He answers. “Murphy.” He listens and then stands up in a rush, and we all fall silent.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” he sneers. Joshua sits up immediately at the tone of Adrian’s voice. Who the hell is on the other end of the phone? The girls and I glance at each other and frown.
“Don’t bother,” he snaps. “I’m not listening.” He narrows his eyes in contempt as he shakes his head in anger.
“Don’t call me, don’t email me and stay the hell out of my life Nicholas. We are done.” He listens again. “Too little, too late.” He hangs up the phone and throws it on the deckchair with such force that it bounces and flies straight into the pool. Cameron immediately dives in after it and Adrian storms inside. Joshua’s eyes meet mine. I wait five minutes to see how the boys handle this. They all lie still and start to chatter as if nothing happened and nobody is going after him. Men are hopeless. I tentatively stand and walk inside where I find Adrian lying on his bed. I slowly lie down behind him and cuddle his back.
“Tash.” He shakes his head as his anger steals his ability to speak.
“I don’t want to say anything. I just want to lie with you,” I reply quietly.
He lies silent and still while I troll my brain for the right thing to say. What did Nicholas say to upset him this much? He was only with him for a month… who am I kidding? I was only with Joshua for a month when we first got together and I have been fucked over ever since. A lot of love can happen in a month.
“I want to go home,” Adrian sighs.
I nod. “Ok,” I answer. “We can go early. We are due to go in three days anyway.”
Adrian shakes his head sadly as he rolls onto his back and puts his arm under my head. I gently kiss his chest.
“It will be ok Adrian,” I whisper. I know how a broken heart feels… it’s lonely.
“I want to go home,” he replies.
I nod and squeeze him that little bit harder. “Do you live near Josh?”
“No. I want to go to my parents’ house,” he replies.
My heart drops and my eyes close. I know both his parents are dead.
“I want to be depressed at my mother’s house and have her fuss over me and make me fattening food and my father to tell me that Nicholas didn’t deserve me in the first place. But no. They had to die, didn’t they?”
He’s angry that they died. It’s a natural progression in the grieving process. I am still angry with my father for leaving me. I can’t even imagine the pain of losing both parents at the same time.
“They would be here if they could honey, you know that. It was a terrible accident, Adrian. They didn’t want to die,” I whisper as I kiss his chest again. He pulls me closer but doesn’t answer. We lie still for another 15 minutes both lost in our own thoughts. Joshua walks in and sits at the end of the bed and grabs Adrian’s foot.
“Want a drink? I’m making cocktails,” he asks Adrian as he twists his foot.
“No,” he replies flatly as he yanks his foot from his grip.
“Want to beat up Cam?” Joshua asks as he raises his eyebrows in question.
Adrian smirks. “Possibly,” he replies.
“Get up and stop carrying on. If you want him back, go and fucking get him.” Joshua stands and holds Adrian’s gaze for a moment and then leaves the room. I smile at Adrian.
“Jeez, he has so much empathy,” I smirk.
Adrian shakes his head. “That was Joshua being empathetic. Cameron is the soft one.” I smile. My man is probably the worse communicator in the human world with me. It never once occurred to me that he is like it with everyone. And I didn’t ever imagine that Cameron would be a soft-hearted communicator. I really am learning something every day about these complicated men that have come into my life.
I lie in a post-orgasmic state in Joshua’s arms with my head on his chest. A deep level of contentment fills me that I have very quickly become accustomed to. Our love-making this morning was tender and gentle. The deep connection we have now is incredible. I woke to find that he already had my body half there. He is the master of arousal and the fact that he doesn’t bother to wait until I wake just amps me up even more. Gently he runs his lips back and forth over my forehead as he thinks. Our hands are linked on his chest.
“We go home in two days.” I smile as I kiss his chest.
“Hmm,” he answers vaguely.
I look up at him. “Can we stay a while longer? I love it here,” I ask. “In fact I think I want to live here permanently.”
“I wish. No,” he replies. “Would be nice though.”
“Mmm,” I reply sadly.
“Adrian needs to get back to work. I’m worried about him,” he murmurs.
I smile as I pick up his hand and kiss the back of it. “That was some pep talk you gave him yesterday.”
“What do you mean?” he frowns.
“Get your ass out of bed-you sounded like his drill sergeant. It sure didn’t sound like you were worried about him.” I smile sympathetically for poor Adrian.
He rolls his eyes. “What would you want me to say? Oh, you poor thing, your life is over. Go and listen to a self-help tape.”
I giggle. “Self-help tape,” I repeat. “Have you ever listened to self-help tapes Joshua?”
He narrows his eyes and rolls over me as he holds my hands above my head. “The only self-help tape I listen to is how to fuck my girl into next week without ripping her apart,” he whispers.
I laugh out loud as I roll to try to escape his grip. “I have never heard of that audio adaptation. What’s it called?”
He bends and bites my neck hard as he holds me down and I laugh out loud as I try to escape. “Pound Town 101.” He growls into my neck as he bites me hard again.
I laugh out loud as I squeal and struggle.
He nods as he smiles wickedly. “Second disk is called¸ ‘Bend her over without breaking her’.”
I squeal with laughter again as I continue to fight him.
“Shut up and fuck me, Marx,” he whispers darkly. “You are about to cop it.”
It’s our last day in Kamala. Our plane is flying us away from this heaven on earth tomorrow at 2 pm and into my new life. I’m nervous. Nervous about the life I am going to live. I feel confident that everything is going to work out between us and I trust him completely. I smile. I trust him completely. I know in my heart of hearts that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise our future together now. It was the best thing of all him finding my diaries. He knows now how deeply he is loved. The girls walk in to the kitchen where I am making the toast. The boys are in the gym.
“So I have made a decision,” Bridget whispers nervously as she looks around.
I frown. “About what?”
She looks around nervously again.
Abbie rolls her eyes. “No one can hear you in here, you idiot,” Abbie snaps.