Page 90 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘I just need some time to think,’ I mumble.

‘What’s there to think about?’

‘I’m not… good at this stuff. I have my career to consider.’

Aidan sighs heavily. ‘We’re back to that?’

‘Can we just…’ I murmur. ‘Can I just… Could you not tell the boys? Or Ziggy? For the time being?’

He looks infuriated. ‘Did you really think that was the first thing I was gonna do? Tell them all?’

‘No,’ I say, and I hate the way this conversation is going. Last night was incredible, but it was an out-of-body experience for me. I’ve never been that intimate with anyone. ‘Of course not.’

‘Does that mean you won’t tell Duncan and Meredith either?’ he asks after another silence.

‘I won’t tell anyone.’

We’re silent for a moment. Aidan gives a nod. ‘I won’t say anything. And for the record, I would never put your career in jeopardy like that.’

‘Thank you.’

A lump of bitterness sticks in my throat. A little voice in my head says, you’re messing this all up.

At that moment, I hear the sound of an engine, and my taxi pulls up.

Chapter Twenty-Five

New York, USA

‘How did you spend New Year’s?’ Meredith asks.

With Aidan McArthur inside me, I think, biting my lip at a delicious memory.

Except in twenty-four hours, I’ve heard nothing from him, and despite constantly checking my phone for any messages, I know it’s all my fault. Every time I type something out to him, I end up deleting it, for some irrational reason wanting him to be the one to message me first.

Meredith’s question is directed at Bianca Lawson, who perches on a stool in her bedroom at her parents’ elegant Upper East Side apartment, overlooking the Metropolitan Museum and Central Park, whilst Meredith applies a blusher. Bianca is a natural blonde but with highlights, her long, wavy hair falling to below her shoulders. She is tall with enviable legs, an elegant nose and high cheekbones. I can see why a guy like Caleb Whitlock might lose his mind over her, whether he likes to admit it or not.

‘Oh, it was pretty quiet, you know,’ Bianca murmurs. ‘I didn’t want to go to some bar and have someone recognise me. They always start singing that damn song…saw through you like cheap glass… do you think I miss you now…’

She sings the last bit. I’m hardly surprised she knows the lyrics. “Shame About My Face” has rocketed to the top of the downloads chart in over thirty countries, and stayed there.

‘I hung out here with a couple of girlfriends. Drank cocktails, watched the fireworks from the windows. That was kinda it. Hoping this year is better than the last couple ones.’

Fireworks.I feel heat rising again.

‘Lexi?’ Meredith says.

‘Sorry, what?’

‘I said I think we’re done here. You wanna come see?’

I walk over to Bianca, studying her. She looks perfect, but it isn’t the look I had envisaged. I want to recreate a memory in Caleb’s mind: to aim straight for his heart. You wouldn’t know this was a girl who used to have her own reality TV show.

‘When you go out…’ I ask. ‘When youusedto go out… did you wear a lot of eye make-up? More than you’re wearing now?’

Bianca glances in the mirror. ‘Sure, a little more, I guess. Like more liner. More mascara. A lip gloss, maybe.’

I look to Meredith. ‘Can we do that?’

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