Sebastian looks taken aback. “What?”
“I’m busy.”
He stares at me. “This is an emergency. You can’t cancel? I’ll pay you, obviously.”
Irritation sparks in me. “It didn’t even occur to you to ask me first, did it?”
“Well, I—” He looks over my shoulder at Benny. His face goes cold. “What are you doing that’s so important?”
“I’m going out.”
“Beth. We’re having a real problem with an investor. If I don’t fix this, he might pull out of the project completely.”
I shrug. “Great. That doesn’t have anything to do with me though, does it?” I hand the carrier back to him. “I have a life, too. And I’m not looking after a baby when I’m drunk.”
“You’redrunk?” He says, horrified.
That just pisses me off even more. “Why are you making me feel guilty over this? I’m off the clock! I don’t just sit around in my flat, on-call and waiting for you to snap your fingers at me!”
“But—”
“I’m your employee from eight-to-seven, five days a week,” I say firmly. “After that, you don’t get to tell me what to do. If you need me to work extra hours, you need to tell me in advance, andaskfor my help. You can’t just knock on my door anddemandI work overtime without any warning. I’m not your wife. This kid is not my child. Just because I live conveniently in your building, doesn’t mean I’m your full-time servant. Take some responsibility for your own daughter, for God’s sake.”
He stares at me, open-mouthed. I bend to press a kiss to Cami’s cheek, then straighten, glare at him, and close the door in his face.
“What a prick,” Benny says from behind me. “I no longer think he’s hot.”
“He’s an arrogant bastard.”
“So arrogant,” Benny agrees. “Bet he wanks in front of the mirror. Bet he winks at his reflection after he comes.”
“I appreciate that you’re trying to support me emotionally, but I really don’t need to think of my boss jerking off.”
He rolls over onto his stomach and studies me. “You like him,” he says softly, curls falling over his face.
The realisation crashes over me like a wave. He’s right. Sebastian is hard, and cold, and rude. And I still somehow fancy him.
“Well. I do have a habit of liking people who treat me like shit. I’m probably one rude email from falling in love with him.” I lean against the door, a weird mixture of guilt and self-hatred twisting in my gut. “I’m pathetic.”
Benny makes a sad noise in the back of his throat. “Come here.” I cross over to the bed, and he pulls me into his muscled arms, hugging me tightly. “You’re not pathetic. I love you.”
“I really like you, too,” I whisper, and he snorts, pushing me towards my wardrobe.
“Alright. Have another drink, put on a pretty dress, and then let’s go out. Trust me: in one hour, you’ll have forgotten all about that prick.”
Twenty-Eight
Beth
Forty minutes later, we step off the tube and out onto the wet London pavements.
It’s Friday night, which means the clubbers are out in full force. The streets are packed with drunk students shouting and laughing, clutching beers and kebabs. Benny takes my hand and leads me down a couple of streets, to a flashy nightclub I’ve never seen before. It looks surprisingly swanky: the walls are mirrored, and the entrance is sectioned off with red velvet ropes. A bright blue neon sign hangs over the building, shining the word TEASE out over the street.
We join the small queue of girls lining up outside. When it’s our turn, the bouncer flashes his torch over our IDs.
“You here for the show?” He grunts.
Benny nods, producing some print-off tickets from his pocket. I try to lean over and peek, but it’s too dark to read what they say. The guy nods, stamps both of our hands, and lets us through the door.