It was Monday night and I was waiting outside Hampstead station. My conversation with Aunt Siobhan had given me a lot to think about. She’d admitted it was just a hunch but at some point, I’d have to dig deeper to see if it was true. Our chat had caused me to rehash old family memories, looking for any signs that what she believed was true. She was right, I was different from Frank in many ways but physically, we were quite similar. We’d both inherited our mother’s fair hair and facial features. If I tracked down the man who Aunt Siobhan believed may be my father, would he know the truth? Would my mother have told him about me? I looked towards the sky, as if seeking guidance, from a God I’d never trusted or fully believed in.
As I looked back down, a group of teenagers wandered past, dressed in Halloween costumes. I put my hands in my jacket pockets to warm them up, then withdrew my phone and frowned. No message from Nik to say he was running late. I furrowed my brow. Was he going to stand me up? But as I looked back up, there he was, exiting the tube station. A broad grin spread across his face as he spotted me and an explosion of butterflies assaulted my insides.
He walked over and leaned forward to kiss my cheek. “Hi.”
His lips felt warm and soft on my face and his stubble grazed my skin as he pulled away. I suppressed an impulse to touch the spot he had kissed. A warm glow spread through my belly as I smiled, shyly at him, suddenly feeling awkward.
His gaze moved up and down my body, taking in my carefully selected outfit of fitted jeans and red top. “You look beautiful.”
Beautiful! “Thanks.” A gust of wind blew my hair into my face and I tucked it behind my ear.
“Shall we?” he gestured for me to start walking, in the direction of the park but hung back slightly to allow me to go first. He was such a gentleman!
As we walked, I felt his warm presence beside me. My eyes flitted towards him. I should say something. “How was your day?” I blurted out.
He shrugged. “Not bad. Busy, same as most days. How about yours?”
I raised my hand and twisted it from side to side. “Same really. I hung out with my flatmates, applied for some jobs, read through some rejection emails.” I gave a rue smile.
“Don’t worry, you’ll find something soon.”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone says but anyway…” I didn’t want to spend the evening talking about my problems. “ I phoned my Aunt Siobhan yesterday and asked her about my family history.”
He straightened up. “Really? What did she say?”
“She actually has a hunch that the man who I spent my entire life calling ‘Dad’ may not be my father.”
He stared into space. “Hmm, that is interesting…”
I looked at him sideways, narrowing my eyes. He was being pretty callous considering I’d found out something that would be really upsetting to most people.
He cleared his throat. “… And also shocking. How do you feel about it?”
I shrugged. “Well, there’s no love lost between me and my Dad so I’m not heart broken.”
He softened his voice. “But still though, it must’ve given you a lot to think about. Even if your relationship with your father isn’t good, that piece of news would upset anyone.”
“Yeah, I suppose so…” My voice trailed off. He was going out of his way to show the best version of himself. Isn’t that what all men did when they went on dates? But I sensed that he was doing it for another reason than simply getting his leg over. What was beneath his mask?
Nik studied me, as if sensing how far he could pursue this subject. “Did your Aunt tell you who she thinks your real father is?”
“Not yet. She’s going to try and track him down and then give me his contact details.”
“But is she sure?”
“No but if it’s true, Mam probably told him. Now that she’s dead there’s no reason for my real Dad to lie.”
I didn’t want to dwell on my family. “Enough about me, I want to know more about you. Do you like living in the UK? What did you think of life here when you first arrived?”
He raised his eyebrows. “It was really different and pretty tough at first but I think I adapted pretty quickly and now I couldn’t imagine going back to India. This is home for me. At the end of the day, the world is a small place and people are people, wherever you go.”
I hunched my shoulders and sighed. “I’d love to go to India. It’s pretty much at the top of my bucket list in terms of places to visit before I die.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it’s an interesting place. But London is amazing too. There’s so much to do here, you have all the theatres and restaurants and nightclubs….”
“Talking of which. Where are we going? You were very mysterious on the phone earlier.”
“I’m not telling you yet. I want it to be a surprise.” He twinkled his eyes at me in a way that made me swoon.
Walking to the side of the road, he stuck his arm out, at the approaching black cab.
The taxi swerved to a halt, beside us and the driver wound down his window. “Where to, Guvnor?” His cockney accent was thick.
“West Heath Road please?” Nik replied, opening the door for me to get in. I stepped inside then shuffled over to make space for him to sit beside me. He shut the door and the cab drove off.
As we drove, I looked at the large houses that loomed on either side of the wide road. This area was known as millionaires’ row. Fancy sports cars and SUVs were parked in every driveway. The people who walked by wore either business suits or expensive looking evening clothes - like they were on their way to the theatre. It was a world that was so far removed from the one I lived in. In my world, I struggled to afford new shoes and pay the rent. Most of these people probably worked in the City, making huge amounts of money and employing the likes of me to do their clerical work for tiny wages. “I don’t come around here often,” I commented, as I looked back from the window, at Nik.
“No, me neither. I often forget how posh it is around here.”
This lit my curiosity. “Where do you live?”
“I have an apartment in Balham.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that’s a bit different from Hampstead. It’s still pretty expensive there though, isn’t it? But then I suppose you are a doctor.” I punched him playfully on the bicep, noting, in the process, that it was rock hard. Was the rest of his body just as solid? An image of myself stripping off his jacket and shirt and straddling him, right here in the taxi, flashed into my mind. Shaking it away, I swallowed, as heat rose up my cheeks.
Interrupting my thoughts, the driver called through to the back. “Whereabouts do you want me to stop?”
Nik leant forward. “Anywhere around here is fine, thanks.”
He pulled over and Nik handed him a bank note before we got out.
We made our way towards our surprise destination. I had no clue where we could be going. There wasn’t much in Hampstead apart from community restaurants and pubs. It was a residential area with very little going on at night. Nik walked close enough to me that our hands brushed. My breath caught in my throat and I shivered as I pulled my coat up closer, around my ears.
“Cold?” he asked.
“A bit.” I nodded.
“Here.” He took off his coat and placed it, tenderly around my shoulders.
I touched his hand lightly as he put it on me and looked at him. “But aren’t you going to be cold?”
“Nah, I’m made of tough stuff.” He squared his shoulders off and pounded one fist on his chest, making me giggle.
His gaze hovered over my lips. “You have a lovely laugh.”
I kept my eyes on his. I couldn’t have looked away even if I’d wanted to.
His large, dark eyes were filled with concern and longing and such depth and beauty. Breaking the spell, he coughed and looked away quickly.
“Thanks.” I looked down, biting my lip. I wished he would give in to his obvious feelings for me. Why was he holding back? What was he scared of?
We came over a slight incline, on the street and emerged on the other side to a large dome-shaped building in front of us. I looked at Nik, quizzically. A smile twitched at his lips.
“What is that place?” I pointed at the building.
“It’s Hampstead Observatory.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Observatory? Do you mean, like, for star-gazing?”
His smile broadened. “That’s exactly what it’s for.”
I broke into a grin. “Is that where we’re going?”
He nodded. “Uh huh.”
A frisson of excitement bubbled up in my centre. This was so cool! But as we neared, I frowned as I saw that the door was closed. A guard stood to one side. “Can anyone go inside or do you need a membership?” I asked. “It doesn’t even look open.”
He smirked at me. “It’s not.
My mouth dropped open. “Then how are we going to get in?”
Nik’s smirk turned to a smile of quiet confidence. “Let’s just say that the guard owes me a favour.”
I chuckled. “Did you save his life, or something?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Something like that.” As he touched me lightly on the arm, tingles went up my spine. “It’s best that you wait here. These negotiations might be a little delicate.”
It sounded a bit strange but I shrugged and did as he asked. Waiting under a street lamp, I watched him walk over to the guard. The man held a torch up towards his face and scowled as Nik approached. It almost looked like there was beef between them as the guard’s body language did not look at all friendly. But then, as Nik got closer, I saw the man soften as his face took on a placid expression. He obviously knew Nik as he was nodding and smiling to everything he said. Then Nik turned back to me and beckoned me over. “Come on.”
I walked towards him, my breath coming out in white plumes, in front of my face. When I reached the front door, the guard was unlocking it, without a word.
“Hi.” I smiled at him, feeling self-conscious. The guard looked at me with a slightly vacant expression on his face. He must be tired but it was strange that he didn’t reply to my greeting or even acknowledge me.
Another rude, Londoner.
I shrugged off his behaviour and stepped inside, with Nik following behind me.
Once inside, he flipped on the lights and I looked up into a high, concave ceiling. Steps on either side, led up to a large platform, on which was placed a huge, white, metal telescope. A smile crept to my lips. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d loved to look at the stars at night. Almost every night I’d stared out of my bedroom window, at the sky, wishing a visitor from the stars would rescue me from my shitty life. No one ever came but my love of star gazing had persisted.
I had to admit, I was impressed. Nik was one classy guy. No other man had ever thought to take me somewhere like this and I’d never seen stars through a telescope before. However this night played out, this date would be one to remember.
I looked to the side and noticed Nik studying my reaction. “Let’s go.” He said, as he took my hand in his and led me up the stairs. His hand was large, warm and slightly rougher than expected. I wondered if his callouses came from lifting weights. But I didn’t want to ask him the world’s most cheesiest ‘do-you-work-out?’ pick up line. I thought of another way to phrase it. “You have rough hands, for a doctor.”
He looked at me. “I wasn’t always a doctor. I had my fair share of manual labour jobs, when I was younger.”
I frowned. He wouldn’t still have callouses from those by now, surely?
He noticed my expression and added. “And I do lift weights.”
I felt my body relax slightly, glad to have found something that we had in common. “Me too. I’m really into my training. I lift weights as well as the running and fight training.”
His eyes did a quick sweep of my body before he simply replied. “It shows.”
As he turned away I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. I didn’t often think about how my training made my body look. For me it was about self-defence but it was certainly nice to get complimented, especially by someone as sexy as Nik.
We reached the top floor and Nik walked around, pressing various buttons. The telescope made a whirring noise, as it turned on and a panel in the roof started to move, creating a viewing hole.
“Now.” He touched both of my shoulders lightly and shifted me into position. “You stand underneath this and look through there.” He moved it down slightly so that I didn’t have to stand on my tiptoes to look.
As I put the telescope to my eye and looked through it, I gasped. It was breath-taking. Living in London, surrounded by light pollution, I had no idea just how many stars were out there. I’d seen more stars in Dunmoney, for sure but even there, it was nothing like this. There was an infinite smattering of stars, moons and planets, myriad galaxies and a rapid succession of shooting stars. Normally I was lucky if I saw one a year. I laughed with delight.
“What do you think?” Nik was close enough to me that his warm breath tickled my neck hairs. I breathed in his subtle smell of aftershave. He sounded nervous which was sweetly uncharacteristic of his behaviour around me so far. It was nice to know that he wasn’t always calm and assured. Nicer still to know that he cared about what I thought. I took my eye away from the telescope and beamed at him. “It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life”
His shoulders relaxed, as his eyes twinkled at me. “It’s pretty cool, right.”
“What made you think of coming here?”
He shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve always found it relaxing to look at the night sky, when I have stuff on my mind.” His eyes met mine and he gave me a knowing look. A frisson of understanding passed between us. I spent almost every night, standing on my balcony, looking at the stars. But he wouldn’t know that… Unless he’d been watching my flat. A cold feeling worked its way up my spine and I tensed and pursed my lips. My suspicion from the previous night re-entered my mind. I’d thought I’d seen him, skulking in the shadows, outside my flat. But then I’d dismissed it as just someone who looked similar. What if it had actually been him? Was he a stalker? I suddenly realised I was in a very quiet place, with a guy I hardly knew. I took a step backwards and cleared my throat, feeling the blood drain from my face.
His smile dropped. “What’s wrong?”
“Um, it’s just… “ there was no easy way to say it so I just bluntly accused him. “Have you been watching my flat?”
His eyes shifted from left to right, guiltily and I felt my eyes widen. “You have, haven’t you.” I felt sick and started for the stairs. I didn’t know this guy at all and he was clearly a complete weirdo. He rushed after me and stopped me at the top of the stairs, blocking my way, with his large frame. This only made me feel more intimidated and I clenched my fists.
“Wait, Bree, it’s not what you think.”
“What is it then.” I raised my eyebrows and folded my arms, tapping my foot as I waited for his explanation.
He ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes met mine. “I agree with you. About the rapist. About him being part of a gang, and about him watching you. I’ve been worried about you so I came to check out your flat. I only did it the one time.” The pitch of his voice raised slightly as his shoulders came closer to his ears. “I’m a busy doctor, I don’t have time to stalk anyone.”
I furrowed my brow. “But… how did you know about the guy being part of a gang. What made you think of it?” Especially since I made that part up.
He realised his error and back-peddled, fast. “I phrased that badly. What I mean is, he’s involved with some shady people. I’m part of a sort of…vigilante group. We have information on the types of groups he’s part of. I knew he’d come for you sooner or later, and I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get hurt again.”
I felt myself relax slightly. What he said, at least sounded believable and if his motive was protecting me, I couldn’t exactly object to that.
He took a step closer, his eyes glistening. Reaching one hand up, he cautiously tucked a strand of hair, that had come loose, behind my ear. His movements had such tenderness. “I like you, Bree…. I care about you. I’d never do anything to hurt you.” His expression was suffused with longing. “I know we haven’t known each other long but… I want to know you better. I want to protect you.”
My breath hitched as I gazed into his beautiful brown eyes. “I don’t need protecting.” I whispered.
He moved his hand to cup the back of my neck. “We all need protecting from something. Maybe you just haven’t figured out what it is yet.” He moved closer to me and dipped his head down. His breath felt warm, against my face, and smelt deeply masculine in a way that made me swoon. His thumb, softly rubbed the hair at the nape of my neck. He cocked his head to one side and his gaze moved up and down my face. There was a look of intense desire, in his eyes. The only sound was the whirring of the telescope and the beating of my heart. Hesitantly, he dipped his head lower and brought his lips to mine. His chest relaxed, against me, with a slight shiver as he moved closer. His warm, large body, enclosed mine and my body melted into his. I sighed as he deepened his kiss, his tongue exploring mine. He tasted sweet and clean - like he’d just brushed his teeth. All thoughts left my head as I became aware of only him. His taste, his touch, his rough hands, exploring the back of my neck and moving down my body to squeeze me closer.
It had been so long since I’d been kissed by someone I really wanted and heat surged through me. I let out a slight moan and clenched my thighs as his hands travelled lower, squeezing my bum cheeks. I wanted him so badly, it was almost painful. We were all alone. Except for the guard, there wasn’t a soul anywhere near. We could’ve done anything we wanted. But I knew it was too soon. Every fibre of my being ached for him but I had to stop myself. I wanted our first time to be special and I sensed that he felt the same. He pulled back, reluctantly, sucking on my bottom lip as his eyes hungrily drank in my features. He reached up and touched my cheek as he took a deep, steadying breath. “God you’re beautiful.”
I smiled and tilted my head to one side, as I raised one eyebrow. “So was this your plan? Take me star gazing and then seduce me with an earth-shattering kiss?”
He smirked. “Earth shattering?”
“Don’t get too cocky. The jury’s still out on whether or not you’re a creepy stalker.”
He sighed and brought his arm around me. “I’ll win you over, you’ll see...” And then he hastily added. “…and I am absolutely not a creepy stalker.” He took my hand and pulled me back over to the telescope. “Anyway, I haven’t had my turn yet.”
As he adjusted the telescope, to take a look, I studied him. He was certainly the best looking guy I’d ever been out with. And also the most successful. I mean, he was a doctor, for christ’s sake. It didn’t get much more successful than that. A smile crept to my lips as I thought of how much fun, Aunt Siobhan would have, spreading the news, far and wide, that I was dating a doctor. And he was a phenomenal kisser. If that was any indication of what he was like between the sheets, I hoped this relationship would go the distance. But he still had secrets. He hadn’t told me everything about why he’d been watching my flat. What was the ‘vigilante group’ he was part of and how was it linked to the man Evelyn and Morgana believed was a vampire? As I looked at his dreamy body and perfect, chiselled face, I couldn’t help but wonder. When he said that we all needed protecting from something.
Was the thing I needed protecting from, actually him?