Terms of Agreement

58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Aiden

S omething flashed in my periphery, drawing my attention from my phone in time to see Louise’s vibrate across the glass top of the coffee table, notifications lighting up the screen like a firework display.

‘Someone’s popular,’ I muttered under my breath.

Louise rolled her eyes in my direction, straightening in her seat beside me to reach for her phone. Her irritated scoff turned into a smile as the LED glow illuminated her face, her fingers flying across the screen as she hurriedly typed out her response.

‘Tell Jas I say “Hi,”’ I said, fully aware that I was only speaking for the sake of it. I didn’t really want to say “Hi” to anyone, much less my little sister’s housemate. But it was six o’clock on a Friday night and, for the first time in months, I had no plans, and I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. I thrummed my fingers against my thigh, allowing my head to fall back against the sofa as I stared unseeingly at the ceiling, trying to recall how I’d spent my nights before I’d signed that contract.

I wondered where she’d put it, now that it was over. Had she thrown it away? My stomach dipped unpleasantly at the thought, and my mouth twisted into a scowl. What did I care if she’d thrown it away? Knowing Charlotte, if she hadn’t filed it away as something important, she’d have recycled it. I huffed out a breath, my fingers curling into a fist at my side as irritation warred with the melancholic weight that had settled over my chest.

It was for the best. It was. I’d known it last Saturday when I’d watched her leave, her head held high even as her emerald eyes sparkled with feeling. And I was certain that I’d done the right thing. I rubbed my fist over the spot in my chest that ached at the thought of her.

‘I will,’ Louise said warily, her voice snapping me out of my head. ‘But it’s not her I’m chatting to.’

‘Oh?’ My head lolled to the side as I feigned nonchalance, my eyebrow lifted in question. Louise shifted uncomfortably in my gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on the phone in her hands as more messages vibrated into existence. I knew most of the people in Louise’s life, well, most of the people that would light up her phone like a drone display, and for her to be unwilling to tell me who it was…

My pulse skittered beneath my skin, my heart racing as it dawned on me just who my sister was texting. Forcing myself to stay still, I clenched my jaw, biting down on my response and trapping the questions that had been running through my mind all week.

How was she? Had her nan liked the book she’d bought for her? Did she close that deal that had been keeping her late at the office last week? Did she think of me as often as I thought of her? I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I wouldn’t ask. I couldn’t. Not after the way I’d left things.

‘Are you really not going to go?’

I started. I’d been so focused on forcing myself to sit still and not to react that I hadn’t realised that Louise had moved from her seat. My gaze snapped away from the now empty spot beside me and to where Louise was hovering at the door to the spare room.

‘What?’

‘You’re not going?’ she repeated.

I frowned, but shook my head. ‘No?’

Something in Louise’s face hardened at my response and she took a determined step towards me.

‘You know,’ she started, her voice steady despite the anger I saw flickering in her eyes, ‘it sucks that you’re a coward and all… but this is just rude.’

‘What?’

‘Aiden.’ Louise levelled me with a look. ‘You ditched her.’

I didn’t need to ask to know who it is she was talking about. But I shook my head, leaning forward in my seat. ‘No, I di—’ but the words caught in my throat as realisation crushed the air from my lungs. The Christmas party.

No. It couldn’t be. There was still time. I still had time. Shaking my head, I grabbed for my phone and checked the date—twice.

“Fuck!”

My stomach bottomed out, my eyes widening in with horror as I bolted from the sofa and I raced from the room.