Authors: Annabelle Eaton
He rinses his mouth and turns something
else on in the shower. “Hot water.” I jump into the water to warm up again. Why
was it cold? Before we went out last night I showered, and it was hot. Either
turning the shower to cold is how the cleaning bitch gets her kicks or how Aden
does.
The mirror is moving slightly as I attempt
to apply some make-up, so I decide against eyeliner. Just mascara then,
hopefully I’ll be able to keep it to my eyelashes.
A pair of black trousers and light blue
blouse has been draped over the bed. Does Aden not trust me to throw together
an outfit? I want to shout at him, but I don’t have the energy. The bed looks
way too comfy, and I want nothing more than to climb back in it. I dress
quickly, eager to get this over.
“Are you ready?” Aden asks.
Not at all. My head is still swimming, and
I’m pretty sure I can still taste vodka. “Absolutely,” I reply, giggling as the
floor tilts, making me stumble towards him.
“Act sober, Millie,” he says, handing me
two pills.
I salute. “Will do, sir.” Aden groans and
opens the door, handing me my handbag as I walk out, popping the pills in my
mouth.
“Amelie, don’t march.” What? I’m marching?
I laugh and try a little less to perfect my sober walk. I’ll never make an
actress.
“Remember, don’t say anything,” Aden
whispers we sit around the table in the same room. Apparently they have ‘ironed
out the kinks’ yesterday, so today is just a case of signing and toasting the
deal. I zip my mouth, lock it and throw away the key. Aden’s eyes widen in
warning. “Millie.” I grin. No humour then.
“I get it. I’ll sit quietly.” He gives me
one last half pleading/half terrified look and turns around as the others sit
down. There’s a woman with them and my eyes widen. She’s wearing bright orange
lipstick and she either can’t apply it properly, or she’s smudged it because
there’s an orange chicken nugget shaped smudge just below her bottom lip.
Don’t look at her. Do
not
look at her. I clench my jaw.
“This is Mary,” nice suit says. I let Aden
and Richard speak while I keep my eyes on my notepad. Why has no one told her?
What bastards does she work with if no one tells her she has a lipstick smudge?
Beside me, I can see Aden tense, waiting. I
won’t laugh, and I won’t say anything. Oh God I hate it when you shouldn’t
laugh because that’s
all
you want to
do.
I don’t look at Mary, but she’s in front of
me and slightly to my right, so the orange nugget is facing me. She laughs at
something Richard’s said and the nugget bobs. I look down further, letting out
a burst of quiet laughter before correcting it. My jaw aches where I’m
clenching it hard again.
Chicken nugget, I scribble down.
Aden’s eyes flick to the pad and then back
up to me, where he looks at me warningly. A small smile tugs at the edge of his
moth when he turns back and I know he’s seen it too. Not that it’s hard to miss
– it’s bright orange!
Throughout the rest of the meeting, I sit
still and pretended to take notes. I’m glad no one can see what I’m doodling
because on the page is loads of stick people – about as artistic as I get
– in different sex positions.
“Thank you,” Aden says, standing up and
shaking hands with the three men and Mary McNugget. He’s grinning wide as nice
suit opens a cupboard behind him, pulling out a bottle of champagne from a
cooler. If I wasn’t feeling so delicate, I’d want a glass.
We’re ushered out when the booze is gone,
and I’m relieved to not have to keep a straight face and closed mouth again.
“How’d I do?” I whisper to Aden as we purposefully walk a little slower than
Richard and Amanda.
“Great. Well apart from smiling like a
psycho, grinning at Mary’s make-up mishap and drawing stick people porn.”
I laugh and press my side against his.
“Great. I knew I’d done well. When are we leaving? I’m ready to go home now.”
“You want to go home?” he asks, raising his
eyebrows in shock.
“Not that home. Just to England. Your home
anyway, so we can try out some of the stick people’s positions.”
“Alright” he replies. “I like the second
one you drew. I’ve always liked girl on top.”
“Just with me though, right?”
Aden chuckles. “Are you jealous at the
thought of me with another woman?”
“Are you looking for a kick in the balls?”
He grins wider. “You are! Don’t worry,
though, I’d break the legs of any man that looks at you.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. “Bit
violent
and
creeperish, don’t you think?”
“Creeperish?” Grinning, I squeeze his sexy
arse. “I love it when you’re intoxicated. I should get you drunk more often.”
As soon as we’re back in the hotel room,
Aden pulls me down on the bed and kisses the top of my head. He doesn’t make
any moves to remove any clothing, and I think that’s because I’m still a bit
drunk. I quite like it, feels like we’re a real couple.
“You okay? Not feeling queasy or anything?”
he asks, his warm breath blowing through my hair.
“I’m fine. Confused but fine.”
“Why are you confused?”
“Us,” I reply, dropping my eyes so I can’t
see his reaction. Damn the fucking alcohol. I wouldn’t have said that if I
wasn’t still slightly drunk.
“Why are you confused about us? Look at me,
Millie,” he says softly, lifting my chin, so I look at him.
“What are we?”
Aden smiles and kisses me for a second.
“We’re together… exclusively. So don’t even think about looking at anyone
else.”
“Exclusively?” I repeat, and he nods.
“Okay. Good.”
His blue eyes glow as he smiles. “I think
so.”
“But secretly.”
“
Discretely
for now. We’ll send everyone post cards when everything settles down if you
want.”
I shake my head. “Nah, my handwriting
sucks.”
“Wow, I really lucked out getting you as my
PA, huh?” he says dryly.
“How many other PA’s have slept with?” I
know the answer to this already, but he falls silent. Why? The pause doesn’t
look good. “Aden?”
“You’re the first of mine, you know that.”
I don’t like where this was going. I push him away and sit up. “What’s wrong?
Would you prefer me to lie?”
“No, I would prefer you not to screw the
staff!” I snap.
“Millie, it was ages ago and one girl.
Don’t overreact.”
“I’m not overreacting, I’m just reacting.”
I don’t feel drunk anymore. “Does she still work with you?”
“No, she works for my dad’s company, never
for me. This isn’t a big deal; it was ages ago, and we were both drunk at
the summer barbeque. What are you freaking for?” He grabs my hand. “Millie, you
need to stop second guessing everything. I’m with you. I only want you. I won’t
cheat if that’s what you’re worried about?”
I roll my eyes. “I trust you. I just… I
don’t know.”
“You were jealous.”
Yes, I am. Ridiculous, annoying,
irrational, sickening jealously. “You suck.”
He laughs, stroking his fingers through my
long hair. “I love your eyes.” Okay where did that come from?
“Really? I’ve always thought they’re quite
boring. Harriet and Isabel have green eyes; they’re light and pretty. Mine
are just dark and muddy like my dad and Oliver.”
“You don’t have muddy eyes. They’re hazel
with a ring of green around the outside. Sometimes it’s greener than others.
When you’re turned on, the green shines through.”
“Good to know,” I mutter.
He chuckles and kisses me. “Okay we need to
pack. Our flight is early, and I’d rather not be rushing in the morning,
especially knowing how cooperative you are first thing.”
I stick my finger up at him as he stands.
“No more freak outs, right?” I nod. I’m a
woman; surely I’m allowed the occasional freak-out? Female hormones and all.
“Oh,” I say, suddenly remembering
something. You owe me a proper date. Banging me in the corner of a club isn’t
very romantic.”
Aden smirks and pulls our suitcases out
from under the bed. “You loved it. I have a few romantic date ideas.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Banging you on rose petals.” He laughs and
throws his clothes in the suitcase, not bothering to fold them. I do the same
and in no time we’ve finished packing, and he’s throwing me back on the bed.
Chapter Thirteen
I push Aden off me, literally. It’s 5:02am
and we’ve got to get to the bloody airport to catch our flight. Aden woke up
earlier, hornier than fifteen-year-old boy and decided we don’t need the extra
twenty minutes sleep before we absolutely had to get up. So now I’ve had about
six hours sleep, maximum, and I can’t function properly without eight.
“We’re going to be late if we don’t get the
hell out of here now.” Maybe I can sleep on the plane, and that way I won’t
want to kill everyone.
“Get the hell out of here? Do you hate it
that much?”
“No, I just want to get back to a Country
that speaks my language.” Okay I know they speak English in Ireland, but I’ve
had a hard time understanding the accent.
“No one speaks your language,” he mutters
under his breath.
“What does that mean?”
Aden’s winces, realising I’d heard his not
so quiet comment. Not my fault he can’t whisper properly. “It means that you’re
impossible, frustrating and also slightly unstable.”
“Unstable?” What the bloody hell? “You’re
telling me I’m crazy?”
His eyes widen. “No one’s ever told you
that before?”
All right I was expecting an apology.
“Hilarious,” I mutter sarcastically, turning on my heel and stomping off to the
bathroom to get changed. His laugher pierces its way through the door. Bastard.
I dress in a pair of jeans and slightly low
cut t-shirt. I really should have packed more clothes because right now I don’t
want to give Aden a peek at the goodies.
“Forgiven me yet?” he asks as I emerge from
the bathroom.
“Nope.”
“And how can I make it up to you?”
I smile sweetly. “You could tell me the
name of your ex PA ho.”
Aden bursts out laughing. “First, she
wasn’t ever my PA. And second, I won’t be telling you because you’ll make
sarcastic little comments whenever we see her.”
Wait PA, she definitely was a PA. “Oh God,
was it Amanda?”
“No! Millie, Amanda’s a lesbian.” He sighs.
“She’s not his PA anymore. She has a different job.”
“Following her career are we?” Aden rolls
his eyes, and I try not to laugh. “Just tell me. I won’t make any little
comments.”
“I don’t see why you want to know.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No.”
What? Yes he would. He’s such a liar.
“Really? So when you met Matt you didn’t care that something had happened
between us?”
“Of course I cared. I wanted to punch him…
repeatedly. I don’t want to know about it, though. I wish you hadn’t told me.”
It technically wasn’t me that told him.
“So I shouldn’t tell you about the gimp
masks?” God knows how I manage to keep a straight face, especially as I watch
his mouth pop open. My mouth curves and I can’t stop a smile anymore. “You
should have seen your face.”
“Oh very funny,” he replies dryly. I can’t
believe he bought it for a while. Gimp masks actually freak me out. It would be
like screwing Michael Myers from Halloween.
“Can we go now?”
“You really are eager to get home, aren’t
you?”
“Yes. You owe me a proper date.”
Aden sits on the bed and stares at me. My
heart flutters. I love how he looks at me, and I love that he accepts everything,
my ‘unstableness’ and all. “What would you class as a proper date? You don’t
seem like the expensive restaurant type.”
I scrunch my nose up. “I’m not. Their
portions are tiny, and I have to eat again after. My idea of a perfect date is
dinner somewhere non-expensive, drinks in a cocktail bar and then a live show.
A singer, band, bowling or stand-up comedian. Anything fun.”
“I think I can do fun.”
Smirking, I sit down facing him and stroke
down his collarbone. “I think so too.” He presses his lips to mine, kissing me
softly.
“You are a pervert, Millie.”
“I thought you liked that?”
He kisses me again and mumbles against my
lips, “I love that.”
The word love coming from his mouth makes
my heart skip a beat. Now I’m not the Alex Forrest type, so I’m not going to
book the wedding. I know that he’s just referring to the fact that I can barely
keep my hands off him but, still; it’s nice.
He grabs our suitcases, and we make our way
down to reception to checkout. As we turn the corner he lets go of my hand, and
I’m left feeling cold and disheartened. We go from love to secrets in a matter
of minutes. Richard and Amanda are by reception waiting for us.
“Dad,” Aden says politely, handing our room
keys into the lady behind the desk. I scowl at his stupid sexy back. I wish I
didn’t like him as much as I do. I want to punch him with my now Adenless hand.
“Are you ready to go home, Millie?” Amanda
asks, tapping away on her phone.
“Definitely,” I mumble in reply. I need to
put a little distance between me and Aden. Maybe distance will help me get a
grip? Probably not.
Richard and Amanda lead the way to our
taxi, and I want to throw something at them. I don’t want to be left alone with
Aden. His keeping us a secret crap is annoying and even though I agree with why
we have to do it for a while; it still hurts.
Aden touches my arm. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” I snap, stepping to the side as
I walk to get further away from him. I just need a few minutes to be hurt and
then cool down. Can he not give me that?
“You’re pissed about something.”
“Please just drop it for now.” I pick up
the pace and make a dive for the black taxi that’s parked on the side of the
road.
The car ride is awkward. I ignore Aden
staring at me and make small talk with Amanda. She doesn’t hide her relationship,
even though hers isn’t what our backwards society classes as ‘normal’. Aden has
no balls – metaphorically. He’s supposed to be like me and not care what
others think. What happened to that guy?
I sigh and close my eyes. I’m being too
hard on him? It’s not wrong of him to want to make his business a success, and
I suppose sleeping with your PA doesn’t exactly promote professionalism. Why
can’t I get a grip of my emotions when it comes to him? Everything I feel is
ten times stronger. No one can piss me off so much or so quickly over nothing.
I have no control over how I’m feeling, and I hate it.
“Everything okay?” Amanda whispers beside
me while Richard is pointing to something out of the window and talking to
Aden.
“It’ll be fine,” I reply, and I know I’m
right. I have to be more understanding, and so does Aden. I’m going to have to
tell him not to do anything in public so then I don’t feel horrible when he
lets me go.
We arrive at the airport, and I follow the
others, pulling my suitcase along behind me. How I manage to get anywhere alone
is beyond me. I have the worst sense of direction ever.
“Have you calmed down from whatever
internal drama you were having yet?” he asks.
Don’t
punch him.
He definitely doesn’t help. I narrow my
eyes at the bastard. “I had.”
“This is because I let go of your hand,
isn’t it.” Well duh! “Millie, I explained that, and I thought you were on the
same page. I’m not ashamed of you but-.”
“I know. I’m not one of those girls that
will wait around forever for a guy that’s not interested. I’m not desperate,
and I don’t need to be you.” And it terrifies me how you make me feel every
emotion all at the same time.
He raises his eyebrows. “Not interested?
You don’t think I’m interested in you?”
“No, I do.”
“But?” I shrug, and he sighs deeply. “I’ll
pick you up after work and we’ll do something.”
“After work?”
“Yes, take tomorrow off and sleep.”
“Are you working tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“So why are you giving me the day off?”
“Honestly?” he asks, and I nod. “Because
it’s hard to get you to concentrate on anything for longer than five seconds. A
tired and jetlagged Millie is going to be a fucking nightmare and, frankly, a
total liability.” What an arsehole. He chuckles. “I love your reactions. I was
joking. Well sort of. Take the day off and relax.” The L word again.
“Fine, I will. But because I want to.”
Aden grins in amusement. “Of course it is.”
“Amelie, Aden,” Richard calls, ending our
conversation. “We can board now.”
The plane is spacious, but then it always
is in first class. I immediately lay back against the seat, getting
comfortable. I feel exhausted. This time Amanda is sitting next to Richard in
front of me and Aden.
“Sleep, Millie, you look tired.” He places
his jacket over my lap. “Not bad tired. You don’t look bad,” he adds, quickly
catching on that I’m about to ask if I look awful – I probably do.
I close my eyes and lay my head on his
shoulder, half expecting him to push me off but instead he kisses the top of my
head and presses his side into mine. If this doesn’t work out, my heart is in
serious trouble.
“Amelie, we’re here.” Aden gently shakes my
arm, and I groan, looking around disorientated. “We’ve just landed.” I’ve slept
the whole way home? Not that it’s a long flight, but I didn’t expect to be out
of it for the entire time.
In front of me, Amanda and Richard have
already got up and are walking towards the exit. I force myself up and grab my
handbag. Aden tugs on my hand, making me stumble back and slam into his chest.
Where’s the fucking fire?
“You’re so beautiful,” he says. I stare at
him. Is he broken? I’ve had barely any sleep the past couple days; I must
look like hell. “You were mumbling in your sleep.”
Oh that’s never good. “What did I say?”
“You said that I drive you crazy, and then
something about your troll.” Uh oh. Wow... Yeah, there is nothing I can say to
salvage that.
“Did he sound okay?”
“Who?”
“The troll.”
Aden deadpans. “Did your troll sound okay?
God, I never thought I’d be having this conversation.” He sighs, discouraged.
“He sounded fine.” I laugh. “Let’s just go.”
“Safe now then,” I say as Aden kisses me.
Richard and Amanda have just driven off, so we’re alone.
“Please don’t, Millie. I don’t want to
argue.” He kisses me again but pulls away too soon. “I promise when things are
sorted we’ll announce it however you want. Email, Facebook relationship status,
written in fireworks. Whatever you want.”
I grin, gripping the sides of his t-shirt.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Aden shoves our cases in the car and opens
the door for me, stroking the small of my back as I get in. Everything feels so
natural with him as if we’ve been together forever. I’ve never been this
comfortable with anyone, and I’ve never felt so accepted before.
“Do you want to go home or come to mine?”
he asks. I think I do, but I also feel like I need time away from him so I can
think straight. He’s far too distracting, and whenever we’re together we’re in
a little bubble.
“Um…”
“It’s not a tough question, Amelie.”
Err, yes it is.
“Do you just want to do
something tomorrow, after you’ve slept?”
I nod. “Yeah, I think so. I’m tired, and I
need to cry.” Wincing as the words left my mouth; I drop my gaze to the
floor.
“What? You need to cry? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, not really.”
I don’t look up, but I can tell he’s
frowning and trying to work it out. “Nothing’s wrong, but you’re going to cry?”
“That is correct,” I reply.
“May I ask why?” He sounds amused now so I
look up and I’m not at all surprised to see the amusement in his eyes.
“No, you may not.”
Aden coughs out laughter. “So you’re going
home, not wanting to spend the evening with me because you want to cry for no
reason?”
All right, I admit it sounds a little
strange but sometimes you just need a good cry. It’s a great way of getting
everything out and always makes me feel better. “Yes.”
The drive home is silent. Every time I look
at him he grins, trying to fight it. I choose to ignore it because I’m still
too tired to bother explaining. He wouldn’t get it anyway.
Aden stops the car in front of my house and
turns to me. “So I’ll see you tomorrow night? I’ll cook dinner.”
“That sounds perfect. Are you sure you
don’t need me to come to work, though?”
“No, it’s fine. There’s not much on
anyway.” He leans over and kisses my cheek, brushing his fingers over my hand.
“Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“Okay,” I whisper, looking into his eyes.
And it hits me like a ton of bricks. I love you. I gulp, swallowing the
emotions that are making my heart race at a thousand miles an hour. The way he
stares back – like I’m the only person in the world, the only thing that
matters – gives me goose bumps. Before I blurt out my feelings, I open
the door and get out.