This Man (56 page)

‘I don’t think so, Mum. I’m just so busy.’

I whine, mentally pleading for her to understand.

‘That’s disappointing, but I understand.

Maybe Dad and I could come up to see you when you’ve sorted a place of your own?’

She’s hinting that I need to pull my finger out. I’ve done nothing in that area of my life.

‘That would be really good.’ I don’t fake my enthusiasm. I would love for Mum and Dad to come back to London for a visit. They haven’t been back since they left, and I know it’s because they both secretly worry they’ll want to move back to the hustle and bustle.

‘Wonderful. I’ll speak to your Dad. I’d better go. Send my love to Kate.’

‘I will, I’ll ring next week when Dan’s there.’ I add quickly before she hangs up.

‘Lovely. Take care, darling.’

‘Bye, Mum.’ I slide my phone across the counter and drop my head in my hands.

If only she knew. My Dad would probably have another heart attack if he found out about my current state of affairs, and my Mum would be moving me down to Newquay. The only reason my Dad didn’t drive up after me and Matt split up was because Mum called Kate to find out if I really was okay. What would they think if they knew I was caught up with a neurotic, self-assured control freak, who is – in his own words – fucking me into oblivion?

The fact that he’s super wealthy and owns the penthouse would not soften the blow.

Christ, Jesse is probably closer to my Mum in age than I am.

I swing round on my stool when I hear a commotion coming from outside of the kitchen. Getting up to go and investigate, I’m nearly taken off my feet when Jesse’s naked chest flies at me.

WHOA!

‘Fucking hell, there you are.’ He grabs me, lifting me up to his sweat riddled body. ‘You weren’t in bed.’

‘I’m in the kitchen.’ I splutter in my dazed state. He’s squeezing me so tight, I’m struggling to breathe. ‘I saw you running. I didn’t want to disturb you.’ I wriggle a little to indicate that I’m being constricted to death. He releases me, setting me back on my feet, his glistening, stubbled face giving me the once over. His panicked features ease a bit as he holds me steady by my forearms in front of him. ‘I was just in the kitchen.’ I repeat. He looks like he could keel over at any moment.

What’s wrong with him?

He shakes his head slightly, as if ridding himself of a nasty thought, picks me up and walks me to the worktop, sitting me on the cold granite. He pushes his way between my thighs.

‘Sleep well?’

‘Great.’ Why does he look like someone’s broken some really crappy news? ‘Are you okay?’

He blesses me with a heart stopping smile. I feel instantly at ease. ‘I woke up with you in my bed wearing lace. It’s ten thirty on a Sunday morning and you’re in my kitchen…’ He runs his eyes down my front, ‘wearing lace. I’m amazing.’

‘You are?’

‘Oh, I am.’ He tips my face up, planting a light kiss on my lips. Oh, I could wake up to this every morning. ‘You’re too beautiful, lady.’

‘So are you.’

He brushes the hair away from my face, looking at me affectionately. ‘Kiss me.’

I fulfill his request immediately, taking his lips calmly and following the slow, gentle strokes of his tongue. We both hum in harmony. Oh this is good. But our intimate moment is broken by the loud, shrill of Jesse’s phone.

He grumbles and reaches past me, still maintaining our kiss. He glances up at the screen as he holds it over my head. ‘Oh, go away.’ he gripes against my lips. ‘Baby, I’ve got to take this.’ He pulls away and answers, keeping himself firmly between my thighs, his free hand around my waist.

‘What’s up, John?’ He starts chewing his lip. ‘What’s he doing there?’ He drops a chaste kiss on my lips. ‘No, I’ll be there…

yes…see you in a bit.’ He hangs up and studies me thoughtfully for a few seconds.

‘I need to go to The Manor. You’ll come.’

I recoil. ‘No!’ I blurt. I’m not being yanked off of Central Jesse Cloud Nine by
her
!

He frowns. ‘But I want you to come.’

Absolutely not! It’s Sunday, I’m not working and I’m not going to The Manor.

‘You’ll be working.’ I search my brain for a feasible excuse for me
not
to go. ‘You do what you need to do, and I’ll see you afterwards.’ I reason instead.

‘No, you’ll come.’ he presses forcefully.

‘I’m not coming.’ I try to wriggle myself free of his grasp, but I’m going nowhere.

‘Why?’

‘Just because,’ I snap, earning myself a mighty scowl. I’m not about to start whining about Sarah and off loading trivial jealousies on him.

He searches my eyes. ‘Please, Ava.

Will you just do what you’re told?’

‘No!’ I shout.

I watch as he closes his eyes, clearly trying to gather some patience, but I don’t care. He can force me to do many things, but I’m not going to The Manor. I sit on the worktop, waiting for him to disintegrate under my disobedience.

‘Ava, why do you insist on making things more difficult?’

‘I make things more difficult?’ I gape at him. It’s him that needs some sense fucking into him. He’s deluded.

‘Yes, you do. I’m trying really hard here.’

‘Trying hard to do what? Send me crazy? It’s working!’ I beat him away from me and storm out of the kitchen, hearing him curse as he follows me up the stairs.

‘Okay!’ he yells from behind me. ‘You will wait here. I’ll be as quick as I can.’

‘I’ll go home.’ I shout over my shoulder, continuing on my way and shutting myself in the bathroom when I get there. I’m not waiting around for him to come back. His being reasonable and relenting to my refusal to go with him has just been trampled by the follow up of “you
will
wait here”. I WILL do no such thing! I splash my face with cold water to try and cool down my raging temper. Why has he not given me the countdown? That’s what he usually does when I don’t conform. I hear him in the bedroom on his phone.

Wondering who he’s talking to, I open the door.

‘See you in a while.’ He hangs up, throwing his phone on the bed. Who is he seeing in a while? He stands with his back to me for a long time, his head dropped.

He’s thinking, and I feel like an impostor all of a sudden.

Eventually, he exhales heavily and turns towards me. He watches me for a short time before heading into the bathroom to take a shower. I stand in the middle of the room wondering what to do. He’s acting strange. No countdown; no manhandling.

What’s going on? Yesterday was so perfect, and now I’m back to mind meltdown. It looks like I didn’t need Sarah to yank me off of Central Jesse Cloud Nine after all. I’ve managed to do that all by myself.

Ten minutes later, I’m still stood twiddling my thumbs, trying to work out what to do with myself. I hear the shower shut off. He comes out of the bathroom, heading straight into the wardrobe without a word. I’m troubled by his defeated expression that also harbours a bit of sorrow. I think I actually want him to explode or give me the countdown. I have no idea what he’s thinking, and it’s the most frustrating feeling in the world.

He appears at the wardrobe door. ‘I need to go.’ he utters regretfully. He looks completely tormented. ‘Kate’s on her way over.’

I frown. ‘Why?’

‘So you don’t leave.’ He goes back into the wardrobe, me following swiftly behind.

Pulling some jeans on, he looks up at me briefly but gives nothing away. He grabs a black t-shirt from a hanger, pulling it on over his head quickly, before he sets about getting his Converse on.

‘I’m going home.’ I assert, but he still doesn’t look at me. What’s wrong with him? I can feel my temper flaring at his lack of receptiveness, and not knowing what else to do, I start pulling down my clothes from the hangers, draping them over my arms as I do.

‘What are you doing?’ He takes them from my hands, hanging them back up.

‘You’re not leaving.’ he growls.

‘Yes, I am.’ I shout, yanking them back down.

‘Put the fucking clothes back, Ava!’ he yells.

I hear a rip of material as I fight him away, and within a few seconds, my arms are free of clothes and I’m being hauled from the wardrobe. I’m pinned to the bed, struggling

against

him

in

complete

defiance, but I go nowhere. If he tries to fuck me, I’ll scream!

‘Calm the fuck down!’ he yells, grabbing my jaw and pulling it to the centre so I have to look at him. I slam my eyes shut, puffing and panting like an exhausted greyhound. I’m not going to let him manipulate me with sex. ‘Open your eyes, Ava.’

‘No!’ I sound so childish, but I know if I do, I’ll be swallowed up in lust.

‘Open!’ He shakes my jaw slightly.

‘No!’

‘Fine,’ he shouts, while I continue to struggle. ‘Listen to me, lady. You’re not going anywhere. I’ve told you repeatedly, so get fucking use to it!’ He shifts his body so he has a firmer grip of me. ‘I’m going to The Manor, and when I get back, we’re going to sit down to talk about us.’

I stop struggling. Talk about us? What?

Like a proper discussion about what the hell is going on here because I’m desperate to know this.

‘Cards on the table, Ava. No more fucking

about,

no

more

drunken

confessions and no more holding out on me. Do you understand?’ His breathing is heavy, his tone determined.

This is what I’ve wanted all along –

clarity

and

understanding

of

our

relationship. I’m so bloody confused. I need to know what all this is and then, maybe, I can work out whether I need to break away. And what’s this about drunken confessions and holding out?

I open my eyes to sludgy green gazing down at me. He relaxes his grip on my jaw. ‘Come with me, I need you with me.’

He’s almost pleading.

‘Why?’

‘I just do. Why won’t you come?’

I take a deep breath. ‘I don’t feel comfortable.’ There, that’s the truth. He should be able to figure out for himself why I don’t feel comfortable at The Manor.

He can’t be that stupid.

‘Why don’t you feel comfortable?’

Okay. Maybe he is that stupid. ‘I just don’t.’ I snap.

His brow knits and he commences lip chomping. ‘Please, Ava.’

I shake my head. ‘I’m not coming.’

He sighs. ‘Promise me that you’ll be here when I get home then. We need to sort this shit out.’

‘I’ll be here.’ I assure him. I’m desperate to sort this shit out. I’m not going anywhere.

‘Thank you.’ he whispers, resting his forehead on mine and clenching his eyes shut. I feel immense hope blossoming inside me at his determination to
sort this
shit out
. He lifts himself, without so much as kissing me, and leaves the room.

I stay on the bed, recovering from my pointless

physical

battle,

wondering

what’s going to be established from the laying of cards and sorting of shit. I’m torn between admitting to him how I feel, or waiting to hear what he has to say first.

What will he say? So much needs clarifying. What is
us
? Intense hot affair or more? I need it to be more, but I can’t cope with his trampling and unreasonableness.

It’s exhausting.

There was no denying the look of pure torment on his handsome face. What’s running through that complex mind of his?

Why does he need me? So many questions…

I close my eyes, trying to re-establish some steady breaths, and find myself drifting into a semi-exhausted coma.

The phone next to the bed starts ringing, snapping my eyes open.
Kate!
I scramble up the bed and answer. ‘Send her up, Clive.’ I fling a t-shirt on and run down the stairs, throwing the door open as Kate exits the elevator. I’m so glad to see her, but why he thinks I need babysitting is beyond me. I run at her, flinging my arms around her desperately.

‘Whoa! Is someone happy to see me?’

She returns my violent hug, my face buried in her red locks. I didn’t realise how much I needed to see her. ‘Are you going to invite me into the tower, or are we staying put?’

I pull away. ‘Sorry,’ I blow my hair out of my face. ‘I’m a mess, Kate. And you’ve been letting men rummage through my things again.’ I add on a scowl.

‘Ava, he turned up at six in the morning, banging until Sam answered. I just let him do his thing, it’s not like anyone can stop him. The man’s a rhinoceros.’

‘He’s more than that.’

She looks at me all sorrowful, taking my hand and leading me back into the penthouse. ‘I can’t believe he lives here,’

she mutters, directing me into the kitchen.

‘Sit.’ She points to a stool.

I rest my backside on the seat, watching as Kate refreshes her memory of the impressive kitchen. ‘I can’t make you tea because he has no milk. The housekeeper is on holiday.’

‘He has a housekeeper,’ she says to herself. ‘Of course he does.’ She shakes her head and goes to the fridge, collecting two bottles of water, before coming to sit next to me. ‘What’s going on?’

‘What am I going to do, Kate?’ I rest my head in my hands. ‘I can’t believe he called you here, just so I don’t leave.’

‘Doesn’t that tell you something?’

‘Yes, that he’s a control freak! He’s so intense,’ I look up to Kate, who’s smiling faintly. What’s to smile about? I’m in turmoil here. ‘I don’t know where I am with him.’

‘Have you told him?’ she asks, with a perfectly plucked brow arched at me.

‘No, I can’t.’

‘Why?’ she blurts, totally surprised.

‘Kate, I don’t know what I am to him.

He can be so gentle and loving, saying things I can’t get my head around, and the next

minute,

he’s

brutally

fierce,

unreasonable and controlling. He tries to control me!’ I open my water, taking a swig to moisten my dry mouth. ‘He manipulates me with sex when I don’t jump at

his

command,

tramples

anyone,

including me, if they get in the way of him.

He’s bordering on impossible. No, he
is
impossible.’

Kate looks at me with compassion in her bright blues. ‘Sam told me he’s never seen Jesse like this before. Apparently, he’s famed for his easy going nature.’