Page 115 of Endgame

Thank you Em. I was also thinking of calling her mother.

Maybe run that past her first. She won’t want to see everyone.

I don’t tell Em I’m already home because we need the quiet. I take the tray with six pieces of cheese on toast upstairs with three bottles of water. Lara is Ariella’s happy place and I have no doubt that she will eventually reach her. Lara is mid-flow when I arrive.

‘…and we couldn’t figure out why Nicole hadn’t set him on fire!’ She laughs softly.

‘Did I ever get my bra back?’ Ariella asks weakly, also laughing a little.

‘No, Bamidele found it. She was so furious, she ripped it apart with her bare hands and put it in the outside bin.’

‘Why are we talking about Nicole? And who is Bamidele?’ I join in as I place the food and water on the bed.

‘Entertainment. Bamidele was CrimeSpree’s girlfriend at the time.’ Lara grabs and bites into a piece of cheese on toast. She moans with exaggerated pleasure, then hands Ariella one.

‘You slept with CrimeSpree’s girlfriend?’ I ask, shocked.

‘Repeatedly,’ Ariella contributes quietly as she gives her best friend a loving side-eye glance.

‘It was more of an entanglement. Then Harrison found out while we were at a strip club. It all blew up and I got promoted.’ Lara shrugs.

‘You didn’t really get promoted though, did you?’ Ariella giggles.

‘Wait. Is this the reason you were taken off the floor so quickly?’

‘Yup!’

Ariella reaches for a second piece of toast and I subtly nudge the plate closer to her.

‘Okay, you’re going to have to spill. Tell me everything.’

‘No, I was saving it for a drunken night.’

The expression on Ariella’s face suggests that, even though she was there, she wants to hear the story too.

‘Fine. There I was, minding my own business?—’

‘You weren’t minding your business, you were meant to be working,’ Ariella interrupts.

‘Hey!’ Lara complains.

‘Sorry.’ Ariella laughs.

‘Thank you. Anyway, there I was, thinking purely, “I’m not going to sleep with my client’s girlfriend” thoughts…’

That was our way back in. Lara Scott is a fucking genius. She laughs, complains, takes the piss out of and adores the versions of Ariella, Caleb and Lara that existed before Singapore. I play my part and fill Lara in on the details of Ariella’s dates that she hadn’t shared, while Ariella pitches in with the story about the boyfriend who turned up with the metal pipe.

We talk until the small hours of the morning. Before Ariella falls asleep, I manage to convince her to jump into the shower, and I have a fluffy bathrobe waiting. I shower after her. By the time I get into bed to cuddle her to sleep, my dirty clothes that I arrived from Singapore in are gone.

I let her snuggle in closely and wait until I hear her cute little snores before I let myself fall asleep.

‘Caleb?’ I hear her whisper in the dark.

‘Mason?’ I answer softly as I wake up and kiss whatever body part of hers is closest to my lips.

‘I’m scared.’

Hearing that breaks my heart and I pull her so close, there is no space between us.

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