Chapter 37
The gala was being held in a five-star hotel in Covent Garden in one of the city’s largest traditional ballrooms. Simone had used it a couple of times before and knew the astronomical prices it commanded. This whole thing was a chance for Wolfe to lean on his contacts to raise money for his company’s chosen charities, a common practice in large businesses. It was crazy really, given how Wolfe could easily have supported them out of his own bursting coffers, which would also save the expense of all this pomp and ceremony.
She did a quick tour of the venue and checked out the menu, the floral arrangements, the AV set-up, and the list of things up for auction. It was all nondescript. If this was the kind of thing they were up against, the ideas her and her team were developing would blow this standard fare out of the water.
She was going to be at a table with Wolfe himself, a pleasure she was happy to put off until the very last minute, so she headed to the bar to help kill some time before she’d need to take her seat. As she approached it, though, she saw a familiar silhouette. She took in the twisted afro hair with the low fade, the light brown neck, the broad shoulders, the peachy bottom, the handkerchief being taken out of the trouser pocket. It couldn’t possibly be, could it?
‘Jasper?’
He spun around. Holy shit: it was.
‘Simone?’
He was wearing a slim-fit tuxedo in which he looked immeasurably hot and surprisingly at home. She couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening. The universe kept on conspiring to put them together.
‘Why are you here?’ she asked.
He seemed equally bewildered to see her.
‘I’m here as a plus one.’
Her heart sank. ‘Oh cool. Who’s your date?’ She tried to keep her voice even.
He nodded in the direction of a woman talking animatedly to two jocular older ladies. She was a petite blonde with a shattered bob, wearing a white trouser suit, bright red stilettos and matching lipstick. She’d spotted her earlier and thought she was envy-inducingly stylish.
‘Do you recognise her?’ he asked.
She was similar in appearance to an actress whose name she’d forgotten.
‘It’s my sister,’ he clarified.
‘Huh?’
‘You saw her picture in my flat.’
She wasn’t sure she wanted to be reminded of his flat, or the conversation that had followed on her last day at the shelter, but he had moved on. He explained how Jessica led the partnerships team for a charitable trust, one that Wolfe Holdings supported through their Corporate Social Responsibility arm.
‘They’re beneficiaries of some of the obscene amounts of money she tells me will get bandied around this evening.’
Simone went to sneak another glance at Jessica, but she was heading towards them anyway.
‘Pass me my drink, bro. God, my feet are already killing.’
‘Mine too,’ said Simone.
‘Oh hello.’ The woman looked her up and down. ‘Who are you?’
‘Simone, this is my very forthright sister, Jessica. Jessica, this is my friend Simone.’
Jasper passed Jessica a glass of what looked like straight whisky. She eyed Simone curiously.
‘Simone? As in the babe from work you were banging on about?’
His eyes widened. ‘No. A different Simone.’
‘Really? Only you said she was really pretty with dark hair, so I just assumed…’
Jessica smirked. She knew exactly what she was doing. Jasper put his hand over her mouth. It was gratifying to see him properly uncomfortable for once.
‘She’s not my real sister,’ he said.
Jessica slapped his hand away. ‘And you said she had a smoking hot body.’
‘I would never say that.’
It was true, he wouldn’t, even if he thought it.
‘Okay, just to be clear,’ said Jessica, ‘you’re not the Simone who has some weird arrangement with a married man.’
‘Jesus,’ said Jasper. ‘It would’ve been better to be brought up in a children’s home.’
‘No, that’s not me,’ said Simone, very much enjoying the display of sibling teasing. ‘No married boyfriend. At least, not anymore.’
Jasper raised a questioning eyebrow.
‘We broke up.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Are you?’
‘Not really.’
They were staring at one another.
‘Yeah,’ said Jessica. ‘I’m going to leave you two friends to it.’
Simone turned, apologetic. ‘No please. I’m interrupting your night.’ She really wanted to make a good first impression.
‘Don’t stress. I have to do the rounds, work the crowd. I just needed to get this.’ She raised the glass, downed the drink in one, grimaced, and then collected herself. ‘It was nice to meet you, not-that-Simone. Hopefully I’ll meet you again.’ She marched off.
‘She seems pretty cool.’
‘Really? I can’t stand her.’
Simone laughed.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ he said.
‘Gin and tonic please.’
She had no plans to drink too much, but she’d need something to get through it: Wolfe had a reputation for liking a tipple, and being sober around drunk people you liked was torture enough. Unsurprisingly, Jasper got served immediately.
‘So, you’ve been talking about me, huh?’ She played with her straw, moving the ice around the glass.
‘I may have mentioned you.’
An endorphin rush of joy engulfed her. ‘May you have?’ Her half-smile expanded into a smirk.
‘Let’s change the subject,’ he said.
‘Okay.’ She took a step back, like he was a work of art that she needed to view in its entirety. ‘Did you borrow that tuxedo for the night?’
‘Why?’
‘It’s a little tight on you,’ she teased.
‘No, it’s all mine.’
‘Perhaps you’ve been comfort eating since I left?’
‘No, I haven’t.’ He undid his jacket and held it open so she could get a better view.
‘Yep, you’ve definitely been piling on the pounds. Look at that belly.’
With measured fingers, he untucked the shirt from the waistband of his trousers and lifted the fabric, revealing the four perfect glazed buns of his lower abs. ‘What, this belly?’ He studied her face, waiting for a reaction.
It took all her willpower not to reach out and run her hand along their ridges. She frowned up at him. ‘My mistake. Must have been a trick of the light.’
He winked and tucked the shirt back in. ‘Speaking of tight clothing, how are you breathing?’
She was wearing a simple emerald satin gown with a cinched-in boned waist.
‘Less breathing and more shallow panting.’
‘Like a dog.’
‘Exactly. Look.’ She stuck her tongue out.
‘Charming.’
They both laughed.
‘You look very nice,’ he said.
Her hair was up in a chignon bun, and she was conscious she was wearing quite a lot of make-up.
‘Really? Didn’t you say you liked the natural look?’
‘I do. But I also like this look.’
Her insides liquified.
‘How is everyone?’ she asked quickly.
‘All fine. Gayle is a bit stressed because another one of our funding sources has gone, but she’s working hard to get a replacement.’
‘And the others?’
‘Interesting you should ask. They’ve been going offsite a lot more. You wouldn’t have any idea what they’re up to, would you?’
‘No.’
‘Hmm. I didn’t think so. I’m sure they’d like to hear from you; you’d be welcome to come back any time.’
‘I know.’
She told him all about Wolfe and the response. ‘But I’m hoping when that’s done, I can pop back in. I’ve not forgotten I owe you a coffee.’
‘And I owe you a fun evening.’
‘Do you mean go out?’ she hazarded.
‘I don’t mean more outreach.’
‘So, like drinks, or dinner.’
‘If you like.’
She took a sip of her drink. ‘That sounds a lot like a date.’
‘Does it?’
‘Is it?’
‘Would you like it to be?’
‘Would you?’
He smiled. ‘Yes. I would obviously like to go out on a date with you.’
‘But you said you didn’t think of me like that.’
‘When?’
‘The day I left the shelter.’
He cocked his head to one side, trying to recall their conversation. Then his face cleared. ‘No, you idiot! I meant I wouldn’t take advantage of you like that. I know you have a wonky notion of what chivalry is, Simone, but really! I’m not some opportunist. I won’t so much as kiss a woman unless I really like her.’
‘Oh.’
‘And may I remind you, you had a boyfriend.’
‘Oh.’
‘And you really were very annoying.’
‘Why, thank you.’
‘But it turns out that you not being around is appreciably more infuriating than you being around.’
A cacophony of optimistic thoughts ricocheted around her head.
‘You say the sweetest things.’
A voice came over the AV system telling everyone to take their seats as dinner was about to be served.
‘I should go,’ she said reluctantly.
‘Me too.’
‘You’ll call me though?’
‘I will, if you’re happy to give me your number.’
‘But you had it on?—’
He gave her another of his what do you take me for faces. Of course he wouldn’t have made a note of her number unless she’d given him express permission to do so. She tapped it into his phone. It took a restraint she didn’t know she possessed to not ask him to leave right there and then. Or to suggest perhaps their first date could be in her bed, directly after this event. But no, she didn’t need to rush into anything; it was enough that they were going on a date together!
As she walked away, she put an extra little sashay into her step. She glanced over her shoulder as she did so, and with a feeling suspiciously akin to happiness, saw he was smiling and shaking his head.
* * *
The dinner and the auction were intensely boring compared to the preamble. Food-wise, they had done what so many ‘posh’ places did, piling the food up in a little tower on the plate, as if by elevating the constituent parts, they could elevate the quality. It didn’t work. She then watched as people with more money than sense bid stupid amounts on things that they almost certainly didn’t need. It was obscene. Still, at least Jessica was benefiting. Did good outcomes, even if they were aided and abetted by subjectively bad people, still create a net good effect? What would Jasper think? She wanted to find him and ask him, but instead she had to content herself with responding to the progressively more inane crap dribbling from Wolfe’s increasingly slurring mouth. By the time the coffee was served, and she excused herself to go to the toilet, the man could barely focus. There was a queue for the bathroom directly outside the ballroom, so she went further around the corridor and found one that was quieter. When she emerged, she was startled to see Wolfe loitering outside.
‘Are you lost?’ she asked.
He leered at her, lips peeling back to show red wine-stained teeth. ‘Where d’you get to?’
She pointed to the very obvious sign on the toilet door behind her.
‘Visiting the little girl’s room, hey?’
A million termites crawled beneath her skin. He wasn’t lost. He had followed her.
‘We should probably be getting back,’ she said.
He stepped in front of her, momentarily swaying like a tower in the wind, before placing a hand on the wall behind her to steady himself. ‘There’s no rush.’ The other hand snaked to her side, and he ran it up and down her hip bone as if she was a cow whose readiness for market he was checking. ‘I didn’t think I could see any panties.’
The guy couldn’t have seen a fucking elephant if she’d had one in the seamless knickers she was most definitely wearing. He was sozzled, but that didn’t make him any less of a lecherous arsehole. She pressed herself as far into the wall as possible and weighed up her options. She should tell him to go fuck himself; he had no right to follow her, no right to touch her. But she also knew what the backlash to that would entail. Tony would have an aneurism. Then again, Tony wasn’t the one who had some dickweasel’s hand snaking up towards her tits.
‘Simone?’
Shit. It was Jasper.
‘What’s going on?’
He was clearly trying to calculate exactly what he’d stumbled across.
‘Nothing. It’s fine.’
She cast him a look that attempted to convey this was just some rich dickhead getting handsy, and he didn’t need to get involved.
‘Yeah, she’s fine, pal,’ said Wolfe.
‘It doesn’t look fine.’
‘Me and Siobhan here were discussing some business, weren’t we, Siobhan?’
‘It’s Simone,’ said Jasper.
Wolfe closed his eyes and shook his head, as if Jasper was a figment of his own imagination that he could blink away. He scowled when the apparition didn’t comply.
‘You know you don’t have to put up with that, don’t you?’ said Jasper.
‘He’s just drunk.’
‘That’s no excuse.’
‘Is this your boyfriend?’ asked Wolfe.
She really hoped the answer to that might soon be yes.
‘No.’
‘Then tell him to get lost.’
‘Jasper, please, can you leave it?’
‘Not unless you’re happy with him groping you?’
‘I’m not groping her, mate. She’s into it.’
‘Are you?’ Jasper asked.
As much as she loved the idea of him stepping in to protect her, this needed to be handled carefully.
‘I don’t need you to look after me.’
‘I never said you did. I’m just asking if you’re okay.’
‘Can you tell this twat to fuck off?’ said Wolfe.
Jasper squared up.
‘He’s just leaving,’ she said quickly.
‘Am I?’
‘I need a piss,’ said Wolfe. ‘Make sure he’s gone by the time I get back.’ He stumbled into the ladies’ toilets.
‘I just need to keep him sweet for tonight,’ she explained. ‘He’s too drunk to do anything anyway.’
Jasper’s face was etched with confusion. ‘This isn’t right.’
‘If I can just get this promotion?—’
‘You shouldn’t have to be manhandled for your job!’
‘It is what it is. I don’t mind.’
‘You don’t mind?! That’s somehow worse!’
Of course she minded. Her soul ached with the effort of trying to withstand the entitlement people like Wolfe had internalised as acceptable. The times they made you feel like you were in sexual debt to them because they’d bought you a drink, or given you a job, or paid you a compliment. It was all part of a continuum of aggression arising from their basic failure to see women as equals. But she wouldn’t topple the Patriarchy by telling Wolfe to sod off. The only thing she would topple were her chances of a promotion, and why should she suffer double the injustice? And besides, who the hell was Jasper to judge how she dealt with these situations?
‘It’s my body,’ she said defensively. ‘I can do what I like with it.’
‘I’m not disputing that.’
‘You don’t understand what it’s like.’
Sure, he understood prejudice. She couldn’t imagine the bigotry and discrimination to which he’d been subjected. But he had never, would never, could never know what it was like to be a woman living with the omnipresent dread of upsetting certain male egos for fear of what repercussions might ensue.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I don’t understand. I’m just saying if you continue to give pieces of yourself away so easily, how can you ever know your true value?’
‘So you’re saying I brought this on myself?’
‘No!’ He ran his hand over his face, rubbed his chin in frustration. ‘Fuck! I’m sorry, I just saw you with him and … I didn’t mean it like that.’
They waited in painful silence as someone else loped past them to the bathroom door. As the door opened, she saw Wolfe emerge from a cubicle. She panicked.
‘I need you to go.’
‘Simone—’
‘For god’s sake, Jasper! What part of fuck off don’t you understand?’
The words were out before she even registered them. His face fell. She knew she’d hurt his feelings, but he’d hurt hers too.
He held up his hands in surrender. ‘You’re right. I don’t want to be that guy. I’m going.’
The moment he decided to comply with her wishes was the moment she really didn’t want him to.
‘Jasper, please?—’
‘I need to go.’ He turned and strode away.
She wanted to run after him. Ten minutes ago, she’d been harbouring the idea of not returning to Wolfe’s table, but seeking his out instead. She wanted to go back to his flat, kick off her wretched shoes, and liberate herself from this stupid dress. She wanted to pull on one of his labelless T-shirts and talk about life, the universe and everything. Instead, they’d had their first argument and she now had to work out how Wolfe could be satisfied she’d been a gracious enough guest without having to let him screw her.