The Vampire Playboy - Blood and Lust

Chapter 20

Olivia's POV

Two weeks had flown past in a blur and yet I couldn't get that afternoon spent with Charles out of my head. I'd surprised myself with how much I'd enjoyed it, more than anytime I'd spent with Noah and I'd spent a lot of time with him over the last two weeks. We had continued to go on dates to get to know each other, dinner, drinks, walks, movies, you name it we had probably done it, but in all that time, I hadn't been as honest and open with Noah as I had with Charles in those short few hours.

Sure Noah was hot and fun and I did like spending time with him, and he was an amazing kisser but there was just that spark missing. And I meant literally when I'd become so bold and flirted and teased Charles in his car and when I bumped into him in the park I had felt literal sparks between us. I couldn't escape how alive I felt with him, I wanted to open myself to him and tell him all of my secrets, I wanted to hear all about his day and his life. I'd tried to engineer spending time with Noah at O'Malley's just to get a glimpse of Charles, but he hadn't come in at all, not during those dates and not while I was on shift. Sadie said she hadn't seen him either, I didn't want to ask Noah about him but Sophie did ask Owen, who had shrugged and said he was busy with some work issues and had been away a lot. I felt this gnawing guilt at how I was obsessing over Charles when I am dating Noah.

I had the lunch go close shift at O'Malley's today, thankfully I was on shift with Sadie and not Carmella. Her dislike for me seemed to increase each day that I spent with Noah and I found myself hoping that she wouldn't put me on the same shift as herself, and frankly, I could think of better ways to spend my Friday afternoon and evening.

"Hey kiddo, it's going to be pretty wet out today, do you want a lift into work?" David asked, sticking his head around the door as I finished putting on the pale pink lip gloss I'd picked to finish off my uniform.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" I asked, I'd felt guilty about how much David and Sophie were driving me around. They had offered to add me to their car insurance but I didn't think I could afford the payments each month and I wasn't about to let David subside me for yet another thing.

"I wouldn't offer if I did, Sophie and Owen said they would pop in near the end of your shift and give you a lift home. I relented and told Sophie he could stay here tonight"

I laughed, I knew Sophie would wear David down from his no boys staying overrule. They were getting pretty serious. I liked Owen, they were a good match for each other and more importantly, he treated her well.

"Thank you, they don't have to do that just for me though, I could probably ask Noah to bring me home, I'm sure he'll be there tonight."

David narrowed his eyes but said nothing. I knew he still wasn't a fan of Noah and would prefer that I wasn't dating him. In fact he seemed more concerned about me dating Noah than Sophie dating Owen. Noah hasn't been allowed to cross the threshold into the house and David hasn't worked away since I started dating him. I was pretty sure that was no coincidence.

Thankfully there hadn't been a lunchtime rush which let us get the bar all set up for the evening service, Sadie and I had sort of gotten ourselves into a bit of a rhythm. Each taking turns to take orders and serve drinks, I'd become pretty good at pulling a pint, however, cocktails were still beyond my capability, so I'd leave them to Sadie. I'd become a hit with the regulars too which seemed to piss off Carmella. I'd memorise which each regular liked and how they liked it which in turn earned me a bigger tip, if I had time I'd sit for a few moments and talk to them, especially the older customers who came in on their own and didn't seem to have many family or friends.

I frowned as I felt my phone vibrate in my apron pocket. It was a local number which I didn't recognise.

"Hello?" I answered

"Oh hello, hi, this is Grey Reid, owner of Reid Automotives, am I speaking with Olivia?"

"Yes, this is Olivia, how can I help you?" I was confused as to why someone from a car company would be calling me, though if this was because David had added me to his insurance I'd be furious and embarrassed.

"Congratulations Olivia, you have won our prize draw to win a brand new Volvo XC60 including all repairs and insurance."

What? No this had to be a prank. I didn't enter any prize draw.

"Is this a joke? Did Sophie put you up to this?"

"No this isn't a joke, this is very much real, you are our prize draw winner."

"But I don't enter anything" my confusion rising.

"Everyone who lives in the town was entered as part of Reid's Automotives prize giveaway, congratulations you won the first prize."

I gasped.

"I understand this is a bit of a shock to you, however, if you ask any of the residents, there's been several posters and adverts running about the giveaway. I can assure you, this is all above board, you won't be asked to pay a penny."

I clasped my hand over my mouth in shock. This couldn't be real. Sadie had stopped still to look at me, I raised my eyebrows and shrugged my shoulders struggling to take in any more of what Mr Reid was saying to me.

"I understand that you work at O'Malley's, if it's convenient I can have the car dropped off there this evening for you. Everything has been arranged."

"Um yes sure, OK, I'm sorry I'm a bit shocked. Thank you, Mr Grey." I stammered.

He chuckled.

"No need to thank me. I hope you enjoy your new car, Olivia."

He ended the call before I could say anything in reply. I clasped the table beside me to stop myself from stumbling and turned to take a seat. My eyes swam in blue eyes that met mine, Charles was leaning against the wall close to the door. My breath caught in my chest, I'd been hoping this moment would come for over two weeks. I rose from the seat and took a step towards him, only for him to turn and walk right out of the door without so much of a hello or a goodbye. I was confused, he had told me he'd had a good time that day, how could we be back to this?

"Are you ok?" Sadie asked, "you look a bit upset."

"Oh yeah I'm fine, just a bit shocked, it seems I've won a car in a prize draw," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"You won that! Oh my god! This is massive!"

"Yeah, I guess it is" I laughed, "Do you mind if I take five minutes to call David and let him know?"

"Of course not, I can hold the fort" she smiled.

I slipped outside hoping to see Charles hanging around. Disappointment washed over me when it became apparent he wasn't.

"Hey Kiddo, is everything alright?" David's voice came through the phone, with a tone of concern.

"Oh yeah, fine, um this is kind of odd, but did you hear about Reid Automotives holding a prize draw for a car? " I asked.

"Yeah, we discussed it at the council, though I didn't pay too much attention to it. Is something wrong?"

"Well not exactly, it's just that I seem to have won the car," I confessed.

"You did! That's amazing, you said you wanted a car!" David sounded delighted to me.

"Well I guess I don't need a lift home tonight as they're dropping it off at the bar later, so I can drive it home."

David laughed. "That you can, I can't wait to see it in the morning, you better get back to work and I'll tell Sophie the good news"

"Thanks, David, I'll see you in the morning."

Customers began steadily flowing into the bar, Sadie and I quickly became rushed off our feet and I didn't have much time except to mutter thanks to the middle-aged man who had come in and handed me a set of keys.

The bar seemed to be exceptionally busy tonight, Noah appeared at around 9 pm, with Sophie and Owen in tow. To my shock, Charles was with them. I watched as they made their way to the bar, Noah leaned over planting a gentle kiss on my lips as I pulled a pint for a customer.

"Sophie tells me you won a car," Noah said smiling.

"Yeah sorry, it's been crazy busy in here, I haven't had time to do anything except my quick call to David" I replied suddenly feeling guilty.

I stole a quick glance at Charles. He had one elbow propped up on the bar and looked deep in conversation with Sophie and Owen, he was wearing a black t-shirt that seemed to hug his muscles. I chewed the inside of my lip as I watched him laugh and draw one hand through his hair.

"Drinks?" I heard Noah say.

"Oh yeah sorry, I was distracted there. I've got a lot of orders to pull, give me a minute or I can get Sadie to do them?"

"Don't worry darling, I'll get Sadie to get them, I don't want to add to your load unless it's giving you my load"

My jaw dropped open and I felt my face burn. I couldn't believe he had made a joke like that, I hadn't gone beyond kissing Noah, I'd made it clear I didn't feel ready. The truth was that beyond the one time I'd have s*x I hadn't done anything with a man and I had no clue what I was doing. My feelings for Noah were also so confusing, I liked him and I liked kissing him but I didn't crave him. Charles on the other hand consumed my thoughts and made my body respond in ways I'd never imagined possible.

Sophie caught my eye and I felt myself going more red knowing that she had heard what he said.

"Sorry" Noah mumbled.

I turned to finish making the drinks order and then proceeded to deliver it to the table, by the time I had returned to the bar Noah was talking to Owen and Sophie and Charles had a platinum blonde in his lap. I sighed.

"Hey Noah, I've got to drive this new car home tonight, do you think maybe you could help show me where everything is? I've never driven a Volvo before." I asked pouting slightly.

"Sorry darling, sports cars are my thing, but I'm sure Charlie can help you, he's got a couple of Volvos in his garage," Noah replied as he wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me into him. I smiled and lightly put an arm around his shoulder. "Won't you Charlie?"

Charles spun around keeping the nameless blonde firmly on his lap, who was giggling like a hyena. If he didn't rile me up so much I'd maybe be able to admit that his skills were impressive

"No, that doesn't work for me," Charles stated dryly before moving down to kiss the nameless blonde's neck.

"Oh come on, it would be good if you could make an effort to get on with my girl. Is it really asking too much for my best friend and my girl to get along?" Noah sounded pissed off.

"Yeah, it is," Charles growled back.

"Leave it, Noah, it's fine." I pleaded, I felt humiliated. Everyone around us had heard the exchange. Sophie and Owen both stood there mouths open, unable to form words.

"I um, need to get back to work," I said as my voice trembled. I didn't know why he hated me so much. Maybe it had just been an act that day in the park, the ar*ehole version of Charles was certainly the more consistent version.

I didn't want to hear any more of their exchange so moved quickly to clear some empty glasses from tables before hiding out in the back for a while to gather my composure, I kept this up until closing time, in a bid to avoid them all and in the vain hope that Charles would be gone by the time I'd come to lock up and leave.

Is sighed with relief to find the bar empty and only Sadie casting up.

"Don't forget these?" she said, throwing a set of keys at me.

"Great, thanks," I said, trying not to sound ungrateful.

"You head home, I've got this"

"Are you sure"

"Night, see you tomorrow" she called.

"Night" I replied as I waved on the way out of the door, pressing the button on the car keys to unlock the car so that I could find it when the lights flashed.

I stopped dead when I found Charles outside leaning against the large white car whose lights had just flashed. My large white car.