Chapter 60
Sixty
T he next morning I awoke yet again to the tinny shrill of Alfie’s phone. He was out of bed and in business mode before my eyes were even open.
Bradley. I squeezed my eyes shut as the memory of his lips on mine filled my mind.
The guilt was inescapable and it made me wonder how a person could live with a secret for years.
I’d had this one for less than a day and I already hated myself.
I thought about Alfie, who as usual was up and fully dressed whilst I was still in bed and completely naked.
Alfie had secrets. I didn’t know what they were but they were enough to cause him to hurt himself and spend a decade running a company he hated.
I wondered how heavy those secrets weighed on him, how deep his guilt-gilded dagger was sunk.
I was starting to understand why he lashed out whenever I got too close.
Bradley.
I would have to avoid him today. As for telling Alfie, what good could it do?
It would only erase how far we’d come. It wasn’t logical to tear us apart over something that would never happen again.
A small part of me was angry with Bradley for hot potato-ing this crap into my lap but I knew I couldn’t lay it all at his door. I hadn’t exactly fought him off.
Alfie came out of the walk-in, his phone still pressed to his ear, and gave me a look that told me it was time to get myself out of bed.
I dressed quickly in the jeans and t-shirt I’d brought with me last night and threw my new ballet pumps and sunglasses on too. My hair was gloriously wild as usual. I’d never let it grow this long but every time I thought about cutting it, I thought about how attached Alfie was to it.
I found Alfie waiting for me downstairs next to a basket of blueberry muffins on the foyer table. I took two, slipped my hand into his and tried to ignore the guilt weighing in my chest.
As we pulled into Rosie’s he ended the call and, sliding his Ray-Bans off, turned to give me his full attention for the first time that morning.
He cupped my face, his thumb running over my lower lip, his eyes focusing intently on my mouth. How could he make a simple gesture so erotic?
“I ought to have gotten you that dress seven times over,” he said, frowning at my jeans and t-shirt combo. I guessed he was missing the red dress too. I’d enjoyed wearing something he’d chosen for me more than I cared to admit. It made me feel so…owned.
“But if I wore it every day it would lose its charm pretty quickly, don’t you think?”
“On any other woman, absolutely.”
I swallowed hard, my insides turning to liquid.
He gave me a knowing smile. He knew what he did to me.
He pinched my bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger, applying only the slightest pressure, gently asserting his ownership of my mouth.
His gaze flickered to the cheerful chatter of two of the cafe waitresses arriving and he scowled at them through the black-out windows.
“This place is too fucking busy. You should get in there before I start something I can’t finish. ”
“Okay,” I said shakily as he pulled away.
“I’ll see you tonight?” He gave me a dark look before slipping his Ray-Bans back on that told me yeah, I was definitely seeing him tonight and it was going to be a hell of a ride.
I hopped out of the car and headed into work, trying not to think about how badly he wanted me and how deeply I had fucked up.
Was it duplicitous not to tell Alfie about my doctor’s appointment?
Perhaps it was, but I couldn’t face telling him what an idiot I’d been.
Again. He’d probably have an aneurysm. Or a stroke.
Or both. He’d said that he trusted me with my pills.
It no longer worried him that I might dupe him into having a billionaire-baby with me, and now I was messing that up.
My van was still parked at my house but one of the benefits of living in a small town was that you could get wherever you wanted to within about twenty minutes on foot.
So, with my appointment at 3.30, I set off around 3.
00, figuring that I could get in, get a fresh batch of baby blockers, and be back at my desk in time for Alfie to pick me up.
I stepped through the automatic doors into the waiting room and registered my arrival on the check-in touch screen.
I took a seat and was about to reach for the magazine on the seat next to me when my phone went off.
The receptionist gave me a stern eye and pointed at the ‘switch your mobile devices off’ sign.
I gave her an apologetic wave and checked my phone, trying to keep it hidden in my bag so she wouldn’t notice. I should have known who it would be.
Are you unwell?
A.
God damn GPS! I ground my teeth together in frustration.
Damn it, Alfie! Stalking is a sickness you know.
I glanced up at the sound of a loud cough and found the receptionist still eyeing me over her half-moon spectacles. My phone buzzed again.
What’s wrong?
I bit my lip. This wasn’t something that I should tell him over text, but he was worried. He hadn’t even signed off with his usual ‘A.’ this time. The receptionist began tapping her pen so I quickly texted him back.
I’m fine, really. I have to go, I’ll talk to you later x
That would have to do. I switched my phone off and waved it at the receptionist with an apologetic smile. She wasn’t impressed.
As with every health care appointment I’d ever had, the actual appointment time meant nothing.
3.30 came and went and 40 minutes later the receptionist finally called my name.
Two minutes later I was in my doctor’s office, trying to explain to a man old enough to be my grandfather how I’d been stupid enough to lose two packets of pills within the same week.
He gave me a stern talking to along with my prescription and I left his office bright red but relieved.
The waiting room was unusually quiet as I made my way out. The two receptionists were staring slack-jawed over the counter. I followed their wide-eyed gaze to find Alfie Tell sitting on a plastic waiting room chair, reading an old copy of Cosmopolitan.
“Alfie, what are you doing here?” I hissed when I finally found my voice.
He looked up, his brows raised with false nonchalance and held up the article he was reading. ‘69 ways to orgasm.’
“Research.” I heard the receptionist sigh behind me and I rolled my eyes.
Alfie’s actions might be playful but his gaze told me a very different story.
Mr Tell was not amused. “Come.” He tossed the magazine onto the chair as he stood.
“Let’s not cause a scene.” He walked by me, leaving me to follow him outside.
A group of teenage boys were gathered around, ogling the Lamborghini, but they scattered as soon as Alfie approached. I didn’t blame them.
Instead of opening my door, Alfie leaned against it, forcing me to have this conversation out on the street. It was smart. He knew I was more likely to behave myself in public. The man could put me over a barrel without even touching me.
He said nothing, simply waited expectantly for an explanation. I sighed, resigned to the storm that was about to head my way.
“I lost my birth control pills again so I went to get more.”
He didn’t react, didn’t even cock an eyebrow. “And you were planning to keep that from me? You didn’t think that a lapse in your birth control was something I needed to know about?”
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it again. He had a point. I hadn’t thought about it like that. “I fucked up. I’m sorry.” I meant my apology but I had a feeling that wasn’t going to be enough.
“You lied to me. Again.” Again? My stomach lurched. Did he know about Bradley? My college acceptance? Or was he just referring to my little adventure at Harrington House the other night?
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“‘Sorry’ is wearing out, Lola.” His words sent an icy chill down my spine.
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little?” I said softly and received a stony glare in return.
“No. I think you’ve given me multiple lectures about evasiveness, lies, and secrecy, and yet here you are, avoiding me again , omitting truths again .
You speak of my double standards, of my hypocrisy, but what of your own, O’Connell?
Or are you exempt from all your own rules?
” I closed my eyes, blocking him out for a second, and took a deep breath.
The man should have been a lawyer. In moments like this, he wasn’t my Alfie.
He was Mr Tell, Billionaire Businessman, and the idea of my ever winning against him was ludicrous.
“No, of course I’m not.” As usual he was right, except that I didn’t know anymore whether Alfie was actually right, or whether he was just so good at manipulating me that he could talk me into agreeing with him.
“Then why would you try to keep this from me?”
“You aren’t exactly easy to confide in. You control and you fight and I hate arguing with you.
You always make me feel so stupid.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to cry.
This wasn’t the worst fight we’d ever had, not even close, so why was it upsetting me so badly?
Guilt, that’s why. If this tiny lie was going to hurt him, the other skeletons currently residing in my closet were going to do some serious damage, and the longer I left them there the worse it was going to be.
The silence drew out around us until finally I heard him give a small sigh.
“You know, those pills are probably in that trash heap of a vehicle you drive.” His tone had softened a little and relief swept through me. We shared a small smile, an acknowledgement that the argument was over. He was pissed, I was sorry, but the argument was over.
He pulled me to him and pressed a kiss to my lips.
Bradley…