Chapter 14 #2
Scarlet has requested us all at the estate tonight.
She wants to finalise the plans for the ball.
With only a week to go before the event, she’s been crazy busy working on the small details.
We have helped her through every bump she has found herself at so far and I know that tonight will be no different.
Elliot, Lance, and Charlie have been heavily involved and a massive help.
We all agreed not to tell Mason about the ball until a few days before.
He should be planning it with us, but we all know he wouldn’t, and Scarlet refuses to give him the opportunity to disappoint her.
Lucy and Megan are already in the back of the car when I climb in, and I can barely see them past a sea of garment bags. “Really? Did you bring the whole shop, Luce?”
“If Elliot had listened and brought the Audi, we wouldn’t have a problem. Would we Elliot.”
“You don’t get that purr in the Audi, baby. I know you love it.” He revs the engine, making me and Megan chuckle.
Elliot’s seat is jolted from behind, but he doesn’t acknowledge it. He just looks at me with a smile and gives me a wink.
“I think we should call Mason, you know, he’s been much happier in the office this week. He told me you kissed him by the way.” Elliot gives me a pointed look, waiting for me to do up my seat belt, and pulls out onto the road.
“What?” Megan’s head pops out from the back seat.
“You never said!” Lucy bolts forward.
“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me. And it wasn’t even a proper kiss.” Not by mine and Mason’s normal standards anyway.
“You kissed?” Lucy asks, sounding hopeful.
“No! Barely. And it was nearly two weeks ago, so calm down.”
“I heard it got pretty hot and heavy. Lowell said he had to jack off in the car after he left. Had your tits out and all in the bathroom.”
“Fuck!” Megan exclaims.
“Ell!” I shout, my stomach knotting at that snippet of information. “You’re winding it up and making it worse.”
“What? I’m just saying what he said.” He has a stupid look on his face, telling me he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Yeah, Nina, Mason doesn’t hold out on his boys.” Lucy glares at me over the top of the bags.
I take a deep inhale and blow it out through my nose, knowing I need to explain. “He got all over the top about Joey.”
“Shock.” Elliot sniggers.
“He got himself all worked up, I didn’t do a thing. Then he stayed to bathe Ellis. Your mum turned up, Luce, she thought Mason was getting handsy with me.”
“No!” she says, shocked.
“Yep. I told Mason to bathe Ellis to get him out of the situation so I could explain, and then he ended up in the bath with him. He had to dry his clothes, so he stayed for dinner.”
“You’re getting back together!” Lucy smiles.
“What? No!”
“When and where did the kiss happen?” Megan asks, not missing a thing.
“What does it matter?” Elliot snorts.
“It matters,” Lucy tells him.
“In the laundry room.”
The girls laugh in the back, and I roll my eyes at Elliot. “Thanks, asshole.”
“You’re welcome, Pix.” He taps the steering wheel, looking over at me while the girls buzz around in the back. “He seems much happier.”
“It doesn’t mean anything, Ell. We’re both confused and so much has happened.”
“Exactly. You have been through a lot. In my time, the best relationships always do.”
“Nina, I’d advise against taking relationship advice from London’s most notorious manwhore.” Lucy laughs, falling back into her seat.
I look at her then Elliot, noticing his jaw clenched and face red. “You didn’t seem to mind this morning, babe? Hmm? Whilst you were grinding your ass on my semi.”
I direct my wide eyes to Luce who has now sunk down in the seat and is hidden by the bags.
Elliot huffs, shaking his head as he looks into the rearview mirror. “Touché, Luce. Tou-fucking-ché.”
Lowerwick is lit up when we arrive, looking every bit the grand estate that it is. I’ve been coming here for the last year and when I arrive, it feels a little bit like home.
“This place always reminds me of Christmas. Can you imagine living in a house like this?” Megan voices, climbing from the car.
“It’s not a house, it’s a mansion,” Lucy says, piling up garment bags on Elliot’s outstretched arms.
Inside, Scarlet has an array of cocktails laid out for us to try. We pretend it’s research for the ball but we all know it’s not.
Lucy has sent Lance, Charlie, and Elliot upstairs to try on the suits she brought over for them.
She had one put back for Mason and will get Elliot to deliver it on Friday.
Hopefully, everything works out and we pull the whole thing off.
A lot has been planned in under a month and I’m so proud of Scarlet and what she has achieved, it’s going to be an incredible evening.
“So, I have food to be served at seven, the band is starting at eight thirty, and the auction will begin at nine thirty in their break. I’ll need you girls ready for that a little while before.”
“Auction?” I blanch.
Scarlet looks up from the piece of paper she’s reading from. “Yeah, Lucy didn’t tell you?”
I turn to Luce who is wide-eyed with guilt and gulping her cocktail. “Luce?”
“It’s for a good cause?” She dabs at her lips.
“What kind of auction?” I ask, my stomach tightening with what my intuition is telling me.
“Megan is hosting, I’m dealing with the money, so Luce said the two of you would donate a date.”
“A date?” I snap, staring at Lucy.
“Sorry! It’s just one night and we can get Dad to bid, and Megan will take what he offers. Won’t you, Meg!” She elbows her in the side, but Megan just smiles impishly.
“No!” Scarlet asserts. “You have to put yourself out there. Come on, girls.”
“Why don’t you do it then? I can deal with the money!” I beg her.
She cringes, her hands crunching the paper slightly. “Uhhh, no, sorry.”
“Scar!” I cry.
“You know my brother will buy you!”
My heart sinks and my body tenses. I never stopped to consider what Mason would think of an auction. He would hate it, and he would buy me, there’s no doubt in my mind, and with what Joey told me today, I can only imagine how much deeper he would drive the dagger.
“I don’t have a lot in donations yet, it would mean so much if you could do this, Nina.”
“Oh god…”
Her lips thin and she shrugs unapologetically. “Thanks, babe.”
My lip tips up as she starts to chuckle. “I’ll think about it. No promises.”
“You are doing it—”
“What do you think, ladies?” Lance announces, sauntering into the room with Charlie and Elliot hot on his heels.