Out of Hand

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Scott’s POV.

“Who said you could bring your friends on this trip?” I ask my son dryly.

He shrugs and gives me a cheeky grin, the one he inherited from me.

“Uh, you did? I actually did ask if I could bring a couple mates, Dad. You said yes.”

“When did you ask?” I check.

“Three months ago.”

“How am I supposed to remember after all that time?” I fire back at him. Conveniently, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and check the notification. “You know how busy I am Leo, I barely remember my own name at times.”

“I know, which is exactly why you need this vacation.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure your friends really need it too,” I respond sarcastically.

“They do, actually. Olivier has been kicked out of his flat and Nia is considering taking up stripping to be able to pay for the rent, her parents cut off her allowance for refusing to take her law degree.”

The final part makes me frown. There’s no surprise in the news that Olivier has been booted out by his parents. From what I understand, they pay for him to live in an extraordinary flat in London and he trashes it most weekends with his outrageous parties that he throws. I would have kicked him out long ago if he were my son, I’m grateful Leo doesn’t act like that. I can’t understand why he is friends with Olivier.

Nia however, she’s a different story. She’s only been friends with my son about two years. I’ve never met her, but I have heard a lot about her. Leo only seems to talk about his friends to me, he doesn’t like his job as an IT manager and we don’t share many of the same interests, so our conversations mostly revolve around his social life when we catch up.

Leo told me that Nia’s parents are very strict and they are dead-set on her becoming a lawyer, a career she has no interest in. She has a degree already I think, although I can’t remember what in, and they have been pushing her to take her law degree. Leo mentioned that they were threatening to cut her off last time they talked, it seems they have followed through with their threat.

“They actually did it?”

“Yep.” Leo’s scowl is even bigger than mine. “I’ve always know that they are assholes, but I really thought they were bluffing this time.”

“Does Nia know what she’s going to do?”

Leo, Nia and another one of their friends called Pascal live in one of my flats in Bermondsey. They pay nearly two grand a month in rent to me, although all the transactions go through Leo. If she has been cut off by her parents, she needs a high-paying job to be able to afford the rent.

“Worried about your income?” Leo snaps.

I glare at him. “I’m not concerned about the money, Leo. I’m concerned about Nia. What is she going to do? Does she have a job?”

He shrugs. “She doesn’t know yet. She’s working at a start-up in Barking but they’re messing her about with her hours, she isn’t getting a steady income. Pascal and I have offered to cover her rent for one month each, we’re hoping she’ll have something figured out in the next two months.”

At the back of my mind, I’m already planning on voiding the rent for her for the next few months. God knows I don’t need the extra money at the moment, business is booming.

“Okay. Don’t pay her cut, save your money. I’ll void her rent for three months, give her a chance to get back on her feet.”

Leo gives me a look that’s a mixture of curiosity and awe.

“Thanks, Dad. That’s really good of you.”

I shrug at him, trying to act casual. “They’re your friends.”

Leo grins and throws his arm around my shoulders. He’s a couple inches shorter than me so I appreciate that it’s not easy for him to do it, so I bend my knees a little.

“I knew you’d feel that way, that’s why I’ve invited them on holiday, you’re going to love them.”

“I’m not sure about Olivier,” I mutter under my breath.

“Don’t worry, he got all the partying out of his system this weekend, he’ll probably only be drunk for like 40% of the trip.”

“Jesus.”

“Nia’s just texted me, her and Olivier have been through security and are being escorted over here.”

My private jet is ready to go on the airstrip. I planned this mini-vacation/work break around six months ago. We’re going out to The Hamptons for two weeks. One of my associates has a house out in East Hampton and I own my own summer house in West Hampton. My brother and Leo’s uncle, Ralf, will be joining us too. I’ll be able to meet up with him while also having a vacation, I can’t remember the last time I sat by a pool, it’s been too long.

“Good, I want to get going,” I tell Leo.

“Here they are.”

I recognise Olivier from pictures Leo has posted on social media. The man is every bit a stereotypical Frenchman, down to his light brown hair, tall stature at six foot, pronounced facial structure and pale blue eyes. He looks at me and nods in acknowledgement. His hand comes out and I shake it firmly.

“Mr. Halstone, pleasure,” he says with a faint accent.

“Scott, please. Good to meet you, Olivier.”

“And this is Nia,” Leo states, gesturing at the woman standing just behind Olivier.

The Frenchman moves out of the way, allowing me to see Leo’s flatmate for the first time. I received her details when she moved into the flat with my son, but I barely paid any attention to her driver’s license, I was more focussed on checking her details to ensure my son had picked a good person to live with. I wish I’d paid closer attention now because wow.

Nia is incredibly beautiful and nothing like what I was expecting. I don’t know what I was expecting, I hadn’t really come up with a picture of her in my mind. I really haven’t spent any time considering Leo’s friends, they’re part of my son’s life, not mine.

She is thick, wavy hair that is so dark, it is almost black instead of brown. She has left the tresses down and they blow in the breeze coming off the airstrip, making the ends dance around her elbows. She moves the stray strands out of her face with the flick of her head. Her eyes, two huge circles of bright green, sparkle with excitement as they meet mine. I offer my hand to her on instinct, eager to feel the touch of her skin.

Her hand is unbelievably soft. She takes mine in a gentle hold and squeezes it. I find myself reluctant to let go when we have finished shaking hands. I eventually let her hand go and it falls to her side, bringing my attention to her body. She has an incredible figure, curvy and a few pounds over skinny. The dress she is wearing hugs those curves perfectly, putting them on display without attracting too much attention to them.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Halstone. Thank you so much for letting us come on your trip with you.”

Her voice is soft and has a slight rasp to it that I decide is a sexy rasp the second I hear it.

“Call me Scott, please Nia, and it’s not a problem, there’s room on the jet for everyone.”

Her eyes flicker to the right, to admire my private plane, and her eyebrows raise. She doesn’t comment, although I try to read the emotions flickering in her eyes. I want to know what she is thinking. I want to know what she thinks of me.

“Come on, let’s get on the plane,” Leo says and puts his hand on Nia’s lower back.

My eyes automatically hone in on the action. I’ve never given it thought before, but I find myself wondering what their relationship is, if he finds her attractive. He has to, anyone with a pair of eyes can see that she’s gorgeous. Her hair sways from side to side in time with her hips as she walks, her lips turn up at the ends as though she is always wearing a secretive smile and her eyes are perfectly almond-shaped, looking like a cat’s.

The three of them get on the plane. I wait until they have boarded to follow them up the stairs. I go to the pilot’s cockpit first and run through the flight plans for the final time. When I’m satisfied, I approve take-off and return to the rest of the plane.

There are six leather seats in the front part of the cabin, then a table and small kitchen area. Our air steward, Fidel, is stood at the end of the cabin, awaiting instructions. I go over to him next and discuss the plan. There will be two meals served in the duration of the flight and it will make his life easier if everyone could order what they want now, so that he can have it ready in time.

Leo and Olivier are sat on the first two seats, already buckled in, and scrolling through their phones. Nia is on the second row, her legs tucked under herself as she reads a book. As her eyes scan the words, she pushes a strand of hair back behind her ear. I snap out of it, realising that I’m staring, and take a seat in the chair opposite hers. She looks up and meets my eyes, offering me a brief smile before looking down at her book again.

“Can you all choose what you want to eat?” I ask and hold out the menus.

They take them eagerly, looking like hungry students that long for a good meal. Their reaction makes me feel guilty for finding Nia so attractive. She is my son’s age, twenty-four, far too young for me. I bet she’d think me a total creep if she ever heard the thoughts currently circulating in my head.

Nia’s POV.

After picking our food, we hand the menus back to Scott. Olivier and Leo continue their conversation about...whatever it is they’re talking about. Those two are as thick as thieves. Even though the three of us live together, I am very much the third wheel in our living arrangements. The boys have a kind of bromance that I can never penetrate.

I don’t mind it, really. As much as I love the both of them, they have such boring conversations sometimes and our interests vary so wildly that I actually appreciate their friendship, it gives me time to myself. I am very much an introvert. Olivier is an extrovert and Leo an ambivert. We work well together, bouncing off one another and bringing out difference sides of our personalities. The two boys help bring me out of my shell. If they weren’t around, I would probably spend most of my time in my bedroom with my books.

My eyes naturally seek out Scott again. Mr Halstone, the father of my best friend, is nothing like I thought he would be. I thought he’d be like other dads, a little bit chubby, at most charming but definitely funny, a poor dresser and full of embarrassing stories about their child. Yet Scott is none of those things, except charming.

Firstly, he looks nothing like the other dads I have met. He looks young, our age almost. He has a young person’s hairstyle, a fade on the sides and long on top. He has three piercings in his left ear and an industrial bar in his right. He is covered in tattoos, they are dotted over the knuckles of his left hand, all the way up his arm in a sleeve, they peek over the top of his shirt collar and disappear into his hair. I am sure there are more but I haven’t seen them.

Yet.

As well as appearance, he doesn’t act like the other fathers I’ve met, including my own. He is controlled, a smooth-talker, somewhat stoic and a whole lot enigmatic. Being a father doesn’t even to be on his radar and at the same time, it is obvious he cares about his son. I am both completely bemused and entranced with him.

I shouldn’t find him attractive, I really shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself. My foof wants who it wants. Since the moment I shook his hand, my dirty mind has latched onto Scott Halstone and has not let go ever since.

Oh yeah, I’ve got it bad.