“So, you remember how I take my tea, but you don’t rememberme. Am I right?”
His hand went back up to his neck again and he shifted on his feet.
“Thank you for the tea, Harry,” he muttered under his breath. “Sorry for invading your Saturday and pissing off your cat, Harry.”
Urgh! He used to do this all the time at school. He’d mutter what hethoughtI should have said under his breath. It had infuriated me then no less than it did now.
“I wouldn’t have had to invade your precious home if you hadn’t been a world-class arsehole in the first place.”
“Verity, I turned down your company for an architecture project we’re sponsoring. This does not make me an arsehole. This makes me a businessman who wants to see the best possible–”
“Wearethe best possible and you know it!”
“Wow, I can see you’vereallyworked on that inflated opinion of yourself over the years.”
“What do you mean by that?” Inflated opinion of myself? What was Harry talking about? I never acted like that with him at school. I’d even told him all my insecurities – more than I’d actually shared with my own brother. He knew that wasn’t me.
“It means that you thought your shit didn’t stink at school – that you deserved all the adoration and attention, and you haven’t changed. One. Single. Bit.”
I flinched slightly as if he’d slapped me and, for a moment, I was completely incapable of speech. I thought helikedme at school. I thought we had something special. Did he simply tolerate me back then? Had I misread him so utterly?
“You know that’s not me, Harry,” my voice came out a little hoarse and I cleared my throat before continuing. “You – you know more than anyone.”
A flash of regret passed through his expression before it set back to his standard grumpy.
“I didn’tknowyou at all at school. And anyway, the last thing I want to do is talk about the past. I’ve come a long way since my school days – I’m not the same person I was back then. Thank God.”
“Well, that’s for sure. I actually liked the person you were in school.”
“Could have fooled me,” Harry muttered as he looked away.
My eyebrows climbed my forehead. “What are you on about? You knew I had a massive crush on you, Harry. I made myself embarrassingly obvious.”
His eyes shot to mine, wariness taking over his expression. “You can’t seriously think I would believe that now. I’m not a stupid kid anymore.”
I frowned. “Harry, Itoldyou I liked you. I kissed you – I virtuallyjumpedyou that last week of term before you left school. Consent-wise it was a bit murky to be honest, but seeing as I was half your size I think I get a free pass.”
“Verity, we both know what that was about. I don’t want to go over it again. And there’s no reason to lie now to get what you want.”
“What do you mean ‘we both know’? I don’t under–?”
“Listen, just tell me why you’re here then get out.”
I flinched again and then rubbed the middle of my chest distractedly. Harry’s dismissive, combative attitude towards me now was making my chest feel tight, almost as though I could feel a panic attack building. I paused for a moment and discreetly tapped the breathing app on my watch. The vibrations started on my wrist and I managed to time my breathing to them, blocking Harry out as I did it. When I looked back up at Harry his expression was now clouded with concern. It made him look so much like teenage Harry that I almost felt the urge to cry.
“Verity?” he asked, his tone now much softer than before. “Are you… I mean, are you okay?” He’d come around the kitchen island now to stand a few feet in front of me. I surreptitiously pulled the sleeve of my jumper down to hide my watch.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, straightening my spine and squaring my shoulders. “Just pausing to take in the full level of your arseholedom nowadays.”
His frown stayed in place, and he took a couple of steps towards me. The fact that my voice had shaken on those last words may have made them a little less than convincing. It pissed me off that he was even taller than he had been at school, and I had to tip my head right back to maintain eye contact even with the height advantage of the stool.
“Verity, I–”
“Are you going to reconsider our designs or not?”
He huffed out a breath and pushed his hand through his hair, making the thick dark strands a little messier so he looked more like the Harry I knew.
“This overconfidence was boring twenty years ago, and it’s still boring now. The best design is going to be the one that–”
