Chapter 37
37
‘You won’t believe the gossip I have for you!’
I jumped as Liv made her announcement the following day, suddenly appearing by my table in Starbucks, sounding far brighter than I felt. ‘What?’ I asked sleepily as I took another long drink of my vanilla iced latte. She sat down opposite me with her iced coffee and handed me one of the muffins she had bought. I felt sluggish with jet lag. Once I’d got through Heathrow and found my case, Jake had disappeared so I got the Tube by myself to my flat, where I slunk into my bedroom, closed the door and flopped on my bed.
I had felt a weird twinge then. There was no one in my shared flat waiting for me to come home, no one to debrief the trip with, and I had let self-pity wash over me. I’d slept most of the day so I’d struggled to sleep at night. Liv had suggested a coffee so I’d crawled out of my flat to meet her at lunchtime, keen to see a friendly face again. And to talk about work tomorrow because I was really nervous at having to see Jake again and act like we’d been nothing to one another in New York. Hayley could never find out about us but it was going to be so hard to move past the feelings I’d been starting to have for him.
Liv had a sip of her coffee then propped her elbows up on the table to look at me. ‘It’s about our least favourite person – Davis Mulberry.’
‘What about him?’ I asked, pushing through my sluggish mind in a panic. I didn’t want to ever see or hear about Davis Mulberry again but if he had been gossiping about me and Jake… ‘What happened?’ I demanded of Liv.
‘After we left the end-of-conference party, all hell broke loose, apparently. Tessa phoned me before I came to meet you to tell me about it. We missed a scandal. Typical that I had to leave for my flight and you… Actually, why did you leave the party early? Were you with Jake?’ She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.
‘No!’ I snapped.
Her face fell.
I couldn’t bear to tell her about me and Jake ending just yet so I waved my hand. ‘Sorry. Jet lag is killing me. What did Davis do and say?’ I asked, really hoping he hadn’t mentioned us. Hayley hadn’t said anything, though and surely, she would have if she had found out?
‘Well, according to Tessa, Davis got more and more pissed as the night went on. And he started telling the conference organisers the whole event had been rubbish and crime events are so much better, and maybe they should come to one so they can improve their conference. Then a few attendees got involved to tell him he was wrong and he got really angry and pushed over one of the tables with drink on. It was chaos, apparently.’
‘Blimey. I knew he was a bit of a twat, but that takes the biscuit! He didn’t say anything about me and Jake, did he?’
‘No.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Why, did he know about you two?’
‘What happened then?’ I asked, wanting to put off telling Liv about what had happened with me, Jake and Davis.
‘The hotel called security and he was escorted out!’
‘God,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘How embarrassing for him.’
‘I know, right? He won’t have anything to lord over Jake now after this. It’s his reputation in tatters now!’ Liv grinned. ‘Couldn’t have happened to a nicer man, right?’ She frowned. ‘Are you okay, Freya? You aren’t yourself today.’
I sighed, unable to put it off any longer. ‘Me and Jake… Whatever it was between us, it’s all over now. And it could be why Davis Mulberry had such a meltdown. The three of us had a row at the party. It was horrible, Liv. And now I have to have a meeting with Hayley and Jake at his publisher’s tomorrow and pretend I haven’t seen the man naked!’ I cried out, causing a couple of people at neighbouring tables to look over at me in shock. ‘Oops,’ I said, ducking my head.
‘Don’t worry about them,’ Liv said. ‘Are you okay? How can it be over? I saw the way Jake looked at you. Hang on, what happened with Davis then? Did he do something to break you guys up?’
I gave Liv the blow-by-blow account of what happened at the party. ‘I wish I could just blame Davis but Jake clearly never trusted me. He thought I was using him to help my career. And that I think he’s just like his father. Maybe I didn’t trust that he wanted anything serious with me. So, I guess maybe I didn’t trust him either.’ I shook my head. ‘I need to focus on my career now. I need to get through this meeting at the publishing company, and hopefully, then Hayley will promote me. And I can forget all about Jake Richards!’
‘Oh, Freya,’ Liv said with sympathy. ‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out.’
‘You told me to be careful, and you were right,’ I said dully.
‘Are you sure you and Jake can’t talk and?—’
‘No,’ I cut in firmly. ‘I’m done humiliating myself with that man. He doesn’t want a relationship with me. It was just a fling. I need to move on, Liv. But how can I get through this meeting?’
‘You can get through it,’ Liv reassured me even though she looked concerned. ‘You need to treat Jake like he is still what he was to you before New York. Just Hayley’s biggest client. And you need to show her how much you deserve that promotion.’
I nodded along with her pep talk and hoped I could pull it off.
‘You were amazing in New York. I mean, you’ve saved Jake’s career! That was down to you. You got him to be honest, and everyone reacted really well to it. He did that because of you. Just channel the same energy.’
I gave her a weak smile. New York had been a success on the professional front. I needed to remember that, and try to forget the failure on the personal front. I drained the rest of my coffee and felt a little bit more awake. ‘You’re right. Thanks, Liv. If what happened with Jake taught me anything, it’s that I should have been more professional, and less like myself. Being myself might have saved his reputation but it had made me risk my heart on someone who hadn’t been worth that risk.’
‘What do you mean?’ Liv asked with a frown.
‘I’ll do everything Hayley wants, be who she wants me to be, and leave the old “wears her heart on her sleeve” Freya behind. I’m going to turn over a completely new leaf. I will be a complete boss bitch like Hayley. The old Freya is dead.’
‘Hang on…’
‘I follow my heart too much; I always have. It’s time to follow my head instead.’
Liv didn’t look convinced but I ignored her negativity. I knew what I had to do. I jumped up. ‘I need to go shopping and buy a new outfit for tomorrow’s meeting. Wish me luck!’
‘But, Freya…’
I was already walking away from her. ‘I’ll call you and tell you how it went,’ I told her over my shoulder.
She sighed but called out to wish me luck and with a parting wave, I walked out of Starbucks and left her there, determined to make tomorrow’s meeting go the best it possibly could.