Chapter 16: History
By the time Monday rolled around, the dark cloud of doom hanging over my head had lifted somewhat. Ed's flirting in the lift had reassured me that nothing had changed, and the more I replayed his behaviour that night, the more my mind refocused on the physical rather than the emotional.
"Morning, Sophia. How was your weekend?" Zola already had her laptop open and half a page of notes written when I entered the office.
I took a quick glance at the time on my phone. "Good, thanks. How was yours?"
"Same old. Did you get up to anything fun?"
"I went to Escala with some friends. Hattie Steele was there and did a great performance. It was really fun."
Sitting down in my chair, I flicked open my notebook to the next fresh page and then rooted around in my bag for a pen.
"Did Teddy join you at Escala? I know it's a favourite haunt of his."
I nodded. "Yeah, he was there."
Aha. I spotted the pen tucked into a side pocket and plucked it out. My inbox privileges had not yet been restored, but I hoped my press release attempt would go some way in speeding that along.
"Did you spend much time together?" Zola then asked, and something almost undetectable in her voice changed.
My stomach cartwheeled. I knew that tone. This conversation had shifted from small talk to an interrogation, just like I'd seen her do with Ed before.
Although I wanted to take the time to consider my response, I knew I couldn't hesitate for too long without it looking like I had something to hide. And I did have something to hide, but I couldn't keep it from her—not if I wanted her trust back.
"Yes," I said. "We did. He sat with us at our table for a while, then later on we spent some time together just one-on-one."
Zola arched a brow at me. She knew. Maybe someone actually had seen us, just like Ed had thought. Were we in the inbox? Had Hattie played me? She'd talked about wanting to get ahead—was this a tactic? The theories rushed through my mind like they always did whenever we considered the authenticity of an accusation.
I cleared my throat, setting my pen down onto my notebook and lifting my eyes to meet Zola's.
"Teddy and I have history together," I said. "We briefly revisited that last night before deciding it wasn't a smart idea."
"It's a pity you didn't consider whether it was a smart idea before you revisited it."
Fair point. And I had considered it, but then my hormones had decided they didn't care. But I couldn't exactly admit that to Zola—there were certain details she didn't need to know.
"It was just a kiss," I said. "Nothing more than that. In a dark corridor outside the bathrooms. He had his back to the wall; I had my back to the corridor..."
If she had photos, I needed to reassure her that everything I was saying was true. That started with the details that could be easily corroborated via the images.
"Is this the first time it's happened since you began working here?"
"The first time it's happened in public, yes. There have been a couple of ... um ... kisses in private, too. Those happened inside the hotel, though."
Technically I hadn't kissed Ed that morning after his drunken rampage, but Zola didn't need to know the intimate details of what I had done with my mouth instead.
"Did someone take photos?" I asked.
"Even better. A video."
Fuck. My initial shame grew into mortification, a ball of knots twisting in my gut.
"There's a fine line, Sophia. Obviously your private life is your business—not mine. But when that spills into your day job..."
"I completely understand."
"And this..." She slid a printed copy of my press release towards me. "This is far too emotional. It reads like an obsessed fan has written it."
My heart sank. In other circumstances, I might have joked that I wasn't even a fan, never mind an obsessed one, but Zola was justifiably not in the mood for humour.
"I went overboard, then," I said. "I can re-do it so it's less biased. Sorry. I made the wrong call on tone."
"The wrong call?" She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "Or did you let whatever personal feelings you have for him seep into it?"
I shifted in my seat, my cheeks heating. How the fuck was I supposed to answer that?
"Not knowingly," I said quietly, because at least that was the truth. "I'm so sorry, Zola. I was trying to redeem myself by making it as good as it could be. I didn't intend for the piece to come across as emotional—just positive."
Sighing, the hard expression in her eyes softened. "I've had to let Helen know. She'll want to speak to you."
I nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"In the meantime, have another shot at it." She tipped her chin towards the paper between us. "I can put it down to inexperience if you're able to get the tone right on the second attempt."
My heavy heart lightened just a fraction at the lifeline. But really, how many lifelines could I be offered before they cut me loose?
*
They say bad things come in threes, but after the suspension and then being caught kissing Ed, I thought I was due a break, despite being very much aware that I'd brought those two misfortunes upon myself.
But still, I had to face the music with Helen, and I wanted to be proactive about it rather than risk her thinking I was avoiding it. So, after lunch, I took a deep breath and knocked on her office door.
My heart thumped against my ribcage as I waited. Instead of the lack of answer easing my nerves, it shredded them. I wanted this over and done with.
"Looking for Helen?"
I spun around at the sound of Ed's voice coming from the kitchen across the corridor.
"Yeah," I said, crossing over and sticking my head through the door. "Know where she is?"
After tapping a teaspoon against the side of a mug, Ed glanced up at me. His blue eyes were calm and neutral. If he'd already had a bollocking this morning, he didn't appear fazed by it.
"Conference room. We've got that meeting with both legal teams in ten minutes."
"Oh." I racked my brain but came up short. Although Helen had promised to sort out Ed's Bathroom Blowjob via lawyers, I couldn't recall anything concrete being arranged. "Sorry. Must have slipped my mind."
He tossed me a sympathetic smile. "It didn't. You were left out of the loop due to your suspension."
Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. "Fair enough. Doubt they want me in there anyway given that I contributed towards the situation getting to this point."
"Help me with some of these coffees?" Ed gestured to the four mugs. "I think we're still waiting on our own rep to show up, so you might be able to catch her before."
"I'll help, but it's going to be a longer conversation," I said. "Better to bother her with it after the meeting."
After picking up two of the mugs, I backed out of the kitchen and waited for Ed to follow.
"So, have they spoken to you yet?" I asked under my breath as we started to walk.
"Yeah." His eyes flitted across to me. "Helen did. First thing this morning."
"Same, but Zola. How mad is Helen, on a scale of one to ten?"
Ed chuckled. "Believe it or not, I didn't get much from her. I think she's been preoccupied with this meeting. Once this is over and she can focus on other things again, then..."
Perfect. That did not bode well for my own meeting with Helen.
"I can't believe someone saw us." I shook my head to myself. "That corridor was so dark."
"Hm. It's my fault. You wanted to be sensible, and I talked you into it."
The hallway curved to the left, and we followed it round, passing Danny from Security. I waited until we were out of earshot.
"I didn't need much persuading," I said.
Ed's elbow darted out to knock against mine as he flashed me a sinful smile. My fingers tightened around the mug handles, keeping them upright.
"You looked ridiculously hot." He kept his voice low, but that only added to the seductive lilt accompanying his words. "The lapse of judgement was inevitable."
Warmth pooled in my stomach, but I bit my tongue. Flirting with him on the way to a legal meeting about the previous time he'd suffered a lapse of judgement was, again, not the best idea.
We reached the conference room and I carefully set down the mugs onto the table. Apart from Helen, who stood a few chairs down with her brow furrowed and head bowed towards her phone, the room was empty.
"Where's her lawyer gone?" Ed asked. "Not cancelled, is it?"
"No." Helen didn't look up from tapping her screen. "He just stepped outside to take a call."
As much as I didn't want to piss her off right before an important meeting, I knew she'd appreciate me being proactive and accountable, so I paused before leaving, curling my fingers around the back of a chair.
"Helen, can I schedule in some time with you this afternoon?" I asked.
She glanced up at me, eyes devoid of any kind of emotion. "Three work for you?"
"Yeah, three's good. Thanks."
With a curt nod, Helen's attention returned to her phone. I cast a small smile of encouragement at Ed and dropped my hands from the chair. As I turned to leave, however, a familiar figure strolled through the door.
Crisp navy suit. Wavy blonde hair perfectly tamed. Face unusually serious.
All warmth drained from my body. Air was sucked from my lungs, robbing me of my ability to breathe.
No.
Fuck, no.
"So sorry about that." His head was angled downwards as he slipped his phone into the inner pocket of his jacket. "Are we still waiting for your—?"
When he lifted his gaze to the room, our eyes met, and the words died on his tongue. Tension crept into his body, tightening his jaw and drawing his hands into fists.
Bad things really did come in threes.
***
Thank you for reading :) xx
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A slightly shorter chapter than usual, plus a cliffhanger, so I'll make it up to you by uploading the next part in a couple of days.
I warned you this would be a bumpy ride, and it's about to hit the fan...