Anne just smiled. “Oops! You okay, babe?”
“All good.” The man set himself to rights, still seated upon the ground. “But I need to tell you something in the bathroom.”
“Do you?”
“Yep. Right now.”
“Something good?” she asked, a certain lustful twinkle in her eyes.
“Yes, something good. It’s a show-and-tell type thing, I think you’ll really like it.”
“Okay.”
Mal sprung to his feet, hands in the air. “Hooray! Quick, let’s go. Hurry, woman, no time to waste.”
With much giggling, Mal carried Anne from the room. Ah, young love, all the feelings.
“After you,” said Jimmy, standing beside me being all calm. It instantly brought my rage back to the forefront.
“Actually, let’s make it the office,” I said. “I forgot your dinner crew are busy in the kitchen.”
“Sure, Lena.”
I should have known he had something planned. For someone so resistant to the idea of my replacement, he’d gone all out dressing for the appointment. A black long-sleeved button-up shirt, black trousers, and shiny shoes adorned his fine self. His hair was carefully slicked back. Usually hanging around home warranted just jeans and T-shirts. The signs had all been there. But I could still salvage this situation damn it, right after I ripped Jimmy a new one.
Except it was too late. Tom got to his feet, his movements jerky. “I think I better go. You obviously have guests to entertain.”
I stepped forward. “What? No. Tom—”
“That’s a pity,” Jimmy replied. “Nice to meet you Tom. See you around.”
“Quiet.” I turned to the counselor, hands outstretched. “Please, Tom. Just … if you could just give me a minute to talk to my employer. They’re not usually like this.”
“Don’t lie to the man,” said Jimmy. “This is exactly what me and my friends are like all the damn time.”
I growled. “Way to throw him in the deep end.”
“Honesty is the best policy.”
“You’re such an ass**le.”
“Language, Lena,” he tutted. “Watch the f**king language.”
Tom cleared his throat, straightening his already unbearably straight tie. “Mr. Ferris, I’m afraid I’m going to have to withdraw my interest in the position. And Lena, you seem like a nice girl, but this relationship you have with your employer isn’t healthy.”
“Hey,” said Jimmy, looking down his nose at the man. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“Believe me, Tom, I’m aware,” I said. The man obviously knew a train wreck when he saw one.
With one last nod, he strode out, taking with him my last hope of an easy exit. It had always been a pipe dream really, I should know better. Nothing about Jimmy had ever been easy.
Speaking of which, I took the opportunity to smack him in the arm with the back of my hand.
“What was that for?” he bitched, rubbing at his arm as if I’d actually hurt him. Such a damn baby.
“Don’t even start with me.”
His scowl increased. “We talking in the office?”
“No, why bother? You’ve already managed to run him off,” I said, folding my arms beneath the swell of my br**sts. “Well done, Jimmy.”
“You said I had to meet him. I met him.”
“You take orders from her now?” Ben asked, putting down his phone for once. “When did this start?”
Jimmy didn’t even spare him a glance. “Shut up, Ben.”
“Yes, you met him,” I said. “And then you terrified him. You probably just took ten years off his life.”
“That wasn’t me. That was Mal. Fuck, no one can control him.”
I poked him in the chest. “You unleashed Mal upon that poor unsuspecting man. It was cruel, Jimmy.”
“These people are my family, Lena. What, I’m supposed to hide them away, act like I’m ashamed of them? The guy was a judgmental dickhead with a stick up his ass. He would have lasted two seconds with me. Never would have worked.”
“That is not true. You had your mind made up before he even walked in.”
He cracked his jaw. “Look, just let it go, Lena. Everyone’s here. Can we have dinner now?”
“I’ve got a date with Dean. Enjoy your dinner.”
“What? You didn’t tell me about that.”
“You knew I was going to go out with him again.”
Little lines sat alongside his lips and the story they told was not one of joy. “But not tonight. I organized this.”
“Yes, behind my back. So sorry, I can’t make it.”
His chin rose and for a moment he said nothing, just looked at me. “You don’t look sorry.”
“Yeah? Well, I guess I’m mad at you right now,” I said, my blood still rushing through me at a rate of knots. “And it’s kind of hard to care about your feelings when you give so little thought to mine.”
“That’s not fair,” he bit out.
“Oh, really?”
“You know I’m trying.”
“Not today, you weren’t,” I said. “Today you just did whatever the hell you wanted and f**k what matters to me.”
Someone made a noise and I actually startled, spun on my heel, and gaped. I’d completely forgotten about the others. Entirely forgotten about our three-person audience, just sitting in the wings, watching the drama. David looked shell-shocked, his mouth hanging open. Ev was busy rubbing his shoulder, offering comfort. Meanwhile, the bass player’s eyes were wide and white as moons.
“Huh,” said Ben.
Down the hallway, Mal and Anne fell out of the ground floor bathroom, both laughing. They were still putting their clothes back to rights. It made for a perfectly timed distraction if I could just make a break for the door.
“That was fast,” said Jimmy, voice cutting.
“But it was meaningful,” cried Mal. “Shut up, Jimbo. What would you know about significant intimate relationships?”
“Seems Jim might now more about them than we realized.” David gave his brother a speculative look.
Jimmy gritted his teeth. “Fuck off, Davie. She works for me. End of story.”
It didn’t hurt. It couldn’t. Even my idiot heart had to accept the truth eventually. This particular harsh reality had been shoved in my face so many times I’d formed thick ugly scabs where the wounds would have been.