Warning: Lemons again, skip if you don't wanna know!!
Chapter 8: Trauma and Ecstasy
Gleefully, she skipped towards her bike, making sure her mobile phone was switched to very loud so that she could hear it over the noise of the engine. It was weird that the engine in her car was on the blink, it was normally in tip top shape due to the fact Kaiba had mechanics come and check the cars out every week. But she was thankful she still had her bike and was using it for the first time in months; she was excited and exhilarated at the same time. She was going to feel that familiar rush again and then she was heading straight for Kaiba's office to see him. Bryony should be ok with the nanny for an hour or so.
Getting onto the seat, she put on her helmet, fixing the visor and then grabbing the handle bars and kick starting the engine, smiling when it came to life. She kicked up the tilted lean before heading off into the direction of Domino City where she knew her husband would be buried into his work as usual. Well, no matter what he was doing, she intended t have a chat with him about their future together as a family with the two-month-old Bryony. Her excitement increased when the familiar skyscraper came into view as she entered the city that was buzzing as usual.
Stopping outside the front door of Kaiba Corp, she got off the bike and motioned for the valet to park it for her, which he did after his usual friendly smile when he realised it was her after she removed her helmet, shaking loose her long brown waves. Hugh, the security guy, smiled as she entered the building, nodding for her to go on past as she headed for the lift, her helmet still in her hands. She tapped her foot and hummed a song to settle her exhilarated nerves that were pounding with adrenaline.
Coming out of the lift, she walked up to Lorna's desk and smiled as usual. "Is he busy Lorna?"
The middle-aged secretary looked up sternly before smiling when she seen her face, finishing a telephone call in her hand, hanging up the headset. "Hi Ms Gregory. Um yes, he is. Someone went in about half an hour ago…which is unusual." That was unusual, Kaiba normally barked orders and they were obeyed, he never had to spend long periods of time in his office with businessmen. "The young man said he had an appointment and when I looked it up it checked out ok, but I swear I don't remember booking it. My mind must be slipping in my old age."
Atlanta frowned deeply. That wasn't likely, Lorna's mind was like a computer chip, she rarely forgot anything let alone something so important like an appointment schedule. This tickled Atlanta's suspicions a little, "I doubt you're losing your marbles Lorna. When was the appointment made."
Lorna frowned, worry written all over her wrinkling face, "That's the thing, the records say I made it this morning. But I don't remember making it. Oh if Mr Kaiba finds out I'll be losing my job as well as my short term memory. Oh, this is just terrible."
Atlanta wasn't used to seeing the usually iron-clad secretary in such a state. Reaching across the large desk, she placed a hand over hers, smiling, "Try not to worry Lorna, your job is safe, you're still as quick off the mark as ever, I know from experience remember?" Atlanta turned towards the door, taking her hand away from Lorna's and staring at the door suspiciously. "I'm going to accidentally interrupt Lorna, like usual. I want to know what's keeping that guy in there. Don't worry, I won't get you into trouble." She walked up to the door and pushed gently on the handle, turning to smile at Lorna as she entered the with a wink. "See you soon."
As she closed the door, Atlanta turned to confront her husband and his mysterious associate. But she found the strikingly familiar frame of the man in the blue cloak, from the volcano, staring at her, one hand raised, in it clasped a gun and it pointed right at Kaiba's chest as he stood behind the desk, staring at Atlanta with a determined expression in his blue eyes. "What the hell? Is this some sort of sick joke?" She demanded, feeling extremely nervous to see this figure again since their last encounter.
"You aren't supposed to be here Atlanta. Go home." Kaiba replied, glaring at her to leave. "I don't want anything happening to you again now leave, you know what his creep is capable of."
"Creep?" the hooded figure demanded, his voice masked yet again, "You dare call me a creep Kaiba, when I can end your life at any given second? I wouldn't dare hurt Atlanta, you know I wouldn't."
"He's right Kaiba." Atlanta interceded, trying to buy some time by keeping the figure's gaze on her, away from Kaiba, knowing he'd probably act out some sort of action plan for security he stored in his brain. "Not about the not hurting me part, but you shouldn't really be insulting him when he's threatening you with a gun."
It worked, the figure turned towards her, "I've never hurt you!"
"Oh never?" Kaiba interrupted foiling her plan, "What about in that volcano you sick dog? You subjugated her to those electrodes you sick whacko."
"They would never kill her," The figure still gazed at Atlanta, so maybe her plan to keep his gaze on her was working, "I just wanted to make her feel some of the pain she caused me."
Atlanta frowned, rolling her eyes, "Not this again. I don't know who you are dude! If I beat you at gaming then I'm sorry but there's gotta be a loser and it wasn't going to be me." She still couldn't believe the way this man was behaving over a game competition. "I don't care if I'm not number 1 anymore I…"
"You think this is about games?" the figure cut across her savagely, "That I'd do all this for a game? No Atlanta, I'm worried about that, those were Grithith's grievances with you. You hurt me far deeper than you ever hurt him. You did worse than shock me with some electrodes. Kaiba ruined my life and you helped him do it Atlanta, you betrayed me."
Atlanta folded her arms, raising an eyebrow suggestively, "I wasn't aware of swearing loyalty to a freak under some sort of blue hooded disguise, so I hardly betrayed you."
"So, I'm a freak now, is that the way it is?"
Kaiba scoffed loudly, "What, you wouldn't actually try and class yourself as normal now would you? You're a psychopath madman who nearly killed my wife in a volcano and now you're back to finish the job."
"For the last time, I didn't nearly kill her, I just tried to shock some sense into her!"
Kaiba folded his arms across his chest, "You meant that quite literally then." he spat in the figure's direction.
"You wouldn't understand, neither of you would." the hooded figure continued, still gazing at Atlanta, "Which disappoints me most Atlanta. All that I had given you, you threw it back in my face the day you married this chump for his money. How could you lower yourself?"
Atlanta couldn't help replying sarcastically even though Kaiba's life was in danger, "Wow, you're a regular Romeo aren't you? How could I have ever let you go?"
"Too easily as it would seem." came the raspy surprise. "The dirt on my grave hadn't even begun to grow grass and you were off philandering with someone else." He continued bitingly, "You never struck me for a slut, Atlanta."
Stunned by his words, Atlanta took a step hesitant step backwards, feeling the door behind her, when Kaiba replied, "Don't you need to have died first to have a grave? I don't know if that fact is common knowledge yet."
"That grave is empty!" the figure bit out savagely.
And suddenly all the pieces clicked as Atlanta stared at the still hooded with emotional eyes, "Shawn? Is that you?" She remembered seeing his face when she had felt delusional in the volcano, had it actually been him? Had he been the one to hurt her and put them through so much in the their marriage. But how? He was dead? He'd thrown himself from that bridge, it had to have been certain death, it had been proclaimed a recovery mission as soon as the police had arrived, hadn't even bee brought across as a rescue mission. How could he have survived that drop? "I don't understand…you died…"
"How very astute, Atlanta!" The figure cried loudly, "I'm still dying, and here you are, wearing someone else's ring, the mother to someone else's child. He took everything away from me, took it all, everything I'd ever held dear to my heart. Now he has to die!"
"I took everything? I married my wife! She has given birth to my child! I didn't take anything from you!" Kaiba responded, looking worried now, glancing from Atlanta's features to the hooded figure that continued to stare at her. "So, you've been trying to drive wedge between us, is that it?"
"Someone like you would never understand, Kaiba! I loved her, from the bottom of my heart. She was everything to me, we were going to get married, have a family, a future." the figure's voice was dangerously low, "I was found far down the river, by a little man who lived in the country. For months I didn't know who I was and he didn't buy papers to find out. I lived in darkness and was weak and depressed. Until one day, I heard a bird singing softly and it reminded me of something. Gradually I got most of my memory back and came back to find that everyone had believed me dead. And you, Atlanta, the ghost that had haunted my dreams had married someone else, someone richer than me, you dirty little monger. I'd lost everything, now here I am, a disfigured form of my old self, here to take my vengeance. But I still can't hurt you Atlanta, not even after all the hurt you caused me."
Atlanta felt tears spring to her eyes at his words. She truly had thought he had died, now here he was in front of her, accusing her of all these things. She couldn't bare it, not like this, not with Kaiba stuck in the middle like a shield. "You left me Shawn, not the other way around."
"No, I fell and you, you just carried on with your life. And despite it all, I still love you, like I loved that girl that used to read myths to me when we were younger with that innocent glint in her eyes. Now, you're not innocent, pregnant before you were married I hear, you rotten heathen."
"You fell?" Atlanta demanded hysterically, his memory had obviously lapsed on a lot of things concerning that night so long ago, "You didn't fall Shawn, I told them that's what you did. For a while they even suspected me, but then, why kill a dying man?" she asked him, starting to slowly pace back and forth, "Do you know what it's like to be subjected to hours and hours of questions concerning your fiancé's death. Hours I carried on in those interview rooms, telling the same story, the same events…the same lie over and over again Shawn." she saw the figure physically tense then, "Because I didn't push you and you sure didn't fall Shawn. You jumped! You took me up to that bridge, you told me that you loved me and that no matter what, you'd always be there for me, then you jumped! You flung yourself over that bridge and I hoped for a long time that by some miracle you lived."
"I did live."
Atlanta glared at him determinedly, "That was then though, I'd hoped then, now I don't understand why I bothered. You left me to deal with that, you tried to kill yourself! You left me, you left me and then you did all that to me. Didn't you know you could have killed my baby?"
"It wasn't my baby, it was his! He took you from me!"
"It would seem, you pushed her away, Kirkland, by throwing yourself from that bridge, the coward's way out. Now you," Kaiba stressed heavily, "seek to destroy me because you believe I stole something from you. Well I didn't steal anything, Atlanta married me, she made her choice."
The figure raised his hand slowly, and pulled down the hood of his head to reveal a face Atlanta didn't know anymore. She gasped at the reality of it all, gone were his handsome, boyish features that had made him almost irresistible to her in her teenage years. In their place was a scared, drawn face with bloodshot eyes. His once fine hair was now patchy with clumps of hair being absent with white patched scars in their place. "See what you did to me?" came his raspy voice that frightened her to the core.
"Oh Shawn, look at what you've done to yourself." Atlanta exclaimed waveringly, feeling an overwhelming surge of pity for him then.
He continued to stare at her, his vampire-like eyes hungry for some sort of retribution, "You promised to always love me Atlanta, for bad or for ill."
She nodded, admitting guiltily, "I did, please believe me I did. But look at what you've done to yourself Shawn. Have you even looked in a mirror recently."
He snarled in her direction, his eyes narrowing in on her face, "So your love was only skin deep then? Because I was good-looking then? I thought you loved me Atlanta!"
"No," she denied fiercely, surprised she still had courage in the face of this monster that had become of her ex-fiancé, the man who was holding a gun at her husband, the father of her child. "I did love you, ever so much, you broke my heart when you jumped that night Shawn. The nightmare haunted me for an age."
"Then let me kill him and we can be together, nobody in our way." Shawn indicated Kaiba with his gun.
He really had lost his marbles, Atlanta thought, staring at him, did he really think she loved him now? After all he'd done? But he seemed hell-bent on killing Kaiba whatever her thoughts. "Why do you need to kill him? He didn't know, there's no reason to kill Kaiba."
"You're married to him Atlanta, and if you loved me, you'd let me do it. He took you from me, before I had a chance to get to you to let you know how much I loved you." Shawn stated, still firm in his desire, and new fire entering his eyes. "All this is his fault. You know it is."
Technically, it wasn't Kaiba's fault that they'd ended up in the pregnant situation but he had forced her into marrying him afterward. But that didn't warrant a bullet in the brain, especially not now when she had become so used to living with him, to dealing with him to almost caring for him. She had to think of a way to stop Shawn from doing this. She glanced at Kaiba and could read nothing there as he stared down the barrel of the gun pointed at him.
"You'd never get away with killing him Shawn. He's too powerful and nobody would rest until you'd be brought to justice, especially his little brother!" she tried to stress the pointlessness of killing Kaiba, not that these were the primary reasons he shouldn't be killed. She didn't want Bryony to lose her father at such a young age.
"We could run away together!"
Atlanta frowned, "I can't do that Shawn, you know I can't. I have a daughter now…"
Shawn's eyes flashed angrily, "His daughter! I wouldn't want anything to do with her!"
"But I'm her mother Shawn, I could never leave her."
Shawn stared at her for an age, anger gleaming in his eyes, slowly he cocked the gun he still held pointed at Kaiba. "Is that your final decision or do you want to rethink your answer?" he asked menacingly, a snarl on his face again making his features even more horrific.
"Please Shawn, don't do this, it's pointless…"
"Atlanta…" Kaiba started cautiously, specking up for the first time in what seemed like an age, "We won't be seen begging for our lives. He can't reduce us that far."
"OH you're really getting off on this aren't you?" Shawn demanded of him clearly enraged with the fact that Kaiba wasn't playing his game the way he wanted it to be played.
Kaiba blinked and stared at him calmly, "I see a silly man, with a gun, who couldn't even manage to kill himself and is now trying to threaten to kill me. I'm not 'getting off on' anything to be quite frank. I'm rather bored of this whole thing so if you're going to actually kill me, go ahead, I have a huge conference tomorrow that I'd rather not go to, I'd have all the excuse in the world not to go."
What the hell was he doing? Provoking him? Shawn had a gun point in his direction and there Kaiba stood provoking him. Atlanta really began to panic, she didn't know this Shawn anymore so she really wasn't sure what he was capable of. Would he actually kill Kaiba? What about poor Bryony? "Kaiba please, you're not helping the situation."
"Helping? Is that what this prig is supposed to be doing?" Shawn asked viciously, turning back to Atlanta with venom in his eyes. "Make your decision! And you better hope it's the right one!"
Atlanta was about to reply when Kaiba spoke over her, "She doesn't have to. Atlanta move away from the door please."
Before she could even look at him, she heard it. The sound of bounding footsteps coming for the office, and slowly she realised what was happening. Swiftly, Atlanta sidestepped the door as it swung open and cause confusion in the room. Shots were fired but she was too stunned to see who had been hit as she closed her eyes and held her hands over her ears in panic.
After what seemed like an age, she felt two strong hands encircle her own, prompting her to open one eye cautiously to see who it was. Her heart hammered excitedly at the sight of Kaiba's blue eyes boring into her own. Overcome with nerves, she flung herself into his arms and hugged him as tightly as her arms would allow. "Easy, I do need to breathe."
"I don't care. Oh I thought you were dead you big beast." Atlanta pulled her head back and looked up at him through glistening eyes, "And don't you ever encourage another potential killer in making my child fatherless!"
"I see you were clearly worried about me there!" Kaiba replied sarcastically staring down at her face. "If you hadn't have been your ignorant little self, I probably would be a goner right now. I'd run out of things to delay him about then you barged right in with this bright smile on your face! You little idiot!"
"I'll take that as a thank you." she murmured, pulling away from him, feeling suddenly embarrassed. She looked around the room and saw Kaiba's bodyguards all circling it and making checks, Shawn was no where to be seen, "Where…?" she stopped when she noticed a small pool of blood.
Kaiba glared around the room, shrugging, "He'll live, they got him in the knees, I want to see him go down for this."
Everything that had happened suddenly began to sink in to Atlanta. Shawn was alive, he was alive! After all this time! And he'd been the one responsible for the incident back at Academy Island, had put Bryce's life in danger, and Bryony's! Slowly she raised her hands and tears clouded her vision. "Oh no…" she gasped, almost inaudibly, what have I done to him? She thought to herself. This is all my fault.
She felt Kaiba's eyes on her as she sank to the floor in desperation. What had she done? "This is all my fault." Before she realised his intentions, Kaiba scooped her small frame into his arms, barking orders at the security before leaving with her in his arms. "I can walk…" she stopped when the doors to the elevators closed and Kaiba smother her lips with his own.
"Shut up and don't complain for once." his arm tightened around her, drawing her even closer to his body as the elevator descended to the ground floor where the limo was somehow waiting for them. Swiftly, he opened the door and slid into the large seat, still holding her close to him. "Take us home Roland." he spoke calmly to his trusted employee.
Feeling protected, but suddenly shaking, Atlanta buried her head into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his body to hold herself even closer, using him as a leverage to stop her shaking. "I'm so sorry…" she apologised softly into his crisp, white business suit. Kaiba didn't reply, he just held her close and stared out the window with determined eyes.
Atlanta was safe in his arms, but for some reason, the tremors in her body refused to subside and she didn't understand. From no where, her eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks and onto his suit, but she refused to let them fall. Sobbing, she bit them back, keeping her cheek on the warmth of his shoulder.
Finally, they arrived at their mansion, Roland opening the door for Kaiba to climb out and carry her into the house, bringing her straight to his personal drawing room, a room she hadn't been in before. Right now however, she barely acknowledged the warm room with its modern décor and warm sofas. She just concentrated on trying to get her nerves to settle.
Kaiba gently lowered her onto one of the larger sofas, his hands unclasping her cold owns from behind his back as he stood up and went over to the drinks cabinet for a moment. With the sudden abandonment, Atlanta began to shake with renewed vigour, silently calling out for her rock that had left her to her breath-taking tremors. She barely acknowledged the glass that was held out before her, only taking it when Kaiba took her cold hand and wrapped it around the glass, crouching down to stare at her intensely.
"Drink it, it'll warm your insides." he spoke in a somewhat normal voice, coaxing her to take a sip from the glass they were both holding, guiding it to her lifeless lips. Trying to pull herself together, she took a sip from the glass, gasping as a searing warmth washed through her insides, putting some life back into her cold limbs. "Feel better?" Kaiba asked as her eyes began to focus on his face.
She still didn't feel ready to face the situation, not trusting herself to speak, she nodded, somewhat dumbly, unable to stop a single tear from rolling down her cheek as she stared at him. "The police will be wanting a statement." Kaiba spoke seriously, as his finger slowly traced the path of her tear of her damp cheek. "Will you feel up to it after you rest?"
Atlanta gazed at his handsome face, unable to fathom how she was feeling at the minute, just knowing that she couldn't possibly deal with the police right now, not again. Memories of the night Shawn flung himself from the bridge and the torment that had followed came flooding back to her, bringing fresh tremors to her body. "I can't…not again Kaiba…please…don't make me." Somehow she had found the strength to speak, but had to take some effort from holding her tears back, thus allowing several more salted droplets to flow from her eyes. Her voice was raspy and uncharacteristically weak.
She was unable to determine his expression through her tears, but felt Kaiba's hand pull the glass aside, sitting beside her on the large couch, pulling her into his warm embrace. She went willingly, having missed his warmth in the last ten minutes, burying her face into his chest, thankful she wasn't wearing any makeup. Again, her small arms reached round his body to his back, pulling herself even closer into his embrace. Finally, in the safety of his arms, she gave into the sobs that had threatened to engulf her body for so long.
How had all this happened? And why, to her? Her life was like one enormous soap opera, with one twist hardly waiting on the other. The days while her mother had still been alive were still fresh in her memory, how she'd hurt her only daughter, blamed her for her depression and everything that had come with it, including her father's affair.
Atlanta's life had continued evermore following the death of the woman who had caused her so much pain. She had taken on a role to help raise Bryce, had parted some knowledge of gaming to her young brother, had found a virtual ticket from the real world, where the pain hadn't existed, where she was able to take out her anger and frustration with the world.
Shawn had been an enormous part of her youth, always being there for her during her adolescence years. So much had he been there that se had gradually found herself falling in love with the young good looking man he was becoming, and he was always patient with her always adoring and supporting her. Then the tragic news had come and her tender world had fallen apart at the seams, leaving a blank void of existence in its wake. Causing the tragic fall from grace for Shawn, causing his supposed death.
But she had seen light at the end of the tunnel, had worked and fought her way towards it. However, on the way she had crashed with a man most unlikely to draw her attention at any other time. Fate had engineered another cruel twist, forcing her into a situation with the most arrogant and stubborn of men, Seto Kaiba.
His ruthless ways had saw her enter into a loveless marriage, something she had always vowed never to do. A marriage for the sake of their unborn baby, for its protection and safe-keeping. A marriage that was tried and tested and somehow prevailed at the best of times, she didn't even want to think of the worst times. Of the times when they constantly fought, when Mokuba had to pull them apart before someone got hurt.
Then, through all the hurt and frustration, they had been forced to unite, to present an allied front to the enemies that were threatening the beloved members of their family. And unite they had, taking on their enemies together, saving people's lives.
Able to pull through it, she had found out about her father's affair, causing further havoc in her already spinning world, stopping her from feeling grounded even for a moment, as a young sister appeared on the scene, tall, blond and mercilessly beautiful and strong to a fault. Within the girl, she had found a great ally, one who could help teach her about life as well as learn from her own experiences.
Finally, this last spanner that had spun into her shaking world seemed to mock her callously, the one spanner that had begun the whole rollercoaster, Shawn Kirkland. The man she had believed herself in love with, the man who had held her on summer days as they went for picnics. The man who had pledged always to protect her and to be with her always. The man who had stripped away those promises with the first hurdle that had come their way. The man she no longer knew as the one she had loved.
Now she sat, tangled in another's arms. The most improbable of men to have ever found her in the arms before. The man, that somehow along the way, had become her husband, had become her support and fort throughout the last number of long months. Although she had constantly been a loggerheads with him, Kaiba had somehow provided the strength and stability she had needed in coping with all the spanners that had been hurled her way during their marriage. He had been steadfast and strong, never hurting her.
He never promised anything, so Atlanta never expected anything from him. He was a rock that never seemed to raise her up only to just, somehow, let her down completely. At least she could depend on him that way, at least he hadn't made any promises of love and faithfulness, with him, she knew where she was.
For a long while she cried in his arms, and for long while he just held her, not commenting for even stroking her. After what seemed like an age, Kaiba stood up, Atlanta realising how drowsy she felt now, and scooped her into his arms once more. Keeping her face buried in his shoulder, she was aware of him carrying her up the stairs and into a familiar room, her own room, and sat her on the bed.
Slowly, Kaiba undressed her, no sexual inclination in his actions. His hands were gentle, almost as if he were undressing a young child. When she was naked, he pulled a cotton nightgown over her head before pulling back her sheets and lifting her to lie her down in them.
Tiredness overcoming her, she didn't object to his actions, forgetting all about the conversation she had originally gone to Kaiba Corp to have. She felt the soft pillow cushion her heavy head, and she was aware of Kaiba lifting her clothes and setting them on her chair. However, darkness soon enveloped her as she allowed her eyelids to finally close, allowing sleep to come to her. She was unaware of the trauma that day would come to cause her marriage.
Aimee stared at the group of friends in front of her, feeling decidedly tired and somewhat annoyed. Blinking, she put her usual neutral face on show and greeted them in as friendly way as she could must at that time in the morning. "Ari…other people…Bryce, can I help you with something at," she glanced at her watch, before continuing groggily "5:30 in the morning?"
In front of her stood her best friend, and newest cousin, Arianna, dressed in her casual obelisk blazer, her cousin Bryce, Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, Chazz Princeton, Alexis Rhodes and her brother Atticus. What they all were doing at her door at this time of the morning would alarm most people, but she just stood and stared at them, not letting anything flicker on her face to betray weakness.
Bryce spoke up first, "Hey Aims!" he declared excitedly, then looked decidedly flustered, "We were just wondering, since its going to be such a wonderful day, and since it is Saturday, if you'd like to come with us out on one of Aster's large yachts."
Aware of the fact that she was still in her oriental styled pyjamas, Aimee glanced to Arianna, wondering silently if she'd gone mad to have fallen in with this crew. Arianna looked tired herself and subtle lines showed she was a little worried but trying to hide it for now. "At five in the morning? May I ask why now?"
Arianna had the grace to look slightly redder in the face now, "Chazz and I woke everyone up at 5 so we decided not to waste the day. Contacted Aster and he's waiting for us in the mooring." Chazz looked a little tired himself and agitated at best.
Bryce nodded, "And Lanta is with him."
Aimee froze midway through closing her door, her green eyes darting to Bryce's face. "Atlanta? Why is she here? Has something happened?"
Bryce shrugged non-committedly, "She just says she's been feeling under strain as of late. Last night, after a good duel with Jaden, I was returning to my room to find her there, tidying it like an insane woman. It would appear she wanted to get away, although I don't even know what is going on. Bryony's with her, she kept me up all night crying so I was glad when Arianna knocked on my door."
Aimee frowned, "That's curious." she glanced at Arianna and for the first time, noticed the pleading in her eyes. Mentally rolling her eyes, Aimee nodded, "Give me fifteen, I'll be out soon."
"Make sure you do something with that mess on your head." came a jabbing reply from Atticus Rhodes, probably referring to her hair, which usually sat large when she got up in the morning. Aimee glanced at him and noticed the playful sparkle in his eyes. Rolling her eyes, physically this time, she closed the door and proceeded to get dressed in her Ra Yellow uniform, finally pulling on her shorts ten minutes later.
She paused in the mirror and glanced her appearance over. Her long wavy hair was hanging low on her back and her face looked pale and tired but she opened the door anyway, no one would care what she looked like. "Great, let's go." Bryce said, almost shoving her along the way until the group got moving towards the docks.
Aimee glanced about for Arianna and noticed she was talking to Atticus at the back of the group. Almost groaning, but catching herself at the last minute, she paused and waited until Atticus and Arianna were alongside her before continuing with them. "So, what's really going on?"
Arianna shook her head, Atticus not having the decency to walk off in the midst of an obviously private discussion. "Bryce called me last night to talk. He called again, later, sounding aggravated when I heard Bryony in the background." Arianna scowled, looking worried, "Atlanta's really raving at the moment. It's not like her Aims. After that whole gun incident, she's been rushing about, not giving herself a rest, according to Mokuba anyway."
Aimee knitted her brow together, wonderingly, "Mokuba? Kaiba's brother?"
"He called me about a week ago." Arianna nodded slowly, "I told you I was worried, remember?"
She did recall that discussion, but Aimee hadn't worried, Atlanta normally picked herself up from situations, no matter how smack-in-the-face they were. After all the stuff she'd been through in her early years, it would always take a lot to throw Atlanta off her course in life. "I remember."
Arianna glanced down at her hands. "I got there this morning and well, she wasn't upset, she was just rushing about, a happy-go-lucky smile on her face."
"That sounds like Atlanta." Aimee nodded, and it did, Atlanta was like that, she never paused to survey things, just went about her usual business.
"No." Arianna shook her head again, "When you look close, she's pale and tired and groggy and ready to crack." Arianna sniffed loudly, "This whole business has just messed with her head and well, I've only know her this year and well, since you've known her all your life, maybe you could talk to her. Bryce is a guy, he'd not understand. Maybe I'll look after Bryony while you discuss everything with her."
Aimee nodded, understandingly, "I have known her longer Ari, but you two have really connected. You are so alike in so many ways. But I'll try but I think you'd be better." Aimee stared around them, at all the friends in the group, "How the hell did they get involved in all this?"
Arianna laughed, but it was Atticus that replied, "Bryce telephoned Chazz, in his tired state, instead of Arianna. It was quite comical actually. You should have seen Chazz's face when he left his room."
Aimee frowned, and blinked in reaction, "I can understand."
"Yeah and well, since Alexis is next door to me, she woke up when Bryce called. And well here we all are!" Arianna declared happily, laughing a little before frowning at how Aimee refused to even look at Atticus as she walked along side them.
"I don't understand how you actually fell into this crowd." Aimee whispered honestly, trying not to let her angst show. She hated how whenever they hung out now, one of these friends would always be there, most likely Syrus or someone else.
Arianna nodded, but she wasn't able to reply.
"What's wrong with this crowd anyway?" Atticus asked, a weird expression on his face.
Aimee refused to take the bait, merely replying calmly, "My words weren't concerning if there was anything wrong with this crowd, Mr Rhodes, I was just, honestly, expressing my puzzlement. Arianna has never been friends with you since she started here and well, three years later and here we are. I just find it confusing, that's all. So please, try to refrain from putting words into my mouth."
"Oh, do calm down! I'm too worried about Atlanta to worry about the animosity between you guys." Arianna reprimanded them in an uncharacteristic fashion, making Aimee glance her way. She held her tongue then, noticing the worry greatly etched in Arianna's features.
"Try to calm yourself." Aimee encouraged her, "Atlanta will be fine. She always picks herself up, when you get to know her more, you will know her unbending will to get her life back on track. She is strong!" Aimee did an uncharacteristic thing, feeling slightly awkward, but she took Arianna's hand and squeezed it lightly as they approached the docks where Aster Phoenix stood with his arms crossed.
"Nothing like an early morning sailing." Aimee saw that he looked very tired and not in the best of moods. His face was in a permanent frown as he stared at the others. "Now I have a mad woman running around my boat, giving my chef a headache. Are we going or what?"
Arianna was about to answer when Aimee pulled her back, stepping past Aster after letting go of her hand. "We won't be going anywhere. Bryce? Ari? Any of you want to join me in trying to calm her down?"
"Well hello down there! Nice day for a good sailing hey!" Came a bright voice from the deck, making them all look up. "You better get your skates on or we'll miss the best part of the day!" Atlanta stood there, brown hair blowing in the wind, some strands covering her face.
"Sis, it's 5am! We have plenty of time!" Bryce replied while the others murmured behind him. Aimee sighed when she saw Atticus roll his eyes.
She turned back to Atlanta, who called out to Bryce, "Not if you want to catch dawn! It's a marvellous time of day, you should see!"
Bryce and Arianna came to stand at either side of Aimee, all three staring up on deck to the frenzied Mrs Kaiba. "I think we should handle this." Aimee murmured to the other two, making Arianna turn to the others, explaining that they'll try to sort it out. Bracing herself, Aimee led the others on board the ship where Atlanta greeted them brightly.
Aimee soon saw that Arianna had been right, Atlanta looked like a ghostly shadow of her usual self, her usually bright eyes, dull and lifeless, her face pale and drawn and her body thin and shaking. Aimee walked forward, motioning for Arianna to go and look after Bryony, who was in a cot on the deck.
"Hi Atlanta. I'm here to talk." Aimee spoke cautiously, afraid to have her flying off the hook.
"We can do that at sea, you silly girl!" Atlanta reprimanded her, a condescending tone in her voice, making Aimee raise her eyebrows questioningly. "Why aren't the others coming? I've cooked dinner, roast beef and salmon."
"Take a second and think about what you just said sis!" Bryce replied slowly, staring worriedly at his sister.
Atlanta looked confused for a second, smiling again, "What? You like beef!"
Aimee took a step forward, clasping one of Atlanta's hands and staring at her. "Atlanta, it's 5am! The sun is only rising and you're cooking dinner! Don't you think there's a little bit wrong with that?"
Atlanta frowned, trying to withdraw her hand but Aimee held fast, "What are you saying? That there's something wrong with me? That I'm crazy? Because I'm not!"
Aimee shook her head, trying to give her cousin a small smile of encouragement. "Of course not. But maybe you're stretching yourself a little here. When was the last time you slept?"
Atlanta's eyes went slightly dazed for a moment, as she stared off into the distance, "I don't know. But that's ok, I'll be fine! Really!"
"Atlanta. You need to rest." Aimee stated softly, trying not to scare her cousin. "Bryony needs her mother in top condition."
"I'm a good mother!" Atlanta suddenly went on the attack, glaring at Aimee, "Don't you ever accuse me of neglect again!"
"She didn't do that sis!" Bryce exclaimed brightly, "She's just letting you know you're not on top form and we're worried about you!"
"Exactly," Aimee agreed firmly, "You need to rest. Does Kaiba know you're here?"
Atlanta glanced at the floor, a sudden sadness in her deep eyes, tears welling, "I don't want to see him. I can't…don't make me see him."
Aimee glanced at Bryce, hoping to silently communicate that it was important that someone gets in contact with him. Bryce seemed to get her meaning and turned back down the plank to speak to the others, leaving Aimee with a tearful Atlanta. "Atlanta, Kaiba's Bryony's father. You can't keep him from seeing her. Have you had an argument?"
Surprisingly, Atlanta shook her lowered head, "No, no argument, I just…can't sleep, just restless."
"Have you tried sleeping pills?" Aimee suggested evenly, but was rewarded with a glare from Atlanta.
"Of course not! My mother went on to those and I refuse to resort to them! I won't end up like her!" Atlanta declared vehemently, again trying to take her hand from Aimee's, still proving too weak.
Aimee nodded, "That's good. We don't want depressants in your system." Aimee used her best quality, her level-headedness in order to keep Atlanta talking in order to get to the bottom of this. "Maybe you'd want me to talk to Kaiba?"
"No!" Atlanta declared hotly, a blush covering her cheeks, "He can't know! Can't…he's too…"
Aimee narrowed her eyes one Atlanta's features, figuring out that somehow, Kaiba had caused the distress she was seeing in Atlanta's usually upbeat features. "What's happened? Has he cheated on you? Hurt you?"
Atlanta lowered her gaze sadly, shrugging slowly, "I don't know. Shawn…" she voice trailed off shakily after mentioning her dead fiancé's name.
"I know…you loved him…" Aimee frowned, staring still at Atlanta's down-turned head. "Atlanta, have you fallen in love with Kaiba?" She knew of Atlanta's intentions never to do so, had always fought her husband at every opportunity she'd had.
Atlanta's blue eyes raised to meet Aimee's gaze as she shrugged heavily, "I don't know…I just…Shawn…I'm such a bad person Aimee I…" Suddenly she broke into tears, making Aimee glance awkwardly over to Arianna before enclosing Atlanta in her arms. "So…sorry!" Atlanta muffled into Aimee's uniform.
"It's ok Atlanta." Aimee stated softly, trying to calm her cousin's convulsions. "We all have to learn to move on! Look at your father he's moved on. Life doesn't stop for anyone Atlanta."
"He almost died because of me Aims." Atlanta pulled away and leant on the decking, clasping her nervous hands together. "This is all my fault." She was stronger now, but the tears were still falling freely.
Aimee mimicked her actions, staring over the edge where she saw the others speaking with Bryce, occasionally glancing up at them. "Are you speaking about the gun incident?"
Atlanta nodded, staring of into the distance, "Kaiba almost died, because of me. Because Shawn…." her voice broke on another sob but she quickly caught her breathing.
"Shawn wasn't your fault! And neither was Kaiba's incident." Aimee rationalised, evenly, "What is this all about?"
Atlanta shook her head slowly, as if she was confused, "I wanted to see Bryce, we've always been each other's support."
"And do you need support? What about Kaiba?"
Atlanta's face broke into a small smile, "How can he help? He's the problem! I've gone and done the one thing I said I wouldn't…was determined not to do! How can I love a man like Kaiba? When I saw that gun pointed at his chest, my whole insides tightened…I thought it was happening again. All my fault, you know!"
Aimee frowned, noticing Bryce slowly returning up the plank, "Shawn's death and the gun incident weren't your fault Atlanta! You supported Shawn through it all, he killed himself! You didn't pull that gun on Kaiba!"
"I might as well have, because it was Shawn that did it!" Atlanta stated fervidly, still staring off into the distance, shocking Aimee with her words.
"Shawn's dead Atlanta."
To Aimee's astonishment, Atlanta started shaking her dark head slowly, "Nope, he didn't die Aimee. I know you think I'm crazy but it's true. He didn't die, when he found out about my marriage, he swore vengeance and wanted to kill Kaiba! He almost succeeded too!"
Aimee was stunned, staring down at Arianna's friends. "He lived? But that's impossible…"
"Ha!" Atlanta scoffed sarcastically, "I thought so too, but it was him, I saw him. I saw his face…I didn't even recognise him Aimee. He's become this…this monster and it's all my fault."
Shawn was alive…but that was nearly impossible, it would take some sort of twisted miracle to survive the fall he had taken. And yet, according to Atlanta, he had survived, but they hadn't been told the identity of the attacker. Perhaps it was Shawn that did it and put Atlanta in this state.
Aimee shook her head, "No, it's not your fault Atlanta!" she stated with a little bit more passion than she usually said things, "Shawn did this to himself! He created this monster! He's put you through hell, him and those loonies that electrocuted you while you were pregnant with Bryony…"
Aimee's voice twiddled off when she saw the sad look in Atlanta's eyes, pausing for a moment. "That was Shawn too Aimee. He almost killed my baby, my Bryony!"
"Does Bryce know about this?" Aimee asked, watching the subject coming closer to them as they spoke. "You should tell him."
Atlanta sniffed, "Yeah, I should. I guess…it's just so hard. I keep having nightmares…of that day…when Shawn…when he almost killed my family…"
When Bryce got to them, Aimee took his hand and guided him to place she was vacating, "Atlanta needs to talk to you. Did you contact Kaiba?" She left his side when he nodded and walked over to Arianna, who was sitting on one of chairs with Bryony in her arms, smiling brightly, her large blue eyes sparkling. She turned in time to see the others coming on board, wary of Atlanta and trying to avoid her discussion with her brother.
"What's the diagnosis?" Arianna asked, bouncing Bryony on her knee as Aster, Atticus, Alexis, Chazz and Jaden came over to where they sat. "Is she ok now?"
Aimee stared over at her two cousins, a glower on her face, "I think she'll be ok. Just a huge case of shock for her."
Aster followed her gaze along with the others, before asking, "Shock? Over the near shooting?"
Atticus shrugged, "Anyone would be worked up about that, naturally."
Aimee's eyes flashed angrily in his direction, how dare he just shrug off a member of her family. "Yeah of course!" she bit out savagely, "Especially since it was a formerly dead fiancé that did it! That, and the incident in the volcano too!"
There was a round of gasps, Atticus looked at her with his deep brown eyes, frowning. Arianna continued to bounce Bryony before replying, "Shawn? It was Shawn the whole time? I thought he loved her!"
"Apparently he still does! She was pretty sure it was him!" Aimee stated cautiously, still watching her cousins, noticing how at different times Bryce stiffened as if in anger, "If Arena was here it would be so much better, she's better at this stuff than I am. Or even Abi! I would say Alyssa but then, she'd get all hot under the collar and demand blood, so I won't get as bad as her."
Arianna chuckled warmly, "Oh I don't know, you seemed to do alright to me. But I think Bryce is going to need serious calming pills when he's finished." Bryce's hands were clenching into fists as Atlanta spoke to him, unclenching and then clenching again.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Aimee noted, still staring at her cousins at the other side of the deck, "Shawn's death almost destroyed Atlanta, she was hounded by the police and press for months and rarely made a public appearance because of it all. By in large, she remained upbeat but you could tell sometimes when her smiles didn't reach her eyes or when she stared off into the distance, she missed him bad. Alyssa was on suicide watch, although Arena doubted that it would get that bad. I tend to agree with her."
Arianna nodded, tickling Bryony's neck playfully as she asked, "Do you reckon we should call in Kaiba?"
"Bryce said that Kaiba is on his way, he used my phone." Aster let them know, his arms folded as he watched Bryce from the background.
"So what's her name?" Alexis asked, kneeling down in front of Bryony and Arianna, the young baby squealing in delight at having another finger to squeeze.
Aimee glanced down, watching Alexis play with Bryony as Arianna answered, "This is my little niece, Bryony. Don't let her big bright eyes or charming smile fool you, this one sure is Crazy Baby."
"She is absolutely adorable." Atticus noted, also staring at the child, much to Aimee's chagrin. For some reason, this guy just really rubbed her the wrong way and she didn't know why.
Bryony was shifting now, wriggling awkwardly in Arianna's arms, distracting Aimee from the conversation that was taking place between her two cousins. She turned green eyes to the toddler to see her hands were outstretched towards her, as if trying to hug her. "I think she wants to see her Aunty Aimee for a little bit!" Arianna laughed, especially when Aimee's eyes flashed her annoyance. She didn't like holding children and had no desire for her own in the near future.
"You keep her. I'll intervene when she's old enough to discuss life and it's ever unwinding meaning with me." Aimee replied but the child carried on trying to get into her arms so eventually Aimee lamented and lifted the child awkwardly. Big blue eyes stared at her for a long moment before the baby let out a squeal of delight allowing Aimee to give her a hug as she clasped her chubby arms round her neck.
Awkwardly, Aimee patted the baby's bum, until she pulled at Aimee's tight clasp that kept her hair up, allowing her large dark curls to fall around her face as the baby laughed excitedly. Hurriedly, Aimee turned Bryony around do that she faced the other way, in time for Atticus who bent down in front of her to play a game of funny faces.
"As usual, the girls love Atticus!" Arianna commented when Bryony screamed in delight.
Aimee rolled her eyes, trying not to watch as the good-looking obelisk entranced the baby on her knee with his playful antics. "Do try not to generalise Ari!" she scolded her friend despite the fact he held Aimee almost entranced at that moment. It was going to be a long wait for Kaiba to come, Atlanta needed a break and daddy was going to have to watch baby.
--
"Sun, sea and no babies!" Alyssa called out, her voice barely audible through the wind sweeping over the convertible. Atlanta frowned, laughing from the back seat as Arena drove them to their Family Villa on private property a couple of hundred miles south of Domino.
Arena glanced to her right to laughingly point out, "Don't you mean no more of Dad growling down your throat about that crash you could have died in."
Alyssa waved off her sister's comment, "I could die crossing the road at anytime. Life's a risk, he just needs to get over it." She raised one of her hands to tame her curly red hair that was billowing wildly in the wind. "Besides, Atlanta could use the break, she's been rushed off her feet since giving birth and then that big hold up with Shawn."
Atlanta stared to her left, towards the sea, trying to forget about what happened, but it haunted her dreams even now. "I thought we agreed not to mention that name," she called out, loud enough for Alyssa to catch on. But she knew her younger cousin was right, she needed a break and had to get away. She had never felt more confused in her life and she needed some time alone, away from little Bryony and Kaiba.
Kaiba, the cause of her confused thoughts of late. She had always loved Shawn, but witnessing what had happened, what Shawn had tried to do had thrown a spanner in the works of her gradually settling down life. Now her feelings were all over the place and she just needed to have some neutral time, to be selfish for a while.
"Sorry, but it won't just go away. I'll try not to be so tactless in future." Alyssa called back, smiling at her through the rear view mirror.
Arena laughed again, "Not to sound cliché, but Tactless is your middle name, dear sister." She turned the corner that led down to their property, which should be empty since the holidays had just ended and everyone had gone back to work.
But when they got there, they were surprised to find five motorcycles parked in the garage, making the three girls look at each other, puzzled. "Well they're not mine," Alyssa said pointedly when Arena's eyes narrowed pointedly at her. "I promise you, they do not belong to me. Wait, that one looks familiar, oh that one is mine." She smiled a little sheepishly, "But I didn't bring it here, I haven't seen it since….o0o."
"Oh?" Atlanta asked, "what does "Oh" mean?"
"I lent it too Abigail," Alyssa replied, sounding as puzzled as she looked, "I thought she was way up North."
Arena rolled her eyes, "She was travelling all over, maybe they came here for a reason. There is more than four bikes, who else have they picked up along the way?"
Atlanta followed the two of them out of the car and round the side of the large house. The three of them stopped when they saw a girl they didn't recognise lazing by the pool in a purple bikini. She had bright blond hair that she allowed to flow all around her. In her hand she held a coconut shell with a straw that she was currently sipping from.
Regaining her composure first, Alyssa stormed over towards the woman, hands balled into small fists at her side. "Um, excuse me, but who the hell are you and what are you doing on our property?" Typical Alyssa, blunt and to the point.
Startled, the woman took off her shades and turned to look at Alyssa with violet eyes. "Well hello there sugar. You must be related to Abi, I'm guessing you're her youngest sister." She said while eyeing Alyssa up and down, "I'm Abi's friend, Mai Valentine."
Atlanta crossed her arms, agitated, how many duellists can you meet in your short life time? Sighing, she walked over to the two ladies that were staring at each other. "Well hello Ms Valentine. Any friend of Abigail's is welcome here, Alyssa was just startled, right?"
"Damn right I was startled!" Alyssa exploded once more, "I mean, famous duellist or not, what the hell is she doing on our property…"
"Alyssa, calm." Arena came forward too, putting a hand on Alyssa's pale shoulder. "Since we saw Abigail's bike in the garage, Ms Valentine must be a guest of Abigail's. It's nice to meet you Ms Valentine, my name's Arena."
"Please hon, just call me Mai. "
Arena nodded, "Ok Mai, pleasure to meet you. This is my youngest sister Alyssa and my cousin Atlanta."
Mai turned to Atlanta, eyes bright and inquisitive. "Ah, so you're the gal who finally got Kaiba to settle down and marry you. I must say, I'm impressed. Abi has told me all about you."
Atlanta shifted on her feet, frowning uneasily, "Yeah, well it was nothing, really, can't help who you fall in love with." She turned back to walk around the villa again, "I'm going to get our bags from the car."
"Abi's just taken the boys down to see that boat. I decided to stay and sun myself by this fabulous pool of yours…" Mai's voice drifted off as Atlanta turned the corner of the house, feeling a little uneasy about the fact that they had company at the villa. She got the bags from Arena's car and brought them through the door and into the larder, where the hired help was folding clothes that had newly been laundered.
"Ms Atlanta, hello." Ruth, the portly little housekeeper squealed and ran for her, embracing her lovingly. "Oh my, you have lost a lot of weight, are you eating enough? I heard about what happened, are you ok?"
"I'm fine Ruth. Alyssa, Arena and myself just came down here for some R&R. We didn't know you had company or we wouldn't have bothered." Atlanta explain their situation, to which Ruth just laughed.
"Don't you worry child. I can cope." Ruth's face became worried, "But are you ok? I was hoping to meet little Miss Bryony the next time you came down. Your grandfather talks about her non-stop."
Atlanta smiled, trying not to force it, "I'm fine Ruth, just need to relax and resuscitate my limbs. Little Briony is being looked after by her father and the nannies." She turned and lifted her bag, "I'm going to stay in my usual room, if it's still free."
Ruth laughed as Atlanta left the room, calling after her, "Your room is free, but I think Alyssa might be surprised that she'll have to take a guest room."
Atlanta laughed, climbing up the stairs to her room, which no body ever stayed in, but her. It wasn't anything special, probably why nobody else used it, but it was small, and it suited her. The small double bed helped her to relax too. She threw her bag o the bed and opened the little balcony to air the room out, looking down over the beach.
There she saw four familiar figures, one belonging to her cousin and the others being the unmistakeable giant that was Raphael and his two companions, all three looking overly dressed to be on a beach. She smiled as she watched them all come back towards the villa, calling out the them, "Hope there was no kissy kissies down there!"
All four of them looked up before entering the garden, Abigail's face breaking into a bright smile. "Atlanta!" Then realization dawned on her face and she turned noticeably pink in the face as she looked away from her cousin. "Uh, who else is here?"
"You know," Atlanta replied, enjoying teasing her cousin, "just me….and the girls. They're by the pool with your little friend Mai!"
"Oh." the word came out slowly. "I guess this is turning into a regular outing then. Come on down, we'll talk soon…no not that way…"
She'd spoken too late as Atlanta had climbed onto the branch of a tree that grew beside the villa and crawled along the branch before swinging down beside her cousin, gasping a little. "Woo, that was fun." And it was, Atlanta felt a little fizz of joy and excitement, something she hadn't felt in a long while.
Valon whistled a little, "You've got some spunk in ya girl."
Abigail rolled her eyes, "Try not to sound so impressed Valon, she's supposed to be acting like a mother now."
Atlanta shook her head at the reminder, "Na-ah, not this trip. This trip I'm just going to enjoy myself, be as childlike as I can be."
She got an unimpressed frown as a reply, "Yeah, and let's see how long that lasts."
"And what's that supposed to mean exactly?" Atlanta folded her arms, leaning to one side, an eyebrow delicately raised.
Abigail laughed, "Only that by tonight, you'll be crying in your sleep, missing little Bryony ever so much."
"I'll miss her, but I won't cry!"
"Ha, please! You cried when Kaiba first took her to the doctors without you because you'd gotten ill yourself." Alyssa laughed, coming up behind them, Arena following her, and put her arms around Atlanta's waist, resting her chin on her shoulder. "Hey sis! Did we interrupt a saucy weekend or something?"
Abigail flushed as Arena stood on Alyssa's toe making her flinch. "No, we were actually nearly finished touring so we decided to stop off here on our way back."
Arena embraced her older sister, pulling back with a weird expression on her face, "You look different. Is there something wrong?"
Atlanta leaned her head to the side to see if she could get a better view. "What do you mean Rena?"
"Yeah, you're talking crazy sister." Abigail reprimanded, a blush forming on her cheeks.
Arena frowned, "No I'm not. I know you, remember, we grew up together. Why on earth are you glowing?"
Alyssa looked shocked, "Are you baking a bun in the oven? Whose is it?"
Abigail looked offended, glancing around at the male company, "Not that it's any of your business, but no I haven't got a bun in the oven, as you so delicately put it, Alyssa." Raphael seemed to breathe out a billowing sigh, making all the girls look at him.
"O…k," Alyssa stated, slowly, "But something is definitely going on here." All the guys shifted, making her amber eyes zoom in on them, starting with Valon then moving to Alistair, suspiciously, "What do you guys know that we don't?" She continued to glare at them, removing her hands from Atlanta, placing one on her hip, "Spit!"
"What makes you think we'd tell you even if we knew?" Alister asked, turning away from her with a shrug.
Abigail laughed, her eyes glistening, "Look guys, if you must know," she held up her left hand to show off a diamond ring, making her sisters gasp audibly.
"Wow," Atlanta smiled, taking a closer look, "a bit posh to wear right now but it's real nice. Where'd you get it?"
Abigail raised an eyebrow, "You know, sometimes your brain can be too laid back at times." She indicated Raphael behind her, "He got me it."
"Oh," Atlanta turned to Raphael, "Nice ring, bit expensive for a friend…"
"Lanta!" Alyssa exclaimed, "you eejit! It's an engagement ring. You should know, you have a very nice one."
Atlanta frowned, puzzled, "Oh right, but I thought you were just friends. I…oh what the hell, congratulations."
All four girls ran for one another, hugging tightly at Abigail in the middle, laughing throughout the whole moment. "I always knew you'd be the first to marry" Alyssa exclaimed.
Arena looked down at her, "She's not! Atlanta is! She married Kaiba, remember?"
Alyssa frowned, "Oh yeah, silly me."
Atlanta shook her head, smiling. "When did this happen?"
"Yeah, we want all the juicy gossip and how it was done, exactly." Alyssa agreed, nodding her head. They were interrupted when the sound of a mobile went off, ringing loud and clear. Alyssa smiled guiltily, taking her red phone out of her pocket, "My bad!" Atlanta raised her eyebrow as Alyssa read the message, laughing by the end of it. "That Joseph Wheeler, he's hilarious!" She met their confused glances, "You know, Joey…Joey Wheeler, we met while you were injured Atlanta…what is so confusing for you to understand?"
Abigail folded her arms, unimpressed, "What are you doing? Why does he have your number?"
Alyssa raised one of her eyebrows, "Because we're friends, don't you have numbers belonging to friends?"
"Is there anything more to it?" Abigail asked suspiciously.
"Well, you would have seen that there's nothing there between Joey and me since he actually went to Bryony's christening, you know the event that you missed?" Alyssa asked acidly. "Really we're just friends!"
Atlanta laughed as Abigail looked to be about to ask more questions concerning Joey. "Really, they're just friends. He texts her jokes all the time! He used to text them to me but Kaiba deleted his number after blocking it! Still nauseates him I'm afraid!"
Valon chose that time to speak up, "Joey Wheeler? The same Joey Wheeler that I once knew?"
"Well since you were once a duellist, I'm guessing it's one in the same!" Arena replied sarcastically, making Atlanta swing round to glare at her. Why did she always treat this guy like that?
Atlanta turned back to Valon, "We met him a good while ago, as you were all travelling. Actually, I met him and Yugi and company. Got into conversation with him just after I'd woken up from a coma and…"
"A coma?" Abigail burst out, looking at her incredulously. "When the hell were you in a coma?"
Atlanta blushed wildly, shuffling her feet from side to side, "It was a little while ago. I got involved in a duel…with Shawn and Kaiba and another chumped up dude and well we wore electrodes and…they might have had a little of an effect on me…thus I passed out for a couple of days. It wasn't a real coma, Peter and Kaiba just enjoy exaggerating."
Abigail's disbelieving expression wasn't waning, in fact it increased. "Has motherhood driven you a little off the rails?" she asked seriously.
"Uh, not that I know of…" Atlanta replied slowly, "though the incident when Shawn held Kaiba at gunpoint really didn't do good for my mental health recently. Hence why I needed a break…what?"
"You are nuts!" Abigail exclaimed with wide eyes, "Shawn's dead sweetie, he has been for nearly two years now! He couldn't have done all that…no he couldn't have…stop nodding."
"It's true Abi," Arena supported Atlanta, "We found out he hadn't actually died. He came back hell-bent on vengeance against Kaiba!"
Alyssa nodded, "Yup, nearly killed him too, right in front of Atlanta! Though, Kaiba really didn't do nothing so that was really gocked up on Shawn's part! But it all worked out good, Atlanta found her half-sister, uncle Nick is engaged to Arianna's mother and little Bryony is beautiful….what?"
Abigail was looking more confused as they went along, holding up her hands and turning to Atlanta with questions in her eyes, "What the hell has been going on since I've been away? Who's Arianna?"
"Oh, that's Atlanta's younger sister! She's really cool, you have to meet her!" Alyssa piped up excitedly, totally ignoring her eldest sister's blazing eyes as she stared dtraight at Atlanta, who was beginning to feel a little under pressure.
"Um, there's been a lot to explain. The last number of months have been one oodalaly of a rollercoaster."
--
Alistair sat back in the chair he hated, because he hadn't been sitting in that chair since they'd arrived at the luxurious villa, but he had been forced from the seat he had loved by the dominating presence of Alyssa Gregory, telling him that that chair was her usual chair and that nobody sat there when she was around.
His grey eyes swooped over the lovely form of the tiny red head with the amber fire for eyes. Anytime he'd seen her, except for the ball at Halloween the year before, she had always been sporting some sort of jogging attire or an athletic jumpsuit. Today her shapely legs were covered by long, black leather pants, combined with a tight red tank top that complimented her long hair well.
Mentally chastising himself for noticing what she wore, he looked to the others to try and take his mind of the sparky little vixen that somehow claimed his attention whenever she was near. Not that she purposely did it, Alyssa just had that way about her that made the men in the room all turn their heads, forcing Alister to remind himself that at twenty-one, she was way too youthful and energetic for him.
The others were deep in discussion and Alister forced himself to concentrate, looking at Mai, who was, for some reason, looking saddened, but trying to cover this with her usual banter. "You gals should have all brought your bikes down, we could have had some sports out back on the hills."
Alister was intrigued by this suggestion but the blond girl, Arena, was shaking her head serious, "That's a no go area, sorry. Grandfather doesn't allow us to bring our bikes here in case we spoil the scenery."
"Or, in case certain amatures decide to crash!" Atlanta Gregory finished brightly, her large eyes glancing mischievously in the direction of Alyssa, who had her head laid back on her chair, her sunglasses still covering her eyes.
With her cousin's playful remark, the red head promptly looked up, giving Alister full view of her lovely face as she whipped the glasses off her nose, her eyes dancing hotly. "That was a mistake, it was the guys fault anyway, the cheat knifed one of my tyres, thus I crashed." she defended herself with vigour, making her cousins laugh merrily at her offended stance.
"Regardless," Abigail continued the discussion in a serious tone, "Grandpa doesn't approve of either of us biking anywhere. Remember Rena? He nearly had a fit when I told him I was borrowing one of Lyssa's bikes to travel with the guys." There was a merry laughter shared momentarily between the elder sisters, as they glanced fondly at each other. "Oh how I have missed you guys!"
Atlanta physically rolled her large eyes, "Well you wouldn't have to if you'd stopped hopping about as if there was a bee buzzing around in your underwear."
"Well," Abigail reached down and rummaged the long brown hair on top of Atlanta's relaxing head, "I doubt the wife of the CEO of a major company would ever have time to spend with her family these days anyway."
Arena smiled fondly at her younger cousin, making Alister suddenly mourn for his own family slightly as he tried to remember their smiles, "With her, we hardly get away from her before another disaster strikes. Same old Atlanta, simple actions with massive consequences."
"Tell me about it," Atlanta sighed, stretching out on her space on the floor, closing her eyes as she nestled her head into the sofa behind her, "Somewhere along in my easy going life, I somehow ended up married to the most arrogant man ever put together in God's great factory."
The girls laughed, and Mai folded her arms over her chest, "How did you manage to get a guy like Kaiba to settle down Atlanta, I mean, the last I seen him, he was one of the most stubbornest of guys I'd ever met."
Alister could feel the sudden tension in the room, as all of Atlanta's cousins froze, frowns appearing on their pretty faces. Atlanta however, kept her eyes closed, calmly shrugged, a small smile on her face. "I guess these things just swim up and smack you in the face when you least expect them. Where as he tends to be anti-social in a crowd, I'm the exact opposite, thus I guess opposites attract in that way." she spoke with her usual carefree tone, as if she was calmly speaking about the weather.
The fact that Kaiba had chosen to marry a girl like Atlanta had first stunned Alister. He had no qualms about the girl, she was nice enough and easy to get along with, he just never envisaged any woman getting a rubber ring out of Seto Kaiba let alone an engagement and wedding ring. But when the two of them were together, the sparks had ignited like fireworks, everyone at the Halloween ball could have seen that.
In fact, they were the same kind of sparks that Alister experienced every time Alyssa turned her passionate gaze on him, the fire almost drawing him in like a moth. He was sure there was chemistry, but he refused to act on it, deliberately determined to keep the young woman at arms length. Although, to be honest, she hadn't really seemed to react to him in the same way. Probably because she was twelve years his junior and not interested in older men.
The object of his thoughts had her attention caught by Mai, who was decidedly dazed as her fingered a strand of hair with an elegant hand, "How is Joey these days Alyssa? Is he keeping well? And Serenity? Is she ok?" It was clear that Mai was trying to sound casual when speaking about her old friend, whom she had betrayed the last time she had seen him.
Alyssa's brows knitted together in a somewhat confused frown as she glanced into space, "He's fine. Still hanging around with Yugi and Tristan, you know how those guys are. I think he said, the last time he informed me that is, that Serenity is great, enjoying her life to the fullest, the way she always wanted to."
Mai nodded solemnly, "Sounds like Joey. I haven't seen him in the longest of whiles."
As if almost knowingly, Alyssa got up from her chair and sat at the edge of Mai's, her small hand extended out in front of the blond duellist, "Let me see your phone."
Confusion written on her classy features, Mai brought out her portable phone and handed it to Alyssa cautiously. With a great memory, another admirable quality Alister noted, she dialled in a collection of numbers on the phone and put it up to her ear, a small smile on her face. "Hi, Joey?" she smiled brightly, making a little green-eyed monster stir within Alister. "It's Alyssa, where are you? Out to dinner with Serenity, Duke, Yugi, Tristan and Téa? Wow, quite a party you guys are having up there without us! Oh I know, it's not my phone, it belongs to an old friend of yours." There was a long pause before Alyssa frowned, "No not Kaiba…why would I ring you from Kaiba's phone?" The other girls laughed while a large, knowing smile broke out on Atlanta's relaxing face. "Well there's nothing wrong with my phone…no I don't need you to fix it…Joe…no, dammit Joey quit yakking for five minutes will you? I have an old friend here who is dieing to talk to you."
Sudden panic flittered across Mai's face, her violet eyes widening in shock and she shook her head in sudden embarrassment, denying the phone that Alyssa held out for her, pushing it away from her.
"Watch out, Alyssa doesn't give up that easily…"Abigail spoke lowly as they all watched Alyssa bring the phone back to her ear.
"Actually, she's feeling a little shy, I'm going to put it on loud speaker for you…yes there's someone here!" Alyssa rolled her eyes in an adorable way, putting the phone on loud speaker and holding it out for the others. "Say hi guys!"
"Hi Joey!" came Arena's and Atlanta's reply as Alyssa glared at those who hadn't spoken.
"Hi there ladies! Hows you doing this fine evening?" came the playful reply, "Hold on, I'll put you on loud so you can talk to the others. Funny, we were just talking about your husband Atlanta!"
"When exactly did he stop being rich boy and suddenly become known as my husband?" Atlanta asked loudly, still not moving for her position on the floor.
"When you married him! Say hows little Bryony? Is she missing Uncle Joey?"
"Oh quit it Joey, you're not her uncle for the last time! Kaiba would never let you near the child!" came a voice that Alister wasn't quite familiar with, but he continued talking, "Hey guys, Tristan here, as if you didn't know!"
"Hey Tristan!" Alyssa greeted him brightly, "And all you other guys. We'd be here all day if we start that! We have someone here that knows you lot very well." At this, Mai was now very red and staring at the sofa upon which she sat, looking sad and downtrodden. "It's Valon…uh Raphael and Alister. You remember, the guys you lot saved from Dartz?"
There was a long pause from the other end of the line, before the familiar voice of Yugi came over, "Hey guys! Well I only really met Raphael but hey to you two too. How you guys doing?"
"Hello Yugi." Raphael spoke now, a frown on his face as he stared at the phone. "We're all doing fine. Mai's here with us too."
Suddenly a completely unfamiliar female voice came on the line, in an excited shrill, calling out, "Mai? You're there? Mai, its Serenity!"
Having been finally addressed, Mai was forced to speak up as she glared at Raphael for revealing her presence, "Hi Serenity. You sound well."
"I'm doing great. I haven't seen you in a long while, you must come to visit. I'm staying with Joey for a couple of weeks in Domino, please come, we all must get together and do lunch. Shouldn't she Joe?"
There was a long pause at the other end of the line before Joey came back on, sounding slightly less than bright, "Uh hi Mai! How are ya?"
Mai sighed audibly, keeping her face down, trying to hide her expression from the others, "I'm fine Joey, been travelling the world, you know me, can't keep this girl grounded for too long."
"Yeah, I know. It's been a long time. Serenity's right, you should drop in and visit sometime, for old time's sake, you know…I mean, we used to be great friends…I'm just glad you're not hunting my soul again….hehe, just kidding, ow Tristan, don't hit me!"
Alister watched as Mai laughed, smiling now as she replied, "Yeah, Joe! You know I'm sorry about all that!"
"Ow…yeah don't worry about it Mai! That Dartz guy was a punk, lucky the pharaoh took care of him! The pharaoh's gone now, pity you never got to say goodbye to 'im, we were all real cut up when he left! Wow, listen to me, rambling on! Give me your numba and we can catch up sometime, ok?"
"Joey, this is her number, that's why I rung you from her phone, you wally!" Alyssa cried, rolling her amber eyes expressively, "You really can be so stupid at times Wheeler. Anyway, nice checking up on you, we better go! See ya guys, oh and Yugi, you still owe me that duel…Bye!"
Alyssa hung up the phone and handed it back to Mai, a self satisfied smile on her face she sat down in her original seat, crossing her leather clad legs in a well down gesture. "Yeah, I'd say Joey's fine Mai!"
Alister saw that Abigail had a slightly offended look on her face as she stared at her youngest sister. "What the hell was that Lyssa?" she demanded almost breathlessly.
Alyssa merely shrugged her shoulders and turned to Abigail, "What? It was clear that she wanted to get back in touch with him. So I did it for her, quick and painless. Now they both know that the other one is still breathing in a fit and healthy condition. Anyway, Mai here strikes me as a go-getter anyway. She doesn't seem like the type do want to waste years wondering when there's opportune moments floating by."
"Didn't mean you had to go embarrass the poor girl!" Abigail reprimanded her again.
"Please guys, I'm here to relax, let's not argue. Peace and love all around." Atlanta hummed softly, still not moving from her spot on the floor, looking the picture of relaxation. "Besides, if Mai isn't offended in any way, there's hardly any harm done. Joey seemed happy to hear from her, ecstatic actually so there ya go."
--
Arianna stared out at the sea in front of her, sighing as she felt the cool breeze kiss her features delicately. It was her last week at Duel Academy and she'd be graduating in a number of days. How life went by so quickly at times. Especially in the last year. One minute she was an only child and the next she found out she had this huge expansive family and now she's an aunt.
She couldn't help but smile, her niece really was a beautiful baby and she was proud to be her aunt. And then there were her cousins, including Aimee. There were really so many people to know. Like her father…
From what she saw from him, he really was a great man. He'd even come to visit her the week before, paying for her mother to fly out too. It had been sure awkward at first but he firmly believed they had things to talk about and they had in a way.
Of course, Henrietta had been nervous. But both her and Nicholas had hit it off like old flames, talking about their families and such, Arianna was surprised that her mother had known so much about Atlanta, Bevin and Peter, but then, she had worked with her father while they were children.
"Bevin used to be such a torture, a hit with every woman at the office!" Henrietta had remembered, a fond expression on her face. "And so handsome too, the confidence that boy had, no wonder he's made such a name for himself."
Arianna nodded, her elder brother was somewhat of an idiot but he was hit with the ladies, many girls in her dorm had been surprised to see that she had been related so closely to someone so famous.
"And then there was Atlanta!" Henrietta laughed a little, "Hardly a minute went by when she wasn't wandering through the offices, day dreaming. She loved her little dungarees and her little teddy. She was the cutest ever, the biggest green eyes you could ever see in a child, the longest brown hair for her age, kept in two pig-tails. She was very smart for her age too, used to keep the other children at the department busy and in line."
Henrietta had allowed a sad light to come into her eyes then as she had placed a hand over Arianna's. "You were very like her when you were young, but a lot taller and blond of course. She was always very petit but you always had long legs. But you reminded me of her so much but you were mine, my beautiful daughter."
The words echoed in her head now, she had reminded her mother of another girl, her sister.
She was awoken from her trance suddenly by another voice. "I see somebody's already taken my place by the lighthouse." came a familiar voice and Arianna lifted her head to see Zane Truesdale, dressed in his usual black coat, looking tall and disturbing as he watched her.
"You shouldn't be out of the infirmary, you're not yet well, Zane." Arianna rambled out, getting to her feet to watch him as he walked slowly towards her, an interested look in his eyes as he watched her quietly.
"I'll be fine, as long as I don't exert myself." Zane replied, coming to stand beside her to watch the ocean engulf the setting sun. "I was bored, nobody came to see me today, I hope Sy hasn't done something stupid."
Arianna frowned a little, "You really think he's done something stupid? He might have been busy with other things, it is Graduation week."
Zane nodded slowly, "Yeah, I had remembered that. It seems like only yesterday when my brother enrolled here, three long years ago." There was some bitterness in his voice as he spoke but Arianna chose not to comment on it. "I never thought he belonged here, he was too indecisive, too nervous, too…"
"Weak?" she offered for him.
Zane nodded a deep frown on his face, "He seemed to be weak, but he sure proved me wrong on that score. I look at him now and hardly recognise this strong person I never knew before."
"Because you never gave him a chance." Zane's frown deepened but Arianna continued regardless, "It's true. It mustn't be easy growing up in your shadow. You were the best Duellist on campus! No wonder he doubts himself so much at times. I would."
Zane blinked several times before replying, "I guess that is a way to look at it. I used to worry about him a lot during his first year. Forever he followed Jaden, looking up to him like a love-starved puppy."
"He was love-starved, you treated him like a distant relative rather than your brother."
"That's not true…"
"Yes it is, I never once saw you anywhere near him unless it was to have some sort of chat with Jaden."
"That was while the Shadow Riders were about…"
Arianna laughed, "Shadow what?"
Zane blinked and shook his head, "Doesn't matter…so …"
With his speech dwindling off, Arianna blinked herself, suddenly feeling somewhat awkward, looking about herself, "Uh, I could go if you wanted sometime alone, I know you used to come down here a lot when you attended the school and…well…yeah I'll just go…"
"You don't have to…" Zane replied evenly, "I actually am enjoying your company, Arianna."
"Oh…right." Arianna did the only thing she could think of and sat down, still staring out with the wind blowing the loose tresses of her hair about her face. Zane continued to stand beside her silently, a gentle giant of solitude, as he stared, straight-faced, ahead.
"It must be hard being alone all the time…"
It was only a small comment but it was harsh yet she was being honest. Zane seemed to always be alone, he even fired his promoter for crying out loud. She just didn't know what drove a person like that, and judging from some of his matches she had watched, he was the harshest person one could ever meet since his loss to Aster Phoenix.
In response, he sat beside her, blue eyes turning to look in her direction, assessing her quietly. "I'm not alone now…"
She couldn't help the small blush that invaded her face, but she refused to be baited for his amusement. "That doesn't count since you came down here to be alone and to think."
"I did come down here to be alone, it is my usual spot," Zane agreed calmly, "But then, it still doesn't take away from the fact that I am still with company. Besides, Alexis used to come down here all the time too."
Arianna rolled her eyes sarcastically, "Oh yes, Alexis. I remember, the two of you used to sneak off into the night to be alone."
She didn't know what made her say it, but now that she had, she had to face the consequences of his amused laughter, "Oh yes, all the time. The things we used to get up to at this lighthouse aren't for such innocent ears to be witness to."
Her flush deepening, Arianna went to get up only to have his arm stop her as he laughed at her outraged reaction. "Calm down. Alexis and I were friends, nothing more. I knew Atticus from Prep School, and I met her just before I enrolled here. It tore her apart when Atticus went missing as I'm sure you know!"
She did know, she had heard the stories from Alexis's own lips and she should really have known that they were only friends although Alexis had hinted that at times Zane seemed to want more. It was things like these that somehow bothered Arianna and she couldn't fathom why.
"How did you know she'd come down here anyway?"
"Uh…" Again she blushed, "…because I followed her one night. I saw her leave when I was returning from being at Speedy's dorm room."
"Ah," Zane replied slowly, "I had forgotten how close you were to Gonzalez and Schwarz, tell me, you still…friends with them?"
"They're on the Pro circuit now as well as you know."
"Ah…too busy for you now?"
Arianna frowned and turned to glare at him hotly, "They're not too busy, they're living their dreams! And yes, I do still consider them my friends, at least they knew how to be polite rather than a loner all the time!"
"Perhaps, one doesn't get so distracted when you're alone. You would know, wouldn't you, after all, you grew up without any brothers or sisters."
Reminded of this fact, Arianna turned away, hiding a quiver, "I was never alone, I had my mother, my friends and everyone else. Look at you, you have a little brother who used to be afraid to speak to you! Hell, people didn't realise you were related until that tag duel in first year!"
Zane blinked several times, nodding, "I didn't even believe they'd win that duel, but my brother pulled through."
"Yeah and look at him now…he's a good young man. A good friend!"
"Do you think he's besotted with you?"
Shocked by the blatant way he asked the question, Arianna blushed and shook her head, "No, I don't!"
"I do…" Zane turned to look at her, assessing her wholly, "I don't blame him, you're very pretty Arianna."
This time as she stood up, he didn't try and stop her, "I think I'll return to my dorm now. Thanks for the company Zane." Shaken, she left the area not even waiting for the parting comment that never even came anyway. Had she always been attracted to Zane Truesdale?
--
Flushing the chain of the toilet and yawning loudly, Alyssa rubbed her eyes tiredly, still half asleep as she headed back to her usual room with her usual large bed. She shouldn't have drunk that extra cup of coffee before heading to bed, she hated disturbing her much needed beauty sleep with avoidable trips to the bathroom.
She had felt proud of herself earlier, when she had instigated the phone call with Joey. It had been obvious that Mai had wanted to get back in contact with him, she had even seen a flash of the green eyed monster float into her eyes during one of Joey's joke texts. But it was needless, there was nothing romantic at all between Joey and Alyssa. They had just hit it off right away and had remained friends since Atlanta's stint in the infirmary.
Swearing she could have left the door opened, she pushed down the handle and entered the room she usually slept in and headed straight for bed, barely remembering to lock the door behind her as she stripped off her robe, leaving herself bare, just the way she usually slept. Yawning again, she climbed into the warm sheets, curling up into her usual ball, enclosing her legs close to herself. She didn't know why she usually slept in the large bed, because she barely used any of it, usually staying at the side and her small form usually failing to make and sort of impression on the colossal bed.
Dozing, on the verge of falling into her deep slumber again, she felt something that almost jerked her to full consciousness. A large, slim hand had landed on her shoulder, palm facing up. Her amber eyes widened as she stared at it, about to move in fear, wondering who the hell it could be. However, the hand soon gently grasped her shoulder, and pulled her onto her back so that she was staring at a drowsy Alister looming above her, confusion written in his features as he tiredly stared back at her with dazed grey eyes.
Damn, Alyssa remembered suddenly. She wasn't using her usual bedroom this weekend. Too late, she recalled that she had actually left her bedroom door opened, it was just that she'd gone back to the wrong bedroom in her sleeping state. An apology bubbled up into her throat but she froze before she could utter a word.
Alister's eyes had seemed more awake now as his gaze slipped down her body, staring at her naked breasts, full in his view. Alyssa gasped audibly as she watched him, her nipples peaking in response to his scrutiny and even more so when he watched them peaking. Her breathing had become shallow and her heart was pounding blood in her ears as she watched him, not being able to find the strength to move away.
She watched as his darkened gaze raised to meet her own, his eyes black pools of desire as they stared at one another. Slowly, achingly so, he began to lower his head towards her, his eyes moving to stare at her lips as he did so. Finally, his lips met hers in a kiss that was so tender, it took her breath away.
As tender as it was, the kiss ignited a passion within her, so strong that it consumed her very being. Swiftly, the kiss moved from the gentle kind, to one of furious waves of emotion, the sparks flying widely between them as Alyssa's hands came up to dive into his glorious hair, using it as an anchor of strength. Alister's own hands were tracing the lining of her waist and hips, silently worshipping her toned curves, driving Alyssa wild with unfulfilled desire.
She moaned as one hand cupped one of her small breasts, his other cupping her bottom and arching her into the curve of his own body, allowing her to feel his pulsing erection between her thighs with only his boxers forming a thin layer of protection. Following her moan, he used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth, allowing her to take up the challenge it presented, letting her tongue enter into a duel for supremacy with his.
Their breathing mingled, their bodies fit together nicely, only his hand stopping them from fitting even more snugly as he continued to cup her breast in an intimate manner. She arched even closer to him when his thumb brushed softly against her tender peak, resulting in it tightening even more against his soft administrations.
In all her twenty one years, Alyssa had never felt anything quite like this. All her previous boyfriends seemed like bumbling baboons compared to this Alister's administrations on her fully exposed, revealed to be rather inexperienced, youthful body. He set it on fire and burned with her as she felt desire flooding to her lower abdomen, pooling between her legs.
Finally, as if needing to breathe, he raised his head to stare at her through grey eyes. Alister's breathing was hot and heavy as he lowered himself and started to gently kiss every part of her naked breasts, each kiss causing a little pulse of desire to flow through her. Eventually, his mouth closed over one aching nipple, his tongue encircling it as he pulled on it gently, causing her body to arch back in reaction to the pleasure she felt as a result, closing her eyes from the intensity.
Soon, his mouth concentrated on the other bringing with it, new sensations as his hand continued to pleasure the other. Stars danced behind her eyelids, fireworks of pleasure exploded in her head, sweeping her away to some unknown plane of hot intensity and blinding passion.
She felt Alister raise himself above her, making Alyssa open her eyes to stare drowsily at him, her body feeling as if it had been drugged by the pleasure she had been receiving. His eyes holding her own captive, her brought his hand down between them and with one lean finger, he gently touched her sensitive spot between her thighs, sending little tingles of pleasure shooting up her body as she determinedly held his gaze.
As if acknowledging her challenging determination, Alister narrowed his eyes, watching her solidly, as he pressed more firmly against her with two fingers, gently massaging her so that those tiny tingles of pleasure built up to giant waves of intense explosions of vibrations throughout her body that she struggled to suppress, biting down heavily on her full lower lip, almost drawing blood. And still she stared at him through desire ridden eyes, still challenging his dominance over her body.
Brow knitting together in soft confusion, Alister lowered his head and took her lips with his own as his fingers continued their administration on her lower region. His kiss causing her to lose control of her body, she gasped audibly as she allowed the sensations to overtake her as his fingers gently drove her into a frenzy of hot, intense passion. Bracing herself, she grabbed hold of his shoulders, holding onto him tightly with her finger tips as the waves threatened to carry her away as she fought them for control.
"Let go!" he murmured huskily against her lips, neither of them caring that these were the first words uttered between them since they had met again that day outside the villa. "Let it come. Stop fighting it!"
His words seemed to act like a trigger between them as she stopped fighting the pressure, allowing the vibrations to overcome her body, allowing the pleasure to drown out her senses as she clung to him, the fireworks exploding and spreading like wild fire in her head, making her feel dizzy and incomprehensible. Feelings she had never felt before flooded through her, her body feeling alive in so many ways it had never before known.
Finally, Alyssa seemed to return to earth with a shattering embarrassment as she felt the obvious dampness between her legs, not believing she had actually lost control like that in a man's arms, hot flushes rising to her cheeks. Alister watched her intently, his fingers not giving up on their attentive massage, starting to build new tension within her body. This time, however, he replaced his fingers with the flat surface of his thumb as he inserted one finger into the hot wetness of her core, forcing her eyes to widen as she stared back at him.
Involuntarily, her muscles clenched around him as he continued to work his magic, in and out, the rhythm driving her mad with need. She moaned loudly when he entered a second finger, continuing his accelerating rhythm within her as her body began to respond, arching upwards to meet him halfway.
Again his mouth came crushing down on hers as he continued to plunge his fingers into her depths, giving her so much, but leaving so much more to be discovered. Feeling his toned chest against her own softness, increased her need to feel the whole of him crushed against her.
Alyssa's small hands flew to his boxers, the need to have him naked with her playing havoc with her senses. Still enjoying the rhythm he was coaxing within her, she slipped her thumbs into his boxer rim and gently pulled it out to lower the pair over his bottom, releasing his firm member to the air between them.
Momentarily stopping his administrations, Alister helped her unclothe him by wriggling his underwear down his legs, kicking them off so they were both naked. But, as if teasing, he went back to his glorious administrations that brought her such pleasure but left so much more to be discovered as he continued to kiss her deeply.
Smirking against his lips, she decided two could play at that game and let her hand roam to his stiff manhood, shyly touching it at first, loving the shocked gasp that erupted from him as she touched its sensitive peak. Gently, she explored the most sacred part of him, gently circling him with her small hand, slowly pumping in the ways she would with her old boyfriends in the past.
As if driven to his limit, Alister pulled roughly away from her, quickly nudging her legs apart and positioning himself at her entrance before pausing to stare down at her with passion drugged eyes. The message in his eyes was clear; it wasn't too late to say no. Blinking heavily, Alyssa sat up and kissed him hotly on the lips, giving him her answer in the same language he asked.
She broke from his lips with a breathless gasp as she felt him sheath himself inside her, driving deeply into her hot depths. Pausing, he allowed for her tight muscles to expand to accommodate his size as he kissed her lips. Slowly he started to move within her, withdrawing and then entering again in what started out as a slow rhythm that she followed with her hips, loving the feel of him inside her.
Gradually and fiercely, the desire and pleasure started to overwhelm them as their pace slowly became more frenzied as they mated in a fashion as old as time itself. Alyssa's arms held him close, her lips kissing the skin at the base of his neck as his lips brushed against her temple. Their bodies continued to move against one another in a sweat-slicked coupling, creating mounting tension and pleasure that finally overflowed when, with a small cry, she bit down on his neck as he pushed her over the edge into oblivion, soon crying out his own release, joining her there, spilling himself warmly inside her.
Later, much later it seemed, they both returned to earth, their breathing slowing, their heart beats finally becoming normal, their muscles gently throbbing from their exertions. Alister raised his head and stared at her for a long moment, before kissing her lips in a gentle kiss that mimicked the kiss he had given to her at the start of their lovemaking.
As if there was no need for words, he rolled over, bringing her with him and letting her head rest on his chest as drowsiness engulfed them both. However, Alyssa didn't fall asleep, not even when she felt the even rise and fall of his breathing that signalled his sink into slumber, his hands no longer holding her but resting on her body.
Shame had descended onto Alyssa in the last half hour. Ashamed she was of her wanton actions with Alister, a man who was almost a complete stranger. Frowning, she gently pulled herself away from the warmth of his embrace, softly climbing out of the bed that now seemed like something out of a nightmare rather than the bed she had spent many dreaming nights in her youth.
How could she be so stupid as to behave so wantonly with him, a man she barely even liked on a social level, someone she had always fought with, had found irritating from the word go. But tonight there had been more than the usual angry sparks between them, they had somehow become like nuclear explosions.
And it was all her fault, what else was a man to think when a woman climbed into bed beside him in the middle of the night…naked. Yes, she had climbed, somehow unknowingly, into bed with a sleeping man in nothing but what she had been born in. How the hell had his gaze imprisoned her so, not allowed her to move when her instincts had told her to flee but her body hadn't listened. It, particularly her breasts, had been too interested in the man that had been looming over her and interested in the silent promises that had lay behind his eyes as he had surveyed her naked body.
Clasping her robe ad pulling it around her suddenly cold body, she glance one more time at the sleeping man before tip toeing out of the room and back to the one she had been assigned to this weekend, locking the door behind her as if she was worried he might follow. Tying the sash together, she climbed into that bed, refusing to sleep naked in case her body tried to remember every sensation and vibration Alister's magical hands had sent through her comparatively inexperienced body.
