In Too Deep

Chapter 18

Later that evening I was waiting for Violet and Lucas to return from their visits to their parent’s houses. When it reached 9pm I was beginning to get impatient, surely they should be back by now? What made it worse was that neither of them were answering their phones.

I continued trying to decipher the book but my eyes kept darting to the door of my room and I tapped my fingers on the keys of my laptop impatiently. I decided to give her until 9:30pm and then I was going to go and find out what the hell was going on.

But of course after I thought that, every other second I would look at my watch. So now my eyes would go laptop, watch, door, while my fingers kept up their rhythm on the keyboard of my laptop.

I was actually driving myself mad, I’m sure that if anyone were in the room with me they would have surely thrown a sharp or heavy object at my head.

Violet still isn’t here yet. That’s it, I’ve waited long enough, something must’ve happened to them, I can’t wait around any longer. I shut my laptop down, returned the book to its hiding place and headed out the door.

I was heading across the courtyard when my phone started ringing. I looked at the screen and saw it was Smithy.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Freya, I need to speak with you urgently.” Smithy said.

“Smithy, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you over the phone. I need you to come to the station, now. Don’t bother driving or walking, I know you have other ways of getting here than that.” He instructed me, I paused before answering.

“I will get out of sight and head over from there.” I replied.

“Thank you Freya, I’ll see you in a few minutes. Remember, you must come to the office, I will explain the urgency when you get here.”

“Ok but I might need your help with something, I think Violet and Lucas are missing, they should’ve been back by now, and they aren’t answering my calls.”

“That’s part of what I need to talk to you about.” So they were missing, it must be really bad for Smithy to be this worried, he’s always so calm.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I said and then hung up. I didn’t know how much Smithy knew about me but I could hear the worry in his voice. I turned around to head back to my room when I almost walked straight in to Bastien.

“In a hurry?” He asked.

“Yeah, I need to go and see Smithy.” I answered honestly, I don’t have time to think of a convincing lie right now.

“Why?” He asked, I hesitated before replying. Maybe I could ask him for help?

“I just need to speak to him about something, its important.” I told Bastien, I wasn’t sure whether to tell him the truth or not, I wanted to trust him, but there’s so much I feel like he’s keeping from me. I still know so little about him.

“Oh, that’s a shame.” He answered looking down at the ground.

“What’s going on?” I asked, I really didn’t have time for this, but if I wasn’t going to tell him the truth then I at least had to keep up appearances.

“I just really need to talk to you for a moment.” He said quietly.

“Well, I uh…...” Was my oh so brilliant response. He raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s just that I really need to go and-“ I began but he interrupted me.

“Please just let me explain my reason.” He began and I nodded for him to continue. “I wanted to apologise for the other night.” Bastien said.

He regretted the time we spent together? I lowered my eyes in humiliation. I couldn’t believe he’s saying this, I thought that he….well I don’t know what I thought but I at least got the feeling that he was enjoying himself. His eyes widened at my reaction.

“Freya, what’s wrong?” Bastien asked concerned. He raised a hand to my face and was about to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear but I pulled back before he could. “Freya?” He asked and I took a step away from him, he took a step towards me and caught hold of my wrists. “I don’t understand your reaction, you didn’t let me finish.” He said softly.

“I think I have heard enough.” I said quietly.

“You have clearly gotten the wrong idea, let me explain. What I wanted to say was that I realised when we spent the other night together you seemed to be the one sharing everything. I didn’t mean for it to be like that. You shared so much with me and I told you nothing in return. So I want to tell you something about me.” I stared wide-eyed at him.

“You are apologising for not telling me anything about you?” I asked him just to make sure. This isn’t at all what I thought he meant.

“Yes of course. Why, what did you think I meant?” He asked me. Then realisation flashed in his eyes. “Oh Freya, how could you think that? I loved spending time with you.”

The odd thing is, I knew he was telling the truth, I could see the sincerity shinning bright in his gorgeous blue eyes.

“Now will you come with me? I wish to show you something.” He asked, I hesitated, I really should go to the station, Smithy doesn’t get worried over nothing, something big is definitely up, and I needed to make sure Lucas and Violet were safe.

But I really wanted to go with Bastien…….He saw my hesitation and stared deep in to my eyes, the more I held his gaze the more I began to forget my reasons for my hesitation, this was my chance to get the answers I’ve wanted for such a long time.

“Come with me.” He said it as more of a statement than a question but I nodded anyway.

We drove for about an hour whilst making small talk and listening to the radio. I was starting to get impatient; Bastien still refused to tell me where we were going. Around me all I could see were trees. My eye lids started to get heavy and I was struggling to stay awake. I was almost asleep when I felt the car turn left and then stop.

“We’re here.” I heard Bastien say softly.

“But where exactly is here?” I mumbled almost incoherently. I fell in to a deep sleep before he could answer.

I awoke groggily and stretched out. Man, this bed was so comfy; I don’t ever want to get out of this bed. I opened my eyes reluctantly and I took in my surroundings. The room I was in was huge, greatly emphasized by the lack of furnishings, the only furniture in the room was the bed I lay in the middle of and a cupboard with a lamp on top of it stood beside the bed.

The door to the room opened and Bastien came in with a coffee and a plate of toast which he gave to me.

“Good morning, are you feeling ok?” He asked me.

“Yeah I’m fine thanks, this bed is so comfy.” I said with a smile, taking the food and coffee gratefully.

I felt like I had forgotten something, something important. I focussed on that feeling whilst I ate, not really listening to what Bastien was saying to me. I retraced my day before I saw Bastien and that’s when it hit me, I almost dropped my cup of coffee as I stared wide-eyed at Bastien.

“Oh my, Lucas and Violet! I was on my way to see Smithy, I can’t believe I forgot. I have to get out of here-“ I started, worry taking over me as I jumped off the bed, dumping the plate and cup on the bedside cupboard.

“Freya look at me.” Bastien said firmly, grabbing my wrist and pulling him towards me.

“No, you don’t understand I have to go now-“ I began again.

He grabbed my chin with his other hand and pulled my face up so I was looking in to his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I asked as my mind started to feel jumbled.

As I stared in to his eyes I struggled to remember what I had been worried about, I was having some alone time with Bastien, wasn’t that exactly what I wanted? I realised as I stared in to his eyes that I had completely lost my train of thought.

“What was I saying?” I asked Bastien.

“You were telling me about how comfortable the bed was.” Bastien said as he grinned at me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck so we were as close as possible, he pushed me down on to the bed and pressed his body down on top of me. Bastien’s hands wound through my hair and mine travelled down his chest and under the hem of his shirt so I could run my fingers along his abs.

His hands left my hair and travelled down my body, cupping and squeezing my bum, pressing his bodies’ reaction in to me. I gasped in a breath and he used that as an opportunity to push his tongue inside my mouth.

I’m not sure how long we stayed like that for, I now lay in his arms completely out of breath, my heartbeat franticly trying to beat out of my chest. My body ached for his touch, his lips to be on mine. As soon as I had thought it he ran kisses up my neck, along my jaw and then back to my lips, almost as if he had read my mind. He pulled away from me, looking in to my eyes.

“Why did you stop?” I asked, a little disappointed. He chuckled.

He ran his fingers down my cheek and cupped my face.

“I know you don’t want this to go too far, and I have to admit, its’ getting rather difficult to control myself. If you get what I mean.” Bastien said to me.

I knew exactly what that meant, whilst I did really like him, I wasn’t ready to take that step with him. In many ways I still knew very little about him, and I hadn’t really known him for that long.

“Besides, I still have the surprise that I had planned for last night.” Bastien said with a smile. I had almost forgotten.

“What is it?” I asked.

“If I were to tell you that then it wouldn’t be a surprise. You’ll have to be patient.” He told me, I frowned, patience wasn’t my greatest trait. Bastien laughed at my expression. He got up from the bed and grabbed something out of a bag on the floor that I had been too distracted to notice before.

“The sooner you change in to this the sooner you can find out what the surprise is.” He handed me a black bikini and I raised an eyebrow at him.

I decided not to question why he had a woman’s bikini ready to hand. As soon as I had changed we headed out so Bastien could show me what he planned for yesterday. The cabin was sat in a clearing in the woods, we walked to the end of the clearing and then about a mile through the trees.

“Are we almost there yet?” I asked. I could hear the sound of running water getting louder the further we went in this direction.

“Yes.” Bastien said with a laugh at my blatant impatience.

Just as he said that the trees came to an end and we were standing on the edge of a cliff.

The view was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, the waterfall was the source of the sound I could hear through the trees. The sun shone brightly in the sky and reflected off of the water making it look like crystals.

The birds chirped their morning song and circled high above our heads. I looked down and I could see the waterfall running in to the river below.

“Wow, it’s beautiful.” I said in awe, there really was no other way to explain this heavenly view.

“Come on, let’s head down. Follow me; I know a safe way down.” Bastien said.

“Never mind the safe way down.” I said and jumped off the edge of the cliff, I heard Bastien scream my name in panic from the edge of the cliff.

The thrill was amazing as I flew through the air; I crashed in to the water below and swam upwards towards the surface. I felt arms grab me and I looked in to Bastien’s panicked eyes.

“I’m fine Bastien; you can’t seriously tell me you’ve never done that?” I asked him.

“No I haven’t, I prefer the more conventional way down. Please don’t do that again, you scared me to death. And that’s saying something, I’m already technically dead.” He said with a smile, still holding me in his arms.

We swam further down the river, where it was shallow enough for Bastien to stand, and he pulled me back in to his arms again.

He pushed my wet hair away from my face, cupped my cheek in his hand, and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and my legs around his waist as he deepened the kiss. I lost track of how long we stayed like that, but I was starting to feel the effects of the cold water. A shiver ran down my spine, the temperature of the water causing goose bumps to appear on my arms. Bastien noticed immediately, and carried me out of the water on to the river bank.

“You should’ve said you were cold.” Bastien said, shaking his head at me.

I noticed blankets already laid out on the ground with a picnic basket beside them. I looked to Bastien and he smiled. He lifted his arm to put around my shoulders and I lent in to his side. I sighed and relaxed. We sat there for a few hours talking and looking at the amazing view, enjoying the warmth of the sun. I couldn’t hold off any more though, I had to ask.

“How did you find this place?” I asked him.

“I used to come here with my family when I was a kid.” He answered.

“Oh my god I just remembered something!” I said.

“What?” Bastien asked surprised at my sudden outburst, he had a worried look in his eyes.

“This is going to totally ruin the moment but, what about classes? It’s Monday, you have classes to teach and I have classes to attend.” I said and Bastien laughed softly.

“Freya do not worry, I sorted everything out with Mr Jackson, it’s absolutely fine, we can stay here for a few days.” He said calmly.

“You told Mr Jackson about us seeing each other?” I asked shocked.

“Yeah I did. Is there a problem with that?” I couldn’t believe he was even asking me that. A problem? Yeah sure there was a damn problem with that!

“Bastien, did you tell Mr Jackson about my eyes?” I asked him and he froze.

“No I didn’t, why would you accuse me of such a thing?” He asked offended.

“You are the only one that knows and Mr Jackson just so happened to know a day after you found out.” I snapped at him.

“And how did you find that out? He wouldn’t have directly told you that, you would have had to have been eavesdropping.” He said accusatory. Ah crap, yeah I forgot about that.

“Regardless if I was eavesdropping or not you shouldn’t have told him that. Why would you do that?” I asked him in disbelief.

“Look Freya, can we just forget about this? I’m truly sorry.” He said and leaned down to kiss me. I pulled away before he could, realising what he was trying to do.

“Are you trying to distract me?” I asked him angrily. When he didn’t answer my anger grew. “Why are you doing all of this Bastien? Does Mr Jackson have something on you?” I asked hoping that would be the reason that he was betraying me, I could handle that. Maybe.

“Look I owe him a lot, he is the only reason that I got out of jail.” He said and we both froze.

“Jail? Bastien, why were you in jail?” I asked but received no answer. “What is he planning?” That was when I remembered, before I saw Bastien yesterday I was on my way to see Smithy……”Oh my god, Violet and Lucas.” I said in realisation as I jumped to my feet.

That’s why Bastien brought me here; this was all a distraction so Mr Jackson could get to them. Why did I come here with Bastien when I knew they could be in danger? I don’t know what he has planned, but I certainly wasn’t going to let him hurt them. They are good people; I can’t let them get hurt because of me. I can’t believe I allowed him to distract me so easily.

“Freya no you can’t go after them. You took the book, and this is his retaliation.” Bastien said from behind me. “You don’t know what’s going on, you haven’t read the book.” I turned to face him.

“I don’t care Bastien, they are my friends.” I said and turned to run. I didn’t get very far, within a second Bastien had his arms around me, restraining me, before I could do anything he stabbed a needle in to my arm, he released me just as the last of the liquid went in to my vein. “What have you done?” I screamed at him but I could feel my limbs already going numb. I fell to the ground and darkness flooded my vision.