Conquered: She Who Dares Book Two (21 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Theo

Fucking hell. If it isn’t enough getting it in the neck from my brother, now Cat is harassing me too. Only she’s worse because the annoying little shit has a key. I’m attempting to sleep off the half bottle of scotch I drank last night, when Cat waltzes into my room and starts demanding I spend time with her.

What Cat wants Cat gets, so here I am, spending time with her. She’s led on one of my sun loungers, with a Costa cup in hand. Her small frame is covered in some sort of flowy cat suit. She has massive sun glasses on her face and looks like the fashion diva that she is. Diva, brat, it’s along the same lines I think.

I drop onto the lounger next to her. It’s sunny this morning, but there’s a cold bite in the air. “It’s eight o’ clock in the morning Cat. What the hell?” I grumble.

“Eight o’ clock on a Thursday morning, Theo. Seriously, do you have no life outside of drinking and fucking? I haven’t seen you in weeks. Your own sister. You are such a dick, you know that?”

“How am I a dick?!”

“You’re sulking as if you’ve just lost your favourite toy. There are other toys, sort your shit out.” If this is her tough love act it won’t work.

“Thanks for stopping by Cat. Next time you’ve just come off a twelve hour flight, could you go home and sleep it off before you take it out on me?” She scowls at me and I can’t help but smile. She’s so cute when she tries to look stern.

“Don’t you smirk at me Theodore Archibald Ellis. I may have been away a lot recently, but that is no excuse.” She even points at me.

“Ah, really. Leave the middle names out of it shall we Catherine Prudence.” She scowls at me.

“This is what I get for coming to drag your sorry arse out of your pity party.” She mumbles.

“I’m not having a pity party.”

She raises an eyebrow. “I expect your liver begs to differ. Anyway, what’s going on with my niece or nephew? Have you heard from Casey? Is that her name?”

I groan. “Nothing. Cassie. She’s a fucking headache I don’t need.” After Saturday morning’s conversation with Lilly I really don’t want to talk about this. “Can we change the subject?” I ask.

“Sure. How’s Lilly?”

I growl. “Seriously Cat?”

She smirks at me as I hear the doorbell ring. “Who the fuck is that? Seriously, eight o’clock. These are not visiting hours.” I grumble as I get up.

“So charming to be around.” Cat snipes as I walk away.

I open the door to find none other than Hugo standing there in chino’s and a shirt, looking far too fresh faced. What is going on today? He snaps his fingers in my face and I swat him away. He pats my shoulder as he pushes past me. “Just checking you’re still with me my little treacle.” He grins.

“Why are you here?” I grumble.

He just keeps walking through the house until her reaches the kitchen, where he then starts rummaging through the fridge. “Can’t I stop and see my bestie?” He clasps his hands under his chin and tilts his head, a grin on his face. Twat.

“At eight in the morning? Seriously Hugo, you only get up this early when you’re sneaking out of someone’s bed.”

He pours some orange juice and puts it back in the fridge. “Well, I’ve figured now it’s easier to get them to come to my house, then I can not only sleep blissfully, but if she’s hot I can go for seconds.”

I smile. “And if she’s rough?”

He pauses for a moment then shrugs. “Close your eyes and pretend she’s not?” I laugh because I love Hugo, but he really is something else.

“I shouldn’t even ask. Anyway, why are you here?”

“Charming. Well, I actually did come to see you, mainly because I know something that you my friend need to know.” He wiggles his eyebrows and pulls the paper out from under his arm.

“What’s this I hear about gossip?” Cat strolls in from the patio with a smirk on her face.

“Not gossip, news.” I grumble. 

“Cat. I haven’t seen you in ages baby girl.” Hugo scoops Cat’s small frame off her feet in a hug. She giggles. I stopped death threatening Hugo about my sister years ago. I know she’s a no go for him, but he’s Hugo. He’s just…friendly. My head is banging. I decide to go and lay on the sofa, ignoring both of them. I lay down, hoping the urge to throw up will disappear.

“So what’s this news?” Cat finally asks.

“I was talking to Molly last night…” I sit up. If he’s come here having spoken to Molly, then this is about Lilly.

“Wait, why were you talking to Molly?” I can hear the smile in her voice.

“He’s fucking her.” I say, my tone bored. He shrugs and nods. “What did she say?”

“Well it turns out that Lilly is quite the martyr.”

I’m quickly losing patience. “What did she say?” I grate.

“So it would seem that Lilly and your baby mama are friendly.” What the fuck? “Seems Cassie got herself in a spot of trouble, has a drug problem or something…”

“Sorry, what?!” I cut him off.

“Only get this, she called Lilly for help. Turns out she’s been to see Lilly previously and obviously Lilly gave Cassie her number.”

I growl. “For fuck’s sake. Why can that woman not just leave it alone? She should have fucking called me. Jesus.” Why the hell is Cassie involving Lilly in her shit? Surely Lilly’s already suffered enough for all this crap. Something’s not right with this.

“It gets worse.” Hugo frowns. “In twelve hours Lilly managed to sell her car, paid for Cassie to go into a rehab facility, and gave her the rest of the money. Molly’s not happy about it, but she said you should expect it of Lilly.”

“Oh my god.” Cat gasps. “Theo, why the fuck is Lilly dealing with this?”

“That fucking woman.” I stand and kick the coffee table over. “Which rehab facility?”

“Not sure. I can try and find out.” He offers.

“I’m going out.” I snap. “Text it to me Hugo.”

Cat just sits there gaping at me. She’s never seen this side of me. Hell, only Lilly fucking brings it out. I used to be a rational and sane human being before she walked into my life.

“Don’t worry, he does this.” Hugo pats her arm. “I’ll keep you company. Oh, and don’t drop me in it with Molly!” He shouts as leave.

I storm down the stairs and throw on some jeans and a t-shirt. I turn to leave and find Cat standing in the doorway.

I make an effort to keep my voice soft. “Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t hang out Cat, but tomorrow maybe?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “You tell me what is going in with you right now Theo.” She steps forward poking me in the chest.

“You know most of it. I’m in love with Lilly, she doesn’t want to know. Cassie’s pregnant, blah, blah, blah.”

“You’re abandoning that baby?” She asks with wide eyes.

Fucking hell. “No, I’m not abandoning the baby.” I shout, exasperated at this entire conversation.

“I thought you were getting Lilly back?” She cocks an eyebrow at me.

“Cat, it’s complicated. I need to go.” I side step her.

“This isn’t over.” She says to my retreating back. That girl is like a dog with a bone. Jesus.

“Dually noted.”

I jump in the Aston and head into the busy London traffic. Why the fuck would Cassie go to Lilly? Why didn’t Lilly tell me? My phone beeps with a text from Hugo. I glance at it quickly and turn the car around, heading into South London. I call Lilly as I go, but it goes to voicemail.

“Lilly you need to call me.” I hang up. I could go and see her, but I know it will just be an argument. She’ll throw in my face how shit I am.

I drive the twenty minutes into South London and pull up outside South View Rehab. I approach the middle aged receptionist at the front desk who gives me the once over.

“Can I help you?” She asks in a bored voice.

“You have a patient her; Cassandra Blake. I need you to send all her billing to this address.” I hand her a card with the office address on it. She studies the card before her eyes flick up to mine.

“Let me just check her record.” She taps a few keys on the computer. “That account was pre-paid in full.”

“Well refund it and bill it to this address.” I grate out.

“I can’t do that sir. I’m sorry.” She frowns as though I’m crazy. Fucking great. I turn on my heel and leave. That was a total waste of my time.

Fucking Cassie never should have gone near Lilly. I won’t pretend that it doesn’t hurt that she sold the car. Yes, it’s just a lump of metal, but I remember the look on her face when I gave it to her. I remember her elation when she drove it in Rome. I remember her sucking my cock in it above the city of Rome.

Her selling it is a rejection of us that I’m not willing to take. She sacrificed her car to pay for Cassie’s rehab, something I would have done had she come to me, therefore, this is easily solved. I start the car and drive to the nearest Maserati dealership.

The salesman almost shits himself when he sees me.

“Mr Ellis.” He stammers. My reputation proceeds me.

“I need a two seater, top of the range and I want to be able to take it today. What have you got?”

He smiles wide. “This way sir.”

Chapter Sixteen

Lilly

I’m getting ready for the Florell and Simmons annual summer cocktail party, when there’s a knock at the door. Harry is down in London for the weekend to attend the function with me. Yes, I know I brought my brother as my date, how desperate I must be. No, I just can’t be dealing with men right now. If I come alone then Simon from accounting will have a drink and feel the need to ‘seize the opportunity’. No, just no. No guy makes a pass at a girl with her brother in the room, it’s just fact.

Harry answers the door before I get there. A guy is making him sign something.

“I’m to give the key directly to Miss Parker, as per instructions.” He shakes his head as I step forward. He drops the key in my palm along with an envelope. He looks at Harry. “What I wouldn’t give for a pair of tits sometimes.” With that he turns and walks out the door.

I look at the little key in my hand. There’s a red bow tied to it. It’s not really a key as just a fob…a black fob with a silver trident on it. Oh my god. He didn’t. I rip open the envelope and inside is a note.

Lilly.

I do not give gifts to just anyone, and it disappoints me to hear that you felt the need to sell my previous one. You should have come to me.

You are mine Lilly, and I take care of what is mine.

This one is registered to me, so you cannot sell it. Do not try to return it or it will just end up outside your house again.

Love always.

Theo. X

“Fucking psycho!” I scream.

“No fucking way.” Harry says as he reads over my shoulder. I snatch the letter away from his prying eyes. I don’t want my brother seeing Theo’s crazy ‘you are mine’ shit. Although apparently, Harry doesn’t care.

He runs outside with me running after him in my satin dressing gown. He opens the front door of the building and low and behold, parked on the curb is a brand spanking new Maserati in bright red.

“Holy. Shit.” I breathe. It’s beautiful. Even more beautiful than the last one. I run my fingers along the paint work.

“Fuck your party, let’s go for a drive.” Harry bounces up and down like a child.

“No, I’m not taking it.” Oh god it pains me to say that. It’s so beautiful. Some girls like jewellery. I like cars.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Harry shouts.

I turn to him. “This is a power play. I went against his wishes and sold the car. This is just a means of gaining back his control. I’ll leave it on the double yellow lines until it gets towed.” I shrug. “Then he’ll have to take it back.” I smile to myself. See how the twat likes that.

“But, but…” Harry stammers.

I go back inside and put on my dress for the party. I swear to god, if I see him tonight, he is in for a world of shit.

We’ve been here ten minutes and Harry is already flirting with some blonde I don’t recognise. The party is at The Shoreditch rooms. It’s basically a building which has an open air pool at the top of a sky scraper, bi-folding doors open from the interior to the pool with its amazing views. They throw some of the best parties known to man up here. This is slightly more tame than the last one I came to here. People mill about the pool in their cocktail attire, sipping glasses of champagne. I take a seat on one of the white sofa’s that surround the pool area, in an attempt to avoid speaking to anyone. There’s a ten foot high glass barrier that surrounds the top of the building. I guess precautions have to be taken where people are getting trashed on the roof of a building. Beyond the glass is the most breath taking view of London. The sun is just setting, painting the city in red and purple. The soft tones of Jazz music filter through the noise of the party. A waiter comes past and offers me another glass of champagne. I take two. Great. Just keep them coming.

Harry flops down next to me. “Here you are. You hiding?” He smirks.

“Something like that? Did you pull?”

He holds up a napkin with something scrawled on it. “Got her number. Probably won’t call her though.” He shrugs.

“Why go to the effort of getting her number only to not call her?”

“Ego sis, ego.” He smiles.

I roll my eyes. “Men are so strange.”

“You look blue Lill’s. What’s up?” He nudges my arm playfully.

“Nothing. I just hate shit like this at the moment. Didn’t you get the news flash? I’ve officially turned into a miserable bitch.” I tilt my head toward him.

He smiles. “Not miserable, but you are a bitch. Still, everyone knows that partying is the best way to cure that. This would actually be a cool party if the attendees could pull the sticks out of their arseholes long enough to appreciate it.”

I smile. “We can’t expect miracles now.”

“Let’s just get drunk and have our own rave here in the corner.” He starts throwing big fish, little fish. Jesus.

“Seriously, you look like someone’s dad. Stop.” He grins at me as I elbow him. “And I can’t be the one who got drunk at the work party.”