Chapter Two
Harry
“How far from the station is this place?” I glance at Alice, who’s walking between Caleb and me. As usual, she’s pulled her light-blonde hair back in a ponytail, and I have the sudden crazy urge to see what she looks like with it tumbling down her back.
Whoa. Shit, where did that come from? This is Alice, our miracle maker, and there’s no way in hell I’ll do anything fucked up like holding her hand as though we’re more than just work colleagues. Caleb’d fucking kill me.
“We need to cross the road here.” She nods to a pedestrian crossing. “It’s about a five-minute walk.”
“Right.” I shove my hands into my jeans pockets, in case I lose my mind and thread my fingers through hers. “Can’t say doing this journey every morning appeals.”
“Traveling to Richmond will take you twice as long.”
I grunt and catch Caleb’s eye. The expression on his face mirrors my opinion. The trouble is we’ve been so used to not having to travel for more than five minutes before we’re at work that even the thought of commuting is a major pain in the arse.
Except we need the space we’re currently using as offices, so we can add more servers for our proposed expansion into the United States, which means we need to find another location for our staff stat.
“Should we even bother looking at the Richmond place?” Caleb says, echoing my thought.
Alice gives one of her long-suffering sighs as we cross the road. “Honestly, didn’t you take the location into consideration when you picked these two properties to look at? You didn’t say you wanted me to only search within a five-mile radius of where you live.”
“Nah.” I grin when she shoots me an exasperated glance. “We just liked the look of them.”
“They’re very nice,” she concedes. “Glad I won’t have to do the commute, though.”
“The hell you will.” I bump my arm against hers the way friends do. The way I’ve done for the last few months, except Caleb and I have never done anything like that to each other, and we’ve been best mates since we were eight years old.
Yeah, I’ve never wanted to hold his hand, either.
“Wrong.” She squints along the street, obviously searching for the right building, but something in her tone doesn’t sound like she’s joking.
“Something you’re not telling me?” She hasn’t found another job, has she? When she first started, the week we moved into the warehouse, the position was only temporary, mainly because Caleb and I didn’t have a clue what her job would entail. We just needed someone to help with the admin side of things. No idea why we thought that’d be a temp thing.
She cocks her head and frowns at me in that cute way she has whenever I say something dumb, which for some reason only ever happens when I’m with Alice.
“No. I’ll be at Durham, remember?”
“Right.” Bollocks. How did I forget she was starting university this year?
I didn’t forget. I pushed it to the back of my mind and shoved it into one of those never gonna happen boxes.
“Christ, I’d forgotten about that.” Caleb doesn’t sound happy about it either. “When do you start?”
Alice pauses outside a building with smoked glass doors. “The induction is the first week in October, and the lectures start the following week.”
Caleb and I follow Alice inside to the reception area, which is decked out in dark timber with glossy floor tiles. It’s the end of August. In less than five weeks, Alice is leaving. Has she even given notice? Does she need to?
A chick wearing a tight dress, with her long brunette hair falling over her shoulders, gives us a big smile and comes to greet us.
Must be the agent from Willoughby, Smythe, and Atkins. It’s not her fault, but everything about her reminds me of Clare, the girl I fell for when I was eighteen. Since that ended badly, this isn’t a good thing.
Right now, I don’t give a shit about inspecting the property. I need another coffee.
“Harry Carter?” She holds out her hand, and with reluctance I take it. She pumps my hand far longer than necessary before I manage to escape. “I’m Perdita Lowe. How fabulous to meet you. I recognized you from your photo for the interview you did for Steele magazine.”
“Vultures from hell.”
She laughs, as though I said something funny, although I’m deadly serious. Caleb and I only did that interview because Alice persuaded us it’d be good PR, but even she was speechless when the article came out last month. Blitz was mentioned once, in passing, and the rest of it was full of sexist crap about our biceps and bed appeal.
“How amazing that you and Lucas Carter are twins. I had no idea you were related until I read the Steele piece on you.”
I’ve no idea what her point is. “Why would you? We run in completely different circles.” Most of the time, anyway. My brother’s at the top of his game, literally, one of the highest-paid football players in the country, and considering his lifestyle the only amazing thing is that we’re still good buddies.
And then it hits me. She probably wants an introduction.
“Caleb Montgomery.” She subjects Caleb to the same hand pump. “I’m delighted you’ve chosen Willoughby, Smythe, and Atkins in your search for premier London real estate for your planned expansion. I just want you both to know you can call me anytime. We’ve several properties on our books, and I’m sure we’ll be able to find something you love.”
She thrusts cards at us. I shove mine in my pocket without looking at it. She’s irritating me already.
“This is Alice Wentworth.” I nod at her, and she has this strange little smile on her face as though the agent’s behavior doesn’t annoy her at all. “You might want to be delighted to make her acquaintance, too, since she’s the one with the final vote.”
Alice clears her throat but doesn’t dispute me. Even if she does leave before we find somewhere, that doesn’t mean she can’t still offer her opinion.
“Uh.” Perdita blinks—and I don’t miss the way she gives Alice a quick once-over—and her eyebrows disappear under her fringe. What’s her problem? Alice looks fucking great. “Pleased to meet you.” She shakes Alice’s hand with considerable less enthusiasm than she did Caleb and me. “I didn’t realize you were another partner when you contacted me.”
“Alice is our number one,” Caleb says.
“I deal with real life while these two create worlds.”
“Which is why she’s our number one,” I clarify.
“That’s terrific.” Perdita isn’t looking quite as delighted as she was a couple of minutes ago. “Well, shall we get on? This way…”
Alice heaves a silent sigh and follows the agent, while Caleb and I take up the rear. We glance at each other, and an unspoken message flashes between us.
She dissed Alice.
Willoughby, Smythe, and Atkins can go screw themselves.
An hour later, we emerge into the sunlight again, and there’s a brooding expression on Alice’s face as she watches Perdita leave.
“Early lunch?” Caleb says, catching my glance.
“Yeah. I’d kill for a coffee. You hungry, Alice?” I turn to her, and she swings around looking faintly guilty.
“Yes, sure. So, what do you think? The space was nicely proportioned. Lots of natural light. Definitely worth putting on the short list.”
“It’s the first one we’ve looked at,” Caleb reminds her.
“Cross it off the list,” I add.
“What?” She wheels around and stares at me in disbelief. “I’m not saying it’s perfect, and you need to check out several other options, but it’s got a lot of potential. And the annual rent isn’t astronomical, all things considered.”
“Not interested.”
“Why not?”
I frown at her. Does she really not know? “Because she ignored you.”
Her mouth drops open, and a blush spreads over her cheeks. I’ve never seen her blush before, and I can’t tear my fascinated gaze away.
Then she hitches in a sharp breath. “That’s a ridiculous reason for not putting the property on your list.”
“We need somewhere closer to the Blitz HQ.”
“Agreed,” Caleb says. “Doing that commute every day’ll drive me insane.”
Alice presses her lips together the way she always does when we piss her off. Which now that I think about it happens on a regular basis. Who the hell else is going to put up with us the way she does?
“You might’ve mentioned this last week when you suddenly decided it was imperative that you needed additional office space. I did ask if you were looking for an inner London postal code.”
“It is imperative we find more office space.” I hold open the door of a fast food restaurant, and she stalks inside. “I don’t care what the address is. I thought you were keen to move closer to the city.”
She snorts with disgust and sits in the middle of a padded bench, so Caleb and I sit on the chairs opposite her.
“And why would you think that?” There’s a definite challenge in her tone. “Do I strike you as a city girl?”
Although I’m not sure what Alice means by it, city girl conjures up an image of Clare, who loved designer labels more than life itself. It also brings to mind the endless parade of Lucas’s girlfriends who often model the exclusive stuff Clare coveted six years ago. Shit, was it really that long ago we dated?
“Fuck, no.” Alice couldn’t be more different from Clare or any of Lucas’s conquests, and thank God for that.
She gives me a tight smile as though she doesn’t think much of my compliment. What am I doing, complimenting her? I snatch up the menu and glower at it. When did she start invading my mind? I can’t even remember a time when she wasn’t around, but that’s no excuse to hit on her. Fuck that, I don’t have the first clue about how to hit on a girl. In any case, Alice isn’t interested in me in that way and, even if she was, she’s totally off-limits. Dating would screw our friendship.
I haven’t dated anyone since Clare, and that’s the way I like it. In The Plains of Exitium I’m in control, and there’re no messy attachments or chance of getting your heart stamped on.
Caleb takes our orders and ambles up to the counter. I lean back and fold my arms. Alice gives me one of her inscrutable looks.
“I suppose you want me to cancel the appointment this afternoon?”
I’d forgotten about that. “If it’s with the same agents.”
She frowns, as though she’s about to say something, but then sighs and shakes her head as she pulls out her phone. “Okay.”
After a brief conversation, she drops her phone back in her bag. “Well, that was friendly. Thanks to you and Caleb, she obviously thinks I’m the one who voted against her.”
“Who cares what she thinks?”
“That’s not the—oh, never mind.”
Fine by me. “What’re your plans after university?”
“After university?” She sounds like she has no idea what I’m talking about, but she’s the one who reminded us that she’s leaving next month. Did she really think I’d not want to discuss it?
“You’re doing economics, aren’t you?”
She stares at me in shock. “You remember what degree I’m taking?”
“It was on your resume.”
“I know that, but you forget stuff you read last week, never mind eight months ago.”
“I only retain the important stuff.” Doesn’t everyone?
For a second, she looks like she’s about to laugh. “Should I be flattered or something?”
Caleb returns to the table with our food, and I have the overpowering urge to tell him to sling his hook.
What the hell?
This is Alice. She works with us both. This conversation affects him as much as it does me.
The logic doesn’t change my mind. I still want him to leave me alone with her.
Like that’s going to happen.
“Are you deflecting?”
“No. The truth is, I’m not sure.” She wraps loose strands of her hair, that’s slid free of her ponytail, around her finger and it’s oddly hypnotic. “Mum wants me to go on and do a law degree. It’s been her dream for years.”
“I can’t see you as a lawyer.”
She stops twirling her hair. “Why not?” There’s a strangely defensive note in her voice, and I’ve no idea why.
“You don’t have the killer instinct.”
“Although,” Caleb says as he picks up his burger, “if you do go that route, we could always hire you on a retainer.”
His comment momentarily distracts me. “That’s a point.” Although we’ve used lawyers in the past to draw up contracts, with our plans for going global it makes sense to have our own.
“I haven’t decided what I want to do yet. That’s why I’m not going straight for a law degree.”
“Any chance you could keep working part time for us while you’re at university?” I’m already working out the logistics.
“Harry. I’ll be over two hundred and seventy miles away.”
“Funny.” I jab a fry in her direction. “There’s this thing called the internet. We could work around your schedule. Virtual collaboration.”
“I like that idea.” Caleb toasts me with his massive cup of cola.
“You do know that’s impossible, don’t you?”
“Nothing’s impossible.” And I should know. If Caleb and I had listened to everyone who thought we should’ve abandoned our dreams and gone to university instead, Blitz would still be a mirage.
“All right, wrong word choice.” She takes a deep breath. “What I mean is I won’t have the time. It’s not just working around my schedule. I’ll have assignments as well.”
Hammering out the logistics is pointless if Alice doesn’t want to make it work. I pull the lid off my coffee and take a long swallow, but the caffeine doesn’t help inspire any great ideas.
Guess I’m going to have to get used to the fact that in five weeks she’s leaving for good.