When i call you mine, p.1
When I Call You Mine, page 1
When I Call You Mine
Mine By Default Mini-Series
Book 4
Tina Martin
Copyright © 2015 Tina Martin
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying and recording, without prior written consent of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses and products are products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events is entirely coincidental.
Mine By Default Mini-Series Books:
The Mine By Default Mini-Series is a six-book, cliffhanger series that centers around the lives of best friends, Elias (Eli) Leaumont and Natalie (Allie) Romain. Each book is a new episode, sort of like your favorite TV series. For the best reading experience, please read these books in order.
Book 1 – Been In Love With You
Book 2 – When Hearts Cry
Book 3 – You Belong To Me
Book 4 – When I Call You Mine
Book 5 – Who Do You Love?
Enjoy!
“…the sad reality of life, of this messed-up world we live in is, we can be here one day and a forgotten memory the next. So while we’re here, while we’re capable, while we still have breath in our lungs, let’s make our being here count for something.”
-Natalie Leaumont
Chapter One
Natalie made herself a prisoner in her bedroom, more specifically, in her bed, sick to her stomach for four days.
Not one. Not two. Not three. Four.
And still that wasn’t long enough to cure her crushed, grievous heart. If time healed wounds, she would need an eternity because her mother was gone, and there could never be any real healing from the death of one’s mother.
Plans Eli had made for them to spend a week at his parent’s home were put on hold. Eli, himself, had been put on hold by her after what she’d learned about him from Solomon. She avoided talking to Eli, even though he tried to strike up conversations with her – the typical how are you?, can I get you something?, I’m worried about you conversations. All Natalie needed right now was her messy, yet comfortable bed and nothing more. Not her husband of four days. Not her sister. Just the bed.
Four days.
In those four days, Natalie hadn’t showered, brushed her teeth or combed her hair. She didn’t have a bite to eat. She didn’t talk, hadn’t said a word to Eli and didn’t bother answering her phone. She hadn’t said a word to anyone. She stayed in bed, under the covers, in isolation.
Eli tried to comfort her, but every time he attempted to put his arms around her, she pushed him away. She wouldn’t say a word. She just nudged him, then went back into hiding beneath the covers. Her mother was dead, and she was having the hardest time coming to terms with that.
She tried convincing herself that she was caught up in a bad dream – that there was no way, at age twenty-five, she’d lost both her mother and father – but it wasn’t a dream. It was her reality. It didn’t matter how long she went without showers or decided to hide in bed – that reality wasn’t going to change.
Last night she dreamt she found her mother lying lifeless on the ground, just like she had saw her that night in real life. She kneeled down next to her and cried, still wearing her wedding gown. The dream ended with her waking up in a cold sweat.
Hours later, when she was finally able to get back to sleep, she dreamt she saw her father being shot.
She woke up in a cold sweat.
She dreamt about Eli lying in a pool of blood.
She woke up in another cold sweat, her heart beating furiously.
“Allie,” Eli said, sitting on the bed next to her. He tugged at the covers so he could see her face. He then reached for her hand, but she snatched it away. “Allie, Cadence is on the way here. She said she’s been trying to call you.”
Silence.
Not one word came from her mouth in response to him. Natalie wasn’t even looking at him, let alone trying to carry on a conversation. She just stared blankly off at nothing – an empty spot on the wall in her bedroom – curling her body into the fetal position.
Eli frowned. He’d already known Cadence had been trying to call Natalie. He checked her phone every night since her mother died to see what calls Natalie was missing. Along with Cadence’s calls, there were a few from his mother and a couple of numbers he didn’t recognize. He even saw a missed call from Solomon which took him by surprise.
Trying to be understanding, he decided not to bother her with phone calls and allow her to go through this – this misery for the last few days, but he didn’t like being shut out. He loved Mildred, too. Of course Natalie and her sister would take their mother’s death hard, but why was Natalie pushing him away, like he was somehow at fault? All he wanted to do was be there for her. Why couldn’t she see that?
“I need you to talk to me,” he told her with a voice full of concern. He didn’t care that she hadn’t showered or that the room had a stale, sickly smell to it. He needed her to talk to him. “Allie, I—”
He paused.
What was the point of talking when she clearly wanted to be left alone? He wanted – no – he needed to pull her into his arms and make her see that they could get through this together. Somehow, he knew doing so would overwhelm her. She preferred grieving alone. Without him. Without anyone.
When Eli heard the doorbell, he strolled to the door, unlocked and opened it.
“Where is she?” Cadence said upon stepping into the foyer.
“Cadence, listen. She’s not well.”
“I’m not well either, Eli,” Cadence said, with bloodshot, sad eyes and a red nose. Her voice sounded nasally like she had a cold. Or maybe she’d made herself sick from grief.
“I know you’re not,” Eli said, “But Allie is taking this hard. She won’t get out of bed. All she does is sleep. She hasn’t eaten in four days. Have you eaten, Cadence?”
“I forced myself to eat some soup last night.”
“Listen, maybe you should just go and come back at another time,” Eli said.
“No. I know Natalie. She’ll regret it if she doesn’t help me with these funeral plans, and I would rather piss her off now instead of listen to her cry about it later. Besides, I can’t do this alone, Eli. I need her to help me,” Cadence said, smearing tears across her face. “I have to talk to her. Where is she? Is she still in bed?”
“Yes.”
Cadence forged pass Eli to the bedroom where she saw the figure of her sister underneath the covers. Natalie had her entire body wrapped up – even had the covers pulled up over her head. The room was a disaster. A wasteland of clothes was on the floor, along with shoes.
“Natalie,” Cadence said, walking over to the bed, tugging at the covers.
“Go away,” Natalie said in a hoarse, robotic-like voice.
Just to hear her say something was a good sign for Cadence since she hadn’t been able to reach her by phone. And it was an improvement as far as Eli was concerned. He was standing in the doorway looking on in a supervisory type way. His woman, his sweet princess, had become motherless the very same day he married her. And then her mother had died in the front yard of his parent’s home. A full-circle tragedy. How would they ever get past that?
Their wedding was ruined. Future anniversaries would always and forever be marred by the day Mildred passed. Anniversaries were supposed to be happy occasions, but theirs would always be a sad one, marked by visits to lay fresh flowers on a grave. Visits to his parent’s home would always open old wounds. He doubted if Natalie would ever step a foot at his parent’s house ever again.
“Natalie, you have to get up and get out of this bed,” Cadence said. She remembered completely losing it the day she found her mother lifeless. Natalie had been her backbone that day, because without her, she never would’ve made it through the night. Now, Natalie needed the same support from her.
“Natalie—”
“Go away,” Natalie mumbled.
“Nat, we need to get started on mom’s funeral arrangements.”
“Go away!” Natalie yelled as loudly as she could.
Tears filled Cadence’s eyes. “Do you think this is easy for me?” she asked in a throaty voice. “Do you think this is easy on any of us? I loved her too, Natalie and I’m…I’m trying to honor her memory while you’re lying here giving up on her…on everything.”
“Go away,” Natalie said again, only this time, she didn’t yell it. It just came out.
Cadence turned to Eli and said, “You need to do something with her.” She left the room.
Eli followed Cadence out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him so they could talk without Natalie hearing them.
“I’ve tried,” Eli told her.
“Then you haven’t tried hard enough, Eli.”
“She won’t talk to me at all, and I don’t want to exasperate her.” Eli said. “You see all those clothes on the floor in there. I picked those up. Twice.”
“But you can get through to her.”
“Really? You’re her sister, and you can’t even get through to her.”
“You’re her weakness,” Cadence reminded him. “You can get to her in ways no one else can. So when you get her out of bed, have her come to my apartment so we can get mom’s funeral arrangements handled.” Cadence swiped tears from her face.
Eli sho ok his head. “Cadence, I think the best thing to do, at this point, is for you to go ahead and start with the arrangements.”
“But I need Natalie’s help. She needs to help me with the details, help me make decisions and—”
“I know, Cadence,” Eli interrupted. “I know. I’ll do the best I can. You saw how she was. She’s depressed, and while I want to go in there and make her get out of bed, I can’t do that. So I’ll do what I can. Okay?”
“Okay, Eli.” Cadence left shortly thereafter, feeling like she hadn’t accomplished a thing.
Eli locked the door behind her then leaned against it, pressing his forehead there. He’d been through a lot in his thirty-four years, but the death of a parent wasn’t one of them. How could he console Natalie when he had no idea what she was going through? The woman who did, her sister, had made no progress with her. How would he?
He had to find a way.
Walking back to the bedroom, he opened the door, letting out the stale, thick air that had invaded the room. Natalie had since pulled the covers back over her head. It was amazing she could even breathe.
“Allie.” He said her name softly, careful not to sound authoritative. “Baby, we need to talk. I know you don’t want to, but we need to.”
Natalie cringed when she felt her warm covers being taken away from her body. Her bed. Eli had some nerve. As it was, she couldn’t focus solely on her mother. She was also trying to wrap her mind around what she’d learned from Solomon about Eli – that he was under investigation by the feds. It was mind-blowing enough to find out Solomon was an undercover FBI agent, but it was more stomach-turning to know Solomon was investigating his own brother. For murder. And Solomon wanted to talk to her about his findings, seeking her help to incriminate Eli. Maybe that’s why he told her about Eli’s plan…
So all of this was on her mind, in addition to her mother. Maybe if she hadn’t gone upstairs that day, maybe if she hadn’t been distracted, maybe if she hadn’t agreed to Eli’s marriage proposal, her mother would still be here, alive and well, instead of lying lifeless in a casket at the back of some creepy funeral home.
“Allie,” Eli said, sitting next to her, surprised she pulled herself up enough so she was slouched against the headboard. He studied her for a moment. Her hair was a mess, tangled and knotted. Her face looked pale, a dried trail of tears still marking the area on her face where they’d fallen over the last few days. Her eyes were puffy. Pinkish-looking. Dark underneath because of the mascara that lingered.
She had on a white slip, the same slip she wore underneath her wedding gown four nights ago – one that showed her petite body with a bra that lifted her breasts up a notch, pushed them together. It looked uncomfortable to sleep in, but he doubted if she cared.
For a woman who hadn’t showered in four days, she didn’t smell bad. Even if she did, it wouldn’t be a deterrent for Eli. Not when he loved her without conditions. Not when he’d do anything for her. She was in a bad way right now, so she wasn’t looking her best. But he didn’t marry her for looks. He married her for love. For her heart. He married the woman who was there for him when he needed her, and he wanted to return the favor. He wanted to fix her again, make everything right. That’s what a husband was supposed to do – take care of his lady. Absorb her pain. So far, he felt like he was failing at that.
“I know this is hard on you, Allie. I know this is a lot for you to handle and—”
“You know what else is hard for me to handle?” Natalie asked with that same huskiness to her voice she had before. “It’s hard for me to handle that you’re my husband…that I actually married you. I’m so stupid.”
Eli frowned as a pang hit him in the chest. “Wha…what are you talking about, Allie?”
“I’m talking about the fact that I’m struggling…trying to cope with the death of my mother while, at the same time, dealing with a man who is supposed to love me but has no idea what love is,” she said, looking at him with tears glistening in her weary eyes. “No idea, whatsoever.”
“Allie, what—”
“You’re a liar,” she cut him off to say, “And I’m disgusted with myself for trusting you.”
Eli could feel his heartbeats drumming up to his ears.
“Since you look so dumbfounded, I’ll just let you in on a little secret. I know about your little plan.”
“What plan?”
Her eyes narrowed. “The plan you set up with Solomon. I know all about it – pretending to be drunk and acting like you were going to kill yourself so I could come running to your rescue. Does any of that ring a bell?”
“Allie—”
“You’re a liar.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So you’re denying it?”
“Allie, I told you about the plan. I recall telling you I did what I did to you get your attention, only you didn’t believe me. You told me I was insulting your intelligence.”
“Well, now I’m telling you that I’m done.”
“You’re not done,” he said calmly. “You’re emotional right now and that’s understandable.”
“I’m done,” she repeated, but Eli kept on talking over her.
“I’m going to need you to forget about how much anger you have towards me,” he said, “And focus on your mother.”
Something shattered when he mentioned her mother. Like he gave a crap about her mother…
She grew furious staring into his eyes, thinking about all the devious things he’d done. Before she was aware of what she was doing, she drew her hand back and slapped him hard, right across his cheek.
Eli didn’t even flinch. He closed his eyes, absorbed the minor sting of the slap then looked at her.
“Don’t ever say anything else about my mother like you care,” she erupted. “You don’t care! You never cared!”
“It’s fine if you want to take your frustration out on me, Allie, but the fact remains that I told you—”
“Get your stuff and get out of my apartment.”
Eli sat there, staring at her like he was having trouble comprehending what she was telling him to do. But he wasn’t the one who was confused. She was. She had accepted his marriage proposal, had accepted being his wife and now she was putting him out?
Okay, so he had coerced her into getting married. She didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the situation, or how much love he had for her. She didn’t feel it yet. If she had, it would’ve tempered her anger, but judging by the slap she’d landed across his jaw, she didn’t feel any love.
“Leave,” Natalie said.
“All right. I’ll leave. It’ll give you time to focus on your mother…give you time to get out of this bed and help your sister, but you better believe me when I say my leaving is not permanent, because while you may not love me like I thought you did, I’m not going to allow you to ruin our marriage.”
“Yeah, especially after you worked so hard orchestrating the events that led up to it.”
“I did, but you’re missing one minor detail, well minor to you but major to me, and that is, I love you Natalie Leaumont.” Eli stood up. “My only motive for working so hard to get us together is because I love you. I didn’t do this for money…didn’t do it for any other reason besides the fact that I…love…you. But you can’t see that right now because you’re in pain. You’re mourning and instead of giving me, your husband, the opportunity to console you, you’d rather kick me out. So if that’s what you want, if that’s what will make you happy, then fine. I’ll go.”
Eli stood up, took some items from a drawer and stuffed them inside of a duffle bag.
While he got his things together, Natalie hurried off to the bathroom, closed the door behind herself, locking it, and sat on the toilet seat, crying. Her entire body shook as she did so.
Eli stopped packing when he heard her whimpering. He walked over to the bathroom door, pressed his ear against it and stood there, his heart aching, wishing he could go inside and hold her. But he realized she had to work through this one on her own.
Chapter Two
