“Hey,” she called, grinning at me again, which seemed to be her default setting. “Yeesh, this bog is posh, but I guess I’d still better put my shoes back on. She balanced on one foot and then the other as she accomplished this manoeuvre with the grace of the performer that she was. I gave her a polite smile and made for the exit, but a now fully-shod Naomi stepped in front of me to block my way.
“Are you going to put Harry out of his misery or not?” she asked. Her hands went to her hips and her eyebrows lifted up in expectation. The grin had dropped now I noticed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, which was the truth. As far as I was concerned Harry was here with his girlfriend, who was an absolutely stunning international pop star. Not much misery evident there.
“Bloody hell, lady!” Naomi flung her hands up and then slapped them down at her sides in frustration. “Give him a break. He’s so into you it’s almost painful to watch.”
I frowned. “I’m sorry, but are you seriously telling me that yourboyfriendis into me?”
Naomi rolled her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend.” I raised my eyebrows, and she puffed out a breath. “Okay, I can see how it looks. But honestly, we’ve been friends for decades, nothing more. It was always…” Naomi looked to the side briefly then cleared her throat. “It wasn’t Harry I was with at uni. We’ve never gone there. It’s been pretty clear from the beginning of our friendship that he’s not into me, not like that anyway. Not the way he’s clearly intoyou.”
“If he’s not your boyfriend, why are you going out with him?”
“Oh, that! Yeah, I can see how that’s confusing. Harry does it as a favour.”
“A favour?”
Naomi shrugged. “I have a little… er… problem – too depressing to get into right now – but it’s better if the public see me as beingwithsomeone. I thought you knew all that to be honest?”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “So, Harry’s your beard?”
Naomi laughed. “I guess that works. My relationship beard. But he’s been a good friend to me too, and he’s a really good bloke. I just want to try to help fix whatever got fucked up between you two. It’s rare to see Harry actuallywantsomething with any intensity that’s not to do with either the business or his foundation.” The York Foundation funded youth projects in deprived areas all over the country, with a special focus on anti-bullying measures. At Harry’s instigation, the LSE building we had designed would provide a dedicated space for one such project, aimed at supporting underprivileged teenagers. “He normally just defaults into dry humour and cynical world views – showing actual enthusiasm is almost unheard of.”
“I don’t think he wants me. Far from it.”
“But–”
“And even if he did, I’m afraid there are a few too many burnt bridges to cross when it comes to Harry and me.”
“But maybe if you–”
“No!” I burst out. All the stress of the evening and of the last few weeks crashed through me in that moment and I semi-shouted my words. “He broke my heart, alright? Twice! Harry could be the best bloke in the world with thousands of charity foundations, but that doesn’t change the fact he’s been a shit tome.”
“I’m sure that–”
Right. I’d had enough of this. I skirted around Naomi and made it out of the door to bolt towards the bar, but after a few steps, I stopped abruptly as I saw Harry talking to Heath just a few feet away. Heath appeared to be quite animated whilst Harry was standing back staring at him with his arms crossed over his chest. Just as I’d turned to flee in the other direction, I felt someone’s hand close over my lower arm. Naomi was surprisingly strong for her size, and she managed to bring me to a halt.
“Give him a chance, Verity. You’re being unfair. He–”
I yanked my arm from her grip and turned to face her. If she had Harry up on a pedestal, then fine, but I wasn’t going to be accused of being unfair.
“Look, maybe he’s a good friend and he’s helping you with your ‘little problem’, whatever that means, but after he kissed me, yourgood friendaccused me of coming on to him to get my hands on his building project.”
Naomi winced. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. You’ve got to understand, he’s soveryrich. He’s used to people, women especially, taking advantage of him. Maybe he thought–”
My laughter cut off whatever she was going to say next, and her mouth snapped shut. Because it wasn’t happy laughter, it was pain-filled and bitter even to my own ears. “Do you have any idea how richIam, Naomi?”
“No,” she said carefully. “Listen maybe we should go somewhere more private for a sec.”
“See, I’ve gotoldmoney. Piles and piles of it. My family’s been filthy rich, living off the backs of the downtrodden in this country for centuries. Now my father’s dead, I’m beyond wealthy. Harry knows that. The last thing he’d think is that I’m after his money. No, he just thinks of me as a straight-up, old-fashionedwhore.” My eyes were burning now, and Naomi's face had gone very pale. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything a great wall of man blocked her from my view.
“I donotthink you’re a whore,” he said, his voice shaking with anger as his hands came up to frame my face. I was too shocked to move. Before I could say anything, he’d spun us round, slung his arm over my shoulders and tucked me into his side then started propelling us through the crowd. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Toby leading Naomi in the opposite direction for some reason. I was too shocked to launch any sort of objection until we were in the lobby. When I saw we were headed to the exit I managed to get enough of my faculties in order to jerk away from him and grind to a halt. He turned to face me. When he took a step forward towards me, I took a corresponding one back. He put his hands up as if in surrender, his expression guarded. “Okay, Verity. Please just listen for a moment.” I started stalking in the opposite direction, but he skirted me easily to block my path.
“Get out of my way,” I said through gritted teeth, then moved to the side, but he stepped with me. “Harry–”
“If you value any of those hours we spent together evenhalfas much as I do then please, please hear me out.” His hands were still held up to me with his palms facing forward and his expression was tinged with desperation. I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “Five minutes.”
He blew out a relieved breath and then went to take my hand, but I jerked it out of his reach.
