Page 37 of About Last Night
He frowned, realising he wasn’t going to get away with just giving her vague details; she was savvier than that. ‘After our mumdied, my father went to pieces so it was up to me to keep our lives on the rails. I made sure Jon had what he needed for school and that he turned up to classes.’
Lula was sitting forwards now, a look of keen interest on her face.
He leaned back against the hard back of the sofa and rubbed a hand through his hair, strangely relieved at the prospect of getting all this off his chest. ‘And then, when my dad became more interested in chasing women than running our family business, I stepped in to keep it going after I finished university. I really wanted to set up my own thing, I had grand plans, but I couldn’t see the business that had been in my family for fifty years sold off or go to ruin. My brother said he’d help me with the running of it, but he hardly ever turns up for work. He has no qualms about taking his wage and dividends though. And then stealing my girlfriend out from under my nose.’
She was looking at him with such incredulous indignation he almost reached forward to touch her in gratitude.
The air between them throbbed with tension as they stared at each other in the pause.
She broke eye contact first and smoothed her skirt down over her legs.
He bristled as he realised he must have made her uncomfortable by treating her like a sounding board.
‘Hey, I need to ask you something,’ he said, standing up and walking over to the bookcase to straighten one of the spines, giving her a moment of grace. He’d got too personal and she was evidently struggling with how to respond to his embarrassing admission.
‘Apparently there’s a Radio Industry networking event next Thursday, which Jez was meant to be attending. It’s a good opportunity to shout about Flash and maybe sniff out some moresponsorship. Assuming I haven’t found anyone to take over managing the station by then, I’d appreciate it if you’d come along with me. I could do with an expert on hand to deal with the specific radio industry questions.’
When he glanced back, she was frowning. Was it because she didn’t want to have to spend another evening in his company? Had he blown hiscoolimage by telling her all his dirty secrets?
The thought irked him, which is why his next question came out sounding so accusatory. ‘Surely you anticipated there’d be some out of hours demands on your time?’
She nodded, her eyes big with distress. ‘Yes, of course.’
From the tone of her voice, you’d have thought he’d asked her to perform an operatic duet in top F with him. Or maybe she just felt uncomfortable about being seen on his arm.
‘Look, we don’t have to go for long and I’ll make sure I mention to everyone we speak to that you’re not sleeping with the boss.’ He gave her a jokey raised-eyebrow-and-smile combo.
She barely broke a grin back.
Hmm, perhaps itwasinappropriate to keep making those kinds of jokes. His heart sank in his chest. He’d been enjoying clowning around with her this evening and elated by how close they were to stepping over the line she’d drawn, but clearly it was time to get serious now.
He walked over to her sofa and sat on the arm. ‘Look, I need to be honest with you, Lula. The station needs more sponsorship if it’s going to survive. Jez has pretty much bled the reserves dry and it’s going to take a serious injection of cash to keep it viable.’ The look of shock on her face made his stomach turn over. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you like this, I never thought it would take this long to find someone to take over the managerial position. I was expecting they’d be the one to tackle the problem of the financial shortfall.’
Her face had taken on a ghostly white pallor. ‘I had no idea things were so bad.’
He held up a placating hand. ‘It’s salvageable. But we need to put on a confident outward appearance or the sponsors will start getting worried that they’re backing a dead duck.’
Lula drew her shoulders back and her chin up. ‘I’d be happy to go with you and represent Flash. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the station running,’ she said, her voice now dynamic and business-like. ‘I love that place. It’s got the potential to grow into something amazing. I couldn’t bear to see it die a death.’
The panic in her eyes propelled him forwards off the arm and onto the cushion next to her and he put a reassuring hand on her arm.
She glanced down at where his fingers pressed against her soft skin, then back into his face, her eyes wide and dazed.
They stared at each other, their bodies closer than they’d been since that fateful night. His blood raged through his veins and he became acutely aware of how hard he was, how amazing it would be to push her down onto the sofa and kiss her, how much he wanted to be inside her.
‘I’d better get going and leave you to the rest of your evening,’ she murmured, the breathiness of her voice doing crazy things to him.
Before he could respond, she stood up and spun on her heels, walking quickly away from him towards the door. Pulling it open, she stepped out into the hallway. She paused and turned back, fixing him with a tight smile. ‘Thanks for letting me see your place, it’s amazing.’
He had a sudden wild urge to ask her to stay, to try to reassure her that everything would be okay if she did, but before the words would come out of his mouth she’d turned and walked away.
7
‘Good grief, Lula, you look awful. Please tell me it’s down to a wild night with a hot man.’
‘Not exactly.’ Lula gave Emily a pained smile as she dropped into the hard, wooden cafe seat opposite her.
They were having their customary Saturday brunch in a little place in Crouch End they’d frequented since meeting at UCL, whilst doing a Media Studies degree together.
