Chapter 6: Tales of Eden
1513 Words
The rest of the week went by without so much as an awkward glance. When Olly had woken up the next morning, it was with a hangover and gaps in his memory. He had thanked me for a delicious dinner and for cleaning up the kitchen and then spent the day in his office nursing a migraine with multiple espressos and fistfulls of aspirin.
By the time Monday rolled around, I had nearly forgotten about the drunken encounter. Or at least, I had tried to forget it.
The feeling of Olly's fingertips caressing my arm and hip haunted me in the dark as I laid there every night, attempting to will myself into unconsciousness.
"If you don't hurry up, you're going to miss your flight," I said with a hint of sarcasm.
He laughed around the mouthful of eggs I had made him. "It's my jet, Harlow. They can't leave without me."
"Still, it's rude to make them wait."
"Someone's trying to get rid of me. Do you have some raging party planned while I'm away?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, me and the other maids like to get together when the master's out of town. We all sit around our mop buckets and gossip about which glass cleaner is best and who's boss is most likely to grope us."
His jaw went tight as he swallowed roughly. "So," he said too rigidly. "Which glass cleaner is best?"
The colour drained from my face as I looked at him. "The one I use, obviously." My voice was too soft, and I hated myself for it.
His eyes flicked up over his plate to meet mine and there was something there, something I couldn't place. "I hope I've never done anything to make you... Uncomfortable."
I smiled then and stole a bit of bacon from his plate. "Never, Olly." And it was true. While the night of the dinner party had been a shock, there was never a moment where I felt unsafe with him.
But it was there in his eyes – he remembered.
I didn't know if it was something we needed to talk about, and as I prepared myself to ask him about it, he shoved the rest of his eggs into his mouth and stood. "I need to check my bag one more time before I leave – make sure I have everything."
"Of course," I said as I stood and grabbed his plate. I finished off his bacon and placed the empty plate in the sink to soak. "Don't forget your laptop charger."
He smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Always looking out for me, Harlow."
"Always."
He walked from the kitchen, and I couldn't help notice the tense disposition of his shoulders. I hoped and prayed that one night wouldn't ruin the relationship we had built. I loved this job; I loved working for Olly. I didn't want a silly drunken mistake to ruin what we had built between us over the past year.
A bit later, Olly came down the stairs with two suitcases and some garment bags thrown over them. "Got everything?" I asked from the couch in the den, pausing the reality show I had been engrossed in.
"I went through the checklist you made me, and I think I have everything. I suppose if I forgot something, I can just buy it while I'm there, though."
I nodded and grabbed the garment bags before heading to the door. "Make sure you text me when you land. You know, just to make sure you landed safely."
He smiled as he stepped out of the door, the driver collecting his bags and placing them in the trunk before taking the garment bags from me and doing the same.
"I promise I'll message you when I can. Make sure you do the same."
"Of course."
"And if you need anything, I left one of my cards on the counter, along with the pin for it. Try not to spend it all on pizza and dirty movies."
I made a show of crossing my fingers. "I promise."
We both smiled at one another, and then he leaned in and placed a chaste kiss to the top of my head. It wasn't abnormal though, it was something he always did when he left for business trips. The only thing changing this time was that I would be staying here alone instead of returning to my own flat, and he was going to be gone far longer than normal.
"See you in two weeks," I said with a smile as he lowered himself into the backseat of the car that would take him to the private airport.
He drove a couple of yards down the lengthy driveway before the car came to an abrupt stop and began to reverse.
He rolled down the window when the car was back in front of me. "Oh! I forgot to tell you – my brother might stop by at some point while I'm away. He's going to pick up some of our father's things while he's in town. I'll try to give you a head's up when he's on his way; if he lets me know." He said the last bit with a nervous expression that made me want to reach for my medication.
"Eden?" I asked, trying to smile.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I forgot to mention it. It's okay though, right?"
I managed to smile through the tingling sensation shooting through my limbs. "Yeah, of course!"
With that, he blew me a dramatic kiss and rolled the window back up before pulling out of the driveway.
When I was back inside, I pressed the door closed and locked it. My heart thundered in my chest and I could feel my palms growing clammy.
Eden was Olly's older brother. I had only met him once when I first started working for Olly. And if my memory served me correctly, Eden had unnerved me to my very core. Through his entire short stay, it felt as if his eyes had never left me. There had also been a few times where I had sworn he was going out of his way to make sure that we were never in a room alone together.
It sounded insane now, even just to myself. But on more than one occasion; he had walked into the room I was in, saw that I was alone, and then turned and left immediately.
I shook myself loose from the door I was pressed against and went about my chores for the day. Though, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Every time I turned around and looked over my shoulder, I was expecting to find a pair of glacier blue eyes staring out at me from under a mop of thick black hair.
The thought of Eden being in the house with just me, even if it was just long enough to pick up a few things, had me itching all over with anxiety.
I grabbed my bottle of medication from my bedside table and took two just for good measure.
Once I was done with chores, I rushed to the wine cooler and pulled out a bottle of something I knew wouldn't be missed and poured a large glass. Then another.
It wasn't long before the room was spinning, bathed in the glow of the setting sun that bled in through the sheer curtains. As I began to doze off on the couch, my phone buzzed.
"Hello?" I answered drowsily.
A familiar laugh warmed my bones and brought a smile to my face. "Did I wake you, sleepyhead?"
"I was just resting on the couch, enjoying some of your most expensive wine."
He chuckled, and I heard some rustling over the phone as he shifted, saying something in another language to someone that must have been with him.
"How was your flight? Did you just land?"
"Yeah, just getting into the car now and heading to the hotel. It's about to be sunrise here. I wish you could see the city, it's beautiful."
"I bet. You'll have to send me some pictures."
"Always. Maybe next time I can bring you with me?"
I laughed. He always said that, and I always refused. "You know I'm terrified of planes."
"We can take a boat."
I rolled my eyes and sat up, the blood rushing to my head for a moment. "You're ridiculous."
"Maybe," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
There was a long pause as I tried to gather my thoughts. I regretted draining the entire bottle of wine, now. I just wanted to talk to Olly with a clear head.
"Well, I'm going to let you go get some sleep. I know you probably spent the entire day cleaning. Make sure you get plenty of rest, and please don't overwork yourself."
"I promise, Olly."
"I'll talk to you later, Harlow."
The line clicked, signalling the end of the call, and I threw my head back with an annoyed groan.
- Writer
