The demon inside, p.4
The Demon Inside, page 4
When they had children, would they have boys of girls, she wondered. Obviously children weren’t on the cards straight away, but she’d like to make a family with him in the future, once they’d both accomplished their goals – he would be the successful owner of his own business and she would be an architect, creating new and exciting buildings around the world. Would their look like him or her? Perhaps they would have his brown hair and her blue eyes.
Alec would be a good dad, she thought with absolute certainty, he would be the type of father who got home from a long day at work, aching and exhausted, but still found time to help his children with their homework, toss a ball around the garden and tuck them into bed. Smiling to herself, she lifted her eyes to his face, only to find him looking down at her, expression intangible, but as their gazes met his eyes lightened, a slow smile spreading across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
Later that evening, when Alec had gone home, having thanked Cora for a lovely dinner and for making him feel so welcome, Darcy lolled on her bed. He’d forgotten his jacket and she drew it toward her, breathing his scent into her lungs. She’d have to ask him what aftershave he used. A knock on the door jarred her out of her dreamy, romantic thoughts and she quickly slung the jacket over the bedpost, before calling for them to “Come in”. Poking her head around the door, her mum flashed a bright smile as she stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.
Once her mum was sat opposite her on the bed, Darcy clasped her hands in her lap and asked patiently, “So what do you think?”
Smiling at her daughters eager expression, Cora answered truthfully, “He seems like a very nice young man; he’s polite and respectful and he wasn’t intimidated by your dad glaring at him across the table when he touched your leg.” She gave her a level look, “I assume it was your leg he was touching?”
Eyes widening, Darcy’s mouth gaped open, but her mum merely waved away her unspoken question saying dismissively, “We’re your parents, we know everything. In short, I like him, but more importantly he seems to care a lot about you.”
“What about Dad, does he like Alec?” She asked anxiously; she didn’t need her parents approval, the same as she didn’t need Callie’s, but she still wanted them to like him, because she thought that some small part of her would never forgive them if they didn’t see in him the light that she saw.
“In your dad’s opinion the jury’s still out on Alec,” Cora reached forward to tuck a strand of hair behind her daughters ear, “but you know he’s never going to like any man who dates his baby girl, at least not after the first meeting; to him you’re still the little girl who used to cling to his leg and beg him not to go to work every morning, in his mind no one is ever going to be good enough.”
“Alec is,” she murmured, leaning into her mums touch, her eyes beseeching.
“Well then, your Dad will come to see that too, in time.”
“I want him to see it now,” Darcy muttered sullenly, watching her fingers twine together in her lap, before glancing up into her mums understanding blue eyes, identical in colour to her two daughters, “I love him.” Predicting her next words, she continued quickly, “I’m not talking about puppy love, or infatuation, or lust. I love him, Mum.”
“You’re still very young, darling,” Cora picked her words carefully, “you’ve both got your whole lives ahead of you.” Darcy opened her mouth to protest because her mum didn’t understand, not really, but Cora held up a hand to silence her. “I just want to say one thing. Don’t rush into anything; if he loves you he’ll wait, so don’t let this hold you back from all the other things you want to accomplish in life.” She hesitated, “And just be careful, alright? Accidents happen and it’s not just pregnancy that you have to worry about nowadays, there are...”
“Mum, Mum,” Darcy interrupted, raising both hands, palms up, to halt the rapidly spiralling speech, “I know all that.”
“Okay,” her mum held up her own hands in surrender, sliding off the bed and walking over to the door, before turning back, “I’m just asking you to think before you act.”
Staring at the door as it swung shut a moment later, Darcy’s lips tugged down into a fierce scowl; it hurt that her mum thought she hadn’t considered all that herself, as if she were really that irresponsible.
***
With a desperate moan, Alec’s hands slid beneath her hair to grip the back of her neck, drawing her impossibly closer and angling her head so that his mouth could slant more easily over hers. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, teasing, taunting, demanding entrance which she was more than willing to give. As he kissed her one large hand pushed beneath her shirt to span her ribcage, calloused thumb slipping beneath her bra to rub the tender underside of her breast, making her squirm and tighten her arms around his neck.
Panting, she attempted to get closer, desire coiling low in her belly, like a spring about to be released, but the gearstick got in the way, reminding her that they were making out in the front of his van in a car park overlooking the South Downs. Pulling back to let them both drag in a breath, Alec gripped her waist and lifted her over the obstacle into his lap. Straddling his thighs, she rubbed against him. A moan trembled on her lips and her fingers grabbed at his shirt, attempting to pull it up and over his head to reveal the tattoo she had only recently discovered, a dragon which coiled over his bicep and rippled with every move he made. When she couldn’t Darcy broke the connections, but only for the brief moment it took her to strip off her own shirt. Meshing their mouths back together, their teeth clashing, she made a needy sound in the back of her throat, digging her scarlet nails into his shoulders.
“Alec,” she beseeched, spine arching under the heavy pressure of his hand stroking down her back, the fingers of his other hand tracing the lace straps clinging to her shoulders and playing over the fastening of her bra, which suddenly felt far too tight, but he didn’t release it.
“Not here,” he murmured, running his lips down her throat to press a kiss into the hollow, nipping along the way, tiny little bites that awakened senses she hadn’t known she possessed and made her entire body clench.
“Alec,” she protested, her voice whiny even to her own ears, showering his face in desperate kisses, his name the only argument her desire clouded brain could come up with. His responding chuckle was strained, but the large hands that settled on her hips were firm as he returned her to the passenger seat. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Darcy wrapped her arms around herself, chilled from to the loss of his scorching body heat.
“D-don’t you want to?” She asked hesitantly, brows drawing together as her nails dug trenches in her own skin.
“No,” his reply made her flinch, but he rushed to amend himself, twisting awkwardly in the seat and reaching over to take her hands in his. “That’s not what I meant. I’d love to have sex with you, but not here.” He glanced out of the window at the deserted dirt car park and the rolling hills lain out before them like a patchwork quilt, tiny houses nestled in the creases.
“I’m not a virgin.” She’d had one serious boyfriend before him.
“Still,” he shrugged, “you deserve more than a quickie in the front seat of my van where anyone could see.”
“There’s no one else here…”
“Darcy, please,” he interrupted, squeezing her fingers, “I want to take my time with you. I want to seduce you. I want it to be perfect... I want a damn bed.”
Pressing her lips together, she muttered, “Fine.”
“Darcy...”
“It’s fine, honestly,” she forced a smile, lifting his hand to kiss the scarred knuckles, “I understand.” But understanding didn’t mean it wasn’t a kick to her pride and, as if sensing the wounded distance between them, Alec clambered over the gearstick to close the physical gap between them.
Sitting on the bench seat beside her, he tucked her into his chest, wrapping his arms securely around her. Eventually she melted into his embrace, her own arms creeping around his waist to cuddle closer, as she lifting her head to press a kiss to his cheek. Slowly, he turned his head and their lips met, heat searing through them as, in front of them, the setting sun made the world look as if it were engulfed in flames.
Chapter Three
The rest of the summer passed in a haze and by mid-August she and Alec were still very much in love.
“You’re coming to get my grades with me tomorrow, right?” Darcy asked anxiously the night before as they lay sprawled on her bed.
“Yeah, I’ll take an early lunch and meet you at the college at ten sharp,” he reassured her, stroking a hand up her arm. He still had the power to make her tremble with a mere touch. It was a power she was sure he would never loose; even when they were old she knew he would still be able to make her adore him with a single touch. Laying her head back down on his chest, she slid her hand beneath his shirt and up over his stomach to settle over his heart. Much to her regret, she and Callie were still not on the best of terms, but they had decided to honour their pact to go get their exam results together and so Callie was driving them to the college, where Alec would meet her.
“Are you nervous?” He asked, staring up at the ceiling as he drew patterns on her shoulder.
“A little,” she admitted, after all, her future hinged on making the grades to get into her chosen university, which would lead to her chosen career and her chosen life.
“Nothing you can do about it now,” he said reasonably.
Levering herself up on one elbow, Darcy scowled down at him, “I don’t want logic, I want reassurance. Tell me it’ll be alright… Lie to me.” Laughing, Alec hooked his arm around her neck, drawing her back down, caught in the crook of his elbow, so that she could taste his amusement.
“It’ll be fine,” he gave her another kiss, “I know you’ll do amazingly and get all the grades you need to get into Uni... and that’s not me lying to you.”
“Thank you,” she huffed, but his burst of infectious laughter at her ire tempted a smile to her lips. Alec had a way of making everything seem alright, with him everything was safe.
The next morning Darcy woke before the sun after a fitful night’s sleep. Unable to get back to sleep despite the ungodly hour, she slid out of bed and got dressed before padding quietly downstairs. Opening the kitchen door, Lucy greeted her with pricked ears and her usual ecstatic excitement, tail wagging so hard that her entire backend wiggled.
Crouching down to greet the sleek silver body that circled around her and butted up against her legs, she ruffled the greyhound’s silken ears and asked, “Fancy going for a walk?” A wet lick to the inside of her wrist was her answer. “Of course you do,” she grinned, grabbing the lead which hung on a hook by the backdoor and jamming her feet into an old pair of trainers. Leaving through the back, she circled around to the street and began to walk briskly towards some unknown destination, with Lucy prancing at her side.
Due to the fact that she had a habit of chasing things, Lucy wasn’t allowed off the lead anywhere except their garden, which was secured by high panel fences; when they had first brought the excitable greyhound home with them she and Hope had taken their new pet over to the nearby football pitch, where she had taken off after cat. After searching far and wide, they’d returned home to find Lucy sitting on the doorstep, tail wagging proudly, muzzle stained red as she presented them with her kill. They never did find out who the poor cat belonged to, not for lack of trying though.
Darcy walked until the sun began to rise, creeping tentatively through the cracks between the houses, and the world began to stir; curtains twitched and lights lit the windows. A sudden desolate sense of her own insignificance brought her up short; would it really matter to anyone but her if her dreams fell flat? Everyday people failed, picked themselves up and started over again, living from day to day, just trying to pay the bills. At the end of the day her life would be an ordinary one, the same as most other peoples, and when she was dead and gone her name would be lost like so many others. Oddly, that sense of future obscurity settled her nerves and lifted the heavy weight pressing her down into the concrete pavement.
That feeling followed her through the morning until Callie came knocking, when anxiety rushed back over her like a crashing wave, knocking her feet out from under her and towing her out to sea.
“Hey,” Callie’s smile was strained as she gave a small, uncomfortable wave, “you ready?”
“Yep.” Grabbing her bag she gave Lucy a quick pat and locked up, since both her parents were at work and Hope had returned to school the previous week. “Thanks again for giving me a lift.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Callie waved a hand dismissively as they crossed the lawn that separated their houses, heading for her car, “we got our GCSE results together and our A.S one’s, so it’s tradition.”
“I guess so,” Darcy grinned, the tension between them easing at the mention of their past friendship, as they got into the car and the engine roared to life.
“I’ve got a joke for you,” Callie said as they swung out onto the main road, narrowly missing a collision with a large delivery van, “Why did the Mexican man push his wife off a cliff?” Pausing, she looked expectantly over at her, causing the car to swerve before she righted it.
“I don’t know,” Darcy answered, aware that Callie knew how nervous she got and was attempting to distract her, “why did he push her off a cliff?”
“Tequila!” She exclaimed in an awful Mexican accent, “Get it? Tequila. To kill her.”
“I get it,” Darcy assured her with a laugh.
“Want another one?”
“Only if it’s better than the last.”
“Why did the orange stop rolling down the hill?” Once again she paused before delivering the punch line, “Because it ran out of juice.”
“That was dreadful.” But it made her laugh, nonetheless.
“Let’s see what you’ve got then.”
“Okay,” she clicked her tongue in thought, before smiling as she remembered a joke Alec had sent her a few days ago.
They continued to trade jokes and make small talk for the rest of the short drive to the college; it dulled her nerves, but it also emphasised the forced distance between them over the past weeks and the loss of her best friend was a gaping wound in her soul, which began to bleed, scarlet seeping through her shirt, as they raced up the ramp into the car park, the tyres kicking up gravel.
“Cal, wait a second,” Darcy said as her friend parked and unclipped her belt to get out, “I won’t apologize for what I said before, because I don’t think I was wrong and you were out of line, but I miss my best friend, Cal.”
For a moment Callie’s lower lip quivered, but then she tossed her sheet of red hair and smirked, “I’ve missed you too, who else is going to tell me when I’m being a stuck-up bitch?” Snorting, Darcy rolled her eyes, as she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug. Drawing back, Callie’s brown eyes were bright, “I can’t believe we almost let some guy come between us.”
Stiffening, she said firmly, “Alec isn’t just ‘some guy’, Cal, he means a lot to me and if you’d just give him half a chance you might even come to like him.”
Pursing her lips in a way that had Darcy anticipating another quarrel, Callie stared at her for a moment, but then she shook her head slowly, muttering, “Fine, fine.” Blowing out a breath, she continued, “If you like him enough to risk our friendship then I guess I can put up with him, but don’t expect any sympathy if he breaks your heart, though I would be more than happy to take a tyre iron to his kneecaps for you... before I castrate him and...”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture Mama Bear!” She raised her hands, unable to quell the exasperated laughter that bubbled forth. As if on cue, Alec’s van pulled into the parking lot. Catching sight of them as they got out of the car, he raised a hand in greeting, before reversing expertly into a space and hopping out.
Beside her, Callie said beneath her breath, “Show off.”
“Be nice,” Darcy hissed back, as he walked towards them; he cast her a smile, but his expression lost some of its warmth when his eyes flickered to Callie standing at her side.
“Scouts honour,” Callie smirked sarcastically.
“You were never a scout,” she muttered back, stepping forward to give her boyfriend a kiss, wrapping her arms around him comfortingly, half apologizing for inflicting Callie on him.
After waiting in line for what felt like forever, when Darcy finally received her envelope a swarm of butterflies took flight in her stomach. Stepping back, she ran her thumb over the glued flap, pulling up the corners as she leant back against Alec’s chest, his shirt dusty from whatever he’d been doing at work.
Waiting for Callie to collect hers, she glanced around at the people gathered in the college common room, clusters of teenagers either chatting happily or commiserating; one girl over by the vending machine was in tears as her friend attempted to console her, rubbing her back and saying awkwardly, “It’s alright, you can retake, it’s not the end of the world.” A sinking feeling began in her stomach as she prayed desperately, please, God, don’t let that be me.
“Okay,” Callie appeared in front of her, fidgeting with anticipation. “Together?”
Biting her lip, Darcy nodded, “Together.” Ripping paper sounded over the low humming in her ears. She slit the soft pad of her thumb, but the sharp sting barely registered as she impatiently yanked the sheet of paper from the envelope with trembling hands. Callie’s loud whoop of joy made her jump, her gaze jerking up to see her friend punch the air in delight, drawing the eyes of several of the groups surrounding them, as well as the woman behind the desk, whose lips tilted up into a smile.
