Beneath This Man

‘Coffee, Ava?’ Sally appears from the stationary cupboard, looking as miserable as she did earlier. I need wine desperately.

‘No thanks, Sally.’ I answer.

I look up and see Tom and Victoria with their heads down. Good. I can spend the rest of the afternoon worrying about my life drama in peace. I suddenly wish I didn’t have to pick my stuff up after work. Seeing Matt is the last thing I want to do.

‘Here you are, flower. Some flight details. Let me know what suits.’ He hands me a print out of scheduled flights and I shove it in my bag. I’ll think about that later. He leaves me in peace and I feebly try to carry on with my work.

Chapter 14

Six o’clock approaches and I start clearing my desk. Everyone else has left, so it’s down to me to do the office checks and lock up. Kate pulls up in Margo Junior and I jump in.

‘I can’t believe you suggested a girls night out in front of Jesse!’ I fire at her immediately as I settle and put my belt on. In my huffy state, I begrudgingly marvel at the comfort of Kate’s new van.

‘Nice to see you too.’ She pulls into the traffic. ‘He said you can go, so what’s the problem?’

‘The problem is, he won’t let me drink because he has this unreasonable worry that if he’s not there to look out for me, I might end up dead or something.’

She laughs. ‘How sweet.’

I scoff . ‘No, it’s not. It’s unreasonable.’

‘Pah! He’ll never know. Let’s be rebels!’

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I laugh, although I really feel like being a rebel at the moment. I feel like getting drunk, but that would just be thoughtless. ‘He’s just thrown a rage over a male client. He actually hijacked my meeting with Mikael Van Der Haus and marked his territory. It was mortifying.’ I blurt it out, still racing through reasons for Mikael to find my relationship with Jesse interesting.

‘Yikes!’

‘On the plus side, though, I do know how old he is now.’

Kate swings her blues to me with a look of excitement. ‘Really?’

I nod. ‘Really.’

‘Come on then. Reveal the mystery of ages.’

‘Thirty seven.’

‘No!’ she says dramatically. ‘Really? He doesn’t look it. How did you find out?’

‘I introduced Jesse to the truth f**k yesterday morning.’ I don’t know why I have completely, unashamedly admitted that because I know she’ll be pumping me for more information. Do I care?

‘You’ve known a whole day and not told me?’

‘Sorry.’ I shrug. There’s a lot more than his age. A lot more, but I need wine to delve into that shit. I need a night out to off load it all on Kate.

‘What’s a truth f**k?’ She frowns.

There we are. ‘It involves Jesse handcuffed to the bed and me with a vibrator,’ I look at her. ‘He doesn’t like sharing me, even with a machine.’ I add dryly. She bursts into laughter and the van swerves. I grab the door. ‘Kate!’

‘Sorry,’ she splutters. ‘Oh, I love it!’

I’ve got so much to push on her, but her own situation is worrying me. ‘What’s going on with you and Sam?’

She stops laughing immediately. ‘Nothing.’

I roll my eyes on a dramatic sigh. ‘Nothing. Of course.’

‘Hey, what the hell are you wearing to this big bash?’ she asks, in an obvious diversion from my enquiries.

I inwardly groan. Am I even going now? ‘I don’t know, Jesse is supposed to be taking me shopping.’

‘Oh? He is, is he?’ she muses. ‘Make the most of old money bags.’

‘I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve not been there since last Sunday, and that pouty faced tramp will be there.’ I grumble. No doubt I’ll be receiving another warning. I sit back in my seat and think of all the other things I would prefer to do tomorrow night, and now Jesse is quite clearly raging with me, my enthusiasm has not lifted. It’s me who should be raging. He’s got some explaining to do in light of Mikael’s brainteaser.

We pull up outside my old flat, and I see Matt’s white BMW. My heart sinks, but I knew he would have to be here to let me in.

‘Do you want me to come in?’ Kate asks.

I mull over the question for a few seconds but decide it’s probably best if she waits in Margo. Kate is a feisty bugger when she wants to be, and all I have to do is get in, be polite and get out. I shall be quick about it as well.

‘No, I’ll bring it out to you.’ I open the van door and get out. I’m feeling sicker by the minute. Jesse’s already crazy mad over a stupid telephone call. I would call him unreasonable if it hadn’t been for Mikael’s line of conversation, but Jesse doesn’t know what was said, although his reaction speaks volumes.

I make my way up the steps and press the buzzer for our apartment, looking up at my building and feeling unexpectedly sad that I don’t live here anymore.

‘Hi.’ Matt’s happy voice comes over the intercom.

‘Hi.’ I say as informally as I can. I don’t want to get into friendly conversation with him. I’m still pissed he had the nerve to call my parents.

‘I’ll buzz you in.’

I hear the door mechanism release and I look back at Kate, giving a little wave to indicate I’m going in. She puts her thumb up and flashes her mobile at me. I nod my understanding and step into the corridor of the downstairs entrance hall.

Making my way up the stairs, I take calming breaths while giving myself a mental pep talk. I must not mention the call to my parents and I must not get involved in too much conversation.