“Thanks. It’s… ginger nuts.”
Tom frowned. I opened my mouth like I was at the dentist and huffed air onto his face so he could smell it.
“See? Ginger nuts.”
Tom blinked, shook his head, turned, and disappeared down the corridor.
Over the next two hours, there were three more knocks at the door. All women. So if Tom was sent to test my claim to homosexuality, I’d failed. I was getting increasingly frustrated. The best passages of my favourite book were being ruined by interruptions. It was nearly eleven when there was another heavy, urgent thump at the door.
“Oh, sod off! Are you trying to bankrupt me?”
“It’s me, open up.”
“Petey Boy?”
I threw open the door.
“You and I need to talk,” he said, marching into the room.
“We absolutely do,” I agreed.
Chapter 15
Petey
By midnight, Indira, William, and I were standing in our pyjamas in the production office in the Old Coach House. This wasThe Love Manorbase camp, the nerve centre. Long trestle tables had been set up along both walls, with screens showing the feeds coming in directly from all the fixed cameras set up around the house. My night shift colleagues, Haruto and Thandiwe, were sitting at their desks, logging and filing the day’s material. Indira sucked on her cigarette.
“Remind me why you’re living in that fucking tower?”
William shrugged. “To make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.”
“Right. How do we think that’s going?”
“Listen, I know we had a few teething troubles, but?—”
I scoffed. “You’re a liability, bruv.”
“Hey, I kept to my side of the bargain. What happened this evening had nothing to do with me. If you hadanycontrol over your cast?—”
I wasn’t having this entitled himbo throw me under the bus. “This only happened because you rode through my shot!”
“How did they even know who I was? I didn’t tell them,” William said, throwing his hands wide.
Suddenly, I felt incredibly guilty. That was on me. But I couldn’t admit it in front of Indira or she’d give me a bollocking—and I had too much on the line.
“And I certainly didn’t tell them where I live. Someone told them, because it takes quite a mental leap to put all those things together.”
Indira waved her cigarette. “It could have been your furry friend. The one with a laugh like a jackal fucking an electric power socket.”
“Jonty?” I said, leaping on the escape route offered. “Could have been, I guess.” After all, it must have been him who’d let slip about the folly.
“It doesn’t matter now, anyway,” Indira said. “All that matters is fixing it.”
I had to come up with a solution. Not only because I’d caused this headache and avoided the blame for it, but I was meant to be Indira’s fix-it man—and if I ever wanted my own show, I needed to prove my value.
“We need to remove William from the table as an option for the cast,” I said. “Could you live somewhere else for the time being?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, stamping his foot. “I want this show to be a success, but this is my home and I won’t be pushed out of it.”
