Chapter Twenty-Five – Rose
ROSE
The Weirdest Market Ever
“ Y ou’re an idiot,” Isa said, staring at me. “Why don’t you just accept that you’re head over heels in love with Oliver and swallow your pride?”
I grabbed another cushion from behind me and tucked it between my knees until I had a full-body pillow going on with her sofa cushions. “Absolutely not.”
“Your pride will be the death of you, Rose.”
“Better my pride than a broken heart.”
“You’re gonna get one of those either way, but you already know that.” She shook her head and sat down in the armchair opposite. “Then your only option is to stop seeing him.”
“I am. He’s going to London tomorrow for the weekend, and I’ll be occupied with the market-festival-rave thing.”
“Ah, yes.” She nodded. “It has kind of evolved from its original purpose, hasn’t it?”
I smiled sadly. “Yes, but I doubt it’ll make a difference. He’s not going to change his mind.”
Isa sighed, tucking her feet under her butt and resting her head on her hand. “As much as I’d love to argue with you, I can’t. I think you’re right. If he was going to, I think he’d have done it by now.”
“Agreed.” Shaun walked downstairs and appeared in the doorway, rubbing a towel across his wet hair. “You’re hardly strangers, Ro. If he truly wanted to, he could pull the plug on it today, but he hasn’t.”
Ouch .
“Hit me where it hurts, freeloader,” I muttered. “Go and fix your hot water instead of pestering me, would you?”
“My sentiments exactly,” Isadora echoed. “It’s like he’s deliberately flaunting his abs in the hope I’ll fall in love with him.”
“Shit, you caught me.” Shaun grinned cheekily. “I’ll have to come up with something else.”
Sadly, he wasn’t joking.
A faint pink rose on Isa’s cheeks, and I stared at her.
Oh.
Was it actually working?
I shot Shaun a covert thumbs up and quickly scratched my neck when Isa stared at me. “What? I was just scratching.”
“Mm,” she replied, then turned back to Mr Flaunt-It. “Are you working this weekend?”
“Nope. I’m at Rose’s beck and call,” Shaun replied, dropping into the other armchair.
I finally sat up and threw a cushion at him. “Nobody wants to see your balls, Shaun.”
He adjusted his towel and set the cushion on his lap obediently.
“Thank you.”
He nodded at me, then looked at Isa. “Why? Were you going to ask me out? Have my abs finally convinced you?”
She gave him a withering look. “No. I was merely wondering if you were around to help, that’s all. I’ll be at the petting zoo keeping an eye on the animals’ welfare, and I might need some muscle. Since you keep showing yours off, I thought you might be offering.”
“I’ll even wear my Superman Halloween costume from three years ago.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Superman helping with bunnies and guinea pigs. I’m not sure that’s going to bring the desired clientele to the petting zoo.”
“But will be some cracking Instagram posts,” Isa added. “Give me the login, and we can both go live at points during the day. Video is the best medium to reach people through, and since the audience knows about our plight, they’d probably love it.”
“Not to mention some up close and personal moments with Waffles the Slut himself.”
“I’ll leave the chickens to you, Dr Doolittle. I fear that your relationship with Waffles is too complex for even an expert such as myself to understand.”
Yeah, yeah.
I looked at Shaun. “Wear the Superman costume. The Internet loves nothing more than a handsome guy with fluffy animals.”
“At least someone here appreciates my good looks.” He sniffed. “As you command, Your Majesty.”
I sighed. “Finally, someone respecting my true station.”
“Your Majesty?” Isa drawled. “I thought we’d have to address you as Your Grace, since you can’t seem to drag yourself away from Oliver.”
I snapped my head towards her. “I am not in love with him.”
“You’re in love with him,” she replied. “Shaun, tell her she’s in love with him.”
He held up his hands. “Don’t drag me into this.”
“No more showers for you!”
Shaun looked at me. “I think you’re in love with him.”
“Traitor,” I hissed. “Why am I so stupid? How could I do this to myself?”
Isa came over to the sofa and pulled me down, resting my head in her lap. “There, there,” she said soothingly, stroking my hair. “It’s not your fault, Ro. A guy with a great cock who calls you ‘princess’ is really hard to say no to.”
I whimpered. “Especially when he whispers, ‘that’s my girl,’ when I come.”
“That’s more information than I ever needed to know.” Shaun got up and walked towards the hallway, muttering, “Time to fix my hot water.”
Ignoring him, Isa continued petting me. “That’ll do it. It really is a step above ‘good girl,’ isn’t it?”
Shaun’s steps faltered on the stairs, and I almost laughed despite myself.
I sighed, whining, “What do I dooooo?”
“You might have to stay celibate if you don’t marry him. I just don’t see how you can ever find another man like that, Rose.”
“You’re supposed to comfort me!”
“Forgive me if I find it hard to comfort you when the whole point of this is that you’re refusing to date a rich, handsome duke with a great cock, who calls you princess, whispers ‘that’s my girl’ when you orgasm, and honestly looks at you like you personally hold the sun in the sky.”
“He does not look at me like that.”
“Yes, he does!” Shaun shouted from the bathroom. “The man needs his eyes testing.”
“You shut up, you dirty exhibitionist!” I called back.
Isa laughed, picking something from my cheek. “Fluff.”
I blew out a breath. “I saw you blushing. Put him out of his misery, would you?”
“Hey.” She pinched my cheek. “I thought you wanted comfort. Do you want me to hurt you?”
“No, thank you,” I eked out, bringing my hand up to rub my poor cheek. “You’re so mean, mistress.”
“Jesus Christ,” Shaun said, staring down at us. “What’s wrong with you two?”
“Probably too late to figure it out,” Isa replied. “Or, after twenty years of this, you’re just too stupid to.”
“More like too afraid to. I’m off.” He leant down and kissed us both on the head. “Don’t cause any trouble. But, Rose, your cell is ready when you are, but please leave the lettuce bikini at home this weekend.”
“All my greens are going in the feed bucket for the bunnies,” I replied. “No bikinis for me this time.”
He opened the front door and looked back at me. “Good girl.” He winked.
“Don’t ever do that again!” Isa and I both shouted after him. The sound of his laughter drifted through the open window, and I gritted my teeth. “Well, now he’s ruined that for me,” I said.
“Until Oliver says it again.”
I sighed and sat up, staring at her. “What do I do? I’m being serious.
I have all these… feelings… and I hate them.
I hate that I don’t hate him. I hate that I can’t stay away from him, but I can’t be with him.
I’ll always resent him for closing the allotments, and I refuse to have a relationship like that. ”
She smiled sadly at me. “If there was an easy answer, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, babe. Have you tried talking to him about it?”
I shook my head. “Sometimes I think that he might feel the same, but if that’s the case, then why?
Why hasn’t he changed his mind? If he has feelings for me too and wants to have a relationship, wouldn’t he stop doing the one thing that’ll break my heart?
I know it’s not that simple, but I’m tired, Isa.
I’m tired of hurting. I’m tired of hoping for something that’ll never come. ”
“I don’t know the answers to any of that stuff, but he does.
Either way, you can’t just pretend these feelings don’t exist. You have to face up to them.
Where’s the devil-may-care Rose Matthews everyone knows and loves?
She’s in there.” She gently prodded my chest right above my heart.
“You’ve never hesitated before, so why are you now? ”
A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed, desperately trying to get rid of it. The back of my nose tickled, and a scary, unfamiliar burning sensation nudged the backs of my eyes.
“I don’t—” I stopped, looking down. “I’ve never cared this much before.”
She wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “I knew there was a human under all that weirdness.”
“Shut up,” I said, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over. “I don’t think I could take it if he told me he didn’t care or was just trying to get me to stop protesting.”
“Silly billy,” she said softly. “Do you really think he’s that kind of person?”
I shook my head, grabbing her hoodie as she stroked my back.
“Neither do I, and I’m pretty good at judging people.” She paused. “Ignoring my stunning romantic track record, of course.”
That made me laugh, and I pulled back from her, taking a deep breath. “Yes, the long line of successful romances really back up your words.”
“Everyone makes mistakes,” she said airily.
“Anyway, he doesn’t strike me as that kind of person.
When he’s back next week, you’re going to have to put on your big girl knickers and talk to him.
You can’t pretend that nothing exists between you, so just be honest. You never know, maybe he thinks you’re only interested in his meat stick. ”
“No more food euphemisms, please. I’m still coming to terms with those from before.
” I shuddered. “But you’re right. We should clear the air one way or another.
If he’s going to continue with the sale even after I’ve told him everything, then we need to put an end to whatever this is. ” I waved my arms.
“What if he does change his mind?”
“He won’t.” I met her gaze, sadness settling into a pit in my stomach. “I know him. No matter what he says, the estate means too much to him for that.”
There were goats fucking everywhere.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I knew they were snazzy little escape artists, but these little fuckers were taking it to the next level.
And they ate everything.