Page 23 of Ruin
“Oh, whatever, he loves me.” Annika waves her off.
“Cam’s your boyfriend, right?” I ask Imogen, happy to have an excuse to change the subject.
“Oh yeah, he is, and he’s fucking hot,” Annika says.
I raise an eyebrow. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that about their friends’ partner before.”
Imogen shrugs. “I’m fine with it. He is hot.”
“Well, I mean, of course he is. Have you seen you? I couldn’t imagine you with some ugly guy,” I say, and Annika laughs.
“Yeah, the two of them together is just electric. Seriously, you should see it.”
I don’t know why, but I get the impression that she’s talking about more than just seeing them stand side by side, and I’m not sure how to respond to that.
“How did you meet him?” I ask instead.
“He’s a paramedic. One of the clients had a medicalemergency one day, and he was one of the ambo’s that showed up. Kind of went from there,” Imogen replies.
I turn back to Annika. “And do you have a boyfriend?”
She laughs. “Lord no. I’m yet to meet a man, or woman for that matter, who would be comfortable with their girlfriend fucking other people for a living. But I’m happily single. I can sleep with all the men and women I want, either for business or pleasure, without having to worry about the emotional side of it.”
“And the guy she’s interested in has no idea how to handle her,” Imogen continues with a smirk.
Annika scowls. “We are not talking about Connell. He frustrates me too much.”
“Connell? The security guy?” I ask.
I could totally see them together. They are both so ridiculously hot that they’d no doubt set the world on fire just by looking at each other.
“Yeah. The two of them hooked up at a club night years ago and have been dancing around each other ever since,” Imogen replies as Annika continues to scowl at her.
“Club night?”
They exchange a look. “Um, yeah. It’s just a work thing,” Imogen says, quite obviously backtracking.
“Would that be the nights when people show up in a bunch of different masks?” I’d seen this happen twice in Sydney, through my window, and had wondered what was going on.
Imogen hesitates for a moment. “We probably shouldn’t have said anything.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s fine. I know I’m not meant to know about any of the stuff that goes on with the clients.”
“I’m sure Sebastian would tell you if you asked him.”
I shake my head. “No, he wouldn’t. He plays things pretty close to his chest.”
Imogen studies me for a moment. “Yes… He certainly does.”
I can tell there’s more behind her tone than meets the eye. And it’s hard not to resent the fact that he can clearly open up to these two women when he can barely look me in the eye.
Daniel
How are things going up there? Settling in okay?
Lily
Yeah. Annika took me shopping and for a facial. She seems nice.
