Turning around he watched the club. They really were killing it. The place was packed and it looked awesome. Jesus would be proud; he’d pulled it off and the launch had gone as well as expected.
Megan's image watched down over him and all the dancers. Looking around, Ricky took in the crowd, until he spotted Aggie, her blond hair appearing as the crowd parted momentarily. If Aggie was there, she was there with her friends, likely to support Megan—which meant Megan was here, too. He shouldn’t be surprised as Jesus had used her for practically all the image work. Her face was even on the bar menu.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about her being there. It was always likely he would run into her, and maybe it was time for him to man up and speak to her. There was something uncomfortable about the way they left things and he needed to say his peace. Problem was, he wasn't sure she wanted to listen.
Making his way over to where he thought he’d seen Aggie, he found them all sitting inside a cabana structure. Megan and her crowd would definitely get the VIP treatment. They stood for something important here on the coast, something others aspired to.
Here they were, the crème de la crème. Some of them he knew by face, but he didn't know the names. Megan was sitting there, in a gold dress, with her long, thin legs stretching. There was this duality to her: she could be incredibly sexy, but also not. Sometimes she was so very sweet, nothing at all sexy about her, like your favourite little sister. Dictionary-like knowledgeable about fashion, but at the same time utterly clueless, as if she knew all the theory, but none of the practical applications.
She had a drink in her hand and she looked up when he approached, almost showing a pained look on her face, as if she wanted to escape. That was the look he wished he wasn’t there. Fine, they’d broken up, but it wasn’t exactly a marriage. It was a relationship that was a couple of months old. They should be able to be friends.
“The photos are fantastic,” he said, tucking his thumb into his pants pocket. “I just thought I'd tell you.”
“Thank you,” she said with an uncomfortable expression in her eyes.
“Can I have a word?” he asked.
She considered him, then stood, squeezing past people to get out from around the table. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest as she stepped away with him.
“I'm sorry things played out the way they did. I wasn’t purposefully trying to hurt you,” he said. “I'd like to say it wasn't my intention, but in a way it was, because I always knew it would in the end.”
She looked at him as if she didn't quite understand, her eyes large and distressed. “Then why did you?”
Now it was his turn to be uncomfortable. “I suppose I wasn't able to be the kind of guy you needed me to be. Probably knew that from the start, but I couldn't say no. You were fun to hang with and maybe there was a part of me hoping I could be that guy, you know?”
Her lips were tight and drawn.
How could he explain it so it made sense? He felt like he was grasping at straws, because anything he could come up with to explain why he was still prowling sounded cheap and tacky. “I guess I wasn’t ready, but was curious about what it’d be like to be with a girl like you.”
“It could've been great,” she said.
“It was great,” he said, “but what I can manage isn’t as good as you deserve.” There was an uncomfortable truth there, but he had no inclination to go digging into it.
Chapter 37
Aggie watched the whole interplay between Ricky and Megan. It was too loud to hear anything they said, but she watched the body language. Ricky seemed so earnest and whatever he was saying to Megan was softening her—Aggie could see it in her posture. She better not be softening enough to consider taking him back. He really was a smooth operator, and got what he wanted with that smile.
As she watched, they went their separate ways and Ricky walked back to the platform where he performed, relieving some junior guy and taking over again. He was in his element up there, the master of his domain—the leader to the crowd, who all followed him eagerly. There really was something about him. The crowd worshipped him. Most here knew exactly what he was, and some congregated below his podium in the hope he would notice them—from where they smiled and threw him meaningful looks. They really were for the taking. He had more choice than he could possibly handle. And he partook—that much had come out. Apparently, he took the girls into some hidden corner and fucked them.
It wasn't a surprise his relationship with Megan had gone awry. There was too much temptation around him and he liked to indulge them—offer himself like a god to his worshippers.
Megan turned and sat down, her arms still crossed, her knees firmly together.
“Are you okay?” Aggie asked.
“Fine,” she said tightly and smiled. She sat with her back straight. Megan could have terrible posture at times as if she folded like a limp plant. She wasn’t a mess from this confrontation, or whatever it was, with Ricky. She seemed fine, or able to act that way.
“We can go if you want to,” Aggie offered.
“No, it's alright,” Megan said. “I need to be here. I promised.”
“But if it’s too uncomfortable, we can go. You’ve been here through the important bit. It’s alright to go now, if you want.”
“I’m okay. Just a little chat. He apologised, saying he didn't want to hurt me.” Megan shrugged.
Aggie had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course he would say something like that.
“He said it was always inevitable.”
“What was?” Aggie asked.
“That it would end and that he would be the reason. He said he was incapable of being what I wanted.” Again, Aggie felt like rolling her eyes. It was all so cheesy and predictable—the blow-off.
Megan didn't seem to take it that way; she seemed to take him seriously. Maybe that was her fault from the start. She listened to anything Ricky had to say, even when he sought to excuse his own behaviour. Would Megan never learn? Aggie sighed. She really was incapable of dealing with guys like Ricky, wasn’t she? Maybe they needed to do more to protect her from falling into traps like that again.
“I better go see how things are going,” Megan said and stood up.
Aggie prayed she didn't mean with Ricky. Some guys, all they had to do was apologise and the girls would be right back there asking for more. Maybe she had to sit down with Megan and have a real talk about what guys like Ricky were really like.
But Megan didn't walk towards the podium, she walked towards the back. That was interesting, Aggie thought.
As Megan disappeared, Aggie turned her attention back to the podium, where Ricky was coaxing the audience. He grabbed the mic and told them all to give him more, his sultry voice reverberating through her body, like it did everyone else’s. That voice of his was something special and he knew how to use it.
Aggie smiled, watching him. He was such the consummate player, out there seducing every girl he could see. And they were clamouring for him to choose them. It was all revolting, really, but in some way compellingly fascinating.
The worst thing about Ricky was that she wasn't entirely immune to him. She got it; got why those girls were milling around his platform, hoping he’d pay them some attention. He was dirty and downright sexy, the kind of guy who took you to a dark corner, took what he wanted and left you wanting more. That’s what these girls wanted from him—they wanted him to be exactly what he was. And the fact that he was such an arsehole made him even more compelling.
Aggie would never in a million years be stupid enough to believe anything he said or be dumb enough to fall for him, but she still found him sexy as hell—because there was something all-encompassingly smutty about him.
There were a string of messages on her phone and she cleared some of them. When she looked up again, Ricky was standing there.
“Where’s Megan?” he asked.
“She went out back somewhere,” Aggie said, her eyes drifting down him. He
wore dark jeans that fit nicely around his firm thighs and a white T-shirt. In some way, he managed not to make it look totally pedestrian. “What do you want with her?”
“Just something I want to say.”
“You should leave her alone.”
Ricky considered her, his eyes piercing into her. They looked black in the lights of the club. Was he wondering if she was his enemy? Aggie wondered. “I'm just saying you need to be very careful with her because she’s still really tender and there's a real danger of her falling right back into the trap you lay.”
“I didn't lay a trap.”
“You sure?” Aggie asked.
“I never once told her something that wasn't true,” he stated, his eyes firmly fixed on her.
“You weren't exactly honest about the fact that you were sleeping with every girl in the club,” Aggie said with a tsk.
“No, but I never promised her that I would be loyal either.”
“That’s not typically a stipulation you need to make,” she said tartly. She was enjoying this sparring with him a lot more than she should. In a way, she was teasing him, prodding at him, and he was beginning to suspect it. He wasn't half as dumb as he made out to be.
“Well, if you don't want to hurt her again, you should leave her alone, because there would be no other way things would go with her.”
He didn’t come back with anything so maybe he was considering her words. “You’re one of those girls who says you can’t be friends after, are you?”
“I didn't say that,” she said and he seemed surprised. “But with Megan, I would take that as a rule, if I were you.” Now this was true. Megan would grasp at the chance of being friends, but would always be trying to rekindle the relationship. Some girls just couldn’t be swayed from believing they were the one who’d transform a guy from a dog to a gem. “The last thing she needs is someone like you messing with her head.”
Chapter 38
Felix couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t settle to focus on the screen of his laptop. His father’s words were still reverberating through his head. In one sense, he was furious that his father hadn’t been in his corner and watched his back. If he deplored this girl, shouldn’t Dominic be sympathetic to that? Instead, he just about laughed and told him to make more of an effort to get on with her.
And then there was the whole fact that Dominic would even consider promoting her—above him. Felix would quit if that happened—seriously. He wasn’t about to spend his days sucking up to her. There was only so far he could be pushed. If Dominic wanted him in this company, to learn the ropes, he had to go some way to make it tolerable. Otherwise, Felix would simply lose interest.
Problem was: he couldn’t quite imagine himself at home with wide open days, nothing to do other than go to lunch with people who’d done nothing new or remotely interesting since the last time he’d seen them.
This was all turning to crap. Why couldn’t she just stay gone? She didn’t belong here.
Most of the morning had slipped away and Felix hadn’t achieved what he’d set out to do. That was her fault, too. She was wheedling her way into the family again, just as she’d done the first time, and no one saw her for what she was—other than him. The classical definition of a cheap tart.
Feeling trapped and despondent, Felix got up from his desk and walked to the kitchen. And why didn’t he have his own office? Because dear old dad wanted him to be just another working stiff, to not be anything special. Maybe he should just start his own company, but then the tart would be chasing him out of his family business—which couldn’t be stood for.
Turning his head, he watched his colleagues diligently working, while Felix was so angry he didn’t know that to do with himself. Obviously, he wasn’t getting any work done. Maybe he should take off for a while, go to the Athletic Club and work off some of this anger. That would help, but it didn’t resolve anything.
Or was it time to man up and meet this bitch head on? She had been messing with his life long enough. At some point, even a waste-of-space like her had to have some shame. Actually, he knew pretty well what grated her. It was inevitable that she pack up and leave; it was just taking so long, and that was taxing for him.
Not entirely sure what he wanted to do, he walked around the floor, mainly because he needed to move. He ended up heading back towards the main space with its sea of cubicles, back where she was.
It didn’t take long before he saw her coming out of a meeting room, a leather folder in her arms. She was speaking to Johnson. Business. Some campaign or other. Probably Asia.
Even from far away, he could see the space between the buttons of her shirt part ever so slightly as she gesticulated. She did that on purpose, to blind every guy she spoke to as to what she was actually saying. It was the reason she was still here, those diversionary tactics to avoid facing how she didn’t belong here and never would.
As Felix watched, they broke apart and Shania walked away, coming around the outside of the cubicle clutch. Felix moved to intercept her. She faltered momentarily when she saw him coming straight at her.
“Hello, sunshine,” she said brightly.
She was making sport of him. “Had a spontaneous performance review?”
“What? No,” she said suspiciously.
“Really? I’m surprised. Word has it you’re not doing too well. Just thought, you know, they had come around to dealing with it. Your pole dancing skills just aren’t cutting it here, from what I hear.”
She put her hand on her hip and did that duck beak face that some girls do for selfies, but hers came with narrowed eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe they preferred my skills to your whiny rich boy antics.”
“Unlike you, I actually belong here. This will be my company one day, so they more or less have to put up with me,” he said airily. “You though? How long do you think you can pull it off? I’ve heard of faking it until you make it, but you’re not really making it at all.”
“Perhaps I would be worried if I believed anything you say,” she said and pushed past. “Loving this whole high school bitch fest thing, though. Anyone ever told you you’d make a good teenage girl?”
Without thinking, Felix grabbed her by the arm, grasping tightly. Stopping, she looked down at his grip. “You wanna have a go at me, rich boy?” He’d seen Shania’s fighting stance before. Not often. Only when he pushed her far enough, and he was definitely doing so.
“Why don’t you save everyone the embarrassment and leave?”
“Fuck you,” she hissed and pulled away. Sharp, angry steps marched down the corridor between the cubicles and the meeting rooms.
Felix hadn’t fully intended it to get so vicious; it had just kind of flowed out of him—ages of pent up frustration. Partially, that frustration was vented, but not entirely. In a way, he had gotten his raging dislike off his chest, borne partially from his father’s long-standing dismissal of him. Shania had just fused into that.
Breathing heavily, he needed to compose himself, so he stepped into the silent boardroom, neglecting to turn on any of the lights. He just wanted a moment of calm, and walked to the large glass wall and looked out at Marbella stretching in front of him.
Chapter 39
Anger hummed in her veins. That snide, self-serving little prick. She’d always known Felix was nasty, but this really took the cake. Why did he have to go after her all the time? She was perfectly happy to leave him alone, but he kept coming. And he’d made her lose her cool, which she wasn’t particularly proud about.
She didn’t believe a word of what he said; she knew she was working hard and did the best she could. No one had given her any indication she wasn’t living up to expectations. But then Felix would lie through his teeth if it would hurt her, which was exactly what had happened. Fucking bastard.
Turning on her heel, she marched back, straight into the boardroom where he had retreated to and firmly closed the door. “What’s your fucking problem? When’s it going to be enough for you, huh? How about I s
tay out of your business and you stay out of mine.”
“This is my business.”
“Don’t be such a little bitch, Felix,” she said, letting her anger vent out on him. “I don’t fucking get you. You have everything and I have nothing, but you’ve got to take what little I have away from me. Why? You have everything you could possibly want; you can do anything, go anywhere. I have this one chance. This is it,” she said, holding her arms out. “I have no other options but to make this work. Are you so ungenerous, you have to begrudge me that? There are no other choices for me.”
“Ah, pull out the violins,” he said and then grew quieter. “We both know someone like you always lands on her feet. But why me, is what I’m wondering? Why is it my life you are trying to take over? I didn’t ask you here. I never did, but you’re in my house, you’re in my company, you’re in my bed, and you just keep coming back. I never asked for any of these things. I wish every success in the world, but in my fucking life. I’m not your stepping stone.”
She just stared at him. This wasn’t about him; it never had been. He made it sound like she had specifically targeted him, feeding on him like some vampire. “None of this was ever about you.”
“Including fucking me? What was that exactly?”
With large strides, she walked over and slapped him, the sound of her palm on his cheek reverberating off the walls.
His hand around her wrist, he forced her arm down behind her. It surprised her how strong he was. In a way, she’d always seen him as weak. “You’re an asshole,” she hissed. He let go of her. Her wrist still smarted from his grip.
“What? For calling you out?”
This time, she punched him in the chest as hard as she could. He groaned. That would have hurt. She did an okay punch. Again, he grabbed her wrists, both of them. “Tsk, tsk. I could seriously have you fired for that.”
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