Page 56 of Losing Control
He shakes his head and walks away from me, and possibly out of my life for good.
Chapter Forty
I can’t win
Kim walks into the office after lunch, a stony look on her face. She storms over to her desk and flops down in the chair, swivelling it to look at me. I keep my eyes on the computer screen to indicate that I don’t need a tongue lashing from her, but she ignores that and surges ahead with what I already know is going to come out of her mouth.
“What the fuck is the matter with you, Lucy?”
“Nothing.” I’ve had months of training to appear unaffected. There is no emotion to my voice.
“Bollocks. I’ve just spoken to Cal.” This has me whipping my head around to her, my body going into panic mode.
“Do you have to shout?” I scold her, quickly looking across the room to Michael. Luckily, he seems to be engrossed in some chatter with the guy who sits at the desk behind him, so he has his back to me.
“Well, someone has to.”
“Why?”
“Are you seriously asking me that? Do you need me to tell you that Cal is really upset?”
“I don’t have time for this, Kim, and I don’t want to talk about Cal.”
“Well, I do.” She folds her arms across her chest and I know that she isn’t going to back down. I need to wrap this conversation up quickly. “He came here to see you because you haven’t bothered with him, and all you do is have a go at him.”
“Is that what he said?” I ask, wondering how much Cal has told her.
“Not exactly, but I saw him leaving here, and I’ve never seen him so worked up in all the time that I’ve known him.”
“Well, then he’s being dramatic.”
“We both know that Cal isn’t dramatic, Lucy.” Fuck. I’m screwed here. Kim has known Cal as long as I have, so she knows that he doesn’t go in for dramatics, ever. “What is going on with you?”
“There’s nothing going on,” I reply adamantly.
“Oh come on, Luce, you don’t call, you don’t text, you don’t want to hang out anymore or even go for lunch. And now you want nothing to do with Cal? There is something wrong and I’m not going to stop asking until you tell me.”
“Well, you’ll be waiting for a long time then because there is nothing to tell.” I turn back to my computer screen, ending the conversation.
“Okay, fine,” Kim says as she stands up. “If you won’t tell me then I’ll just go and ask Michael.” She takes a step forward and I grab her arm in desperation.
“You can’t ask Michael.” I’ve already said too much with just that answer.
“Why?” Kim’s eyes narrow and I squirm in my seat.
“I… I…” And now I can see that Michael is looking over. I drop Kim’s arm abruptly and look at her with pleading eyes.
“Please, Kim, I can’t talk about it here, and I can’t have Michael thinking that anything is wrong.” Kim assesses me for a moment before sitting back at her desk. I breathe a sigh of relief, even though I can still feel Michael watching me from across the room.
“I want answers, Lucy.”
“I know.”
“We’re going for a drink after work, no arguments.”
I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from coming out with an excuse as to why I can’t go with her. She won’t take no for an answer now, and Michael will throw a fit when I tell him.
I can’t fucking win.
