Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

To Jasper’s disgust, she threw herself against his chest and clung on like a barnacle attaches itself to the side of a ship. He cursed bitterly as he tried to unfurl her tight arms from around his neck, not least because her hold was so awkward that she was inadvertently pulling his head down toward her heaving bosom.

“Unhand me at once!” Jasper growled.

When she didn’t immediately comply, he yanked her arms off him and slammed her down into a chair whereupon he then set about putting as much distance between them as he could. Instinctively, he glanced toward the doorway to the main body of the house, half-expecting Molly to be there. It was something of a relief that she wasn’t.

“I am going to have a word with Molly to make sure she is all right,” Jasper grumbled to Phillip just as Niall slammed his way into the kitchen.

By the time he reached Molly’s bed chamber, though, everything was still and quiet. What he did hear through the thick oak door was a whispered conversation that made him furious.

Inside the room, Molly slumped onto the end of the bed and tried not to allow her tears to fall. She stared blankly at the carpet beneath her feet while she tried to deal with the huge disappointment that pummelled her.

“I don’t want to stay here,” Oscar whispered. “Not with her in the house.”

“You don’t like her.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I don’t,” Oscar replied.

“Do you like it here?” Molly asked.

“Yes, but I don’t want to stay with her in the house. I don’t trust her,” Oscar muttered.

“Why? What do you know?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like her,” Oscar replied.

“We can’t leave,” Molly informed him.

“Do you want to stay?” Oscar squinted at her.

“No, if I am honest, but we have no place else to go,” Molly moaned. “I have a few coins, but it is nowhere near enough to buy somewhere for us to stay. We have to do something to not just get ourselves out of here but be able to get a place to stay when we do leave.”

“I have some money,” Oscar offered.

“You do?” Molly squinted at him. “Where did you get it from?”

“I can get more,” Oscar shrugged without answering her.

“You are not going back there,” she replied flatly. “Where did you get money from, and where is it? How much have you got?”

“I have enough to get us out of London for a while, I am sure of it. I can get us more,” Oscar replied.

“Where f

rom?”

“I haven’t been pick-pocketing for the last few weeks without learning a few skills, you know. I can take enough for us to get by,” Oscar assured her with the cocky confidence of a youngster who refused to acknowledge that what he was doing was wrong.

“No. I couldn’t live with myself if you did that,” Molly sighed. “What you did for them was wrong. What they did to you, to me, to us, was also wrong. We have to make this right, ourselves, by getting out of here and staying well away from all of them.”

“Jasper likes you,” Oscar murmured.

“Do you really think so? He couldn’t keep his hands off another woman just as soon as my back was turned,” Molly snapped. “No, I think we have both been mistaken about him. It is best if we get out of here.”

“They told us to stay here,” Oscar reminded her.

“We are not under arrest. Besides, they are going to need to get rid of us at some point and will probably want to send us back to Edith. I can’t go back to that. Not now.” Molly was determined about that.

“Well, let’s leave then,” Oscar agreed. “I can take what we need and keep us fed. I can even show you what to do.”