Page 5 of Outlier

I would never have called her tone hesitant, but compared to the way she spoke before, I could just about make out that quality.

“You misunderstand me. It’s actually quite common when someone like you interacts with someone like me. You see I?—”

“Someone like me?” I said in a low, furious voice. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“W-well you and I, we’re very different, and it might be hard for you to fully understand what I?—”

“Just because I do a manual job does not mean that I’m stupid, princess.”

“Of course not. If you would just listen, you would understand?—”

“I understand perfectly. You want some fun with a bit of rough, and I’m not interested.”

“But… but youareinterested in me physically.”

Oh, wow. This bitch certainly had a high opinion of herself.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is that right?”

She blinked at me. “Yes, the evidence would point to the fact that you find me physically attractive.”

“Evidence?” How had she gathered any evidence? I’d barely ever spoken to the woman.

“Yes. When I was at the pool in Little Buckingham in a bikini, you spent a large percentage of your time looking at me, and you had to use one of Margot’s outdoor throw cushions to cover your groin area after I got out of the pool.”

It was my turn to blink at her now. Words stuck in my throat as a vision of Vicky in that barely there bikini floated through my mind. I was ashamed to say that Vicky emerging from the pool, soaking wet in that bikini, had been my go-to when I was on my own late at night, for quite some time. And it annoyed me. It annoyed me even more that she had noticed.

I felt my face heat up and thanked God for my thick beard. It was rare that I got embarrassed, but this woman had managed it. And, fuck my life, she wasn’t even finished.

“Your gaze will often shift to me in a group. Your pupils dilate when I look at you directly. And you have been observed ‘staring at my arse,’ as Lottie put it, which I understand is a sure-fire way of distinguishing sexual interest. Also, I’m aware that I am, in general, physically attractive to men. I have been aware of this fact since I went through puberty at around fourteen years old.”

“Wow, you’ve got a pretty high opinion of yourself.”

She frowned. “On the contrary, I don’t?—”

“Well, I’ve got news for you, princess,” I said, my tone now full of the anger she’d stirred up for being so beautiful but so unbelievably cold.

Anger at all the bloody rich people I’d known who thought they could walk all over me and treat me like shit. But most of all, anger at the promise of her being nothing but a lie.

“I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole. You’re beautiful, and yes, maybe my bodydidreact when I saw you half-naked, but just because I had a physiological response to you doesn’t mean I would be tempted to ever touch you. I like my women warm, cute, kind, able to express actual emotion and equipped with a personality. You… you’re like a beautiful vase—great to look at but empty inside. I’m not so hard up that I’d fall into bed with someone like you just because you made my dick hard once when you wore a bikini. So you can stop with this bullshit staring at me all the time. Stop fantasising about roughing it and go back to the pretty boys youshouldbe fucking.”

Nothing about her expression changed as I spoke to her. Not one flicker of emotion. So maybe Ihadlet my anger get the best of me, but it wasn’t like anything I said affected her. I slapped the delivery receipt down on the coffee table, which she did react to with a brief flinch.

“It’s been real, princess,” I muttered as I turned and stalked out of her house.

I didn’t look back, but I should have.

I should have bloody well looked back.

Chapter 3

Is Vicky okay?

Vicky

The doorbell was going again.I registered it in the back of my mind, but, just like the last few times, I simply couldn’t get up.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been curled up there, but I knew it must have been a good few hours. In fact, thinking about it, it had been dark earlier, and it was light now. Had I been there overnight?