“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to not tell me where you are going when you leave? Do you have any idea what could happen to you if someone finds you? Alone and dressed in that!” I nodded to her bikini, trying not to think about what was waiting beneath the wet fabric.
“What’s wrong with my top?” She asked, looking down at the now soaking white top that she’d pulled on to cover up.
“Nothing, I mean that fucking bikini!”
“Why do you guys have such problems with bikinis?”
“We don’t. It’s controlling ourselves when we see hot girls in them that we have problems with.” Fuck! My teeth clamped down hard on the insides of my cheeks to stop me speaking any more.
“Well, you can rest assured that from now on, every time I plan to blink I’ll let you know. May I blink?” Her eyebrow raised waiting for me to answer but I couldn’t. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth as my teeth continued digging into my flesh. She pulled away from me, still not blinking and stormed away towards the lifts leaving me to chase behind her.
Olivia lowered her head so that I couldn’t see how fast she was blinking with what were probably stinging and very watery eyes. She was so stubborn. I laughed shaking my head to be met with a glare that could have killed me if it didn’t turn me on so much. Anger like that could only come from someone that could feel so passionately, and I knew that if she could hate that passionately then she could love– make lo– fuck– she could fuck like a champion. I was in so much trouble being near her.
SEVEN
Olivia was driving me crazy with her restlessness. Back and forward to her room, huffing and sighing; her iPad flew across the sofa a couple of times before she started flicking through hundreds of TV channels. She paused on the odd song, a clip of a film or some shopping channel selling a dress that promised to make women look three sizes smaller. Bullshit. The only thing that guaranteed to make a woman look three sizes smaller, was being three sizes smaller.
Sitting at the dining table with one of the daily newspapers spread before me I was pretending to be engrossed in it; whereas I was really following every move Olivia made via an app on my phone, which allowed me access to the security cameras.
I followed her back through the apartment again as she disappeared back to her room, grabbing what looked like a little sketch pad from one of her shelves. She retrieved a large fishing tackle type box from beneath her desk, flipped it open revealing rows of colour in the form of paints, tubes of oils and sticks of pastels. Pulling a black pencil case from within, she closed the lid and walked back to the sofa. She scanned the apartment with her pencil poised over the fresh sheet of paper. I watched as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in thought as she stared out of the large windows before her eyes lingered on me.
Turning the page of the newspaper from the one that’d I’d pretended to read for the last hour, I tried to make it look like I was at least reading some of it. I tried desperately to concentrate on the words, but they all seemed to blur– my eyes kept drifting back to the video streaming to my phone from the camera feed, taking the odd screenshot of her as she worked.
Olivia was facing me, her back pressed up against the arm of the sofa and her knees acting as an easel as her pencil flew across the page. Her eyebrows furrowed as she squinted at her drawing, tipping her head left and right then looking up at me, back to her page, back to me. Was she drawing me? I skipped to another camera positioned behind her and zoomed in over her shoulder. She was drawing me. Holy fuck. I tried not to look up at her, instead reading the words on the paper to myself out loud to try to absorb them. I read the same line four times before giving up.
I looked back to my phone. She held her pencil between her lips as her fingers traced over my features on the page, smudging here and there… lingering on my lips. Her thumb ran over my chin, up the side of my jaw to my cheek. I couldn’t take any more – Or rather my hard-on couldn’t take it anymore, it was about to break free. I stood quietly, praying that my chair didn’t make a scraping noise over the floor. She leant forward pulling the pencil from her mouth and her pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
Taking a wide arc from the dining table to stand behind her, I casually leaned over, examining her drawing.
“You drew me?” I tried to sound shocked like I hadn’t been watching her for the last– God knows how long.
“Jesus, Riley!” She dropped her pencil, letting it bounce off the pad, ricocheting off the sofa to the floor. Her hand shot to her chest, holding her heart in place. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s rude to sneak up on people?”
“No.” I deadpanned as I sat on the sofa beside her. “Didn’t your mother teach you it’s rude to stare at people?”
“No. That would imply that she actually spent time with me.” I snorted at her response. Been there, done that and still wearing the fucking t-shirt to prove it, Princess.
I snatched the sketch pad from her lap as she teased me about my name which didn’t ‘sound very Scottish’. Because I could help having a Da from England. Flicking backwards through her sketches I saw pictures of the pathetic excuse for an ex-boyfriend, flowers, crowds of faceless people and the skyline out of these very windows. She was a phenomenal artist. Wasn’t there anything that she was bad at?
Once she touched on the subject of me being from Glasgow like her uncle, Frank, I knew I had to get out of there. I couldn’t tell her that he was in fact my uncle and what he had planned for her. I closed the pad, throwing it back into her lap.
“Those are really good, by the way.” I patted her knee as I stood, instantly regretting making the contact with her soft skin. My cock kicked in my trousers letting me know that he wanted out. Stopping by the hallway, I turned to look over my shoulder, finding Olivia twisted on the sofa watching me leave. “You should keep that last one by your bed at night, good visualisation.” Her eyes widened before narrowing into slits as her sketch pad sailed through the air towards me– good arm, but not good enough. I ducked through the archway heading back to my bedroom laughing.
Throwing my jacket over the back of a chair, I laid down on my bed and kicked my shoes off. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I loaded the security app again. Olivia made her way across the room to retrieve her pad. She flipped to the picture of me, running her fingers over my lips again with a smile. She shook her head and threw it onto the sofa. Well if that didn’t make me feel like a piece of discarded trash, I didn’t know what would.
***
I’d ignored all five calls from Frank today so when my phone rang a sixth time, I had to answer it.
“Why’ve you been ignoring me all day? Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you even remember the job you’re supposed to be doing?”
“I’m sorry, I put my phone down and left it. I didn’t think I needed it while she was here.”
“Well, you do need it. You keep that thing on you all the fucking time or we’ll have problems. Now, is everything going ok? Are you getting in her head yet?”
“Yeah, everything’s going ok. All according to plan.” I lied.
“Good. We need this doing ASAP. Julie is getting impatient. I know Bobby is only wee, but we need this sorting.”
“I know that.”
“Well, she’s talking about the end of the week.”
“The end of the week? Jesus.” I scrubbed over my face with my free hand, hating that I now had a countdown hanging over me like a fucking ticking bomb.
“Yes and you better not fuck it up, or the consequences won’t just impact you, do you hear me?” My one weak spot– Caitlin.
“Right, ok.”
“I mean it, Riley. Fuck this up–”
“I said, OK!”
“Ok. I’ll leave you to get on with your job. Do. Not. Fuck. Up. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
I hung up the phone and threw it down on to the bed, watching as it bounced off to land on the floor. It was fine, but I certainly wasn’t. I needed to hit somethi
ng and fast. Unfortunately, one of Austin’s paintings hanging from the wall took the brunt of my fury as my fist connected with the canvas. A quick jab and the thing crashed down to the floor. Anger bubbled in my throat as I groaned. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs how much I hated this and tell the world to go and fuck itself. The painting connected with my foot, sending it sailing through the air across the room, colliding with the other wall.
Needing to calm down before I did something stupid I headed for the shower. A cold shower would surely shake me out of the mood I was in, but to no avail. I felt like a caged Lion as I stalked up and down the length of the floor.
A timid couple of knocks sounded on my door, my gaze flying to the monitors visible in the open doorway to my office. Olivia stood before my door with her iPad in her hand, her finger gliding across the screen.
I quickly pulled the towel from my waist and swung it over my shoulder. I grabbed a pair of jeans from the chair, and pulled them up on my way to the door.
Olivia’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she spoke. “Do you like food? Erm, I mean, do you like Chinese food?” Her eyes ran down the length of my body before refocussing on her open tabs. “Or Mexican? Or Indian? Italian?” I raised a brow at her. Was this a trick question? I’m a guy – I eat anything. I didn’t miss her eyes flickering between the screen and my stomach. “Uncle Austin said he–” I stepped closer to her and watched her swallow hard. “Said he- erm- he won’t be home again tonight. Thought we could order something. For dinner. If you want?” She took a deep breath in and all I could think about was the fact that we’d be alone again. Would she let me listen to her again? Was that what she was insinuating? Was that why she came to my door, to let me know that we were alone for the rest of the night?
“Aye, sure. I want what you want…” I smiled as she stared at me blankly. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Hopefully a lot of sex with a fuck load of orgasms on the side. I teased her by rubbing my hand suggestively over my stomach, wishing that every second that I did, that she would take over and move her pretty, little hand lower.
She continued to stare at the screen but the orientation had slipped around to face me. “You know it helps if you stick the rotation lock on that thing. It saves you having to read upside down.” I chuckled as she shook her head slightly. Olivia stumbled back and made her way back to the living room mumbling something that sounded like a ‘thanks’.
Dumping my wet towel in the bathroom, I followed her down the hall and found her sitting on the sofa with the heels of her hands jammed into her eyes as she mumbled words that I couldn’t hear. She groaned and punched her fists into the seat on either side of her legs. Standing, she noticed me stood over her.
“Are you ok?” And the award for Dumb Cunt of the Year goes to… Connor Riley! Well done. She nodded anyway, making me feel even more like an idiot.
“Can you pick something? Anything, I’m not bothered what. I’ll just- I’ll just go and grab some money.” She ran off in the direction of Austin’s office, slamming the door behind her. I had no idea what the fuck that was all about.
Jesus, what was with the mood swings? Minimising the web browser I scanned her iPad for one of those girly apps that records their cycles. Nothing. I flipped to her calendar and discovered nothing there either besides the scheduled appointment for her to get her contraceptive injection within the next two months. Well, at least that was one thing I never had to worry about.
What the hell was I thinking? Go and check that she’s ok! Deciding to give her an extra minute or two I placed an order for Chinese before making my way to Austin’s office. She’d locked herself in the bathroom.
“Yeah?” She called after I’d knocked.
“I ordered. They said it would be about twenty minutes.” I pressed my ear to the door, not sure what I was hoping to hear as I did.
“Oh, ok.” I stepped back slightly, hoping that she’d come out. Instead, a muffled sob echoed through the bathroom. “Oh for… Just stop crying!” She scolded herself. I couldn’t stand the thought of her in there, crying alone. Especially when she’d been fine not even five minutes ago.
“Liv, open the door.”
“I… thought you’d gone.” She tried to sound casual like she wasn’t in there swamped in tissues. Just let me in! I felt the need to wrap her up in my arms so badly.
“Open up. Now.” With the water running, she flipped over the lock allowing me in. With her gaze downcast, she splashed water over her face trying to calm down and erase the redness from her cheeks. I stood directly behind her, watching as her eyes moved to the mirror. I formed a cage around her with my hands on the counter, just in case she wanted to hide again. “Why were you crying?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She said, softly.
“It does if it’s upsetting you. Was it him? Did he contact you?” Fury coursed through me as she nodded, then shook her head.
“No- I- I just- I remembered- I managed to not think about it all for a while and then it just- I don’t know. It just hit me again.” I so badly wanted to make her forget what that arsehole had done. If I could go back and erase that fucker from being born, I’d have done it. Her head shook slightly from side to side in disbelief, stirring up the scent of apples from her hair. Sweeping my fingers across the delicate slope of her neck, I pulled the waves to drape them over her left shoulder.
“Please don’t cry. Not over him. The guys that make you cry aren’t worth your tears…”
Resting my forehead against her hair I remembered back to my Da telling me to be nice to my new, wee baby sister, Caitlin. I had just turned four, right before he was killed. ‘Son, boys aren’t meant to make girls cry. Boys that do, are worthless. If a boy is worthy enough of that girl, he’d never make her cry. The same goes for your baby sister. You need to take care of her, Connor.’
“…The ones who are, would never dream of making you cry, Liv.” I sighed deeply into her hair trying to expel the scent of it from my lungs. “Don’t be long, dinner will be here soon.” I pushed away from the counter and stormed back to my room.
EIGHT
Thinking about Caitlin had made me feel like utter shit. I hadn’t spoken to her in a few days which wasn’t good, she had to be freaking out. Caitlin’s Autism meant that she liked routine, and I was such a bad brother for breaking it.
To Caitlin: Are you asleep?
From Caitlin: I was.
To Caitlin: I’m sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep, I’ll call you tomorrow evening.
From Caitlin: You didn’t.
My phone started to vibrate in my hand with a FaceTime call. Caitlin’s face with a rare smile lit up the screen.
“Hi, Cait.” I waved to her.
“Hello.” She was lying down in bed staring blankly at the screen, seemingly uninterested with talking to me.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called, I’ve been really busy with work for the last couple of days.”
“Ok.”
“How have you–”
“I went to the park today with Toby and Bree.” Toby was the lad who lived next door to her and Bree was one of the women who lived by them to care for them. Caitlin took me by surprise though, she very rarely offered information; it was usually like getting blood out of a stone with her.
“Oh? Which one? How was it?”
“Hyde Park. It was sunny.” A dog barked loudly in the background. “That dog keeps waking me up.”
“I’ll call Bree and get her to sort it out for you, ok?”
“Ok.” She smiled slightly then frowned. “Connor, you’re upset.” Not a question, but a statement of fact.
“I’m ok.” I said with a tight smile.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m sorry. Things are just a little… busy at work right now, but I’ll be ok.” And so will you, I added mentally. She didn’t need to know that her care was costing me a fortune and I was relying on this job and what came afterwards to secure her living arran
gements for a while. So far, with my signing bonus for this job, I had the next year paid off for her– Cait was one of the reasons I agreed to this job. I could be closer to her with more money to make sure that she was ok. My older brother, Cameron certainly wouldn’t bother his arse to help out. He was too busy climbing up the ranks of the police force, trying to be what our dad couldn’t. I hadn’t spoken to him in almost three years and our mother, she was even worse.
She’d kicked me out at the age of sixteen which was more than fine with me but leaving Caitlin almost killed me. She didn’t deserve a mother like ours so I made sure to come back for her when I’d turned eighteen and in a job where I could provide for her. Mum had a party that night celebrating the fact that she was child-free again. “I had better go to bed. You try to get back to sleep and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
The screen returned to home and I couldn’t resist opening up the security app again to check on Olivia. I told myself that I was just being a good PPO and looking out for her, but it was my own selfish need to see her that drove me.
She was curled up on her side, with both hands tucked under her cheek; a strand of hair laying over her face moved with every breath that she took. My fingers itched to move it behind her ear so desperately.
I made my way to her room, gently twisted the handle to open the door quietly and stepped inside. Her room carried the scents of apples and a flower that I couldn’t place, but it was her. I tiptoed over to her bed, staring down at her. My hand reached out like it didn’t belong to me, my fingers gently brushing along her forehead to behind her ear to swipe the hair away and down her chin. She nuzzled into me in her sleep, her face fitting perfectly in the cup of my hand. I brushed my thumb across her bottom lip and she stirred again, this time taking a deep breath and moistening her lips with a quick dart of her tongue. She left her lips parted slightly; her breath fanned over the tip of my thumb sending a shiver coursing up my arm and through my body.
Gently letting go of her cheek, I pulled away. “What am I doing?” I backed away from her bed heading towards the door. It was time to hit the gym again.
Breaking Her Page 5