Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Ana?s
The driver drops the three of us off by the marina, Creed leading us towards his boat. Rue and I are barefoot, heels in one hand, bags in the other as we follow like lost puppies.
It’s late, a lot later than I wanted it to be, but still, none of us are ready to go home. We’ve drunk ourselves sober and tiredness threatens to mask us, but for now, we’re happy to sit on the boat and chill for an hour or two.
We walk onto the boat and Creed is instantly greeted by the lady from last night.
“Mr Lexington.” She tips her head and then steps aside for the both of us. “Nice to see you again,” she says softly to me, and I give her a warm smile.
“You too.”
Rue says hello to her, then she is behind me as we sit on the sofas at the back of the yacht.
The lady appears but Creed holds his hand up.
“No champagne tonight, Emily. Maybe some tea?” His eyes narrow on her and she smiles.
“Certainly, sir.”
“Creed,” he corrects her and then turns his attention to us. “That okay?”
“Fine by me. I am all champagned and cocktailed out.” I snort a laugh and Rue agrees.
“Perfect.”
I look out at the star filled sky and a blissful sigh leaves me.
“Thank you for agreeing to come for dinner tonight,” he says, aimed at me and then finally turning his attention to Rue.
“Thank you for inviting us.” I roll my lips and Rue shuffles.
“Thanks for letting me gate crash.” She smirks and taps her fingers against her thigh.
“No gatecrashing, a friend of Ace is a friend of mine.” He tilts his head towards us both.
“Well, thank you again,” she says just as Emily places a tray with a teapot, milk, sugar and three mugs.
Creed mutters a thanks and Emily disappears into the yacht.
“Do you go out on this or does it just sit here?” Rue asks as she looks around at her surroundings.
“Sometimes, not as much as I should.” He reaches for the tea pot then looks at me for confirmation for him to make it. I nod.
“That’s a shame,” I mumble and watch as he pours the tea.
“Yeah, but who knows, maybe I’ll get a chance to take it out before I fly back home,. He sighs. “I pay seventy thousand euros to have it moored here.”
My eyes widen at that number, but Rue doesn’t seem phased by it at all.
“That would be nice for you,” Rue says as she takes one of the mugs and sits back, looking very much relaxed.
“It would,” I agree, taking my mug from him and nestling myself back into the sofa.
“Would you like to come out on it with me?” he asks both of us, but I know it’s directed at me.
Rue gets it. She picks up on it straight away.
“Thank you for the offer but I am mega busy with work. You and Ana?s should definitely do it.” She flits her eyes between the both of us.
“What do you say, Ace? Fancy it?”
I nibble on my bottom lip, then take a mouthful of my tea. “Why not?” I really do try hard not to smile, but I fail.
Miserably.
We walk Rue home and once we know she is in safely, Creed walks beside me as we make our way back to the penthouse.
The evening is warm, there is still a lot of life in the quiet town for Fontvieille, and I am so glad that Nora convinced me to come.
I really did need to call her. I had been a bad friend.
“I could move here.” My thoughts are loud, and I feel Creed’s eyes on me.
“Yeah?” His hands are folded into his pocket.
“Yeah.” I look at him, a weak smile tracing my lips.
“I would move here in a heartbeat,” he admits as we turn onto the main street, a super car passing and whoever it was, flashes Creed and holds his hand out the window.
“Who was that?”
“Charles,” he smirks and I blink.
“What the Charles?”
“No, King Charles.” He rolls his eyes and laughing as I push him in the arm.
“Idiot,” I say through my giggle.
“So, back to the conversation before Charles sent you to dreamland.”
“He is very dreamy,” I say on a sigh.
“He is,” Creed agrees which causes another laugh to bubble out of me.
“What were we talking about before?” I tease, knowing full well what we were talking about.
“Monaco. Moving here.”
“Oh, yes.” We round the corner and we’re on the home stretch to the penthouse. “I would move here, I really would. I feel anchored here, if that makes any sense at all.”
“It makes total sense, because I feel exactly the same.”
“What is stopping you,” I pick at him.
“Saint Onyx.”
“Really?”
“Yup, too selfish to give it up yet. I know we can be better, and I want to see us dominate. We’re getting there, but something is missing.”
“I don’t think something is missing, I think you have a redundant part that needs to be switched out.”
He falters his steps to a halt, my heels still hooked on his fingers. I twist to look at him, hand on my hip, head tilted to the side.
“What?”
“You know what.” I roll my eyes.
“You studied what we’re doing wrong.”
“Not what you’re doing wrong… who is doing you wrong.”
“Right.” His lips twitch.
“Look, I am not some F1 whizz, but I was around it enough to see the flaws in your team, in a few of the teams actually.”
“Ruinous?”
“Definitely not with the dreamboat that is Ajax.” I am enjoying this teasing.
“Come on then, Ace, tell me where we’re redundant.”
“I don’t need to.” I shrug and turn around as I start to walk again. “You already know.”
After a second or two, I hear his shoes beating on the pavement behind me.
Showered and in fresh pyjamas, I pad into the living area to see Creed back at the window, no bourbon in hand though. Just staring out.
“You okay?” I find myself asking, slightly concerned.
“Yeah, Ace, all good, just tired,” he admits and I notice he is still dressed.
“Me too. I’m going to grab a glass of water and call it a night.”
“I won’t be long behind you.” His voice echoes around the large space as I walk towards the kitchen and fill my glass.
“Are you around tomorrow?” My eyes flick up to see him still with his back to me and my heart patters a little faster in my chest.
“Got a few meetings, might be back early evening. How come?” Now he turns to face me, the glow from the moon shining like an aura behind him as he takes a couple of steps forward.
“I was just wondering, that’s all. I really need to catch up on work, and call Nora, plus I need to pop and see Rue and get some food in.” I look behind me at the sad and nearly empty fridge.
“Don’t worry about food, I’ll sort it.”
“No, it’s—”
“Leave it, Ace.” He smirks and begins to walk towards me.
“Okay.” I shut the tap off and hold onto my water glass tightly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I mimic, watching as he slips into his room and closes the door behind him.
“Thanks for a wonderful evening,” I whisper into the room so only I hear.
Waking from a deep sleep, I stretch and yawn before slowly sitting up.
The room is bright. Too bright. Reaching for my phone, one eye is still closed as I check my emails and notifications.
Nothing out of the ordinary but I did notice an email about my attendance at a restaurant here in Monaco.
I leave it as unread and make a mental note to check it out again once I am awake.
Clocking the time is just before ten, I sit bolt upright. I cannot remember the last time I slept in till ten.
Kicking my legs out of the duvet, I move into the bathroom, splashing my face before cleansing my skin and brushing my teeth.
Scraping my hair off my face and tying it high, I moisturise.
Padding back into my room, I grab my phone from the bed and walk out into the main part of the penthouse only to be met by three men and Creed sitting around the dining room table.
And here I am. His son’s ex-girlfriend.Standing in skimpy shorts and a cropped vest.
“I am so sorry,” I whisper, cheeks flaming red and I want the ground to swallow me hole.
Right now.
Sneaking back, my eyes glued to them and a big ass smile on my face, I close the door and only when I know I am locked away do I dive onto my bed and scream into a pillow.
He said nothing about having a meeting here, did he?
After my humiliation dies down, I scroll to find Nora’s name and click call.
“Who’s this,”
“Don’t be like that.” My tone is sharp, but I know she is grumpy.
“I’m not, I am just simply asking who this girl is on the end of my phone.”
“I’m sorry, okay, it’s just been a little…” I pause. There is no point even trying to fight myself out of this one.
“Fine, I am sorry for being such a shitty friend, okay.” I huff. “I know I have been crap, I have just been so consumed in my holiday and been completely selfish…” I pause again, waiting for something.
“Okay, cool.” I know she is smirking on the other end of the phone. “Apology accepted.”
“Thank you,” I mutter as I roll on my back.
“You’re welcome.” I hear the sound of a drawer shutting. “So, what’s new? How’s Monaco? Have you met any Monégasque men who have fallen head over heels in love with you?”
“No.” I sigh. “Sadly not, but—”
“There’s a but?”
“Calm down, Nora. Please don’t get too excited.”
“Fine.”
“I saw Charles.”
“Did you?”
“Well, I saw his car.”
“His car?”
“Yes, he waved out of it.”
“So, you saw his hand and arm or just his hand.”
“Both.”
“So, you didn’t see Charles, you saw his arm… you think?”
“Creed said it was him.”
“Oh, so you were out with Creed when you claim to have seen Charles.”
“Yes, we had been to the Monte Carlo Casino, amazing by the way, highly recommend, but yes, we went for dinner with a couple of the Montcroix guys and Rue.”
“Ah Rue, your Monaco Nora.”
“Sort of, but not quite.” I smile into the speakerphone, my hand splayed across my stomach.
“There can never be another Nora.”
“No sweetie.” I bite on my bottom lip. “There can’t.”
“Back to Creed.”
“We went for dinner, that’s it.”
“Why?”
“I was meant to be out with Rue.”
“Stop saying her name, I’m getting jealous.”
I ignore her.