Chapter Four “I can’t wait to meet Prince David.” Anastasia laughed. She was in the living room, talking to her “friends’.” Ella doubted any of them actually enjoyed her presence; however, they seemed to enjoy the benefit of being friends with someone who was wealthy and willing to pay their way at restaurants and social events. Anastasia was not a pleasant person to be around, in any regard; she was so two-faced no one could trust her for very long. Ella tried to ignore them as she cleaned up, but Anastasia’s ostentatious, loud way of carrying herself was impossible to entirely block out. “They say he never speaks,” Anastasia’s “friend,” a tall, lanky girl with stringy hair and a long, pointed nose commented. Anastasia never chose friends who she thought might be prettier than her; she always had to feel as though she was the most attractive one in the room, however unlikely that might realistically be. “Apparently he just sits in all the royal meetings and events silently, and only comments if someone asks him directly or if he’s got something really important to say. Otherwise, he just lets everyone else around him talk,” the girl continued. “Hmph. You think he’ll be more talkative if I make him scream my name?” Anastasia giggled. Ella inwardly rolled her eyes. Anastasia often exaggerated the amount of men she’d been with, ostensibly to make herself appear more desirable. Ella was sure Anastasia had more experience with men than she herself had, but that was easy to accomplish. Anastasia liked to play up her role as some kind of sex goddess to her friends, as if that would make her seem more attractive and romantically successful. Ella accidentally knocked into the coffee table, slightly spilling Anastasia’s soda. “Ella, be careful,” she warned, holding her glass and glaring at Ella like she was a lowly servant unfit to be in her presence. “Sorry,” Ella mumbled, wiping up the small amount of spilled soda. She exited the room shortly after. She was trying to complete her chores as quickly as possible so that she could make the long drive to Dave’s property to check the footage, but things were taking longer than she had anticipated, as Lacey kept piling more onto Ella’s plate. “What are you planning to make for dinner?” Lacey asked her as Ella was washing dishes, sounding bored. She could tell Ella was in a rush, and she didn’t want her to leave anytime soon. Ella had been spending a lot of time out of the house lately, which meant she’d been slipping further away from Lacey’s control. She endeavored to put a stop to it, lest Ella disentangle herself from Lacey’s sordid web. “Tacos,” Ella answered plainly. Lacey shook her head. “You’ve been so lazy with dinners lately,” she commented languidly. “What is this, the third time this month? No, no. We need healthier meals if Anastasia’s going to be meeting Prince David at the ball.” “Tacos aren’t particularly unhealthy,” Ella mumbled. “Plus, you have months.” “Now, Mary-Beth,” Lacey whispered, stepping closer to Ella so her mouth was near her ear. She grabbed her arm lightly but firmly, halting her from the task she was quickly trying to complete. “Don’t make me keep asking.” To Ella’s chagrin, Lacey’s touch still sent a spike of fear through her, but at least she didn’t flinch. “I have to go to a client’s house,” she said calmly. “I don’t have time to make anything complicated.” “But isn’t this your day off?” Lacey questioned, an eyebrow raised, not releasing Ella’s arm. “Yes, but I’ve been too busy this week to go any sooner, and the client has been, too. This is the only day he’s available for awhile,” Ella explained. It was true. Dave had deflected her earlier attempt at stopping by, claiming he was swamped with work and would have to squeeze her in on Monday. “I have half the day tomorrow off because of it, in the morning. I can put a great dinner in the slow cooker then.” Ella realized she sounded slightly desperate, but she really did need to go. “You’re welcome to go to your client’s house,” Lacey assured her. “You just have to make sure you provide a healthy dinner, as well.” With that, Lacey turned on her heel and exited the room. Ella sighed, drying her hands. She hardly had the time to drive all the way to Dave’s as it was, and now she had even less time. She thought about just making a salad for dinner, and wondered how much trouble she would get in. She shook her head. It would have to work. She needed the money from this job, and couldn’t really wait on it, either, unless her stepmother would be okay with rent being paid late this month, which Ella seriously doubted. Ella grabbed her keys from her upstairs room and hurriedly headed out the back door. With no time to waste, she decided to risk it all by driving her car all the way to Dave’s. It was a parlous move, certainly, but Ella knew she couldn’t waste any time. She drove as fast as she could all the way to the property, making it in record time, although still not as quickly as she would have liked. There was a different mechanic in the car port today, but he, like Frank had previously, disappeared as Ella was pulling in. Ella found it odd, but didn’t bother worrying about it too much. Ella high-tailed it to the shed as soon as she pulled in, not stopping to let Dave know she was almost there. He caught up to her as she was unceremoniously pulling on the door handle to the entrance of the shed. “Hey, hey, you in a rush?” he asked, having had to run to catch up to her. “You didn’t even let me know you were here.” “Sorry,” Ella muttered, not in the mood for small talk. “I’m really busy today. I barely had the time to come all the way up here.” Dave walked up and put the key in the lock, sliding close to where Ella was standing. She was so distracted she didn’t even bother to take a step back. She forced her way inside the moment Dave had the door unlocked, and looked around for a stool to use to get up to the security cameras. Dave watched her in her distracted, frenzied state, before quickly going and getting the camera footage out himself. He retrieved the discs from the cameras, and Ella grabbed them from him quickly, spinning on her heel to exit. “Great, thanks,” she said, walking back down the path to the carport quickly. “Hey, wait a minute,” Dave interrupted her. “Let’s just go inside and put the DVDs into the computer to watch the footage. You don’t need to go all the way home.” Ella huffed. “Fine,” she agreed. “But we’re fast-forwarding, and if it takes too long, I’m taking the DVDs with me and going home.” “You’re the boss,” Dave agreed, putting his hands up in surrender. Ella was momentarily taken aback by the kindness in his eyes, but quickly recovered and began leading the way to the mansion, lengthening her strides. Once inside, Dave walked past Ella, leading her to a room on the second floor that was filled with computers, like a school computer room. “Is this necessary?” Ella questioned, looking around at all the computers. She hadn’t ever seen anything like it in a person’s house before. “Well, we could’ve used the laptop in my room, but I don’t usually bring girls to my room on the second date,” Dave answered, smirking. Ella rolled her eyes, blushing slightly. “Mainly because they don’t normally make it that far,” Dave added as Ella sat down in a computer chair and inserted the DVD. She waited impatiently for the footage to download, tapping her fingers on the desk in front of her. “Will you calm down?” Dave asked her. “You’re making me nervous.” “Sorry,” Ella said, shaking her head. She was tired of apologizing. She had no time, money or dignity in her life, and it was driving her into a dark pit of depression. Finally, the footage loaded, and Ella fast-forwarded past the footage of an empty shed, then past the workers who had a key and were entering because they had permission to do so. They all acted totally normally, without taking an excess of inventory or looking around like they were looking for something to steal. Finally, a blurry of color appeared in the window, and Ella paused the footage, then resumed it at real-time speed. She leaned closer to the screen, and Dave leaned in, his head only inches from Ella’s. As the pair watched intently, the head of the figure popped up over the window. Dark-rimmed eyes peeked over the sill, then little hands reached down and grabbed the trowel that was under the window. It disappeared, and Ella paused the footage. She and Dave looked at each other, momentarily speechless. “Was that…” Ella began, shaking her head slightly. “A badger,” Dave finished, laughing. He leaned back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head. “The old man isn’t going to believe this.” A raccoon. A raccoon had been stealing the gardening supplies. What’s worse, he was an especially cute raccoon, with grubby little hands and dark eyes that peeked all around to check for observers before reaching for his prize. “You guys better be paying me for this,” Ella said, watching Dave out of the corner of her eyes. “That’s between you and pops,” he said. Ella tensed up. “I’m sure he’ll still pay you,” he added, sensing her uncertainty. “In my expert opinion, the problem will resolve itself if you close the window,” Ella informed him. “Pops likes to let the shed air out, or it gets too stuffy,” Dave laughed, shaking his head. “Does he spend a lot of time there?” “Absolutely none.” “Then what does it matter?” Dave sighed. “I’ll have a screen fitted over the window,” he compromised. “Hopefully the little thief won’t break through.” “Well,” Ella said, exhaling, “I’d love to stay and chat, but--” “I know, you’re very busy,” Dave finished for her. “Would you like to run back to your car now? Or are you going to hop there like a jackrabbit?” “Very funny,” Ella said, getting up from her seat. “Can you please inform your father of our--my discoveries?” Dave followed Ella back to her car. “Oh, your discoveries? Didn’t I play an important role?” “Fine. But I really need the money.” Ella looked at him nervously, hoping he wouldn’t try and claim any of the money for himself. Dave was surprised by the unguarded look of anxiety on her face. “It’s fine, I don’t need the money,” he assured her. “And you can have all the credit. I was only joking.” “Sorry,” Ella sighed, unlocking the door to her car. “I’ve just been under a lot of stress--” She stopped herself. Why was she explaining herself to this guy? She barely knew him. He didn’t need details. Ella turned the key in the ignition, and the car sputtered, but didn’t start. “Oh, come on,” she said, exasperated. She tried again, with no luck. She looked up at Dave, who was standing next to the car, holding onto the driver’s side door. “Can I get a jump start?” she blurted out. Dave raised his eyebrows. “Oh, you need something now?” he said. “After you taunted me? Smacked me? Why, I’ll have to think about it.” “Please?” Ella asked. Dave grinned. “Well, since you asked nicely,” he said huskily. He walked off and Ella popped open her trunk, pulling out her jumper cables. Dave pulled his Ferrari around, parking in front of Ella’s Civic and popping the hood of his car. Ella quickly connected the jumper cables, then hopped back in the driver’s seat of her car, trying once again to start it. Please, please, Ella thought, closing her eyes and praying. Please, Lord, just let the car start and I’ll never, ever try to take it on a long ride ever again. Ella was startled out of her reverie by a pair of arms pulling her roughly from the driver’s seat. Her eyes popped open, and she turned to see she was in Dave’s arms, being held back from her car. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing--” Dave repositioned her so she was facing her car, which, now that she was looking at it, she noticed was quickly becoming engulfed in flames. She stared at the car, awestruck, as the mechanic she had seen earlier came running in with a fire extinguisher. Dave pulled her back several feet as the mechanic tried desperately to pacify the flames. Ella couldn’t stop staring at the scene in front of her. My car, she thought. It’s all I have… Ella became weak in the knees, and hardly noticed that Dave was holding her up, or she would have fallen to the ground. She kept staring at her car, desperately willing it to stop, for the fire to go away, for everything to stop; she couldn’t take it anymore, and this was certainly not helping her already bad situation… Dave spun Ella around so she was facing his chest, pulling her out of the carport. She collapsed into him, her knees buckling as they both sank to the ground, Dave supporting her. Ella started to cry, and Dave stroked her hair soothingly, stopping her any time she tried to look back at the wreckage that was her car. It was starting to get dark out, and Ella was acutely aware of her need to get home, and fast… but her car, the one thing she owned that was of any value, as minimal as that value had been, was burning behind her. She sat on the grass for several minutes, in shock, before finally lifting herself up slightly and looking up at Dave. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled. “I don’t normally do that.” “Well I hope not,” Dave said. “That’d be pretty weird.” “Um, it’s just, I have to get home,” she said desperately. Dave smiled at her. “I’ll take you home,” he told her calmly. “It’s a long drive,” she said. “You don’t have to do that,” but she was secretly grateful he’d offered. She knew she shouldn’t accept a drive that would take so long from someone she barely knew and whose father owed her money, but she didn’t know what else to do. “I’ll still take you,” Dave said. “You don’t have to pay me as much. You can take gas money out of my pay. And more,” Ella assured him. “I’ll grab my car,” Dave told her, stepping back. “Do not turn around.” Ella wasn’t sure why she listened to his directive, but she figured it must be for the best. He probably just doesn’t want to deal with me breaking down again, Ella thought, trying to pull herself together. How embarrassing. Dave returned in his Ferrari, idling just in front of where Ella sat and gesturing for her to get in the passenger side. Ella stood up and walked stiffly to the passenger side, opening the door and sitting down heavily in the seat. Dave watched her for a moment, then started driving out of the property. “Text me the address,” Dave said quietly. Ella did so silently.