Page 28 of Three's a Crowd
His lips were soft, but the pressure against her mouth was firm and oh, so very welcome. All thoughts spun right out of her head as she kissed him back, sliding her tongue against his, pushing it deep into his mouth and revelling in the intoxicatingrightnessof it. Like this, right here, was where she’d always craved to be.
Drawing back just a fraction from her, he moved his head to kiss her from a different angle, running his tongue along the inside of her top lip, then gently biting down on her bottom one, just like she’d done to him all those years ago in the cellar.
‘Oh, God, Diz, I’ve been wanting to kiss you all fucking day,’ he breathed against her mouth.
There was a loud clunk outside in the hall and Zach quickly drew away from her, a look of alarm on his face. He got up and left the living room to see what the noise had been.
Daisy’s head was spinning. She felt charged with adrenaline, but the thought that Adam might have seen them made her shiver with fear.
She suddenly felt too drunk, as if the adrenaline had hyper-charged the alcohol in her system.
‘Are you okay, mate?’ she heard Zach ask.
‘Yeah, fine, I just tripped over your bag and dropped one of the glasses,’ she heard Adam reply.
Thank God, Daisy thought. She felt a rush of shame at the idea of Adam catching them kissing.
How could they have been sostupid? And, more to the point, how could she even think of doing this to him? In his own home. What kind of a selfish bitch was she?
By the time Adam and Zach had cleared up the mess and returned with fresh drinks and the now half full bottle of whisky, she’d made up her mind to tell Zach he had to leave her alone. And she him. It was the only decent thing to do. Clearly, they couldn’t be friends.
No matter how bereft that left her.
As she watched him come back into the room, she became aware of tears welling in the back of her eyes. Her body craved him –so much– but he was bad news. He’d always loved to play with her affections just for the thrill of getting a rise out of her. She wouldn’t allow it any more. She couldn’t. She liked her life the way it was; she didn’t need him messing it up for her again.
He glanced over at her while Adam was putting his drink down on the side table and made a face to reflect his relief too, that they hadn’t been caught.
Daisy just glared at him and he seemed taken aback by her sudden coldness.
Adam started rambling on about old times, really slurring his words now as the whisky added to his wine high and Zach joined in, every now and again shooting Daisy questioning looks when he thought Adam wasn’t paying attention.
She stayed silent, except for when directly addressed, desperate to get out of the room, but not wanting to make it obvious to either Zach or Adam that she was flailing.
The level of the whisky bottle got lower and lower as they refilled their glasses.
After a decent amount of time had passed, she finally got up.
‘I have to go to bed. I’m really tired.’ She made a move towards the door.
Zach knocked back his whisky in one gulp and stood up too. ‘Diz, can you show me where the bathroom is?’ he asked, already walking towards her. ‘I’ll be back in a sec, Ad, mate.’
‘Sure, no problem,mate,’ Daisy heard Adam reply and she turned back to look through the open doorway and saw him close his eyes and sink back onto the sofa in a drunken daze. He hadn’t sounded angry though, so she guessed, with a surge of guilt-tinged relief, that he really hadn’t seen them kissing earlier.
Unable to unpick her racing thoughts right now, she stumbled down the corridor towards the bathroom, intensely aware of Zach’s presence behind her.
As soon as they reached the door, he wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. It was dark in there, but she could just make out his outline moving towards her and she backed away, trembling, until her legs hit the side of the bath.
‘Diz, I’m sorry. I never meant to put you in this position and I love Adam like a brother, but you and I… we’re meant to be together. I think you know it too. There’s always been thisthingbetween us.’ He cupped her face with both hands and leant towards her so their lips were practically touching. ‘I know youfeel it too,’ he murmured against her mouth, the haze of whisky on his breath making her heady.
They were both drunk, she realised, and out of their minds. Again.
A slow, sinking sadness worked its way through her chest, followed by a torrent of guilt. ‘No. I won’t do that to Adam. I can’t play your games any more. This is mylifeyou’re messing with.’
Zach was silent for a moment, his breathing shallow. ‘You belong with me, Daisy, not him. We were each other’s firsts. I’m yours and you’re mine,’ he said, his grip tightening on her jaw as the frustration grew in his voice. ‘Mine.’
Daisy jerked her head back, out of his grip, anger flaring in her chest. ‘I donotbelong with you. You’re just drunk and too much of a coward to end your relationship with Lola, like agrown up.’ She put her hands flat against his chest and pushed him away from her so he had to take a stumbling step backwards. ‘How can you treat me like this? Like I’m some kind of pet to play with? I want you out of my house, first thing in the morning and I don’t think we should see each other again,’ she hissed, her voice starting to break with emotion. She couldn’t deal with this; she was too knotted up inside.
Zach let out a low sigh, as if he was intensely disappointed in her. ‘If that’s what you want, Dizzy, that’s fine with me.’
