Our Unfinished Story
As told by Nik Archer
Felicity
Mr Stalker hadn’t said two words to me since Declan left. Once inside our flat, Nolan immediately went into his room after locking and arming the front door and balcony’s protection. I went to the kitchen and got myself a bottle of cold water. It was only 10:30 and I wasn’t going to sleep just yet. I took a seat in front of the TV and switched channels until I got to reruns of sitcoms that Nolan and I would normally watch together. I could hear him open and close his drawers and wardrobe in his room. What was he doing? I got up and knocked on his door.
“Hey, do you need anything?” Nolan asked as he opened the door.
“Yes, can you watch TV with me?” I looked into his room and saw two open suitcases on top of his bed, one stuffed with unfolded clothes and the other with some of his electronics. I pushed my way in and looked around. He was packing. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Packing. You know I’m leaving. The point is to move my stuff out of here.” He said, his tone condescending.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“What do you want, Miss Baker?”
My face fell. I didn’t know what I wanted. Well, a big part of me wanted Nolan to stay. I wasn’t sure I could deal with this being a reality. His packing was too real and, as if I could have pretended that everything was just a nightmare, this was proof that his leaving was impending. I shook my head as tears streamed down my face. After such a great night with Mr Handsome, I now had to face the reality of Mr Stalker no longer being the stalker he was supposed to be.
Nolan’s hand made it to my arm and he pulled me further into his room. I followed his lead to his bed where he sat me down and kneeled on the floor between my legs. He placed his hands on my thighs and looked up at me.
Was I ready for this? For him to leave me? After 10 long years? No. “Please, don’t go.” I whispered through sobs.
“It’s for you. You need this.” Nolan said, wiping my tears and then sitting beside me. All I wanted was for this to be a bad joke or something or other. But no. Nolan’s arm around my shoulders and his chin on my head were indicative that this was it. “You’ll finally be free from your stalker.”
“I don’t want to be free from my stalker.” I muttered, barely audibly. The tears wouldn’t stop anymore and I sank into Nolan as he consoled me.
My eyes fluttered open and I adjusted to the dim lighting. I was in Nolan’s bed. But he wasn’t here. I sat up and rested against the headboard and pushed the switch to turn on the main lights. His suitcases weren’t here either, unless they were back in his wardrobe. I checked the nightstand for my phone but it wasn’t there. I got out of bed. I was still wearing the same dress I had on since the morning. I pushed the door open and saw that Nolan was sitting on the sofa. He turned around straight away and then got up and glided towards me in two long strides.
“Hey, you fell asleep. I didn’t want you out of my sight, so I left you in my bed while I finished packing.”
I nodded. I wasn’t going to be able to stop him. I knew that much. “You’re staying, until after my birthday.” It was more a question that I needed him to confirm was a statement.
“No, Miss Baker. I’m leaving the day before your birthday. You should get to spend your special day with your freedom back. On your terms.” Nolan said, guiding me to my room. “Get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be busy. I believe Vix-Cynthia is meeting you at one at Baker Manor.”
“Vix-Cynthia?!” My mouth gaped open. Was he going to call her Vixen?
“Cynthia. Miss Conwy. Sorry.” Nolan blinked three times, turned his head away, faked a cough, then looked back at me. “Miss Conwy is meeting you at one.”
“Vixen?!” I was still shocked. What the hell? He called me Miss Baker all the time and he called Cynthia by the nick name she threw on him?
“Sorry, Miss Baker. I shouldn’t have.”
“No. Shouldn’t have, Stalker.” I said, pushing him off me. “Cow.”
Nolan sighed and opened the door to my room.
“What were you doing? You’ve not slept?” I said, leaning against the doorframe.
“Not yet.” Nolan said. “I was finishing my packing and have shifted my stuff out.”
“Already? When? Where to? Where are your suitcases?” I had a sinking feeling. Was he moving out sooner?
“They’ve been put away.” Nolan grabbed my arm and pulled me into my room.
“Where? Where were you going to sleep?” Would he have come back to his room after doing whatever he was doing if I hadn’t woken up? Did I ruin my chances of getting closer to him?
“Away. Where they need to go. And I would have just slept on the sofa if you hadn’t gotten up, Miss Baker.” Nolan said, as he pulled back my duvet. He sat me on my bed and once I was seated, he let go of me.
“Stay with me?” I needed to shower and get changed, but I wanted him to cuddle me and stay with me until the morning. I needed him.
“Yes, until the day before your birthday.”
“No, I mean now. Stay with me, Nolan.” I said, getting up. “I need to shower. But, please, stay.”
“I can’t, Miss Baker. I have a lot I need to do tomorrow, and I would like to drop you off to Baker Manor early if possible.”
“You’re not coming to my party?”
“I will be there. By the time it starts.” Nolan said, then retreated to the door. I knew the next few words that were going to come out of his mouth like I knew the back of my hand. “Good night, Miss Baker. Let me know if you need anything.”
I woke up to a loud knock on my door. I opened my eyes and saw light seeping through the curtains. I looked at my phone and it had just gone past nine. I needed to get ready to go to Baker Manor. I heard the knock again. “Nolan?”
“Miss Baker, you need to wake up.” Nolan said through the closed door.
“Yes, just getting up now.” I said. Why hadn’t he just come in, like always?
I got out of bed and wrapped myself in my fluffy dressing gown. I walked out into the living room and Nolan was sitting with his laptop open at the coffee table.
“You’re going to be late, please get ready. I’ve made breakfast too.” Nolan shut his laptop as though he was hiding something from me.
“You’ve eaten?” I walked across to the sofa and sat next to him.
“No, waiting for you.” Nolan said, getting up and sliding his laptop into his bag.
“What the hell, Stalker?” I was raging. He was really pissing me off with his aloof attitude.
“Miss Baker, we are getting late, please can you get ready now?”
“Fine. Get the hell out of my life, Stalker.” I shouted and stormed into my room and slammed the door shut. “Argh!”
The shower was refreshing and I felt slightly less annoyed that Nolan existed. I got into my leggings and a dress top and walked out to the kitchen, helping myself to a coffee. I made my way to the dining table and sat in Nolan’s seat, facing the main door. I helped myself to some of the scrambled eggs. Nolan joined and set his plate, sitting right beside me on our small four-person dining table.
“You know there’s plenty of space on the other three sides?” I said, my annoyance growing once again.
“You know I sit here.” Nolan said, nudging me with his right elbow, as he took a forkful of his breakfast.
I sighed, loudly, and nudged him back so that his food fell over his shirt. “Shame. Looks like you’re a messy eater and have to change now.”
Nolan shook his head and continued eating as if it was normal for food to fall onto his pristinely white shirt and this was any other day.
I cleared the table while Nolan went to change. Cynthia had messaged to say she would arrive by one and I texted back to ask if she could come earlier. Rebecca wasn’t going to be there until the evening. Nolan drove us to Baker Manor. He was wearing a dark navy suit and had changed his dress shirt. He was also wearing a navy tie. Shit, he looked hot. Something about him was different and I couldn’t tell what it was. It bothered me so much that I kept looking at him throughout the entire hour and 15-minute car journey from the city to Baker Manor.
“What?” Nolan said as we approached the turning just before Chiltern Hills.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You’ve been looking at me for over an hour. What for?”
“You have something on your shirt.” I lied.
“No I don’t.” Nolan rolled his eyes as he approached the iron gates. “What is it?”
“You have something on your face.” Another lie.
“Miss Baker, are you going to tell me or not?”
“Nope.” I popped the ‘p’ and turned to face out of the windscreen.
“Right.” Nolan stopped in front of the intercom and buzzed to the gate tower.
“Mr Stalker, one minute. We’re just resetting the system.” Christopher sounded through the machine.
“Miss Baker, why have you been staring at me for the entire car journey?” Nolan asked once he rolled the window back up.
“You’re different. I can’t tell what but it’s something or other.” I said, reaching up to his tie. “You look different.”
Nolan’s hand clasped mine and I could almost feel the thumping of his heart under the palm of my hand. I looked into those sexy green eyes and I could swear my heart stopped for a few minutes. It didn’t, though. Obviously. Nolan licked his bottom lip and rolled his lips into his mouth, letting go of my hand. Just then, the buzzer sounded and the iron gates pulled apart.
“He’s leaving.” I didn’t want to sound bitter. But I did. I just couldn’t get the thought of him being unaffected, about leaving me, out of my head.
“Really?” Cynthia was shocked. “He quit? Or your father let him go? Will there be another hot agent following you then?”
She knew I fancied Stalker. She knew that he was my first kiss. As well as the fact that I’d told him I loved him. But that was it. I couldn’t tell her that I teased him almost every day. I couldn’t tell her about kissing other men and wishing it was Nolan. I couldn’t tell her how I let my dates touch me when he was around, because I wanted him to become possessive over me. I couldn’t tell her that I stripped naked a dozen times in front of him just so I could see him get flustered and that his restraint turned me on. I couldn’t tell her any of that.
“I’m not sure. Maybe both! Stalker said the protection would be from a distance.” I never asked Father or Nolan. I should have. I would.
“Wow, finally! It’s been years since you had this kind of freedom.” Cynthia pulled my hair apart and tucked it up and then twirled the ends and added pins to hold her creation in place. “It’s a good thing we had lunch with your dad first and that you’re dress zips from the back otherwise this hairdo would mess up completely!”
“Hmm. I know.” I didn’t care about the hair and I didn’t want this kind of freedom.
“It’s almost five! How did time go by so quickly?” Cynthia said, packing her salon-worthy styling equipment.
“I know! I feel exhausted already! You need to go get ready. I think Mr Bernard has arranged for the guest suite to be opened for you on the floor below. I can get ready and then come with you?”
“No Liss, you need to do your makeup too. I’ll go down and then will meet you in the ballroom. Hopefully Becca will be here too.”
“Sure Cyn. I’ll text when I’m done. If you’re done before me, let me know.” I said, escorting her out. “Oh, Mr Bernard, please can you help Cynthia with her equipment to the guest suite that was opened for her?”
“Yes, Miss Baker.” Mr Bernard said, picking up the bags from Cynthia’s hands. “Follow me, Miss Conwy.”
Cynthia waved at me and followed Mr Bernard. I retreated to the confines of my room and shut the door.
After working on my makeup for at least 15 minutes, I shed my clothes and stepped into my nude tights. Father had picked out a dress for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about my appearance, but over the years, I’d picked up habits that meant my body was never the same shape as the season before. I got away with wearing joggers and hoodies most times but summers sucked and so did important events. I couldn’t wear slack clothing to my birthday party at Baker Manor and I trusted only three – now two – people to tell me the truth about how I looked. I stared at the dress as I unzipped the bag and my mouth fell open. This was not the dress Father had shown me before. How was I supposed to wear this? I laid the dress on the floor and stepped into the centre of the dress, bending down and pushing it through my arms and over my shoulders. Untied, the dress loosely cascaded over my breasts and all the way down to the floor. This was no dress, it was a fricking wedding gown in navy blue. How had I not known this was what Father had planned? I swirled on the spot and looked at the magnificent outfit in the mirror. It looked amazing and so did I.
I put my hands around my back to reach for the lace. It was impossible to tie through the hooks. I grabbed my phone and texted the only person I knew who could potentially help me at a time like this.
Felicity: Cyn! Dress is not a zip up! I need your help!
Cynthia: Hey! I can’t still. Just finished my hair. Sorting my make up. Is no one else up there? How comes the change?
Felicity: Don’t know. No probs I’ll sort it out somehow!
I held my left arm across my chest and grabbed the door handle. I wonder if I could sneak to the maids’ chamber downstairs and get one of them to assist. As I opened the door, I noticed Mr Bernard standing there. No way I was getting past him like this. He could go and get someone for me.
“Miss Baker.” He acknowledged as I emerged from my room.
“Mr Bernard,” I started to ask but I saw Nolan walk out of his room. “Stalker!” I shouted, affording his attention immediately.
“Miss Baker?” He approached. “Mr Bernard.”
“Stalker, get inside. I need you.” I stepped back into my room and waited for him. He opened the door to about 70 degrees and poked his head in. I waved for him to come in. “Get in.”
Nolan stepped through the gap and closed the door behind him. “How can I assist, Miss Baker?” He stood leaning against the door and his eyes wondered aimlessly around the walls, the ceiling, the floor, anywhere but on me.
“I need help with this.” I turned around to face the mirror, exposing my bare back to Mr Stalker. I could see through the mirror that his eyes finally met mine and he took a few long steps to stand a foot behind me.
“You need me to tie the lace?” Nolan asked.
I nodded. It was obviously the only reason I wanted him here. “Yes, Mr Stalker. Can you get on with it now?!”
“You couldn’t ask Mr Bernard to assist you?” He asked as his hands found the strings that hung loose on the lower back of my dress.
“Nope.” I arched as his fingers touched the small of my back. The sensation drove me crazy. “I don’t want a million-year-old man touching me.”
“So you don’t mind me touching you?” Nolan was threading the string through the material hoops on the back of my dress. He was making quick work of it and I assumed he had covered at least six out of the 20 loops.
“No, Mr Stalker. You touch me all the time.” I looked up to his face in the mirror and met with his perfect emerald eyes. His hands froze and he swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob at the same time that a chill ran through me. Nolan’s eyes dipped to my back and hands started moving again, pulling and tugging at the dress while he did up the lace.
“Is that too tight?” His voice was lower than usual.
“It’s fine.” I shifted on the spot until Nolan’s hand traced the back of my dress, up my spine. I froze on the spot as his hand led to the base of my neck where he cupped me, turning me around to face him. Everything in me was screaming. Was he about to kiss me? Our eyes locked and I sucked in a breath that could have lived in my lungs for the rest of time. But it didn’t. Nolan pulled out something from his pocket and dangled it in front of me. My eyes widened.
“This is for your birthday, Miss Baker.” Nolan’s voice was now lower than before. “I hope you like it.”
I nodded. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. A perfect blue diamond gemstone set in a silver, white gold or something or other pendant that was looped around a delicate chain. My heart slammed against my rib cage. Was this from Nolan Stalker? His hand fell on my shoulder and he turned me to face the mirror again. He leaned in and dipped his head to my ear, sending sizzles through my body as he breathed out.
“Happy 25th birthday, Miss Baker.” His hands snaked to the front of me and then opened the clasp, pulling the necklace around my neck and re-clasping it. His hands surfaced on my shoulders and his eyes met mine in the mirror. “I’ll take your leave, Miss Baker.” Nolan’s hands fell to his side and he stepped back.
“Are you not escorting me down, Mr Nolan Stalker?” I asked, turning around as quick as I could and holding his gaze.
“Mr Bernard is. I’ll go to see Mr Baker now.”
“No. I’m not going down with him. You’re escorting me.”
“Right, Miss Baker. Please give me a few minutes to sort myself out.”
“You look fine.”
“I need to speak to Mr Baker.”
“Speak to him later.” I glanced at the wall clock. “It’s approaching six. I need to be downstairs. Father will be there anyway. Escort. Me. Mr. Nolan. Stalker.”
“Yes, miss.” Nolan gave me a once over look and then stepped towards the door. “Ready?” The minute I nodded, he opened the door and stepped out. “Mr Bernard, I’ll be escorting Miss Baker to the ballroom.”
I overheard Mr Bernard say yes and stepped into my heels, walking out and smiling at him. Nolan stuck his arm out for me and I linked mine through, using him for all that he was.
“You look lovely, Felicity. I’ll let Mr Baker know that you’re on your way down.” Mr Bernard said and then walked off.
I treaded carefully as I got to the steps, holding onto the balustrade as Nolan took his first step down. He looked at me and waited. What for, I don’t know.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” Nolan shook his head.
“Then why are you looking at me?”
“Probably the same reason you were looking at me for an hour this morning.”
“Ha!” I chuckled. “Yeah, right.” If only he knew – and I knew – why I was staring at him. Well, in some way I did. He looked perfect today and something was different about him. He still gave me that vibe and I couldn’t put a finger on why he was making me feel this way today.
“Shall we make our way?”
“Yes.” I let go of the balustrade and stepped past him to hold the handrail. He pulled out of my linked arm and held onto my left hand with his, awkwardly, and placed his right hand on the small of my back.
“Let’s.” He said, as we stepped down, one stair at a time.
“Oh, my, you look beautiful, love.” Father said, taking my hand as we arrived at the entrance of the ballroom. “Mr Stalker, good evening.”
“Thank you, Father. But this dress!” I sighed as I let go of Nolan and hugged my father.
“Evening, Mr Baker.” Nolan said, taking his place by the inside of the doors.
The ballroom was filling up and I scanned around for friendly faces, but all I saw were the familiar power-hungry ladder-steppers. Where were Cyn and Becca? Was Mr Handsome even coming? I glanced over to the bar and stopped in my tracks. He was here, and hell, he looked hot.
With Father’s arm linked to mine, I started my way towards the bar. Who would I introduce him as? Mr Handsome really did look handsome today. More than the previous two times we’d met. Was he trying to impress my father? He didn’t have to. He better not become glitter. I wasn’t ready to wash away the attraction just yet.