Thea’s gut lurched. Did Adrienne stay here at Felix’s penthouse? There was only one bedroom. The other one was Lucas’s room.
“And what would that have achieved? You’re always welcome to come and stay at the hotel. You have your own suite.”
Thea let out a breath. She didn’t stay in the penthouse. Nevertheless, that Felix kept a suite for her at all made her stomach churn.
Adrienne rose, even taller on her heels, and rounded on Felix. “What would it achieve?” she asked, her volume increasing by the second. “Lucas could see his parents together for a change. Like a normal family. You, above everyone, know how important it is to have one’s parents side by side.”
Felix closed his eyes. He looked pale and exhausted, and Thea longed to hug him.
“At the sacrifice of their happiness? Adrienne, you and I, together, were never good for Lucas. We’ve had this conversation over and over again, and nothing has changed. We can’t be with each other. I don’t want us to be with each other. I don’t want to be with you. I’ve made another life for Lucas and me. A new start.”
Thea’s skin crawled. They’d had this conversation over and over? A conversation about being together? Adrienne glared at Thea, and she backed up against the cushions, gripping their fabric like she was holding on for dear life.
“Oh, come on, Felix. Get real,” Adrienne spat out. “You’ll be finished at the Rusty Plough soon. And then what? Are you going to give all this up for a life of domestic bliss in the fields?” She turned in a circle on the carpet, arms outstretched. “I don’t think so. I know you. You wouldn’t last five minutes. And she’s hardly who I’d picture you with.” Adrienne pointed at Thea with a long, blood-red fingernail. “She’s not good enough. She’s beneath you.”
Felix placed his hands on his hips, his brow furrowed. “And you think you deserve an opinion about who I spend my time with?”
Adrienne’s derisive laugh rend the air. “Don’t forget, I know you better than most people. You can’t want someone like her. She’s so… ordinary.”
A blast of heat washed over Thea’s face. This argument was escalating fast.
Felix glowered at Adrienne. “How dare you decide who I do or don’t want? You gave up any rights when you cheated on me. Repeatedly.”
Adrienne’s eyes tightened for a moment before relaxing. “But who even is she? What can she bring to the business? At least I have contacts. Style. Clout.”
Felix closed his eyes and shook his head. “Not everything is a transaction. Not everyone is for sale. I’m in love with her. You can’t possibly know what that feels like because the only person you’ve ever loved is yourself.”
Thea’s eyes widened at Felix's words, and her mouth fell open. Had she heard him right? Had he just said he loved her? Blood screamed in her ears, and she looked up at Felix. His face burned with fury. Next, Thea turned to Adrienne. She was a deep beetroot red and looked as if her head would explode at any second.
A tidal wave of nausea crashed over Thea. What the hell was happening? She’d only come away for a weekend of debauchery, and now she was in the middle of a domestic, with her fellow debauchee claiming to be in love with her.
Thea’s fingers trembled around her glass, and she put it down on the coffee table with a clatter. How could Felix be in love with her? They’d only just met. She liked him and thought about him way more often than was healthy, but she wasn’t in love with him. And she didn’t want to be dragged into anything acrimonious. Complications were the last thing she and Ammy needed.
Thea’s hands bunched into fists. How did she get herself into this situation? Why couldn’t she have just left things alone? She should never have bid on him at the silent auction. Should never have let him talk his way into Daniel and Amber’s wedding.
Her life was fine before Felix, wasn’t it? She’d managed okay with her vibrator. And donkeys and horses made great shoulders to cry on. They never dressed you in tiny outfits and asked you to wear ridiculous heels. They never sent you for buffing, then paraded you around in front of the press. And they didn’t have nasty ex-wives with no phone etiquette or boundaries.
Thea’s shoulders sagged. Who was she kidding? Life pre-Felix was only okay if you liked dinners for one and curling upin bed with an array of cats. It was only fine if you could live in perpetual fear of bankruptcy and were happy to risk severe injury or food poisoning in a messy house. Pre-Felix, she’d been desperately lonely, but if stand-up arguments with jealous exes were the alternative, she’d rather live her life in solitude.
“I need to leave,” she said, her voice hushed.
“Yes, you do,” sneered Adrienne.
Felix rounded on his ex, eyes spitting fire. “Adrienne, you’rethe one who needs to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Felix, be reasonable.” She walked towards him, her arms outstretched, hands opening and closing like claws.
“Leave,” he ground out, a muscle ticking in his clenched jaw. “Now.”
With a withering glare at Thea, Adrienne turned and walked out, slamming the door.
36
THEA
Thea stared, unseeing, out of the car window as the countryside whipped by. Felix sat beside her, hands on the wheel, his jaw tight, and his aviators wedged on his nose.
They’d barely spoken since leaving his hotel. After Adrienne left in a storm of anger and a cloud of Chanel, Thea hadn’t wanted to chat. She needed some time to get her thoughts and feelings in order.
