The Vampire Playboy - Blood and Lust

Chapter 17

Olivia's POV

As I got out of the car, said goodbye to Sophie, and stood in the car park at Richmond Park I had a weird sensation of deja vu. I took a path to my right and began walking, I had no idea where I was going but it all felt oddly familiar. Weird maybe Sophie and Owen had described the park to me previously. I followed the path until a pond came into view, various paths led off into the thickly wooded area then I could see banks of grass at the other side of the pond. Sophie was going to see Owen after her shift and I was in no rush to go home so thought I'd walk around to the grass and spend some time laying in the sun listening to music. I was struck by how tranquil this place was as I continued my walk. I picked a patch of grass, took out my earphones, and picked a playlist before laying back, closing my eyes, and soaking up the sun.

The sun felt amazing, the heat making my skin tingle, there was a slight breeze that stopped me from feeling like I was burning, it almost felt cleansing to me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been able to do this. To just be here in the moment alone doing something for me listening to music. It felt like a happy place for me to escape into, one where my thoughts and actions are my own. I lost all track of time and how long I'd been laying there before I started to feel thirsty. I stupidly hadn't brought anything with me to eat or drink so begrudgingly got up and made my way around the pond toward the little cafe that was situated in the old boathouse. The park wasn't busy despite the glorious day. As I walked I began to feel that tingle down my spine causing the hairs on my arms to stand up. I looked around me as that now familiar feeling of being watched crept over me, but as always there was nobody to be found and so I kept on moving forward, as I rounded a bend with the sun in my eyes I squinted as a tall man walked towards me, the sun glinted off his hair making him look like he was wearing a halo. His pale green t-shirt strained against his biceps where I could just about make out the outline, I would bet my last penny that his face was as hot as that body, then as he came closer I realised it was Charlie.

My mouth gaped open and I mentally scolded myself in disgust. For once he didn't look angry or have that smirk on his face, no his face was blank. I wasn't prepared to go round two with him and ruin my day so I turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

"Liv?" He called, "please Olivia, I just want to talk"

Oh hell no I thought and picked up my pace, without warning he was right in front of me and I bumped into him. I jumped back as my arm collided with his and goosebumps covered my entire body.

"How did you get in front of me so fast?" I demanded.

"I'm a fast runner," he said, "I just wanted to talk, to say sorry for earlier. I was out of line."

That caught me by surprise. He was apologising? Of course, he would, Noah would have made him.

"You want to say sorry? I didn't realise that word was even in your vocabulary. Why are you sorry, is it because you regret what you said or because Noah told you to?" I held my hand up, "Wait, don't even answer that, you're the type of person who never regrets anything."

"No I mean it, I'm sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have….I'm not that big of a d**khead. And for what it's worth, I think you've done a brave thing moving here."

"Well, it wasn't like I had a choice. Look I'm thirsty, I accept your apology, so you can continue on your way and I'll go get my drink."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

"What?" I exclaimed, unable to hide the surprise in my voice. He couldn't be serious.

"Can I walk with you?"

"Why would you want to?" I said even more shocked.

He laughed, "I get why you would say that."

I started walking back towards the boathouse, Charlie kept in step beside me.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this but your parents sound like aholes"

I laughed, and the child in me wanted to poke my tongue out and say that it takes one to know one, instead I opted to agree. "Yeah they were, it took me a while to admit it to myself but they probably shouldn't have had a kid."

"Do you have no contact with them at all now?"

I shook my head, "Not since the day they kicked me out with what I could carry."

"Man, that takes balls to stand up to them knowing that would happen."

"I've spent my entire life trying to please my parents, striving to meet their impossibly high level of perfection, nothing was ever good enough, I was ever the disappointment and embarrassment to them, I've spent years being told how broken and bad I am. And I just had enough. I just couldn't do it anymore. Honestly, I sometimes lie, awake at night wondering if my parents ever loved me at all. Everyone else I knew seemed to have parents that loved them to death no matter what. I was the oddball."

Charlie stopped moving and I stopped too, looking at him I could see his eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes had narrowed. He almost looked angry.

"Liv, you aren't bad and you aren't broken. You're strong, look at what you've achieved, despite your parents."

"Huh. I've never really looked at it like that. But you're sort of right. They dumped me with a nanny as a kid, then to boarding school. I spent all of my time alone watching the other kids go home at weekends and holidays. The teachers pitied me and did their best with me, so my parents didn't raise me. And you know what's funny, I was a straight-A student, but even that wasn't good enough since I wasn't top of the class. That embarrassed them."

His mouth hung open and he looked angry.

"I'm sorry they treated you like that. For what it's worth, it isn't you, it's them, they're crap parents and crap human beings by the sound of it. You deserved better."

That made me laugh.

"It is what it is. I can't change my past I can only make a difference in my future. So yeah working at O'Malley's might not be everyone's idea of a dream job but it's what I've got right now. It's the first decision I've been able to make for myself without judgment…until today."

"I'm so sorry I did that." He whispered.

I waved my hand in a dismissive gesture.

"For the first time, I'm living my life making my own decisions. I'm not stuck in a boarding school where all the kids think I'm weird and shun me, I have friends, I've gone on my first date, and I have a job that I picked. Baby steps. I've always had someone telling me what to do and what to think. David and Sophie don't do that, they let me get on with it, with no pressure. David won't even take any money off me for living there, he's more concerned that I save enough so I can buy a car like I want to and then start to build up savings until I figure out what I want to do, what I enjoy. I'll never be able to repay that sort of kindness."

"You want to get a car?" He seemed surprised like the suggestion was absurd.

I laughed, "yeah, the one good gift my parents gave me was driving lessons. But I've never had a car and the public transport here isn't as good as Glasgow and I really miss swimming."

"Swimming?"

"Yeah, lame I know but I used to swim every day at school, I used it to relax and I was good at it but the closest pool to here you need a car to get to, also I don't like asking Sophie and David to drive me everywhere. So I aim to hopefully save enough to buy a really old secondhand car by the Autumn before it gets dark earlier. The walk home from O'Malley's freaks me out." I recalled that feeling of being watched and shivered.

"I feel like even more of a d**khead now. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising. Once was enough. Though I'm surprised that you even did that."

There was that familiar smirk creeping across his face, though this time I didn't have the urge to wipe it from his face, it was kind of cute.

"I, um, haven't told Noah any of this yet, I didn't want him to pity me or think I'm weird like everyone else."

"I won't say anything to him, it's not for me to tell, and you're not weird, does anyone even think that?"

I laughed hard.

"Soooo many people, I had no friends except Sophie. I was the weird kid who stayed at school all of the time, I didn't really fit in with everyone."

I hadn't even realised we were standing in front of the boathouse, nor how long we had been here.

"Grab a seat, I'll get us some drinks," he said with a smile. I didn't hesitate and took the nearest seat.

"Coke OK?" He called over.

"Yeah, please."

What was going on? He was being nice to me, in fact, I had to admit I liked this version of him and was having a nice time chatting with him. It felt comfortable and natural, sometimes with Noah I felt like I had to force it a bit.

He returned, placing two glasses of coke on the table.

"I can't imagine you being unpopular, I'd have put money on you being one of those popular mean girls who always gets what she wants with boys falling at her feet"

There was no tone of mocking, he seemed genuine in his statement.

"Oh believe me I was as far from popular as you could get. Nobody wanted to be my friend and well the one boy who appeared to take an interest in me, well he was the biggest asshole when I was stupid enough to eventually give him what he was after."

Charlie's face changed, he seemed angry.

"He's an a-hole."

"Meh, I'm over it, I was over it a long time ago. I'm trying to see this as my fresh start, my first day here was the first day of the rest of my life. I don't have a plan except for savings and a car."

"What kind of car do you want? Maybe Noah and I could help, we're pretty into cars" he laughed.

"Oh god, I don't know, just something cheap and reliable. I honestly don't even know what sort of budget I'd need. Having to do all of this stuff is kind of new to me. But I wouldn't say no to some advice. I've got no idea what I'm doing, I know nothing about cars, it's a sort of a moot point at the moment anyway."

"Why?"

"It's months away, I've only just started at O'Malley's, and it's going to take forever to save. Autumn is my goal but I don't even think that's realistic." I shrugged.

Charlie didn't respond. He looked deep in thought.

"Enough about me. What about you? You and Noah are close?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" There was that smirk. It caused a muscle in his jaw to flex and I noticed how smooth and crisp his jawline looked, how I'd like to run my tongue along it. My thoughts shocked me. What the hell? Yes, he was hot but aside from today, he's been a monumental a**hole to me.

"I guess it's both." I eventually replied.

The tone of my voice must have changed, Charlie raised an eyebrow and frowned while looking at me.

"You're hard to read sometimes." That caught me by surprise and I felt my eyes widen and a slight grin briefly appeared, which seem to catch Charlie by surprise, a wide grin appeared as he lowered his head looking at me through his lashes.