Chapter 47

Ollie’s POV

The Moo Moon Ice Cream Shop is fairly small with just a counter, a backroom for the employees, and a dining area only big enough for three sets of tables with two chairs each. So far, I’ve met a coworker named Nancy who has been showing me how to do things.

She must be a year or two older than me, because I don’t remember her from my grade at the high school, but she’s close enough in age that we should have a lot in common.

Every time I try to make small talk with her, however, she either ignores me entirely or answers me with grunts. She doesn’t hate me, I don’t think. She hasn’t said anything mean or tried to hinder my performance in the job in anyway.

It just seems like she’d rather look at her phone to talk to me. She’s utterly indifferent to me.

I suppose I don’t mind that. As long as we can work together okay, we don’t have to be friends. Though secretly, inside, I wish we could be friends. I could use more of those. And since we’re going to be seeing each other four days a week all summer, I’d rather we talk than not.

But I can settle for us just being cordial.

About four hours into the shift, a young man around Nancy’s age comes into the store. He has dirty blond hair, chocolate brown eyes, and an easy, approachable smile. He comes into the shop with the kind of confidence that tells me he’s been here before.

Looking up, he seems surprised to see me standing behind the counter. “Are you new?” he asks.

“Uh… I…”

Immediately, he winces. “That was awfully rude of me, wasn’t it? Sorry, sometimes my mouth moves before my brain does.”

“It’s alright,” I say. I’m not offended. “I am new.”

“I should have introduced myself before I started throwing questions around,” he says.

“Ollie, this is Jake. He comes in all the time. Jake, this is Ollie. She’s new,” Nancy says, without looking up from his phone. “Now you know each other. Please stop being weird.”

Jake’s cheeks turn a little pink.

I didn’t really think anything weird about our conversation, so I press on. “Nice to meet you, Jake.”

He swallows hard. “You too, Ollie. Do you… uh… come here often?”

“I obviously works here,” Nancy says. “Stop being weird.”

Jake’s face turns even redder.

Nancy is being a bit mean to Jake. They could have past issues that I don’t know about, but he seems like a nice enough guy. I don’t see any reason to embarrass him.

“How about some ice cream?” I say and gesture to the counter. Behind a glass partition are dozens of different ice cream in all kinds of flavors. I’m still learning all their different names.

Jake steps closer. Pushing his hand through his hair, he asks me, “Which one do you recommend?”

“Oh, um… I’ve only had the chocolate cookie crumble so far,” I say.

“That one then,” Jake says and smiles at me a bit shyly. “Whatever you think, Ollie.”

Jake seems an agreeable sort, so different than the quadruplets who I’m used to dealing with.

The comparison makes me a bit itchy though, and brings me to distraction not for the first time since I clocked in.

I keep thinking about the way Declan pinned me with my hands above my head. When he leaned in like he did, I could have sworn that –

“That’s the plain chocolate,” Nancy says, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Oh!” In my distraction, I scooped a plain chocolate cone instead of the chocolate cookie crumble.

“Don’t worry,” Jake says, just as my face is starting to fall. “There isn’t a flavor here that I don’t like. The regular chocolate is fine.”

“Are you sure? I can make another,” I say. I’m so used to being scolded for my mistakes, that I don’t know what to do with someone who is so accepting and easy-going.

“I insist,” he says. We move to the cash register, where I pass over the ice cream and he pays. There’s a tip jar there, and he places ten dollars into it. That seems like way too much tip for a two dollar ice cream, but I don’t say anything, not wanting to embarrass him as Nancy did earlier.

Perhaps he’s just a generous sort.

“Will you be here tomorrow, Ollie?” Jake asks.

“Yes,” I say.

Jake smiles wide. “Then so will I. See you then.”

After Jake leaves, I comment to Nancy, “He seems really nice.”

Nancy ignores me.

When I arrive home, I’m surprised when one of the servants stops me to tell me that Conrad wants to see me in the study right away. Not even allowing myself time to change, I make my way to Conrad’s floor of the estate, and then find him in his study.

The door to the study is open so I walk right in. Its late afternoon by now and the curtains on the windows are drawn back, yet the light in the room is still somewhat dim. Bookcases line every wall space, the room itself smells of parchment.

In the center of the room, Conrad sits behind a massive wooden desk. He has his laptop open on the desktop and seems to be scrolling over something, though I can’t see the screen from the entryway.

As I walk in, he looks up from his laptop. Like Declan, he takes his time looking over my outfit.

“So it’s true,” he says, his voice carefully measured. He’s not as good at hiding his emotions as Declan is though, so some of his anger cracks through, infesting his words. “You are working…”

“It’s just an ice cream shop,” I say.

Humming, Conrad stands up and circles around from behind his desk. He comes closer to me.

“Declan seems to believe that you are hoping to seduce men dressed like this,” he says.

“This is my uniform,” I say. “All employees wear this.” Nancy wore the exact same outfit. There’s a male version too, but the shorts go down a bit farther. I also doubt they are as tight.

“If it’s all so innocent, you won’t mind if I scent you, then? To see if you’ve been with a man while you were gone.”

That’s a Ludacris request and I shouldn’t consent to it. Yet…

“Suit yourself,” I find myself saying. “I have nothing to hide.”

Conrad hums again and steps closer. For a moment, he simply looms over me, making me crane my neck to look up at him. He’s the tallest and strongest of the brothers, a pure athlete who would likely live in the gym if he good.

Maybe that strength should intimidate me. Instead, my mouth starts to water.

He puts his hands on my waist and coaxes me closer to him. At the same time, he starts to lean down, moving his face to the corner of my neck and shoulder.

Without thinking, I raise my hands and place them on his chest. His heart beats steadily under my palms.

He inhales long and slow. When he exhales, I can feel his hot breath on the bare skin of my neck. It takes everything in me not to moan.

Suddenly, there’s a clatter of something in the hallway. Did someone drop something?

Before I can even turn to look, Sylvia screams.