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“I’ve never had a girlfriend, I’ve told you this. You are the only girlfriend I’ve ever had. I’ve never initiated sex either, ask Elliott.”
She raised an eyebrow at my comment.
“He makes fun that I have zero chat up lines for women, he always says he’s surprised I ever get laid. The only reason I ever have sex is that a woman has seduced me. Do you want to know why that is?”
I knew my voice was stern and demanding, but I needed her to listen. She didn’t flinch at my clipped words like others have in the past. I didn’t get angry often, but when I did, I used few words to get my message across. Adaline sat calmly with her hands in her lap and waited. She nodded once, appearing mute of any words.
“I can’t understand why they would want to sleep with me.”
I’d said it, for the first time, I’d confessed my insecurities. I risked a glance in Adaline’s direction, she’d leant forward with her hands on her knees.
“What did you say?” She asked me, coming off the sofa to sit back in front of me.
“I have no idea why any woman would want to sleep with me, so I don’t try,” I said.
“Are you insane? You’re the most handsome man I have ever met, and I’ve met some very wealthy, highly groomed men who spend more on a suit than my food bill for a year. You own a company too.”
“You know?” I asked, I’d hoped to keep that from her after her reaction to my wealth.
“Yeah, I know, and I don’t care how much money is in your bank account, but I do want to know some day why you’re not running it and Elliott is.”
I deflated like a bag of potatoes, hanging my head. I didn’t believe it when she said she thought I was handsome. It was amazing to hear those words coming from a gorgeous woman like her, but I didn’t believe it. She also wasn’t shouting at me for keeping it from her about my company.
“You’re the first person to call me handsome,” I confessed.
“Why do you think women fall all over you? I see them everywhere rubbernecking as we walk down to the beach. Or when you make me traipse around the supermarket trying to teach me about healthy food.”
I sniggered at her words. She hated the weekly shop, but I was determined to show her that it was painless to shop for the correct foods. Adaline spent most of her time on her phone, with her thumbs tapping away at messages and emails. After the third visit, I made her push the trolley otherwise she would stand in the middle of an aisle not caring she was blocking the way while she dealt with her customers. She was oblivious to the manyexcuse merequests and only moved when a trolley was shoved at her ankles.
“What I see in the mirror and what others see is different, about a hundred pounds different. I assume they only want to know me because of my wealth and connections. Gabby certainly did. We were at a party that her parents had thrown, my mum wanted me to attend to show my face. I hate going anywhere public where I don’t know anyone or who to trust. I never know what to say. Gabby didn’t recognise me at first. She was staring at me from the other end of the banqueting room for half an hour before she approached.”
I moved to the sofa and encouraged Adaline to join me, she didn’t hesitate and sat facing my side as I continued the story.
“My dad’s company was hugely successful. He’d invented an electronic device, and he had the foresight to patent it before he manufactured. My dad became a very wealthy man inside a year, I wasn’t even born at this stage. He went from nobody to The Times Rich List in two years. When he died, the company became mine, with me as majority owner. He never had to float the company on the stock exchange, not that he ever would, he wanted to control all of his output.”
I checked that Adaline was still listening. At this stage of any of my stories, she had her concentration on her phone or laptop. This time she was concentrating on my face, impassive as she listened. The lamp behind her had her in the shadows, but I could tell she was interested in how this would play out. All I wanted to know was that we were ok, and she would not dump me.
“When he died,” I said, Adaline, reached for my hand and squeezed. “I got a lot of attention. Phone calls, emails, texts, and letters. All inviting me to some kind of social event. I went to a few and made a complete arse out of myself. The men wanted to talk business, and the women wanted to seduce me. Some of the women were the wives of the men who wanted a place on my executive team. It was hell on earth. I spoke to my mum about Elliott taking over as CEO, he was qualified, experienced, and about the only person in the world I would trust to run my dad’s company.”
She hadn’t let go of my hand. I took that as a small victory. My heart rejoiced that I still had her attention.
“Anyway, at this party, Gabby took two glasses of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray and offered me a glass. I didn't like champagne but took the glass, it seemed rude not to. She tapped the edge of her glass with mine and took a sip. I held onto mine in an iron grip. She was perfectly groomed just like she always was. I remembered her from school, we were in the same year and had graduated ten years previously. I was quaking in my brogues, she could cut anyone to shreds with a few chosen sentences. She’d done it enough times to me. She made me a laughingstock at every opportunity. In gym class, she’d find a way to publicly strip me naked. I was morbidly obese, shamefully fat, I couldn’t fit into chairs that had arm rests. I never found out why she made my life a misery but she did and I hated her.”
“Then why did you sleep with her?”
“I thought she’d changed, she was charming, funny and never left my side all night. I thought little about why she didn’t mention our school days. I was glad she didn’t bring it up. We met at a few more dinner events until I stepped away from being the face of my father’s company. It was at the last dinner event she dragged me into the cloakroom when they were serving dessert and gave me a blowjob. We ended up having sex in the cleaning cupboard. It was her parting comment that told me all I needed to know about her.”
I turned away for a moment, every time I played the line over in my head I winced.
“What did she say?” Adaline said and held my hands tighter.
“She said,not bad for a fat boy.” I grimaced once I’d told her.
“You’re fucking incredible in bed, don’t pay her any attention,” Adaline said and scooted nearer.
“It was her parting comment that hurt the most.”
“Tell me,” she said, holding my face, her lips parting, waiting for me to confess. I moved my head, but she moved it back to face her.
