Chapter 49

“This has been an amazing day.” Christian said as they walked back towards home, hand in hand.

“It has,” she said quietly.

He was completely right, the day had been a real turning point for them. They had sat in the park for hours and talked about every topic under the sun, Christian talked for hours, every barrier he had built up around him had come crashing down and suddenly he was able to tell her absolutely anything. He was so different to the quiet, thoughtful Christian that people usually got to know, she had been honoured enough to meet the real man.

“I’m so glad I found you,” he continued as they reached the door to the flat, “I really think this could go somewhere.”

“I hope so”, she confessed.

He fumbled around with the key and then pushed the door open, groping around on the wall for the light switch.

“You’ve made me believe again,” he smiled.

“Believe in what?”

“In human beings, I never thought I could trust anyone ever again.”

“What makes you think you can trust me?” she asked.

“You’re different,” he said smiling, “you’re so sweet.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, wishing he’d stop showering her with praises that she was unworthy of.

“I can really open up to you,” he continued, “I feel comfortable with you, I know you aren’t going to hurt me, cheat on me, lie to me.”

Mel looked up at him and felt miserable. If only he knew the truth, knew what she was doing to him.

“And that’s why I think this could work.”

Mel walked over to him and standing up on tiptoes planted a kiss on his lips. It was the only way that she could get him to stop talking. He pulled away from her with a slightly shocked expression, he obviously wasn’t used to being interrupted full flow.

“Sorry,” she said.

He smiled at her, looking at her thoughtfully before planting another slight peck on her lips.

It felt amazing to finally have the man of her dreams kissing her. If only he’d do it for a bit longer, so she could really taste him, really feel him on her properly.

She reached out for him again, this time pressing her lips more firmly onto his and moving them around gently, trying to encourage him to take that little step further.

He pulled away.

“What?” she asked.

“Can we take it slow?”

“If we go any slower we won’t be moving,” Mel retorted.

“I know, it’s just that I don’t want things to go wrong this time, I want this to work and for us to get to know each other properly.”

Mel smiled at him but inside she felt like screaming. She didn’t need to get to know him, she already knew him, she’d been in love with him for years, all she wanted was for them to be together properly, but that was never going to happen with him constantly pulling away from her.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling her into a tight hug.

“It’s OK.”

“I just can’t believe that this is all happening, it seems so fast.”

“Yeah fast,” Mel said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, this wasn’t fast at all – she had been waiting for this moment her whole life.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you for ages how much I liked you,” he said gently.

That seemed such an odd thing to say, only a few days ago he had been depressed over Ella.

“What about Ella?” she asked, voicing her thoughts.

“I was blinded by her, didn’t realise what was right in front of my nose.”

She melted inside, he was the sweetest person alive, so passionate and full of warmth. When he felt something he really felt it and it was amazing to be part of that. It seemed so strange that someone could feel so much so quickly, but it did all feel so real, he had finally realised they were soul mates, and that’s all that mattered to her.

He gave her one last quick kiss before leaving her standing in the lounge to go up to his bed.

For a full minute she didn’t move at all, but then she skipped up the stairs and into her own room. Falling down on the bed she let out a squeal so loud she had to bury her head in the pillow to prevent the sound echoing around the flat. She couldn’t believe the day she had had, Christian had finally realised how things were meant to be, sure it had taken him ages, but now they were on track things could only get better and better.

It took her a long while to fall asleep that night, and when she did pink fluffy dreams filled her head.

She awoke the next morning and for a change darted straight out of bed, she wanted to see him again, check it wasn’t all some kind of weird dream.

He was sat at the kitchen table, his head bent down over something. She crept up behind him and draping her arms around his neck planted a kiss on his head.

“Morning hunny”

He didn’t respond.

“Chris?”

“Sorry,” he whispered.

“What’s up?” she asked, fearful that it had all been some dream and they weren’t together at all.

“The paper,” he replied.

She sat down in the chair next to him, and taking the paper out of his view swivelled it round to face her. The headline in the morning’s Sun screamed out to her immediately.

“Love Rat Christian ruined our relationship for a night of passion with a groupie”

Underneath the headline was a picture of Ella, lying in just her underwear, draped along a white woolly rug.

“Have you read it?” she whispered.

He looked up at her for the first time and she could see the tears that had escaped his eyes, he had read it, and that meant that she had to as well.

Taking a deep breath she began to read the article, as exclusively told by Ella Buckfield.

5 minutes later and she knew every sordid detail of their sex life, how Christian was as small as a cocktail sausage, how he was selfish in bed and how he had cheated on his ex fiancée while she was sleeping in the same room.

“It’s all lies,” he whispered as she finished the article and folded the paper up.

“I know it is,” she soothed, “its all tomorrow’s chip paper, you know that.”

He nodded, “I’m not bothered about the poxy paper”

“People that care about you wont believe it anyway, I don’t believe it.”

“How could she do this to me?” he asked, a fresh batch of tears threatening to fall.

“She’s a cow”

“I never ever thought she’d stoop this low, I must have really hurt her.”

“That is no excuse,” Mel screamed, “she’s a bitch, and she’s taken it too far.”

“I never thought she’d do a seedy kiss and tell on me like that,” he continued, “all those years we spent together obviously meant nothing to her.”

“You have to forget about it and carry on Chris,” Mel soothed, moving her chair closer to him and giving him a hug.

“I know, it’s just hard, she sold out on me.”

Overcome with love for the man she held in her arms Mel lifted his face up to meet her own and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. He smiled weakly at her and she brushed the tears away from his face. Leaning down towards him again she let her lips fall back onto his, this time pressing them harder against his and moving them gently all around his mouth. Too weak to argue with her and needing to feel the comfort, he responded, kissing her back eagerly.

Taking it as an open invitation Mel slowly stood off her chair and sat herself down on his lap.

“She doesn’t matter,” she whispered in-between gently kissing his ear, “the here and now is all that matters.”

“I know,” he replied.

When she looked back down at him he looked different, the tears had all gone and he was looking directly at her without blinking.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked him

“You,” he replied, and taking her body he swung her round so her leg was dangling either side of his lap and she was directly facing him.

“Me?”

“I need you to help me feel better,” he continued.

“Of course I will,” she smiled, “I’ll always be here for you.”

He glanced up and down her body, his eyes overcome with a hunger she had never seen before. Putting his hands on her behind he pulled her in tighter and began to kiss her passionately, his fingers running over her backside gently.

She was beginning to feel amazing – what girl wouldn’t? At that precise moment she was going to go along with everything he said, just because she wanted to feel close to him so badly.

As they continued to kiss, she ran her lips over his just as fast and frantically as he was with her and when he opened his mouth and slid his tongue into her mouth she welcomed it and met it gently with hers.

Finally, it was all happening properly.

He lifted her up and placed her down on the table, quickly climbing on top of her and scrabbling to get his trousers off. She felt down and helped him eagerly, wanting to feel him so much.

Running his hands up her bare legs he pushed her skirt right up until it was sitting around her waist and then moving himself slightly up her body pushed himself firmly inside of her. Pushing fast and roughly against her, he pressed her down hard against the table. He was moving so fast she was having to take deep gasps of air just to make sure she was still alive and breathing. After a few minutes he heaved himself up on his hands so he was hovering just above her, then pumping into her quickly a couple more times he let out a loud groan and quickly pulled out of her.

It had felt amazing ... yet something wasn’t quite right.

He was now sitting on the table, pulling up his trousers and looking just as miserable as he had done before.

“What’s up?” she asked, climbing off the table and crouching down in front of him.

“I can’t believe I just did that, I’m so sorry”

“You have no need to say sorry,” she laughed, “Is nothing wrong with having sex with your sort of girlfriend.”

“But you’re pregnant,” he said, “and I just …” he shuddered at the thought.

“I’m not that far gone,” she assured him, “it’s fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine.”

“But it was all wrong,” he said, “I was really upset.”

“Yes?”

“And I did what I always do”

“What’s that?” she asked him, completely confused.

“Used sex as a way to handle things.”

“It doesn’t matter Christian,” she urged taking hold of his hand and stroking it.

“It does, I went into autopilot, I just wanted to forget about things, make things seem better and I shouldn’t use you like that.”

“It really doesn’t matter,” she repeated, bringing him in closer to her so his head was pressed against her.

Sure, it wasn’t the ideal situation, he used sex as some kind of emotional tool whereas she wanted nothing more than for him to lay her down and make love to her like he was infatuated with her, hear him tell her he loved her, all the things that fairytales were made of. But this was real life, and if this was the way things were so be it.

“It’ll change,” she urged to him.

He shook his head, “I’m beyond help Mel,”