Page 22 of Unwanted
Chapter10
We’re not friends
Verity
“Gah! These shoes are killing me.”
“Yaz,” I said in a warning tone. “Do not take off your shoes.”
“How do you walk around all day in these torture devices?”
“My feet, legs and spine have long since realigned to accommodate high heels,” I told her in a dry voice. “If I stop wearing them now my vertebra would likely disintegrate.”
“Medically accurate as always,” Heath put in. “Midge, you do what you need to do, love.”
Yaz turned to my brother and slipped her arm around his waist. He smiled down at her, threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side to kiss her temple. Shoes were now forgotten. I was happy that my brother and Yaz had finally sorted themselves out and admitted they were in love, but their PDA could get a bit nauseating.
“Yo! Dorset peeps!” Kira Lucas sprang up out of nowhere in her characteristic way. She grabbed Yaz from Heath and into a full-body hug, slapped Max on the back, fisted bumped Heath and, alarmingly when it was her turn to greet me, she grabbed my face in her hands saying, “God, look at you, you savagely gorgeous building-fiddler.”
“Hello, Kira,” I said with some mild exasperation, but secretley suppressing a smile. It was impossible not to be charmed by this woman. “I didn’t know you guys were going to be here.”
“Oh, you know Barcos,” Kira said. “Environmentally friendly design butters his muffin. This is exactly the type of architecture award evening he wants to attend. And anyway, he loves a good bash.”
My eyebrows went up at that blatant lie.
“Okay,” she admitted. “He’s not quite as social as me, but hedidthink he needed to come.”
This evening was an architecture prize-giving dinner with a difference. It was for innovative designs with the least environmental impact. We had been nominated for a housing project on the outskirts of London that we’d just completed last year. All the houses were beautifully designed but in an affordable way, and they were all passive – meaning each one could be heated with only a couple of humans and a dog. That’s where our project had the edge over other companies – we were catering to the average person, and reducing their bills whilst helping the environment. Most of the other projects that had been nominated for the same award weren’t reproducible, affordable housing – not by a long stretch.
“Good to see you don’t change,” I said through a smile, then eyed her feet – she was barefoot.
“See, shoe police!” Yaz said as she pointed at Kira’s feet. “Theprime minister’s wifehas taken off her shoes! There’s no reason I can’t.”
“Yaz, the prime minister’s wife is mental,” I said in a dry tone. “No offence, Kira.”
“None taken, building-fiddler. I take it as a compliment.”
“Yes, well,” I said through a smile. “The whole country knows she’s mental. Nobody will blink an eye if she takes off her shoes. We lesser mortals need to keep our footwear firmly in place.”
Yaz started banging on about foot health and yoga and how high heels were anti-feminist. She even called them ‘foot cages’, but her words faded into the background for me because I’d spottedhim. I took a sharp breath in and then stopped breathing altogether. It was only Yaz’s hand on my arm that brought me back to myself.
“Breathe, Verity,” she said softly as she gave my arm a squeeze and I let out the breath I was holding and took another one in for some much-needed oxygen.
“V?” Heath’s concerned voice filtered through now and I managed to drag my gaze from Harry to my brother. “You okay, love?” I realised that everyone in our small circle had stopped talking. They were all silently focused on me. I forced a smile.
“Yes, fine. Sorry just zoned out there for a minute.”
“Did you see something?” Yaz whispered in my ear. “Some sort of trigger?” The yoga and breathing techniques Yaz had taught me had improved the panic attacks but I still wasn’t fully in control of them.
“I’m fine,” I said firmly. “Honestly, I probably just need a drink.”
I lifted my champagne glass to my mouth, but unfortunately, this did not have the effect of reassuring everyone I was okay as my hand was shaking.
“That dick,” Max spat out and I closed my eyes in annoyance. Shit, he’d spotted him too. “He’s here.”
“Who’s here?” Heath asked.
“Harry bloody York, that’s who.”
