The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

Lissie

I get to the office at nine thirty on Monday morning, knowing it will leave Charles enough time to grab the things he needs before leaving for his day in court. It’s probably childish of me to avoid him, but with the lack of sleep I’ve had over the past three nights, and the way my mind is still playing the last few weeks over and over like a movie, I don’t think it makes me a bad person to need the space.

Charles has texted and called me every day, but it’s all gone unread and ignored.

I put my phone on Do Not Disturb on Friday night when Jovie texted telling me she was out with friends, and I haven’t turned it back on since.

I’ll read his messages. Just not yet.

When I left this office on Friday, it was with the intention I’d never be back. My contract allowed it. Charles couldn’t stop me. However, I know I can’t walk out on Ed. No matter how impossible the thought of working alongside Charles feels now, I know that I’m acting impulsively because I’m upset. And with what Edna has done for me, handed over to me with nothing but trust, I know I need to honour a notice period at the very least.

I’ll give them four weeks to find someone else and ask to work from HQ or home when possible.

One, the pay will help towards allowing Jovie and Willow to eventually live a better life. And two, it keeps me busy. I’m out of the house from eight in the morning until early evenings on the days I don’t work at The Nightingale, and on the days that I do, I’m barely home at all.

I’ve never had less time to think, and I’ve never been happier—until last Friday happened.

And if this past weekend doesn’t prove that I need my work, I don’t know what does.

“Lissie,” Ed calls, sounding panicked.

I push away from my desk and quickly rush to my door to find her. When I do, I see Luna between her legs, paw held in her hand and dripping blood.

“What happened?” I ask, dropping to my knees to see better.

“I have no idea.”

I spread the paw and see a tear on her pad. “Baby, what have you done?”

“I’ll call the vet. See if they can come out. Have you got her?”

I nod and take her collar. “Where’s the closest vet?”

“Charles uses a specific one. I’ll find the number.”

I lift Luna into my arms, hugging her to my chest as I wrap her paw in my cardigan. “Did you try jumping the gate again?” I kiss her head, my heart melting when she hides her face in my neck.

I walk to Charles’s office where Edna is on the phone. “They’re not answering.”

“I’ll phone Scott and get him to take me. Do you have the address there?” I ask.

Edna taps away on the computer. “Ah, yes, hello. My name is Edna. I work for Charles Aldridge…” I wait as Edna speaks to whoever has answered her call. “Yes, it’s Luna. She’s cut her paw. Are you able to take a look? It’s bleeding a lot.” She looks up at me. “Does the bleeding stop when you are applying pressure?”

I pull my cardigan away and find it still bleeding heavily.

I shake my head.

“No, it looks nasty,” Edna says. “I know that Mr Aldridge would want it looked at…okay. That’s not a problem, I can get her to you.” She straightens. “Thank you, Pippa.” She drops the phone. “We can take her in. Do you want me to drive her?”

My arms tighten around the puppy. “No, I can go. Someone needs to keep hold of her paw. Could you call Scott for me?”

I go to my office and collect my bag. Luna doesn’t move in my arms, her snout tucked in under my hair.

“Thank you, Lissie. I have no idea what happened,” Edna says to my back.

“She hates being stuck in that room,” I snap, my emotions getting the better of me. “Sorry, Ed. I know they are well looked after and loved, but Luna hates it.”

“I know. I think this will be a lesson learned.”

I think back to the meeting I had on Thursday, the ridiculous, silly decision I made not seeming so ridiculous and silly now. I kiss the top of Luna’s soft head. “I’ll keep you up to date with what happens.”

Scott picks me up fifteen minutes later, and we drive out to the vet.

I’m only waiting a few minutes before Pippa takes Luna through to be assessed. “It’s a deep cut. It’s not her pad that’s torn but the skin between. We’ll need to give her a light sedation to stitch it.”

“Okay.” I nod. “What can I do?”

“We’ll need consent from Mr Aldridge to go ahead with treatment as Luna and Daisy are registered with him. But once that’s done, we can go ahead, and you’re welcome to stay with her until she’s sedated.” She leans in and smooths down Luna’s head. “I’ll see if I can get Charlie on the phone now.”

I watch her leave and then focus back on Luna, her eyes droopy and sad as if she knows exactly what’s going to happen to her. I drop my head to hers. “Do all the vets call him Charlie?” I mutter against her fur.

Pippa comes back a little while later and tells me that Charlie has consented to treatment and that she’ll be putting Luna under sedation once they’ve taken some blood. It’s a painless procedure for Luna, but that doesn’t stop my heart from going a mile a minute the second they pull out the needle.

I hold her as they take the tests and don’t let her go until an hour later when the sedative is fully in effect and she is limp in my arms. I gently slip out from under her and reluctantly leave the room.

Thankfully, Pippa reappears around thirty minutes later. “She’s in with the technician now. She did really well.”

I sit forward. “It’s done?”

“Yep. She was a trooper. She’ll be out back for a couple hours whilst the sedation wears off. You’re welcome to stay but it really will be a while, and you’ve been here for hours already. Can I get you a taxi booked?”

“No, but thank you,” I tell her. “I’ll wait for her to wake up properly.”

She smiles. “I thought you might. How about a drink?”

I ask for a cup of tea and then sit, knee bouncing as I watch the clock. When four thirty rolls around and no one has been to see me, I make my way over to the reception desk. “Hi, sorry, could I please get an update on Luna? The cocker spaniel.”

The lady gives me a warm smile. “Let me go and check for you.”

A few minutes later, Pippa comes through the door. “Lissie,” she says, waiting for me.

I grab my bag and follow her. “Is she okay?”

“She’s doing great. She just did a little lap around the kennels with Neil.”

She pushes open the door we first entered in through and instantly Luna’s tail starts. “Hi, baby,” I croon, stepping towards her with burning eyes. My heart drops when she starts limping towards me. “Oh, Lu.”

I rub her ears, her legs swaying slightly as she backs into me and then sits on my feet.

“She’ll be unsteady for a while. Let her rest as much as possible tonight.”

I look up at Pippa. “Thank you.”

“If you stop at reception, I’ve put in some—” She cuts herself off when the door opens behind me, her eyes lighting up. “Charlie. That’s good timing.”

I turn and come face-to-face with him.

The lump in my throat from seeing Luna instantly thickens at the harsh reality of the man standing in front of me.

His eyes burn into me, lingering entirely too long before he drops them to Luna. “What have you been up to, pup?” he says, voice gruff and making my heart ache.

She shuffles to him, her entire back end wagging.

“I was just saying to Lissie that I’ve sent through some pain relief to reception for you to pick up, and the wound will need checking in three days.”

Charles looks back down at me, his eyes heavy and tired.

He still looks ridiculously handsome, no matter how much sleep he lost over the weekend.

“Thank you, Pippa,” he eventually says.

When she reaches forward to open the door, Luna circles Charles’s legs and then comes to me. I scoop her up, not knowing what to say to him.

He follows Pippa out, waiting for me at the door. As I pass him, he places his hand on the small of my back.

I stop at the first feel of his fingertips, peering up over my shoulder at him.

He drops his hand immediately.

The reception area is busier when we exit, and Luna instantly snuffs around in my hair. “It’s okay,” I say, rubbing her back as I hold her.

When I turn to look at where Charles is in the queue, I find him already watching me, his eyes boring into me, full of so much sorry, I can’t help but stare back.

“Can I have the keys?” I say, still glued to him.

He dips his hand into his pocket and pulls them out.

“I’ll take her out. It’s too much for her in here.”

He nods, and I can tell he wants to say something, but I don’t let him, turning to leave the clinic.

When he climbs into the car ten minutes later, he simply looks at Luna, who is snuggled into my neck sleeping, and sighs. “I’m sorry it took so long to get here. I couldn’t just leave court, and I presumed Edna was with her when Pippa called.”

“It’s fine,” I tell him, looking out of the window.

“I didn’t realise you’d be in the office today.”

I swallow. “I can’t just walk out and leave Edna in the lurch. I’ll stay until you have someone to replace me. But I’m not telling Edna. You can.”

There’s silence in the car, and I beg it to swallow me whole. The way I can feel his eyes on me, just as I had that first night, blindfolded and laid out naked beneath him. I could feel his eyes on me then like I can feel them on me now.

“Lissie.”

I can’t fully turn to look at him because Luna is restricting my head, but I do respond. “Hmm.”

“Thank you for bringing her. When I arrived and saw you were with her, I was relieved. I knew she was in the best hands.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I tell him.

He reaches out to smooth over Luna’s snout, making her squirm away and curl down into my chest. I subconsciously look over at the man in the seat next to me.

“You know what I mean,” he adds.

I rub my hands over Luna’s back protectively. “She’s just a baby. I didn’t want her to be scared.”

“I know. Have you eaten?” He starts the engine. “You look cold.”

“My cardigan was covered in blood, so I told them to bin it.”

He shakes his head as he reverses out of the space. “How did she even do it?”

I look towards him. “The gate. I don’t think she likes being shut in. She needs space, and yes, she’s walked a lot, but it’s still not enough. She doesn’t like to be restricted to one room.”

He looks between me and the road. “Okay. I’ll figure something else out.”

I continue to stroke Luna. “Really?”

“Yes,” he tells me, reaching for the controls to turn the heating up. “Will you come back to mine before I drop you home? I can order something for dinner.”

“No. I need to get back.”

His jaw locks, hands white-knuckling the steering wheel. “You haven’t eaten, Lissie. You’ve been sat in the vet’s for most of the day. Let me get you something to eat.” I can hear the frustration in his voice. “Please.”

I sigh, dropping my head back to the rest.

“I need to get Daisy from Edna’s. Will you take Luna in and get her comfortable for me? I don’t want her stuck in rush hour traffic whilst I drive to Edna’s.”

I nod, understanding his logic. No matter how loudly my head yells at me that it’s a bad idea. “Okay, but I’m only agreeing to this for Luna’s sake.”

He nods his understanding, his body seeming to relax a little.

I settle back in the seat.

The rest of the journey is made in an odd, comfortable silence.

Charles pulls into the underground parking when we reach his building, getting the door for me and then my bag and Luna’s medication when it’s clear she isn’t going to get down from my arms. When we reach the lift, I test her on her feet, letting her stretch out as I hold her under her back legs.

I lean in and kiss her head. “Good girl.”

When I right myself, letting Luna stand, I see that Charles has his eyes closed, his chest full from the long inhale he’s just pulled in. As he exhales, he opens his eyes.

The lift pings, but neither of us moves, our gazes locked.

He looks utterly shattered, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe he didn’t sleep because he was as lost in his head about the two of us as I’ve been.

Or maybe I’m just na?ve, and it’s not that at all.

“I didn’t know I’d want you like this, Lis. I had no idea when I made the decision not to tell you that I’d want you the way I want you now.”

I’ve thought about those words so many times over the past three days, the way they twist up my heart until it threatens to give out.

I think he meant them, and it confuses me as much as it hurts.

Swallowing, I look away, stepping out and into the entrance to his home.

He clears his throat. “I won’t be long. If you want to wash the blood off”—he gestures to my neck and shirt—“you can use any of the bathrooms. The third bedroom on the right at the top of the stairs is mine. There are T-shirts and jumpers in the wardrobe.”

“I won’t shower. I’ll head off once you’re back.”

His face grows somewhat sad, and it’s like a sucker punch to my gut.

He nods, stepping backwards. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

My heart doesn’t stop its racing beat until the doors are shut, and he’s long gone, and even after that, it’s not a normal rhythm. I follow Luna as she heads for the stairs but pick her up when hobbles backwards with her paw held up.

Knowing where she’s likely going but not wanting to presume, I place her down when we reach the top, letting her lead the way and hating that she struggles.

When she gets to the third door on the right and looks up at me, I unlatch it and push inside.

The smell of him hits me first, and it’s as good of a sucker punch as the look on his face before. His bedroom is mostly tidy. Everything in place, bar a shirt that’s half in, half out of the bathroom. It looks more like one of the dogs has dragged it to the position than Charles being a slob based on the rest of the penthouse.

Luna limps to the bed, and I quickly lift her and place her on the mattress. She goes to the bottom of the bed, looks around as if lost, and then sinks down with a soft whine.

“Do you miss Dais, Lu?” I ask, leaning over and stroking her head.

I wait with her until her eyes grow too heavy and she falls asleep, and then get up and walk to where the shirt is on the floor. I pick it up and push on the partly open bathroom door. Beyond what I could see from the doorway is a washing basket on its side, the clothes pulled out across the tiles.

I smile, bending to place the items back inside.

The en suite is big, the free-standing bath and walk-in shower all white and clinical, like the rest of the house.

It’s cold and horribly impersonal.

I’d feel guilty thinking that, but Charles already told me he hates the decor.

The only thing I can find good about the space is the space itself. It’s a luxury bathroom and far, far nicer than my tiny space—where you can sit on the toilet and touch the sink and shower.

I turn to look in the mirror and notice the blood on my neck. I twist to the side, seeing more covering my blouse. “Crap.”

I look like shit.

My eyes are as drawn out as Charles’s, my makeup barely holding up after the long day.

I remove my shirt and try washing out the blood, but there’s too much, and it doesn’t budge. With a sigh, I gently click the door closed and turn on his shower.