Lustful Hearts

"Izzy... Izzy, are you in?"

I immediately sat up in bed at the sound of his voice. How the hell did Elijah get inside?

I barely had time to draw breath before the door sprang open to find him stood there smiling wildly in the doorway. My smile in return was more of a grimace.

"Ahh, there are my two favourite girls." Ruby's tail began to wag, I released her and let her run over to Elijah, he immediately picked her up and covered her in kisses.

I was having a lazy day after all the birthday celebrations, watching television in bed with Ruby. "Elijah, how did you get in?" I asked feeling slightly confused by his unwelcomed entrance.

"You have a key right in the bottom of your plant pot, it took me ages finding it." He snuggled into Ruby, oblivious to my look of annoyance.

"How the hell did you know it was there?" There were only two people that knew about that key, and one of them certainly wasn't Elijah. "Lucky guess." He winked and smiled.

"What if Joel had still been here, and we were well you know-?" I motioned with my eyes unable to continue the sentence.

"Having sex? You are allowed to say and then I would actually get to see the sex god's cock."

My eyes widened in horror. "Elijah," I warned.

"Oh Iz, I'm only joking." He flashed me another smile, but I knew that look.

Yeah, right.

He shuffled up closer to me on the bed. "I came to spend time with my two favourite girls. We have to get Ruby up to speed on who is hot in the film world. I brought Channing, Ryan and Jake. We can make our way through the others later."

"Which one do you want to watch Ruby?" He held the DVDs out to her, and she looked at him bemused by the whole thing before pushing her nose against the middle one.

"Ahh Dear John, our girl has got taste and loves a weepy." Elijah clapped his hands in glee, much to my own amusement.

Ruby stared at him looking lost. Yep, suck it up, Ruby, half the time I didn't follow him either.

"Are we going to watch it in bed?" His eyes flicked over to Joel's side, but that wasn't even an option. I was not having him sniff the pillow like some mad stalker.

I jumped out of bed. "No, I'm up now, you go start the coffee, give me time to shower and pull my sweats on."

His eyes flicked over me. "Oh definitely in relax mode, maybe run a brush through that hair too," he added, and I glared at him. "Elijah."

He smirked at my face. "I'm joking, nice pyjamas by the way."

Jeez, no one should have to put up with this level of abuse this early in the morning. "Bite me," I snapped back.

He smirked even harder at my comment. "Ahh, see I would, but you're just not my type. Joel on the other hand..."

He never missed a beat.

"Elijah."

He held his hand up in defeat, carrying Ruby in the other. "I'm going, come on Princess. Mama hasn't had her coffee yet and is mightily grumpy."

I shot another glare his way. "I am still here you know."

He gave me another wink before they both left. So much for a peaceful, relaxing day.

Ten minutes later I was showered and dressed. I walked through into the lounge to find two steaming coffees on the table and the DVD ready to roll.

Ruby was curled up on Elijah's knee as he softly tickled her head. I grabbed a couple of slices of toast Elijah had made, and he clicked play, ready to begin Ruby's lesson in the hot guys on the big screen. She dosed off five minutes in.

Elijah tutted and snuggled her in tighter. "Obviously we'll need to begin her training another day."

I rolled my eyes at how seriously he was taking the whole thing and grabbed some popcorn. The sugary sweet taste was heaven in my mouth.

I smiled knowing regardless of how early it was a girl needed popcorn when watching a film, it was the law or it should be. Minutes later Ruby started snoring, and we both laughed.

Seriously?

I grabbed a few tissues when the tears began to flow, Elijah cried softly beside me, trying not to disturb Ruby.

She ended up waking up and licking his tear stained face, which only resulted in him crying harder, leaving a bemused Ruby to look at me.

I smiled at the insanity of it all. Joel should be thanking his lucky stars that he wasn't here right now to witness it all.

When the credits rolled, we made some lunch and sat outside soaking up the afternoon sunshine. Ruby scampered about chasing every insect possible as Elijah looked a little agitated, working his way up to tell me something.

"I didn't see Ryan at your party yesterday. Are things still a little strained after what happened at my house warming party?"

I stilled at his words and took a quick sip of my coffee, buying me some time before replying. "He posted a card through the door, so I didn't expect him to come."

I would have liked him there, he was still my friend, but as Joel was in charge of the invites that wasn't a possibility.

"Is he still in the bad books after what happened at my party?" he asked, his eyes monitoring my face.

I exhaled loudly. "It was all pretty much Ryan, I don't know why he had to goad Joel. It was like he was determined to get a rise out of him."

"I think there's a little unsolved business there," Elijah added, and he was not wrong there.

"Well, it's all on his part, we are just good friends, nothing more." I had spelled it out to him on more than enough occasions, surely he wasn't under the impression something could still happen?

"I know, he didn't take it well at the party, he hit the drink hard after you left. It didn't help the B helped him get slaughtered."

Even the mention of her name sent a chill through me. "Yeah, Brianne is not my favourite person at the moment."

That was an understatement.

"If it's any consolation she has good taste." Elijah winked, trying to lighten the mood.

"What? Hitting on my boyfriend while I stood there. Does she have no principles at all? But then again she'll do anything to get a rise out of me."

"Oh Iz, she had a bit to drink, and Joel is freaking hot."

My eyes flashed to his. "So you're condoning her behaviour?" He always did take her side, no matter how badly she acted.

"Iz, Brianne and me we've been through a lot together. I love you, but I will also stick up for her. She was out of line but I think her attentions are elsewhere now." "Meaning what?" I asked confused.

Who had she sunk her claws into now?

"Ryan and B hooked up that night and have been seeing each other ever since."

"What?" I felt the air leave my body at his words.

"You don't need to be shocked, Iz, it's what people do, unless there are some feelings there?"

He scrutinised my face for answers, but he was barking up the wrong tree. I just cared for him as a friend, nothing more and Brianne was bad news at the best of times, he could do far better. "But B of all people . . ." I murmured, still stunned. I thought he had better taste then that, obviously I was wrong.

"You don't know her like I do, you just see the bad," he remarked, his voice had a hard edge to it, so I'd obviously touched a nerve.

"That's because she is a complete witch to me whenever I see her," I snapped.

Good lord even he had to agree.

His hardened stare softened slightly. "I know, I've asked her to tone it down, but there is only so much I can do."

"I think Ryan deserves way better," I added, not caring if he took offence at my words, it was true.

"Are you sure there isn't a little jealousy there?"

Oh, here we go.

"No, he was a good friend, that's all. Believe me, I could have got with him a million times over, but there was nothing there. I can't believe you're questioning my love for Joel."

I thought it was pretty evident after all we had been through, we had been to hell and back to be together but obviously not.

He sighed at my sharp tone. "Iz, I'm not, just your reaction."

"I don't want him to get hurt, I still care for him, Brianne-"

"Brianne what? Go on finish what you were about to say," he snapped, his eyes widening at my words. His look sent a shiver through me, part of me was hesitant to go on, but I had to give my reasoning behind my reaction.

"You know Brianne has a history of walking away the moment anything turns serious. I don't want her messing him around. He is vulnerable right now." The last thing I wanted was for her to screw him up.

I lived every day with the guilt over his feelings for me. He needed to find someone who was more suitable, who wouldn't break his heart after a quick and easy fling.

"I'm pretty sure he's big enough to look after himself." He huffed, taking offence at my words.

"You don't understand," I murmured, he was taking it completely the wrong way. He never saw the other side when it came to his opinion on Brianne.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐