Cry Wolf Read online

  He lifts his head to gaze into my eyes. “This one.”

  I fail to see what’s so special about morning sex, but he seems so ecstatic about it I don’t bother to burst his bubble. I just enjoy the moment. He speeds up a little, just enough to rev my engine and push my slow building climax along.

  God, I could have sex with this guy all fucking day. I’d never get tired of it.

  “I’m close,” he whispers, his kisses on my neck making me shiver a little.

  “Close?” I ask, feeling a little disappointed.

  “You feel so good,” he admits. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you come even if it’s after I finish. I want to hear you moan for me. I won’t stop touching you and tasting you until that happens.”

  “Mmm,” I murmur, liking the sound of it.

  He speeds up a little more and I feel it when he comes, right before it’s obvious from his expression. He collapses for a moment, groaning in that sexy man-beast kind of way guys tend toward when they come. Then he pulls his cock from me, and I realize something I really should have noticed when he pushed his cock inside me last night.

  “We didn’t use protection,” I whisper.

  He smiles. “You’re mine now, Maggie. We don’t need to be careful.”

  My highly aroused brain doesn’t quite compute what he’s saying. It’s been so long since I slept with a guy, and practically forever since I did it bareback, that I’m struggling to pull myself together enough to let my true feelings push through.

  “I’m going to taste you,” he tells me, as he moves downwards and I feel his fingers part the lips of my drenched pussy. He’s gentle as he pushes them inside me. Just two of them to begin with.

  I’m still mourning the loss of his cock but he almost makes up for that when he starts to lick my clit while his fingers thrust in and out, going a little harder after a few minutes.

  He pushes a third finger inside, then a fourth. I gasp as he fucks me with his hand while he teases the swollen mound above my opening with eager flicks.

  Oh my God. He came inside me. His naked cock was buried deep in my cunt and I fucking loved it.

  I needed it. I wanted it.

  I cry out as he makes me come, holding his head where it is for a moment while I contract around his fingers. He slips them out and I let go, relaxing into the mattress and trying to process what just happened.

  We didn’t use protection. It felt so damn good. So right.

  I must still be totally out of my head with euphoria over getting laid for the first time in ages, because all I feel right now is completely blissed out.

  “Shouldn’t we be worried?” I ask, as he moves up and to my side to hold me and lay back down on the pillow next to mine.

  “Worried?”

  “About not using protection?”

  He kisses my shoulder. “That doesn’t really work when meet your soul mate anyway.”

  Okay, that’s snapped me out of the daydreamy perfection a little. “What? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it works.”

  I can’t believe a grown man could be so damn stupid. I hope to hell I’m not pregnant. I don’t want a little idiot child running around just because I was too turned on to realize we weren’t being careful.

  “How many times have you had sex without condoms because you thought they didn’t work?” Now, I’m snapped back to reality and pissed as all get out.

  “Never,” he says, his expression bemused. “When I told you I waited for my soul mate I wasn’t lying.”

  “Okay, so you’re just naturally good at foreplay then?”

  He smiles wryly. “I’m almost thirty, Maggie. I might never have put my cock in a pussy before, but I’ve tried virtually everything else.”

  This has to be the weirdest and more infuriating conversation I’ve ever had.

  “So then what are you saying?”

  He sits up a little and runs a hand through his hair. “Look, I haven’t told you everything yet. That’s for a reason. You’ll understand once I tell you, but right now it wouldn’t help.”

  Ugh. More bullshit. I can’t believe I’m going to have to work out the nearest place to get the morning after pill because of this gobshite.

  “Fine,” I mutter, moving to get up.

  He pulls me back down. “Please, don’t be mad.”

  Is he fecking serious right now? “Don’t tell me how to feel. You need to leave now. I have other things to be getting on with.”

  He’s quiet when he lets me go.

  I pull clothes out of my closet and throw them on. I stomp down the stairs angrily, more pissed off with myself than anything else, but he doesn’t need to know that.

  He comes down ten minutes later, looking like a kicked puppy. I’m overwhelmed by the desire to hold him close and tell him I didn’t mean it. I ignore it, but damn it’s hard to do that when he’s all sad faced like this. Ugh. This is what sex does to a woman. Turns her into a snivelling moron.

  Well, that’ll be enough of that.

  He opens his mouth, but seems to think better of it and closes it again.

  “Just go,” I tell him, opening the front door and holding it like that.

  He frowns, but he doesn’t seem to know what to say. I don’t have anything else to say and I’m not interested in hearing anything else from him unless it’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.

  He leaves and I close the door. I step back from it and try to just forget it. He was a good lay. That’s all. He’s not my destiny or whatever it was he was spouting last night.

  I wait a bit before I head out, trying to make sure Blondie isn’t hanging around. I waste some time making tea and having myself some cornflakes, wishing once more that I’d brought myself some Pop-tarts from the American candy store. Maybe that’s what’s wrong. No sugar in my system.

  Yeah, right. I can’t blame the lack of chocolate treats for my current predicament, much as I might want to. It’s not the real issue.

  I walk to my da’s old car and hope to hell there’s enough petrol in the tank to get me the twenty miles to the nearest town with a pharmacy. Probably should have thought about going out and filling her up before now really.

  Takes a bit to get to get her started. Probably because she hasn’t been driven in six months or more. Da didn’t exactly make a habit of getting out of town. He liked to wander around the fields more than he liked going for drives. He loved this place. So did Mam.

  Tears prick my eyes as the car finally starts. I never regretted leaving this place. It wasn’t kind to me. But I missed my parents every day. Calling them wasn’t quite the same. Even if I made sure I called a couple of times a week.

  That’s how I knew when something was wrong in the first place. Mam didn’t call. I kept calling her, on the house line, because they never did get with the times and go mobile. Probably because it’s so hard to get a signal in town anyway. There just wasn’t much point.

  Finding out they drowned down at the beach was a shock to the system. I know my mam liked walking along the shore collecting shells, but she never went near the water. Da liked to fish but not here. He always went mainland for that. Sometimes I would meet him after. Take him for a pint.

  That was six months ago now, and when I was back home on the mainland I could pretend nothing had changed. That they were still alive out here, running the pub and walking through the fields.

  Convincing myself to come back took losing my job and being forced to reconsider my options.

  I’m just pulling out of the drive when a flash of motion bursts into my line of sight from my right. I stop, blinking and feeling tears roll down my cheeks as I realize it’s Theo. Annoyed, I swipe at my eyes before I roll the passenger side window down.

  “I still didn’t get them off, so you’re going to have to just wait,” I tell him.

  He opens the damned door and climbs in. Should have locked it.

  “Are you crying?” he asks, gazing at me in concern with his pretty green eyes.
<
br />   I sigh. “No. I’m fine.”

  “You were crying. What happened?”

  “Nothing,” I say, not willing to reveal more.

  “Was it Lukas? Is he that useless in bed?”

  He sounds so earnest that I burst out laughing.

  “Shut up, you eejit.”

  He smiles smugly. “Worked though, didn’t it?”

  “Aye, sure,” I tell him. “What were you wanting though, seriously, because I have somewhere I need to go.”

  The pillock puts his seatbelt on. “Get driving. Wouldn’t want you to run out of gas.”

  He points at the fuel gage. “You’re pretty low but I think we can get to the petrol station ten miles down the road.”

  Well, that’s good to know. I sigh as I get the car moving. He’s not leaving. These two are just as bad as each other for being stubborn. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” he says. “Ask me anything.”

  I don’t know why I’m bothering like, I’m not going to get a straight answer out of this one.

  “Are you and Lukas brothers?”

  He snorts. “Hardly. What makes you ask?”

  “I dunno,” I tell him. “There’s something about you both that just seems really similar. I can’t place it. Not to mention the fact that you two seem to hate each other’s guts. That seems very brotherly.”

  “We don’t really hate each other,” he says, leaning back in his seat.

  “You don’t? Geez I’d hate to see what it looked like if you did then.”

  He just laughs. I shake my head and keep an eye out for the petrol station. So far the roads are clear and I can’t see any signs for it. He’d better not be lying to me. I don’t know why he would, but honestly this pair are impossible to figure out so who the hell knows what either of them are thinking at any given moment.

  “So, I know you slept with him,” Theo starts.

  I shoot him a warning glance. I so don’t want to talk about that. Least of all with him.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not jealous,” he tells me. “I just wondered how it was.”

  “Right then,” I snap. “Don’t be an arsehole. I was just starting to like you again.”

  “I know he told you,” he says, sort of changing the subject, I think.

  “Told me what?”

  “About the whole soul mates thing. He thinks honesty is the best policy. He doesn’t get that you don’t believe in that kind of shit.”

  “And what, you’re trying to tell me that you do get me?” I so can’t be bothered with this conversation. I start to think about stopping the car and kicking him out. If he didn’t know where the petrol station was, I already would have gotten rid.

  “I’m trying to tell you the soul mates thing is real. We did both get told the same thing. Only he thinks that means there are two possibilities. I think it means there’s a third, more likely explanation.”

  “That you’re both crazy and should immediately go home and stay there and leave me the feck alone?”

  He laughs again.”Not exactly.”

  “Then I don’t think I want to hear it.”

  “Well, I think you do.”

  “Well then you’d be wrong.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Finally!” I exclaim as the petrol station comes into view. I blow out a breath, swinging onto the forecourt and parking up at a pump. Hopefully, it’s conversation over now. I get out of the car and load her up. Thirty pounds worth. Should be enough to keep her going for a bit.

  I go inside to pay and I pick up a stack of chocolate goodies from the counter while I’m at it. If I get the late night cravings I’ll be covered now. Well, maybe for a bit. I reconsider my stash and add more.

  “Done?” The server asks.

  I nod. “All of this and pump four.”

  The guy rings it all through and charges me almost fifty pounds. I keep my curses silent as I pay up. My savings need to last all year. I’m going to have to find some way to make them stretch further. It’s not as if the pub makes a fortune. I really need to figure out how my parents had a half million pounds to just fire into a trust fund for me.

  I head back to the car, and open the back seat to dump my chocolate haul inside.

  Then I get back in the driving seat and we get moving. Theo clears his throat and I flip on the radio, pushing back on a cringe at the country station that comes through loud and clear. It’s still better than hearing him bang on about this whole ‘soul mate’ situation.

  He laughs as he leans back in his seat. I ignore him. We drive on. The petrol station was ten miles away, so the town should be a similar distance. Maybe I’ll have thought of a way to ditch him out there before I come back. An evil smile forms as I start to hatch a plan.

  My trick with the radio works in keeping Theo quiet, at least until we get there and I have to switch the awful radio station off. Predictably, he starts bumping his gums the moment the noise level goes down, which happens immediately after I pick my parking spot along the street from the pharmacy. I have to kill the engine and a second later he asks his first question.

  “So where are we headed to exactly?” He gazes around, undoing his seatbelt.

  I think about asking him to stay in the car, but if I do that I can’t ditch him.

  “I’m headed across the street. You can go where you want, but you’re not coming with me.”

  He rolls his eyes at me. “You brought me along. I should go with you.”

  “Feck no.” I’m not taking the second guy who’s interested in me along when I have to get morning after pills because of the first guy. It’s way too messed up. “Stay in the car if you want but you’re not coming with me.”

  He gets out when I do. I don’t make the move to cross the street until he’s already moving towards a sweet shop on the other side of the street. Then, I make a mad dash and stock up on period supplies at the same time as grabbing the pill I really came for.

  I hide the pill package in my purse when I see Theo crossing the street and coming way too close. I can’t take it out and swallow it while he’s watching me. I’m going to have to wait until I’m home behind closed doors to take it.

  “Got you more sugar,” he tells me, holding up a box of chocolates and looking pleased with himself.

  “Thanks,” I say, more thankful that he doesn’t know what I bought than for anything else.

  “You get what you came for?”

  I nod. “Let’s get back to dullsville.”

  “Or we could stick around here and get lunch someplace nice?”

  It sounds good, so I nod. He grins.

  “What are you looking so pleased about?”

  “You just agreed to a date,” he tells me.

  “Did I now?”

  He nods.

  “Like I agreed to be married to you by taking these rings?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

  “I feel like that right there was your agreement to be married to me.”

  “That was sarcasm.”

  “Was it really?” He laughs. “Relax, Maggie. It’s just lunch. Come on. I’m starving.”

  So we eat lunch, and I decide not to ditch him in this arse end of nowhere town.

  He’s not so bad, I guess.

  It’s pretty obvious by the chaos as we get back to town that something big happened while we were away. Lance Peterson is standing in his field, covered in blood, and some guys I don’t recognise are standing around with him as he talks.

  “What the hell’s all that about?” I wonder as Theo gets out of the car.

  “I’ll find out,” he tells me, walking away.

  I get out and hesitate to walk over. I don’t know Lance very well and the thought of something tragic happening when one of his animals gave birth makes me too sad. If that’s what happened, I don’t want to know about it.

  I head inside and go get a glass of water, ready to take my pill. Memories of Lance losing baby lambs to a rogue dog that got on the loos
e and scared his pregnant sheep swim through my head. This isn’t anywhere near the same thing.

  Still. I could be pregnant. I’m not sure how I feel about that now.

  The knock on the door makes me drop the packet back into my bag. I move quickly through the kitchen to the living room and out into the hall. Theo is standing there, a concerned look on his face.

  “If it was anything about a baby animal, I can’t hear it right now.”

  He raises an eyebrow at me quizzically, and then shakes his head. “No, something attacked one of that farmer’s cows. Poor thing was mauled to death. Must have happened last night. They’ve been combing the area searching for some kind of wild dog.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “One of them was talking about how you saw a woman attacked in that same kind of way years ago. They think it’s a weird coincidence.”

  “Weird how?” Like weird because I’m back, and that might make me suspect? Or weird because maybe I wasn’t lying? I hold back a snort. Of course it has to be option number one. Once a liar, always a liar. It’s kind of just how we’re branded.

  “Just weird.” He shrugs. “So you’re not going to invite me in after the lovely afternoon we spent together?”

  “Don’t push it. I let you off with enough already.”

  I start to close the door. He holds it.

  “Wait. Tell me you’ll see me again.”

  “I’m sure I will, you creepy stalker.”

  There’s something in the air tonight. I feel it the moment I step outside. I’m not afraid, but tonight is the same night I saw something terrible all those years ago. Something I’ll never forget. Something no-one believed.

  I went over what I saw that night so many times. In my own head. In therapy. To my parents. A million different ways. All of it came back to the missing body. How could anything have happened if there was no evidence to support what I claimed to see? I must have been lying. It was the only explanation.

  Trouble is people have a habit of taking the easy ways out. Looks like a wife was murdered? Look at her husband until you find a motive. Work from there. Doesn’t matter that there are other people who didn’t like the woman who might have had motive to kill her. All that matters is there’s a simple explanation that doesn’t take much brainpower to connect the dots.