Blake
"What is this?" she asks.
We are outsides the village pub. The sign painted with a red rose swings above our heads. We walked down the lanes to get here, her hand in mine like any other couple. Like she isn’t one of the most famous women in the world. No one had looked, no one had stared. Okay, no one’s been out because the weather is so shit, but still, it was nice. Just to be normal. A guy and a girl out for a walk to the pub.
"It’s the pub," I state obviously, staring between her and the door of the local.
Sophia glances at the leaded windows lit from within by lamps. The diamond shaped glass shines an array of warm tones. "The pub? I can’t drink."
I groan and pretend to be shocked. "Well, duh, they sell soft drinks." This isn’t my comfort zone. Dating isn’t in my zone. I’m more of a loose hook up in a bar kind of guy—if the need takes me. "Are we going in or not? Because right now I’m just freezing my bollocks off in the street."
Sophia snorts. "Okay."
Holding her hand, I push through the door. A responding cheer meets our chilled ears. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the gloom and then I see them. My family. All of them. What a bunch of fuckers.
They’re all laughing, Shayne slapping the table as if he’s told the funniest joke of his life. Like he could tell a bloody joke.
Amanda squeals and bounces up to Sophia, hooking her arm through hers and dragging her to a corner table. Sophia turns desperate eyes to me, but I just shrug. There isn’t anywhere else to go within walking distance and apparently I’m not going to be allowed to have my first date in over a decade in peace. Amanda’s blabbering on at a thousand decibels as she sits Sophia at the dark wood table. "Welcome to the pub." She gestures her hand around as if the pub is Buckingham Palace and I snicker.
Sophia looks around. "Mm, it’s nice." She purses her lips, which is fricking sexy. "It’s very old man like."
The whole family bursts out laughing, again.
The pub doesn’t need to be nice because it’s the only place around. The entire village would come here if it was nice or not.
I groan, dabbing at my forehead which springs with alarmed sweat.
The whole village is going to come.
They’re all going to come on Sophia and mine’s first date. I just know it.
"Sorry." I mouth the word at her as Amanda carries on, excitedly throwing her hands around pointing out sights of interest—which is a joke in itself. Until I see her point to the stage—then it’s not so funny anymore.
By the time I’ve ordered two diet cokes from Sally behind the bar and given her the chit chat about the weather and the fact I’m on a date with a famous actress, in her pub of all places, the space behind me has started to fill. Roger Farris has put the TV on in the corner and the premier league late afternoon match is filling the air.
This has to be the most unromantic date of all time. Sophia may win Oscars but I will definitely win an award for this. Shit Date of the Decade, or something like that.
I perch on the stool next to hers and brush my lips along her neck as I hand her the iced coke. She flushes a beautiful warm pink, and it makes my dick twitch, which isn’t good considering my mam’s sat across the table.
"Nice one, guys, you, as always are truly supportive." I gulp back a glug of my own coke.
"You don’t need to stick to soda for me." Her eyes glance at Shayne and even I double take when I notice the pint of beer in front of him.
"Is that a good choice, Shayne?" I ask, shooting him a questioning glance.
He shrugs and takes a draught. There’s no point saying anything, Shayne does his own thing until such a point that he crashes and we all step in again. I could do without a full on bust up with him during my date. Instead, I lean closer to Sophia, "I don’t mind a coke. I could probably do with it."
"What do you mean?" She clinks her glass so the ice batters against the edge.
"What he means," Darren smiles above his dog-collar, "is that Blakey here sunk a few too many beers after his return from Tinseltown and now has to be a good boy just like his younger brother." He dips his orange juice at her in salute and grins. She smiles at him politely, before turning her face to me, her mouth poised into a shocked ‘O’.
"It’s nothing, ignore him," I say.
Sophia holds up her hands. "I am not getting between you guys, you are all too boisterous for my liking."
Mam tuts. "You should have been here when they were growing up, black eyes were a weekly occurrence."
"Wow." Sophia sounds awed which probably isn’t the response Mam was going for.
"You’re an only child, yes, Sophia?" Mum sips at her glass containing a short brandy. She doesn’t drink much, but when she does a drop of the hard stuff is her tipple.
"Yep." Sophia’s response is clipped. "Mum and Dad only had enough energy to turn one child into a star."
I knock her knees with gentle knuckles. "I don’t think you were born, and they decided that’s what you were going to be. You just happened to be born with the talent."
Sophia purses her lips again. "I wouldn’t be so sure. I think Mum was practising her fawning in the hospital."
The pub is crammed, a steady stream of locals making it their afternoon business to come to the pub and stare at Sophia. It won’t take long for the dam to fall and for people to start coming over but she doesn’t seem troubled. My bodyguard persona is almost on a shut down. We are so very far from being the people we are in LA. There are no threats here—excluding that of overcrowding in the local pub. She’s relaxed here, happy. I want to keep her untouchable in this little Welsh village forever. We wouldn’t even go as far as the big smoke of Cardiff. We’d just stay here—together.
I want so much to be alone with her. The longer we sit in the pub with her being all sweet and natural—the girl I used to know—the more I want her.
She’s my drug, she always has been, and I can no longer resist my cravings.
I want to erase every memory she has of Johnny Fairweather and that fucked up shit they do together and replace it with something pure and true. Pure and true? I’m getting poetic as well as soft in my old age.
Entwining our fingers, I place them on the table top for everyone to see.
"Ahh, it’s so cute." Amanda ribs and I pull a face at her.
"Are you guys bored yet and want to go home so we can get on?" I ask.
Shayne snorts a bellow of laughter, flinging back the rest of his drink and draining his glass dry. I lean closer watching him. He seems more on edge than usual. I’m surprised he's even deeming to sit here with us considering how pissed he is with me still. "Bored?" he asks. "I’m not bored, are you bored yet, Amanda?" he swivels in his seat and calls to our sister.
"Nope." Amanda shakes her head and Sophia starts to giggle at my side.
Shayne carries on, the bloody arse. "Mammy, are you bored yet?"
Mam chuckles into her brandy—her cheeks a little pink. "Nope, I’m not bored."
He’s going to do the whole table. I sit back and tuck Sophia into my side as she shakes with giggles. "Darren, are you bored? Would you rather go to get ready for church tomorrow?"
Darren also shakes his head with solemnity. "No, my work is here today, they say that God moves in mysterious ways."
"Marvellous." I offer them all dryly.
One of the regular’s blasts the Jukebox. Lady in Red fills the air. Someone is taking the piss. Sophia glances at her red hoody and her cheeks match the colour in record time.
"Dance, dance, dance, dance." Amanda drums her hands on the table until the entire sodding place joins in.
"You’re all twats," I state. Sweeping up from the table I hold my hand out to Sophia. "Would you do me the honour of this dance?" She ducks her head, pulling out of my grasp but it’s easy to lift her from her seat. "Give them what they want," I breathe into her ear hearing the catch in her own breathing in response. "And then they will leave us alone."
Laughing she hides her face in my shoulder as I lead us back towards what on a Saturday night becomes a dance floor. "This is me, no one ever leaves me alone," she murmurs.
I graze my lips along her cheeks drawing an "oooh" from the audience. "I think they are here to see me more than they are you."
She lifts her face and her pale blue eyes stare at me openly. I want to reach over and glide my fingers through her tied hair until I can release it and allow it to cascade into my hands. I want to feel her mouth against mine, and explore her, tasting her, feeling her.
Instead I move us as the eighties ballad belts around us.
"You dance nicely." She grins.
"Is that your way of saying I haven’t broken your toe yet?"
She laughs, clutching at my jumper, pulling me closer. "Yes, you’ve got me. This isn’t dancing it’s just swaying."
I hug her tighter until our pelvises meet. A low murmur spreads around the audience but I don’t care. "There is nothing wrong with swaying. It’s an art form to be able to sway with this skill."
"So, tell me about you playing guitar here? Am I going to witness the event for myself?"
I groan and drop my forehead onto hers. "I’m going to kill Amanda."
Sophia rocks with laughter. "Don’t, she’s just proud of you, she’s got huge big brother love."
My eyes cast over to my baby sister who’s watching us in delight, sipping her glass of wine.
"I think she loves you more."
"Yeah, she wants us to get married so her and I can be sisters." Her eyes shine as she smiles up at me and not knowing how to respond to that line I kiss her in front of the whole damn village. My mouth is hot against her lips, our breath rushing to meet. It’s an act of raw passion and I explode with desire until all my limbs are hot and melting. "I need you." I talk into her mouth, oblivious to the watchful gaze of all the neighbours.
"And I want you," she murmurs back, and within my chest my heart begins to beat a march of irrepressible desire. "But come on, let me do my thing first." She pecks a kiss on my lips, just lingering a moment before pulling away. A group of young girls, bottles of orange juice in hand are watching and waiting. Sophia gives them a wave and with a screech they land on her and she's sucked into the room, smiling and greeting, signing beer mats and having her picture taken.
I watch her like a hawk—maybe my bodyguard persona isn’t so dormant after all.
Finally, I’ve had enough and I go on a rescue mission of extraction. "Enough." I bark, probably with more attitude than required.
"Are you jealous, Blake?" She turns and grins, her face lighting with humour.
"Yes, I am more than jealous. This date is over."
Fanning herself with her hand she asks, "What happens after a date?"
Stepping up close, I press myself tightly into her space. "Now, you're mine."
Her face pales but the subtle beating of her pulse in the base of the throat, thudding against her skin through a pale blue vein, tells me she wants me just as much as I want her. Maybe, although it seems inconceivable to me, but maybe she wants me just a little more, and I’m going to give her everything she wants.