If You Love Me, I'm Yours Page 16

  Elliott sent Nate a look to tell him he’d been right about the slime-ball next to him and Nate rolled his eyes behind Tom’s back, before slipping into the booth opposite him and smiling like a tiger about to pounce. ‘How’s your day been?’ he asked Tom, appearing friendly and sociable. Elliott knew this wouldn’t last long though, as Nate’s shoulders were tense and poker straight. He was smiling but his eyes were like heat-seeking missiles on Tom’s face.

  ‘I’ve been travelling; I only work a few days each week at the school now. I often pop and see my brother, as he’s having woman trouble,’ Tom looked to the men for solidarity and found it lacking slightly, so he just shrugged and ploughed on. ‘It’s great to be invited on a boys’ night, it’s ages since I had time to go out.’

  Elliott cringed, as he knew what was coming when Nate spoke. ‘You haven’t been out with Dot or Maud lately, then?’

  Tom looked confused, then slightly suspicious. ‘I haven’t seen much of Maud, as she’s working hard on some mystery project with your sister, and our schedules have been crazy. We have managed to get some special moments alone, though,’ he drawled, obviously hoping Elliott would be impressed and Nate jealous. ‘You have to make time for your special girl.’

  Nate curled his fingers into his palms and Elliott could see he was trying to think about anything else but planting his fist into Tom’s smug face. ‘Have you seen Dot?’

  Tom’s smile faltered and he took a slug of his beer, taking a moment to process the fact that Nate and Elliott obviously knew he’d been texting Dot. ‘Why would I have seen Dot? I barely have a minute to see Maud during the day, as I’m in such demand in different classes. Sometimes I am only with Maud for a day or two before moving on somewhere else in the building. Keeping up with classwork during a job share means that I can’t socialise in class. I have to keep that for lunchtimes, but Maud often rushes off-site to meet Dot for lunch now.’

  ‘So you and both girls are just friends now?’ asked Elliott, holding his breath for the answer and hoping Tom said the right thing, before either he or Nate called him out for trying it on with two friends.

  Tom flushed and then tried for bravado. ‘Maud and I decided a while ago to keep things casual. She’s not ready for a commitment and neither am I. We don’t get many hours together, so we can see other people if we like.’

  Nate knew this was a lie, as Maud was loyal to him. Maybe she was getting bored with him and backing off? The thought made Nate feel suddenly chipper. The guy was a jerk. It looked like Tom was sensing Maud was hesitant, too, and was covering his own back. Nate looked like he’d just been handed a priceless gift. He crossed his arms, which bulged with muscles, and made Tom look his way. ‘So you are happy for Maud to text other men and go out on dates?’

  Tom gulped and shifted uneasily in his seat, looking like he wished he’d kept his big mouth shut. ‘I... um, I hadn’t really given it much thought. I guess I need to clarify the situation with her.’ Tom was about to say something else when three beautiful women approached their table and his eyes lit up, as he casually grabbed his beer and sat back further into the booth, giving them a cocksure stare, all thoughts of Maud forgotten.

  Elliott waited for Nate to send the girls politely on their way, but he couldn’t have looked happier with the interruption and invited the girls to join them. Nate knew that Elliott would fleetingly wonder if Nate had set this up, but the timing was too perfect, and Elliott should know better than to think that Nate needed to ask women to join them. He usually had to fend them off.

  Nate spotted his sister the minute she entered the bar, and he glowered as he noticed who she was with. Tom had his arm round a stunning blonde woman with long hair and a tiny silver dress and Nate held his breath to see if Maud would notice this and bash Tom over the head with her handbag. He’d spent the evening getting steadily drunker, stroking the blonde’s hair and whispering loudly in her ear that he loved women who told him that he was great in bed, while she batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. It was turning Nate’s stomach and he was glad for an excuse to stand up and move away from him.

  Maud was giggling and holding on to Dot’s arm for dear life as she bent down to straighten her shoe. Nate saw she was wearing his favourites and blood rushed to his head. What was it about this woman? Why couldn’t he just grab one of the stunners who’d been trying to sit on his lap earlier and take her home, instead of trying to sort out Maud’s love life? Maud turned and saw him, and her face lit up. He felt his stomach tighten and heat fill his loins. He smiled into her eyes and then his gaze flicked to Dot in question, as he could see by the way Maud was weaving towards him that she was pretty drunk.

  Dot rushed after her and Nate reached in and caught her hand, just as she fell over her own feet and launched herself at him. He caught the fragrance of her perfume and then realised she was hugging his elbow for support, so he pulled her tighter into his side, just as Tom saw who it was and sprang apart from the blonde, who pouted and melted away into the crowd. Dot gave her a filthy stare and then shared the same look with Tom, who ignored her and pulled Maud’s hand, until she fell onto the booth beside him with a laugh. Nate was furious that she hadn’t seen Tom’s behaviour and then his mood thawed as he realised how cute Maud was when she was drunk. It was hard to stay mad when she was around. She was staring goofily at him and trying to prop her elbows on the table before sinking down to rest her head on the cool surface. Dot cringed and Nate smiled as the table was sticky with spilt drinks. Dot stood next to Maud to hoist her up again. ‘I think I need to get Maud home,’ she said, looking at Tom with distaste.

  Nate was desperate to offer to help, but Elliott signalled towards Tom. There was no way he was letting her go home with him in her drunken state. Tom was getting up and offering to take her, but Nate quickly drew his phone out of his jeans pocket and called the girls a car to drive them. ‘Stay at her house, Dotty,’ he said with steel in his voice. She looked as though she was going to argue, then decided against it when she saw Tom get up and grab his coat.

  Nate quickly signalled for the bartender to bring them another round of drinks. It didn’t take much to persuade Tom that he couldn’t abandon his first proper boys’ night with them so early, and he’d glanced at Maud and seemed to realise he wouldn’t be going anywhere with her tonight, as Dot was practically glued to her side. Maud had her arms linked around Dot’s neck while Dot looked pretty pained, but she sighed and put her hand on Maud’s arm as she giggled and waved happily to the men, blowing them kisses and then planting a smacker right on Dot’s face, barely missing her nose.

  The blonde girl watched them from the bar. As soon as they left the building, she sidled over and slinked back in beside Tom, who gave her a knowing smile that made Nate and Elliott realise that this was going to be a really long and painful night.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Dot was freezing. She rolled over in Maud’s spare bed and realised she’d thrown the covers on the floor in her sleep. She’d been cross with Nate for expecting her to take Maud home the night before, but to be honest she’d been glad to get away from Tom before she let slip to Maud that her boyfriend was sending her inappropriate texts and threw a drink straight into his smarmy face. Why Nate and El had wanted to go out with him, she’d never know. Nate was supposedly hung up on Maud, and yet there he was on a night out with her boyfriend. She’d never understand that man, she sighed, reaching down and snuggling into the duvet again.

  She looked around and was happy to see some of Maud’s older artworks displayed on the walls in the otherwise stark spare room. Dot had stayed there many times now, and could see why Maud loved it. Maybe she should buy her own bungalow and create a hidden studio in the garden?

  She was surprised Maud had had the courage to put her art up here, as she’d got really drunk on Mojitos the night before and morosely told Dot that her parents really disapproved of her new look. Her mum had said her hair, which now fell in soft waves to her shoulders, was a mess and that he
r clothes, which were feminine but had an artistic edge, were inappropriate for a school teacher, and that her new friends were obviously a bad influence. She also kept ringing Maud to tell her she felt unwell, and had taken to her bed for a week. Maud’s mum was more of a drama queen than Dot herself. Who’d even known that was possible?

  Bad influence. If anything, Dot had changed the most since meeting Maud. She knew she was a little kinder to other people now, albeit only the ones who didn’t really annoy her like Daisy did. Dot’s own clothes were less outrageous and she’d stopped dying her hair. She’d visited a top salon and had one of those trendy new blow-dries where your hair was semi-permanently ironed with ceramics, or some such nonsense. She’d sat there, bored stiff, for a couple of hours under the heat, and then walked out of the salon with silky-smooth blonde hair that reached below her shoulders, with sun-kissed highlights.

  Dot swung her legs out of bed and cringed when she remembered how Maud had sung at the top of her voice all the way home in the car. She would have to ask Nate to apologise for them, as the poor woman driving their cab had probably gone out and bought earplugs that morning after going to bed with a headache.

  Elliott had asked Dot to meet him for a meal this evening, and Dot had stupidly asked Maud to bring Tom, as she’d felt nervous about being alone with El at the moment for some reason. After seeing Tom leering all over that woman in the booth last night, she’d changed her mind and would rather be alone than in his company. Unfortunately, Maud had already accepted.

  She took a blissful sip from the glass of water that she’d put on the bedside table last night, after trying for over an hour to get Maud to go to bed, and then giving up and leaving her snoring on the couch in the living room. She was starting to feel more awake now, and recalled she’d tried to cheer Maud up last night after she’d become morose about her parents being so mean, and never seeing Tom. She’d also confided that he was being a bit pushy and suffocating when Maud did see him. Dot had been so tempted to confide in her about the texts from Tom, but she’d heard the phrase ‘shoot the messenger,’ and didn’t want to fall out with her new friend and superstar client. She did casually let slip that Nate had gotten rid of his super-bitchy girlfriend a few weeks ago, though. She’d decided that, even though Nate was popular with women, at least he was a nice person and a better bet for Maud than trashy Tom. Dot thought that she should probably be a bit kinder to Nate, and if he and Maud liked each other, then maybe she should be a bit more sisterly and give them a helpful nudge in the right direction.

  Dot felt really mean, well... a tiny bit mean, as she quickly shut her phone and looked innocently at Maud. Maud had taken ages to wake up and shove into the shower that morning, but she was finally looking presentable in a tonal grey dress that had flowers sewn all over it in different shades of blue. She looked fresh and pretty and Dot’s stomach did a somersault as she wondered if she was right to interfere.

  Maud smiled at her and then walked to her bag as her phone bleeped to tell her she had a message. She looked crestfallen suddenly. ‘Oh no! Tom has just said he can’t make it tonight.’ Dot felt terrible, as Maud appeared genuinely upset.

  ‘Uh, why is that?’

  Maud sat down heavily on the couch and looked despondently at her phone. ‘He says that something has just come up with work. I can’t really complain as I’ve not spent any time with him because of my art.’

  Dot pulled a face and looked away but she seethed at the lies, even though she realised she was being hypocritical. She had asked Elliott to give Tom the number of the blonde girl from last night, as she was someone they both knew. Elliott had been confused, but done as he was told. True to form, Tom had obviously called her and made plans for that night.

  Dot was momentarily upset she had ruined Maud’s night, but then her phone buzzed as Nate answered her earlier message. ‘You’ll have to go on your own with El,’ said Maud, slumping over and dropping her handbag to the floor.

  ‘Maud,’ said Dot carefully. ‘Nate has just offered to step in so our night isn’t ruined. His own plans have just fallen through and I hate to think of him sitting in on his own...’ she wheedled, crossing her fingers behind her back and sending silent thanks that Nate had answered her quickly. She’d decided that it was a good idea for her to see Nate with Maud, to decide whether there was a possibility for that relationship to progress, if Tom was out of the way. She knew it was sneaky, but her brother’s and her best friend’s happiness were at stake, and it was time for someone to do something about it. If Tom had been a nicer man, she wouldn’t have got involved, but as things stood, he deserved all that came to him.

  Maud looked embarrassed at the idea of Nate joining them. ‘Surely Nate has better things to do than babysit me while you are on a date?’

  Dot jumped up in shock. ‘I’m not on a date with Elliott! We’re just two friends having dinner.’

  ‘Sure you are,’ said Maud with a smile as she contemplated her choices for the evening. ‘So it’s either join you and your brother on a weird sort of non-date date, or sit here like a sad loser on my own?’

  Dot recovered well and smiled back at her. ‘Yes. Don’t be a sad loser all your life.’

  ‘Ok,’ Maud said, grabbing her bag and picking up the keys to lock up behind them. ‘Let’s go.’

  The evening had turned out to be a great success, and Nate had been on his best behaviour, as if he’d decided to become Maud’s best friend. He was charm personified and had them all holding their sides, aching from laughing at the stories he told them about some of his clients. They had chatted until the sky turned dark and they noticed the clock on the wall, realising that needed to get home for work the next day. Dot and Elliott had enjoyed themselves too, and she was beginning to become a bit girly and confused around him, which was weird. Nate had asked Maud to join him in checking out some new gallery space. Predictably she had blushed, but been unable to refuse as it was the golden ‘art’ word, which she was addicted to.

  Nate looked so happy that Dot’s heart melted a little. She’d even grabbed Elliott’s hand and given it a squeeze, which had made him beam from ear to ear and bring her hand to his mouth for a kiss, which had made her blush too. She didn’t know what was happening, but suddenly Elliott was morphing into a hot man before her eyes, even though he’d been the same person all her life. She didn’t know why she was behaving this way, but could only assume she had a silly crush on him as he was always so nice to her, and she’d been too busy to really notice the wonderful man he’d grown into before.

  She’d whispered to Maud that going to view art with Nate was a good idea, as they needed to check out other gallery spaces for their own work and they had the final details of their first show to organise. ‘It’s got to be bigger and better than any other I’ve done for my family,’ she hissed vehemently.

  Elliott paid the bill and grabbed Dot’s hand to walk her to a taxi, where she seemed to have lost the power of speech, which Maud and Nate seemed to find hilarious for some damn reason, she huffed, haughtily sticking her nose in the air and prancing towards the car.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Nate opened the shiny black car door and Maud felt a frisson of excitement about going out for the day with such a glamorous man. Her neighbours had met him a few times now when he’d popped round to collect Dot, so there was no curtain-swishing when his car pulled up. He’d taken her to four galleries and they’d talked about the little paintings that had been left on park benches, which had made her feel slightly nauseous. He’d told her that the artist had a gift and he’d love to see more of their work. Maud felt like a complete heel for not confiding in him, but Dot had been adamant that they kept it between themselves and Daisy. Dot said she was really proud of their new work and wanted to surprise her family. Maud couldn’t argue with that, although she’d purposely chosen a date for the art show when her parents were on their yearly holiday. Their plans were identical every single year, and they returned to the same place time and
again. As a child, Maud had loved visiting friendly places, but as she had grown older, it had become monotonous. She’d tried to make them see the joy in experiencing different cultures, but they’d looked at her as if she was an alien and then patted her head in sympathy for her not understanding the benefits of familiarity, as if she was a pet dog. The last thing she wanted was for them to stand in the middle of a crowded room and look horrified as she opened herself up to the world and presented her collection of work. It would ruin the evening she had spent many restless nights over and, although it was harsh, she just didn’t want them there.

  Nate had been inspiring to listen to. As they’d viewed the different styles of art, he’d explained how each artist worked and the techniques they employed to capture their subjects. Maud didn’t have to pretend to be fascinated, as the timbre of his voice made her bones feel like warm honey and he kept gazing into her eyes to see if she was enjoying the visit, as if her pleasure meant something to him. She felt like a precious gem in his hand, as he made sure she was happy with every decision he made about where they would visit next. Tom would have just dragged her along anywhere that suited him. She hadn’t heard from him since the boys’ night out, but presumed that she’d embarrassed him with her drunken antics as he was such a responsible man. She’d never seen him falling over tables in an alcoholic stupor or spewing his guts up onto the pavement after a heavy night out. She supposed she should have called him to apologise, but she was a bit miffed that he hadn’t checked to see if she got home ok, before cancelling their only date night for ages.