Amnesia - The Matlock Pack: Book One

Saturday 12 December

~*Nat’s POV*~

“You look gorgeous.”

“Bells, I literally have the most basic shirt and jeans combo on that I could find in my wardrobe.”

“You still look beautiful.”

“Then you’re as blind as a bat. Do you need me to test your echolocation skills?”

A deep, joyous laugh erupted as Bells stood at the front door to my apartment. He gazed at me in wonder, while I shook my head in amused disbelief. I hadn’t been lying; I truly had a very basic ensemble on, as I’d worn my ‘good clothes’ to Cody’s party last night and hadn’t had a chance to do any laundry yet. Add the fact that I wasn’t wearing any make-up, and I doubted the veracity of Bells’ claims.

“You ready to go now?” he asked, still looking me up and down in amazement. “I booked dinner for 6.30, but I can call to get them to shift the time back.”

“Nah, let’s go. I’m famished.” I grabbed my jacket from the hook on the back of the front door, calling back into the apartment as I did so. “Cody? I’ll be back later, yeah?”

“For fuck’s sake, Nat. There’s no need to yell. I’m right here.” Cody groaned from the couch that she had commandeered a few hours earlier. As expected, she had emerged from her bedroom severely hungover and any noise I or any of the neighbours made resulted in dirty frowns, liberal cursing and fingers massaging her temples. I thought I had a nasty hangover this morning; it was nothing compared to what Cody was currently going through.

She was so pitiful that I decided to put off asking her about Murph until tomorrow. Or until she was feeling less like a pissed off velociraptor on a sugar high.

“Okay,” I said as I turned back to Bells. “Looks like we’re good to go.” He stepped back from the doorway to let me pass, placing his hand on my lower back as I shut the door behind me.

As Bells led me downstairs to his car, I tried to check him out as covertly as I could. Tonight was the first time I’d seen him without his denim jacket; he’d swapped it out for a black leather jacket instead. Paired with what looked like a new pair of black jeans, a burgundy shirt, and a pair of black boots, he looked delicious. Admittedly, he always looked good enough to eat, but I could tell that he’d really put an effort into what he wore tonight.

“Where are we headed?”

He turned to me as he clicked the car doors to open. “Oh, just a little place near the cinemas. Nothing fancy. We can eat there and then head over the road for the movie.”

“Sounds good.” As I got into his car, I smiled. “I really am quite hungry. I think the drinks I had last night knocked me around more than I expected them to.”

Bells smirked. “It’s the drinks you’re blaming your hunger on?” He clicked his seatbelt in and turned to me, one hand on the steering wheel, the other on my seat’s headrest. “Nothing at all to do with what we got up to last night?”

I stilled in my seat and felt the colour drain from my face. I watched him carefully. “And what, pray tell, did we get up to last night, Bells?” I needed to play this cool. I hoped he remembered what we did, as well as who was around us, but he could be fishing to see how much I recalled. There was no way I was going to be the first one to bring it up.

“Oh, I don’t know.” He tilted his head and peered inquisitively at me, his hand drifting forward to play with a strand of my hair. “I can vividly recall you sitting on my lap and whispering in my ear until I came.”

I gulped. “You remember?” My eyes widened at his admission. Although I had hoped he would remember, it wasn’t until he said it out loud that I realised I was still under the impression that it could have all been a dream.

He smiled. “You don’t?” He twirled my hair around his fingers, softly brushing his fingertips against my temple every few seconds.

“I do. Just wasn’t sure if you would.” I lowered my gaze in guilt. “We were both pretty drunk last night.”

“We were, but I remember it all.” His voice was soft as he spoke. It was obvious he was lost in his memories, and that he was rather fond of them.

“You don’t regret it?”

“Why would I?”

“Oh, I don’t know. We weren’t alone, for starters.”

He dropped his hand from my hair and sighed. “Yeah, I could have done without the audience, I have to admit.” His eyes became intent as he caught and held my gaze. “But I wouldn’t change a single second. Not for anything.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realise I had been holding. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” He cupped my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “There’s… something… I can’t explain going on between us, Nat. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

I took a deep breath in anticipation of the question that had been playing on my mind for days. “You’re not doing this to get back at Kadin, are you?” I asked quietly. I let my eyes probe his to detect any hint of a lie he might be concocting.

He frowned and brought his thumb to a stop on my cheek, but didn’t let his hand drop. “No.” His eyes were crystal clear and held mine entirely, not shifting a millimetre from his focus. “She’s in my past. You’re my present, and if the Goddess above thinks I’m worthy, my future as well.”

I let my eyelids drop as I sighed in relief. He was telling the truth.

I heard a shuffle and opened my eyes to see Bells bringing his free hand to my other cheek. I kept my eyes on his, while I felt his warm hands envelop my face softly. He kept eye contact with me as he shuffled as close to me as his seatbelt allowed.

He leaned forward and let his lips drift tenderly over mine. My eyes widened at the sensation. It was like the softest of feathers, a question asked to see how I would respond.

My hands lifted of their own accord to caress his cheeks, bringing my lips to his to press them together with the slightest of pressure. Bells let out a soft moan and closed his eyes, his hands holding onto my face, letting me lead the kiss.

My own eyes closed as I let myself absorb the intimacy between us, the physical connection that sparked. An odd pulsing sensation ran through me, starting where our lips met, flowing through my body, but felt the strongest wherever I touched Bells. It was like the tingles my skin felt when I was taking a shower — a warm, repetitive pulsing that rippled over my skin, burrowing into my muscles, leaving me feel soothed and at peace.

Like I had found home.

I sighed as the kiss deepened, Bells applying ever so slightly more pressure on my lips, but carefully not going any further. He pulled his lips away from mine and let his forehead tilt forward to meet mine.

“You can’t imagine how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” he whispered.

I chuckled. “I could hazard a guess that it’s been about as long as I’ve been waiting.” Running my fingers through his hair, I tugged slightly. He let out a groan in response.

“Sweet Goddess… You have no idea how good that feels.” He shifted his forehead across to let his cheek rest against mine. “What I wouldn’t give to keep doing this, but we have dinner…”

I opened my eyes and pulled back from him slightly. “And you have to get us there.” My hand drifted down his cheek, fingertips barely touching his skin, bringing my fingers across to meet his lips.

He smiled at the feeling, then opened his eyes. He kissed my fingers before pulling away from me entirely and settling himself back in his seat. “Yeah…” He took a deep breath, turned the key in the ignition and sat there not moving for a few seconds, almost like he was trying to settle his nerves. He let out his breath and nodded once.

“Let’s go eat.”

~~~

“Night, Bells.” I swiped my wristband to unlock my front door, as he held onto my hand, not willing to let the night end.

“Night, Nat.” Bells brought my hand to his lips, where he pressed my palm to his cheek, before kissing the palm. “I hope you enjoyed tonight as much as I did.”

I smiled at him. “You know I did.” The soft throbbing sensation hadn’t let up all night and was currently focused entirely on my palm. All throughout the evening, wherever Bells touched me, my skin would pulse pleasantly, the feeling spreading until it infused my entire body with a warm glow from within.

And he’d kept hold of me almost all night, holding my hand whenever he could. It was like he couldn’t get enough of feeling his skin on mine.

A huge, beaming smile spread over his features. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

I grinned in response. “I don’t know. Do you want to?”

He laughed. “You know it.”

“Then you know where I live.” I winked at him before finally letting myself in the door. Shutting it, I leaned my back against it and sighed happily. His laughter faded as he walked down the corridor to his own apartment that he shared with Tatum.

I kicked off my shoes and made my way to my bedroom. The apartment was dark, but I could hear Cody moving around in her own room. I left the door open and collapsed onto my bed with a very contented sigh, spreading my arms out over the comforter, and letting my legs dangle over the side.

“Did you have fun tonight?”

I raised my head to find Cody leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed.

Letting my head drop on the mattress again, I laughed. “I did, Cody. I really did.”

I heard her wander into my room. “I’m glad.” She flopped down next to me.

“How are you feeling?” I turned my head to face hers, moving my hands over to rest on my stomach.

“Better. I still feel like shit, but a less obnoxious version of it.” She was staring at the ceiling, her hands behind her head.

“I’m glad.” I turned my head back to stare at the ceiling.

Cody snickered. “So, you and Bells, huh?”

I laughed. “So, you and Murph, huh?”

Cody burst out laughing. “You saw him?”

“He was doing the walk of shame this morning just after I got up. Scared the hell out of him.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be up that early.”

“Cody, you’ve trained me to get up at the arse crack of dawn every day this week. If there’s sunlight streaming through the window, I’m up.”

She laughed some more. “Fair enough.”

A pleasant silence fell between us as we both stared into the space above us, watching the lights of passing cars reflect off the ceiling and pass through the room. It was closing in on midnight, and although we were both tired, neither of us felt like calling it a night just yet.

“I’m glad you’re here, Nat.” Cody’s voice was soft, barely audible in the quiet room.

I rolled onto my side to face her, bringing my hands up to rest my head on them. Cody hadn’t moved, still watching the shifting lights on the ceiling. I watched her in silence, waiting to see where she was going with her statement.

“Things are… better… when you’re around.” She turned her head to face me. “You don’t know what it’s been like here.”

Remaining quiet, I watched her eyes shimmer with unshed tears. She blinked hard a couple of times before shifting her focus back to the ceiling.

“To be fair, Cody,” I said, deciding to lighten the mood. “It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.” I made sure there was a humorous tone to my words. I didn’t want to get her any more upset than she already undoubtedly was. Figuring that she was still feeling the aftereffects of her hangover, I didn’t want to push her too much.

She rolled onto her side to face me, mirroring the positioning of my hands. She shuffled a little to make herself comfortable.

“Everyone has a choice, Nat. Even those that don’t think they do.”

My eyes focused completely on hers, seeing the sadness in them. She was seeing a reality I wasn’t familiar with, something I couldn’t understand.

At least, not yet.

I shifted my position, opening my arms for a hug I knew she needed. She rolled into them and let the tears flow.

I held her until she cried herself to sleep. And then I too drifted off, wondering what on earth I had landed myself into.