Page 20 of Fall

“I was scared he would hurt me again, that he would hurt the baby. Daniel is not right,” I shake my head, wiping a few tears away.

In some ways, it feels good to get some of the secrets off my chest and have her understand why I won’t let Daniel near my baby. I know I will have to tell my baby about their father. Eventually. It’s not something I want to hide from him or her.

“Does anyone else know about the baby?” she asks, thankfully changing the subject a little.

“Harley guessed,” I say.

“Is he still okay with you living there? I’m sure he would be, but if he isn’t, then we will figure something out,” she says, and I squeeze her hand.

“He is okay with it. He actually moved Jake’s old cot into my room and has been making me breakfast, making sure I eat in the day. He has been looking after me,” I say, thinking of him.

My mind wanders back to seeing him in the garden. He was walking in the pouring rain, rainwater dripping all over his body and making his top stick to him, showing off his muscular chest. His hair was down, shaping his stern, handsome face and his bright-green eyes seemed to speak to me. They seemed to call me to him, begging me to run out into the rain and press my lips to his once again. Then he ignored me. So, clearly, he wasn’t thinking the same thing as my hormonal brain was thinking.

“Harley is a lot of things, but one of his best qualities is how protective he is. My brothers look after their own, and they know how you helped me when I lost Mum. How you’re like a sister to me, and I’m damn well going to be there for you now,” she tells me, wiping her own tears away. I look her over, remembering being there when she watched her mum die and begging my parents not to move away. My parents had no choice, and I never told Izzy of the problems my family had, but I know my mum never wanted to leave her.

“I love you, Iz, you know that? I’m always going to be here for you, too,” I tell her, and she laughs, wiping more tears away before pulling me into a hug.

“Good, because there’s no way you’re getting rid of me,” she whispers.

“Izzy!” I hear a voice shout, and we pull away from the hug to see a blond woman walking over. She has golden-blond hair with brown tips, and she is gorgeous as she bounces over. She’s wearing a leather jacket, a white top, and black skinny jeans.

“Allie,” Izzy says, standing up and pulling Allie into a hug when she gets near.

“This is Tilly, and, Tilly, this is Allie,” Izzy introduces us as I stand up, and I hold a hand out to Allie, who knocks it away and pulls me into a hug.

“None of that. I feel like we are friends anyway with how much Izzy has told me about you,” she tells me as she lets go.

“Nice to meet you, Allie. I’ve heard lovely things about you from Izzy,” I tell her, and she grins.

“I’ve heard from Luke that you and Harley have been sharing sexy looks for weeks. So . . . you fancy the oldest King brother?” Allie asks, making me a little speechless.

“Err . . .” I say.

“It’s okay. The King brothers are the hottest men for miles. And you’re living with one. I’m dating one, so I get it,” she tells me with a cheeky look that makes me laugh.

“These are my brothers . . .” Izzy groans, and I laugh a little with Allie.

“Damn, I wanted to tell you all about this thing Elliot did last night, and I swear I–” Allie starts saying.

“Lalalala . . .” Izzy interrupts, and Allie winks at me.

“I’ll text you it later, Tills,” she says, and I laugh.

When Izzy told me about Allie, she did say she is really honest. Clearly about everything, but something tells me I’m going to like her.

“I wish I could stay and catch up, but I’m in a rush to get to Tristan’s. He annoyed the nurse the other day and she won’t come back, so until he gets both the casts off next week, I’m looking after him,” Allie tells us both.

“What did he say to the nurse? Tria was lovely, and I thought they were really getting along. I mean, Luke told me Tristian had actually been getting out of bed and trying,” Izzy comments.

“Urgh, I don’t know. Tris is a mess at the moment after everything that happened, and I doubt he meant whatever he said to Tria,” she says, and Izzy nods, a silence spreading between us all.

What happened?I wonder.

“He will be all right, but I will speak to my brothers and Blake and see if they can go over to cheer him up a little,” Izzy offers.

“Elliot’s been trying, but yeah, that may help,” she says, and Izzy nods, hugging her once more.

“I will see you on the weekend, okay?” Allie asks.

---