Page 96 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘You heard her, didn’t you?’ Cal argues. ‘She said she wished she’d never said what she did. And I sure as hell didn’t act my best either.’

‘That’s a whole lotta water under the bridge, man,’ Miller then scoffs dismissively.

‘Will you shut it?’ Cal snaps. ‘I gotta fix this.’

He comes over to me, gripping my wrists before folding me into a hug. ‘Thank you for bringing this to me, Lexi,’ he says, still holding onto me. He pulls back. ‘Fellas, I’m gonna need your help.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

It’s dark outside. I’m back in my room when there’s a knock at my door.

I’m still buzzing from Cal’s reaction to Bianca’s interview so I practically skip over to answer it.

Except when I open it, I freeze.

‘Hi,’ I blurt at Aidan, my stomach rolling over because I’m still wearing the body camera, and – if the battery hasn’t run out – it’s still recording.

‘Can I come in?’ he asks, a soft smile on his lips.

I nod, opening the door wider. He moves past me and I breathe in his scent.

I close the door behind him, kicking myself for not removing the camera as soon as I got back, and the resulting guilt swamps my chest.

‘Sorry, I thought you were going to be Duncan,’ I mumble, not sure what to do with my hands.

‘Would you rather I’d been Duncan?’

He’s put a hoodie on to go with his ripped jeans. He takes in my room, no doubt a lot smaller than his own.

‘No, not at all,’ I say quietly from behind him, the knowledge that I’m hooked up to a hidden camera making my skin crawl. Can I excuse myself to the bathroom? Will that look sus?

His hands go inside his pockets. ‘So… Bianca Lawson. Was that the reason you came to New York early?’ he asks.

My throat tightens. ‘Yes.’

‘I thought you were seeing your dad.’

‘I—’ I stutter. ‘I’m so sorry. It would have put you in a difficult position. If I’d have told you. You would have felt obligated to tell Cal about my plans to interview Bianca. I hope you can forgive me.’

He smiles, shakes his head. ‘It’s a great interview. It’s cool. I get why you didn’t tell me.’

An ugly feeling makes me feel nauseous.

‘Can I say something?’ he says, looking to the floor.

‘Sure,’ I say, my tone bordering on a whisper, because I don’t want him to say anything. The guilt of me recording him right at this moment is like a gut punch. I want to go and remove the camera.Thenhe can say whatever he likes, because I have a feeling it’s going to make me melt.

He lifts his head, raising his eyes to me. ‘I know this whole professionalism thing bothers you. Like those execs at Silverpix won’t approve or something, and that it might reflect badly on you… if you and I… if we started something.’

I see his throat working. ‘But can you promise me one thing?’ he continues. ‘Now that you’ve held a mirror up to Cal, will you hold one up to yourself? Ask yourself what you want. Because filming for this documentary, it will come to an end one day, but I’ll still be here when you’re finished. If I have to wait for you, then… I can wait.’

Tears sting my eyes. No man has ever said he would wait for me.

I want to go to him, but if I do, I know what will happen. If he tears my clothes off, he’ll see there’s a wire from a hidden camera. And he’ll know. He’ll know that I’ve lied to him. And that’s damage control that I need to save for another day.

‘Cal’s planning something big by the way,’ he adds, when I say nothing, as though my silence is too difficult to deal with.

‘He is? Will I be allowed to film it?’

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