And we’ll have more.
Chapter 22
June
“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.”- Bernard Williams
Ben
It’s been too long.
Blair and Isaac have been scattered to the corners of the globe for the last two weeks. Isaac in London, Paris and then Kyoto. Blair in New York, Shanghai and then in Kyoto together, which was something.
The jealousy I thought I’d have at sharing either of them is minimal. I’m envious that they’re together and I’m here, organising the security for the three-and-a-half week vacation we’re having together and making it as discreet as possible as well as masterminding various other small details like the coronation she’s now half way to being excited about. The girl who loves the parties has returned, not quite the same, but that lust she had for life with the contagious laugh and genuine smile is back.
I’m content.
For the first time in forever, I know what peace feels like.
Three hours in front of a computer screen is driving me crazy and I’m driving Micky crazy, so before either of us commit murder, I head out into the grounds to get some air and see the sky.
It’s blue and cloudless. The temperature is hitting records for June in Scotland and schools have finished for summer. My father has a girlfriend and I’m dodging him asking advice on giving oral, because those aren’t the conversations you ever want to have with your father, even though I suspect he’s doing it on purpose because he knows it makes me uncomfortable and Blair laugh. Isaac tends to look away as if he’s contemplating world peace if he’s there when my dad brings it up.
I head towards the maze, wanting the forty-five minutes or so it’ll take to get to the centre and the oak tree, where I can get a bit of piece away from Micky and my phone. Blair will be back some time tonight and then Isaac, who has to go to London first, before having a few days off where we’ll do little more than walk and laugh and talk and fuck.
At night we’ll sleep in our bed, the covers abandoned because old castles don’t have air conditioning and together we create a lot of heat. The castle staff turn a blind eye and we try to be subtle. Try.
The maze is scented with honeysuckle and lavender, smells that remind me of Blair. Everything reminds me of Blair. And on the periphery of each reminder is Isaac, standing there with his hands in his pockets and his dark stubble and dark eyes, watching us until we invite him in.
He belongs to us. Our third. Our glue.
Swallows dip and dive around in the air. A light breeze blows through the bushes and I see the oak tree, its leaves providing a canopy of shade.
I sit down in the spot where I’ve been a million times before with Blair. There’s a whisper from the trees and a the sound of footsteps, the rhythm of them, one I recognise.
She appears from round the corner, blonde hair cascading down her back and her shoulders are bare. She’s tanned and the weight she lost after Lennox died and her father was ill has come back. I stand up as does something else.
She looks good and my cock knows it.
“I knew I’d find you here. Micky said you’d gone for a walk before he killed you.” As soon as she’s close enough, she wraps her arms around me as much as she can and presses herself against me.
“There’s no chance of Micky harming a hair on my head.”
Her laughter sounds like bells ringing, telling me that she’s home. She laughs because this is an ongoing battle, thinking of ways Micky and I can off each other. It sounds quite dark, until he mentions his favourite is death by being chained to cooks stove and force fed her cheese and onion pie, which wouldn’t be too bad an ending.
“How’s everything been?” Her hands undo the buttons that my shirt stupidly has on it.
“Fine. Everything is booked. We just need Isaac’s cabinet members to behave themselves. Three weeks of nothing to do. Except I’ll be working.”
She laughs, her hands stretching up in the air for me to pull off the top, leaving her in just a lacy bra and a skirt that she hasn’t been at a conference in because nothing would’ve been done.
“You’ll be working by watching me.”
“Maybe.” It’s more than that because the threat is always there. The decision to introduce a bill that restricts the monarchy’s powers has to return to constitutional law has been fairly welcomed. The agreements put into place around the oil and how profit from it is dealt with have been popular. Paden’s Law. It was always for the people.
“You need to have a break too.”
“I’m getting one now.” I bend her down and kiss her hard, my hand at her back snapping open her bra.
