Beneath This Man (This Man Trilogy)(45)

‘Why would it be?’ I ask. I sound terribly nervous, which is fine because I am. What does he know?

‘We will discuss that when we meet.’

‘Okay.’ I hang up. That was unbelievably rude, but I don’t know what else to do or say. Jesse is crowding my desk, looking like he might rip my head off, but for what? Bloody hell, in the space of five minutes, we’ve gone from cavorting on the pavement to a Mexican stand-off.

We stare at each other for a while and I flick my gaze over to Tom and Victoria, who seem to have settled in for the show. To be fair, it is pink elephant room territory. He’s not to be ignored, and even if their heads were down, I know their full attention would still be on the brooding man looming over my desk, emanating hostility. Their brazenness could be classed as brave.

I settle my eyes back on Jesse, but I’m reluctant to make the first move for fear of it all blowing up and Patrick coming to investigate the commotion. I can’t sit here all day looking at him, though. ‘I’m at work.’ I say quietly and tightly. I’ve no faith in my feigned stanchness. He looks fit to burst with rage.

‘Who was that?’ He nods at my phone.

‘You already know the answer to that question.’ I say, placing my phone on my desk. Was his performance in front of Mikael anything to do with this? Mikael knows something and Jesse knows he does. That much is obvious.

‘You won’t see him again.’ he grinds the words out, clearly and slowly.

Okay, now I’m very worried. ‘Why?’ I don’t bother pointing out that Mikael is a client. He knows that and judging by the look on his face, he doesn’t care.

‘You just won’t. It’s not a request, Ava. You won’t defy me on this.’ He starts chewing that fucking lip, still brooding, still shaking with anger.

I can’t do this here – not in the middle of my office. I also can’t withdraw from the Life contract. I’m totally fucked – completely fucking screwed. I need a drink, more now than ever. ‘I’ll see you at Lusso.’ I say quietly.

‘Yes, you will.’ He turns and stalks out.

I flop back in my chair and release a long rush of breath that I hadn’t realised I was holding. Life with Jesse is a frigging roller coaster and now he’s stropped off, I’m going to be worried about him for the rest of the afternoon. I’m bursting with uncertainties, but I know one thing for certain. I’m not going back to Lusso tonight. I need time, clear thinking space to sort myself out before I’m landed with more shit. He answers a question, then another pops up.

‘Gosh, that man can do a sexy brood,’ Tom chirps. ‘Been back to The Manor lately, darling?’ He lowers his glasses, and I know immediately that Victoria isn’t as stupid as we all think she is. Victoria starts giggling for the first time in two days.

I want to rant at her and accuse her of prissiness, and then tell Tom to get a personal shopper fast, but that would be childish, and I don’t know if I can trust myself to stop there. I feel fit to burst with frustration and stress, so whoever is unlucky enough to tip me over the edge will be copping it in a big way. Luckily for Tom and Victoria, Patrick saves their bacon before I let loose on them.

‘Flower,’ he says as he perches on the corner of my desk. It creaks its customary protest, I wince my customary wince and Patrick performs his customary ignorance. ‘Now, Mikael Van Der Haus has been in touch and insisted on a research trip to Sweden.’

Oh fuck. I didn’t see that coming.

After being awarded the design contract at Lusso, Mikael’s partner had insisted on genuine Italian everything, so I was sent to Italy on a research and sourcing trip. Mikael has stressed his desire for sustainable materials on Life, but I didn’t anticipate this.

The complexity of this proposal hits me hard in the stomach. The fact that the trip will be in aid of Mikael’s project will probably send Jesse to the grave, and if I go by what has just transpired, I will probably be in that grave with him.

‘Is it really necessary?’ I ask. Please say no, please say no.

‘Absolutely, Mikael insisted on it. I’ll look at flights.’ He creaks his way back up from my desk and takes himself back to his office.

Mikael insisted? I’m in trouble here. There is not a chance in hell that I’ll get to Sweden, not with Jesse to stop me, and then where will that leave me? I know where…job-less, that’s where. I break out in a sweat.

‘Coffee, Ava?’ Sally appears from the stationary cupboard, looking as miserable as she did earlier. I need wine desperately.

‘No thanks, Sally.’ I answer.

I look up and see Tom and Victoria with their heads down. Good. I can spend the rest of the afternoon worrying about my life drama in peace. I suddenly wish I didn’t have to pick my stuff up after work. Seeing Matt is the last thing I want to do.

‘Here you are, flower. Some flight details. Let me know what suits.’ He hands me a print out of scheduled flights and I shove it in my bag. I’ll think about that later. He leaves me in peace and I feebly try to carry on with my work.





Chapter 14




Six o’clock approaches and I start clearing my desk. Everyone else has left, so it’s down to me to do the office checks and lock up. Kate pulls up in Margo Junior and I jump in.

‘I can’t believe you suggested a girls night out in front of Jesse!’ I fire at her immediately as I settle and put my belt on. In my huffy state, I begrudgingly marvel at the comfort of Kate’s new van.

‘Nice to see you too.’ She pulls into the traffic. ‘He said you can go, so what’s the problem?’

‘The problem is, he won’t let me drink because he has this unreasonable worry that if he’s not there to look out for me, I might end up dead or something.’

She laughs. ‘How sweet.’

I scoff . ‘No, it’s not. It’s unreasonable.’

‘Pah! He’ll never know. Let’s be rebels!’

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I laugh, although I really feel like being a rebel at the moment. I feel like getting drunk, but that would just be thoughtless. ‘He’s just thrown a rage over a male client. He actually hijacked my meeting with Mikael Van Der Haus and marked his territory. It was mortifying.’ I blurt it out, still racing through reasons for Mikael to find my relationship with Jesse interesting.

‘Yikes!’

‘On the plus side, though, I do know how old he is now.’

Kate swings her blues to me with a look of excitement. ‘Really?’

I nod. ‘Really.’

‘Come on then. Reveal the mystery of ages.’

‘Thirty seven.’

‘No!’ she says dramatically. ‘Really? He doesn’t look it. How did you find out?’

‘I introduced Jesse to the truth fuck yesterday morning.’ I don’t know why I have completely, unashamedly admitted that because I know she’ll be pumping me for more information. Do I care?

‘You’ve known a whole day and not told me?’

‘Sorry.’ I shrug. There’s a lot more than his age. A lot more, but I need wine to delve into that shit. I need a night out to off load it all on Kate.

‘What’s a truth fuck?’ She frowns.

There we are. ‘It involves Jesse handcuffed to the bed and me with a vibrator,’ I look at her. ‘He doesn’t like sharing me, even with a machine.’ I add dryly. She bursts into laughter and the van swerves. I grab the door. ‘Kate!’

‘Sorry,’ she splutters. ‘Oh, I love it!’

I’ve got so much to push on her, but her own situation is worrying me. ‘What’s going on with you and Sam?’

She stops laughing immediately. ‘Nothing.’

I roll my eyes on a dramatic sigh. ‘Nothing. Of course.’

‘Hey, what the hell are you wearing to this big bash?’ she asks, in an obvious diversion from my enquiries.

I inwardly groan. Am I even going now? ‘I don’t know, Jesse is supposed to be taking me shopping.’

‘Oh? He is, is he?’ she muses. ‘Make the most of old money bags.’

‘I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve not been there since last Sunday, and that pouty faced tramp will be there.’ I grumble. No doubt I’ll be receiving another warning. I sit back in my seat and think of all the other things I would prefer to do tomorrow night, and now Jesse is quite clearly raging with me, my enthusiasm has not lifted. It’s me who should be raging. He’s got some explaining to do in light of Mikael’s brainteaser.



We pull up outside my old flat, and I see Matt’s white BMW. My heart sinks, but I knew he would have to be here to let me in.

‘Do you want me to come in?’ Kate asks.

I mull over the question for a few seconds but decide it’s probably best if she waits in Margo. Kate is a feisty bugger when she wants to be, and all I have to do is get in, be polite and get out. I shall be quick about it as well.

‘No, I’ll bring it out to you.’ I open the van door and get out. I’m feeling sicker by the minute. Jesse’s already crazy mad over a stupid telephone call. I would call him unreasonable if it hadn’t been for Mikael’s line of conversation, but Jesse doesn’t know what was said, although his reaction speaks volumes.