Before he can answer, his cell phone rings and he glances at the screen. “Yes, Samuel.” He listens to what the security guardis saying. “That’s fine. Thank you.” Ending the call, he tells me, “Claudia is on her way up.”
What bad timing. I want to finish this conversation. Now it will have to wait. “We’ll talk about this later?”
He gets to his feet. “Sure. I’ll give you and Claudia some privacy.” His face is expressionless, his voice monotone. I can’t make out what he’s thinking.
“You don’t have to leave. Whatever she has to say will probably involve you.”
“Fill me in later. I have work to do. If you need me, I’ll be in my office.”
I watch him walk out of the living room. Something has shifted with him. Does he not want me to leave? Why wouldn’t he? If he’s used to a revolving door of women, I’m in the way.
A couple of minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. I get up to answer it and Claudia barrels inside, storms into the living room, and paces. “Why are you making my life so difficult? Are you doing it on purpose?”
I raise an eyebrow. This is a tone I’ve never heard from her before. “Excuse me?” I’m the one who had to go into hiding. Whose career is slipping through my fingers. And she’s telling meI’mmakingherlife difficult.
She makes an annoyed huffing sound. “Have you seen what’s online now? How am I supposed to fix your career if you keep doing stupid things? God, Pen, can’t you do anything right?”
Jerking back, I stare at her incredulously. The situation I’m in has been stressful for everyone, but there’s no excuse for Claudia to speak to me like this. “You need to calm down or leave. Come back when you have something useful to say.” Never have I had to put Claudia in her place. Yes, she is my friend, but she’s also my employee. This is a time where we need to put our friendship aside.
She blows out a breath and sinks onto the couch. “I’m sorry, Pen. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I take a seat next to her. “I haven’t looked online. Are things that bad?” Of course they are; she wouldn’t have barged in here with so much attitude if they weren’t.
“The good news is, you’ve convinced people you and Lucas are a couple and not just a casual fling.”
“Great.” That was the point of being seen together. I know there is abutcoming.
“But…” There it is. “There’s bad news. That scene in the restaurant is everywhere. Darren is made to look like a heartbroken man trying to reunite with his ex-fiancée. While Lucas is portrayed as a home-wrecker. I can’t believe he punched him. He’s only helped Darren by acting like a neanderthal. Everyone is sympathizing with him. More so than before.”
I sink my head in my hands. All this work, and our lives put on hold, for nothing. Things have only gotten worse. I can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to Lucas. It could even affect his business even more.
“Darren provoked Lucas and threw the first punch. Did no one see that and post about it?” I ask.
“Not that I’ve seen. Apparently, the punch to Darren’s stomach is more entertaining.”
“Darren started it,” I try to plead Lucas’ case.
“Doesn’t matter. Darren is buckled over in pain and gasping for breath. You and Lucas are seen leaving the restaurant like lovers on the run.”
I scratch my fingers through my hair. “What do we do now?”
“You should talk to DarrenwithoutLucas. Try and work things out,” she suggests.
My head snaps up. “You want me to get back with Darren?” My skin crawls at the thought.
She waves her hand. “No. Definitely not. He’s a pig. You should talk to him about what he’s doing. Ask him to stop. Offer him money. Let him keep the apartment. Do anything to get him to shut his mouth. Otherwise, he’s going to keep milking this. We know that after his injury his sponsorships dried up. The sport has lost interest in him. This is giving him the attention he craves.”
Lifting my legs on the couch, I wrap my arms around my knees. “Do you think offering money will work?”
Claudia shrugs. “Worth a try. You can’t keep living like this. Especially with Lucas. He’s such a man whore he’ll probably ruin this ‘fake relationship’ by screwing some other woman and getting caught.”
Didn’t he just tell me he only does one-night stands and never dates? How long will it take for him to miss that life? He might say he is in this with me, but he’ll soon tire.
“You can’t trust him to see this through,” Claudia says bitterly.
My spine stiffens as I remember a conversation I had with Lucas. How Claudia hit on him at a party behind my back. “Speaking of Lucas…” I don’t agree with what she’s saying because Icantrust Lucas. He might eventually want to go back to his normal life, but he won’t destroy what we’ve worked on to get there. “Why didn’t you tell me you tried having sex with him while we were in high school?”
She gives a nervous, surprised laugh and doesn’t look me directly in the eye. “What are you talking about?”
