Page 69 of Gold Digger
“Baby, don’t you think you might be projecting here?”
“What?”
Ollie sighed, his muscles flexing as he squeezed the back of his neck again.
“Your mum,” he said softly. “I can understand why you’d be really sensitive about that kind of thing, why you’d maybe see things that aren’t there. But honestly, Blake’s fine.”
I let my head fall forward onto his chest, inhaling his scent and trying to block out my hurt feelings. I knew I didn’t have the right to feel so let down – whatever he said, I wasn’t his family. Of course, his loyalty wouldn’t lie with me.
“Yes, I’m sure you’re right,” I said, my voice flat now as I retreated mentally. There was no point arguing my case any further with Ollie. He wanted me to confide in him, but this kind of inconvenient truth was probably a step too far.
“Lottie?” He put a hand to my jaw to tilt my head back, so I was looking at him. He scanned my face, which I tried to blank of all expression. “I know you’re worried about this. I’m not minimising anything, I promise. I’ll talk to Blake. It’s just, I know him better than you.”
“Of course,” I said.
Ollie growled, and I frowned up at him.
“What?”
“I’ve lost you,” he muttered, scanning my face again. “Fuck’s sake. I had you and now you’re gone again.”
“I’m right here, you numpty.” I tried to force a smile, but by the look on Ollie’s face, I didn’t quite manage it.
Chapter 33
Who wants to be normal?
Lottie
I squeezed Vicky’s wrist lightly. When she turned to me, I gave my head a very subtle shake. She tilted hers to the side with a small frown, but her mouth snapped shut. Then she turned back to the men in our circle and smiled. They all looked a bit startled for a moment at the abrupt change from Vicky’s tirade of information on the financial markets to that smile. We were going to have to work on her transitions a bit more. But at least she’d stopped just in time. She’d lost most of these guys right around the time she started on the economic principle of comparative advantage in trade. But their expressions weren’t glazed now. Nowhere near. Vicky’s smile, even this fake smile, could bring entire rooms to a standstill. She was simply that beautiful.
I was glad we managed to get her out tonight to be honest. Something was wrong with Vicky and none of us could work it out. Ever since I’d known her she would occasionally go into herself. There didn’t seem to be an obvious trigger. Once it was after a phone call she’d had in the office. I’d asked her about it when she went abnormally quiet for the next few hours, but she’d just shrugged and told me it was her mother on thephone. When I’d gone on to ask if everything was okay with her mother, she said it was “fine”. That had been a lie. I’d been surprised to be honest – Vicky very rarely lied. Ollie said she could occasionally withdraw. The last time it happened was over a year ago. Nobody saw her for nearly a week. Ollie had been distracted by work at the time and never got to the bottom of what happened.
Then a couple of weeks ago Ollie and I had gone to her house after she went AWOL for twenty-four hours, not even calling into work to let them know she wasn’t coming in which was so out of character to be alarming. Ollie used his key when she didn’t answer the door. We found her underneath a coffee table which for some reason was in the middle of her hallway. Ollie had to physically lift her out from under it and over to the sofa. She was almost completely unresponsive – just staring off into space. No tears but so much pain behind her eyes it was scary. She’d only started crying when Ollie picked her up and hugged her on his lap. I’d picked up Hayley from school and brought her back to Vicky’s house. The three of us stayed with her that night and Hayley’s presence seemed to gradually bring her back from wherever she went. She’d recovered since, but she still wasn’t herself, and she absolutely refused to tell us what the trigger was.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen,” she said in that self-effacing tone we’d practised – Vicky was not self-effacing at all, so that had been a real struggle for her. She really didn’t understand the point of it. But I had to explain that if she wanted people on her side, it was one of the tools that needed to be in her arsenal. “I tend to get carried away with economics.”
“Money is Vicky’s jam,” I added with my own smile. I heard a snort from the side. My eyes flicked over to see Mike next to his sister, and I blinked in surprise. I don’t think I’d ever seen Mike in anything other than t-shirts, overalls and flannel shirts.Yet here he was in a DJ, his beard under control for once. Rough Mike was attractive, but I could never really see Vicky’s outright obsession. ButthisMike, Fraggle Rock, he was hot. However, he didn’t seem too happy in his new get-up. He was pulling at his collar and shifting in his shiny, Italian leather shoes. I knew the Hardings had asked him to come tonight, but Mike was normally consistent in turning down this type of invite.
“Well, I can attest to that,” one of the investors said with a smile and an adoring look in Vicky’s direction. “The investments you’ve managed for us have doubled in the last quarter.” A couple of the other suits in the circle perked up at that and I smiled. This was perfect. This fundraiser was the ideal environment to plant the seed with Mr Harrington that Vicky was the right choice when it came to his fund. All Vicky had to do was…
“You’re wearing a suit,” Vicky blurted out, staring at Mike with that focused expression which seemed to be reserved for universal income, hedgehogs and Michael Mayweather. I looked up at the ceiling, seeking patience.Not now, Vicky.
Mike’s eyebrows went up. “Er… well, yeah. It’s kind of required,” he said in his gruff voice.
“You never wear suits.”
Everyone around us was beginning to look more and more confused. All Vicky’s attention was on Mike now as if none of the others were even there. I reached to subtly squeeze her wrist, but she didn’t even acknowledge me. Vicky in hyper-focused mode wasnotdistractable.
“I prefer you in your normal clothes,” she said, frowning across at him. “In particular, I like the thermal shirt you wear that has a small rip in the left sleeve.”
“Jesus Christ,” Mike muttered, and I didn’t think it was possible but the man actually blushed under his beard. Everyone else was listening to the exchange with open mouths. I knew fora fact that over half the men at this function had propositioned Vicky at one time or another. Most of the time she didn’t even realise they were doing it; she’d certainly never shown any level of interest in any man. Her reputation as an untouchable ice princess was legendary.
“Whoisthis guy?” I heard the investor from earlier, who’d made no secret of his interest in Vicky, whisper to his colleague.
“Vics,” I said in a low voice, trying to draw her out of her fixation. “We need to keep an eye on the time, yeah? Gentleman, ladies, excuse us for a second.” I pulled on Vicky’s arm. For a moment, I thought she was going to ignore me and carry on staring at Mike. “Victoria,” I snapped, and she blinked before turning to me. “We need togo.” She nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief as we made our excuses and left the circle.
“I was doing it again, wasn’t I?” Vicky asked in a dejected tone. I winced as I turned us towards the exit. There was a good thirty minutes until the fireworks, but I didn’t want to be caught out. We had to leave before the display started. Ollie had been vehemently opposed to Vicky even coming tonight. He knew what could happen. He’d confronted me about it yesterday.
