Chapter 13 #2
His car was a work of art.
I'd never cared much for cars, especially fancy ones, but this one was truly beautiful.
His hand stayed firmly about my waist as he leaned down to open the door for me. He took my hand and eased me down into the smooth leather.
Mr Tell folded himself into the driver’s seat and looked over at me as he revved the engine with the excitement of a little boy.
"You like?" he asked, his playful smile catching me off guard.
"Surprisingly, yes."
"Fancy a drive?"
"I can't. I really do have to get back to work. With Mark being away there's twice as much for me to do." I expected him to argue and was surprised when he didn’t.
"Rain check then.”
He pulled out into the traffic, completely oblivious to the envious stares we attracted from the pedestrians. I wondered what it must be like to be so used to being surrounded by jealousy that you didn't even notice it any more.
His hand rested firmly on my thigh as he drove and my body tensed, all of my senses jumping to high alert.
His skin burned mine through the thin material of my sundress and I had to fight to sit still.
When I glanced up at him, a knowing smile played on his lips.
He knew exactly what he was doing to me.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.
"My thoughts are going to cost you more than a penny."
He gave me a wry smile. "Pennies I have, O'Connell. I can buy all of your thoughts if I want to."
"You think so? I think you can't buy a single part of me," I fired back and he bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to smile.
"Okay, poor choice of words. Still, I want to know what you're thinking."
"I was thinking that I wished I'd put on jeans this morning," I said, shocked at my own honesty. His hand tightened on my thigh and my breath hitched at the pressure.
Slowly, his hand trailed up my leg, taking the material of my dress with it before he carefully replaced his hand, this time on the bare skin he'd uncovered.
"Still wish you were wearing jeans?"
"I honestly have no idea what I wish." My hands gripped the leather seat as I fought the sensations his small touch sent through my body. His fingertips rested on my inner thigh. Just a little higher and…
"Why don't you let me decide for you?" His grip on my thigh tightened and my core tightened with it.
"I don't know you." That sounded so simple. Such a flimsy excuse. It was true, I didn't know him at all and yet it was also a lie. Some deep, visceral part of me did know him.
"Do you trust me?" He stopped at a red light and turned to face me. I looked over at the man who, within a few days, had managed to infiltrate every corner of my life and mind.
"No," I answered. He withdrew his hand, his mouth setting in a firm line.
"That's smart," he replied, his tone grim. The lights changed and we drove in silence for a few minutes when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey, how come you always seem to know where I am? You came to my house last night but I never told you where I live, and then today you just happened to turn up to my lunch with Keira? And don't give me any bullshit about it being a coincidence because I?—"
"I installed a tracker on your phone," he answered, as if he'd just told me that he'd changed his socks this morning. I gaped at him.
"No you didn't."
"I assure you I did, and before you decide to replace your phone, I had Elliot install one on your van too so there's really no point."
"You're an insane person, do you know that?" I stared at his profile, my mouth open.“Get rid of it. Now.”
“No,” he answered, his indifferent tone infuriating me, “it’s just a tracker. I won’t use it to find you unless I really need to and I can’t use it to view activity on your phone. Just think of it as a safety measure.”
“A safety measure? You expect me to believe you did this for my benefit?”
“No. I did it because it suited me.” Ah, so there was the Alfie Tell I’d read about in that article. He took a turn with ease, unaffected, whilst I sat here with fury boiling in my gut. “You have a right to be angry but it won’t change anything. I advise you to let it go.”
Let it go? He wanted me to just let it go?
“I’m not okay with this,” I said, as firmly as I could manage. This was something Adam would have done, but how could I explain that to this man I barely knew?
"I know. If it helps at all, I don't like this any more than you do and, just for the record, this sort of behaviour isn't a habit of mine."
"So why do I get the special treatment?"
"I'm not sure. When it comes to my personal life, I have rules in place. Rules that protect my business, my family, and myself. So far, I seem to be making you the exception to all of those rules."
"Why?"
"Because, O'Connell, I think you are exceptional."
I felt like my breath had stopped. Never in my life had I been called exceptional. Or anything even close. I felt a twinge in my gut as I realised that his compliment was likely calculated.
“Using flattery to distract me from my anger?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t mean what I said.”
I sat quietly, trying to process this new invasion of my privacy.
It infuriated me, and yet I felt helpless to do anything about it.
Clearly, arguing with him would get me nowhere.
I would deal with the trackers later when I’d had time to think.
It was hard to think clearly with his hand squeezing my thigh.
We pulled into Rosie's car park, the tires of the Aston Martin crunching over the gravel.
"Thank you. I appreciate the lift, even if you are a batshit crazy," I muttered.
I opened my door but his grip returned from the gear stick to my thigh, immobilising me.
The car park was busy and people milled around, staring curiously at us.
I pushed the fabric of my dress down, trying to cover his invasive hand.
"People are looking at us," I hissed, but the look on his face told me he didn't give a damn.
"Have dinner with me tonight."
"Mr Tell, please." I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing.
"Alfie,” he corrected. “What's stopping you?" His thumb rubbed slow circles on my thigh and I bit my lip.
"It's not appropriate. I know we already crossed the line the other night, but we shouldn't have. I work for you. It’s got to be breaking some sort of moral code."
"Fuck moral code," he said and I burst out laughing, the sound breaking the tension a little.
"That's the spirit."
"Seriously, why do you give a damn what anyone else thinks?" He didn't understand and he didn't really look like he cared. He had the luxury of not needing anyone's good opinion.
"It's not just that. I…well, I Googled you yesterday," I admitted, deciding it was time to bite the bullet.
He raised an amused eyebrow. "You Googled me?"
I nodded. "Yes, and there was an article from maybe ten years ago…"
"And?" He waited and I scrambled, trying to find the right words.
"And you're everything I hate. You were so rude in that article, and the way you talked about women…your maid had her mouth taped shut and what exactly is the Never Tell Club anyway?"
"The Never Tell Club is none of your concern.” He shut me down. Clearly that wasn’t a place he wanted to go. I opened my mouth to push but he carried on. “I won't apologise for my past, O'Connell. I am not ashamed of it. But are you the same person that you were ten years ago?"
"At my core, yes." I was a good person ten years ago and I was a good person now. Simple.
"Well, at my core I've always been the same, too, but my behaviour is not always a true representative of that core."
"And your behaviour now? Is that a true representative of yourself?" I asked, curious.
"What do you think?"
I looked him over, appraising the man that had been awful in that article, a charmer to my best friend, and to me could be aloof one moment and heated the next.
"I think you're a big faker," I said finally. He looked momentarily stunned before amusement lit up his eyes. I realised in that moment something that I hadn’t before. Alfie Tell liked me. This might all be just a game to him, it might be all about the chase, but he liked me. The problem, though, was that despite how attracted I was to him, I wasn’t sure I liked him .
"But you're interested in me."
"Yes," I admitted, his eyes flashing. What was I doing?
"Then have dinner with me," he said forcefully, easy going Alfie disappearing as quickly as he had come. "It's going to happen, Lola, one way or the other. All you're doing is just dragging out the fight."
Dragging out the fight. Was that what I was doing? Fighting him for no reason? This man raised so many red flags, but I couldn’t deny the pull I felt. It was dinner. Just dinner. I could do that. I sagged against the seat, feeling defeated.
He must have seen the exact moment when I caved because a look of triumph crossed his features suddenly, making them younger, more vibrant somehow.
Who was this man? I wanted to crawl inside him and absorb him.
I wanted to know every part of him and, scarier than that, I wanted him to know every part of me.
But, for now, I’d stick with the simple stuff.
"How old are you, by the way?"
"33. Is that a problem?" He arched an eyebrow, daring me to say that it was.
I shook my head. Him being ten years older than me wasn’t a problem. The damn trackers were though.
"Good," he said, as if we'd just settled a business deal. "Elliot will pick you up at eight."
"I'd rather you picked me up, or I could meet you somewhere?"
"I have a late meeting so I can't pick you up and I don't want you driving yourself. I don't trust that thing you drive and I plan to keep you out of it as much as possible. Besides," he arched his scarred brow at me, "I've seen how you drive."
"Hey, in all fairness, I was particularly nervous that day."
"And you're going to be particularly nervous tonight, so I think it's better if you don't get behind the wheel." His tone was patronising as hell but I let it go with a roll of my eyes.
"I could get a taxi instead," I offered. He leaned back in his seat as if to get a better look at me and spent a moment studying my face. I flushed under the intense scrutiny.
"Is there a reason you don't want Elliot to pick you up?" I shook my head. "Lola, please don't lie to me. I'll get it out of you one way or the other so you might as well save us both the time."
I sighed, feeling like a chastised child. "The other night…" I trailed off, remembering how Elliot had discovered Alfie and I in the gardens.
"Ah. You're embarrassed. Lola, look at me." I looked up at him, his grey eyes steadying me in a way they never had before. "There is very little that Elliot hasn't seen. He is very discreet. That's part of the reason why he works closest to me. I need to be able to trust him and I do, implicitly."
I knew that he intended for his words to calm me but all I could think about was how many times Elliot had stood watch while Alfie fucked some woman. Hundreds of times, probably. Probably in his car. The car I was in right now…
"Stop." He gripped my chin and shook me slightly. "Whatever it is you're thinking, stop it. Yes, I've fucked other women and yes, Elliot has been around that. I’m telling you not to ruminate on my past. I’m also telling you that Elliot won’t judge you over one kiss."
For the first time since I'd met him, I made a conscious decision to trust his word.
"Alright," I nodded again, "I understand.
Elliot can pick me up." He relaxed as if he'd been expecting more of a fight and I raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, "See, I can be reasonable too.
" I gave him a small smile. “Okay, I should really go. You know the tracker conversation isn’t over, right? "
Alfie gave an indifferent shrug. "Take these with you." He reached into his pocket, producing the red velvet box. "Wear them tonight."
"Alfie, I really don't want them."
"Just take them, Lola." He held the box out to me and, once again, I caved. I'd had enough of arguing for one day.
Before I could get out of the car, his hand snaked up to cup my face again, and he gazed at me like I was a long lost artifact, newly discovered.
"You're doing something to me, O'Connell." The words came in a rush, as if he’d had to force them out before his courage failed him. I swallowed, summoning the same courage.
"Right back at you," I whispered, unable to say the words too loud, just in case some higher power heard me and decided to snatch him away.
Slowly, he leaned into me and pressed his warm lips to my cheek.
I had to fight hard not to turn and kiss him, to throw him back against the seat and straddle him.
He pulled away with visible effort but didn't let go of me. Instead he held me close, nose to nose.
"Tonight," he said, his tone forcing a promise from me.
"Tonight," I promised, feeling like I'd just made a deal with the devil. His gaze searched my face for any sign of treachery but he must have found me honest because he nodded and released me.
"Good. Now, get out of my car before I tear that dress off of you." I laughed but he didn't join me. I noticed how his knuckles gripped the steering wheel. My laughter died in an instant and I scrambled out of the car, the red velvet box clutched tight in my palm.