I was cut off by Max bursting into the office and slamming down a contract onto my desk.
“Well, we only went and won the bloody bid,” he said in his grumpiest tone.
“Which one?”
“The York Evans project.”
I frowned up at him, my stomach tightening at the mention of Harry’s name.
“But we pulled our bid. You promised–”
“Of course, we pulled it,” Max said. “I’m not having owt to do with that twat and neither are you. But the bugger’s been trying to get through to me for days, and then this came in the post just now. Doesn’t seem to matter to the persistent bastard that we aren’t interested.”
Mia picked up the paperwork and started scanning through it, her eyes widening as she read.
“Well, he can shove his contract right up his arse, because I’m not working with that piece of–”
“Er… there might be a little problem with the whole shoving thing,” Mia put in, her eyes still on the contract.
“What’s up, love?” Max asked, moving to her side to look over her shoulder at it.
“Max, have you actually read this yet?”
“I don’t need to read it to know it doesn’t interest me. We’ve got plenty of other projects that aren’t financed by complete pillocks.”
I felt a rush of gratitude towards Max. Yes, there were plenty of other projects but in reality, none were as big as this one, and I knew for a fact that, before all this had happened with Harry, Max would have given his right arm for a chance like this.
“Thanks, Max,” I said with a small smile, which for once didn’t feel forced or faked.
Mia bit her lip and lowered the contract.
“You’re not going to like this, but I’m afraid you may have already committed.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about? We haven’t signed or agreed to anything.”
Mia shifted her feet and then tucked her hair behind her ear with her free hand – something she only did when nervous, which was less and less common for her these days.
“Are you sure you didn’t sign anything? Maybe something before the bid?”
I blinked. “Only the NDA, but that was just so we wouldn’t discuss the project outside of the meeting. It wasn’t tying us to anything else.”
“Did you read it?”
My mind flashed back to that day in the conference room, and I felt the blood drain out of my face. I’d been so nervous after seeing Harry again, and the NDA had seemed excessively long. Max had signed it after me without even really glancing at the content – confident that I would be my normal thorough self and have gone over it with a fine-tooth comb. “Bugger,” I muttered. “What did we commit to?”
“There’s a lot of fancy legal speak, but the upshot is that once the bid is made you’ve committed the company’s services to completing the project should you be the ones to win the job.”
“I don’t give a toss what that bit of paper says,” Max grumbled. “We’re doing nowt for that bastad.” His northern accent was thickening in his anger. Max wouldn’t want to work with someone who’d upset me, but he also did not like being told what to do. Finding himself not in control of a situation was a surefire way to piss him right off.
I shook my head. “We’re not breaking a contract, Max. That would flush the company’s reputation right down the toilet.”
Max threw up his hands in frustration. “Why does the bugger even want to work with us? He jerked us around endlessly before this. And now we’ve withdrawn our bid and basically told him to go fuck himself, he changes his mind again.”
Mia shot me a lightning-quick furtive look, before concentrating back on an angry Max. “He’s clearly got his… reasons,” she said carefully shooting me another look. “And of course, your bid was the best one – there’s no doubting that. Maybe he realised how superior your designs were and that he really needs you at the helm. Either way, the cover letter and the contract are pretty firm. I don’t think he’s going to back down.”
“Bloody hell,” Max said as he flopped down into one of my office chairs and blew out a frustrated breath. “Well one thing’s for sure – V, you are not to be involved. I’ll be the frontman for once. He can deal with my grumpy arse on the daily if he’s so desperate to work with us.”
My head was spinning as I sat back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling. Why would Harry push this? Surely, he should have been glad not to have to see me again. Was he being pressured by his partner to go for the better design? My fingertips started tingling and a familiar feeling of the room closing in around me started up again. I needed to try and slow my breathing.
