Never Tell Lies (18+)

Ch 9 - That's Kind Of Hot

Keira, who had given up on her sad-looking salad, was currently munching her way through half a ham and cheese panini that she'd stolen from my plate. She was a curvaceous girl with chestnut locks and a round, happy face. Her fashion sense was ... interesting, and today she was sporting leather trousers and a jacket she had decorated with sequins in the shape of peacock feathers.

She was listening studiously as I filled her in on the events of the last twenty four hours.

"Bloody hell," she said around a mouth full of my lunch. As I'd relived everything that had happened with Mr Tell, I'd realised how crazy it really was. This kind of thing just didn't happen to people like me, and definitely not in small towns like mine.

'So...Jesus, I don't even know where to start." She reached across the table for my diet coke and took a sip. Her sparkling water remaining untouched as usual. "Actually, I think I need to see exactly what we're dealing with first." She pulled out her phone and seconds later she let out a low whistle, followed by sweet holy Jesus as she scrolled through image after image of Alfie Tell. All of them were press shots (apparently he wasn't big on social media) and (as I pointed out to her) in nearly all of them he had Angie Carter on his arm.

Keira looked impressed – how could she not be? After another minute of scrolling she put her phone down with a shake of her head, as if she couldn't stand to look at that level of beauty any longer.

"So, are you really not going to take the project?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't want to step on Mark's toes and I'd have to give up my weekends and—"

"You're worried you'll fuck it up," she finished for me, voicing my unspoken fears. I couldn't help giving her an affectionate smile. She knew me so well.

"Lo, you're talented. I know those fuckers at the College of Whatever keep turning you down, but fuck them! You've got an opportunity here to show what you can do, and not just in someone's back garden or whatever, but on a huge piece of property for an international company. This is huge, Lo! If Versace called me up and offered me my dream out of the blue I'd be losing my fucking mind!" Keira was currently working as a seamstress assistant and she owned every copy of Vogue ever published. She and I were in the same boat career-wise.

"But what if he's just dangling that 'opportunity' in front of my face to get me to sleep with him?"

"Then he's an arse, but that aside, you'd be a fucking idiot not to find out," she finished, taking another decisive sip of my drink.

"I'll think about it," I sighed. She was right, I was scared of failing at something I wanted so badly. But I did want it, I just wished the 'opportunity' hadn't come wrapped in such a gorgeous, intense package.

"Good, now what about this guy? If you take the project I'm guessing you'll see a lot of him?"

"Normally no, but I have a feeling he would find ways of seeing me." I took my drink back and stuck the straw in my mouth to stop myself from saying anything else. She was grinning at me and I scowled.

"That's kind of hot." She arched an eyebrow at me. My best friend was a minx, a walking sauce-pot. She would be way better suited to Mr Tell than me. She wouldn't have hesitated to take him up on his rooftop offer.

"It's kind of creepy," I retorted. She elbowed her rejected salad to the side and reached for the dessert menu.

"Lo, you're the only girl in the world that would be upset about getting their dream job and a date from a hot guy all in one phone call."

"It's not like that. I told you about the thing on the roof."

"Yeah and I admit that was out of line but he backed off straight away, right? And he returned your phone, gift wrapped for fucks sake!" That was true but that wasn't the point. He had backed off, but only because he'd recalculated and formed a new plan to get at me.