Chapter 9: Protection

"Oh my God." I kept my voice low, leaning closer. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." His mouth lifted into a strained smile. "Bad fight with Lacey. That's all."

He lowered his bloodshot eyes to the table. My fingers ached to reach out and touch him—to comfort him, support him, console him. Nausea swirled through my stomach as I contemplated the series of events that had led to us sitting in this room together, with Ed and Lacey both distraught over something that apparently ran much deeper than a secret relationship.

I'd really fucked up. We both had, but especially me. I should have known better, and if I somehow made it out of this with my job intact, Zola was going to lose her shit with me.

Minutes later, Helen swept into the room, looking only mildly irritated at being called into work during the middle of the night. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my thighs, desperate for a drink. Anxiety was suffocating my sense of humour, so I didn't have it in me to make a joke about how people were entitled to water when being interrogated.

Ed's hand slid up to rest on top of mine, intertwining our fingers against my leg and squeezing hard.

"Sophia is nothing to do with this," he said to Helen. "I'm the reason Lacey is upset, so if you need to—"

Helen cut him off with a sigh, rolling her eyes as she dropped her handbag onto a chair. "Christ, Ed. I'm too tired for this bullshit. Sit there and shut up until I ask you a question, okay?"

I fidgeted in my seat, eyes flitting between Mark and Helen as they sat down opposite us. Ed's hand didn't leave mine, his thumb sweeping back and forth over my knuckles. Maybe the affection stemmed from guilt, or maybe his fight with Lacey had used up all of his energy and he couldn't bring himself to put up another barrier.

"Right," Helen said. "Sophia."

"I told you." Ed's grasp on me tightened. "Sophia is nothing to do with this."

"Look." Helen's sharp snap echoed off the bare walls as her irritated stare landed on Ed. "I don't know what kind of mutually beneficial favour-exchanging agreement the two of you have going on here, but can we postpone the protectiveness until after we've got to the bottom of this, please?"

My eyes drifted over to Mark. Maybe Ed hadn't actually told him about the Favour Agreement. If everything Mark knew ended up being passed on to Helen, I doubted whether Ed would have ever chosen to share it.

"Sophia," Helen said, calm returning to her voice as her dark eyes landed on me. "Will you kindly summarise this evening's events?"

I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. The touch of Ed's skin against mine grounded me, and while he seemed keen to rid me of all accountability, I wasn't prepared to throw him under the bus, either.

"I came in through the side entrance and bumped into Lacey," I said. "We made each other jump, so Mark came down to see what the noise was. Lacey looked upset, but we didn't get as far as finding out why."

"She was upset because we had an argument," Ed said. "I want to do a tell-all interview with a journalist and needed her blessing."

Shit.

No beating around the bush, then.

Helen's eyes bulged. "You want to do what?"

A nervous sigh spilled from Ed's mouth as his hand trembled against my leg. "Last weekend, I hooked up with a stranger. I didn't know she recognised me. The story landed in the PR team's inbox, and I didn't want to own up to it because then I'd have to admit that I went behind Mark's back and paid off one of his new recruits to take me there off the books."

Although he said nothing, Mark's jaw clenched as a flash of anger lit up his green eyes. His fists scrunched into tight balls, and for a split second I wondered if he'd lean across the table and deck Ed.

As for Helen, she sat there with her lips slightly parted, like she couldn't quite believe what her golden boy had just confessed.

With both of them stunned into silence, Ed ploughed on.

"I was worried the girl might have evidence. CCTV or something. So I spoke to the journalist and agreed to do a tell-all interview. In exchange, she'd pay the girl an exclusivity fee to stop her going elsewhere, but then she'd not publish the story. Only, I knew I couldn't do a proper tell-all interview because of the NDA, so I asked Lacey how much she'd be comfortable with me sharing. That's what we argued about. That's why she's upset. That's why it's nothing to do with Sophia."

I stared at the table, scared that if I looked up I'd give us away. Ed didn't need to protect me like that, especially when we'd parted ways this morning on such bad terms, but he'd promised he'd always have my back, and he was coming through for me on that.

"I'm sorry," Ed said when the silence still dragged on. "I panicked. I was trying to save my own arse. I should have come to you instead."

"Did you know about this, Sophia?" Helen finally spoke, forcing me to lift my gaze.

"Of course she did," Mark said, before Ed could cut in again. "That's why Lacey was so hostile downstairs."

"Lacey's hostile because she's jealous of how close Soph and I are."

"Close enough to lie for her?" Helen raised an eyebrow at Ed. "It's funny. Only yesterday Sophia was telling us that the pair of you don't have a relationship outside work."

Ed bobbed one shoulder to shrug. "We don't have a relationship outside work. But we were very close once, and Lacey—"

Helen held up a hand to silence him. "Stop digging. Quite frankly, I don't care what the two of you get up to in your spare time. What I do care about is how it affects the work we all do together. I made that very clear when Sophia accepted the job. So you can sit there and lie to me about the extent of your relationship, but don't expect me to believe that your friend, who has very close links to journalists through her job, hasn't played a part in this cover-up."

I opened my mouth, knowing I needed to make some kind of contribution to this rapidly deteriorating situation, but Ed's hand tightened on mine in warning.

"This is my fault, Helen. I'm not lying about that. I swear." Ed kept his voice calm and steady, but his foot tapped frantically against the floor next to mine.

Helen pressed her lips together before swinging her impatient gaze onto me. "Sophia. I don't believe for a second that you're not involved in this, but if he's going to take the flack for you, then so be it. You're suspended for a week."

Ed released my fingers and leapt up, planting his palms against the table as he leaned across it.

"She's nothing to do with this!"

"And that's the only reason she's not fired. A suspension should be a sufficient warning. Just in case she ever thinks about doing something like this in the future."

Helen had obviously seen straight through the bullshit, so I had to appreciate her leniency. She could have fired me quite easily—I wasn't even out of my probation period—but instead she'd shown mercy.

"As for you," she said, her eyes landing on Ed, who slowly sank back into his seat. "I don't even know where to start, but a meeting with our legal team seems as good a place as any. There will be no tell-all interview. We'll pay off the girl. End of story."

He nodded, scraping a hand over his jaw. Despite the horrific way it had played out, relief rolled through me. Everything was now out in the open and being dealt with by professionals.

"And for heaven's sake," Helen added as she stood up from the table, "smooth things over with Lacey. We do not need that shit blowing up in our faces again."

With another curt nod, Ed bowed his head. After Helen left, the fury emanating from Mark's body filled the void. This was the part Ed had truly wanted to avoid, and I returned his earlier reassurance by reaching across to squeeze his knee.

His mouth found the shell of my ear, his words hushed yet intimate. "You should leave."

I swallowed down the nervous lump in my throat and shook my head in a subtle refusal. No way could I leave him alone with Mark after he'd just protected me like that.

"Please." His gentle plea wrapped around my racing heart and squeezed.

"In it together," I murmured under my breath, heat flooding my cheeks as Mark continued to pin us with a deadly stare.

Accepting my refusal with a resigned sigh, Ed changed tactic. He rose from his seat and made a beeline for the door.

But he didn't stand a chance.

Mark leapt up, his chair toppling over, and caught Ed by the front of his shirt. As he yanked him closer until their faces nearly touched, Ed barely reacted, his eyes steady as they met Mark's, almost like he'd anticipated the sudden act of violence. Was that why he'd told me to leave?

I shrunk back in my seat and gripped the armrests, not wanting to watch Ed get pommelled but also unable to tear my gaze away.

"Not in front of Sophia." Ed's quiet voice carried across the silent room.

"Sophia. Leave."

I dithered, slowly standing but not letting go of my chair. Although this was a personal situation between the two men, and both had now asked me to leave, I still felt like I'd be feeding Ed to the wolves by abandoning him.

"Now." Mark didn't raise his voice nor look away from Ed, but the singular word carried enough warning to make my knees buckle.

"It's fine, Soph. I'll catch up with you later." Ed tossed me a casual smile.

He must have been putting on a brave face for my benefit because nobody could genuinely feel so at ease when they had the threat of Mark Anderson's fury hanging over them.

But then he'd always had a great poker face. 

*

A soft rap at my door pulled me out of bed—not that I'd been sleeping. Ever since returning to my room, I'd done nothing but stare up at the ceiling. Tonight I'd dodged a bullet. If Helen or Zola spoke to the journalist, my name would inevitably come up and then they'd know for certain I was involved.

Ed stood on the other side of the door, leaning against the wall. Although his eyes screamed exhaustion and his drooped shoulders suggested defeat, a quick scan of his face showed no signs of violence. Mark's fury must have been expressed through words, not fists.

"Just wanted to check you were okay," Ed said.

"I'm fine..." I stepped aside and jerked my head to invite him in. "Can you come in a sec?"

I didn't want anyone overhearing us, but Ed's hesitation before crossing the threshold into my room spoke volumes.

"You didn't have to do that back there," I said, closing the door and leaning back against the wood. "I'd never have expected—or asked—you to cover for me like that."

Lips curving into a strained smile, Ed perched on the edge of my desk, crossing his long legs at his ankles.

"It's fine, Soph. I got you into this mess. I'd never have let you take the fall. A suspension sucks, but..."

I shook my head. "A suspension is generous. Helen was right about that. Especially since I'm still on probation."

Silence lingered in the three-metre gap between us as we sized each other up, the big elephant in the room begging to be addressed.

"I'm sorry about this morning," he said. "I didn't mean it. I was just tired and hungover... Stressing about seeing Lacey... Took it out on you and you didn't deserve it."

"I'm sorry about Aaron."

Ed chuckled. "Between the two of us, I think we've well and truly pissed off the Holland family."

I scratched at the back of my neck and forced out a gentle laugh. "Yeah. Off the Christmas card list for sure."

The sparkle drained from his tired eyes as Ed heaved out an exhausted sigh. "Listen, Soph... We've over-stepped the mark. The lines are too blurred."

And just like that, defensiveness crept up my spine, shooting sparks of tension through my body.

"I didn't ask you to cover for—"

"Not you. Me. I never should've gone behind Helen's back on this. I shouldn't have asked you to, either. I love everything our Favour Agreement stands for, but I took advantage of it and lost sight of the reason we agreed to it in the first place. You can't put your own arse on the line to save mine. That isn't how it should work."

His tongue swept over his bottom lip as he averted his gaze across the room. Although he wasn't instigating an argument again like I'd initially assumed, I feared something worse. Distance. For real this time.

"I'm suspended for a week," I said. "I'll stay out of your way. It'll give us time to sharpen the lines again."

But he shook his head, still unable to make eye contact. "We knew this would be difficult, but I think we were naïve to assume that taking friendship off the table would be the answer. That was a couple of months ago now, and my emotions aren't quite as raw. Maybe we need to revisit it."

"So... What are you saying?"

Finally, his soft yet pained gaze settled on me again. "I'm still not prepared to put your job at risk. We can't be together. Nothing has changed there. But I can't pretend that you mean nothing to me, either."

Still not entirely sure where he was going with this, I tried to calm my rising anxiety, grounding myself in the moment by rotating my ring around my finger. I liked our arrangement. Sure, it was messy and blurred at times, but I'd never been one to crave a label.

Ed, on the other hand, lived in a world where most of his life was controlled by other people, and he liked those sharp lines and clear emotions—particularly after what happened last time...

"Work has to be entirely professional going forwards," he said. "I messed up this time by taking advantage of our situation. That can never happen again. Every business conversation needs to be in front of Zola, or Helen, or Mark..."

"Is that what they've told you?" I quirked an intrigued eyebrow.

Swallowing, Ed's throat rippled. "No. This is my decision. Outside work, we can figure that out. See how it goes."

If I thought back to our relationship over the past few months—the flirty hostility outside work, the polite banter within it—I wondered if we really had been naïve about it. Pretending not to get on, acting like we had no friendship, only to drop the guard when working together, seemed more like a cover-up than ever. Like we were trying to convince ourselves.

By stripping it right back and promising work would only ever be professional moving forwards, it forced us to confront whatever affection—friendship, lust, or loyalty—we shared without excuses or guises.

"I'm on board with that," I said. "We obviously made a huge fuck-up of our last approach, so let's give this one a shot instead."

Ed chuckled, relief washing over him. "Yeah, I seem to be messing up a lot of relationships at the moment. Need a change of tactic."

My stomach dropped, remembering his red eyes as he'd sat beside me at the table. Whatever his past with Lacey, I had to assume it was much more significant than I'd first believed.

Sure, there was every possibility she'd been wearing a public-facing mask whenever I'd met her previously, but nobody had ever reacted to me the way that she'd done earlier tonight. Not even Becca, and she'd had a few opportunities to justifiably bare her teeth in my direction.

No, that person I'd bumped into tonight had been fuelled by grief and hurt. It had been a reaction powered by emotion.

"Will you be able to fix it?" I asked Ed.

He shrugged, knuckles whitening around the edge of the desk. "Patch it up, maybe. But not a permanent fix. I've well and truly betrayed her, and she has every right not to forgive me for that."

"I know, but you didn't actually—"

"I intended to. And that's enough. Plus the fact I discussed it with you hasn't helped. I promised her that I never shared any details, but I still spoke to you about using our past as a bargaining chip. We debated it. Like she was an insignificant girl worth nothing but a story. And she's not. She's so important to me. I should have respected that rather than take advantage of it."

His regret settled in the air between us. Curiosity simmered within me, clawing up my throat and trying to push out words to indulge it. But Lacey had been hurt by the prospect of Ed sharing details of their relationship, so I couldn't ask him unless he wanted to tell me. It was none of my business.

"I get it," I said. "Well, I don't, obviously, but yeah. You don't need to explain it. It's between you and her."

The corner of his mouth lifted into a half-hearted smile of acknowledgment, then he straightened up and pushed himself away from the desk, making a point of glancing at his watch.

"It's late. I should leave."

I stepped away from the door, my fingers curling around the handle, ready to open it.

"I'm only suspended for a week. You better not forget my coffee order in that time."

"I'll let you in on a secret, Soph: it's not me who picks up the coffee. I just take the credit by carrying it into the room."

I feigned shock. "No! Really? I loved the idea of Teddy Stone queuing with all the commuters."

"Sorry to ruin the fantasy. Replace it with a different one instead."

His eyes twinkled but I couldn't work out whether he was flirting or not, especially given the lack of dark banter that usually accompanied it. He'd also been crying with an ex earlier tonight, so chances were that he wasn't actually hitting on me. Otherwise, it was probably just a distraction tactic to lighten the mood.

So I played it safe with my response.

"I'll try," I said. "I'm not a Teddy Stone fan, though, so I'm a bit light on fantasy-material."

His lips twitched as if he couldn't decide whether he was amused or riled with that response. Either way, he bowed out without biting back.

"Night, Soph."

After I'd seen him out, I returned to bed even more stimulated than before. But sleep didn't matter; I had plenty of time to catch up next week.  

***

Thank you for reading :) xx

***

This turned out much longer than planned but I decided to keep it as one chapter instead of splitting into two much shorter ones. Hope it wasn't too long...!

How will this change Ed & Soph's relationship? Will they manage friendship?