Page 29 of The Black Trilogy

“You looked cold, so I thought this table would be best,” he said.

I smiled gratefully and tucked myself into the seat. The leather may have been worn and cracked, but it was still comfortable. I snagged the menu and looked through the dishes. No macaroni and cheese. Oh well, I couldn’t expect the day to be perfect.

“What are you having?” Luke asked.

“I’ll go with risotto.” I narrowly stopped myself from adding “and chips.”

Before we could order, Luke’s phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket, grimacing when he saw who was calling.

“Work,” he mouthed, covering the mouthpiece. “Could you order at the bar? I’ll have cottage pie and mineral water. I’ve got a tab.”

He was already talking into his phone as I followed him back out to the bar, and he continued outside while I told a frighteningly cheerful barmaid what we wanted.

“Ice with the orange juice?” she asked.

“No, thanks.”

She pushed the glass towards me, but her eyes were fixed on somebody behind. Assuming it would be Luke, I turned around with an almost-genuine smile, but my face soon fell when I recognised Mr. Wandering-Hands from the previous Thursday night. Was he following me?

“Oh, it’s you.”

“Hello, sweetheart. Where did you disappear off to last week?” he asked.

“I felt sick.”

“You should have stayed. I’d have made it all better.”

“I doubt that, since it was you who made me nauseous in the first place. And get your hand off my arm.” If any situation called for the f-word, it was this one, but I was still on my ban. Fluffing fudge.

The barmaid smothered a snort of laughter, but instead of letting go, the guy’s fingers tightened.

“You need to learn some manners—” he started.

I felt another presence behind me, and this time it was Luke. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back against him.

“Your hand’s still on her arm, Henry. It’s not Ash who needs to learn manners.”

Henry sneered and gave my arm one last hard squeeze before letting go. “I didn’t realise she was with you, Cain. She didn’t mention that the other night.”

“What other night?”

“When we had dinner.”

With that parting comment, Henry made a swift exit. Luke turned to me, his arm leaving my waist.

“You had dinner with him?”

Why did Luke look so hurt? We’d only known each other for five minutes.

“Only in his dreams. I met him at dinner, yes, but I was eating with Susie and Hayley when he and two of his mates decided to join us uninvited. After I got sick of him pawing at me, I climbed out of the window in the ladies’ loo and fu…went home.”

That at least got a smile out of Luke. “I’m afraid now he’s seen you with me, he may well try even harder.”

“I take it you two don’t like each other much?”

“Not since we were kids. It started off as a feud between our fathers. His old man’s a property developer, and my father refused to sell him a piece of land. I own it now, and I still won’t part with it. The bad blood fed down to me and Henry.”

“I can see that.”

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