Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Scott didn’t have to wait long for his revenge.
Thomas locked himself away in his private room the next day to edit the balloon video, leaving Scott to stew around in the mansion on his own.
He stepped into the kitchen for a snack and saw it.
A lime-green opportunity.
At first, he’d jumped a foot into the air, then checked to make sure Thomas wasn’t waiting behind him to see his reaction.
It wasn’t every day that you walked into a room and saw an eyeball in a pint glass.
Thomas had complained about his fake eye feeling scratchy that morning. Scott had no sympathy for him, considering he was walking around with a baboon’s arse after popping so many balloons, but there it was, his eye in a pint glass of pink watery liquid.
Scott forgot all about his snack and snatched it out of the water. He glanced around the kitchen, thinking of a place to hide it before deciding that was far too easy. He’d make Thomas search the whole mansion until he begged Scott to reveal its location.
“But where to hide you…”
His gaze fell on the window. It was another beautiful sunny day, and he could see Tim cutting one of the hedges.
Everyone always said Thomas needed to get out of the mansion more.
“Perfect.”
When Thomas took a break for lunch, Scott was waiting for him, smiling ear to ear.
Thomas twitched his nose. “I don’t like that look.”
“I don’t much like yours.”
“How is your stinging arse?”
Scott shrugged noncommittally. “It’s stinging, and it’s an arse.”
Thomas snorted. “Did you put more of that cream on?”
“Yes, I smell like a Polo mint.”
“Could be worse.”
“How’s the video going?”
Thomas nodded. “Good, I think your subscriber will be pleased. I don’t know whether the thumbnail should be your pissed-off face glaring down the lens or your red raw arse when you were finished.”
“You do know I imagined your face while popping those balloons.”
“I didn’t realise you wanted to sit on my face so bad. It’s not really my thing, but I’ll make an exception.”
Thomas opened the fridge and got out all he needed to prepare a sandwich. Carly had cooked a honey-glazed ham for them to eat for lunch.
Scott was too giddy to eat.
Thomas sighed, bracing his hands on the counter. “Right. What is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re hovering around like a bad smell.”
“A minty one, actually.”
“Scott,” Thomas growled.
“I’m just…” Scott gestured to him. “Getting an eyeful…”
Thomas glared, flaring his nostrils. “Are you calling me fat?”
“Of course not. Eye don’t know what’s got you so suspicious.”
Thomas continued his glare. He wasn’t getting it, and Scott wasn’t good at being patient. It was time for plan Blatantly-obvious.
“I’ve got a joke for you.”
Thomas abandoned his sandwich prep and folded his arms. “Have you now…”
“What do you call a deer with no eyes?”
Predictably, Thomas didn’t answer.
“No eye deer.”
Thomas huffed. Then he turned to look at the glass left on the side. “You bastard.”
Scott shrugged. “Looks like it’s an eye for an eye.”
“Is that an invitation to remove one from your face?”
“No, it is not, it’s an invitation to play a game of hide and seek with your eyeball.”
Thomas looked Scott up and down. “Is it on your person?”
Scott shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled them out to show Thomas they were empty.
“I didn’t ask if it was in your jeans; I asked whether it was on your person.”
“No, Thomas, I have not shoved your fake eye up my arse for safe-keeping.”
“Good.” Thomas glanced around the kitchen. “Is it in this room?”
Scott pulled a face. “I’ll start giving clues after an hour.”
“An hour!”
“Yep. Now get searching.”
Scott thought there was a strong possibility Thomas would murder him. He wasn’t subtle. He kept sliding his hand across his neck in a slit-throat gesture and throttling pieces of furniture. Scott remained at a safe distance from him at all times.
Thomas had searched the whole of the top floor, the one beneath, and one of the auction rooms before they hit the one-hour mark.
“Ice cold,” Scott said.
“What do you mean, ice cold?”
“That’s how far away you are.”
Thomas trudged into the entrance hall, then turned to glare at Scott.
Scott rubbed his chin. “Still ice cold.”
“It’s outside, isn’t it?” Thomas mumbled.
“Maybe… Why don’t you start looking, and I’ll join you out there in a sec.”
Thomas stalked off, threatening to drown Scott in one of the ponds under his breath.
Scott ran back up stairs, sprinted across the corridor, took the spiral staircase two at a time, and flew through the propped-open door.
He grabbed two ice lollies from the moulds in the freezer, making a mental note to pour more squash into them after dinner, then hurried back downstairs.
His sore arse didn’t thank him for the excursion, and neither did his thighs or lungs.
“It’s too hot for this shit,” Thomas snapped.
“My thoughts, exactly,” Scott replied, handing over an ice lolly.
Thomas frowned as he took it, then watched as Scott sat down on the lawn in front of the mansion. Scott didn’t wait for him; he began sucking it. He’d poured in apple juice the day before, not concentrate but freshly squeezed, and the taste tingled on his tongue.
Thomas brandished his own lolly like a weapon. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shove this up your arsehole?”
“You wouldn’t be able to eat it.”
“I’d still eat it.”
Scott cocked his head. “You’d find it gross.”
“I one hundred per cent do not find that gross. It’s actually kind of hot.”
“I wouldn’t like it.”
Thomas took a menacing step closer. “I’d make you like it.”
There was promise in his words, and Scott choked around his lolly.
“I would, Scott. I’d make you come with it. I’d make you come hard all over yourself.”
Scott’s cheeks burned. He pulled the lolly out of his mouth and patted the grass beside him. “Sit down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Okay, stand there looking all angry.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes and sat down. He kept his back to Scott.
Scott let the silence linger between them, hoping it would work its magic. He finished his lolly first, then lay down, staring up at the sky.
A few minutes later, Thomas lay down too.
There were no clouds to point at, only endless blue. Scott shut his eyes and concentrated on the grass stroking his bare arms. He listened to the birds and heard an aeroplane overhead. The wind, although faint, rushed through his hair, and he shivered at the sensation against his scalp.
“Careful,” Thomas said softly. “Your mask is slipping again.”
Scott opened his eyes.
Thomas had his head propped up on his hand as he watched Scott. It was hard to tell his expression, but he could no longer threaten to make Scott come with his ice lolly; he’d eaten it.
“Those three years inside, I don’t remember hearing a bird, or a plane.” Scott dug his nails into the earth. “There was no grass, or flowers, or trees.”
Thomas looked away. “Tim did an amazing job while I was away, but it was almost overwhelming to look at when I got out. The same walls, bars, fences, and concrete for three years, and suddenly all this…”
“I love it.”
Thomas sighed. “I know you do.”
“How do you know?”
“You spend a lot of time out here, clearing the ponds. Cameras,” Thomas reminded.
“You watch me on the cameras?” Scott bristled.
“I’ve watched you come multiple times upstairs on camera…”
“But it’s different.”
“There’s no mask,” Thomas said softly. “I like seeing you without the mask.”
Scott swallowed. He needed to move the conversation away from himself.
“Tim said you stay inside mostly. You used to spend hours walking in the gardens, but you stopped doing that after you got back from Brixton.”
“Tim talks too much,” Thomas snapped. He sighed. “Maybe he’s got a point, though.”
Scott sprang to his feet and held his hand out to Thomas. “Want to walk with me? We can search for your eyeball while we do.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“You always do.”
Thomas exhaled from his nose, then grabbed Scott’s offered hand.
It was the most relaxed game of hot and cold Scott had ever played.
Thomas no longer seemed too fussed about finding his missing eye. They didn’t speak but admired the plants, flowers, herbs, vegetables, the immaculate patterns in the gravel, the perfectly shaped hedges and the ponds with the koi carp.
Tim gave Scott a thumbs-up from a distance.
“It’s beautiful,” Thomas whispered, coming to a stop. “But I’d give it all up for the chance to go back in time.” He turned to the mansion. “I wouldn’t have ended up here. I would probably be a vet, with my arm up some cow’s arse and shit all down me, but I’d be happy with that.”
“What happened?” Scott darted looks around them. “How did you end up here?”
Thomas shook his head. “Will you take me to the eyeball now?”
Scott slumped. “Sure.”
He led the way to the fountain where Scott had first seen Thomas after four months, where he’d locked on to his snake eyes again.
“It’s here,” Scott said, peering into the water.
No snake eyeball looked back at him.
“I mean…it was here.”
“Scott…” Thomas hissed.
“I’m not messing about.” He lowered himself to his knees and swished his hand through the water. “I swear this is where I hid it.”
“Oh dear,” Tim said, shaking his head. He came close, took off his hat and held it to his chest. “Have you lost something?”
“Thomas’s eye,” Scott replied.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh –”
“Enough,” Thomas interrupted. “You clearly know something about it.”
“Susan was in there earlier, took a right interest in something.”
“Susan…” Scott got back to his feet. “You mean the swan with the bionic beak?”
“The very one.” Tim pointed into the distance. “She flew off with something about forty minutes ago. Couldn’t tell what it was. Looked kind of green. She’ll take it to her nest, over by the wildlife pond.”
“Scott…” Thomas hissed again.
Scott held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll go get it.”
“You can’t let him go on his own,” Tim said, crowding Thomas.
“Scott will be fine.”