Unbind (Sub Rosa Series Book 1)

by Lynch, Sarah Michelle

  “Uh-oh, Chloe. What have I told you?”

  “I know, I know,” I said without repeating the things he taught me.

  Remain true to yourself, it’s who you are.

  “You’ll be fine, flower. You’ll bounce back. Work okay, is it?”

  “Don’t know yet, still waiting to see how things pan out.”

  “You’ll be fine. Now, after we hang up I shall send you my Chelsea address and the code for the front door. My maid Helga doesn’t work when I’m not there—”

  “Klaus, oh god, seriously? I don’t want a fucking maid. Really, I’d prefer not to.”

  “Chloe—”

  “I’ll get a hotel.”

  “You will not get a hotel. I’ll tell Helga to leave it, for now. Until you need some cleaning doing and then you’ll let me know?”

  “I will.” And to sound not so ungrateful, I added, “I owe you.”

  “Tssk,” he said, and hung up.

  I hailed a cab once Klaus sent me the address and I got in, hoping the cabbie wouldn’t ask questions about the tears falling down my face nor the mark on one cheek.

  As the lights of the city passed by outside the vehicle, I shuddered with an overwhelming sense of loss. Kayla was the only real friend I’d ever had. Counting her as my best friend (despite the distance and the dumb-ass boyfriend coming between us at every opportunity) meant there was something strong between us, right? We’d been there for one another during the toughest times.

  Why she of all people couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t stand by and watch a friend’s trust and loyalty be abused—I didn’t know. Especially when she knew my past. However, she was blind when it came to that man she called lover.

  The ever-eternal human search: love, and the meaning of life through love. Only a rude awakening would break the spell she was under.

  I got to Belgravia and let myself into a white, stucco building. I was just entering Klaus’s plush pad on the fourth floor when my phone rang.

  “Hello,” I answered in a harsh tone, the phone to my ear and some over-enthusiastic guy from downstairs still helping me with my cases. I mouthed a thank you and he strode away disappointed. The door closing, I looked at the screen when I didn’t hear anyone on the other end. It was Cai.

  “Are you there, Cai?”

  “Yeah… I… what was that?”

  I plonked myself on the most luxurious couch I’d ever sat on. “To cut a long story short, I didn’t back down and neither did The Destroyer of all Hope. I’m sitting here with a huge slap mark on my face and some guy was just helping me get my cases into my new digs.”

  “Fuck,” he said.

  “Listen, I am really fucking pissed off right now. I just… I can’t breathe.”

  “Just take a breath, Chloe, okay? Take a breath.”

  “Okay, I’m putting my head between my legs. Do with that image what you will.”

  He laughed down the phone line. “I was a jerk this morning. I just have a lot on my mind and I’m sorry. I just called to tell you that.”

  I sighed inside. He’s sorry.

  “I’m not sorry I stood my ground with her. I’m just sorry it took me this long. He’s such a creep, Cai… he stood there and denied everything.”

  “Let me take you to dinner. Nothing major. Just throw something on.”

  “Hmm.” I mumbled incoherencies until saying, “I’m situated closer to you, now. Could you pick me up?”

  “Sure… send me the address.”

  “Give me 30 minutes. I’ll try to, I don’t know, transplant my foul mood between now and then.”

  “Listen, you don’t need to impress me, okay? I’ll feed and water you… bring you home safe. We’re friends, after all?”

  “Okay, see you soon. I’ll text you my address.”

  I sent Cai the Eaton Place address and a warning to give me half an hour before even setting off.

  While I acquainted myself with Klaus’s pad, the reasoning side of my brain told me that my life was getting more and more bizarre by the minute. Did Klaus have an agenda? Was I on some list of his? Ladies for Fun. This was a world I did not belong in. I felt like a kept woman already and that was not something I was comfortable with.

  His two-bedroom apartment was pretty impressive and I had to admire it. The furnishings and the decoration were all neutral; ivory surfaces, crystal glass light fittings, slate accents, oak furniture, oatmeal cushions, chocolate-brown rugs, gleaming white walls. It all dazzled. Its personality mirrored Klaus to a T—minimal, yet extravagant, practical yet super functional. Light was a big thing for Klaus. He’d told me numerous times, “Always best to have our eyes open to the world.” The ratio of ceiling lights and lamps to rooms was exceptional.

  I discovered the master bedroom led to a terrace/conservatory and actually laughed out loud. It was gorgeous, furnished with heavy wicker furniture and potted conifers. The kitchen displayed a range that was as big as Kay’s entire kitchenette!

  I made for the bathroom and thought I was seeing things as I passed a built-in Finnish sauna on the way. It occurred to me that the amount I intended to consume in alcohol that night meant it would be a bad idea to try that out at any point beforehand.

  So I sauntered to the white porcelain bathroom with chrome accents and realised I had been wasting precious time exploring. I quickly undressed and grabbed a flannel that rested on the heated towel rail, then got to work washing my face first, refreshing the towel as I wiped my chest and underarms. I really needed a full shower but I didn’t get the feeling it was going to be a night of romance, if my mission to get drunk and offload a lot of crap was at all fulfilled.

  I reapplied make-up and spritzed myself into a total fog, then put some random curls in my hair with some tongs. I wasn’t exactly feeling my best but then, I hadn’t just thrown myself together either, like he suggested.

  I managed to have myself dressed and holding a G&T from the wet bar when Cai buzzed the apartment and I pressed the button for him to come up.

  “It’s open!” I shouted from the bedroom when I heard a tentative knock.

  “Hey, it’s just me.” He gently shut the door.

  When I appeared from the bedroom, I saw he was gorgeous. A black blazer over a crisp, white shirt and a pair of dark jeans. From the look on his face, he thought I was too. I didn’t even have my shoes on yet! This was not how I imagined our first date. I expected numerous outfit choices, maybe a three-hour window in which to primp and preen. Even so, he seemed deliriously happy to see me in a black and white form-fitting number that showed off my curves.

  “You look—” He couldn’t say whatever else he wanted to.

  “So do you,” I breathed in a rush.

  I walked forward and his hands fell naturally on my waist. I didn’t even care this was a relative stranger! …touching me how and where he liked.

  His chest heaved up and down, his eyes caught mine and danced. He dipped his mouth down and I lifted mine so our lips brushed. I adored the way his stubble caressed my sensitive skin, how gentle his kiss was. I pressed forward a little harder and our kiss made a pleasing SMACK.

  “Hi,” I said, gingerly pulling away.

  He looked around and fixed his eyes on our surroundings.

  “This place is a little more than a bedsit.”

  “I know!” …but how did I explain it…? “A friend said I could stay here ’til I get sorted.”

  “It doesn’t seem, you. I kinda like that you’re down to earth.” His voice betrayed jealousy. “If you know what I mean?”

  My benefactor (of sorts) could have been a woman for all he knew but, he wasn’t far from the truth.

  “Klaus Häuser is a friend and set me up with the job, helped me with a few other things too.”

  From the icy glare coming from Kincaid then, I realised he knew of Klaus. Perhaps even, Klaus’s likes.

  “Just a friend?” His brow knitted and his voice deepened. His body was rigid and he didn’t seem to be letting himself b
reathe.

  “Just a friend, really,” I assured him, shuffling on my heels so I was eye level with him. Kincaid fidgeted and probably didn’t believe a word of what I was saying.

  “Okay,” he accepted, though his eyes said otherwise.

  I didn’t broach the subject further. Neither did he.

  “Where are we eating? I could eat a fucking horse and her foal.”

  He sniggered while I put my earrings in at the large mirror above the fireplace.

  “Seems we’re both dressed to impress… how ’bout we try the Savoy?”

  “The Savoy?” I almost screeched.

  “Yeah, they keep a table for my aunt. She drops into the city a lot, unannounced. I think they’ll let us borrow it.” I spotted him on his phone, firing off a text to her maybe.

  “Okay,” I squeaked. The fucking Savoy!

  I grabbed my black Monsoon poncho coat and silver sequined clutch, and we were out of there, hailing my second cab of the night. My third of the day.

  “You’ll love it,” he convinced me as we sat snuggled in the backseat, holding hands. Wrapped in each other’s perfumes, I felt hazy. “We’ll get treated well because of Jennifer.”

  “Oh, alright then.” I huffed, and fiddled with my nails. My thoughts were on Klaus, again. Maybe it was the gin but I just felt awkward about the whole thing and the way Cai had reacted to any mention of him.

  “Hey, why are you tense?” he asked, like we were already in a relationship. Like he could read my mind. “If you think I give a damn about Klaus… it isn’t that. He just doesn’t seem trustworthy from what I’ve heard.”

  “What have you heard?” I turned to him. He did that thing again—two fingers wiped each side of his mouth.

  “It might not be true.” He sighed. “Something my aunt said, is all.”

  “All you people and your rumours… do you really want me to go cyber stalking for answers?”

  He turned to me in the seat and entreated me with his eyes, “Please don’t go looking online, you might not like what you find. Better to live and learn the real way, yeah?”

  He released one hand and I used this to stroke my finger over the back of his. Was it tiring for him having always lived in this kind of world? One where his life was just entertainment for some. A throwaway comment here or there about the guy with the massive inheritance was seemingly painful for him.

  “Okay, I won’t go looking,” I agreed, reaching up to gently kiss a corner of his mouth.

  He held my cheek and shut his eyes, whispering shakily, “Chloe.”

  I wanted to drown in this man, have him peel me bare and let him do whatever he wanted to do to my body. Just the sight of his throat in a crisp, white shirt, brought to mind a bedroom scene in which I unpicked his buttons and got my first look at the body beneath the clothes. I felt so proud to be ‘on his arm’, even if it were only for that night.

  He kept his eyes shut and murmured, “You make me wanna break all the rules… make me wanna invest in hosiery so you’re never without.” He gestured at my choice that evening, a pair stitched with pencil lines at the back and mock-garters that showed the further my skirt rode up. His large hand touched my thigh, his fingers just grazing the hem of my skirt. “Chloe, I wanna fuck all the rules… for you.”

  I needed to sit on his cock and ride him until this insanity subsided. Somehow I knew it would only get worse after that!

  “Get me drunk and we’ll see what happens,” I grinned sinfully.

  I already felt the effects of that G&T.

  “We’ll be screwed for work tomorrow,” he said, hopeful.

  “Hmm. Yes.”

  Chapter 9

  EVEN BEFORE WE got to the Savoy, I knew I was slightly off my head. I think the liquor at Klaus’s place must have been overproof or something, I was so far gone even before the sommelier asked whether the Tempranillo was okay. Truth was, anything would have been okay. I couldn’t taste the difference right then.

  While we ate our goat’s cheese starters, I noticed he looked uncomfortable. For some reason, not much about that meal was sexy, so far. So I started the convo off light.

  “You know I don’t do dating…” I slurred my words a little, I hated to realise.

  “No, neither do I—” He looked like he was going to elaborate, but cut himself off. He stuck a whole lettuce leaf in his mouth and olive oil dribbled down his chin. He swiped it away on his extra-large, white napkin before I got a chance to help him.

  “What about an exception? What about—” I was trying to hint at us formally dating, when he started coughing violently on a piece of potato.

  “You don’t seem to be at home here if you don’t mind me saying?”

  The Simpson’s-in-the-Strand was like being on the Titanic, like nowhere I’d ever eaten before and truth be told, Klaus had taken me to a few sweet places. These kind of establishments didn’t seem to be to Cai’s taste. He was so young after all.

  “I feel like I’m naked here,” he complained, “like I can’t do a thing without you noticing.”

  “Don’t avoid the question, snapper boy.” I held out my knife toward him, enraging some elegant patrons nearby who clearly knew we were only in that place because of Jennifer. You may as well have sewn the Matthews name into the tablecloth.

  “Yeah you’re right… but it’ll please my aunt to know we ate here, you know? We won’t even have to dig in our wallets for this, either… and with a gallery refurbishment taking everything outta my pocket… I’m counting my green right now.”

  I sliced through my salad and chewed steadily, raising an eyebrow. “A gallery?”

  “I have a space in Brooklyn. The place kinda sucked so I decided to refurb, see if I couldn’t drum up some more interest.” He shrugged off the importance of that, though it was clearly significant.

  “You take photos as art, too?” I let the red seep into my already heated veins. There was something about this man, something two-tone…

  “I sell pieces, yeah… people call them art. I call them a pastime.”

  “Ha. So modest, aren’t you?”

  He laughed along with me and finished his glass of red, which was immediately refilled by a passing waiter.

  “We’re talking major renovations… some days I regret I even started it.”

  I tapped my teeth with a finger. “According to a snippet I read, you’re not short on cash. Nor is Jennifer I would imagine.”

  He nodded, looking around the room, a sly smile showing his white teeth. “She’s got this like control issue.”

  I played footsie with him under the table. “Tell me what she’s like… I won’t tell.”

  He leaned forward and looked into my eyes, his solid shoulders filling his military-style white shirt perfectly. “She thinks my parents were fucking crazy… and they were, right. I get that. They were,” he paused and scratched at his chin, “but she thinks I have the potential to be just like them, so she has this noose,” he motioned a rope around his neck, “keeping me reined in. I can’t work anywhere in New York without her say-so in case I show her up, spoil her perfect reputation. So that’s why I’m at Media Solutions. They don’t pay great, but they pay… and it’s freedom. They send me off here, there and everywhere, and anytime I get back to the US I sneak home but never stay that long. I don’t like her world, Chloe. It’s not my world.”

  That made more sense. “So, the whole gallery thing… it’s a passion but a curse?”

  “It is a passion,” he nodded, his eyes wide, “just one I’ve found hard to make happen. It’s a funny story, but on my 21st birthday I got a package in the mail with the deeds to that gallery. Like, a benefactor. I didn’t find out who gave it to me.”

  He shook his head, annoyance etched in his eyes as he wiped a drop of wine from his plush mouth. “The building is enormous… huge potential, but is essentially a wreck. I dunno, I thought it was maybe her doing… her way of trying to get me to be serious about my career. I thought that her name would help me
secure some funding or a sponsor to renovate or establish some name for myself but I just hit walls, everywhere I went. I’ve tried to save every penny I can from working jobs, but it’s been a stretch. I don’t inherit for another three months yet and I’m counting the days.”

  I sat still, thinking through what he was telling me. Jennifer from the outside was pristine. She was known for bringing new designers to the fore and helping models to stardom. She got the best staff money could buy, too.

  “You think she’s put a block on you getting anywhere in your career? Like, telling her friends to dismiss you, spreading rumours? Why would she do that?”

  He nodded and appeared relieved I thought along the same lines as him. “Stuff went down with my parent’s… bad stuff. She imagines all sorts about me that just isn’t true. I don’t wanna get into the finer details but she seems all philanthropic from the exterior, but beneath, she’s the queen bee who will sting anyone who tries to rob her nest.”

  He kept looking around the restaurant, paranoid about who might be listening in. For all I cared, she could walk up to us in the flesh and I’d tell her I didn’t think she was trustworthy, not to have gotten where she had in the industry.

  “It’s not unbelievable. I know how people in her world work. I mean… Klaus tells tales sometimes. Not about her, no… he just tells me stuff about certain chieftains and their sneaky habits.”

  “Huh,” Cai grunted, his disdain for Klaus not doused. He sat waiting while I finished my food, his hands clasped together. “I wanna ask you something that might offend.”

  “Go on,” I nodded, chewing through a cube of seasoned potato.

  “You’ve modelled, surely?” He looked bashful, hiding behind his hand. What was his admission? That he thought I should be a model or that he didn’t date models on principle?

  I tossed it off. “I did some catalogue work when I was at university. It was no big deal… in fact Kay did some too. Until she got the tattoos and I—”

  His eyes narrowed and he drummed his fingers on the table, pushed his lips tight together but couldn’t stop himself saying, “You… what?”