Chapter 50
Nolan and Harold returned a week ago, so Oscar has been banned from the Moores’ estate.
Nothing good can come from Harold and Oscar meeting.
The three days Oscar spent going to work with me were filled with flirtation and this unsettling sexual tension between Nellie and my dad.
I don’t know why I assumed Nellie’s mental state would prevent her from being a woman in that way, but I was wrong.
The two of them shared enough sexual innuendoes to make me want to chunder at least several times a day.
“How’s Nellie?” Oscar asks the moment I walk in the door.
He purchased himself a queen-sized bed that takes up half of the main room and a massage chair.
My picnic chair rests against the wall, folded up.
I like to go straight to my room when I return to my flat to avoid the Nellie talk he always wants to have.
“Married.”
Same question every day. Same answer.
“Now, Ruby … you said it yourself. They have an unconventional marriage. I think that means an open marriage.”
I stop before reaching my bedroom and turn on my heel.
“No. Unconventional means Harold is a cunt and Nellie is suppressed from ever getting better because whatever made her this way seems to be quite top secret in that family. She’s so close to remembering.
I can feel it. Something will jolt her memory at some point, but I don’t know what that will be. ”
I scrape my teeth over my bottom lip. My curiosity and ‘need to know’ has been in overdrive for weeks. It’s not good. My body needs sleep, but between Nellie and Theo, I can’t seem to let my mind rest.
Oscar strokes his neatly-trimmed goatee. “Hmm … I can think of a way to maybe ‘jolt’ her.”
“No! You will keep your trouser snake in your trousers. Do you understand?”
“I can’t be responsible if she reaches for my knob—”
“Gross! Stop it. She won’t.”
His whole body shakes as he laughs. “I don’t know … that woman has a real fire in her belly … and maybe a bit lower—”
“Ahh!” I cover my ears and stomp into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.
*
After a strong cup of chamomile tea and a double dose of valerian, I finally get to sleep. My dreams fill with Theo. Him emerging from the ocean. Him giving me that menacing scowl like he wants to eat me alive. And then … his mouth on me, my head thrown back while he actually eats me—”
“Ruby!”
I jump.
“Breakfast,” Oscar calls from the other room.
My heart pounds as I gasp for my next breath. “Oh god …” I whisper through my panting as I pull my hand out of my knickers. I’m a sweaty mess. This could have been embarrassing beyond words if Oscar would have opened my door to make his announcement.
Sleep masturbating without a lock on my door. Disastrous.
“Coming!” I yell then slap my hand over my mouth and giggle. “I mean … on my way,” I mutter to myself, rolling onto my stomach to bury my heat-stained face in my pillow. “Theo .. Theo … Theo … this … life … is no fun without you.”
I have a quick shower—a cold one—then peek into the kitchen, curious about breakfast made by a man who has no culinary skills.
“Good morning, Ruby.” Oscar’s back is to me, but he always knows when someone is behind him. I used to inspect the back of his head, quite certain he did have eyes back there. He turns. “How’s this?”
“Wow!” I take the tall glass of fresh-pressed carrot juice from him. How did I not hear the juicer running? Oh, that’s right—sleep masturbating. Bugger! I hope I didn’t make any noise. “Mmm … very good.”
He lifts a glass of amber liquid to his mouth.
“Tea?”
He shakes his head. “Bourbon.”
I glance at the clock on the microwave. “It’s not even seven, yet.”
“I’m on holiday.”
“Lucky you.”
“So, what are you and the lovely Nellie doing today?”
My narrowed gaze dares him to get any ideas. “The usual. Shopping and lunch.”
His casual nod puts me on guard. I can feel the cogs turning in his head and that’s not a good thing.
“I’m proud of you.”
“Oh?” I lick the juice from my lips.
“Yes. You didn’t let anyone tell you what to do. You went with your gut when you knew everyone around you would think you’d lost the plot.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t think I’d live. I didn’t think the cancer would go away. I just wanted to see if the suffering would be less than Sylvie’s.”
“And your mum’s?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I can’t remember her suffering, but I suppose the answer is yes because I’ve seen it in your eyes for … ever.” I glance at the clock again.
“I have to go. Be good.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“Cheeky. But I’m serious.” I grab my rucksack.
“How’s the tire?”
I wink. “Perfect.”
Just another example of how Oscar Stone can be equally loving and infuriating. I told him I wanted to earn my own money to buy a car and instead of dismissing my wishes, like he’s done so much in the past, he settled for buying me a new tire for my bike. Not a new bike—just the tire.
*
It’s amazing how much shopping I do with Nellie, yet we rarely purchase anything. I think her subconscious knows that she has a wardrobe full of designer clothes on one side and secondhand bargains on the other side. She’s so close to making the connection.
“I love this café,” she says as we look over the menu that we both have memorized because we come to this same place every day.
Sadly, Harold still hasn’t shown his cheating face here since the day I ate lunch in this same booth with Theo.
“How well did you know Theodore Reed?”
Nellie’s eyebrows knit together. I shouldn’t be asking her this, but lately so many things cause her to give me this exact look. It’s like she’s searching for something that’s right there yet just out of reach.
“Nice boy. I think Nolie has known him for a long time. But … troubled. I wouldn’t get too close to him if I were you.”
I frown.
She fiddles with her mammoth diamond ring, concentrating on something just over my shoulder for a few seconds before her face lights up. “Oscar!”
“God no,” I mutter as my chin drops to my chest, eyes pinched shut.
“What an unexpected surprise.” Oscar’s voice confirms I’m in Hell.
Looking up, I pin him with my best evil glare. “Is it really?”
He ignores me and sits down next to Nellie, resting his arm on the top of the booth behind them. Her porcelain skin looks like molten glass.
“Nellie, you look lovely as always.”
Internally I cringe at the eyes on our table. People know who Nellie Moore is, and while they may be used to seeing whoring Harold, Nellie cozied up to a tall stranger will make the gossip headlines.
After we order, it’s like I’m not here. They laugh and flirt and touch each other while my job slips away. I’ve lost all control over the situation.
“I need to use the ladies’ room if you’ll excuse me.” Nellie smiles.
The whole table jerks, rattling glasses and silverware at the same time Oscar grunts, his eyes the size of saucers.
Nellie bites her lip. Why the bloody hell is she biting her lip?
That’s when I notice her arm close to his body, and while I can’t see past her elbow, there is no doubt that her hand is on his knob.
“Let her out! She needs to go to the loo.”
They both look at me like I’m crazy for announcing it to the whole restaurant.
Oscar clears his throat. “Of course.”
Nellie wets her lips as she stands, shoving her chest into him as if she’s trying to squeeze past him but there’s plenty of room to get by, no need to squeeze. Why is she squeezing?
“I won’t be long.” She winks. “Unless …” She nips off to the loo like I have never seen her walk before.
Oscar’s gaze follows her tight-skirt-covered arse the whole way.
“Stop it!” I whisper.
His eyes snap to mine as he takes his seat.
“You need to leave, now!”
He smirks. “Told you she has a fire in her belly.”
“The only fire there is going to be is me getting fired. So, please, go.”
On a long sigh, he nods. “You used to be more fun, Ruby.”
“Yeah, well, you used to have scruples.”
He drops his napkin on the table along with some money. “True. But one day I realized how much more fun I could have without them.” Pressing a kiss to the top of my head, he whispers, “Later, Ruby.”
I nod, keeping my eyes trained out the window to the car park. It would be my luck that of all the days, this would be the one Harold would decide to return to the café. After a few minutes, I relax and finish my salad that I was too nauseated to eat with the PDA going on between Nellie and Oscar.
The waitress clears the table, and I check my watch. Nellie has been in the loo a long time. Physically she’s good, but I worry about her making some mental mistake. Maybe’s she’s stuck with no toilet paper.
Sliding my handbag over my shoulder, I make my way to the back of the café. As I start to push open the door to the loo, someone opens it from the inside.
“Oh, Nellie, I was checking to see—”
She has lip gloss smeared all over her face. Her hands work to tuck her blouse back into her skirt that’s completely twisted around.
“Are you O—”
Fuck. Me. Sideways.
My name is Scarlet Stone and very few things in life shock me.
“Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, ladies.”
My jaw plummets to the ground as Oscar walks out like the fucking cat who’s got the cream.
“Lunch was especially good today.” Nellie smiles like she has no idea that I feel as discombobulated as she looks right now.
I cup a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming or crying or … something as I nod slowly.
*
The door to my flat creaks on its hinges as my anger sends it flying into the wall. “You wanker! I can’t believe what a complete fuckwit you are!”
Oscar eyes me over the top of his reading spectacles, wetting his thumb then turning the page to his book. “I had a lovely day, Ruby. Thanks for asking. How was yours?”
“You bellend, I’m not playing this game.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever heard you speak to me like this. What happened to respecting your elders?”
“You have to be worthy of my respect. What you did to Nellie is not worthy of my respect.”
He shrugs, returning his attention to his book. “I didn’t hear her complain.”
Every cell in my body grasps for a breath, a shred of control, a way to calm down. This is not good for me. This is exactly why I had to leave London. “You need to go. I can’t have you here. You told me to choose myself and it wouldn’t be selfish. I’m asking you to leave … for me.”
“Don’t you want to know what Nellie said to me in the loo?”
My stomach clenches as my nose wrinkles. “No.”
He frowns. “Not about that. She said Harold cheated on her once and it ruined everything.”
I grunt, taking a few steps toward my bedroom before stopping again. “Once? She said he cheated on her once?”
“Now, that’s my girl. What does that tell you?”
I turn. “That’s what happened. She caught him cheating on her, but …” I shake my head. “That doesn’t drive the average person to completely lose it. There has to be more.”
“Well, I’m happy to help get more out of her if you need me to.”
“Go away. You can’t stay here,” I call before shutting my bedroom door.