by Claire Raye
“Yeah, yeah,” I stutter out, trying to find my voice and gain my composure. I have no idea why I’m suddenly so nervous. I swallow hard and start again. “When were you thinking?”
“Are you free today? Maybe around eleven?”
“Yeah, that should work.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you at Lewis’. We can walk somewhere from there.”
“Great. See you then.”
Relief washes over me as soon as I hit the end button on the phone and Lewis pulls me into his arms. He’s still laughing, his face pressed against my neck and I can feel the curve of his smile melting into my skin.
“What was that about?” he teases, his fingers tickling my sides. “You were so nervous.”
“Of course I was. I called V a cunt the last time we had a conversation. And she’s important to you. I want things to be good between all of us.”
“Wait, you called V a cunt?” He bursts out laughing, rolling onto his back and letting out a deep belly laugh.
“Why’s that so funny?”
“Um, because she can be and I’m not certain anyone has ever called her that. She needed it.”
“You’re being really mean right now, you know that. She didn’t deserve it. I just said it in retaliation to her calling me a money-grubbing bitch.”
“Holy shit. I’m so fucking disappointed I missed this conversation. To be a fly on the wall.”
I slap him in the chest and he grabs my wrist, yanking me on top of him, my legs straddling his hips as I press a few simple kisses to his lips.
“I’m meeting V for lunch today. I hope that’s okay. I know we said today would be our day together since I have to work tonight.”
“It’s all good, babe. You go have lunch with V and I’ll spend a little quality time with my other girl.”
I scoff out loud, taking his face in my hands so he’s looking at me; I shake my head at him, a stern look on my face. Narrowing my eyes at him and making sure he hears the authoritative tone in my voice. “I’m your only girl.”
“Are you jealous? Because you know that turns me on.” He pushes his hips up and smirks at me. “I meant Daisy, though. You know you’re my only girl.”
I lean down and kiss him, loving his cheeky side.
V shows up right at eleven giving her signature buzz of the door and I rush over to let her in with Lewis laughing behind me.
“Settle down, babe. Everything will be fine as long as you don’t call her a cunt again.” There’s that smirk, that perfectly beautiful, panty-dropping smile that gets me every time.
I shake my head at him and open the door to find Victoria standing on the other side, dressed casually yet somehow, she looks absolutely stunning. I swear this girl could make a garbage bag look good. Her hair is piled high on top of her head, and she’s wearing black skinny jeans, black boots and an oversized chunky knit sweater, yet she looks like she stepped out of a magazine.
“You ready?” she asks, tipping her head in and shouting hi to Lewis. He tosses a hand up in response adding, “Hey V.” Things seem a little less tense, more relaxed but still none of the witty banter they passed so causally between each other before, none of the comfort that comes from being friends with someone for so long.
I hate it.
I kiss Lewis good bye and give Daisy a pat on the head, but she rolls over and demands I scratch her belly, and not being one to upset another one of Lewis’ girls, I give her a quick scratch.
“Where to?” I ask when V and I hit the sidewalk.
“There’s a place just up the road. It’s small but has good food.” She nods her head in the direction and I follow her, a silence now passing between us. But it’s not nearly as awkward as it could be and I don’t find the need to fill it as I would’ve in the past. Yes, I want her to like me, but not at the expense of my own sanity.
We come to a small café where V seems to know most of the people and she even introduces me as Lewis’ wife when she makes her rounds greeting everyone. It’s a pleasant surprise and it shows she’s coming to terms with all of this too.
“Thanks for asking to meet me for lunch,” I tell her when we sit down.
“No problem.” She folds her hands on the table and then returns them to her lap. She shifts a little, chewing her bottom lip before she adds an awkward, “I’m sorry.”
I tilt my head giving her a strange look because I felt like we had moved past this.
“Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry I called you a bitch and said that you only married Lewis for his money.”
“I understand your concern now though, and I’m sorry I called you a cunt. You were just trying to do what you thought was best for Lewis.”
“I should have given you a chance, but it’s hard when you’ve watched him get shit on by other girls, girls who never appreciated what he had to offer as a person, who were only interested in his money.”
“I honestly had no idea, and it’s definitely not why I married him. I walked into his bar late one night after a crazy day. I never thought I would see him again, but he’s…he’s…he’s just so…”
“Charismatic, charming, funny, intense…”
“Amazing,” I add, giving V a smile. “He’s hard to describe, but I was drawn to him like never before, but I thought he was just interested in a one night stand.”
“Never. He’s a hopeless romantic at heart.”
“And it turns out so am I.”
We chat for a while, getting to know each other. V tells me how her and Lewis grew up next door to each other and were in class together every year until high school. He’s kissed her once and it was weird, and she told me she thought she was going to throw up after it happened.
“He was trying to make me feel better after this dickhead stood me up at a school dance.” She laughs at the memory, shaking her head. “It obviously didn’t work.”
“The sentiment was there though,” I say, knowing it would totally be like Lewis to try to make her feel better. “I’m kinda surprised he didn’t go after the guy.”
“Oh, he did that too. Broke his nose.”
V and I talk for almost two hours, laughing and trading stories. I tell her all about growing up on Long Island with three brothers, which she finds fascinating given she and Lewis both have no siblings. She’s never been to the States and I invite her to join us whenever we go home to meet my family.
“I couldn’t,” she says, holding up a hand as if to tell me I’m being ridiculous.
“Why not?”
“You’re taking your husband home to meet your family for the first time. You don’t want his childhood best friend tagging along.”
“Obviously I wouldn’t take you with us there, but you could fly in with us, explore New York City, meet a cute American boy.” I wink at her, an homage to how I met Lewis. “Then we could all meet up and do some things together. It would be fun and it would take some of the stress off of Lewis. Meeting my family is going to be interesting.”
“Okay, I’m in,” she says, beaming at me.
Chapter Fifteen
Lewis
“Hey.”
I look up and watch Ava walk from our bedroom into the living area. She’s looks tired, still half asleep as she runs a hand through her hair making the t-shirt she’s pulled on ride up a little.
“Hey, my sweet girl,” I say, reaching out a hand as I move my laptop to the side and pull her onto my lap on the couch. “You okay?”
She falls against me, her head resting on my shoulder as she murmurs, “Tired.”
I glance at the clock on my laptop. It’s just gone four o’clock in the afternoon. “Want me to make you some coffee?” I ask as she buries her face against my neck, with a whispered, “Mmmm.”
I actually thought with me working nights at the pub and Ava working nights on set, we’d see each other more often. But I’m quickly learning that isn’t true. She’s been on nights for a week now, yet each day, she hasn’t been home before the sun comes up.
I don’t know why, but I’d always just assumed she’d come home sometime after I’d closed up the pub, giving us a couple of hours together and then all morning to sleep in before she left to go to work again. Instead, by the time she finally comes home, I’ve usually been up for hours.
“What are you doing?” she eventually asks, lifting her head a little.
I press a kiss to her lips, lingering as I whisper, “Work, just some orders and other shit.”
She nods. “Are you working tonight?”
I smile, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Nope, I’m taking you to dinner before you have to work.”
She smiles now, kissing me again. “That sounds good.”
I chuckle. “Go have a shower, baby, I’ll make you some coffee to wake up.”
I gently ease her off me and Ava stands, holding out her hand to me. “How about we skip the coffee and you come wake me up in the shower.”
Grinning, I stand, pulling her against me and planting a hard kiss against her mouth. “I like the way you think, sweet girl.”
A couple of hours later, we are dressed and heading out to grab some dinner before Ava has to go to work.
“How’s work been going?” I ask, after we’ve ordered.
Ava shrugs. “Okay, just long.”
“Is it normal for you to come home so late after working nights?” I ask, trying not to give off a vibe that it bothers me.
Ava shakes her head. “Not really, but Noel has me run around and organize his breakfast and other stuff before I finish for the morning. Julia was never like that.”
“Fuck’s sake, babe, this guy sounds like a fucking tool,” I say, reaching for her hands across the table.
She cocks an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, he is,” she says. “But I can handle him.”
I lift her hands to my mouth. “I know you can, Ava, seriously. But that doesn’t give him the right to treat you like this, like a slave.”
Ava lets out a long exhale, smiling at me a little. “I know,” she says. “This is partly the way the industry works, but partly because I’m new to him,” she continues, her fingers twisting the ring on my finger. “He’s pushing me to see how much I can tolerate, to see if he can break me,” she says. “But he won’t,” she adds.
I chuckle a little, even though a part of me wants to punch this guy in the fucking face. “I know he won’t, you are the strongest person I know,” I tell her, meaning it. “I just hate the idea of this guy doing this, like it’s all some game to him.”
Ava’s smile widens. “I know you do, Lewis,” she says softly. “I love that you care this much. Just don’t go breaking his nose or anything,” she says with a wink.
“What?” I ask, confused.
She laughs now. “Breaking his nose, like you did standing up for V?”
Now it’s me laughing as she reminds me of the story V told her about our one-time kiss and the reasons why it happened in the first place.
Last week when Ava had finally come home from her lunch with V, the two of them had walked into the flat, laughing and chatting like they’d known each other for years. I’d sat there and watched them make plans to catch up again before they hugged each other good bye, V walking out the door with nothing more than a hi and a bye in my direction.
I was glad though. Glad that V had gotten over whatever apprehension she’d had about Ava and me and also any animosity she’d had toward Ava. Because while there was no question that Ava was the most important person in my life, it didn’t mean I wanted to cut V out of it. I’d known her forever and she was also important to me. I wasn’t sure I could handle the two of them not getting on.
After we’ve finished dinner, we decide to walk over to the studio together.
“Come in, I’ll show you around,” she says, tugging on my hand.
I nod and follow her up to the security desk where she gets me a visitor access card before swiping us into the studio.
Inside, I see it’s a huge cavernous space that’s filled with lighting equipment and cameras, the floor marked out with taped crosses and set up with what looks like the inside of a pub in the corner.
“This is me most of the time,” Ava says, gesturing toward a room, the door partially open.
I glance in and see some guy standing at a table berating someone I can’t see. When I turn back to Ava, she rolls her eyes and mouths, “Noel,” to me, before leading me away from the trailer and toward a group of people hovering around some sound equipment.
She introduces me to them, but her words are cut short by someone yelling her name.
We both turn and I see this Noel dickhead standing in the door of his trailer, hands on his hips as he glares at my wife.
“Where the fuck have you been?” he yells, his eyes fixed on her.
I feel Ava’s hand grip my arm as though warning me not to move, even as my hands close into tight fists at my sides. It takes everything I have in me not to walk over and deck this guy.
“You’re late,” he shouts again, briefly glancing at me with a look that suggests I’m not important enough for him to acknowledge.
Ava pulls her phone from her bag, scrolling through it before she looks up at him and says, “No, I’m on time. There were no appointments or changes to your schedule that indicated I needed to be here before nine.”
I watch as this guy’s face flushes red, his eyes practically bulging in shock. “I don’t give a shit what the schedule says,” he says, air quoting the word schedule to her. “You’re my PA, you’re here whenever I want you to be here.”
Ava glances at me, an apologetic look on her face before she turns and walks toward Noel. She stops about halfway and even though her back is to me, I still hear what she tells him.
“My start time was nine o’clock,” she says. “If you’d wanted me here earlier, all you had to do was call or text me,” she continues, her voice strangely calm. “Now, what is it you need me to do?”
I watch as Noel’s jaw clenches. The whole set is now deathly silent as I imagine everyone waits to see what it is this arsehole wants Ava to do for him. She on the other hand is nothing but professional as she politely puts him in his place at the same time as doing her job.
Kinda turns me on if I’m being honest, even if watching this whole scene makes me sick to my stomach too.
Noel lets out a long exhale, seemingly realizing that everyone is now watching him act liked a spoiled brat. “I need you to run over to production and grab some notes for me,” he says, before adding that he also needs some coffee and something to eat.
Why the fuck this guy can’t go and get this shit for himself is beyond me, but in any case, I watch as Ava agrees to his demands before turning back to me.
With her back to him now, she rolls her eyes as though trying to make light of the whole situation. I shake my head, stepping toward her as I slide my arm around her waist.
“That guy is a fucking wanker,” I say quietly.
“I know,” she breathes out. “Trust me, I know.”
“Ava,” I whisper, my voice softening as she puts her hands on my chest. “I really hate the idea of you working for him, that he thinks it’s okay to treat you like this.”
Ava takes a deep breath, her fingers curling into my t-shirt. “I know you do,” she says giving me a tiny smile. “And I love that you look out for me like this.” She pauses, leaning in to kiss me softly. “But I’m okay, I promise. It’s just words and him puffing out his chest.”
I let out a soft grunt that indicates I don’t agree, but she only chuckles, as she leans in to kiss me again. “I better go,” she eventually says, pulling back. “I’ll walk you out?”
I slide my hand down to her arse, holding her against me. “I can find my way out,” I tell her. “You go so that dickhead doesn’t totally lose his shit.”
“I love you,” she murmurs, her fingers uncurling from my shirt.
“I love you too,” I reply, kissing her once more before letting her go.
I watch as she walks into the trailer Noel had come out of. The door doesn’t close, but there is no more shouting from inside, so I can only assume the idiot isn’t in there. Turning, I walk to toward the exit, pushing open the door and stepping out into the night.
A waft of cigarette smoke catches my attention and when I turn around, I see that wanker arsehole leaning against the wall of the studio, puffing on a cigarette.
I know this is a bad idea, a really bad idea, but I can’t stop myself as I turn and head over to where he’s standing.
He glances over at me, giving me that same disinterested look he gave me before. When I stop in front of him, I watch as he eyes me up and down, his cigarette between his lips.
“Can I help you?” he eventually asks, his question dripping with disgust, as though it’s beneath him to even speak to me.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah,” I reply, stepping closer so I’m right up in his face. As much as the smell of his cigarette disgusts me, I want him to know I’m not afraid of him, that he doesn’t scare me, regardless of who he is. It kinda helps that I stand a good foot taller than him and he’s currently backed up against a wall too.
Noel stiffens a little, his posture straightening as I stop about a foot away from him.
“You can start by never speaking to or treating my wife that way ever again,” I say, my jaw clenched.
Noel laughs as he tilts his head back and blows out a long puff of smoke. “Right, and I should listen to you because?”
I step closer, my hands in fists at my sides. “You should listen to me because if you don’t, you will fucking regret it, I promise you.”
I watch as he takes one more drag before stubbing his cigarette out on the wall and flicking it into the night.
“Whatever,” he replies, a hand on my arm as he attempts to push me out of the way. “Do you even realize who you’re talking to?” he asks. “Because if you did, I can guarantee…”
“I know who the fuck you are,” I reply, cutting him off. “And I don’t give a shit. What I do give a shit about though, is my wife. So I’ll say it again, if you ever speak to Ava or treat her like that again, you will be sorry.”