by Kaley Colter
Pushing her cart slowly in front of her and darting her head to the left and right to look at the shelves, she jumped and whipped around when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
“Hi, Ellie.”
It was Jeremy, one of Marcus’s friends.
Ellie didn’t smile back at him. “Oh, hi Jeremy,” she said flatly. She was finally moving on from her past, and she really wasn’t interested in being reminded of Marcus at the moment.
“How’ve you been? I heard you moved out of Marcus’s place.”
“Um, ya. About a month or so ago. Look, Jeremy, I’m sorry but I really have to get going—”
“Don’t go yet,” he said, cutting her off. “I have to tell you something. It’s important.”
Ellie stopped and looked at him suspiciously. “Fine. What is it?”
“It’s a message from Marcus.”
Ellie rolled her eyes and started walking away from him again, but Jeremy shot out a hand and held her cart in place. “Let go, Jeremy,” she said, starting to get wary.
“Not until you listen. Marcus wants you to know that your dad left you something before he took off. If you want it, you’ll have to go back to the house and discuss it with him.”
And with that, Jeremy simply turned around and walked away, leaving Ellie standing completely shocked in the middle of the aisle.
She blinked and shook her head slightly, trying to make sure that what she had just heard was actually real. Could this be true? Could her dad have left her something? Every time she tried to think of what it could possibly be, memories of her father came flashing uncontrollably in her mind. Memories of her mom and dad, of her happy childhood. And of everything that changed the minute her mother died.
After a few minutes of staring blankly into space, Ellie managed to push her cart to the checkout and call a cab to take her back to Nick’s house, deciding that she would make do without the sesame seed oil.
* * * *
Ellie was sitting curled up on her bed, staring at the television without having any idea what she was watching, when she heard a knock at her door.
“Come in,” she said softly.
Nick let himself in the room and quietly shut the door behind him.
“Hi sweetheart,” he said as he sat beside her on the bed. He pulled her into his lap and she rested her head on his thigh.
“Hi,” she said sadly.
“How was your day?”
“It was fine. How was yours?”
Nick sighed, turning her face so she would look up at him. “Ellie, baby, Colleen told me what happened at the grocery store. Why on earth wouldn’t you call me and tell me what happened?”
Ellie closed her eyes and tried her best to hold herself back from crying. “She did? But…I made her promise not to tell anyone.”
“Sweetheart, she cares about you. She told me because she was worried. And I’m very glad that she did.”
“It’s no big deal,” Ellie said, trying to keep her voice steady.
“No? I think it’s a very big deal. And I want to talk to you about it. You’re clearly very upset over it.”
“Well, ya,” Ellie said. “I mean, I haven’t heard from my dad in ten years. When he left, I was devastated. For an entire year, I waited, hoping he would come back. And when he didn’t, I forced myself to drive him out of my head. So I haven’t even given him a thought in a very, very long time. And now to learn something like this…maybe he left me money so that I could take care of myself. Maybe he left me some of my mom’s things. It could be anything. But I want to find out what.”
“Ellie, sweetheart, I want you to consider the possibility that he didn’t leave you anything at all.”
Ellie looked up at him. “Why would you think that?”
“I think it’s just a way for Marcus to get his hands on you again. He’s just looking for a way to rope you back into being his slave.”
Ellie sighed. “That thought crossed my mind. But I don’t think he would lie about something like this. Maybe I’m just being naive, but he knew how much my dad hurt me when he left, and I’d like to think he wouldn’t use that against me. Maybe the fact that I finally left made him realize how terrible he was being. Maybe he’s finally come to his senses.”
Nick shook his head. “From the way I saw him treat you, I doubt that he’s come to his senses and is trying to do something nice for you. In fact, I’m almost certain that this is a ruse.”
“But…what if it isn’t? What if it’s a way for me to find my dad? Isn’t that worth whatever risk?”
“Is it, though? Your dad still left you behind, Ellie. You were fifteen. Even if he left you a phone number, a way for you to reach him, why would you want to have someone like that in your life?”
Ellie paused, biting down on her lip. “I…I don’t know. Maybe I just want to think he’s sorry for what he’s done. Maybe he’s been sorry all this time.”
“Then why didn’t he ever come back? Or try and contact you?”
“I know you’re right,” she said, sighing and closing her eyes. “I know it’s stupid, but I guess I just want to believe that deep down he still loves me.”
Nick smoothed his hand over her hair. “It’s not stupid, sweetheart. It’s human. It’s only natural that you’d want to think about your dad in that way. But I don’t want you going over to Marcus’s house. And if you feel that this is something you really need to do, then I want you to tell me so that I can go with you. Okay? Just think of me as your big, hulking security guard.”
Ellie nodded, smiling weakly. “Okay.”
* * * *
Ellie didn’t know what she was doing. She had gone out for a walk and, three bus rides later, here she was standing across the street from Marcus’s house. She felt guilty for not letting Nick know, but she wanted to do this on her own. This was her battle. And she wanted to fight it all by herself.
She plucked up her courage and crossed the street, walking right up to the door and ringing the bell.
After a few seconds of no answer, she listened closely to see if she could hear anything coming from inside the house, but it seemed to be completely quiet. Maybe Marcus wasn’t home. Maybe this was a sign for her to leave and forget the whole thing.
But just as she was about to turn away, the door swung open.
“Well, look who it is,” Marcus said bitterly as he crossed his arms and looked down at her.
Ellie wouldn’t let herself be fazed by Marcus’s perpetual bad mood. “Hi, Marcus. Jeremy told me your message. I’d like to know what my dad left me, please,” she said, trying her best to keep her tone businesslike and impersonal.
Marcus stepped to the side and gestured for her to come in. Hugging her arms around her chest, she entered the house and sat down on the tattered sofa in the living room, feeling full of anxiety at being back in her old house.
Marcus fell down into his favorite lounge chair and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.
“So I hear you’ve gone to work for Nick Richardson,” he said, flashing her a mocking grin. “Even moving into his house so you can be on-call as his personal ‘chef.’”
Ellie gritted her teeth at the implication. “I am his personal chef, Marcus. I cook his meals and I cater his events.”
Marcus shook his head and laughed at her scornfully. “Let me guess. You’re screwing him.”
“It’s none of your business—”
“Does he pay you for that, too? Does he slip a nice wad of money into your panties after you’re done fucking him?” Marcus taunted, cutting her off.
“Shut up, Marcus.”
“You think you’ve come so far. Ever since high school you’ve been going on and on about how you want to become independent, and I bet you think you’ve met your goal. But why don’t you take a step back and look at your life as it actually is? Do you have your own place? No. You’re living in some rich man’s mansion and letting him screw you whenever he wants.”
Ellie swallowed hard. “It�
��s not like that.”
Marcus let out another laugh. “Oh, let me guess, you think that he actually likes you, don’t you? That he loves you and wants to be with you instead of just get in your pants. Wow, Ellie, you just keep getting more and more stupid.”
Ellie tried to calm her trembling hands. “You’re such a bastard,” she whispered, on the verge of tears.
“That may be so. But you know I’m right.”
Ellie wanted to get up from the couch and run out of the house and never lay eyes on her stepbrother again. But she came here for something, and she wouldn’t leave without it.
“None of this matters,” she said shakily. “I want to know what my dad left me. I’m done talking about my current job.”
Marcus reached down and picked up a cardboard box that was sitting on the ground and spilled the contents onto the coffee table in between them. “Here. It’s a box of your mother’s shitty paintings. He didn’t exactly leave it for you as much as he just left it behind.”
Ellie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mother had been an exceptionally talented artist, and had even started selling some of her paintings before she died. Ellie never knew her dad had kept some of her work.
All of the paintings had landed facedown on the table. Trying hard to swallow the lump in her throat, she reverently picked up one of the paintings and flipped it over.
In her hands was a beautiful portrait of herself when she was a little girl—scribbled over with permanent marker. Feeling her eyes fill with tears, she slowly turned over a few more of the paintings, finding all of them completely defaced.
Ellie knew Marcus had always hated her. She was the girl whose father had come along and taken his mother away. Marcus’ mother was the only family he had, just like Ellie’s father was the only family she had. She knew he had loved his mother, and from what she understood, his mother had also supported him financially for most of his adult life, which ended, of course, when she disappeared with her new husband. So she could understand why he couldn’t help being an asshole to her. But this…this was something different. Ellie had never known that he was capable of this kind of cruelty.
“Why would you do this?” she said, looking up at Marcus in utter horror.
“Don’t know. Guess I got bored one day,” he said, standing up and walking into the kitchen. “Now take this garbage and get out of my house.”
Ellie looked down at the paintings one last time before slowly getting up from the sofa and walking out of the house. She managed to walk one block before collapsing onto a bench and sobbing into her hands.
Was Marcus right? She had thought that she had finally started living the life she had always wanted…but was she really? She didn’t even live in her own house. She was living at Nick’s expense, and she was fairly sure that most personal chefs didn’t live in their employers’ homes.
After managing to get control of her breathing, she reached down into her purse and pulled out her phone. She needed Nick. Hopefully he would come pick her up.
* * * *
Nick shut his laptop and ran his fingers through his hair. He pushed himself back from his desk and looked up at the clock.
Gotta love working till three o’clock on a Saturday.
He wanted to go home and have dinner with Ellie and Colleen. He loved the evenings they had together. Ellie always cooked up something unbelievably delicious for dinner and dessert, and the three of them would sit and eat, talking and laughing for hours.
Ellie wasn’t afraid to scold him if he worked late, and she certainly didn’t approve of him working weekends, so he figured he’d be in for quite the chiding if he didn’t pack up and head home soon. He chuckled and shook his head, the image of Ellie’s adorable face pinched in a scowl flashing through his mind. She certainly had a way with him, because nothing short of a miracle could pull him away from his desk before she came along. But his life was fuller now—happier—and he was no longer content being a workaholic. It was a welcome change, but a change he had never expected.
Nick heard his cell phone ring and rifled through his pockets before seeing it sitting at the edge of his desk.
“Nick Richardson,” he spoke into the phone.
“Nick?” Ellie’s soft, teary voice came whispering through the speaker.
Nick tensed, knowing instantly that something was wrong. “What is it, baby? Are you okay?”
“Can you come pick me up?”
“Of course, baby. Where are you?”
“I’m…I’m at the bus stop a block away from Marcus’s house.”
Nick shut his eyes and let out a breath. “Oh, sweetheart. Why did you go and do that?”
He heard her try and hold back a sob. “I…I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, baby. I’m coming to get you right now.”
* * * *
Nick saw her sitting curled up at the end of a bench and pulled his truck over on the side of the road. He jumped out and ran over to her. Her face was pale and her eyes were red from crying.
“You ready to come home, sweetheart?”
Ellie nodded up at him, and without saying anything further Nick lifted her into his arms and gently placed her in the truck.
“What happened, Ellie?” he asked after seating himself beside her and pulling into traffic. He got worried when she buried her face into her hands and didn’t answer. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” she finally let out. “He…he actually did have something for me. My dad left it behind. I guess he didn’t care about it. It…it was a box full of my mom’s paintings.”
Nick was surprised that there actually was a family artefact and that Marcus hadn’t lied about the entire thing. “But where are they, baby? Did he not let you take them?”
Ellie shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He had scribbled over all of them. I just left them and ran out.”
Nick gritted his teeth and gripped the steering wheel hard in his hands. He would kill that son of a bitch. “Maybe we can have them repaired,” he said, trying to keep calm so he wouldn’t frighten her.
“It’s no use,” she said, staring sadly in front of her. “I could hardly even see most of the paintings beneath the permanent marker.”
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he said, reaching out to grab her hand.
“Me too,” she said softly. “You were right about everything. I’m sorry for not telling you. It was just something I needed to do on my own.”
“I know, baby. Nobody blames you for what you did,” he said, looking over at her and noticing the bags under her eyes. “Why don’t you rest your eyes and I’ll wake you when we get home.”
Chapter 7
Ellie was sitting in front of Nick on his bed. She had folded her legs up to her chest and was resting her head on her knees as Nick combed her long hair down her back. She sat perfectly still, relishing the act of tenderness and luxuriating in the delicious shivers that broke out through her entire body each time the hair brush descended on her scalp.
“You have the most beautiful hair I have ever seen,” Nick said as he continued brushing.
Ellie smiled. “Really? Marcus always told me that it would look so much prettier if it were straight. He hated how it gets wavy.”
Nick let out a sigh. “Everything Marcus told you about yourself is wrong. He’s a sick, weak man that derives pleasure from hurting you. And I don’t want you ever believing what he says.”
Ellie stared down at the bed. She knew Nick was right, but at the same time, she couldn’t let go of some of the things Marcus had told her. He had made her feel like she was a failure. Like she was taking advantage of Nick by living in his house.
Ellie waited for the next brush stroke to begin at the top of her head, but it never came. Instead, Nick swept her hair around her shoulder and brought his lips down lightly on her neck.
“Hey,” he whispered, breaking her out of her thoughts. “Tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours.”
Ellie turned around on the bed and looked at him. “I just can’t stop thinking about what happened today. I don’t think he’s ever hurt me so much before. And I’ve never seen him so hateful towards me.”
Nick cradled Ellie into his lap and kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay that it’s on your mind, baby. It’s going to take you a while to get over this. But you can’t let him get to you. He did what he did because he’s angry that he can’t control you anymore.”
He swept his hand over her collarbone, and she moaned at the exquisite, shivery pleasure before reaching up to kiss the underside of his jaw and rub her cheek on his beard.
“You know, I like your beard.” She giggled. “It makes you look all scruffy. Like a woodsman or something.”
Nick let out a laugh. “I think the term you’re searching for is ‘lumberjack.’ Usually when people say someone’s beard makes them look like a lumberjack, it’s not a compliment. But I’m going to consider yours one, anyways,” he said, smiling at her in amusement.
Ellie felt her heart warm. She loved making him smile, loved seeing his usual seriousness give way to laughter. He was the president of a leading engineering company, after all, and he generally had quite a bit on his mind. But Ellie was devoted to tempering his pensiveness and getting him to enjoy life a little more, and she was happy with her success thus far. Nick would often tell her that his coworkers wanted to thank her for making him lighten up a bit, and it made Ellie feel proud that she was helping him in her own small way.
She continued kissing her way along his jaw until she reached his ear. She paused, then impulsively darted out the tip of her tongue against his earlobe. Nick sucked in a breath, surprised.
“Sweetheart, you continue doing that, and you won’t know what you’re in for.”
Ellie grinned mischievously and licked his earlobe again. When she felt him tense, she pulled it into her mouth and sucked on it before biting down with her teeth. Nick let out a groan, and before she knew it, he had her pinned down flat on the bed beneath him.