She’s quiet for a second. ‘You already are.’
‘What about you? Didn’t you mention a break up in London?’
I picture some smug bastard with his hands on her, her laugh in his mouth, and something ugly coils in my chest. Jealousy, yeah. But there’s pain too. That she let someone in before me. That he fucked it up so much that she’s having a hard time opening up again.
She blows out a breath. ‘You ever trust someone and then realise they only were with you because you made them look better? It sucks.’
‘Aye. It does.’
Silence for a moment. Not heavy, just turned a notch tighter.
‘Gil was more than my boyfriend,’ she says eventually. ‘He was my manager at the agency in London. Brilliant, older, charming. Everyone adored him. Including me.’
My shoulders hitch. ‘Sounds like a puffed-up arsehole.’
‘He knew how to say the right things: that I was talented, promising, amazing. He sent me flowers and took me on dates, called me first thing in the morning and late at night. Like I was exceptional and he couldn’t believe his luck. And I believed him.’ Her eyes are on the table now. ‘Love bombing is what the kids call it nowadays. And I wasn’t prepared for that.’
‘You’re always prepared for everything, Theo.’
‘Not for a grade A narcissist as it turned out. He started using my work. Strategy decks, campaign ideas. Stuff I stayed up all night building. He’d take my ideas, polish them with a grin, and pitch them as his.’
‘And you found out.’
She nods. ‘At a party. One of our biggest clients. That account was a huge deal for me. I stood next to the bar while he told the room my ideas like he’d dreamt them up in the shower. Everyone clapped and called him a genius. I just…stood there, floored.’
‘What a fucking twat.’
‘When I confronted him, he told me not to be dramatic. Said I was making things personal. That I was threatening his position. He made me feel like I was unstable. Even though I found out that I wasn’t the first young female employee he did that to.’
The wood beneath my hand creaks. Hadn’t noticed I was gripping the table.
‘I escalated it, and HR got involved. He flipped it and told them I was stalking him because I was starstruck by his reputation or whatever. They didn’t exactly fire me, but they let me go quietly when my contract ended. The project I built got reassigned. My name disappeared.’
She says it all calmly. But her jaw ticks once, and I know it’s costing her.
‘That bastard stole from you,’ I say. ‘And then made you feel like you were the problem. You don’t happen to still have his address? Asking for an itching fist.’
‘Don’t be daft, Finn.’
I’m not daft, I’m raging. But I swallow it for her sake. ‘You ever see him again?’
‘No. And I wouldn’t trust myself not to pour boiling water in his lap, so that’s for the best.’
I let that hang for a second. ‘So…what’s it like, trying to trust me?’
Her mouth crooks. ‘Probably risky, but oddly thrilling.’
‘I’ll take that.’
She puts a hand on my cheek. ‘You’re a cocky menace with no off switch, but you’ve never made me feel small. Not once.’
I bite back the victory in my smile, but my ribs tighten anyway. ‘That’s only because you terrify me.’
Another laugh slips free, and her lashes dip as if she knows what that laugh does to me.
‘Wanna play one more? I think I’ve finally figured out which end of the cue to use.’
She stands. ‘You’re going down so hard, Lennox.’
