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‘Why don’t you do another one, and I’ll watch now?’ he said, keeping his gaze off the girl on the bank and trying harder to refocus it on her little brother. The kid he was actually being paid to watch over.
‘But I already did it.’ Aldo’s face fell into a pout. ‘I’m not sure I can do another one so good.’
‘If you did it once, you can do it again.’ Lifting himself up onto the dock, he sat with his legs dangling into the chilly water and swiped his fingers through his hair. Warmth seeped from the weathered boards through his buttocks to tug at his stomach muscles.
If Lizzie was still watching him, it didn’t mean anything. So what if he’d noticed her doing that a lot in the past half hour while he and Aldo mucked about in the water? He didn’t want her to watch him. Any more than he wanted to watch her.
He folded his arms over his chest, squeezed his biceps and shuddered theatrically. ‘But get a move on, because I’m freezing and I want to get dressed.’
And he’d probably be a lot better able to process this situation if he had his clothes on.
Aldo paddled furiously, treading water, the pout disappearing as quickly as it had come. ‘OK … I have to take a swim up, though. So don’t look away.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ he said on autopilot, used to reassuring Aldo—whom he’d noticed as soon as he’d come to work for Halle was starved for any kind of male attention.
Maybe that was all this was, Trey reasoned, keeping his gaze locked on the lake and Aldo splashing over to one of the buoys and away from Lizzie on the bank. He knew Aldo didn’t have a dad, and although Lizzie did, he knew she didn’t see him much. Because he lived in Paris. Maybe Lizzie saw him as some kind of surrogate dad figure. Like Aldo. While her mum was away. The thought made him shudder for real, despite the warmth of the sun on his shoulder blades.
Bloody hell. Terrific. Now the instant awareness he’d felt as her gaze had raked over his chest and her eyes had gone all dreamy felt sort of creepy and incestuous. As well as just really bad news.
Aldo’s arms pinwheeled as his bum lifted into the air and his legs flipped over in the water, executing a lopsided underwater somersault that wouldn’t win any synchronised swimming awards but still looked pretty accomplished.
He came up for air, spluttering water, his hair slicked to his head like a seal, and Trey gave him a round of applause, forcing his mind firmly back into au pair zone and further away from Lizzie Best danger zone.
The good news was that Aldo was a needy kid, who would help to keep him focused for the next twelve days. Until Lizzie’s mum got back. If Lizzie was at all interested in him, he very much doubted her interest would last longer than a week. Especially given that she’d seemed to despise him until about four hours ago. Surely this was just a passing fad. And although he didn’t relish the return of the frosty drama queen, he had to concede she was easier to handle than friendly bikini babe.
‘That was ace, buddy.’ He reached out his arm to lift Aldo out of the water. ‘Come on, let’s get some lunch.’
Aldo shook his head, the droplets spraying across the surface of the lake and hitting Trey’s knees. ‘Can’t I stay in a bit longer on my own? I want to practise it some more.’
‘You’re shivering. I think it’s time to get out now.’
Aldo gritted his teeth to stop them chattering. ‘Ten minutes? Please?’ He sent Trey a winning grin. Trey knew he was sunk. Aldo so rarely showed signs of wanting to be independent, he didn’t feel right discouraging him. He nodded, resigned. ‘Fine, but no more than ten. Tops.’ So much for Aldo, the dependably needy decoy. ‘You sure you’re OK on your own while I go and get dressed?’
Aldo bobbed his head with undisguised enthusiasm. ‘Yes, tell Lizzie to watch, will you? I want her to see my somersault, too.’ Aldo’s gaze flicked to their spot on the bank that Trey had been avoiding. ‘Who’s that guy she’s talking to?’
Standing, Trey shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun. And felt the inappropriate warmth in the pit of his stomach chill. A lanky kid, about Lizzie’s age, stood over her, and although he seemed relaxed, his stance loose, Lizzie definitely didn’t. No longer lounging on her elbows, she was sitting bolt upright, her knees hugged to her chest. He couldn’t hear what the kid was saying to her, but the way she had her face turned away from him made it clear whatever he was saying, she didn’t want to hear it.
‘Wait there, Aldo, I’ll be back to get you in ten.’ He threw the words over his shoulder, not even sure Aldo had heard him, as he headed down the dock at a jog, his eyes trained on the guy with Lizzi
e.
Then he saw the guy bring his hand from behind his back. It disappeared in front at crotch level.
Lizzie’s distressed shout rang out across the park all the way to the water. ‘Fuck off and die, Jenkin.’
The families sitting nearby sent her censorious looks for the language. Trey’s jog accelerated into a run when he spotted the hot colour scorching her cheeks. As he got closer, he could see what the kid was doing. He was miming jacking off, right in front of Lizzie’s face.
The blast of disgust was quickly followed by an explosion of righteous anger. The dirty little pervert. Whoever he was, he wasn’t going to get the chance to fuck off and die, because Trey planned to murder him first.
‘What’s the matter, Queen Lizzie? Liam said you’re a sure bet for a good blow job.’ Jenkin Sawyer’s feral laugh added disgust to the liquid fire in Lizzie’s belly.
‘I told you to fuck off. Do you not understand English?’ she hissed, mindful of their audience of shocked yummy mummies.
Resentment washed over her, adding a bitter taste to the bile in her stomach.
Who were they to look at her like that? As if she was in the wrong? As if it was her fault her ex-boyfriend was a sexist dickhead and his friend was a perv?
All these yummy mummies with their yummy kids who had cute, comfortable, polite lives and had probably never had to deal with an arsewipe like Jenkin in their entire life.
