by Jocelyn Han
Her neighbor smiled. “Nicolas is expected to formally introduce you to his family and Elite friends. You’re not expected to become friends with them, though. Of course, if they extend a hand, you take it. If not, you keep on living your life and they’ll conveniently ignore you.”
“This whole Elite etiquette is giving me a headache,” Ava grimaced.
“Fair enough. Even I can’t keep track of every little peculiarity in their culture, and I’ve worked here for quite some time.”
“What’s your job here?”
“Groundskeeper.” He extended a hand. “I’m Alen Novak. And I’m not a trained groundskeeper, actually, but your uncle was the only person in Luna Six who was willing to give me a job.”
“Half-uncle,” Ava mumbled. Somehow, she felt the need to point that out.
“Half-uncle,” he dutifully repeated. “You should be happy. He’s one of the good guys.”
“He seems to be.” Ava observed Nicolas as he sat down between his mother and Clea, the latter one fawning all over him. “What’s her story?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, Clea?” Alen laughed with a hint of derision. “Nicolas is dating her on and off. I think she wants him to tie the knot soon, but I don’t see that happening.”
“No?” Ava bit her lip. “Like, he’s just fooling around?”
The groundskeeper stared at her inquisitively. “What’s it to you?”
Momentarily lost for words, she looked away. Good question – what was it to her? “Never mind,” she muttered.
At that moment, Nicolas got up again and raised his glass. “I would like to officially welcome Ava Windsor to my household,” he announced. “May she always be safe and protected under my care.”
The other people present reluctantly raised their glasses too. When Nicolas took a sip of his wine, he looked warmly at Ava from across the room and then winked at her as if to say ‘let’s show them what we’re both made of’. It felt like they were a team, somehow.
When dinner was over, the crowd dispersed. As Alen had predicted, Nicolas’s Elite friends left without even looking back. Her grandmother and Alistair Carter came up to her to formally say their goodbyes, but it was clear they didn’t expect to see her anytime soon.
“Thanks for getting me through this,” Ava told Alen once they were helping Mrs. Pipps to clear the table. “You’ve been a great support.”
“Anytime,” Alen replied. “Just tread carefully when it comes to Nicolas.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you seem to like him a bit too much,” Alen said calmly.
Ava’s eyes widened in horror. Was it that obvious? “No, I don’t,” she spluttered.
“Yes, you do.” He smirked. “Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, Miss Windsor. I studied psychology, amongst other subjects.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Just what kind of groundskeeper are you?”
“The over-educated kind,” he deadpanned. “In fact, I’ll be out of here soon. Your half-uncle got me a position on a space station. The commander is a friend of his.”
“That’s really nice of him.”
“Like I said – he’s one of the good guys.”
After clearing the table, Nicolas’s personnel scuttled off into various directions. Since she had no task to attend to and no idea what was expected of her, Ava tried to find the sitting room she’d stumbled upon earlier. Maybe she could watch a movie. She’d rather read a book, but her chest of books hadn’t arrived yet – she’d had to book a stupid, slow cargo transport because she’d been out of money.
“Good evening,” a syrupy voice greeted her when she entered the room. Clea was stretched out on the couch, her upper body resting against Nicolas’s chest. She was sipping wine and stroking his leg so close to his groin that it was clear Ava was interrupting something.
“Hi,” she replied, giving a small wave of her hand. “I just wanted to say goodnight, Nicolas. Thanks for dinner. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, we’ll talk tomorrow.” His eyes looked glassy, the sparkle all but gone from his green irises. God knew how many glasses of wine he’d already drunk with Clea draped over his lap. Suddenly, she felt unreasonably angry with him. “Have fun,” she added a bit venomously before swiveling around to leave the pawing couple far behind.
6.
Once upstairs in her room, Ava couldn’t concentrate on anything long enough to relax. She tried reading a magazine, watching a nature program on the screen above her bed, taking a bath, but nothing calmed her down. At last, she picked up her pad and called Georgie back.
“Hey,” her friend answered on the third ring. “Are you insane? Calling me when I’m not at the office? That’s going to cost you a fortune.”
“I’ll ask Nicolas to pay for it,” Ava replied glumly. “Because he is such a nice guy.”
“Uhm…” Georgie looked puzzled. “I don’t see how that can be bad news. You don’t look too enthusiastic.”
Ava flopped down on her bed. “Why should I be? Nicolas is every girl’s wet dream,” she snapped. “He’s sexy, handsome, good to all his employees, the least Elite Elitist I have ever come across. I’m even pretty sure he’s attracted to me, because we keep having these awkward moments of touching and staring at each other. The problem is: he’s my guardian, so I’m guessing he’s not gonna go there. Oh, and he has a slutty girlfriend called Clea who was practically dry-humping him in the living room when I walked in on them.”
Georgie inhaled sharply. “You’re jealous.”
“No, I’m not. I know there’s nothing serious between them.”
“Still.” Georgie winked at her. “It would be nice if you were the one humping him – unseriously.”
“Shut up.” Ava flushed crimson.
“What does he look like?” her friend wanted to know. “Can you show me a picture?”
“I don’t think I’ve seen any pictures of him in the hallway. Nicolas seems to be kind of big on wall tapestries.”
“Well, come on. Take a look around. There have to be a couple photos somewhere. Or better yet, show me the real thing.”
Ava sucked in a mock-scandalized breath. “You want me to go back to the living room and catch them on camera doing the wild thing? You evil witch.”
Despite her words, she was actually in the mood to snoop around a bit. Horses couldn’t draw her back to that living room, but she wouldn’t mind checking out the second floor. Sitting in her room hadn’t helped her relax, so it was time for some action.
“Look, this is the second-floor landing,” she told Georgie, flipping the pad over so the cam was directed away from her. “Cool, huh?”
“That looks posh,” Georgie exclaimed. “Just how many rooms does one guy need in a house?”
“His servants live in the manor too,” Ava explained. “So far, I’ve met the housekeeper’s family and the groundskeeper. I think they all live in the east wing of the house.”
Which left the west wing to explore. Quietly, Ava tiptoed to the room adjacent to her own. When she gingerly tried the handle, the door swung open, showing her a bedroom that was a little bit smaller than her own. Probably a guest room, then. There were some bottles of perfume and a small case on the table next to the bed. The floor lamp in the corner of the room illuminated the room with a yellow, peaceful light.
“Bingo,” she exclaimed when she spotted a large portrait of Nic hanging on the wall between the two windows facing the door. “Look, that’s him.”
“Oh God,” Georgie said, half-giggling. “I see what you mean. He doesn’t look very – uncle-ish, does he? You are in trouble. What the hell was your father thinking?”
Ava got a bit closer to zoom in on the picture. Georgie was right – Nicolas looked glorious in it. His dark, medium-length hair, emerald eyes, strong chin and straight nose gave him an almost regal appearance, and yet he looked roguish in a way. He looked as if he could be a lot of fun once you got to know him privately.
And then,
voices drifted in from the corridor. She froze, unable to speak when she recognized Clea’s sultry voice and Nic’s dark chuckle. “Shit,” she hissed at her friend. “It’s Clea and Nic in the hallway. They’re going to his bedroom.”
“So let them,” Georgie hissed back.
“Okay.” Ava exhaled. “I’ll stay put until they’re gone. I really don’t want to bump into whatever they’re doing.”
“Call me back later?”
“Yeah, will do.”
Ava clicked away the video call and stood listening at the door, which was still slightly ajar. To her utter horror, Nicolas and Clea seemed to be heading straight for the room she was in. She scrambled away from the door, trying to suppress her rising panic. Why would they be headed here?
And then it hit her. This was a guest room, and Clea was clearly the guest using it. The perfume and the beauty case had to be hers. “Oh, shit,” she groaned. Without thinking twice, she launched herself at the first door she saw on the left. It seemed to be a walk-in closet. Maybe she could hide there until they left again – if they were planning on leaving again. Maybe they wouldn’t.
Ava shrunk back in the shadows of the closet when the main door opened and Nicolas stumbled inside, unsteady on his feet from the alcohol. He was followed by Clea, clad in just a black thong and a see-through bra. Ava gritted her teeth when the woman pressed herself against Nic, her body flush with his, tearing at his partly unbuttoned shirt.
Silently cursing her curiosity, she closed her eyes and tried to shut out the noises coming from the room. Clea giggled. Clothes dropped to the floor. Nicolas moaned deeply. Somehow, being forced to listen without watching was even worse, so she quietly crawled back to the closet door, carefully opening it to a wider crack before peering into the guest room.
Nic was standing in the middle of the room, and a naked Clea was sitting on her knees in front of him, eagerly sucking his cock. Ava clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from gasping out loud. Heat burned on her cheeks. Her eyes swept over the ripped muscles of his stomach, his broad chest and muscular shoulders, his hard cock throbbing with lust and his large hands resting on Clea’s shoulders as she went down on him. Witnessing the scene turned the spot between her legs instantly hot and moist. It was terrible to watch another woman doing this to him, but at the same time, it was mouth-watering to see Nicolas in all his naked, luscious glory.
Ava gulped when Nicolas pushed Clea off him and sank down on his knees too. “Turn around,” he told her gruffly. She could hear Clea moan when he swiftly entered her, slamming into her from behind like an animal in heat.
“Fuck me,” Clea sighed in ecstasy. “Make me yours.”
Nic’s stomach muscles rippled under his skin as he pushed into Clea’s wet hole, in and out, in graceful, fluid movements. Ava licked her lips. It was sick she was watching this, but she couldn’t help being turned on by it. All she could do was imagine what it would feel like if he were doing this to her. A shameful rush of blood to her pussy made her muscles clench deliciously at the thought.
With a loud grunt, Nicolas spilled himself into Clea. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he turned her around again and pulled her down, lying her next to him on the bedroom floor. His hand slipped between her legs, and the woman arched her back to meet his fingers. It didn’t take him long to make her come.
Clea kissed him on the cheek and smiled up at him before staggering to her feet. “Take a shower with me?” she purred.
Nicolas gathered his clothes and got up. “I’ll shower in my own room,” he said. “Goodnight, Clea. I had fun.”
Clea tried to wipe the hurt expression from her face. “Yeah, me too. See you in the morning.”
Whoa – that was actually kind of brutal. Nicolas made it very clear to her how he thought about their sexual relationship. It was fun, and that’s all it was to him.
When Nicolas left the room and Clea disappeared into the bathroom, Ava waited a few more beats before crawling out of the closet. Quiet as a mouse, she snuck out of the guest room and ran to her own without looking back.
“I’ll call you back tomorrow, Georgie,” she mumbled before putting her pad on the bedside table and hopping into bed. Somehow, she didn’t quite feel up to the task of telling her friend what had just happened.
7.
In the days following her unintentional voyeurism, Ava tried to avoid Clea as much as possible. The woman seemed to be hanging around Nicolas all the time. Clearly, Clea had no life. Then again, neither did she. After only a few days of bumming around and exploring the house, she was bored out of her mind.
“Please let me help you,” she begged the groundskeeper when she decided to visit the vegetable gardens one afternoon and bumped into Alen Novak. “I’m going nuts here.”
Alen laughed. “Not used to an idle lifestyle, are you? You want to work.”
“Yeah.” Ava grabbed a shovel. “In fact, maybe I can be your trainee. Somehow has to take care of the grounds after you leave for the Desida Two space station, right? Might as well be me. I used to do a lot of gardening with my dad.”
The groundskeeper shook his head. “I doubt Nicolas will let his own niece work the fields. He’s open-minded, but he still has a reputation to uphold, you know. Most of his compatriots are already looking down on him as if he’s some kind of hillbilly for running a farm.”
“I don’t give a hoot,” Ava snapped. “I have no reputation to uphold, and I’ll be out of here the minute I get my inheritance money.”
Alen gave her a puzzled look. “I thought you liked this place.”
Ava’s shoulders slumped. “I do,” she admitted. “I just don’t like it as much with that terrible woman constantly flitting around Nicolas. I mean, does she live here or something?”
He started to laugh, his blue eyes crinkling up. “She’d wish. Nicolas tolerates her, nothing more. Keeps his father happy. Clea’s one of Alistair’s favorites. Old Mr. Carter would love to see them get married.”
“Then why doesn’t he just tell her to piss off?” Ava exploded. “How can you be with a woman you can hardly stand?”
Alen shrugged. “She must be a good fuck.”
Ava stared at him in horror. “Jesus! Are you always this explicit?”
“Sorry.” He flashed her a devil-may-care grin. “I just call things by their name. Good manners didn’t feature high on the priority list where I come from.”
“Hmm. So where do you come from?”
“Originally? Croatia. But I spent six years in prison, hence my bad manners.”
“Oh.” Ava made big eyes at him. “You did?”
“Yes. Which is the reason I had such a hard time finding a good job with four college degrees under my belt.”
“I see. You – wanna talk about it?” she hesitated.
He sighed. “Not really. Unless you do.”
“No, Let’s just shovel,” Ava decided. Part of her wanted to know how an intelligent guy like Alen had ended up in jail, but she didn’t want to pry. He didn’t seem dangerous, so she didn’t need to know.
That evening at dinner, Tom and Patty were questioning Ava relentlessly about her life on Earth.
“Is it true that the commoners always fight amongst each other?” Tom wanted to know.
Ava frowned. “Of course not. There’s still war in some places, especially in countries where people don’t have a lot, but we mostly work together. Like you.”
Clea snorted almost inaudibly. “We?” she mumbled, rolling her eyes at Nicolas.
Ava shot the woman a death glare across the table. “Yes. We, the people of Earth. Commoners and Elite, working together. Horrible, isn’t it?”
“That’s exactly the word I was thinking of,” Clea nodded, her sweet smile challenging Ava.
“Then what are you doing sitting at this table? Having dinner with servants?”
Clea opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Beside her, Nicolas stifled a laugh and lazily winked at Ava.
“Anyway,” Ava turned
back to Tom, ignoring Clea, “who told you that nonsense?”
“The kids at school,” Patty said softly, patting her brother’s hand. “It’s been bothering him.”
“Well, don’t let them get to you. They don’t have a clue. Here, let me show you some pictures of the projects my dad and I did in Sutton one summer ago.”
“Summer,” Patty repeated, staring at the photos on Ava’s pad with a tiny smile. “Does it really get so hot that people can’t leave their houses sometimes?”
“It does.” Ava smiled. “And in wintertime, the snow falls so thickly that all the roads get blocked. I know it’s not like that here on Luna. The seasons are regulated. Never too hot, never too cold. But Earth can regulate itself. It’s a living, wild, and generous world. It’s not made for just humans, so it can be dangerous, too.”
Abruptly, Ava could feel Nicolas’s eyes on her. When she looked up, he thoughtfully observed her, a quiet melancholy in his eyes. Why did he look at her so longingly? Was it because he somehow missed Earth – or because he wanted more of her but didn’t know how?
“I’m going to Earth in a few weeks,” he suddenly said. “Visiting family in Birmingham. You want to come?”
She eagerly nodded. “Yes, I’d love to. Thanks for asking. Uhm – what’s your uncle in Birmingham like?”
“Not nearly as stern as my parents,” he replied with a faint smile. “Don’t worry.”
“Can I come, too?” Clea pleaded, pouting her lip like a little girl.
“It’s strictly a family visit,” Nicolas said, giving her a dismissive pat on the arm. “So it’s just gonna be me and Ava.” He was still looking at her with an unfathomable expression on his face, as though he was trying to gauge her thoughts.
Ava bit her lip and looked away. She’d heard him barge down the hallways with a giggling, horny Clea way too many times in the past week to allow herself to read anything into his look. Nic wasn’t ready to settle down, so he was just fucking girls for fun like a typical Elite playboy.