vision swimming. The face floating above her spurred her to continue. Clique’s doors neared. She had to get out, get air back in her lungs.

Just…a…little bit more.

A group of people entered the bar at that moment blocking the doors.

Fuck propriety.

Bethany stormed through, weaving like the drunk that she wasn’t, pushing those near her away.

“What the hell!”

“Shit!”

“Sorry! Sorry! I can’t breathe!” she wheezed almost tripping at the threshold.

Then she was free. The endorphin laden spring air hit her face and Bethany took in her first huge gulp of air since being cornered in the hallway. Her skin crawled as if leeches were stuck to it. Sweat trickled down her temples, into her hair, leaving cool trails before disappearing. Frigid cold iced her veins. Her knees knocked under her as though she was scheduled for a new set of knee caps.

And her heart was internally haemorrhaging, knowing what lay in store.

“Bethany, what happened?” Lissie touched her, her face worried.

Bethany jumped as though she’d been electrocuted.

Lissie’s eyes widened. “What the hell?”

Bethany saw Corinne inside sweet talking the indignant group. Her gaze darted around.

“I have to go.” Her voice broke, the panic still unstable within her. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry.”

“Bethany, wait!” Lissie held on to her. “What got you spooked? What happened?”

Bethany trembled, unable to stop the shudders coursing through her. “That man…”

“What man?”

“The one who raped me.”

Lissie reeled back in shock. Bethany escaped her grip and ran.

“Bethany! Come back!”

She didn’t. Didn’t turn back to the women who showed nothing but kindness to her. And she ran, hell bent on getting back to Expectation Blooms. She needed to lose herself in the crowd like prey losing itself in a host of its own kind from a predator. Better them than her. She’d learn that, perfected it through the years of hiding.

She took the long route to the flower shop, hiding herself in the throng crossing the street before ducking into the side of a building. Panting and swallowing through a dry throat, she peered from her hiding place. No sign of anyone chasing her.

Bethany exhaled sinking against the wall before pushing away.

She entered the shop surprising a few of those looking around and waiting in line.

“Thank you, make sure you come back again.” Joe Brooke smiled jovially at a customer before greeted his daughter. “Lunch go alright?” he paused, his smile fading. “What’s wrong sweetheart?”

She spoke to the staff . “Debbie, could you and Adi take over for the day?”

“Yeah sure.” Debbie and Adi couldn’t hide the bafflement on their faces.

“Dad, I need to talk to you. Just let me speak to Debbie first.”

Joe looked at her with a worried frown, but in the end nodded before entering to the workroom.

After giving Debbie and Adi instructions and giving them the key, Bethany rushed to get her father’s coat.

“Hey, hang on. What’s got you panicked out of your skin?” Joe stopped her, holding her upper arms.

All of Bethany’s fear surged like a fountain in her whisper.

“Andrew Tabler.”