The Gamble (D'Arth Series Book 3)

by Camille Oster

  "Alex, seriously. You're going to have to leave work behind for a couple of days,” Gavin said.

  "This isn't work.”

  "Really? What are you checking then?" There was a distinct challenge in his voice and Alex wasn't sure where this was coming from.

  "Messages from my mother.”

  Gavin looked unconvinced. He had never cared about her checking her messages before.

  "What are we going to do tomorrow?" Alex asked him as a way of changing the topic of conversation.

  "Not work," he said tartly.

  There was definitely some undercurrent to that statement that took Alex by surprised. "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "You've worked every night this week.”

  "I have a new account," she said, self-conscious that Marco was privy to this conversation. She made a 'so what' gesture which had Gavin narrowing his eyes. "It kind of requires my attention.” She'd thought he'd understood that. She'd thought he was on her team, but he was having her on for taking her work seriously. She had to win this account; she'd expected he supported that. Although she wanted to have him on about it, she knew this was neither the time nor the place for that kind of discussion.

  His unreasonable challenge had kind of put a damper on the whole evening, like he didn't care about embarrassing her in front of others. She hadn't really seen that side of him before and was concerned that she'd just been exposed to a whole new side to his personality.

  She checked her phone again, just to be contrary. Some guy wasn't going to boss her around, and she certainly wouldn’t fall to pieces just because he criticised her—unreasonable as it was. Looking over at him, she saw him drain another beer. He was drinking quite heavily, which meant the plans she'd had for later in the evening, when they were on their own, were out.

  It had grown dark outside once dinner had been finished and paid for, changing the atmosphere of the city. The Spanish seemed to enjoy the evenings and the streets were crowded with merrymakers. Alex wasn't sure, but she suspected Gavin was ignoring her. Crossing her arms, she decided that she really was pissed off with him now. This was not what she'd had in mind when she'd booked this vacation. It was out of line and completely uncalled for.

  They found a crowded bar and ordered some drinks. Alex had taken a spot by a small table along a wall when Marco approached her. "Congratulations on the account," he said.

  "Same to you," she replied a little warily.

  "Have you run an account before?"

  She gauged him for a moment. Was he gathering information on her? "I've worked on lots of accounts, but this is the first one I'll run.”

  "Well, may the best man win.”

  "Or woman.” She watched him go after he gave her a nod. This account business made her more wary and more suspicious of him motives. She just didn't know that much about him. From what she'd heard through asking around, he'd been a bit of a rising star back home, amongst the younger ambitious set. Pursing her lips a little, she felt the pressure of the situations she was in. She did have the advantage in that she'd worked in London for longer and knew how the industry worked there. She knew the other people going for the same business, not well, but more than he did.

  Suddenly she didn't want to be there anymore. Gavin was being a jerk and Marco only reminded her of the pressure she wasn't quite managing to escape, like she'd hoped.

  Going outside, she sat on the stone step of the closed shop next door. She just wanted a moment of peace from the crowded little bar they were in. She wasn't in the mood to drink anymore. Maybe tomorrow she would do a bit of shopping, recoup her spirits and bring back something fabulous.

  Sighing, she put her head down on her knees, but the group came of out the bar and it was time to move to the next one. Alex followed to the next bar, but she was starting to feel tired, so she announced that she was going back to the hotel after one more wine.

  Gavin stumbled into the hotel room at three in the morning, waking Alex. He moved around incessently, trying to be quiet, but failing.

  "You missed a good night," he said, slurring slightly. "But then you've missed a few good nights lately.”

  "I had to work. This is a fantastic opportunity for me.”

  "Yeah, well, you're working every night. It's kind of boring.”

  "I have to get through this account.”

  "And if you do, aren't you just going to move onto the next account—an even bigger and better one?"

  "Probably," she admitted. "But this is what I do.” She hadn't expected this challenge from him and it hurt to realise that he wasn't completely supportive.

  "I'm just saying it isn't much fun having a girlfriend who works every night.”

  "Well, that just can't be helped right now.” She turned her back on him, tucking her hands under her head and drawing her knees up. She felt the bed give as he got in, settling on his back and starting to snore.

  Alex had trouble settling down to sleep again, so after a while, she got out of bed and opened the balcony doors. Seville was spread out in front of her, bathed in moonlight. It was stunningly beautiful and utterly still this time of night. Sitting down on the balcony chair, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, feeling utterly alone.

  * * *

  Chapter 5:

  * * *

  Turning over a book, Marco glanced at the back without reading it. This was a waste of his lunch hour. He didn't have time for books, but Charlotte wanted to find something so they slowly made their way through the new releases section in WHS.

  "Didn't you go to Seville over the weekend just been?"

  "Yes.”

  "How was it? Seville is lovely.”

  "Drama and not enough drinking," Marco said a bit grumpily. "And I didn't get laid.” For all of Charlotte's faults, and she was vain, snobby and arrogant, she did thrive on honesty and he adored that about her.

  "Marco," Charlotte chided. "You were in Seville and all you cared about was that no one played with your willy? Like pearls on swine.”

  Truthfully, it had been a bit poor in the bedroom department since he'd gotten to London, perhaps because he'd been distracted.

  "So what were the big dramas then? Go on, tell Aunty Charlotte.”

  "One of my mates was laying into his girl for working too much and not paying attention to him—Alex Channing to be exact.” Marco watched as understanding dawned on Charlotte, knowing she would appreciate this.

  "Alex Channing, as in Grossman Altitude Alex Channing?"

  "Yes.”

  "So you've spent the weekend with the competition, watching her having boyfriend trouble. My, Marco, I think my respect for you just increased. Poor dear, I hope she's devastated.”

  "She will be," Marco said quietly as he absentmindedly perused over a bookshelf. The fact that Gavin had asked Marco to cover for him if there were any questions as to where he'd been spelt deeper trouble than a disappointing weekend away. Gavin was out of order, but it was his relationship and it was his right to drive in into a ditch if he wanted to. If Marco was completely honest with himself, there was something fundamentally exciting about them breaking up, and not just because it served him that the competition was an emotional mess. "Why are we here?" he asked, bored with looking at books.

  "I need a good book for the weekend. I am going to a country house party.”

  "That sounds so old fashioned," Marco said, accepting that he didn't remotely understand the ways of Charlotte and her social group. "If you're going to a party, why do you need a book anyway?"

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Not everyone spends the weekend in an episode of Home and Away.”

  "That's Australian," he said with a disapproving sniff. Charlotte had discovered that his heckles rose whenever she referred to him in Australian terms and she utilised that reaction whenever she saw fit.

  Working intently with one of the creative, Alex sat at her desk pouring over rough design ideas for the Lush Cosmetics proposal. The thrill of her first account
drove every action and there was nothing she didn't want to go over umpteen times, just to glean that little bit of extra understanding or thinking.

  The receptionist came and placed a large bouquet of roses on her desk, annoying Alex by covering the papers they were working on. "These came for you," said the receptionist curtly. Alex looked at the bunch of pink roses. They were gorgeous, and someone had bought her flowers. Utterly confused, she pulled out the little card hidden among the stems.

  Sorry for being an utter bastard lately. Love, G

  Alex stared at the card for a moment. Gavin had bought her roses and acknowledged that he's been a complete jerk. Alex smiled. They'd been tense since they'd gotten back from Seville, which had been a disappointing trip—one Alex had actually been glad to return from. But Gavin had acknowledged his fault in this situation, which made things better.

  Putting the flowers away on a set of drawers, she returned to her work with the creative who was annoyed by the distraction. How was she going to take those home on the tube, Alex wondered. She wasn't going to leave them here on display—that was a bit desperate. These things had to be handled with quiet dignity, but she was still chuffed to bits.

  As it grew late, she wanted to go home and see Gavin, but she still had work to do and she also knew that, by now, he would be out somewhere, probably with Marco, who didn't seem to do any actual work.

  Peter walked past her desk. "How is the brainstorming going?"

  "Good. We have some rough sketches and we are going to take a few to the art department. I should have something to show you at the end of the week.”

  "When are you seeing the client?"

  "Day after tomorrow.”

  "To talk about the research they did?"

  "Yes.”

  "Good. I've worked with Patricia Adams before; she was at Nestle for a while a few years back.”

  "Really?" Alex said, knowing what a present this was—additional knowledge on the client and that they liked. This was gold.

  "But I'm going for a drink right now. If you want to hear about Patricia, you will have to buy me a drink.”

  Alex grabbed her wallet and followed him to the lift. There was a pub just across from their building that many from her firm visited in the evening while the worst of rush-hour cleared, but it was well past rush-hour now.

  They were silent on the way down as there was someone else in the lift from the accounting firm on the floors just above them. Alex watched Peter slyly. He was so very attractive; it was just a shame that he was completely untrustworthy, but then he was upfront about it, so you knew exactly what you got with him. He was a bastard, but he was her mentor right now and she needed his help.

  Peter ended up paying for the drink, not quite able to let a girl pay for him. And I'm still not sleeping with you, Alex said mentally as she accepted the glass of wine. Standing at the bar, they talked about Patricia Adams for a while and Alex mentally stored away all the things he said about what she liked and what she didn't. After all, Alex had to present a pitch that would make Patricia pick her campaign.

  "So, who's giving you flowers, Alex?" Peter said, leaning on the bar.

  "My boyfriend.”

  "Oh dear," he said with an exaggerated frown.

  "We've been a bit tense lately," she said, not sure Peter was the one to discuss this with. "He's just apologising.” Peter looked incredulous.

  "I forget how young and naïve you are sometimes," he said with a wry smile.

  "What?" Alex asked, feeling dread creep up her spine.

  "Flowers aren't an apology, Alex—they're guilt.”

  "Flowers aren't guilt," she said, refusing to believe him, but still finding the hairs on her arms standing on end. "People give flowers all the time.”

  "If you're forty, and you're not the type to go for an older man.”

  Alex stared at him intently, not wanting to believe what he was saying. If he was right, and this was an acknowledgement of guilt; it meant Gavin had cheated on her.

  "What did he say? What manner of grovelling has he picked?" Peter seemed to be watching her expression intently. "I'm sorry, doll, but it seemed kinder than to lie. I've done it myself on more than one occasion. Trust me, if anyone knows the signs of cheating, it's a compulsive cheater.”

  Alex's brow drew together sharply. She knew in her gut that what Peter was saying was true. It would never occur to Gavin to send her flowers, not unless he was desperate. "He said 'Sorry for being an utter bastard '.” Alex felt a rush of adrenalin. Gavin had cheated on her and now he felt bad about it; bad enough to send flowers as an apology. "Bastard!"

  Peter gave an unimpressed flick of his eyebrows like it was the work of an amateur. "Better to know than not to. Although you could put your head in the sand and pretend that he's sorry enough to never do it again. There's always the possibility that he does feel too bad to never do it again.” Peter obviously had no faith in his statement.

  Placing her face in her hands, she leaned on the bar. She was so very angry. Their relationship was over. "I have to go," she said after a moment. Peter gave a small salute with his finger. "Take heads," he said and turned to watch her leave.

  Alex marched back to the office, tears threatening. She refused to cry, but she left a nasty, yelling voice message on Gavin's phone. Typical; he didn't have the guts to answer.

  Smashing the flowers into the waste bin, she grabbed her jacket and left, going straight to Gavin's flat. He wasn't there, of course—probably out with some slag, screwing around on her. Arsehole, she wrote on his mirror, gathered up her things and left, pushing her key in through the mail slot.

  She couldn't believe she'd been cheated on. It seemed surreal, but it fit. As much as she hated admitting it, now that she looked back, the signs had been obvious. He hadn't been answering her calls; he'd been distant and he'd been unwilling to come over when she'd asked him to. Probably creeped out by his own two-facedness. Well, she didn't need him and she certainly wasn't putting up with this—not really all that excited about his behaviour even before he'd cheated.

  * * *

  Chapter 6:

  * * *

  Buying a drink at the bar, Marco joined Dion at a table near the window at their local. It was raining outside and they didn't really have plans. The split between Gavin and Alex had caused a bit of a rift in the group and no one was quite sure how to take it.

  "Gavin just sent a text wondering where we are," Dion said.

  "Oh," Marco responded. Gavin seemed to have gone to ground over the last week or so, which made Marco wonder what was going on with him. He didn't have to wonder much longer as Gavin turned up a few minutes later with a girl, an Aussie girl from Newcastle. They looked close. Gavin had taken all of two seconds to move on, it seemed. He definitely won the competition on who moved on first.

  Sitting down, Gavin seemed a bit nervous and uncomfortable, which wasn't surprising. Everyone liked Alex, and Gavin had cheated on her, resulting in him being brutally dumped. Essentially it was his business, but this development had put a dampener on the whole group.

  "Thought about going down to Brighton tomorrow," Gavin said, "just to get away for a bit. See the sea. You keen?"

  "Sure," Marco said, knowing he was supposed to be supporting of his mate at a time like this, even if he’d brought this on himself.

  Sarah walked up to the table, dropping her bag down and then noticing the girl Gavin had brought. Her smile turned tight and she suddenly looked lost for words.

  "This is Lyssa," Gavin said.

  "Hi," Sarah said awkwardly. Marco felt sorry for the girl, who he guessed had no idea what this awkwardness was about. Somehow he doubted Gavin had been completely upfront about what was going on. "I will go get a drink at the bar. Is that Rich Whittaker?" she said, indicating to a guy across the bar. "I haven't seen him in ages. We went to school together.” With a grimacy smile, she was gone. The girls saw Gavin as a bit of a leper at the moment and no one knew where that left the group. The girls wo
uld naturally side with Alex, although Sarah was extra awkward as she was Gavin's friend more than Alex's.

  Although this left Alex open for others, Marco knew Gavin would not like that outcome. But this was Gavin's fault and he had no true cause to be upset when she finally picked up with someone else. Marco found the idea exciting, even if he shouldn't. Gavin had no claim to her anymore and there was no reason Marco couldn't pursue her. It would cause a bit of strain in his and Gavin's relationship, but then Gavin was consoling himself in the arms of another.

  Giving her friend a hug, Alex sat down at the café. Jenny was the person Alex had come to London with, but they'd gone their separate ways of late as Jenny was now in a relationship with a guy she'd met at work, an Irish guy who she was crazy for.

  "It's been ages," Jenny said. "It's so good to see you. I've been a shit friend.”

  "No, you haven't. You're just in a new relationship. It's completely understandable.”

  "Gavin is such a total shit. I can't believe he cheated on you.”

  "Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

  "Have you seen him?"

  "Nope. And I don't want to. But surprisingly, I'm not that cut up about it. I'm pissed he cheated on me, but beyond that, it had been awkward for a while. Part of me is more relieved.”

  "That is such a good attitude to have. You'll find someone better.”

  "That shouldn't be hard," Alex said, trying to keep from sounding completely bitter. The shock of it had worn off now and she'd been upset for a while, but she wasn't crushed. Perhaps that was telling. If she had been totally into the relationship, she would be more devastated than she was. "How's work?"

  "I'm off to Amsterdam next week.”

  "Nice.”

  "Congrats on getting that account," Jenny said and Alex felt the knot of nervousness tighten in her stomach as she did when she thought about how fast time was slipping by.