Page 65 of In Control

“Bastard,” she mutters.

“So, I guess, I made it my mission to stop that from happening to anyone else. I couldn’t help my mum, not back then anyway, but I can help people now. Mostly women, some men too.”

“Like a real life avenging angel.” I drag my eyes from the road to glance at her, expecting to find amusement skipping over her face. There’s none, she’s deadly serious. “It happened to my mum too.” She holds my gaze for a fraction of a second before breaking away to look out at the window, at the people passing on the street, the tree branches dancing above the sunroof. “There wasn’t another woman involved, though. At least not that I know of. Things started crumbling for him. And instead of sticking around, instead of pulling together and getting through it together, he up and left. Vanished. Left us high and dry.”

“It hurts the most when it’s the people in the world who should love you who let you down.”

“Yes,” she says. She rests the pendant against her collarbone. “I take it back, what I said, about your work.”

“Don’t. It’s fucking dull most of the time, paper work and legal shit. I was trying to make it sound more exciting to impress you.”

“I am impressed,” she says. I glance at her again, trying not to notice the way she’s crossed her legs, the fabric of her skirt shifting up to reveal a flash of soft thigh. “Most men, I guess most people, are only interested in making money. Here you are, and Liam too, working to help people. And Gabriel is working to make something beautiful, something unforgettable. I have no idea what I want to do with my life.”

“Not physics then?”

She picks at the hem of her skirt and shakes her head.

“You don’t have Esra’s passion for it?”

“Passion suggests the man has a heart and I’m not sure that is the case.”

“He has a heart,” I say seriously, then decide it best to change the subject. Besides, I don’t want to talk about my packmate. I want to learn more about her. “Why are you studying it then?”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “Because why not? It was the least likely thing people expected me to do, and I like surprising people.”

“And why was it surprising?”

“Because I’m pretty and my parents were wealthy. People expected me to fuck off travelling around the world or get some job in television or politics. Something like that. Maybe even follow my dad and be a city trader.” She leans her head against the window and I catch more of that perfume. “Physics isn’t a husband-bating career.”

“I’d have thought it was. On account of all those men.”

“Not the right type of men,” she says with obvious disdain.

“You have no intention of bating a husband then?”

“No, that’s my mum’s life-plan. You know what she did as soon as my dad disappeared? Hooked herself the next husband. She’s had another since then.”

The lights in front of us turn red, and I slow the car and turn to look at her again.

“I’m gathering you aren’t a fan.”

“No,” she says and something flashes in those blue eyes. “Relying on other people to look after you is a bad idea.”

We’re both quiet as oncoming traffic streams past the window.

“You don’t have to decide, you know. It’s a fucking myth that you have to have your life sorted and all mapped out in your twenties. You have time to decide what you want to do.”

“Maybe I’ll experiment a bit. Try a few personas on for fitting.”

“Whatever you choose to do, Sophia, you’re going to be successful.”

She screws up her face like she’s not so sure.

“It’s round the next corner,” she points to a turn coming up. “Do you want to come in for a drink?”

“I … don’t think that is such a good idea.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Why? You’re assuming a drink is an euphemism for something else.”

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