Turning to Stone (Heart of Stone: Book 2)

Chapter 9: Protection

Chapter 9: Protection

"Oh my God." I kept my voice low, leaning closer. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." His mouth lifted into a strained smile. "Bad fight with Lacey. That's all."

He lowered his bloodshot eyes to the table. My fingers ached to reach out and touch him—to comfort him, support him, console him. Nausea swirled through my stomach as I contemplated the series of events that had led to us sitting in this room together, with Ed and Lacey both distraught over something that apparently ran much deeper than a secret relationship.

I'd really fucked up. We both had, but especially me. I should have known better, and if I somehow made it out of this with my job intact, Zola was going to lose her shit with me.

Minutes later, Helen swept into the room, looking only mildly irritated at being called into work during the middle of the night. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my thighs, desperate for a drink. Anxiety was suffocating my sense of humour, so I didn't have it in me to make a joke about how people were entitled to water when being interrogated.

Ed's hand slid up to rest on top of mine, intertwining our fingers against my leg and squeezing hard.

"Sophia is nothing to do with this," he said to Helen. "I'm the reason Lacey is upset, so if you need to—"

Helen cut him off with a sigh, rolling her eyes as she dropped her handbag onto a chair. "Christ, Ed. I'm too tired for this bullshit. Sit there and shut up until I ask you a question, okay?"

I fidgeted in my seat, eyes flitting between Mark and Helen as they sat down opposite us. Ed's hand didn't leave mine, his thumb sweeping back and forth over my knuckles. Maybe the affection stemmed from guilt, or maybe his fight with Lacey had used up all of his energy and he couldn't bring himself to put up another barrier.

"Right," Helen said. "Sophia."

"I told you." Ed's grasp on me tightened. "Sophia is nothing to do with this."

"Look." Helen's sharp snap echoed off the bare walls as her irritated stare landed on Ed. "I don't know what kind of mutually beneficial favour-exchanging agreement the two of you have going on here, but can we postpone the protectiveness until after we've got to the bottom of this, please?"

My eyes drifted over to Mark. Maybe Ed hadn't actually told him about the Favour Agreement. If everything Mark knew ended up being passed on to Helen, I doubted whether Ed would have ever chosen to share it.

"Sophia," Helen said, calm returning to her voice as her dark eyes landed on me. "Will you kindly summarise this evening's events?"

I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. The touch of Ed's skin against mine grounded me, and while he seemed keen to rid me of all accountability, I wasn't prepared to throw him under the bus, either.

"I came in through the side entrance and bumped into Lacey," I said. "We made each other jump, so Mark came down to see what the noise was. Lacey looked upset, but we didn't get as far as finding out why."

"She was upset because we had an argument," Ed said. "I want to do a tell-all interview with a journalist and needed her blessing."

Shit.

No beating around the bush, then.

Helen's eyes bulged. "You want to do what?"

A nervous sigh spilled from Ed's mouth as his hand trembled against my leg. "Last weekend, I hooked up with a stranger. I didn't know she recognised me. The story landed in the PR team's inbox, and I didn't want to own up to it because then I'd have to admit that I went behind Mark's back and paid off one of his new recruits to take me there off the books."