Читать книгу The Office Christmas Party: A fun, feel good Christmas cracker of a romance! - Aimee Duffy - Страница 7
Chapter 3
ОглавлениеNatalie’s head was pounding as she woke to the chorus of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer echoing through her skull.
She fumbled for her mobile and answered, not bothering to open her eyes. Her head wasn’t ready for that yet.
‘Hello?’ she croaked.
‘Where are you? Do you know how worried I’ve been?’
Rose’s voice was like knives in her ears and she had to hold the phone away to listen. As she opened her eyes, she saw why her friend was flipping out. Natalie was lying on a sofa she hadn’t seen in years, wrapped in a dust sheet and surrounded by boxes.
Boxes of her mum’s stuff.
‘I’m fine, Rose.’ But that wasn’t true. The pain of her headache was smothered by the agony in her chest. Coming here had seemed like a good idea last night, a way to move on with her life, but she hadn’t even been able to face looking inside one box.
‘Natalie Taylor, I have been up all night terrified something happened to you. I’ve called you a hundred times along with every hospital in London! I even called the police. Do you know what they said? You’re not a missing person until you’ve been gone longer. What if you had been stabbed and were lying in a ditch somewhere or fell into the river!’
Tears filled her eyes and clogged her throat. What had made her think Rose wouldn’t care where she was? ‘I’m sorry Rose, I’m so selfish. You didn’t need to worry, I was—’ Admitting she went home with a stranger was not likely to ease any of her friend’s worry, so she decided to skip that bit. ‘I’m at the storage unit. I came here to try and … I don’t know why. But I wish I hadn’t.’
She caught sight of one of the boxes. It was bursting with every colour of tinsel in existence and the tears spilled over. ‘I should have come home. I’m sorry.’
‘Nat … What’s up with you lately? Something’s wrong and we’re going to make time to talk about it. I might be getting married, but you’re still my best friend and I feel like I haven’t been there for you this last week. I know how hard this time of year is for you.’
Rose’s sudden concern made her feel like a rotten cow. She wanted so much to tell her friend everything, but she had to stop being so dependent on Rose. Besides, the truth would only cause friction with her friend’s new fiancé. ‘I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m coming home now for a hot bath and something to eat.’
‘Do you need me to come and get you? I can make it before the lunch rush,’ Rose offered.
‘No, it’s fine. The fresh air will be good for me.’ Or the freezing breeze would kill her, but she couldn’t face Rose like this. It would be too easy to slip back into leaning on her friend.
‘If you’re sure. But I’m telling Tom it’s girls’ night tonight. You and I are going to talk. I’ll bring the wine and we can get a takeaway.’
Wine was the last thing she needed, but it would be nice to have some girl time. ‘Okay, that sounds good. See you later.’
Natalie hung up and slipped her phone into her bag. The walls felt like they were coming in on her and her heart was going double time. After carefully rearranging the dust sheet over the sofa, she bolted for the door without looking at anything. Outside, she slid down to the ground, panting like she’d just sprinted a mile.
One thing was for sure, she wasn’t ready to unpack those boxes, but she didn’t want to give up on Christmas either. Which meant she had to find a way to deal with solo Christmas party-crashing that didn’t end in total disaster.
***
The girls’ night wasn’t going exactly as she’d imagined. After apologising to Rose again, they’d had Thai takeout and Natalie had eaten so much curry she thought she might explode, so changed into her Christmas themed pyjamas. She wasn’t up for the wine though, and left that to Rose who was uncharacteristically knocking it back.
By the time they’d finished catching up on the television shows they’d recorded, Natalie had come to the conclusion that Rose had something she wanted to talk about too. ‘What’s going on? Is everything alright with you and Tom?’
See, she could be a good friend. She didn’t even call him Tom the Twat.
Rose shook her head. ‘It’s me, not him. I know you don’t like him, Nat, but you should give him a chance. He’s an amazing guy.’
Natalie wondered if it was worth lying and saying she did like Tom to avoid a potential argument – or eviction, but that just wasn’t her. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what you see in him. He uses your emotions to get you to do what he wants. That’s why I don’t like him.’
Rose’s mouth popped open. ‘You think he emotionally blackmails me?’
‘When it comes to you going out with me, yes, I think he does.’ She’d said this before, just never as bluntly.
‘You’re wrong, Nat. Really wrong. Tom had a hard relationship before he met me. His ex used to go out and cheat on him all the time. He gets nervous when I go out too, so I don’t anymore. I want him to know he can trust me, but he’d never stop me from doing it. It’s my choice to stay in, not his.’
At least Rose didn’t sound offended, more hurt that Natalie would think badly about her fiancé. And how crap did that make her feel? ‘You’ve never told me that before.’
Rose shrugged and poured another glass of wine. She’d still not made much of a dent in her green curry, which wasn’t like her. They both loved Thai food – in fact most food, really.
‘Is there something else going on I don’t know about? For someone who’s just gotten engaged, you seem … I don’t know, down?’ But she hadn’t been that way around Tom, which maybe meant Natalie was the problem
‘There are other things you don’t know,’ Rose said, staring down into her glass. ‘I’m not a nice person. At least I didn’t used to be. I don’t want to hurt Tom. I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again.’
Natalie shifted closer on the sofa and grabbed Rose’s hand, giving it a squeeze. ‘What are you talking about? You’re the best person I know, and that’s just for putting up with my drama alone.’
Rose’s eyes were wide and shiny as she looked up. ‘I love you, Nat. I don’t put up with you, I need you.’
‘I need you too. Talk to me, tell me what has you believing you’re anything other than lovely.’
But Rose hid her eyes and then pulled her hand free. ‘I can’t, I don’t even want to think about what I did … what I could do again. I’m going to go to bed now.’
‘Rose?’ she asked, but Rose just shook her head, leaving a pang in Natalie’s heart.
Natalie tried to tell herself that Rose’s idea of doing something terrible would be standing on a puppy’s tail by accident, and not getting it to a vet for a full check-up quickly enough, but the heavy feeling in her gut told her this was worse. All she could do was wait until Rose was ready to talk, and comfort her any way she could.
And to think, that wasn’t even the weirdest part of the evening. She was actually beginning to feel sorry for Tom, and even understand why he acted the way he did, in front of Natalie anyway.
It seemed like this was a week for firsts, and she couldn’t wait to get it over with.
***
Monday rolled around far too soon, as always, and Mick the Dick was spending a rare day in the office. Unfortunately, that meant he had just taken on a new client, which in turn meant dumping more work on her already packed desk.
After work, her day didn’t get much better. Tom had decided he wanted to get married at Christmas this year (which would mean he and Rose would be completely occupied with planning for the next few weeks), which would force Natalie to celebrate the day in a way other than staying in bed watching horror movies on DVDs with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. Oddly, Rose’s spirits seemed at an all-time low, and though she didn’t want to leave her friend, she’d never get to talk to her properly with Tom there in full wedding planner mode.
At least he was attentive to Rose’s gloominess and seemed to be making an effort to cheer her up, which made Natalie dislike him a little less. Still, she just wanted to get away from them this evening – and luckily for her, she knew a party that needed crashing.
When she arrived at the hotel overlooking Hyde Park, she was glad she came. The party was in one of their lounges with a balcony and the view of the Winter Wonderland bustling through the park was breath-taking. Swiping a glass of mulled wine, she wrapped her poncho round her shoulders and went to get a better look.
She turned her head to the sound of footsteps on the balcony next to her and quickly wished she hadn’t. Mr Smug was there, looking none too pleased to see her but there was the edge of something else sparkling in his chocolatey eyes.
‘I suppose you’ve urinated on the boundaries here, too?’ she asked, lacing the question with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
‘I thought you might try being nice this time, Nicole. Or is that name just a cover?’
Her breath caught, and without thinking she asked, ‘How did you find that out?’
The smug smile was back and she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
‘I just checked to see whose name kept popping up and there you were. Or there was Nicole Porter anyway. I doubt that’s the name on your birth certificate though.’ He folded his arms and waited.
But if he thought she was going to deny it, or give him the pleasure of asking how he managed to get into any of the systems, he was wrong. Instead she shrugged. ‘That’s none of your business, is it?’
‘I disagree. Like I said before, too many unfamiliar faces and people are going to start asking questions. I quite like this set up, so I’m asking you one more time to reconsider.’
She wasn’t just hearing this guy though. Mick the Dick’s demands to get one pitch after another to his desk had been driving her mad all day. What was it with pushy men thinking women were only there to do what they wanted?
Well this woman wasn’t about to bow down, especially not to someone who didn’t pay her salary – even a pathetically low one. ‘I’m not leaving any time soon so you’d better get used to it.’
She polished off the last of the mulled wine, then turned to leave but he caught her arm and dragged her around to face him again. ‘Let. Me. Go.’
He did, but didn’t back away. ‘Maybe I could let them know all about your little stunt, Nicole.’
‘You wouldn’t! I could just do the same to you.’
‘You’d never get the chance. Then again, maybe it doesn’t have to end like this with us.’ Something flickered in his eyes and her mouth dried up. ‘Maybe we could take advantage of this situation and work off the tension between us a different way.’
He pointed above her head to a bunch of mistletoe dangling from the roof of the balcony. Her heart started to hammer and she stopped breathing altogether. He couldn’t possibly be suggesting that if she didn’t snog him, or go further, then he’d have her chucked out, was he?
Rage burned away the surprise and her heart slowed to a steadier beat. ‘Not if you were the last man alive. No scrap that, the last person alive. I’d rather change my sexuality than be with a creep like you.’
He didn’t look offended, just gave her a hot look that suggested she didn’t know what she was missing and even though her stomach clenched, she refused to feel anything other than dislike for this idiot.
‘Your choice,’ he said, as she turned and stomped back into the party.
Let him try and get her chucked her out. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.
***
Dean blew out a huge breath and ran a hand down his face. What had he been thinking? He’d never tried to blackmail a woman before – he’d never had to.
After he’d looked into the previous parties, found out the name she used to get in and noticed she’d be here tonight, he’d printed out a list of restaurants and bars having added her name to the guest list of them all. That way, she could go to those instead of risking them both being caught.
It wasn’t even about having two unfamiliar faces there. He and his brother used to come to these things together all the time. But they hung out at the bar, separated themselves from most of the guests and only chatted up women who approached them.
His little thief nicked food, mingled and danced in a way that could draw the attention of every man in the room. Even his. Though that didn’t give him a pass for what he just did.
But there was something about the way she glared at him, the way she didn’t take any of his crap and fought him tooth and nail for what she wanted that triggered an insane need to spar with her. He’d seen her arriving in a cute, red dress and he’d felt the same way he had that first night.
He wanted her. There was no denying it at this point. And so, instead of offering her an alternative to showing up where he was, he delivered her an ultimatum.
Better to move on than risk any more arsehole statements coming out his mouth. A while later, he got talking with Casey, an assistant to the head of HR, which would have normally been risky. Except she never questioned his identity, and who would remember everyone’s name in a company with five offices and thousands of employees?
She wasn’t anything like his little thief either. Casey was bubbly and fun, suggesting they head to her room after they take advantage of the free food and nibbles. She was exactly his kind of woman – relaxing to be around, easy to talk to, and up for a good time. And he’d long since gotten used to the feeling of repetition. It was a much safer option than the alternative.
Casey excused herself for a bathroom break and he pulled out his phone to check for any messages. Jeffrey hadn’t spoken to him since their fight, despite the fact they were supposed to be running a company together, and earlier Dean had decided enough was enough and tried to call him before he came out, but there had been no answer.
There was an email though, but not from his pissed off brother. Worse, it was from his parents. They were inviting him to Jeffrey and Alana’s engagement dinner this weekend at a posh restaurant Dean and Jeffrey would be expected to foot the bill for. And he knew the reason for the invite wouldn’t be because they wanted him there. Nope, they wouldn’t have cared less under normal circumstances. His parents were all about appearances, and the invite could only mean one thing. Jeffrey’s future in-laws were coming.
God forbid they had to admit they weren’t perfect parents with perfect sons.
He shook his head. He wasn’t even fazed by the formal way they addressed him anymore. He’d gotten over all that shit a long time ago.
However, he was annoyed at Jeffrey. His brother owed him better than letting him find out from his parents that he was about to get a sister-in-law. Then again, after the way he’d acted when Jeffrey had been about to propose, he could hardly blame his brother.
He caught sight of Casey pushing her way through the mingling crowds, but something had changed. Her lips were tight and her eyes were like daggers as she stormed over to him. When she was a nanosecond away from barrelling into his chest, she lifted her hand and slapped him full force on the face.
‘You bastard!’ she screamed, then went for another swing.
Dean caught both her hands, wishing he had one free to rub the sting out of his jaw. ‘What the fuck was that for?’ he whispered, trying not to attract attention. But it was too late for that. The room had silenced and all eyes were on them.
‘You know what it’s for. Nicole told me. You’ve slept with half the office and given them all crabs!’ she shrieked.
At least there was one plus in what she’d said. Half the party was eyeing each other suspiciously and edging away from what he assumed to be the single females.
Casey tried to head butt him but he dodged it, let her go and took a few steps back.
‘I would never sleep with someone as low as you!’
With that she stormed away leaving him gaping at her retreating back. He felt all eyes on him again. At least this story would thaw Jeffrey out – that is, assuming they didn’t quarantine him for a good de-lousing.
The cause of his public ridicule was easy enough to spot. She was across the room, right by the exit, almost vibrating with laughter and holding one hand over her mouth to mute the sound. He smiled slowly at her and had the satisfaction of seeing her eyes widen before she cleared off.
It seemed his little thief had just declared war.
Game on.