Gold Digger

Ollie

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, not for the first time. But I thought I might finally get an answer out of her now. Hayley was in bed. She’d fallen asleep in the car on the way home, clutching Keith the pony with the horseshoe that Florrie had given her, and I’d carried her upstairs and tucked her in under the covers. Now Lottie and I were both downstairs, and I wanted answers.

She sighed. “What does it matter what your mother introduces me as? Honestly, I don’t care.”

“But that’s not your name.”

She shrugged as if people calling her by her actual name was neither here nor there.

“And why accept the champagne?”

She rolled her eyes. “I said I didn’t drink twice . Nobody listened. It was easier to hold a glass of champagne than be a pushy dingus.”

“You don’t like the smell, Lottie.” I remembered how she reacted in the bar when that wine had been spilt on her. She’d thrown up, for God’s sake.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fucking fine,” I snapped. I was still supremely pissed off that my sister had called me out for how Lottie was being treated. “You need to stop being so goddamn agreeable all the time. Tell my mother to fuck off if she calls you the wrong name. Shove the glass of champagne back at the person that offers it.”

She laughed then, but it wasn’t her genuine laugh; no, this one was hollow and bitter. “You have no blooming idea how important being agreeable has been to me. I’d be totally Fraggle-Rocked if I hadn’t been agreeable. You have the privilege of being an awkward, bossy arsehole. Some of us have to tread more carefully. Even now you could chuck me and Hayley out. Your mother could turn you against me again. Your sister and brother-in-law could take Florrie away from Hayley. Out of everyone there today, Hayley and I are the only ones who won’t be invited to another family party unless we’re agreeable . I know first-hand what happens when people like me don’t blend in, when we aren’t easy. That’s why the situation with Hayley scares me so much. It’s hard to be agreeable when you won’t even speak. Maybe that’s why she won’t? Maybe the pressure is too much? Who the heck knows? But it’s on me to make sure that we’re accepted, at least temporarily.”

“Fuck,” I barked out, my hand going to the back of my neck. I tried and failed to rein in my temper, but it was a losing battle. It wasn’t Lottie I was angry with, though. It was her mother who had let her and Hayley down so badly, the foster care system that had taught her to conform to what everyone else wanted her to be, and my mother for confirming all her fears about how easily we could try to cut someone like her out – but, most of all, me for being a stupid prick.

So I stalked over to her, and her eyes went wide with alarm at the look on my face, but that didn’t stop me. I’d now have to add scaring her to the list of crap I’d put her through, but there was no way I could stay away from her in that moment. She backed away, her hand coming up to ward me off, but it was ineffectual when it came up against my chest. I simply kept coming at her until she was backed up against the door with nowhere else to go. Both her hands were flat against my chest now, prepared to push me away. I slid a hand to her jaw and then into the soft, thick caramel waves of her hair; my other hand went to her back, holding her to me and I leaned down to rest my forehead on hers.

“Ollie, I—” she breathed, her tone alarmed, but I cut her off with a soft kiss in direct contrast to how I’d just aggressively caged her in. When I pulled back, she was blinking up at me, and I knew I had a small window of stunned silence to get through to her.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Lottie,” I said firmly. It was an odd apology, seeing as it was made through gritted teeth by an angry man, but it would have to do. “You’ve been let down so many times, and I’m just another fuckwit in a long line of fuckwits to do it to you again.”

“Ollie, what are you talking about? You’re helping Hayley and me. You?—”

“I let you down when I didn’t ask why you needed the money. When I believed Mum that you were seeing another bloke?—”

“She said what?—?”

“She showed me photos of you with Hayley’s therapist. She didn’t know who he was at the time, nor did I. You were hugging him on the street.”

“Hugging Marc? But I… Oh, that was the day she spoke to him. Hayley said her first word to Marc in that session. Well, not to Marc, it was to me, but Marc was there. It was huge. I… wait, why did your mother have pictures of me and Marc?”

I winced. “She had you followed.”

“What?” Lottie tried to pull away, but I kept her in place.

“You’ve got to understand,” I said quickly. “It’s shit, but there are some real crazies out there, and Mum is super cautious. My ex-fiancée went to the Daily Mail with all sorts of stories about me, complete with pictures from a party I’d thrown. The irony was I didn’t even want to have the party; Cordelia had pushed and pushed for it. ‘Duke of Fuckingham’ was the headline they ran with. I mean, I was a bit wild back then, but it was all hammed up. It was just after Dad died, and… Well, Cordelia didn’t mean to be found out, but our family have links with all the press. It didn’t take much digging to know who sold the story. When I confronted her, she said it was an insurance policy in case I didn’t follow through with a proposal.” I broke off and swallowed. “Well, anyway, as I said, Mum’s cautious, and she thought you were on the make.”

“Ollie,” Lottie said softly. “I’m sorry about Cordelia, really I am, but I was on the make. Your mum offered me money, and I literally took it. That’s kind of the definition.”NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

“My mother went to you the day after those photos were taken. So that means that was the day after Hayley had her breakthrough. I bet Marc suggested more sessions, didn’t he?”

Lottie broke eye contact with me then, but I gave her waist a squeeze, and she dragged her gaze back to mine.

“You weren’t on the make. You were looking after your sister. My mother was the dick in this scenario, even she admits that. And I was a bigger dick for cutting you off.”

“ I was the one that cut you off, Ollie.”

“And I was the one that didn’t even bother to fight for you. Didn’t bother to find out why you needed the money. And then the way I behaved, I—” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There’s no bloody excuse for the way I behaved. I was hurt and angry. Pissed off that I couldn’t have you when I wanted you so badly. Pissed off that I still wanted you when I thought I shouldn’t. And I took it out on you. You know what? I saw Cordelia a few weeks after all the Daily Mail stuff happened, and I just shrugged and said no hard feelings. That girl sold me out, damaged my reputation, hurt my family for way more money than Mum gave you, and I just shrugged my shoulders. But with you, I was a vindictive, cruel piece of shit.”

“Ollie, I don’t?—”

“But I didn’t feel anything for her by then. That’s the difference, Lottie. I was an arsehole, and I’m so so sorry, but I wasn’t indifferent because I had fallen in love with you.”

“What?” Lottie breathed, her eyes wide with shock, her pupils dilating. “You can’t?—”

“I’m in love with you, Lottie,” I told her. “And I’ll spend forever making it up to you. I’ll spend forever proving that you can trust me. I let you down again today, but that’s just because I was being an oblivious arsehole, not a vindictive one like I was before. So, you’ll just have to forgive me for that too.”

I didn’t give her a chance to reply. We’d done enough talking and it wasn’t getting us anywhere. So, I kissed her. Her lips were already parted in shock, so it didn’t take much to deepen the kiss. For a moment, she stiffened in my arms, her hands on my chest starting to exert some pressure to push me away. I pulled back slightly to kiss the corner of her mouth, then across her cheek to her ear and her neck.

“I’ve missed this,” I whispered in the shell of her ear, gently biting the soft lobe before continuing. “I thought about you constantly. Even when I told myself I hated you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you: how you felt, the sounds you made. It drove me crazy. You drive me crazy.” I rocked against her, and when I bit the soft lobe of her ear, she let out a soft moan. Her hands had stopped pushing me away. I smiled against her neck before licking her below her ear then kissing back along her jawline. “I’ve got you, Lottie,” I said softly against her mouth. “I promise you’re safe with me, baby. You can let go.” She blinked up at me, her pupils huge and her expression slightly dazed.

“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered, almost as though she couldn’t quite believe I was real. I smiled against her mouth.

“I think that’s my line,” I said, then kissed her again. This time she melted against me as I swallowed another of those small moans. Her hands slid from my chest up around to my back to pull me closer. She was plastered against me now, her soft breasts pressed against my chest, her breathing fast and erratic. I turned the key in the lock next to us, but she barely noticed – too involved in her pursuit of getting her hands under my shirt to feel the skin of my back. Once the door was secured, I slid one arm under her and lifted her up so she was straddling my hips and I could carry her over to the huge sofa. I laid her down on the soft cushions, smoothing her hair back from her face and kissing her softly as I let her take some of my weight, rocking into her again and eliciting more of those small noises from her parted lips. Her hands were frantic now on the buttons of my shirt.

“Ollie, please,” she said, her voice hoarse. “I need to see you. I never got to see you.”

I remembered last time. How she was half-dressed and vulnerable and I, arse that I was, had kept my bloody suit on. I’d thought it gentlemanly at the time, but now I could see that to her it must have looked like I had all the power and wanted to keep it that way. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, so I reached back and yanked off my shirt in one go.

“Cheese and rice,” she whispered reverently as her eyes roamed over the muscles of my chest and stomach. Her small hand came up to trace from my shoulder, down to my nipple and then over my pecs and onto my stomach, which flexed at her light touch. I stopped her hand when it came to my belt buckle, and when she frowned up at me, I smiled.

“Baby, it’ll be over embarrassingly quickly if we get him involved at this stage.”

She pouted, looking adorably put out. “But, I?—”

“We’ll get to him in a sec,” I said as I lowered myself back onto her again, this time kissing her neck down to her collarbone. “Arms up,” I said, and she complied immediately so I could whip her t-shirt over her head. It was my turn to stare then as I traced from her neck over her bra and down to the slope of her stomach. “Christ,” I breathed. My hands moved then to her back, releasing her bra and flinging it over the side of the sofa. “Fucking hell.”

Just then, I noticed a red mark over her ribs on her side, and I frowned.

“Hey, what’s this?”

“What?” she breathed.

“You’ve got a mark here on your ribs. What happened? Was this when–?”

“Oh, I… er, I think I must have banged my side when I fell in the pool. It doesn’t hurt. I promise.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry, baby.” I traced the mark lightly. “I’m so fucking sorry that–”

“You’ve really got to…” she broke off as I settled my weight on her again and kissed her neck, “stop.” With super-human effort, I pulled back.

“Stop?” I croaked in a hoarse voice filled with need. She frowned up at me.

“Don’t stop that ,” she snapped, and I smiled. “Stop swearing , you muppet.”

I fell back to her again; my skin against hers felt incredible. My lips went to her collarbone now, and she shuddered underneath me. “I’ve missed you calling me a muppet,” I said against her skin as I moved down further. When my mouth closed over her nipple, and she arched off the sofa, I almost lost it totally. Her hands were in my hair, then down to my shoulders, smoothing across the skin as I moved to the other side.

“Oh my God,” she breathed as I kissed down her smooth stomach. I undid the button on her shorts and pulled them down and off with her knickers. I felt almost feral as I stared down at her on my sofa. My hands slid down between her legs, my fingers finding her centre until my mouth replaced them.

“Fucking hell.”

It was the first f-word I’d heard out of her gorgeous mouth, and it almost made me smile, but I was too intent on what my tongue was doing. I licked the length of her, pushing my tongue inside in a steady rhythm before I moved up to concentrate on her clit. After a minute I increased the pace and she started to stiffen. “Oh shit, Ollie. Yes, I…” she broke off as I sucked down hard, my fingers pushing in, sending her over the edge. Her thighs squeezed as she contracted around me, a muted scream coming from the back of her throat as she arched off the sofa again. When I moved up over her, she was boneless, her eyes hazy. I pushed some hair back from her now slightly sweaty forehead, and she searched my face with an almost reverent expression.

“That was bloody brilliant,” she said in an unsteady voice, and I burst out laughing. Her smile was lazy as she fixated on my mouth. My laughter died as I moved over her again and kissed her with her taste still on my tongue.

She started moving underneath me again, her hands coming to my belt, but she wasn’t getting anywhere. I snapped open the buckle, pulled off my trousers along with my boxers, fished out a condom from the pocket and then rolled it on, fisting my cock as I moved on top of her again. My lips came to hers, and I kissed her more gently this time, trying to keep my savage need to claim her in check.

“Are you sure?” I said against her lips, my voice strained to breaking point.

“Please, Ollie,” she whimpered, her hands going to my back to pull me to her.

“Christ, Lottie baby, wait,” I choked out. “I need to make sure it’s right. I don’t want to rush you. I need you to—” Her hands went to my face which she pulled to hers to kiss me.

“Your Grace,” she said against my lips. “Fuck me, right bloody now. Or I swear to God I—” I slammed into her then, knocking the breath out of her as her eyes rolled back into her head.

“Look at me,” I ground out, seated fully inside her tight body. She blinked her eyes open, her pupils were huge, her expression wild. “Are you okay?” I’d been rough; she was so small. She frowned at me as her hands went to my lower back, then even lower.

“I’m fine, Ollie. I need you,” she gritted out, and that’s when my control snapped completely. I hooked one of her legs over my arm as my hips started moving.

“You’re mine,” I growled. “Say it, Lottie.” When she didn’t answer, I thrust into her fully and then froze. “Say it,” I said against her mouth.

“Ollie, please,” she breathed, undulating under me with desperate movements.

“Say you’re mine,” I repeated ruthlessly.

“I’m yours,” she groaned. “I’m yours. Please, I’m—” She broke off as I started my rhythm again. “Oh, God, Ollie.” She was clawing at me now as her body tightened around mine. I’m going to…” she let out a small scream as her back bowed off the sofa. Watching her and feeling her pushed me over the edge, too, and with a shout, I experienced the most intense orgasm of my life. I collapsed onto her, letting her take my weight for a moment before I pushed up slightly to scan her face.

“Wow,” she breathed, blinking up at me, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright as her hand came up to trace over my face from my temple down to my jawline. My eyes actually started to sting – a totally unfamiliar sensation. But my heart felt unbelievably full as I looked down at her. I’d never felt so strongly for anyone before in my life. And I knew it would be like this between us. I’d known she was meant for me from the first time I heard her laugh.

“I love you, Lottie,” I said in a hoarse voice, and her eyes went wide as her mouth fell open in shock. I moved away to deal with the condom, but before she could have any time to think too deeply, I was back and pulling her onto my chest on the sofa, covering us both with the huge blanket from the back of it. I tucked her face into my neck and kissed her hair. I could feel the nervous tension in her again, feel the frantic beating of her heart and stroked her back to try to help her settle. “I know you don’t believe it. I know you don’t trust me yet. But I will prove it to you. And you are mine. You said so yourself.”

“Ollie, that was coercion,” she snapped but snuggled into me all the same.

“I’m yours as well, you know,” I said softly as I kissed her hair again. Her fingers flexed and then relaxed on my chest, but she didn’t pull away. “Hayley’s too. You’re both mine, but I’m yours as well.”

“Okay,” she whispered, her breath hitching. She kept her face buried in my chest and hidden from me. I didn’t say anything when I felt her silent tears on my skin. But I did frown at the ceiling, her words from earlier filtering through my mind:

I know first-hand what happens when people like me don’t blend in, when we aren’t easy.

I wanted to punch everyone who’d ever made her feel that way, but I knew I’d have to punch myself in the process.