by Mary Carter
“That’s brilliant.” Jasper walked around the plants, then turned back to Ava. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it right now.”
“Whoa, cowboy. Right now?”
“It’s sunny. A quiet Monday. A perfect day to be in the park.” He looked eager. Hillary was right. He loved the outdoors.
“You’d rather run off to Hyde Park than have your way with me?”
Jasper locked eyes with her, and this time the smile that came across his face was confident and sexy as hell. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I’m going to have my way with you. Not even you could stop me.”
“Seriously. You start off good, but you need a bit of coaching.”
Jasper laughed. “Sorry. All this fifty shades shite.” He moved toward her, wrapped his hands around her waist, and pulled her into him. When he spoke, his voice was low, and intimate. “I do want to have my way with you. So very, very badly.”
Ava groaned. “Why not now?”
“Because now, I’m going to the park.” He planted a kiss on her lips, then her nose. “All right?”
“Okay. Let’s do it,” Ava said.
Jasper hugged her. “So what do we do? Video chat? I get to the park and video you from my mobile?”
“Are you sure you want to go right now?” Ava hadn’t intended on taking it this far today. He was already moving on to the spider-in-a-glass-jar portion of the experiment and she had barely looked at the videos.
“What’s wrong? You look pale.”
“If it gets too much, I may have to disconnect rapidly,” Ava said.
“That’s okay. You do whatever you have to do.”
“You won’t be mad?”
“I am mad. Mad about you.”
“Okay. Shit. Let’s do it. You’re going to the park.”
“We’re going to the park.” Jasper kissed her, and was gone.
It was over an hour later when Jasper texted that he was ready. Ava sat on her makeshift bench and stared at her computer screen. She brought up the video chat screen. Within seconds, Jasper’s face filled the screen. He was grinning like an idiot, and his face was so close to the camera that he could have been anywhere. Total goofball.
“I see you,” Ava said. Abruptly Jasper pulled back, and began to pan over the scenery. Ava caught sight of the the Marble Arch. She cried out.
“Are you okay?” Jasper turned the camera back on himself.
“The Marble Arch!” Ava exclaimed.
“Someone’s done her homework. How do you feel?”
“Fine.” Ava took a sip of Scotch from a teacup.
“Ah, good, a cuppa. That will sort you out.” Jasper smiled. Ava smiled.
Ava closed her eyes. It wouldn’t be very romantic if she hurled in front of him, but that was a very real possibility. “Can you pan over to the horse head sculpture?”
“Certainly, madame.” She kept her eyes closed. Her stomach felt as if she had just panned over the London Eye. She was starting to feel prickly. “Here it is,” Jasper said.
“Never mind,” Ava said, keeping her eyes glued shut. “Can you just sit on the bench?”
There was a pause. “Certainly.”
Breathe, Ava, breathe. Why was this so damn hard? Why, why, why? “Faulty wiring!” she shouted.
“Pardon?” Jasper sounded alarmed.
“I have faulty wiring. Right now my skin is prickly, and it’s harder to breathe, and little colored dots are dancing in front of me. I don’t want to be this girl. This girl who can’t even sit on a freaking park bench or kiss you in Kensington Gardens. I don’t want to be this girl.”
“Just keep breathing. No need to even open your eyes.” She let his voice wash over her. “I’m here on the bench. We have a spot of sunshine. You’re right next me. I have my arm around you, is that all right?”
“Yes.” Oh, yes. Ava could feel his strong arm across her shoulder. “You smell good.”
“I do?” Jasper said. “I mean, I do. A very manly cologne I bought just for your smelling pleasure.” Ava laughed. And even though she didn’t have her eyes open, she could feel Jasper grinning. “We’re having a lovely day, a lovely chat.” He stopped talking.
“Yes?” Ava said. Silence. Was he trying to trick her into opening her eyes? “Are you still there?”
“Sorry, mate, I told you earlier. I don’t have any change.” What was he talking about? Was this part of the script?
“You don’t have any change?” A man’s voice rang out. His accent sounded twangy. He was loud and rude. “In your fancy suit with your fancy briefcase? Why don’t you just hand over your wallet and let me see for myself what you’ve got?”
“Jasper?” Ava opened one eye. Jasper had set the phone in his lap, and Ava saw nothing but the face of a stranger standing over Jasper. He was one big bloke. Scruffy, and red eyed.
“Go away!” Ava yelled.
“It’s okay, Ava,” Jasper said. His voice shook. “Why don’t you disconnect? We’ll do this another time.”
“I’m calling the police!” Ava yelled at the man.
The stranger snatched the phone and brought it even closer to his face.
“Ava,” Jasper called again. “Hang up.” He sounded frightened.
“Who the ’ell are you?” The scruffy bloke’s face filled the screen.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” Ava said.
“Is that right?” the bloke said. “How’s that? Are you going to jump through the mobile and kick my arse?”
“Jasper is going to kick your arse.”
“Ava,” Jasper pleaded.
“Jasper, is it?” The bloke started laughing and turned his head, apparently to look at Jasper. “That’s a very manly name, Jasper. I’m shaking in me boots. Give me your fucking wallet, Jasper.”
“Off with you, mate,” Jasper said. If only he sounded more confident.
The bloke turned the phone to show his own pocket. He reached in and pulled out a knife.
Ava screamed, “No!” Could others in the park hear her? Could they see what was going on in broad daylight? Ava grabbed the laptop and ran to the rotary phone. She picked it up and dialed 999. As she was doing so, the camera panned to Jasper’s face. He had gone completely white. “Jasper,” Ava said. Jasper reached into his jacket pocket and removed his wallet. He handed it to the man.
“Emergency. Which service?”
“My friend is being mugged in Hyde Park. On a bench near the Marble Arch. The man is ugly, and scruffy, and red eyed, and he has a knife.”
“You need the police service,” the operator said.
“I don’t. My friend does. He’s in the park—”
“Is the man with the knife still threatening your friend?”
“Hang up or I fucking cut him,” the bloke said. He rested the knife just below Jasper’s chin.
“Ava, please,” Jasper said. “Hang up.”
Ava hung up. “Done. You have the wallet. The police have been called. Now get the fuck away from him.” The bloke pulled the knife away, and began to run. He kept the phone with him.
“Your bloke is a fucking joke,” he said. He kept running, but was talking to Ava while doing so. “If he doesn’t have some good cards and cash in this wallet, then I’m going to go back and cut him. Would you like that?”
“You’re a sick person,” Ava said. “You’re going to get everything you deserve.” The ground bounced up and down as the man ran. London was bouncing pavement, and strangers’ shoes, and bicycle tires. Ava couldn’t look away although she felt as if she was going to lose her lunch. “Take the cash. Leave the cards, and his ID, and everything but the cash, and leave the wallet and phone. You don’t need them.”
“Who are you? The Queen? You sound like a bloody Yank. Are you a bloody Yank?”
“I’m the fucking Yank who’s going to cut your balls off—” Loud laughter pealed through the phone. “I like you. You’ve got more balls than your bloke back there.”
“You held a knife to his throat.” Ava didn’t
know why she was still talking to him. She heard police sirens. They could be coming to help Jasper, or they could be racing to another million things going on in London. The man was moving the phone again. He put the camera on his crotch. She watched him pull his zipper down. She wanted to slam the lid down. She didn’t want to see a small dick on a giant arsehole of a man. Then again, she could use it against him. Soon the tip of his penis appeared. “Suck it, bitch.”
Ava tried to keep her voice calm. “No wonder you need to mug people and threaten them with knives. Anyone with that small of a dick would have to compensate in all sorts of crazy ways.” Then she did slam the lid of the laptop down. She wobbled her way back to the teacup and drank the rest of the Scotch. So much for sitting on a bench in the park on a lovely London day. She picked up her sketch pad and began to draw. If they ever came up with a penis lineup she was going to make sure she had something to show the police.
CHAPTER 28
Ava was starting to wear a groove in the wood floors from pacing when her phone finally rang. She pounced on it, expecting it was Jasper. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Just a couple of sore dogs from dancing.” Her mother’s voice washed over her. Ava didn’t realize how much she wanted to hear from her until now.
“Mom. Sorry. I thought you were Jasper.”
“Why would Jasper be hurt?”
“He had a challenging court case this morning. Said he might have a bit of a sore head after.” God, she was an awful liar. What bad timing. Jasper was okay, wasn’t he? Surely he ran away when the psycho with the knife left with his mobile and wallet. Then again, how was he going to get home without his mobile and wallet? Any other girlfriend would be rushing out in a taxi heading for Hyde Park. But how was she to know if he was still there? He wouldn’t expect her to come, so it was not like he was waiting for her. Was he? She hoped he was on his way over here. This was why she was no good for him. She couldn’t come to anyone’s rescue. She’d better not let her mother know what happened or she’d be insisting Ava get on the next plane. “Are you okay, Mom? Why haven’t you called?”
“The time difference. I don’t want to wake you up.”
“I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“I am. I’m doing better than I ever have.” It was true, wasn’t it? Just because she hadn’t been able to tackle the list didn’t mean there wasn’t improvement. “I threw a party.”
“I want you to come home.”
“Did you hear what I said?” I threw a party, Mom! A party! How did her mother become this person? This person who didn’t pay any attention to her daughter? Ava supposed she’d used up all her chips in her younger years. Her agoraphobia had turned her mother into a part-time prisoner too. And now she was free of Ava and never wanted to go back. Ava couldn’t blame her. Was that what would happen to Jasper if she stayed with him? Would he end up hating her? Feeling like a prisoner? “Why don’t you come and visit?”
“Oh, now you want me?”
“Yes. Now I want you.” Now was not the time to get in a fight. All she cared about was making sure Jasper was okay.
“I don’t want to go to London anymore. This whole thing with your aunt Beverly makes me furious all over again.”
Makes you furious? Ava had better watch what she said or she was going to get sucked into this. She glanced at the cabinet where all the letters were residing. Every time she even looked in that direction she could feel herself heating up. Pick your battles, pick your battles, pick your battles. “I think there were hard feelings on both sides.”
“On both sides? Is Beverly talking from the grave now? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit.”
“I know she came to the funeral.” Ava blurted it out. Her accusation was met with silence. “I know she tried to see me. And you wouldn’t let her.” Her mother wasn’t going to respond? Of course; the most infuriating thing she could do. “How could you?”
“You don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell me.”
“I don’t like your tone.”
“I don’t like being lied to.” Kept in the dark. Just like she’d kept herself in the dark all these years.
“I’ll explain everything when you’re back home.”
“I am home. I live here now.”
“Have you been out of the house? It’s been, what? Almost a month?”
“I’m surprised you know that. Given that you haven’t tried to contact me.”
“I’ve tried. You don’t always answer.”
“Did you leave a message?”
“You know I don’t like leaving messages.”
“Beverly has a rotary phone, and no caller ID. I thought you hadn’t bothered calling me at all.”
“Well, I have. And I’ve been waiting. Waiting for you to come home.”
“This is my home now.”
“For how long? Have you done a single thing on that ridiculous list?”
“As a matter of fact.” Ava wanted to lie. Tell her mother she’d sat on a bench in Hyde Park with Jasper. She’d almost made it to the food market, and she’d lost her flatmate’s lucky charm but was able to get him off to his audition with a pep talk, and just now she was sketching a perp’s penis. None of it sounded very impressive. “I’ve been drawing. Everyone likes my cartoons.” That part was true.
“I’ll talk to you when you get home.”
Her mother was about to hang up; she could hear it in her voice. “I’m in love,” Ava said. She hung up. There. Let her mother take that little tidbit to her next line dance and stomp on it.
Someone pounded on the door. Ava opened it. Jasper stumbled in. His hair was messed up. His eyes were red. “Are you all right?” he asked her.
“You’re asking me? I’m just worried about you.” Jasper grabbed her in a hug, then held her at arm’s length. “Listen to me. That never happens. I’ve sat in that park a million times. A million. That is the first time I have ever, ever been mugged.”
“Come in. Calm down.”
“Scotch.” He went straight to the bar. “You’re almost out. I’ll buy you more. I’ll empty the off-license of Scotch.” He poured a drink and downed it. “Never been mugged in my life.”
“I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I told him to take your cash and leave your wallet. Did he?”
“No. Imagine that. A mugger without manners.” He started to laugh.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” This was all her fault.
“I don’t care about my wallet or my mobile.” He set his drink down and approached Ava. “I just wanted you to have a lovely day, sitting on a bench in the bloody park.” Ava started laughing. Jasper looked at her, startled. Then he started to laugh too. “So was it good for you?”
“The best. He even showed me his shlong.”
“He . . . what? His what?”
“Yep. Flashed me.” Ava picked up her sketch and showed it to Jasper.
“Oh, good Christ.”
“Just in case there’s ever a penis lineup.”
Jasper shook his head, and laughter rolled out of him. “What a tiny, tiny prick. Wouldn’t you say?”
“The worst.”
“Do you mind?” Jasper ripped it up.
Ava shook her head. “That was our only lead.”
“Scotland Yard will have to survive.” He threw his arms open, then wrapped them around her and hugged her. “So you’re not scarred for life?”
“Honestly, that doesn’t scare me any more or less than just sitting on the bench would. I know that sounds weird. It’s just how I’m wired.”
“Sometimes I hate the world,” Jasper said. “I want to wrap it up, give it a nice little bow, and hand it to you like a present. And what happens? Some wanker pulls out his pathetic little penis.”
“He also had a knife. I was so worried. “
“I’m all right. Not a cut on me.”
“I should have jumped in a taxi, come to your rescue.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Please, stop apologizing. Let me apologize. I apologize on behalf of London.”
“I have to change. I have to do something on the list.”
“No,” Jasper said. Gently he backed out of the embrace. “Look at what happened when I tried one thing on the list. I’ve never been held up at knifepoint. That doesn’t happen. The bloody thing is cursed.”
“Then I lose the flat. I go home.”
Jasper snapped his fingers. “Queenie is the answer. You’ve been getting along with Queenie, haven’t you?”
Ava nodded. Thank God she didn’t admit to Queenie that she was the one who lost his lucky charm. He’d barely spoken to Jasper since. “But I’m still going to try to do everything on that list. Every single thing.” Ava didn’t know why she was saying that, but every time she did, Jasper looked so proud one minute and concerned the next.
“I don’t want to put you in any danger,” he said.
“It’s perceived danger, not real danger.”
“What if you pass out, have a heart attack?”
“You’ll be there.”
“I’m so sorry I let Beverly go ahead with this scheme. I didn’t know. None of us realized.”
“I know.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not. I feel alive. For the first time in a long time.”
Jasper touched Ava’s chin, tilted her face toward him. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Please.”
“I’m terrified too. Every single day, I’m terrified. But even more so since I’ve met you.”
Ava shook her head. “Seriously. I’ll have to start writing these down. You’re horrific at this love talk business.”
Jasper laughed again. She loved his laugh. Everything about him was like a gift. “I just meant I’m terrified at that thought of losing you. I know that sounds insecure, and I don’t mean it that way. But I don’t want this to end. Ever. I want you in my life. And I’m terrified of discovering this is just a dream. That I just dreamt you. Because if you are a dream, then I don’t want to wake up. I don’t ever want to wake up.”