Chapter Eighteen

Tessa

"It's Friday, and it's tradition," Anita says.

I smile as she rests her hands on my desk and stares down at me with hopeful eyes. "I'm just not really a drinker," I tell her with a shrug.

"Bullshit. It's your second full week and you've done amazing. You refused to let me celebrate last Friday, so we're doing this." She grabs my hand, and I snatch my bag from the floor. "And you look amazing in that dress, it's a shame not to show it off."

I straighten the tight, fitted dress I got in a sale last weekend with my first pay cheque. I also managed to get some office wear from a charity shop which saved me looking unprofessional this week. "Bars make me nervous," I add as she drags me towards the door.

"I'll look after you."

"And men make me uncomfortable."

She pauses and glances back at me. "Oh shit, Te, are you a lesbian? I didn't realise."

"No," I rush to say.

"It's fine, I'm not against it or anything," she tells me, locking up the office.

"I'm not a lesbian," I argue, and a passing couple snigger. I feel my face burning with embarrassment as Anita hooks her arm through mine.

"Look, Te, I've spent a fortnight analysing you and it doesn't take a genius to see that social situations make you uncomfortable. But I promise to break you in gently. I won't leave your side, and if you hate it after twenty minutes, you can leave." I groan out loud, and she smirks. "Thanks."

She leads me to a bar a few doors down from the office, telling me lots of office types drink here on a Friday. It's not too busy, which makes me relax slightly, and Anita orders us each a drink, taking the pressure off me to choose, because I have no idea what tastes good when it comes to cocktails.

We take fruity-looking red drinks over to a table by the window, and she eases from her jacket and hangs it on the back of her chair. "So, how was your second week?"

"Good," I reply, nodding. I love working with her—she's lively and funny, and she doesn't make me feel different. "I'm really enjoying it."

"I know I've said it a million times already, but I don't know what I did without you. Your filing system is perfect. I can find every file."

"It's a standard system," I say with a laugh. "Your desk pile wasn't."

She laughs too. "You're right. I have zero organisational skills." I take a sip from the drink, and when my eyes light up, she grins. "Good, right?"

"This is amazing," I whisper, taking another sip.

"You deserve it after all your hard work." She leans a little closer. "So, Tessa, spill . . . are you married, single, or other?"

"Well, I'd like to repeat I am not a lesbian." She laughs harder. "But I am single. Very much single."

"Me too."

"What about the guy who keeps ringing . . . Atlas?"

"God, no, we're just sleeping together." I almost choke on the drink and grab a napkin to wipe my chin. "He's . . . how do I put it? Possessive . . . angry . . . annoying."

"So, why are you sleeping with him?"

"Because the guy is a genius in the bedroom." We both giggle like teenagers, and I drink some more. A waiter passes, and Anita orders another round. "Have you ever met a guy who makes you light up in the bedroom and knows exactly what to do?" she asks, fanning her face with a beer mat.

I picture Pit and smile. "Yeah."

"Now, that is a look of love," she comments, arching a brow.

I shake my head. "Nothing like that. It was a short fling . . . I think. Anyway, he's gone, so it doesn't matter anymore."

"You miss him," she guesses.

"He doesn't miss me, and that's what really matters."

"Well, it's his loss," she says, clinking her glass against mine, and we finish off the cocktails just as new ones are placed down.

I'm not sure what number cocktail we're on anymore, but my head is fuzzy and I'm suddenly extremely tired. I rest my head against the cubicle wall while I pee. I close my eyes and think about Pit again. Why the hell can't I get him out of my head?

Me: I miss you. Why won't you text me, Pit? I'm in a bar, drunk. That's a first. Another first. But this one is without you, again. I hate that.

When I return to Anita, two men have joined the table. I hesitate, but she spots me and waves me over.

I slide into my seat and offer an awkward smile. It's not like they're bad looking, in fact, they're both seriously good looking and dressed well. "This is my friend, Tessa," Anita tells them, and I blush harder. She called me her friend, not her employee.

"Te, this is Mark and Will. They work as barristers, and we sometimes send work their way."

I relax knowing they're more like colleagues than potential dates. "Great to meet you," I say, sipping my drink.

"I was filling them in on Mister Sky," she adds, and we both laugh. The client came in this week needing representation for stealing ten vibrators from a well-known high-street store.

While they get lost in conversation, I check my phone. There's nothing, and my heart feels heavy as I tuck my phone away.

"Waiting for him to call?" asks Mark, leaning closer.

I force a smile. "No, just checking my messages."

"So, there's no one special?"

Anita's mobile rings and she rolls her eyes, cancelling the call. I smirk, knowing full well it's the mysterious Atlas.

"I'm not looking for anything," I reply.

"Hey, neither am I," he replies, holding up his hands in defence. "But I don't want some guy coming in here assuming the worst and punching my lights out."

I laugh. "That won't happen."

Somehow, we move onto shots. One shot for every time Will mentions his ex's name, which seems often since they've not long split up and he's cut up.

The room is spinning, and I'm definitely going to regret this by the morning.

Pit

I pace, staring at the text message I received from Tessa over an hour ago. My mobile lights up in my hand and I answer. "Atlas, what the fuck's going on?" I demand.

"I've tried calling Nita, brother, but she's ignoring me."

"Don't you track her?"

"No, she'd rip my balls off. We respect each other's space."

"Fuck that. Find them."

"Aww shit," I hear him mutter.

"What?"

"She sent me a pic."

"So?"

"She's with a guy."

"What guy?" I yell. "Where's Tessa?"

"With them."

"Send me the picture," I grit out.

It comes through a second later, and I stare hard at Tessa's smiling face as some guy tucks her into his side. My heart slams harder, twisting with each beat. "It's the cocktail bar near her office," I mutter. "I'll meet you there."

I landed back in London at five this morning and haven't slept in over twenty-four hours. But as my bike rolls to a stop outside the wine bar, I feel wide awake.

Atlas fist bumps me. "They're still inside," he says.

I pull my cap down over my eyes and my hood over it. "Let's go."

Inside, it's quiet, with most people moving on for either food or a night club. I hear her before I see her, and it takes me by surprise because she's usually so quiet. I peer up from under my cap and see her with her head thrown back and a laugh escaping, and I find myself smiling. Then, suddenly, she sits up straight and covers her mouth, her eyes filled with panic. She dives up out her chair and rushes past me and outside.

Anita stands in alarm, then her eyes land on us and she groans. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"You didn't answer my call," snaps Atlas.

"Because you're not my keeper," she shouts.

I head out after Tessa, not bothering to stick around to listen to the domestic unfolding.

Tessa is on her knees with her head stuck in a bush. The doorman smirks as I move closer to her and gently run a hand over her back.

"Sorry," she mumbles. "I just need a—" The sound of retching ensues.

I wait for it to stop and for her to back out the bush before scooping her into my arms and flagging down a cab. She rests her head against my chest, not bothering to open her eyes as I climb into the back seat, keeping her on my knee.

The cab stops outside her place a few minutes later, and I carry her to the door, searching my pocket for my keys to let us in. I turn off the alarm and take her straight up to bed, laying her in the centre, where she immediately curls into a ball. I remove her shoes and drag a thick blanket over her. Then I turn on the lamp beside the bed and take a seat in the armchair, watching her sleep, seething that she has no idea where she is or how she got here. I could have been anyone.

I must nod off because I wake with a start, looking around frantically and relaxing when my eyes land on Tessa's sleeping form. It's light outside.

Heading downstairs, I take her phone with me. I open the pictures, skipping through the ones she took last night of her and Anita, then both of them with the two guys, then one of her and one of the guys. I scowl, deleting the pictures. Then I open the contacts, where I see my number, Anita's, the office, and then Mark. Mark. I hate him already. I block the number and then delete it.

I take a bottle of water back upstairs with a couple paracetamol and set them on the bedside cabinet. Then I gently press my lips to her forehead. She stirs, mumbling my name as I back out the room, head downstairs, and out the door, dropping the latch as I leave.

I pick my bike up from outside the bar and head to the clubhouse. Axel is in his office, and he stands when I head in, shaking my hand. "You weren't gone long."

"I have some shit to deal with here," I tell him. "I was gonna call, but the flight was last minute and early."

"Everything okay?"

I nod, and we take a seat. "I'm back for Tessa's dad."

He arches a brow. "Brother, you're cleaning up all these loose ends for her, why the fuck don't you claim her?"

I shake my head. "She needs a different life."

"Have you asked her?"

"No, and I don't intend to. Pres, I treated her like shit."

"But she's forgiven you. If she hadn't, she wouldn't be leaving you messages."

"She's too traumatised to make those kinds of decisions."

"So, you're going to wipe out every fucker who ever did anything to add to her trauma?"

"Something like that."

"Are you gonna top yourself at the end of it?" asks Grizz, entering the office. "Cos you're on the list too."

Axel sniggers. "Look, do what you gotta do and then go and speak to her. She should at least know everything you've done for her."

"No," I say firmly. "She can't ever know about the job or the loose ends. I don't want her pretty little head filled with shit I've done. She just needs to move on and meet a nice guy," I say.

They exchange a doubtful look. "But when she meets someone, you're gonna turn up and pull her out of there?" asks Grizz, and I realise Atlas has told them about last night.

"He wasn't right for her," I snap.

Axel grins. "You'll feel like that about them all, brother, trust me."

I push to my feet. "I need to go check out her dad's place. Can I take Atlas with me?"

Axel nods. "Sure. He needs to clear his head with all this shit around Anita."

I head upstairs and push Atlas's door open. He sits up, his eyes shooting open, relaxing when he sees it's me. "Fuck, brother, I thought it was another police raid."

Anita stirs beside him, stretching out and opening one eye. "You joining us, Pit?" she asks with a smirk, and Atlas shakes his head in annoyance, muttering under his breath.

"Get up," I tell him. "We're riding out in ten."

"To?"

"Cardiff."

"Any particular reason?" he asks, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and tugging his jeans on.

"Unfinished business."

"For Tessa?" he asks, arching a brow.

Anita sits up. "Is she okay? She was pretty wasted last night."

"No thanks to you," I say dryly.

"You asked me to look after her, and she needed to loosen up a bit."

I narrow my eyes. "She's fine the way she is," I snap.

Anita smiles. "I know that, but she craves to live the sort of life that she sees every other woman her age living. Drinks with the girls, dinner dates, and movie nights with a lover."

"What lover?" I spit, clenching my fists into tight balls.

"She's not going to be single forever, Pit. The girl wants company."

"Did she say that?"

"Not exactly."

"Then don't be encouraging it," I warn. "I asked you to employ her, not get her laid."

"She's got needs . . ." Anita begins, but Atlas cuts her off with a warning glare, sensing I'm ready to explode, and she presses her lips together in a fine line.

"And if she asks, I wasn't there last night. As far as she's concerned, I'm still across the water."

"She must have seen you," she says.

"Like you pointed out, she was wasted and immediately fell asleep. Another reason you shouldn't get her into that state, anyone could've taken her and she wouldn't have had a fucking clue."

"Jesus, Pit, claim her already," she mutters, flopping back and pulling the sheets over herself.