Talia shook her head. “Nah. We’re done. Get out.”
Phoebe stepped towards her, pulling her shoulders back. “You’ve just cost me a fortune. I’m not goinganywhere.”
“What’s your fucking problem?” Talia spat, glaring at Phoebe. “What have I done that’s bothered you so much?”
“What have you done?” Phoebe quirked an eyebrow, painfully close to Talia now. “You’ve taken the one thing that I always wanted away from me. You’ve destroyed everything I had with Faye.”
“What?” Talia’s forehead creased. “You’re still her friend. Maybe if you stopped acting like a twat, you’d realise that.”
“No, no.” Phoebe feathered her fingertips across Talia’s jawline. “You have it all wrong, Adria. Faye is mine. She always will be. And one day, when she least expects it, I’m going to sweep her off her feet. Now, in order for me to do that,youneed to fuck off out of her life!”
Talia barked a laugh. Phoebe wasn’t serious, surely…
But then Phoebe pressed her body to Talia, capturing her lips unexpectedly. Talia tried to push her away, but Phoebe held her strength against her.
This was one of Talia’s greatest nightmares. She generally saw it coming, she was good when it came to reading people, but she hadn’t expected this from Phoebe. She may not have been the kind of person Talia usually got grief from, but Talia felt violated, nonetheless. She pushed again, gasping when Phoebe stumbled back and almost tripped over the small table in front of the couch.
“What the fuck?!”
Phoebe grinned, picking up her whiskey. “You’d better tell Faye about this before I do!” And just like that, Phoebe was gone, the curtain sending a breeze through the small room as she sauntered away.
Oh, God.Faye. She was going to be devastated by this.
Talia rushed out of the room towards Paul’s office, trying to keep the shaking she felt approaching at bay. But then she ran into a body towards the entrance and stumbled back. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” The woman she’d collided with looked at her, glaring. “I…know you.”
Talia, too, recognised the woman. But she couldn’t place her. “I don’t think you do.”
And then the woman gasped. “Y-you’re the woman Faye is dating.”
Ah.Jenna.
Well, this night was well and truly fucked…as was Talia.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She rushed past Jenna, heading down a corridor that led to Paul’s office. The door was open, and he was sitting at his desk. “Hey, there’s just been a situation in my room.”
“Situation?” Paul looked up from a stack of paperwork. “What kind of situation?”
“Client got handsy. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. K-kissed me.” Talia was definitely shaking now, but not because of Phoebe. She was shaking because she was ready to fall to her knees, knowing she’d likely lost Faye. People like Phoebe always got their comeuppance in the end, but if this meant her relationship was over, Talia wasn’t sure what she would do. Faye had become the most important part of her life recently. She couldn’t imagine that ending. And certainly not because of fucking Phoebe.
Paul shot to his feet, gripping her arms. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. Grab your stuff and get out of here. Come and see me in the morning.” Talia opened her mouth to argue that she didn’t need to leave, but Paul held up a hand. “No, Adria. Go home. I’ll deal with the client now, and then I want you here tomorrow so we can discuss this. They know the rules. They’re out of here.”
Talia simply nodded as Paul strode out of the door, fixing his suit jacket as he marched down the corridor. Talia needed to see Faye, but she also needed time to process this. She couldn’t show up at her door now, a dithering wreck. She needed to calm herself down and figure out how the hell she could fix this.
Paul turned back suddenly. “Do you want me to have security take you home?”
“No, I’m okay. The fresh air will do me good.”
“Straight home, kid. Call me in the morning. I need to file a report with you.”
* * *
Faye stirreda teaspoon of sugar into her coffee, rounding the back of the couch and sinking down into it with a book. This morning, she had no intentions of leaving her apartment—not unless Talia had plans for them. Everything had just fallen into place, and what a beautiful feeling it was.