Page 22 of Endgame

‘No. I’m fine.’ She sniffs as she runs her fingers under her eyes. Without another word, she straightens her posture and walks out of the room. I wipe tears that fall when she leaves. I need to get out of here.

I leave the room, disappear into the dancing crowd and make my way carefully towards the brasserie door, away from Jasper and our friends. Once outside the brasserie, I do everything I can to pull myself together before I descend the stairs and navigate my way through the main party space, where everyone is having a wonderful time.

‘Aari!’ I hear, just before I turn left to the bank of lifts that will take me down to the building’s exit. It’s Caleb. The sound and safety of his voice alone cuts through all the strength I’ve managed to gather in order to hold myself together.

‘This party is insane! So much for intimate! Ivory Bow is going to make a killing by the time I’m done tonight. I’ve just been doing ogogoro shots with the Nigerian Minister of…Mason, what’s wrong?’

I finally fall apart. Caleb steps forward to hold me close and shield me from anyone around us who might see.

‘Come on,’ he says softly as he walks us to the lifts.

I bury my face in his jacket as he hands both our cloakroom tickets to the attendant.

‘Allow me to escort you to the Platinum VIP lifts, sir,’ one of the attendants offers.

‘Platinum VIP? Very snazzy. I had to fight like a wild animal to get into the sardine tin that brought us up here an hour ago,’ Caleb whispers as we follow the attendant, making me smile and reminding me of how much I love him.

We step into the lift and descend in silence. All he does is hold me, and I inhale his familiar, safe smell. My phone dings. I look at the notification. It’s a text from Jasper asking where I am. When I turn my phone off, Caleb doesn’t say anything, he just holds me tighter.

‘What would you like to do?’ he asks when we finally make it outside.

‘I want to go home.’

‘Ours or your parents’?’

‘My parents’, please.’

We climb into the first black cab we see. The driver groans when we tell him that he is going to Surrey.

‘I’ll text Dahlia to let her know that I’m taking you home and that she has nothing to worry about.’

I nod and lean against him.

‘Aari, we’re here.’ Caleb gently strokes my cheek awake.

‘Thank you,’ I croak, and get ready to step out of the cab as he pays.

I let us in and we head straight for the kitchen.

‘If you get into the shower, I’ll make you a cup of tea and bring it up,’ he says quietly, before gently holding the back of my neck to kiss my forehead.

I do just that. I go up to my bedroom, strip, enter the shower and release all the emotions I am feeling. I stand patiently as I let the water wash the edges of my exchange with Sophia away. When I emerge, Caleb is sitting on my bed, the tea he’s made me is on my bedside table. He diverts his gaze as I pull on a long shirt and put my hair up, then sit next to him and sip my tea.

‘Do you want to talk about what happened?’ he asks quietly.

‘Sophia is pregnant. She asked me to stay away from her and Jasper. She said I was a horrible person and it was torture for her to have me around.’ I feel myself welling up.

‘I’m sorry, Aari.’

‘No, she’s right.’

Caleb doesn’t argue. He just sighs, and eventually admits, ‘She is, to a certain extent. You’re definitely not a horrible person, but to someone that doesn’t understand your history it could look like you and Jasper are in love. You’re so inextricably linked, it’s difficult to explain it any other way.’

‘You don’t think that, do you?’

‘No, I don’t. He’s your best friend and I know that moving through life without him would devastate you.’

‘That’s what I’m going to have to do. I don’t want his relationship with Sophia to fail. I want him to have a sublimely happy life with her.’

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