Page 110 of Red Flag
“Clara—”
“No, it’s okay,” she said with a little, tired laugh. “I’ve got my own thing going on and I knew it was only for show, but… us girls always think we can change a man, don’t we? We’re never right, though. Some men won’t ever change.”
She reached for her glass of water and I passed it to her as she struggled. She thanked me with a small smile.
“I honestly thought I was going to die,” she admitted. “And… I don’t want to waste my time. I’m going to quitCiclati.”
“Clara, give it some time—”
“My decision is made,” she confirmed and rolled over, facing away from me. “I want nothing to do with that man.”
Chapter 23
Nix was distant. He cherished me at every opportunity with kisses, cuddles and sex… but his mind was elsewhere. Even on the drive to my mum’s house in Surrey, he didn’t speed like usual. He was careful, attentive.
This was himbeforelearning that Clara and him were over.
Though she was the last thing on his mind. The investigation intoAlv’saccident had closed this week, and the report was imminent.
Whenever it was mentioned, wheneverCris’ name came up, he looked away and his responses became monosyllabic.
Until last night when we’d come up with a statement for him to release depending on the outcome.
And with going home… I wasn’t much in the mood for talking either.
But I paused the murder mystery podcast I had put on. He frowned.
“I need to tell you something,” I said when the maps on his phone told me we were only ten minutes away. “About Clara.”
He looked at me as we went down the country lane. “Go on.”
“She wants to break it off,” I confessed. “She’s over it.”
“Good,” he said with a decisive nod. “Post it rightnow.”
“What?” I asked with a laugh. “That’s not how we do things.”
His tone remained serious. “That’s how I want to do it. Right now.”
I was glad I was holding his phone. “Nix, that’s so dramatic for an apparent four-month relationship. I’m not letting you embarrass yourself like that, especially with yourDay in the Lifeinterview — that heavily features her — coming out next week. We’ll just wait for her to be seen with someone else.”
“I want everyone to know we’re not togetheranymore.”
I rolled my eyes. Some things really weren’t going to change with this man.
“As your publicist, I’m saying no—”
“What? You’d rather people think I was with someone else still? That if we get caught—”
“If you’d let me finish my sentence — turn left here — you can, however, delete all your photos of her on your accounts.”
“Oh,” he said, spinning the wheel and making the turning with a frown. “Okay. Yeah. Do that.”
So, knowing the rest of the way to my parents’ house, I swiped off maps and onto Instagram. It was during that swipe I saw all notifications had been silenced.
“You have all of your notifications off.”
“Yeah, well, you’re on my phone.”
