The Domville 6 (The Domville #6) by C. J. Fallowfield Read Free Book Online Page A

back while you
were hugging the toilet?’
    ‘Too many,’ I grinned, suddenly softening to feel his
touch and hear him call me beautiful, reminding me of good times. ‘What
happened, Fin. Why did you cut me out of your life?’
    ‘That’s what I’ve come to talk to you about. I never
meant to hurt you, Freckles. I wanted to talk to you every bloody day. You’ve
no idea how many times I picked up the phone to ring you, but I couldn’t.’
    ‘You couldn’t ?’ I snapped out of my nostalgic daze
and managed to shove him off me, feeling the room start to spin. ‘You still
have a tongue in your mouth, you still have a hand on the end of each arm, with
all fingers attached and fully functional. What could possibly have stopped you
from picking up the damn phone, Fin? It’s not exactly a difficult task.’
    ‘Not here, people are staring,’ he warned. ‘Come back to
my room and we can talk in private.’
    ‘No! I don’t want to talk, I don’t … I don’t want to …
shit, I don’t feel so good,’ I moaned, reaching up to clasp the bridge of my
nose.
    ‘Right, that’s it. You’re coming with me, like it or
not.’
     
    Finian

     
    I grabbed her as she swayed on her feet. Feck! She was
pissed and about to pass out. She’d never been able to hold her drink. I
crouched down, tucked one arm under her knees, and scooped her up into my arms.
    ‘Let. Me. Go,’ she uttered, trying to keep her eyes open
as she struggled in my arms. ‘I hate you.’
    ‘No, you don’t. You love me, Toni Bradbury. At least I
hope you still do,’ I stated as I looked down at her. ‘Why do you think I left
and never called? You told me that you loved me the night of our graduation
party and scared the living daylights out of me. I was twenty-one years old.
Twenty-one! I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship. I ran, ok? I was an
arse, I know that, but I needed time. Time to get youth and freedom out of my
system before I even thought about settling down. Why do you think I came back?
Freckles? Freckles? Feck!’ I groaned to see she’d passed out in my arms.
My girl really was a lightweight with alcohol. I turned around and eased my way
through the crowds, smiling and nodding at some of our old classmates as they
laughed to see us just like we’d often been on a night out. Me in control,
Freckles comatose. She’d need to be sick, then she’d want some sweet tea and a
burger with fries, then some bread and butter pudding and a good sleep. That
was what always pulled her out of her pissed state back then.
    ‘What the hell?’ muttered Alexis as she halted me in my
tracks.
    ‘You know she can’t handle her drink. Did she eat before
you came out?’
    ‘No idea,’ Alexis shrugged.
    ‘You should know better,’ I barked, furious with her. ‘What
if I hadn’t been here? She could have been hit on by any number of randy guys
who wouldn’t have treated her respectfully.’
    ‘I should know better?! You have a nerve, Finian. Showing
up here after all this time, making out like you still know her. Ten years is a
long time, she’s changed.’
    ‘No, she hasn’t,’ I sighed, looking down at her suspended
in my arms. Her head had rolled to the side and her cheek was pressed up
against my champagne soaked waistcoat. ‘She’s still the Freckles I left
behind.’
    ‘You’ve missed a lot, Fin. You broke her when you left
and I’m not sure she’s ever found all the pieces. She lost her spark and that
fun loving side she always had. She’s barely even had a relationship. I think
she believes if someone she was that close to could turn their back on her, how
can she ever trust another man again.’
    ‘I screwed up, ok? I know that, but I’m back now and I’m
going to fix it. She saw me outside with the blonde?’ I asked, putting two and
two together.
    ‘No, but I did,’ she replied, crossing her arms across
her chest defensively with a scowl.
    ‘Not my wife. Not my girlfriend even, I don’t have one. She
was just a