Page 25 of Unwanted
“Okay, right yes,” he muttered, his hand going up to the back of his neck in his obvious discomfort.
“Get on with it then,” I snapped.
“I can’t speak to you here,” he said, just as a passing couple gave us curious looks from across the lobby. “Will you come back with me?”
“To your house?” my voice was rising with incredulity. As if I would go anywhere near that place again. He rubbed his hands down his face.
“Okay, right, here then. I…” he paused, put his hand back up on the back of his neck again and cleared his throat. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Five minutes, Harry.”
“You weren’t playing some sort of sick game with me at school.” It was said as a statement, not a question but I had no idea why he would feel the need to verbalise this. Why would I have been playing a game?
“Is this some kind of joke?” I snapped.
“You didn’t think I was a geeky, skinny, social-climbing teacher’s son.”
My head jerked and my mouth fell open. “Of course, I didn’t. Harry, for God’s sake I was in love with you.”
Harry’s eyes closed for a moment and his jaw clenched so hard I could see a muscle flickering under his stubble. “I’ve been really,reallyfucking stupid.” His tone was so desolate that I almost,almostfelt sorry for him.
“Who the hell called you a geeky, skinny, social climbing, teacher’s son?” I asked, anger on his behalf leaking into my tone. I may have hated his guts now, but the idea of someone saying those things to sweet, grumpy, shy, teenage Harry made me bloody furious. Harry’s desolate expression was briefly broken by a small smile at my outrage. “Why didn’t you tell me at the time, you numpty? I could have sorted them right out.”
“Because, Verity, it was yourbrotherwho called me those things.”
I blinked then shook my head a few times in a jerky way. “Heath would never have said that. He– he would never behave like that.”
“Ask him yourself, baby,” he said, and that endearment swept through me from the inside out in a rush of warmth. When would my body cooperate with my mind when it came to this man?
“I can’t believe he’d do that.”
“He says he had his reasons, but that at the time he thought he was doing the right thing.” Harry’s jaw clenched again, and his eyes lit with anger. “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. It was the week everything went down with my dad. You and Heath had both been called into the headmaster’s office. I’d wanted to speak to you to ask you why your family was doing this. Beg you to try and change your parents’ minds. But Heath caught me on my way out of the house and stopped me. He told me that neither of you gave a shit about my ‘nosy twat of a father’. That it was all a game to you both, that all I’d ever been to you was a game.”
“Heath wouldn’t say that,” I muttered. “He… he just wouldn’t say any of that. We…”
I trailed off and my gaze went unfocused for a moment as I thought back to that week. Heath had been desperate with worry.
They’re talking about calling the bloody social workers in, V. We’vegotto be convincing. If anyone comes back to that house to check on us, we’re fucked.
I remembered that wild look in his eyes, the desperation in his tone. Heath would do anything to protect me. Anything. I blinked up at Harry’s concerned expression and took in a shuddering breath.
“When you said before, back at the building site, that Heath told you everything, what did you mean?”
Harry frowned. “Well, what I just told you.”
“That I was playing games with you?”
“Yes.”
I felt a weird mixture of relief that Heath hadn’t told Harry what was really going on back then, pain that he’d lied, and an acute sense of loss.
“That’s why you wouldn’t take my phone calls?” I whispered. “You thought… you thought it had all been just a game? You thought I would have done that to you? That I was that type of person?”
A flash of pain went through Harry’s expression and one of his hands went up to the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Verity. Heath told me he was lying. But I’m sorry I didn’t let you explain things to me yourself. When Dad lost his job as housemaster it just cemented everything Heath had said. I had so much resentment back then about entitled rich kids.” His voice then dropped to just above a whisper as he leaned into me, his gorgeous brown eyes boring into mine. “I should have let you explain. I should have known you would never say that, would never think that.”
“I–I…” I trailed off and looked toward the direction of the crowd in the other room, trying to spot Heath. “I’m going to have to speak to my brother about this.”
“Verity, I know that I’ve been a complete dick since we met again, but my stupid pride was in the way. Part of me seems to be stuck as that awkward, rejected teenager still. All I could see was the pretty, popular girl playing games with the nobody I thought I was, just like everyone else did at that school.” He then carefully took both of my hands in his as if I would spook at any moment, and lowered his voice. “You never told me things were… difficult at home back then Verity.” I felt my heart surge up and lodge in my throat at his words.
