The smile dropped from his face. “The big deal, Irina, is that you have a target on your back. You’re illegally living in Australia, your ex-girlfriend has some revenge plot against you, a strange man has been watching you, and one of them broke into your apartment and stole things from your room. That’s why it’s a big deal.”
I rolled my eyes, but the twinge of nerves in my stomach told me he was right. Especially with how volatile things were back in Romania … thanks to my reckless decisions.
“I get that you need to escort me to and from the bar … but do you really need to come inside? Do I getanyprivacy? Kat’s already ridiculously suspicious of me, how do I explain a big, surly Scandinavian lurking around me?”
His eyes fixed on me in the mirror. “If it was up to me, you wouldn’t be goinganywhereuntil your visa is secured. But Henry’s in charge, and for some unknown reason he wants you to be happy.” His expression turned loaded. “I wonder why that could be …?”
My cheeks flushed, and I glanced down at my hands. I wasn’t going to attempt to give him an answer because it was all just a giant tangle in my head.
“Anyway,” Lucian continued, his eyes returning to the road. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to be inside the bar with you. I can be inconspicuous.”
I scoffed. The giant, blond beast couldn’t fly under a radar if he tried.
“Fine,” I snapped, giving in. “But you draw one ounce of attention, and I will flat out refuse to let you escort me anywhere, ever again.”
Lucian rolled his eyes. “Please. You think I enjoy babysitting you? I’ve got much better things to be doing with my time.”
“Oh, like lurking around the executive suite at Tickle, making goo-goo eyes at Liv while she tries to work?”
Lucian stilled. “You don’t know the first thing about?—”
“About her controlling wanker boyfriend and how she can’t seem to escape him?” I interrupted. Lucian’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Oh, I know a lot more than you think.”
Lucian’s eyes darted to meet mine in the mirror. His face was pale, his expression drawn. “I … I don’t want to get in the middle of it.”
“Lucian,” I chastised gently. “You’re already in the middle of it. She’s three quarters in love with you. And she’s scared, because she knows that whatshisface isn’t?—”
“Josh.” He spat the name like it was poison.
“Joshisn’t good for her. But she’s never going to find the courage to leave him if you don’t help her.”
“Fuck,” Lucian cursed under his breath, turning into the marina’s secure carpark. “It’s not that simple.”
“It could be that simple. If you love her, you give her the choice, and you support her, and you protect her, if Josh the Jackoff tries anything.”
Lucian blew out a frustrated breath. “And what about you? I don’t know if you’re the best person to be taking relationship advice from. Stringing Henry along, in his bed one night, avoiding him for weeks afterwards.”
My mouth fell open. I snapped it shut with a clack of my teeth. “Stringing him along? Are you for real right now? We had an agreement that we could have that one night and nothing would change! There is no stringing along, I’m playing by the rules we decided on, the rules that will make this whole process as smooth as possible.”
“And how’s that going for you, Irina?” Lucian asked darkly.
Fucking terribly.
“Amazingly!” I grunted.
“You keep lying to yourself. And Henry will keep lying to himself too, and you’ll both end up fucking this up.”
I wasn’t going to sit there and be lectured by him! He was only trying to get on my nerves because I’d struck a nerve with him. I opened the door, snatched up my swimming bag and stormed off.
Unfortunately, for all his annoying traits, Lucian was actually a very good security guard, and he was behind me in a flash, walking three feet back, not saying a word. For which I was grateful because I had nothing more I wanted to say to him.
It wasn’t until much later that night—after shouting at Kat’s cunty theatre peers, missing out on trying a Marmalade Sandwich cocktail and sharing an Uber that dropped her at Dom’s—that I actually thought about what Lucian had said earlier that day.
Henry will keep lying to himself too …
And I started to wonder if maybe Henry and I were the biggest pair of idiots known to man …
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
