An open flame by Shanice, C Ward (essential reading .txt) 📕

who according to these articles was #12 richest guy in the UK with a net worth of 3.4 billion due to his successes at stratbern industries and inheritance. Just no. Tobias looked so genuine and care free, how wrong was I, I’ve only just met him, I know nothing about him and I’ve already bedded the guy. What does that make me? He probably just thinks im another gold-digger- well, if he is this rich he should know I have a lot of inheritance from my father so I don’t need money. What am I going to do? Im seeing him tomorrow at 8, I really like him though, the Tobias I’ve met and the Tobias on the internet seem like two completely different guys. Oh im so confused, bile began to rise in my mouth. Closing the laptop down, I paced into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Swilling my mouth with Listerine I glared at my reflection, I was definitely naïve and young, didn’t even bother to get to know a guy. I guess it just reflects my age doesn’t it. Turning the taps off and tossing the hand towel into the wash basket I walked back towards to living area, Leila was flicking through the music channels with a bottle of Kopparberg in her hands rocking her hips to the different sounds that barely made it through the speakers before she flicked onto the next channel. She settled for UK hits of the 80’s. Turning the volume up to 90% I was relieved for the sound proofed walls or else we would definitely receive complaints. Joys of both of us having rich parents.    ‘I thought, seeing as were both in some sort of relationship, it wouldn’t be morally right to go out clubbing without our men, you know man hunting and all that, we should have a dance and drink up here in our apartment, I already invited Steph and Caleb they’ll be here soon, they’re bringing some more booze, Steph’s bringing her roommate ebony..’ she took a swig from the bottle in her hand ‘.. a whole bunch of people are coming so I guess we’re having a house party, so get your glad rags on, ill fix up some snacks-..’ she turned to face me and frowned, ‘.. Lottie Hun what’s up?’ placing her drink on the coffee table she walked over to me, I shrugged ‘Nothing much, we’ll talk later or something, I best get ready, you just going to wear those shorts?’ I quickly tried to change the conversation from my dire state, she nodded at me seemingly unimpressed and very aware of my poor tactics, pulling on my poker face I grinned at her and bounced back to my room, once I closed the door I sagged against it. I was so not up for socializing.  The rest of the evening passed by as a blur, drinking, laughing, eating, drinking, people being sick, me cleaning up and then the last of the guests left at around 3am. Locking the door, I turned to face Leila who was a drunken mess in the corner of the room laughing to a kit Kat wrapper that hadn’t been scrunched tightly and was therefore unfolding itself- she was easily amused to say the least. I hadn’t drank too much plus I had a pint of water at around 1 and began tidying around people so I was very much sober. ‘Come on’ I muttered, ‘Let’s get you to bed, the floor looks really uncomfortable’ she put her arms up to me like a toddler waiting to be lifted into their parent’s eyes. I rolled my eyes and pulled her up to my height, wrapping my arm around her back I hauled her the best I could down the hall to the room on the left, her room was slightly smaller than mine as I had a walk in closet and she didn’t although we both had the luxury of an en-suite bathroom so no sharing although there was a main toilet at the right of the hallway next to a small guest room. Tucking her into bed after removing her converse and belt I switched off her bedside lamp and went to retrieve a glass of water to put by her bed along with a bucket in case she couldn’t make it to the toilet to be sick. Once ensuring she was sleeping fine I headed off to my bedroom, the house was in a liveable state aside from a few cans by the sofa but I could deal with those tomorrow, I was very tired and needed some sleep. After all, I was seeing Tobias tomorrow and who knows what else Monday will have in store for me. Plugging my phone into the charger on the wall, I unlocked it to read the three notifications on my notification bar. 1 missed call, 1 message and 1 facebook notification. A friend request from an Ivy May Reed, I left it because I wasn’t sure who she was although I think I recall seeing her name on one of the articles with Tobias at a fundraiser for children in need, his sister, I think. The miscall was from my mother and so was the text message. I clicked on the message to see what she wanted to express so urgently, and then I remembered that I’d asked her about why Tobias was in the OK! Magazine. ‘Oh darling, I don’t know why you don’t read these gossip magazines, it’s where you get all the juicy information! Tobias comes from a very wealthy family, they own a number of businesses from catering, telecoms, business, finance and marketing from the UK through the US and France. He is the odd child out though, he doesn’t seem to live off of his parents like his brother and sister, he does things for himself, he worked as a secretary for a year or so, but he is in magazines because of his family and wealth dear, he is somewhat of a celebrity, you’d know these things if you picked up a magazine once in a while. We will have to have a catch up some time. Love you baby girl, Mom xx’   Eugh, I sighed to myself that was the longest text in the history of texts. I typed a reply quickly so that I could go to bed and get some shut eye, I had a lot of thinking to do before tomorrow evening, I needed all the sleep I can get.  ‘Yeah mom, I looked him up on google, wealthy is an understatement, we’ll meet up soon, speak soon, love you too C xx’ Placing the phone on top of the bedtime table I shrugged out of my clothes, left them in a pile on the floor. Crawling into bed, I’d have to sleep in my underwear for tonight as I was too tired to dig out some pyjamas. Flicking off the bedside lamp I closed my eyes and drifted into the deepest darkest sleep.  Monday passed by in a haze, Leila had left to go and buy some clothes for her new job as the start date had been brought forward to next Monday, leaving her a week of freedom until she’d have to up and leave to Oxford, leaving me here in Birmingham all by myself. I had cleaned the apartment at least three times, anxiously busying myself so not to preoccupy my thoughts with Tobias and his hefty bank account. I even phoned my dad which is something I did once a month because the conversations were so brief and pointless that it’d be much better to just send a text. We briefly discussed my college results, he told me that business was steady and that if I couldn’t find work I could go and work for him at him James enterprises in Devon, to which I thanked for the offer but firmly declined explaining London was where I wanted t be. As much as I loved the ocean, I want the coast and seaside to be a holiday destination, a getaway zone not a place of work. It was 7:10 and my phone had been silent all day, no reply from mom, not that I expected one, she got bored quickly with conversations, I hadn’t had a message from Tobias either, so I didn’t know whether we were still on for tonight, whether he has gotten home safely or not. I was anxious about this evening. My cream knee length strappy dress hung neatly on my bedroom door with my cream strappy heels to match below them I had pinned my hair up into a tight bun, and was painting my nails and sipping wine to pass the time. I was wearing my cream thin lace lined briefs and matching strapless bra with my nude stockings. Sitting in my bedroom blowing my nails hoping they would dry quicker so that I could pull my dress on. I wanted to look simple but elegant so that I would fit in no matter the surrounding. My makeup was light, peach lip gloss cream eye shadow with a hint of silver and bold eye liner and mascara to make my eyes stand out more. I wore a simple pair of silver diamond stud earrings. I was pulling my dress over my my body when my phone signalled a phone call, hurrying the dress down my body I rushed over to my phone. It was Tobias. I quickly accepted the call, ‘Tobias, Hi’ I quickly spoke, greeting him. ‘Ahh, Charlotte, it’s wonderful to hear your voice, I have missed you a lot’ His tone was so warm and welcoming, my heart melted for him instantly,  ‘Me too. We still on for tonight?’ I asked, nervous if he’d say yes or no. ‘Definitely’ he exclaimed, he sounded excited, I couldn’t help but to smile for him. ‘Sounds good, well im almost ready, so ill see you soon?’ I felt him smile on the opposite end, Sure, im parked outside, I’ll come up in 10 minutes to collect you, see you soon, bye’ He hung up, I held the phone for a couple seconds longer, straightening out my dress I pulled on my strappy heels, placed my phone and purse into my small clutch bag along with some eye liner mascara and lip gloss and headed towards the door. Just as I reached the handle the doorbell rang. Pulling open the door I soaked him in with my eyes. Stood before me was the most breath taking male, I stepped back slightly because of my overwhelming feeling to run my fingers through his tangle of hair. His tie was turquoise blue and his shirt jet black, as he stood there with his grey jacket open and his hands hoved casually into his trouser pockets, the sight of him made me want to devour him, relish him with my body- but I had to control myself, he was trouble, rich men always were, they had a lot of baggage and in most cases it was their hefty bank accounts. He was dangerous, he was enticingly beautiful but he was powerful, smart and rich- what do I have to offer him? I can’t make him richer, im not profitable and rich businessman only look for profit. I don’t want to get too involved and get left broken and alone, im only young, almost 20. My attention returned to the strikingly beautiful man afore me, he was smiling at me, the ends of his hair drifting over his collar, he hadn’t gelled it back although it looked quite damp. Anyone this good looking was definitely dangerous. His eyes were following my body, studying the curve of my hips and the fullness of my breasts, we studied each other until our eyes locked, shamelessly staring at each other. ‘So, shall we head out now because another second longer standing here looking at you