Show Off, page 6
“One question.”
“My darling Charlotte. I’m always here to answer your questions.” Well, that was bullshit, but sure ... Charlie could work with it right at this second.
“I suppose I can’t tell anyone either.”
“That would be best.”
“What does that mean?”
Mum sighed, theatrically, because that’s how she did everything. “Technically and legally, I signed the non-disclosure form and I get the monthly payment if it stays secret. The only thing stopping you from mentioning it is that it will end my payment from him. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.”
“I’m sure that’s true.” If she were a meaner person, she’d see opportunity in that. Okay, so she saw opportunity anyway, but she wasn’t going to do anything about it. Long ago, she’d decided not to behave in the same way Mum did. The times when she had any instinctive thoughts around manipulating a situation, she pulled herself up and stopped before acting. “Why tell me then?”
“Darling girl. You look just like him. I wanted to warn you in case someone saw the three of us together and figured it out. I would hate for you to learn it from the press, and not me, even though I’m in breach of contract by telling you.” And it would okay if the press guessed? Mum would probably make the most of that situation; the gossip rags could talk about it for months with both her and Tom—Tom Scottridge!—denying it, while they both gained loads of publicity for their new project. What did it matter? Her little scheme to have them all seen together wasn’t going to do anything because the idea that Charlie looked like him? Nah. She had the same dirty blonde hair, but so did lots of people. She had Mum’s brown eyes, much to Mum’s horror. Imagine if she’d had blue eyes, she would’ve been given bigger roles, blah blah.
“Okay.” The convoluted logic almost made sense. She should warn Beth and Walter, their security guy, that Tom Scottridge might attend tonight. Fuck. If she did that, she’d have to tell them how she knew. She’d think of something. “Okay. Thanks. I’ll see you tonight, Mum.”
She threw her phone on the table and paced around her office, but it was too small. Maybe she could put on some loud music in the warm up room and throw her body around a bit with something energetic.
***
“What the hell?” Beth turned down the thumping bass heavy music. “What is going on?”
“Um, I have some news.” Charlie pulled herself off the floor and stood up. She couldn’t talk about Tom being her father, but she could at least tell Beth about her Mum. Decision made. And if she said that Mum was bringing Tom, that wasn’t technically a lie.
“News that requires you to blast the sound system?”
“Yes. So did I ever tell you that my Mum is an actress?” Charlie gulped.
“No. Who?”
“Lottie Alcott-James.” She shared the same name as Mum—Charlotte Kent—and as usual she sent a quick thanks to Mum for using a stage name because telling people that her mum was Lottie Kent usually didn’t connect her to the soap opera actress. It was also quite handy in the rest of her life as people didn’t continually say, oh just like the actress?
“Sylvia Wood from Chelsea Avenue?”
“Yes. So um, anyway, she’s coming tonight to watch the show, and she’s bringing a... um, work colleague of hers.” Charlie hated the uncertainty in her voice, her arms, her everything and she stiffened her spine and painted on a more confident expression.
Beth nodded. “Okay. Are you planning to dance?”
“No. I’m going to find someone to fill in for my slot and I’ll just do the MC-ing tonight. I know everyone else will notice that I’m not dancing and will ask about why. Can you make up something? I don’t particularly want everyone to know who my mum is.”
“Cool. I’ll keep your secret. I’ve kept Reiko’s for the best part of a decade now.”
Charlie raised one eyebrow. “Reiko has a secret?” She breathed out. “Never mind. Everyone has secrets. Um, maybe it doesn’t matter if everyone knows who my mum is.”
“It’ll be easier to explain why you aren’t dancing tonight?”
Charlie nodded. “Yes. Okay. Just as long as no one is weird about it.”
“I think you’ll find that our crew will be more supportive than you imagine.”
“Yeah, it’s not like she’s super famous.” Charlie gasped. Shit. “Speaking of famous, um, don’t you want to know who Mum is bringing with her?”
“Sure. I assume it’s someone famous.”
“Um. Yeah.” Charlie cleared her throat. “It’s Tom Scottridge.”
“Who?”
Charlie laughed. “Seriously?” Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if anyone ever found out he was her father.
Beth wrinkled her nose and grinned, and Charlie belatedly realised Beth had been teasing. “I might be a bisexual person who leans towards being lesbian, but I still watch the occasional het movie. They’re a bit hard to avoid. So yes, I know who Tom Scottridge is.”
“Right. Yeah.”
“Is your Mum dating Tom Scottridge?”
Charlie opened her mouth then closed it again. Damn, she’d nearly said, not anymore. “Um...” She cleared her throat. “No, well, Mum hasn’t said and it’s the kind of thing she would boast about, so I assume no. They are apparently working on a project together.”
“I take it the press will follow him?”
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. Mum literally called me half an hour ago with this news, and that’s all I know.”
“Okay. You need to stop drowning your emotions in loud music and find a replacement dancer for your slot tonight.”
“Yes.” Charlie nodded, glad to have something constructive to do. She would’ve done it without Beth’s instruction. It was just ... useful to have someone remind her of her priorities.
“It’s cool. I’ll let Walter know he might need to plan for the press tonight.” Beth turned up the music and left Charlie to it. The heat had gone out of her, so she walked over to the stereo and changed the music to her usual stretching playlist. She changed the volume to match and went through her routine. Each stretch helped ground her back into real life; work, dancing, organising. Who could she call at this last minute? And if she didn’t find anyone, could she just shorten the program tonight? Would anyone notice? Probably not. Oh... Yolande and Jack had been practicing a new dance together. Maybe they’d give it a test run tonight?
Chapter 6
Elle rubbed her eyes. She’d been staring at her computer screen for hours trying to figure out how to take the jumbled plan at Seraph’s and rework it into a functional design. Hours, days, whatever. She needed to take a break and stare at some nature or something in the distance to rest her eyes. It’d been a few days since she’d stripped off her pants and Charlie had tongue-fucked her in the hallway at Seraph’s. She shivered.
What was it about Charlie? Elle never shed her inhibitions with anyone else, and yet one teasing word from Charlie and she’d bared herself in public where anyone might walk past. She swallowed and leaned back in her chair. Her hand drifted down over the soft fabric of her shirt as it stretched across her belly to the waistband of her trackpants. Working from home had a few benefits. Elle slipped her hand inside her trackpants and pressed her clit. Fucking hell, just thinking about Charlie’s tongue on her and the way she’d held Elle’s bare arse as she’d licked her until she’d come made Elle moan. She was wet just thinking about how she’d bit her lip hard to stop herself crying out.
Somehow taking a risk and being vulnerably naked in public with Charlie’s hands on her arse and her tongue inside her had made the whole experience sharper, more desperate, than it would’ve been in a private space where no one would ever interrupt them. Charlie pushed her beyond her limits and she fucking adored it, adored her. Elle sucked in a deep breath and pinched her clit. What a naughty girl she was. Pressure built up and she rubbed harder and harder until she came; right there in her office chair, in front of her computer screen.
For a second, she held her breath and quickly scanned the screen. No, she didn’t have any meeting apps open; thank fuck, she didn’t have to deal with that particular humiliation. It was practically its own genre of internet joke now. She’d loved the one of the woman talking in a meeting and her boyfriend had walked into the screenshot. The woman waved him away, and he’d freaked out and run right into a wall and collapsed. There were other ones, but none tickled her the same as that one. The poor dude had obviously been trying so hard to not distract her from her work.
She chuckled as she wandered across her flat to wash her hands. Maybe she’d go to Seraph’s tonight and see if Charlie was around? Her phone rang and she dried her hands as she paced back towards her desk to grab it.
“Hi.”
“Elle, how are you?” Willow’s enthusiastic voice shrill in her ear.
“I’m good.”
“Awesome. Are you coming to Joey’s birthday party this weekend?”
Elle rolled her eyes. As if she could possibly forget ... Willow posted about Joey online every day. At least once a week Elle contemplated blocking her for a few days just to get away from Willow’s perfectly curated #mumlife.
“Of course. Remind me of his favourite colour again.” Last week, it’d been blue, but from what Willow said, Joey tended to change his mind a lot. As Willow rambled on about Joey, something about how he’d missed his first birthday party because of the pandemic, Elle let her mind wander. The first draft of plans for Seraph’s would be done soon and she had a meeting with Beth in a couple of days to go over them and run through the initial costing. The plans could be built within budget, and as long as Beth liked the plans, then everything could smoothly progress into the build stage of the refitting project. Seraph’s was her first commercial space design and it was a huge challenge compared to all the residential houses she’d done since starting her business.
“You aren’t listening, are you?”
“Sorry.”
“I said, do you think Hugh would prefer the dark red or the dark blue tie? I sent you the pictures.”
Elle shrugged. “I have no clue what my brother would want.”
“It’s important. I don’t want to get it wrong.” Willow’s usually upbeat voice had an odd tone to it, one that Elle had spent a lot of time trying not to remember.
“Willow.” How could she say this? “Why are you selecting his tie?”
“I told you already. He has a big meeting tomorrow and he wanted me to buy him a new tie to go with his navy suit, but I can’t decide if a matching tie is too boring or if the red is too much.”
“Buy both and he can choose.”
“Oh no, you know what he is like. He trusts my opinion on fashion, so I have to decide.” Confidence returned to Willow’s voice.
“Willow, he’s not going to fail in a meeting if he wears the wrong tie. Ask him what kind of impression he wants to make. Does he want to appear—” Elle couldn’t say boring about her own brother even if it was a little true, “—um, consistent and like he fits in with the general business crowd? Then use the blue. Or does he want to look like a creative thinker who will bring ideas to the table? The red would be best for that.”
“Thank you. That’s what I was missing. I will ask him. We’ll see you on Saturday, then?”
“Yes.” Elle said her goodbyes and hung up. Shit. She hated the way her heart pumped and the sense of vigilance that surrounded her; she didn’t want to go to Joey’s party and watch her brother closely just in case he had become too concerned with his image ... No, he wouldn’t. He knew what it was like. Speaking of ... that, she needed to get this design done for Seraph’s and update her spreadsheet.
Elle didn’t need to look at it to know how many more jobs she had to make a profit on before she’d repaid her parents their seed money. That figure was branded in the forefront of everything she did. She hadn’t wanted to ask them to help her get her business started. She had worked for years in a crappy job to avoid their involvement in her business, but in the end, she’d negotiated a reasonably sized loan so she could get away from her old boring job that was stealing her creativity and motivation. She’d needed to start her business more than she’d needed to avoid being in debt to her parents. And it’d been—mostly—worth it.
The sooner she’d focused on work, the sooner she’d be able to cancel that debt and be free again. She needed to get more marketing happening to get her goal achieved faster It’d been a few days since she’d posted anything on her business social media pages. Her employee Susan did most of the social media stuff and was much better at it than Elle, especially at the engaging with people part of it. Too many people asked the same boring questions over and over and most of them never bought anything. Yes, she knew social media wasn’t technically all about sales. This was her business though, and it was hard—impossible—not to worry about the bottom line. Especially when a quick conversation with her sister-in-law reminded her that she’d see her parents this weekend, and she still owed them money. She slid into her office chair and opened an internet browser window.
“Tom Scottridge’s secret love child.” The headline screamed at her in bold letters and she sighed. She really ought to change the automated setting from the news to her own website. Hold on. She squinted at the screen. Was that a blurry picture of Charlie? No. It couldn’t be. Except it really did look like her. She picked up her phone to send her a message, then put it back on her desk. For all the times they’d hooked up, they’d never swapped phone numbers. She had no way to call Charlie and see if she was okay. Her toes tapped on the ground. Eventually a solution came. Beth. Was it weird to ask her client if Charlie was okay? Yes, most likely. What about Yolande or Reiko? They worked with Charlie.
Elle: Hey Reiko. Is Charlie okay? She hit send before she could second guess herself, but the thoughts flooded her in an ugly loop. Why didn’t she explain why she was asking?
Reiko: I take it you’ve seen the news.
Elle: Yes.
Her phone rang. “Hi Reiko. How is she?”
“I’m annoyed as fuck.” Charlie made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a strangled cry. It took Elle a second; Charlie must using Reiko’s phone to call her after the text she’d sent.
“Why? I mean, are you okay?” Silly question; using Reiko’s phone wasn’t exactly a sign that all was well.
Charlie laughed, a mean hard laugh. “I’m fine. Obviously, since I’m hiding at Reiko’s place to avoid the piles of paparazzi outside my flat and Seraph’s.”
“Right. I’m glad you are safe.” Elle swallowed. She really didn’t have this type of relationship with Charlie where they talked about ... well, anything real.
“Thanks.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Punch my mother.”
Elle gasped. “Excuse me.”
“Never mind.” Charlie’s sigh vibrated in her ear. “Mum wanted some publicity for her new movie and it kind of blew up.”
Elle rubbed her forehead. “Your mum is an actress?”
“Yeah, she plays Sylvie Wood on Chelsea Avenue.”
“The soap opera?”
“Yeah, that one.”
Elle had way too many questions, but none of them mattered right now. “I’m sorry that you’ve been dragged into this.”
“I’m used to it.” Charlie sighed again. “I mean, not the whole Scottridge nonsense but you know, Mum has been on that show since I was a toddler, so it’s kind of normal to me to see pictures of me in the news.”
“Of you?”
Charlie clicked her tongue. “It was worse when I was a kid. Mum loved the photo shoot opportunities, you know, hard working solo mum actress, blah blah.”
Elle didn’t buy the blasé way Charlie talked. Was it really her business if Charlie wanted to pretend that everything was okay? “Do you want to...”
“Meet. Yes, I need to get rid of some of this energy.”
Heat shot down Elle’s spine. “Where?” She had been thinking they’d have coffee and they’d talk or something, but this was more like their usual thing. They connected physically, and if Charlie needed Elle to fuck her senseless to make her feel better, then Elle would be there. She wanted to be the one who Charlie used when she needed release.
“Can you come here? I can’t really leave without being mobbed at the moment.”
“I assume you are at Reiko and Yolande’s apartment?”
“Yes. I’ll text you the address.”
She already had their address because she’d decorated the whole apartment. Elle bit her lip. “What about...? Um, we won’t be alone.”
“They can leave for a while.”
“While we hook up? Isn’t that weird?”
“Fucking yes, it’s weird. So weird. Everything about this is weird.”
Elle wanted to kiss Charlie’s anguish away. “Tell me a time and I’ll be there.”
“Okay.” Charlie hung up, leaving Elle standing in her office. She wasn’t going to be able to focus on work now. Maybe she’d go for a swim in the lap pool in her apartment building. It’d probably be empty at this time of day. Her phone beeped with an incoming text. It was from a number she didn’t recognise.
“Come now.”
Elle almost dropped her phone. There was no doubt that the text came from Charlie and even less doubt about her next action. She stripped off her clothes as she walked to the bathroom; somehow managing to get there without injuring herself in her rush to wash and get ready to go to Charlie. As she waited for the water to warm up, she scratched her head. Would she ever reconcile her need to please in real life with her need to command during sex? Oh—she knew precisely where the need to please came from ... Heat prickled the corners of her eyes and she jumped into the shower, letting the water wash away the sudden tears. One day she’d come to terms with never being good enough for her parents. It was one of those complicated situations. They’d never abused her or anything. On the face of it, they were a perfect family. Father, mother, one son, and one daughter, who all went to church in their village every Sunday. Her mum volunteered for almost everything in the village, and Dad was the town’s accountant. It was all very ordinary. She had nothing to complain about; not compared to the situations she read about in the news. There was always someone worse off than her, and if she couldn’t cope with a little criticism from her parents, then she must be weak. She bowed her head under the water. She wasn’t weak. She’d work harder to prove it to them. Soon her debt to them would be repaid. She was on target for repaying it earlier than they expected. That had to be worth some praise. She turned her face upwards and let the water stream over her, washing away the tears that refused to stop. Screw them. Right now, she had somewhere more important to be. She’d go to Charlie and give her the escape she’d asked for.
