going to jail for life. Although, for the record, this wasn’t obtained illegally, since it was addressed to you here, and opened by your PA at the time.”
“Motherfucker. Noa made a copy.” I still had the original, so I knew it wasn’t that. “I’m going to fucking kill her with my bare hands.”
“Wow. Only moments ago, you were talking about her like the two of you were love’s young dream, and now you’re ready to snuff her out, and not in a kinky sex way. How fickle we are, Mr. Davies. Not that this is news to us.”
“Fuck you, Nate. Love has nothing to do with this. She’s overstepped big time, pure and simple.”
“Are you sure about that, Raine? The love part, I mean.” Beck steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Because from where I’m sitting, I’m confident in saying that girl is all the way gone for you. Like Romeo and Juliet head-over-heels. And you know what? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that she’s not alone.”
“What, you’re in love with me too? Well now, if today isn’t my lucky day.” I smiled as he flipped me off. “You’re way off base. Nobody is in love with anyone. We’re just having a good time. The sex is off-the-charts, and that’s all there is to it, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Yeah, you keep on telling yourself that. Meanwhile, in the real world, when she came to us with this, she was in such a state that it was as plain as the nose on my aristocratic face that her feelings for you run way deeper than boss and employee with benefits, or Breanna-style batshit crazy. You know, I’m normally shit at all of this, so if I’ve picked it up, it’s because it’s visible from fucking space.” Jesus. It wasn’t like Dillon to get carried away with hysteria like the other two. He was normally way too British and reserved for that kind of thing.
“He’s totally right,” Nate interjected. “She was so distressed when she sought us out, saying that she’d tried multiple times to talk to you about this, and you’d given her the brush-off, so she was telling us as a last resort. If you’d been there, you’d be saying the same thing we are. That said, I really don't think this is a case of you not having seen it for yourself, it’s about you not wanting to believe it, or to admit your own feelings for her. Either to yourself, or to anyone else.”
“Well thank you for that succinct analysis Dr. Phil, but like I said before, she’s overreaching, overreacting, and overstepping, and so are you. Still, no matter the situation with Noa, though again for the record, there is no ‘situation’ with Noa, this is not your concern. Now, I have an agency to run—something you guys should all focus on, rather than meddling in other people’s business—and this meeting is over. Unless, of course ,you have anything genuinely work-related to discuss, in which case, I’m all fucking ears.
“You’re the one who’s way off base with this, Raine. Fuck. I can’t believe we were so blind before. The dizzy spells. The nosebleeds. It was so easy to put that all down to the coke and the booze, that nothing else even occurred to any of us. And Jesus, I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but I’d rather the excessive drinking and powdering your nose were all we had to worry about, right now. That’s for fucking sure. But regardless of who told us, and how, in what parallel universe is the fact that one of our business partners, and closest fucking friends, is intent on killing himself slowly, something that we’re just going to brush under the carpet?”
Chapter 37
Noa
* * *
I felt Raine’s presence before I saw or heard him. Not that this was unusual. I was always acutely aware of him whenever he was near, and I was sure I wasn’t alone. He was like the reverse of an energy vampire. Where some people sapped others of their energy, taking more than they gave, Raine’s vibes—good or bad—tended to fuel those around him.
A flutter of tension through the large, open-plan Creative Department alerted me to the fact that the boss man was ‘walking the floor,’ and knowing what I knew, I had a feeling he was headed my way.
“Noa. Outside. We need to talk.” He was definitely pissed, not that I hadn’t known that he would