The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Charlie

I avoid Lissie for the majority of the next week, only having to touch base with her briefly when needing the files she’s worked on. Edna has kept her busy for the most part after my request to take her off Hannah’s case. I don’t know why I did that, but she’s seemed much happier, laughing with Edna, and spending the majority of her lunch breaks in with the dogs.

I wish I could say that I’ve been equally as happy.

It’s been nearly two weeks since I last went to the club. Since I last had sex.

For most, that wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not a problem for me—yet. But when you go ten years of your life only having sex at one establishment, the prospect of what my current predicament means is a dull one.

I can’t go back there at the risk of her spotting me.

It’s nearing six when I notice the time and realise Lissie would’ve left for the day.

Like I do every night, I head for Luna and Daisy’s room to let them out. They always run free for the final few hours I spend at the office.

I push open the door and unlatch their dog gate. “Girls.”

Luna clears the gate before it’s fully open. I roll my eyes and carry on towards the reception to switch out the lights.

On my way back to my office, I notice the soft glow of a light still on in Ed’s office. Which is strange because she wasn’t in today.

I presume it’s because Lissie has been in and out whilst organising the rooms.

I push on the door and find the room empty, Edna’s desk cleared of its usual clutter. I reach for the light to switch it off, but my eyes catch on the cream cardigan hanging half off the chair, lying mostly on the carpet.

Ed called to say she was sick last night, something she hasn’t done in years. I told her to take the day off regardless of how she was feeling this morning.

I was shocked when she actually messaged to say she wouldn’t be in.

With all good intentions, I slip into the office and pick up the cardigan from the floor.

With all good intentions, and the knowing I felt the second I saw Lissie’s cardigan, I let my fingers sink into the soft fabric.

It’s soft, warm, rich.

Very her .

I lift it, bringing it to my nose, not being able to help it.

I inhale, my eyes drifting closed at the reminder. Of that night in the club and every moment since.

“Is that my cardigan?”

I fist it and turn. “Lissie, you’re still here.”

“Were you…sniffing it?”

“No.” I look at the fabric in my hands. “Yes.” Fuck . “I wasn’t sure who it belonged to.”

I hold it out to her, dumping it in her hands as I walk past her and down the corridor.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“You’d recognise me by smell?” she asks my back. She follows me into my office. The dogs too.

“Why are you still here?” I say, clipped, as I take my seat.

She flops down onto my sofa, the dogs both leaping up and clambering on her the second she lands.

“I was finishing up in the dogs’ room and needed to take the paper out to the recycling bins. I’ve sorted all the files today.”

“All of them?” I frown. There are at least thirty boxes stashed away in the cupboards. Edna’s office is immaculate too.

“Nope, some were sealed—confidential, and I was unsure if you’d want me sorting those. I can work on them tomorrow.”

“No, no, that’s fine. Great.” I scratch at my brow. “You head home now.”

I carry on at my computer, hoping she’ll forget about what she just saw me do and head out.

“Are you not leaving?”

I force my eyes to stay on my screen. “I have work to do.”

“You’ve been here all day. Did you even eat?”

I ate. I just waited for you to finish your lunch and avoided you at all costs . “I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Elton.”

I see her stiffen out of the corner of my eye, and it’s enough to drag my gaze to where she stands. “Lissie, sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she says, flashing me a fake smile.

It’s not fine, and as my eyes roam over her face, I wonder just how not fine it is after the things she implied at the ice cream shop.

Why does she hate her last name so much?

“Edna warned me you’re a workaholic. My job is to make your life easier, so I’m telling you, as your assistant, I think you should call it a day.”

“Will you be calling it a day?” I ask without thinking.

She frowns. “Yes.”

“You don’t have a shift tonight?”

She watches me, as if wondering whether I know about the men’s hands she allows to touch her. The amount of them who probably spent the rest of their working weeks transfixed by the memory of her.

Because I can’t be the only one.

I mean, she’s fucking beautiful.

Her voice is weaker when she asks, “Edna told you I work an evening job?”

I feel my cock twitch in my slacks and readjust in my chair. “She did.”

“Oh.” I see her cheeks flame from across the room, and she lowers her eyes.

I shouldn’t like the sight of her blush, but I do. It takes me right back to that night.

“I…um…”

My stomach knots at her discomfort. Her obvious embarrassment. “I’m well aware that you work at The Nightingale, Lissie, and I’m well aware of what that entails. It’s not something that you need to hide from me. You have nothing to worry about.”

Her eyes widen momentarily before softening, and then she nods. “I only work four nights a week, two of which are on the weekend so that it doesn’t interfere with my job here. I’m still in the process of switching them around to work better.”

The knot loosens as her blush disperses.

I shouldn’t want to ease her discomfort.

I shouldn’t care.

What I should care about is the fact that she’s not working tonight. Which means I can go to the club.

I swallow, watching her as she fusses over the dogs, not being able to look away.

Forget about the girl, Aldridge.

She’s young. Too good.

Replace her.

Erase her.

“You know what,” I say, switching off my computer and standing. “I might head out after all.”

When I catch a look at her face, she’s smiling at me. “You’ll feel better for it tomorrow.”

“You’re probably right.”

We walk through the office together, parting ways at the doors.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr Aldridge.”

Charlie. Dammit, call me Charlie.

I grit my teeth. “Good night, Lissie.”

I make my way to the car park around the back of the offices, a weird nagging feeling in my gut.

Probably just the knowledge that I’m going to the club tonight.

I pull my car out onto the road, making my way towards home with the dogs. A quick shower, and I’ll be out the door.

I spot Lissie walking down the pavement and flick my eyes away. She has that stupid fucking cardigan thrown over her shoulders, her arms crossed over her waist. “Where’s her damn coat?”

I shake my head as I hesitate before looking back towards her.

I can’t.

Keep fucking driving.

“You’re not her genre of man, Charles,” I mutter to myself. “Too old. And she loves the tube.”

I huff a laugh at the memory, and keep driving, all the way home.

The club is quiet but it’s early. The kind of time cardigan-sniffing freaks rock up, looking to get their fill.

The hell was I thinking sniffing her clothes.

I take a swig of my drink and look around the club, clocking eyes with the same old faces.

Some of the women know me well, very well. Some of them only know me…less. The odd night here or there.

“I presume this seat isn’t taken?”

I smile at Ebony as she slides in next to me at the table. “How are we, Mr A?”

“I’m—” I get a waft of her perfume and pause, the smell uniquely her and one I’ve grown accustomed to over the years.

It’s nothing like Lissie’s. Lissie’s is clean, subtle, barely there until she’s close enough, and then it submerses over you as if you’re sinking into her skin.

“Umm, broken? Are you okay?” Ebony asks, smiling.

I stare at her, wondering what the fuck is wrong with me.

This has been me for years—this club.

The only way I know.

“I’m fine,” I say, harsher than I mean to.

I make a conscious effort to look at her face, smiling.

My gaze drops to her breasts.

But tonight…they aren’t as full. As round. They wouldn’t fit in the expanse of my hands like the breasts I’ve thought about every night for the past week and a half would.

Her hand slides over my thigh. “Why don’t we go upstairs, you seem…”

I snap my eyes up, her perfume getting more and more pungent by the second. “I seem what?”

“Distracted.”

I am.

I’m distracted by Lissie fucking Elton.

She’s in my head. Wormed her way in without even knowing it, and now she won’t leave. She’s at my work, at my club.

If she’s not with me at the office, I’m wondering if she’s here with another man.

I scrub at my face and scoot out from the seat. “Sorry, Ebony, is Bronwyn in?”

“Yes,” she tells me, quickly standing with me. “Have I done something wrong?”

“ No . No, it’s not you.”

I take the stairs to the bottom level of the club, then the stairs to the basement level and Bronwyn’s office.

Lissie

“If you say what I think you’re about to.”

“He was sniffing it!”

Her eyes widen through the screen. “Fuck off!”

“Jove, I shit you not, he had my cardi held to his face, eyes closed, inhaling.”

My sister has well and truly lost it on the other end of the line. I smile as I watch her laugh.

“Do you think he has a thing for you?”

“No,” I assure her, laughing myself. “Well, I don’t think so. He’s too stiff to like someone as messy as me. But, Jove, I don’t smell bad—I obviously checked, so maybe he just liked the smell.”

“It’s weird. Send me a picture of him, I need a visual.”

“Let me find one.” I reach for my laptop and punch his name into Google again. “He’s gorgeous, Jove, I’m warning you now.”

“Yeah, my gorgeous and your gorgeous are two very different things. I still remember when—” I turn the laptop around with a zoomed-in picture of Charles Aldridge stood at the forefront of Charles Aldridge Headquarters, Edna and two other men stood alongside him. “—Holy fucking smokes!”

I nod. “Thirty-five, six-foot-three if I had to guess, and single,” I say in awe, looking sidelong at the image. “He’s delightful. A workaholic. Has the cutest dogs.”

“Lis, do you like him?”

“What, no!” I feel my cheeks heat.

“Are you sure? Do you even know the meaning of the word flaw at this point?”

“Fuck off,” I snap defensively. “He’s a tosser for the most part.”

Although he did buy me ice cream.

“You just said he’s delightful.”

“To look at,” I correct. “He calls me Miss Elton as if it’s his favourite sport and sniffs my clothes.”

She chuckles again. “You haven’t quit yet, though, so…”

“I haven’t quit yet because Edna is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, a few years off retirement, and in need of my help. Helping her helps us, and unfortunately, that leads to me helping Mr Sternface.”

“I’m sure you can loosen him up. Have you tried rubbing yourself on him?”

“You’re ridiculous,” I say, though I can’t help my smile.

“No, seriously, though. Edna said she wants to see him relax a little before she retires, didn’t she? Did I dream that?”

“No, she did. She said she wants to know she can leave him and he won’t crash and burn. For him to find the time to build something for himself outside of the office.”

“Get him to relax then. Do your job.”

“How do I even do that?”

“Lis, you’re one of the greatest people to ever walk this earth, just be you. Make him have some fun.”

“I tried being myself with him, and it went horribly. I’m probably just going to carry on with the files I’ve been sorting this week, to be honest. There’s a load still to go through, and he seems to appreciate that over my mouth.”

“You’re so boring.”

“I’m trying to set us up for life. Leave me alone.”

“ Please .” She rolls her eyes. “You still need to tell me more about cop boy. I’ve not forgotten.”

“There is no cop boy,” I tell her. It’s been well over a week, and I’m almost certain I made the whole encounter up. “He’s not been in since.”

“I thought you said people had to be a member to come to the club.”

“They do.”

“So where is he?”

I’ve asked myself the same question over and over for days now. Who is he? Where is he? Why hasn’t he been back?

I had the best sex of my life, and it was with a man I don’t even know.

Was Mr Aldridge even sniffing my cardigan earlier, or am I that sexually frustrated that I’m imagining things?

I think back, his shoulders lifting as he inhaled deeply.

I don’t tell my sister how hot the entire encounter made me feel because I barely want to admit it to myself.

“Cop boy is gone, Jove. I need to forget about him.”

“Have you thought about working the rooms again? See if it’s as good with everyone?”

“I’ll get paid next week. We shouldn’t need the money.”

“I’m sorry, are we working to live or living to work? Stop worrying about me and have some fun.”

“You know I work to live.”

“Then have your fun. What about Christian? He’s the blond you mentioned, isn’t he?”

“Christian is like a baby brother to me.”

She sighs. “I get it. It’s impossible for you. You work at a club that’s crawling with dick, but you can’t find any.”

I chuckle. “ You’re a dick.”

“You know what I’d do?”

I roll my eyes. “Humour me.”

“I’d rock up at work tomorrow night, request to work the rooms, pull on that blindfold and imagine Mr Sternface is the face of whoever walks through the door.” She holds up her own screen and shows me a picture of Charles Aldridge, clearly googling him herself now.

“You want me to imagine myself having an affair with my boss whilst having sex with other men?”

“You know it’s a good fantasy. I bet you’ve already imagined it.”

“Good night, Jove. We’re done here.”

“Don’t call until you have something worth telling, whore face.”

“I love you.”

“Love you, bye.”

I hang up and close my laptop, pushing it to the back of the counter. My stare falls on the magnet I have stuck to my fridge door. A little house just like the one we always dreamed to live in. The house with the mummy and daddy.

If there’s anyone who deserves to have her dream home, it’s my little sister. I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want a house like that for her.

To have her back in London and close to me.

I’ve just got to convince her to come home first.

I sigh and walk into my bedroom. After nine hours in the office and an even longer day promised tomorrow because of my shift at the club, I feel shattered.

I drop down onto my mattress on the floor, pulling the quilt up over me. My flat is still mostly empty—bar the TV, which has become my new obsession, and the bed I bought but still haven’t put together—but it seems the more time I spend here, the easier it is to be on my own.

I think about Jovie for a while as I try to drift off to sleep, her laugh making my muscles relax into the soft sheets. I think about my night with cop boy all over again, which only sends my heart racing. Although at this point, he doesn’t even seem real to me anymore. And then my head goes someplace else, someplace it hasn’t ever and shouldn’t. An office. Mr Aldridge sat back in his desk chair, his eyes pinned on me like that first day. I roll over on the mattress onto my stomach, my hand dipping into my underwear. His nose was deep in my cardigan, his shoulders bunched.

What was he imagining in that moment?

Me?

Us?

The two of us together?

I rock forward, my middle finger sinking into my heat.

I’m wet.

My mouth drops open as I think about my boss, shame still there but buried beneath a veil of arousal. His face is all I can see, even if I didn’t want it to be it would still be him right now. His hands. His stubble which I can’t help but love. His eyes.

When I come, it’s his face I see.