‘Screw you!’ I make to pull away, the sudden onset of tears already stinging my eyes, when his hand wraps around my shoulder, stilling me.
‘Heather, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.’
‘Yes, it was.’ I dash away an escaped bastarding tear with the back of my hand looking anywhere but at him. ‘If you must know I’ve used it twice in the six years I’ve owned it. Clearly, app based dating isn’t for me.’ Or maybe dating period. Except I refuse to give in. Other people manage. Every day in London alone, hundreds of people meetthe one. Others marrying or settle down. I can’t be the only one struggling, can I?
‘You could’ve called me you know. If you had an itch to scratch.’
I almost don’t pick up on his meaning, my mind locked in cycle of manic questioning. But then I realise his thumb is brushing the edges of my collarbone.
‘We got on well together, didn’t we?
His hand dips, his index finger beginning to slide along the neck of my sweater, tantalising my skin and making me shiver with longing. It’s a reaction I’ll always associate with him because no one has ever made me feel the way he does. He can make the world around me feel flimsy and inconsequential with just one look.
‘Archer.’ And that look is dark and oh-so enticing as I wrap my hand over his. ‘Are you propositioning me?’
‘Is it still a proposition if we’re supposed to be dating?’ he muses, his mouth hitching in one corner.
My thoughts scatter like grains of sand in brisk wind and I don’t realise I’m chewing my lip until he tugs at it with his thumb.
‘Don’t think too hard about it,’ he adds a touch sardonically. ‘I don’t remember you being so indecisive last time.’
‘It’s not that.’ I swallow, the words almost taking more lung capacity than I currently have. ‘It’s... it’s complicated.’
‘Then why don’t we go someplace else to talk about it. Your place or mine?’
And just like that, I join the long list of Archer Powell’s conquests as I answer,
‘Yours.’
24
Archer
I call an Uber,Heather asking the driver if she can use his charger to charge her phone on the way. The minute it flicks back to life, it begins ringing.
‘My phone went flat.’ She immediately launches into conversation, stern words spoken from the other end. ‘That’s the weirdest thing, Vee, it had plenty of charge and it just went flat, poof! That’s why you couldn’t call. Yeah, I bloody needed it, he was a nightmare. No, not the five inches thing.’ She turns to me with an arch look as I begin to snigger. ‘Of course I’m not with him now. I’m not a total idiot. What? I’m with Archer. You know, the guy from work?’
There’s a note in her voice that tells me this isn’t the first time I’ve been spoken about, and that’s without the chorus of eager squeals coming from her phone right now. Heather turns her shoulder to me, whisper-hissing her next words into the handset.
‘Thanks for that. Yes, I’m pretty sure he heard. I pretty sure the borough of Westminster heard. Shoreditch. Yes, on our way now. Well, Vee, that leaves quite a wide scope of all the things I can arguably get involved in. Yes, I’m sure I will. You have alovelyevening, too.’
Her cheeks are a delicious red as drops her phone to her knee, pressing them together rather primly.
‘I take it your friends are happy you’re alive?’
‘They are today. They might not be tomorrow.’
‘Could I have a look at your phone? Just for a minute.’ With a quizzical look, she passes it to me and watches as I open up Safari to find there are literally forty tabs open all for the same thing.The Pit and Sawdust website.The brightness is turned up. The Wi-Fi is on and searching for a network to join, the same goes for her Bluetooth. Push button notifications are activated for every fifteen minutes.
‘Does your phone usually look like this?’ I tilt it towards her and flick through a few screens.’
‘No, I’m pretty good at the whole tech housekeeping thing. Same goes for my laptop.’
‘Did you leave your phone with him at any time?’
‘Yeah.’ She pulls a face. ‘Only for a couple of minutes.’
‘The bastard. He did this to make your phone go flat.’
