AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERTWELVE
Aurelia
I wakeup with a smile on my face remembering Isaac’s hard on the night before. I happily blush recalling the feel of his bulge beneath my hand, knowing no one can witness it. Only I could have caused that. I’d been with him from the moment we left my dressing room, right to the moment he accidentally threw iced water all over me. He hadn’t come across any other woman in that time. So, either he has a perpetual hard-on, or he saw me in my corset and liked what he’d seen.
I meant what I said though. There’s a reason why girls and women wear this stuff, so really, it could have been anyone parading in front of him wearing sexy lingerie. It was the lingerie that had turned him on, not me. The blush slowly dissipates, along with my smile, and I heave myself out of bed and into the shower.
When I emerge from my suite, I can hear Isaac talking on his cell in hushed tones. It sounds like he’s having a difficult, personal conversation. I don’t want to loiter conspicuously so I tiptoe past, apologetically, and settle myself on a lounger out on the deck. Unfortunately, the serene quiet the villa affords us means I can still hear everything.
“Mom, you know I don’t have that kind of money…” I hear Isaac sigh heavily. “Last time was different. I had to borrow from friends and I can’t ask them again.”
A pen taps against the kitchen surface where he’s hunched over his computer.
“No one needs that amount anyway. What do you need it for?” There’s a long pause before he replies in a quiet voice. “I don’t believe you.”
A longer silence follows and I try my hardest to focus on my book.
“When do you need it by?” Pause. “That’s crazy, Mom. A month from now?” He lowers his voice again. “I can get you some of it, ok? But you’ll have to go elsewhere for the rest. This is going to wipe me out… No, I’m not borrowing from anyone else, and this is the last time, Mom, I mean it. It seems every time I get back on my feet, you ask me for all my money…”
There’s more silence while I try to focus on the words in front of me. I feel terrible to be privy to this conversation. Eventually, Isaac walks out onto the deck and stands at the edge looking out.
“I’m sorry if you heard any of that,” he says, finally.
“Of what?” I lie. “Sorry, I was engrossed in my book.”
Isaac turns to face me and arches an eyebrow. “It’s upside down, Aurelia.”
Shit.I slam the book down and sit up. “Ok, you got me. I’m sorry. I really tried hard not to listen, and I only heard bits. I don’t want to pry, but are you ok?”
He scrubs at his face and looks back at the sea, his body turned away from me.
“I’m fine, thanks. It’s my mother. I don’t hear from her for three years and she calls me up wanting money.” He sighs and jams his hands into the pockets of his combat shorts. “It’s not the first time. There’s a pattern. I don’t hear from her for years then she calls up apologizing for being out of touch, promising me the world and then, well, asking for obscene amounts of money.”
“How much?”
“It’s doesn’t matter how much, I can’t—”
“How much, Isaac?”
He sighs again. “Fifty thousand bucks. The kind of money I don’t have. It seems to go up each time. Last time it was thirty grand and I managed to scrape it together using my savings, money from a couple of jobs I did here on the resort and a loan from Connor. That I’ve only just paid off, mind.”
“Are you going to try to give it to her?”
He shakes his head but doesn’t reply, so I try a different angle. “Do you have any other family?”
He turns this time and leans back against the railing at the edge of the decking. “No, my father killed himself when I was five.”
I can’t stop the gasp of shock, even by clamping my hand over my mouth. Isaac, on the other hand, continues unfazed. “My grandma raised me, but then she died ten years ago.”
I can hardly breathe. “You were raised by your grandma too.”
He nods, a ghost of a smile crossing his face. “Yeah, something we have in common, huh?”
I smile but it’s etched in sympathy. My parents might have a funny way of showing their love for me, but at least they’ve stuck around.
“How did your mom cope?”
He snorts, bitterly. “She didn’t. She became a party girl, disappearing for days on end, only returning when she needed more money to pay for her reckless lifestyle.”
