Chapter Ten
Who was banging like that? What did they want? Finlay couldn’t open his eyes. If he did, his head might split open. The agony would make him throw up… It would happen any minute now. He couldn’t stop it.
Move!
But he couldn’t move. Why…?
A woman’s voice spoke from somewhere far away. ‘Genevieve? Are you awake?’
Genevieve? With an immense effort, he opened his eyes and shifted his head on the pillow. A woman lay facing him with her hand resting on her forehead. His eyes met a pair of beautiful blue irises; they looked slightly glazed. He squinted at her, frowning. Why was she here? In fact, where was here?
Slowly, she slid her left hand off her face and held it out in front of them. Hang on… That ring! How?
‘Oh my god,’ she said. ‘What did we do?’
Finlay tried to sit up but the movement made him want to vomit. ‘Genevieve,’ he said, and his voice was hoarse. ‘Why are you wearing that?’
She swallowed. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ She threw back the covers and bolted.
Finlay closed his eyes, but it couldn’t blot out the sound of her retching. She doesn’t like being sick. The thought drifted into his head. How did he know that? Breathing very purposefully, he got out of bed. He was naked. Christ… What else had they done? The en suite door was open, and Genevieve stood by the toilet, also naked and shaking.
‘Hey.’ Finlay approached her. Just in time, he moved her hair out of the way as she threw up again. The sight was almost enough to make him do the same, but somehow he mastered it.
‘Sorry,’ she said, crossing her arms over her bare breasts. ‘This is gross. I hate being sick.’
He flushed the toilet. ‘Here, have a drink.’ Moving to the sink, he filled a glass with water. ‘As much water as you can.’
Still shivering, she took the glass.
‘I think I might be sick myself. Don’t look. It’ll make you worse.’
She hastened out and Finlay only just made it to the toilet. This was awful. Even as a teenager, he didn’t remember having a hangover this bad. Once his stomach was purged, his muscles ached, and he filled himself a glass of water. The thought of putting anything else in his stomach made him wince, and his hand shook slightly, but he downed the water, then filled it up again.
Genevieve was still standing in the bedroom, shivering. ‘Hey, it’s ok.’ He crossed to the bed, pulled off the top sheet and wrapped it around her. She leaned into him and went weightless, like she couldn’t stand without him holding her. He closed his arms around her.
‘How much did we drink yesterday?’ she said.
‘Far too much, by the looks of things.’
She pushed her hand out from under the sheet and held it out again. ‘Do you remember this?’
He groaned and closed his eyes. His brain didn’t really want to do anything as complicated as thinking and it fought hard, like it was willing him not to go back to yesterday evening. The kisses, the rose garden, him down on one knee… ‘Oh my god,’ he muttered. ‘I did it again.’
‘Did what?’
‘Proposed.’ He groaned and wanted to collapse into the bed and stay there for a very long time. ‘But it was all just drunken nonsense, right? We had way too much prosecco. You can take off that ring and pretend it never happened.’
She pulled out of his embrace, set the glass down on the bedside cabinet and took hold of the ring, ready to slip it off. ‘We should do that, shouldn’t we? It’s not like anyone else knows. And… We don’t really want to be engaged, do we?’
‘No. We were just messing about. We don’t like each other like that… Not for real.’ A buzzing started somewhere on the floor. ‘Is that your phone?’
‘Must be.’ She massaged her forehead. ‘But I don’t know where it is.’
He raked through the clothes on the floor. Spying his boxer briefs, he snatched them and pulled them on. It seemed a bit more civilised than wandering around naked. ‘Neither of us are dressed… Did we…?’ He glanced up at her.
She sucked on her lower lip and looked at the rumpled bedsheets. ‘I don’t think so. We would have remembered, wouldn’t we?’
‘Would we? This little engagement isn’t going to end in an accidental pregnancy, is it?’
‘I doubt it. I’ve got the implant.’
Finlay half closed his eyes, trying to keep his breathing steady. ‘I’m really sorry. I’ve never done anything this irresponsible in my life. What the hell was I thinking?’
Genevieve shuddered and clung to the sheet. ‘I think we just fell asleep. I’m sure we didn’t do anything.’
‘Except get engaged.’
‘Yeah, but like you said, I can just take this ring off and—’
The buzzing started again and Finlay spotted Genevieve’s bag under her discarded dress. ‘I think it’s in here. Someone is desperate to talk to you. You better take it.’ He handed her the bag and sat back on the bed, leaning on the headboard and closing his eyes. Maybe when he opened them this would be nothing but a bad dream. If he had more energy he’d pinch himself and check but he couldn’t bear to.
‘What does she want?’ Genevieve muttered.
‘Who?’ he said, keeping his eyes shut.
‘A friend I haven’t seen for ages. And why do I have so many missed calls? What is going on?’
‘Answer it and find out.’
‘Hello.’
‘Congratulations!’ The voice on the phone shrieked so loudly Finlay heard it like she was in the room with them. Could he shut his ears too?
‘What?’ Genevieve said.
‘On your engagement. I saw it live last night.’
Finlay’s eyes pinged open when he realised what the woman had said.
‘Live?’ Genevieve turned and looked at him, her expression pale and shocked.
‘It was so romantic with the roses and the fountain. But who’s the man? When did you meet? He actually got down on one knee… And he had a ring. Aw! Tell me everything. I thought for a moment it was Finlay McBride, but the camera angle wasn’t too clear.’
‘It was,’ Genevieve murmured.
‘It was? What? It is actually Finlay McBride you’re engaged to? Bloody hell, you’re a fast mover. What does Elise make of it?’
‘I… um… Listen, I can’t talk now. I’ll call you back later. There’s stuff I have to do.’
‘Ha ha, yes, sure there is. Like bedding your new fiancé. You get to it then.’
Genevieve ended the call and stared at Finlay. ‘Did you hear that?’
‘How could I not? She might as well have been on the other side of the door.’ But his mind had jammed. ‘Hang on though. Rewind a second. You filmed it live?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Did I? Oh god, I must have or how else would she know?’ She fumbled with her phone, opening screens and scrolling. ‘I’m so used to recording live… I must have pressed the wrong thing. Why did I film it anyway?’
‘That’s not the question. The question is, why did we do it at all?’
‘Holy shit.’ She gaped at her phone and turned up the volume. Finlay cringed at the sound of his own voice. She rotated the phone, and he scrambled closer so he could see. Should he be proud or horrified? Considering how drunk he must have been, it was actually a decent proposal, but what the actual fuck was he thinking?
‘Does that say 7k?’
‘Yes.’
‘Seven thousand people have watched that already?’
‘Yes.’ She half raised her eyes to him, almost like she expected him to lash out. The sheet hung loosely over her shoulders.
He blew out a breath and looked away. Her barely concealed, beautifully formed breasts were very distracting – and not in the way he needed right now. ‘Ok. So, it’s not like we can just pretend that it never happened. I don’t suppose you can take that down.’
‘I can and I will, but so many people have already seen it. Look at all the comments. Oh no.’
‘What?’
‘Some of them know it’s you. And my friends are messaging me about it.’ She scrolled through them. ‘They think you’ve done it for revenge on Elise.’
‘What? For fuck’s sake.’ He put his head in his hands.
‘And Chloe says I’ve broken the girl-code and what was I thinking?’
‘Who?’
‘She’s a friend of mine and she wants to know if Elise has done something to upset me and can’t understand why else I’d have “pulled a stunt like this”. Just bloody great. Do they really think I’d do that?’
‘Is this all public?’
‘No. It’s on messenger.’
‘Listen, please take that video down. I know people will have seen it already, but if my new employers see that, who knows what they’ll make of it? I hope to god they never find out about it. They’re super conservative and if I turn up in Dubai without a fiancée four weeks after I proposed to her online, they are going to ask a lot of tough questions.’
‘People split up. That’s life.’ She clutched the sheet across her body.
‘You’re telling me? You’re talking to the man who’s already had two failed engagements and is about to add another shitshow to his list of life flunks.’
‘I’m taking it down, ok?’
He leaned back, rubbing vigorously at his face, and groaned. ‘What time is it?’
‘Quarter to ten.’
‘Bloody hell. We must have been comatosed to sleep that long.’
‘Right. I’ve taken it down, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways of people seeing it. Anyone could have saved it.’
‘Oh man.’ He covered his face.
‘Hey.’ Genevieve put her hand on his and gently moved his fingers to look him in the eye. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ He took hold of her left hand and ran the pad of his thumb over the ring. ‘It’s nobody’s fault or if it is, it’s both of us.’
‘Yeah. We were very silly.’
He huffed out a laugh but it hurt his head. He focused back on the ring. ‘It does actually suit you though,’ he said with a wry smirk.
‘How can it suit me more than anyone else? It’s just a ring on a finger.’
‘I know. But when you look at it, you smile, and your smile is… Well, it makes me smile too.’
He looked deep into her eyes, letting his brain wander into an imaginary world. What if they’d woken up like this and it was real? How would that make him feel? But no. That was insane. He couldn’t be engaged to someone he didn’t really know and who’d always disliked him… Or had she? Hadn’t she said last night that she fancied him? Or had he dreamt it? Dreamt it probably and just as well, because she needed to find her real ‘one’ and he had a new life starting in another country.
‘What we need is some way of ending this without making you look like you were heartbroken by “the one” just hours after he proposed and without making me look like a prick and a serial fiancé who goes about engaging himself to any woman, then splitting with her a few days later,’ he said.
‘How? I mean, I could post that it was a prank and just tell the truth. We were drunk.’
‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘That’ll work. Do that.’
A knock on the door made them both jump.
‘Genevieve? Are you awake?’ Another knock. ‘Are you ok? Are you even in there?’
‘It’s my mum,’ she whispered.
Finlay tapped an imaginary wristwatch. ‘She probably wants to know why you’re not up yet. I think she was knocking earlier. I heard something, but I wasn’t awake enough to figure out what.’
Holding the sheet firmly around her, Genevieve went to the door and opened it a crack. ‘I’m fine,’ she said.
‘Oh darling.’ Her mum pushed the door open and Genevieve staggered back. Finlay grabbed the duvet and pulled it over himself, though there was no hiding the clothes strewn about the room.
Shit.
‘Mum! What are you doing?’
Hilary Harrington had thrown her arms around Genevieve. ‘I am over the moon. We all are.’
‘About what?’ She side-eyed Finlay. He kept the duvet at his chin, not sure where to look. This was a first. He’d never been caught like this by a fiancée’s mother before.
‘Grandma called earlier to say she’d seen you getting engaged on your internet thing.’ Hilary glanced over at the bed where Finlay was trying to sink into the background. ‘Oh, Finlay, I’m so sorry to butt in here like this. You must think me a mad woman with no manners at all. Please forgive me. I am just so thrilled for you both. When you didn’t get up, I was panicking. No one saw you last night and until your grandma’s message… Oh look, never mind. Here’s me rattling on. I’ll leave you in peace. Come down when you’re ready. Your father’s ecstatic. He wants to get you both an engagement present and throw you a party. I have some ideas, but you put your thinking cap on, and we’ll see what we can come up with.’ She gave Genevieve another hug and Finlay a brief wave before leaving the room.
‘Jesus Christ,’ Finlay said, lowering the duvet. ‘Are we likely to get anymore visitors? Maybe we should sell tickets.’
Genevieve slumped onto the end of the bed. ‘Who’s going to break the news to them that this is simply drunk nonsense? You or me?’
Finlay shook his head and groaned. ‘If we’re going to do it, we should do it straight away. God, they’re going to hate me, aren’t they?’ He buried his face in his hands.
‘At least you won’t have to live with it. I’ll have their disappointment to deal with every day for the rest of my life.’
‘I hope Hayley doesn’t know.’ He peered at her. ‘I don’t want to message her in case she doesn’t, then she’ll wonder what I’m talking about.’
‘She’ll find out soon enough. Most of my friends know. Even if she didn’t see the film, they’re bound to tell her.’
‘I just hope she doesn’t tell my mum.’ He sighed and threw back his head. ‘This is such a mess.’
‘Where’s your phone? See if they’ve messaged you.’
‘I’m not sure I want to know. It’s in my overnight bag, though the battery might be dead by now.’
‘I have a charger.’ Genevieve crossed the room and pulled his bag off the chair. She plonked it on the bed beside him. ‘Is it an iPhone?’
‘No, but it’s ok, it still has twenty per cent,’ he said, pulling it out. ‘Oh god.’ Even from the amount of notifications, it was obvious everyone knew already. He flipped up the screen, and it opened to his face. ‘Yup, my mum knows, so does Hayley… Oh, and my dad. Just great. And Aidan. Fantastic. Seriously?’
‘What?’
‘My friend, Oliver; he’s a divorce lawyer, and he’s advising me to get a prenup straight away. Doesn’t he know I only ever have prenups? I haven’t exactly made it to après-nup yet, have I?’
Genevieve shook her head and her lips quirked in a faint smile. ‘I don’t know what to do. What does Hayley say?’
He opened her message and read it aloud. ‘Finlay!!!!! What is going on????’ He paused and raised an eyebrow. ‘Why does she need three hundred question marks?’
‘What else is she saying?’ Genevieve leaned forward and Finlay read on.
‘Is this for real? You and Genevieve? I didn’t even know you knew her that well and I always got the feeling she didn’t like you that much – I don’t need to remind you I felt the same way about you and Elise. Please call me and tell me how it happened. You both look ridiculously happy. I want to kid myself on that you were just fooling around but it looks so real. Will she go to Dubai with you? And the ring. You gave her THE RING! I guess she really is all that. So hope this is it this time. Just scared it’s happened so fast… again xxxxxxxxx.’He frowned. ‘Now we have three-hundred kisses and hearts. So that’s it. I am going to look like a right prick.’
‘Oh god,’ Genevieve moaned. ‘This is not good.’
He pulled open the message from his mum. ‘Mum says: Oh my darling, darling boy. Please tell me this girl is a good one. I know her as Hayley’s friend and she’s always been a nice girl. But why now? I hope she’s not playing some game with you and this turns out to be her idea of a joke. I’m sick of women using my precious boy like this. Please call me and tell me this is all ok and she’s really worthy of you. You’re such a darling. I hate the way Gabby and Elise treated you. Let’s hope this is third time lucky. No one deserves to be happy as much as you, my love.’
He glanced up at Genevieve and pulled a face. ‘Well, you go tell my mum it was all a mistake and I’ll go tell yours.’
She shook her head. ‘We’re totally up shit creek. Everyone is going to think we’re awful. It’s going to take months of damage limitation on my socials. And I know it sounds frivolous and silly, but it’s my job.’
‘I’m not laughing. I don’t think it sounds silly. It sounds impossible.’
‘What are we going to do?’
‘I really have no idea.’