by Tara Bond
“I know. Your dad asked you to look out for me, and you’re just doing what he wanted.”
“That’s not the only reason I’m asking, Nina.”
The way he gazed at me was unnerving. I dropped my eyes. “Yeah, well.” I cleared my throat. “Just so you know, I’m nearly done with the poker. I promise. And then I’ll be moving out of Alex’s apartment, too.”
“That’s good to hear.”
I risked sneaking a look back at him. He’d resumed his usual businesslike expression. I felt confused. Maybe I’d just imagined the tension before.
“There’s just one more thing,” he said.
“Oh?”
“My father would like to have dinner with you.” It was pretty much the last thing I’d been expecting him to say. “He said your first meeting was very brief, and he’d like a chance to get to know you in a more informal setting.”
I couldn’t think of anything worse, to be honest, but given my job at Destination was contingent on his goodwill, it wasn’t like I had much choice.
“It’ll just be the three of us,” Giles went on as if sensing my hesitation. “He’d like to get to know you a little more.”
There really was no way out of this. “Sure. I’ll have dinner with him, if he wants.”
Giles looked relieved. “He suggested next Sunday evening, at his house.”
Sunday was usually poker night, but for the moment Alex seemed to have given up on organising any events. “Sounds fine.”
Giles was on his feet now, bent over his desk with his back to me, searching for something.
“Good,” he said briskly. “I’m glad to hear it.” He straightened up, and turned to me, holding his car keys in his hand. “I’m done here for the night, so why don’t I give you a lift home?” I was about to object, and say I was happy getting the Tube, but then he said, “Honestly, it’s not a problem. It’s on my way.”
Giles drove a Jaguar XJ, in dark grey. It was a sophisticated car, which suited him perfectly.
We chatted easily in the car, mostly about Destination.
When we reached Alex’s apartment block, Giles pulled up in the valet parking area, right by reception.
“So Alex won’t be at this dinner?” I said as I unbuckled my seat belt.
“No. He avoids family gatherings whenever he can.” Giles frowned. “In fact, I probably don’t need to tell you this, but it’d be best if you didn’t say anything to my dad about the poker nights and staying with Alex. It would just cause problems.”
“Sure. I understand.” I grabbed my bag. “And thanks for the lift.”
“It’s no problem,” he said.
To my surprise, Giles leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. As he did so, I felt someone’s eyes on me. I looked up and saw Alex in his Porsche, pulling slowly into the underground car park.
At first I couldn’t understand the reason for his interest. But then I realised what it must have looked like. The kiss between me and Giles had been purely platonic, but all Alex could see was the back of his brother’s head.
Giles seemed to sense my mood change. “What’s wrong?” He looked around, but Alex had already driven inside.
“It’s Alex.” I gnawed at the inside of my mouth. “He saw us as he was driving in, and I think he might’ve got the wrong idea.”
“Really?” Giles gave a short laugh. “Well, that should be interesting.”
I didn’t ask what he meant. Instead, I thanked him again, and headed inside.
I’d have loved to have avoided Alex, but the only way to my room was through the open-plan living space. I walked in to find him lounging across one of the sofas, a tumbler of what looked like whisky in his hand.
“So,” he drawled. “Looks like you’ve moved on to my brother. That didn’t take long.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
I made my way to the stairs, intending to head up to my room, but his voice stopped me.
“What’s so ridiculous?” The light-hearted tone was still there on the surface, but beneath it I could hear an edge. “From what I saw just now, the two of you looked awfully cosy.”
I turned back slowly to face him. He was sitting up now, his ice-blue eyes regarding me intently. It would have been easy enough to set him straight, but I was still hurt over what had happened that morning.
“And?” I raised my chin in defiance. “What if I am interested in Giles? I didn’t see you asking my permission to have Lavinia stay over.”
His eyes dropped to the floor. “Yeah, well . . .” He ran a hand over the bristles of his permanent five o’clock shadow. “You’d made it clear you weren’t interested in me. I just found someone who was.”
“Is that right?” I was stung by the idea that it had been so easy for him to go from me to someone else. “Well then, maybe I just found someone who’s more my level.”
Alex went very still. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means if I’m going to go out with someone, I want it to be a guy like Giles. Someone who’s responsible and hard-working. Someone I can trust.”
He sucked in a breath.
“Anyway,” I went on, before he could say anything else, “I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal of this. Surely you’ve got girls like Lavinia queuing up to sleep with you. Why don’t you go and harass one of them instead?”
His jaw tightened. “You know what?” he said after a moment. “I think that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
He downed his drink, grabbed his wallet and headed back out. Only when he was gone did I finally let out a deep breath.
My eyes blurred with tears, and I quickly wiped them away. I had no right to be upset. Alex was a free agent. He could do whatever he wanted—I’d even told him to.
But that didn’t stop it hurting. With that thought, I took myself off to bed.
* * *
I woke to the muffled thump of music reverberating against my bedroom floor. Screams of laughter floated up from downstairs, a mix of male and female voices. It sounded like there was a party going on. I sat up a little, so I could see my alarm clock. The neon numbers showed that it was only half past three in the morning.
Groaning, I hunkered down under the duvet, determined to go back to sleep. But a second later someone cranked up the music even louder, and a cheer of appreciation went up. That was the final straw. I shoved back the covers, jumped out of bed and headed to the mezzanine balcony to check out what exactly was going on.
From there I had a direct view into the living room below, and I could see there were about half a dozen people downstairs. Tori was sitting to one side, talking to some guy I didn’t recognise, while Alex was on the couch, with one semi-naked girl sitting on his knee—who he was kissing deeply—while another nibbled at his neck. The three of them looked like they were practically having sex.
I couldn’t take it any longer. I went back to my room, quickly got dressed, and threw my few belongings into a backpack. I was sure Jas would let me stay at her place for a few days. It would be cramped, but at that moment I wanted to be anywhere but Alex’s.
I headed down the stairs, hoping to sneak out unnoticed. But I was almost at the doorway into the hall when I heard Alex’s voice.
“Hey. Where do you think you’re going?”
It was tempting to pretend I hadn’t heard him, but we’d have to have this conversation at some point. So I slowly turned round to face him.
He hadn’t bothered to stand. Instead, he gazed lazily up at me from the couch, one hand casually stroking the nearest girl’s hair, making it clear he had no intention of disengaging himself and talking to me alone. Whatever I had to say, I was going to have to do it there, in front of everyone.
“I think I should move out,” I said.
“Oh?” He looked bored. “And why’s that?”
I cast my eyes round the room. “I think that’s pretty obvious.” I lowered my voice a little. “You’re turning the place into a k
nocking shop.”
“And why does that bother you?” He waited for me to come up with an answer, and when I couldn’t, he smiled. “Unless, like I said, you’re jealous?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please. Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Well, if you’re not jealous, then why should you care what I’m up to?”
“Because . . .” I lost my train of thought. The two girls were both nibbling at him now, which was distracting enough, and his calm tone was making me even more irritated. “Because I don’t want to be round this all the time.”
He regarded me for a long moment. “Fair enough. Go if you want.” Relief flooded through me, until he said, “But you need to pay me back first.”
“What?”
“It’s very simple. Pay me back the money I gave you to clear your debt, and then you can leave.”
“You know I can’t do that.” I couldn’t believe he was going to hold me to this.
“Then I suppose you’ll have to stay. That was our deal, wasn’t it—you stay here until you’ve worked off your debt?”
I stared at him, unable to make sense of what I was hearing.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He turned his attention to the two girls who had been fawning and petting him throughout our conversation. “Shall we take this upstairs, ladies?”
The girls scrambled off his lap, and he stood up, offering them each an arm. I could do nothing but watch as they headed upstairs.
I contemplated leaving anyway—after all, what exactly was he going to do to stop me? But then he might not have me working at the poker nights any longer, and I’d never be able to pay him back—which I had every intention of doing. And part of me couldn’t help feeling that some of this was my fault—if I hadn’t overreacted at the concert, we wouldn’t be in this position.
So I put down my bag, and went over to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
“Hey,” a voice said as I took out a box of tea bags from a cupboard. I looked over to see Tori slipping onto one of the stools that lined the breakfast bar. It was pretty much the last thing I needed—her rubbing my face in Alex’s behaviour. But to my surprise, instead of making a bitchy comment, she said, “So what the hell happened between you two?”
“Nothing worth talking about.” I was hardly about to open up to her—the girl who’d been a bitch from the beginning.
“Well, whatever it was, you must have touched a nerve with Alex. I haven’t seen him like this for a while.”
“What do you mean? I thought this was exactly how he always behaved.”
Tori wrinkled her nose. “The women and partying?” she mused. “Sometimes it’s worse. He tends to go off the rails when someone has a go at him. Like he thinks: Well, if they have such a low opinion of me, then there’s no point trying to prove them wrong.”
“But why?”
Tori sighed. “I guess it goes back to when he was younger. You know his mother left his father?” I nodded. “Well, Duncan . . . he was a proud man, who didn’t deal well with being cuckolded. He never forgave Eva for walking out on him, and he took it out on Alex.
“Alex . . . he looks so much like his mother. And he has her personality, too—charming and witty, the life and soul of the party . . . Duncan’s very different. He’s much more serious—a real businessman, who puts duty first. And you know Giles—he’s like that, too. So unfortunately Duncan found it difficult to ever really connect with Alex, and he gave him a very hard time. At first, when Alex was little, Duncan avoided him because he reminded him of Eva. And then when he grew older, any time Alex got into scrapes, Duncan would tell him that he was just like his mother. He was always comparing him to Giles, telling him he should be more like his older brother. But nothing Alex ever did was good enough.” Tori smiled ruefully. “So I think in the end, Alex began to play up to it. He got into a lot of trouble at school; never bothered with university or a career. He just left all that to Giles. The more Duncan told him he was bad, the more he seemed determined to prove him right. I think now it’s become a habit. If he’s attacked, he acts out.”
I chewed at my lip. It was fascinating, hearing about Alex’s upbringing. It explained his recent behaviour. It had all started with that night at the concert. Did that mean Alex was only being like that because I’d rejected him? And then told him I’d prefer someone responsible like Giles? Perhaps. But that was still no excuse. And no guarantee that even if we hadn’t argued he would be acting any differently.
But something was bothering me. I studied Tori through narrowed eyes. Even at this time in the morning, having been up all night partying, she looked perfect, with her long blonde hair and fine features.
“Why are you telling me this?” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. You’ve made no secret of the fact that you don’t like me. You’ve been a bitch from the beginning. Why do you suddenly care what I think of Alex?”
“Because I care about him, and I hate seeing him on this self-destructive streak,” she said levelly.
“And what’s that got to do with me?”
Tori just looked at me. “Oh, please. Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you.”
She slipped off the stool, turned to go, and then stopped. “And is it any wonder I was a bitch? It wasn’t exactly fun being rejected for you.”
“But that’s ridiculous! Nothing’s happened between us.” Well, not until we went to the concert, but I had a feeling that wasn’t what she was referring to. “I never made any play for him.”
Tori gave a rueful laugh. “But that’s what made it even worse. It didn’t matter that you weren’t actively trying to seduce Alex—he still showed far more interest in you than he ever did in me. Maybe that wasn’t your fault, but it didn’t exactly make me want to be best friends with you.” I could see her green eyes water a little. “Every time I look at you, I see the person who Alex chose over me. So if I was mean to you, can you blame me?”
With those last words, Tori left. And I stood there in the kitchen, feeling bad for her. All this time, I’d thought of her as a rich bitch, and hadn’t considered what was making her lash out that way. Had I been wrong about Alex, too?
I finished making my tea, and sat curled up on the couch drinking it, while thinking about everything I’d learned about Alex. I’d always thought of him as this entitled charmer who had the world at his feet. Somehow, hearing about his tragic childhood made me soften a little towards him.
Then I looked around at the state of the room. There were empty champagne bottles; traces of coke on the black-glass coffee table; and a discarded halter top one of the girls had left . . .
Even if there was more to Alex, there was no denying he was still a deeply troubled person. And I already had enough problems dealing with my mum.
Chapter 17
The following Sunday night, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wishing I had time to change. Unfortunately I was due round for dinner at Duncan Noble’s house in Chelsea, so I was stuck.
However informal the dinner was meant to be, I’d guessed that jeans and a T-shirt were going to be a bit too casual. So given the limitations of my wardrobe, I’d been forced to ask Jas to lend me an outfit. Most of her clothes were too tight and short, but I’d finally settled on a black-satin baby-doll dress. She’d advised me to pair it with sheer stockings and heels, but instead I’d kept true to myself, and worn opaque tights and my biker boots, to give it a casual feel, more in keeping with my style. The thought made me laugh—like I had a style.
I’d put on some make-up, and blow-dried my hair so it fell softly around my face. I’d been pleased with myself for looking more feminine, but now I wondered if it was still too biker chick for the occasion.
I wasn’t even sure whether it was the outfit or the prospect of the dinner itself that was making me feel uncomfortable. I’d been dreading this evening ever since I’d agreed to it. It wasn’t like Duncan Noble had been particularly friendly to me when I’d
gone to his office. But given that he’d been good enough to help me out, I didn’t feel I was in a position to turn him down.
When I came out of my bedroom, I saw from the mezzanine landing that Alex was downstairs in the living room, stretched out on the sofa. To my surprise, he was alone. This past week, he’d seemed to be holding a permanent party at the apartment. He’d go out in the early evening, and come back late with a noisy group in tow, playing music at full blast. Each morning, I’d come downstairs to find the living area in disarray, and be forced to watch as Alex said goodbye to a different girl.
At first, I assumed he was sleeping—no doubt worn out from his late-night antics—but as I began to walk downstairs his eyes flew open.
“Hmm.” His gaze swept over me. “Where are you off to in that get-up? No—” He propped himself up on his elbows. “On second thoughts, don’t tell me—let me guess. Some rich guy’s offered to take you out in exchange for a little cash.”
I rolled my eyes in response, and just continued down the stairs. I was feeling nervous enough about this evening without being told I looked like a high-class hooker.
“But just between us,” he said as I reached the bottom. “Whatever he’s told you, he is expecting more than just dinner. A lot more.”
That finally got to me. I stopped and turned, a bright smile on my face. “Actually, Alex, you’re right. I am meeting a rich older man tonight.”
His eyes narrowed a little. “Oh?”
“Yes. If memory serves me right, I think you call him Daddy.”
He swung his legs round, and sat up. “Ah, so you’ve been invited to dinner at my father’s house. Lucky you.” He waited a beat, and then said, “And will my brother be there, too?”
I raised my chin a little, refusing to sugar-coat it for him. “That’s right. In fact, Giles is picking me up right now. So,” I said, ignoring the irritated look that crossed his face, “enjoy your evening here alone—or with whatever poor girl has such low self-esteem that she feels flattered into sleeping with you.”
