Chapter Seven

Osbourne’s

Ella

“I’m so happy to see you.” Susie clung to Ella so tightly, she wondered if her mother would ever let her go.

“You, too, Mum.”

She glanced around at the startled expression of the loitering server as she attempted to untangle herself from her mother’s arms. The reality was Susie was right. It was good to see her, but a late lunch at Osbourne’s under the watchful eye of Tucker was not the same easy dynamic they’d shared at home, and there was a lot for the two of them to discuss.

“Shall we sit down?” Ella gestured to the table they’d been allocated.

Situated at the far end of the restaurant, the choice of table was cozy enough to ensure their conversation remained private, yet central enough to guarantee that Tucker could see them. Her focus flitted behind her until she found where he was sitting. His tempting lips shifted into a smile as their gazes locked momentarily.

“Yes, okay.” Susie slid onto her chair, using her napkin to dab away her tears. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ve just been dreaming about this moment for days.”

“So have I.” Ella reached her hand across the table and grasped her mum’s fingers. “I missed you.”

“Good afternoon.” The young server smiled as she placed a pile of menus between them. “Welcome to Osbourne’s, ladies. Can I get you both a drink?”

“How about champagne?” Ella’s gaze slipped from her mother to the waiter. “We’re celebrating.”

“Oh, fabulous.” The server smiled. “What are we celebrating?”

“Our reunion.” Her fingers encased her mother’s hand.

“Well…” Apparently, that hadn’t been the response the server expected. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you.” Susie sniffed.

“And a bottle of spring water as well, please,” Ella added. It was good to be back in control again. She’d spent so long reveling in her submission to Tucker, she’d almost forgotten how good it was to spend someone else’s money.

Almost.

Her lips curled. Not that she could really forget the joy of spending. It had been the thing she’d lived for, and anyway, Tucker could afford it. He’d told her to order whatever she wanted.

“I’ll get the drinks for you,” the server replied. “Then I’ll come back for your order.” Her retreat prompted Susie to speak again.

“God, I missed you so much.” Susie’s gaze welled with fresh tears as she forced a smile. “I thought I might never see you again. I can’t believe your father would do this!”

“I know.” Ella sighed. “It’s a new low.”

“How did you get away from the guy who was holding you?” Susie’s attention darted around the space as though someone might be listening to their chat. The real irony was that the person she referred to was only about fifty meters from where they sat. She just didn’t know that yet.

“I didn’t ‘get away’, Mum.” Ella squeezed her fingers, trying to decide how to phrase whatever came next. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?” Susie demanded. “Who even is this guy?”

“He’s an old friend of Dad’s.” Her toes curled in her new shoes as she referred to Alexander that way. After everything he’d put her through, she ought to stop honoring him with the title, but after so long without a father, it seemed she was in no rush to give him up… however useless he was. “But I mean, an old friend. They’re not friends anymore. These days, Alexander only owes him money.”

“Hmmm.” Susie’s tone hardened. “A debt he thought he could barter his way out of using you.”

“Right.” Ella pulled in a breath.

“I knew a few of his so-called pals back in the day,” Susie’s tone was pensive. “Maybe I know this guy?”

“He said he didn’t remember you,” Ella explained. “He also inquired about that.”

An edgy quiet hung over the table as the two women contemplated the last few days.

“What happened to you, Ella?” Susie’s voice quivered as she asked the question Ella presumed had played on her mind above all else.

“Alexander left me in the woods for Tucker to collect.” How was she going to explain this to her mother without making Tucker sound like a monster? Certainly, some of the things he’d put her through in those early days had been monstrous. Not for the first time, she sensed the weight of his stare on her skin, but she resisted the urge to look his way. This meeting was about her and her mum. Tucker had promised them at least an hour of conversation before he moved to join them, and she intended to make the most of every minute.

“Tucker?” Susie spat out his name. “Is that the swine who kept you captive?”

He didn’t.

The words lingered on the tip of Ella’s tongue, but she let them go, realizing that, at the beginning, at least, that’s precisely what Tucker had done.

“Yes, his name is Tucker.”

Ella’s tone was hushed as the server returned. Susie’s gaze never left her as the younger woman wrestled the cork from the bottle and poured them two glasses of champagne. Ella never glanced around to check, but she swore she sensed the weight of another pair of knowing eyes on the side of her face. She pushed down the smile that wanted to rise at the thought. No doubt he’d wonder why they were drinking bubbly. Maybe he’d punish her for it in some intoxicating way later. It didn’t matter.

“To your safe return.” Susie lifted her glass once the server had served the water and taken their order. It seemed neither woman was especially hungry, choosing only appetizers to accompany their alcohol. “I am so happy to know you’re okay.”

“To our reunion,” Ella corrected as she clinked her glass to Susie’s before taking a sip.

“That’s a nice vintage.” Susie nodded as she tried her champagne. “I haven’t eaten here before, but so far, I approve.”

“I’m glad.” Ella eyed the honeyed bubbles as she placed down her glass.

“This was his idea, I assume?” Disapproval reverberated in Susie’s tone. “This Tucker’s?”

“He booked it, yes.” Trepidation twisted in Ella’s stomach as she wrestled with Susie’s censure. She understood her mother’s concerns but really wanted to convey how Tucker had made her feel in the last few days. She needed her mum to know that the ogre she’d met in the forest had shown a softer and more loving side.

“Tell me what he did to you.”

Susie’s sudden, direct approach shocked her. Ella knew her mother could be a hard-nosed bitch where business was concerned, but she rarely applied the same attitude to her daughter.

“It was hard at first.” Ella gripped the stem of the champagne flute as she recollected those initial hours in the woods.

“That’s not answering the question, Ella.” Susie’s hand withdrew from hers. “Please, sweetie. You don’t need to protect me. Whatever happened, you can be honest.”

“He never hurt me.” She met Susie’s wide gaze, finding it simpler to admit what hadn’t happened rather than to divulge what had.

The definition of what might have constituted ‘hurt’ in the first twenty-four hours was another conversation, of course, but Susie didn’t need to know the details. The fact that Tucker had strung her up in his barn, stripped her, and thrown cold water over her didn’t explicitly imply harm, but Ella couldn’t say they were the finest hours of her life. On the whole, though, she felt no qualms as she insisted on Tucker’s innocence.

“And he never forced himself on me, either.” Lifting the glass, Ella took a long swig of the simmering drink as she remembered some of the enormous liberties he’d taken, but none of those acts disproved her statement.

Even when he’d bound her and demanded she suck his dick, she’d never complained about the act itself. In fact, she’d have happily carried it out for him once he’d cleaned himself up. Every sexual adventure they’d engaged in had taken place with her assent, even if, at times, it had only been the eager agreement of her body.

“Okay.” Susie’s body sagged as though the tension she’d been holding on to had just eased from the cells of her body. “I’m relieved to hear that.”

“It wasn’t always chocolates and roses,” Ella went on. “But it wasn’t awful, Mum. I could have gone through much worse.”

“What happened out there in the woods?” Susie’s gaze never left hers as their appetizers appeared from the kitchen.

“He has a cabin out there.” Ella swallowed at the torrid memories. It had only been a matter of days since they’d fled from the cabin, yet it seemed more like years. “I tried to escape, and he brought me back, but after that, we started to get along a little better.” She was seriously smoothing over the details as their appetizers arrived, but was communicating enough that her mother might get the idea.

“How much better?” Susie’s shrewd tone told Ella her mum understood almost entirely.

“ A lot better.” Ella glanced down at the Italian platter the server had delivered, waiting until the young woman departed. “And then Alexander got in touch to say he was bringing armed men to get me back, and we had to run.”

“Run?” Susie frowned. “Why run? You could have stuck around and let your useless father actually get you out.”

“I didn’t like the idea of sticking around to face the bandits he dragged through the woods, Mum.” She picked up a fancy breadstick and nibbled at one end as the melodic jazz music playing from the overhead speakers floated past her ears. “I don’t trust Alexander.”

“That much I understand.” Susie snorted. “But you’re saying you do trust Tucker?”

“Increasingly.” She chewed on the breadstick thoughtfully. “He’s been great to me since we arrived in the city.”

“But he still won’t let you come home?” Susie’s expression was pained.

“He’d rather I didn’t,” Ella replied diplomatically. “Honestly, I’ve wanted to stay with him, Mum. I’ve grown to really like him, and I want to know where our relationship can go.”

“Relationship?” Susie practically spat out her shrimp. “What relationship, Ella? He’s the man who held you hostage, not some sort of romantic hero.”

“Actually, Mum, I think he could be both.” Though not quite the type of romance her mother might be thinking about.

“Are you saying you’re falling in love with him?” Susie held her breath as though the question was painful, and Ella supposed she could understand why.

She wasn’t blind. Ella recognized how unorthodox she and Tucker were. He was more than twenty years her senior and had a murky past, but that didn’t stop their chemistry from feeling right. She longed for Susie to give Tucker a chance.

“Perhaps.” She was surprised at how much conviction her voice held as she lifted her flute for another sip. “All I know is that I want to see how it goes.”

“This is madness, Ella.” Susie shook her head. “You know that, right? It’s Stockholm syndrome. You’ve fallen for the guy who made you his prisoner.”

“Maybe.” Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She’d expected this response, yet it was demoralizing to know she’d been so right. “Maybe not.”

“What do you mean, maybe?” Susie hissed. “You need to come home with me and get some sleep!”

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Mum.” She waited until Susie met her eyes before she went on. “I know you love me and only want what’s best for me, but I’m all grown up. I make choices for myself.”

“But Ella…” Unable to defy Ella’s logic, Susie’s softer tone appealed to her heartstrings. “See it from my point of view. You were abducted, and I heard nothing from you for days, and now you’re telling me you want to stay with the guy who made that happen?”

Ella shifted in her seat. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with the way Susie had put that but reasoned it wasn’t worth correcting her.

“For now,” she confirmed. “But I’ll keep in touch this time. I have a new phone, and we can speak whenever you want.” She reached into her purse and pulled out the smartphone. “Let me text you the number.”

Susie looked close to tears again as Ella typed out a quick message and sent it to her mother’s mobile number.

“There.” Ella nodded as her mother’s phone beeped from her own purse. “That’s me.”

“Okay.” Susie nodded. “That’s a start, but I’d still rather you come home with me. The place is too big without you.”

“I was never going to stay at home forever, Mum.” Placing down her phone, she stretched a hand across the cloth to nudge her mother’s fingers.

“I know.” Susie’s tone was wistful. “I just didn’t think you’d leave home like this.”

“Yeah.” Ella couldn’t argue with that. “I guess not. I’m sorry, Mum. I never meant to cause you pain.”

“I think it’s a condition of motherhood.” Susie’s laughter was dry, but she pressed her warm hand over her daughter’s. “Maybe one day you’ll discover for yourself, though please don’t wind up pregnant with this Tucker guy.”

“Don’t worry, I have no plans to get pregnant.” Her attention shifted to the dregs of the fizz in her glass. “That’s the last thing I’d want.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Susie patted her hand. “Whoever this guy is, I’ll need to meet him before I can give anything akin to my blessing.”

“Right.” Ella chuckled at the idea that she required her mother’s blessing. Honestly, Susie’s control freakery was starting to parallel Tucker’s. Why did everybody want to tell her how to live her life?

Although it’s sexy as hell when he does it.

“Well, that’s easy to resolve, Mum.” Shifting in her seat, she peered around and caught her lover’s gaze. “As it turns out, he wants to meet you, too.”