Chapter 7: Table Manners

OLLIE

I swallowed deeply, closing my eyes. I could swear a wave of tingles traveled from where he touched my skin to my entire body.

~Oh~, this man’s effect on my body was something I had never experienced before.

I gritted my teeth, and Anna narrowed her eyes. This woman was catching on to something!

I decided to step on his foot, using my pointy heel as a weapon.

I coughed loudly into my napkin to disguise the sound of how hard I stomped on his foot. By his huff, I was sure one of his toes squealed for mercy.

Ha! I had none as I pushed my heel, keeping pressure.

Darius frowned, his face tightening as he squeezed my thigh intensely, which only made it worse.

That big palm of his gripped my entire thigh, making me bite my lip.

“Stop it,” I murmured, so only he could hear me.

He answered by moving that big hand of his down my leg.

At this point, I was wet as fuck, and I would have preferred to eat shattered glass than give this motherfucker the satisfaction of finding the evidence of my arousal.

So I heeled the heel, literally.

“Water, Miss?” Rosie from the staff spoke behind me.

I was mortified when she glanced quickly at Darius’s hand, which he was now retrieving from between my thighs.

Perfect! Now, I would be starring in ~Downton Abbey~ in the Hamptons with all the gossip swirling about ~Master Darius’s~ hand on the thigh of the gold digger sister.~ Ugh.~

I shoved Darius’s hand away quickly, fixing my hair behind my ears.

“For your cough,” she explained.

“Yes, yes, thank you,” I said to Rosie, building my composure back up.

My body didn’t lie; I was so turned on that this whole thing was just embarrassing.

“They both died in a car accident when I was a teenager,” Sarah paused, looking at me before continuing.

I’d been so caught up in my little drama that I lost sense of my purpose at this dinner.

I left Sarah alone to answer this family’s questions.

“Since then, Ollie has taken care of me. It’s been the two of us ever since.”

“It is in the past, love,” Alexander spoke softly.

His hand brought comfort to her back while the other pressed a kiss to her delicate palm. “You will never be alone again.”

~Oh, he called her love.~

Anna sighed before speaking, clearly irritated by the lovebird sight.

“I heard you are a theater actress. Is that so?”

I could barely hear Sarah as soon as I felt his hand near my thigh again.

He wasn’t touching me, but the heat emanating from his hand was so intense that I didn’t know if, at this point, I wanted to kill the guy or fuck him. Maybe both.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” I deadpanned so only he could hear me.

Oh, the fucker ignored me. Ignored me!

Alexander changed the topic. “Olivia, Sarah told me you went to an Ivy League?”

“I have a bachelor’s degree in English Language & Literature,” I mumbled.

I kept my head down, looking at my fork, playing with my food, hoping for an end to this round of questions.

“What are you planning on doing with that degree?” Anna asked pointedly.

“If you are lucky, becoming a teacher at that same school would be your best shot at success. That is, if they accept you, of course.”

She sighed and looked at Edmund with tired eyes. “Millennials are destined to be poorer than these last generations.”

The audacity of this woman was unbelievable.

I faked a big smile. “I believe each generation brings something valuable and different, Mrs. Rothschild. Besides, aren’t there more valuable pursuits than wealth accumulation?”

I batted my eyelashes. ~Take that, you old hag.~

Darius pursed his lips before speaking. “Like what?”

~Like purpose, dickhead. Maybe cultivating some virtues would do you good.~

“Why answer? Isn’t it all about money and power with you?” I shot back.

“Is it?” He raised his eyebrows and brought his napkin to his lips like the civilized beast he was.​

Right. Now, I was the one jumping to conclusions.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” I refrained from crossing my arms and rolling my eyes.~ Fucking dickhead.~

“Why do that if we have an English major in our house?” He laughed softly but expectantly.

“Please, enlighten us, Olivia. What is a more valuable pursuit in life than building power, building wealth?”

He’d caught me off guard with that one.

Blood was rushing to my cheeks as he placed his elbows on the table and rested his face above his knuckles.

He was making me nervous, silently reading my face.

I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t speak. He was going to make fun of me.

“Let me guess…” He savored each word. “Is it ~love~?”

I swallowed.

He was mocking me, and I couldn’t hide my nervousness anymore as I held his gaze, which made it worse.

It was evident he enjoyed riling me up.

“Is that what you did with your degree? Read romance novels? Dream?” He continued.

“All the titles on the floor of your apartment were romance novels.”

Did he see those? Like he would know anything about romance literature.

Would I admit that was exactly what I did in my spare time? Read silly things?

“Good for me. Didn’t you know? Love is the highest form of manipulation,” I spat bitterly.

“Is that so?” He flashed a toothy smile.

This tension between us was getting awkward.

Everybody’s stares moved back and forth between us.

“Charming dear, but people have to pay bills,” Anna broke in, emphasizing the word bills.

I froze.

She continued, “Wouldn’t you agree, dear? You have ~bills~ to pay every month?”

~Bills, bills, bills~, my mind echoed.

Was she sending me a message? Does she know about my colossal debt? Is she already friends with Ben Attewell, my finance nightmare?

~Ollie, chill out. You are being paranoid.~

“Yes, Mrs. Rothschild. We, people, have bills to pay.” I managed to keep my fake smile still on.

I would not give them the satisfaction of offending me.

I was going to play this game, too.

“Do you plan on becoming a writer?” Luther asked.

“What would you write about, Miss Summer?” Luther pressed in a polite tone.

~Kill me now.~

“I would write about everything that is wrong with our society. Maybe something like how poor my generation is destined to be. The thought alone makes me so sad.”

I spoke with a touch of light sarcasm, indirectly sent to Anna even though I ignored her.

Darius’s frown showed me how protective he was of his mother.

Knowing where to poke made me feel so accomplished.

~Can’t you handle a little teasing?~

What I’d said wasn’t true. I had better things to write about, but breaking Anna’s little bubble of superiority was worth the comment.

Nothing like putting an entitled bitch in her place.

“Superiority complex is another topic that catches my attention,” I continued, gazing at his silver eyes. “It can be easy to study with so many subjects around.”

I had his attention; I had more impertinent comments to add.

My heart flipped as I considered what I was about to say.

“Contemptuousness and entitlement are fascinating, especially as signs of deep insecurity in men.” I swallowed quickly before I could laugh, then went on. “A defense mechanism, to be exact.”

~Didn’t you want to know the damage an English major can do?~

To my surprise, he seemed amused and not offended.

He remained calm, blinking at me like he was truly seeing me.

“Superiority complex goes both ways, Olivia,” he began. “To feel superior, someone has to be inferior. Aren’t we shaped by our beliefs?”

He narrowed his eyes on me.

“I dare say that you feel quite intimidated by your belief.”

“What belief?”

“Money as the root of all evil.” He smiled. “And your hate for men, of course.”

“Lovely,” Edmund offered, as if we were talking about the weather.

Luther’s eyes pierced me before he exchanged a smirk with his brother.

Something told me this wasn’t their first rodeo.

“So we have an actor and a dreamer. Delightful,” Anna said through gritted teeth.

Sarah had been holding her tongue, but I could tell she was about to speak.

~Please, Sarah, don’t bother. Nothing you say will impress them.~

“Ollie is the smartest person I know,” Sarah offered proudly.

~Shit.~ She just sent us over a cliff.

Darius scoffed.

~Did he laugh in my face?~

I had a feeling something like this would happen, and I tried to control my rage as I studied his hot, jerk face.

“How smart are you?” he asked smoothly. “There are things you can’t learn even if you go to an Ivy League. Things money can’t buy.”

I was speechless.

Everybody was dead quiet.

~Did he say that in front of everybody?~

Alexander tried to calm the waters. “Darius believes college is overrated, so don’t take it personally.” He looked at Sarah as if they knew something they were not sharing.

I continued to glare at Darius, putting all my effort into controlling my fury.

The disgust on his face felt like a slap. “Meaning?” I asked.

“Meaning that real education is not forged in a school system. It starts in your home.”

That triggered me.

After all the struggles I’d gone through to graduate from college, was he implying I had no education because my parents were dead?

Sarah was looking down at her lap, and that made me murderous.

If this kept up, she’d lose all her self-esteem with this family.

~Damn it, I fucking hated this guy, like real fucking hate.~

“Well, what is something you cannot buy then? Humor me.” I said lightly, keeping my tone steady though I wanted to yell.

Why show him anything that he said got to me?

I waited for more of his venom, but he remained silent.

His mother answered for him in her high-pitched, sweet voice. “Class, dear.”

“Mother,” Alexander pleaded softly.

It felt good to know I wasn’t the only one who disliked them.

Sarah seemed to be in a state of shock.

Everybody looked uncomfortable except Anna Elizabeth Rothschild and Darius Robert Rothschild, two peas in a pod.

Always confident, like nothing could bother them.

“For example, you should stop playing with your food,” Darius suggested calmly in a low tone, only for me to hear. “We expect at least some basic table manners if you are seated at our table.”

“Oh, my apologies. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I guess I’ve lost my appetite,” I offered with fake innocence, fluttering my eyelashes.

The bigger the ego, the smaller the penis. ~Is your penis so small, Darius? Is that why you want to control everything?~

Did his mouth twitch?

One thing was for sure: at this dinner, we were the food, and they were eating us alive.

So why not make it entertaining?

“Did you know that hand-to-mouth eating is a time-honored tradition in many cultures around the world?” I said and delicately plucked up a grape with my fingertips.

If I was going down, I was going down fighting.

I chewed seductively, enjoying his eyes on me.

Only after I swallowed did I allow a big smile to spread across my lips.

Yes, I wanted to rile him up the same way he did to me.

Yes, I wanted to crack him.

“I wasn’t aware you were from the Middle East or North Africa,” he raised his eyebrows effortlessly.

Damn it, he was harder to crack than a coconut! This man was made of steel.

“Can’t we just dine in peace?” Alexander sounded upset.

“Alexander is right, we should dine in peace,” Anna said with a soothing tone. “Alexander, what is this big news you are announcing tonight?”