Page 80 of Milo
I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s me.”
Niall jerks and glares at me, and I gape.Why is he fucked off?
Simeon interjects. “Just think about it, please.” He hands me his business card. “I’m in town for a few days. That job is yours if you want it.”
I go to hand him the card back. “I don’t think–”
“Think about it.” Niall’s voice is hoarse but his eyes are focused on something far away, the way they go when he has a problem to sort out in his head.
“What?” My voice is louder than I want and a few people turn to stare before going back to their conversations. “You want me to go?” The incredulity and hurt are clear in my voice and I’m dimly aware of Simeon muttering something and moving away.
Niall turns to me. “Just think about it,” he says in a low voice. “You need to think about this because it’s an amazing offer, Milo. It gives you back everything you lost because of Thomas.”
I shake my head. “You want me to go.”
“No,” he hisses, dragging me to the side of the picture. “I never want you to go.” He pauses, turning to me with an intent look on his face. “Milo, I–”
He’s interrupted by a stir in the crowds and I stiffen as I hear a very familiar voice. It’s loud and posh with sardonic amusement curling through it, and suddenly it all comes together. The coldness of the artwork and the beautiful man.
“Thomas,” I say on a gasp.
“What?” Niall looks offended as if I’ve called him by the wrong name and for a brief second, I want to laugh. But then air sucks back in and I grab his arm.
“Thomas is here. He’s the main artist.”
Chapter
Seventeen
I’m going to be so fucking happy because I’ve had the worst and now I have the best.
Milo
He stiffens. “Thomas is here?”
“Yes. Can we go?”
But it’s too late. Even as I say the words, I hear Thomas’s voice and then he’s here in front of us with a sulky-looking young man leaning against him. Wearing a pale blue suit, Thomas’s hair gleams golden in the light. When I first met him, I thought there was something angelic about him. He was just so perfect-looking that I couldn’t believe he would even look at me.
I only had a few months before I realised that there was a devil underneath. Someone cruel and harsh. It was somehow more frightening when that person poked his head out and showed himself through that perfect exterior. Sometimes I’dwondered whether I was going mad because no one else ever saw anything. Just me.
I look at Niall and swallow hard at the fixed way he’s looking at Thomas.And him,I tell myself.He knows. The thought eases me in some way.
“Milo,” Thomas says smoothly, a smile playing along his lips. “How lovely to see you again.” He pauses and attempts a sorrowful look. “I somehow didn’t think I’d ever meet you again.”
Niall stiffens and I squeeze his hand hard, a mute reminder to behave himself. I breathe in slowly and unobtrusively. I won’t stutter now.
“Thomas,” I say. “I can’t exactly say it’s a pleasure.” It’s hoarse but my voice is firm, and I hold my head a little higher. Niall is practically vibrating next to me, and when I sneak a look at him it’s to find him staring at me. His face is tight with suppressed emotion but his gaze is fierce and steady, and he drops a quick wink at me before turning back to Thomas.
It’s a small movement but I catch the way that Thomas swallows compulsively, that faint click in his throat when Niall turns to him and the way he moves back an inch, and a fierce pleasure runs through me. The young man next to him catches it too and looks uneasily at Thomas.
“You remember Niall?” I say slowly.
Thomas grimaces. “I have certain memories,” he says stiffly.
Niall smiles evilly. “As long as they’re painful ones, I’ll be happy.”
Thomas recovers quickly. He always did. “What are you doing here, Milo? Last I heard you’d vanished into the countryside and were cleaning portraits.” He sneers, his face alive with malice. “I’d say it was a waste of your talents, but the fact that Barkers sacked you speaks volumes.” He laughs. “Unlike you.”
