Chapter 8: Ed

Mains arrived but tension still sat among us. It started to eat away at me. Soph wanted us all to get along. It was important to her. The more that played on my mind, the more Mac irritated me. Not even directly, either. It was like my brain short-circuited every time I looked at his styled blonde hair or bespoke navy suit.

Why had I left my jacket behind? Soph loved suits.

He was another obstacle in the way of a perfect relationship. A friend I just couldn't gel with. A friend who clearly did not want to gel with me, either.

That was my fault ultimately. It all led back to that stupid blowjob and even stupider song. Completely unrelated except in the way they helped to form his opinion of me.

"You okay, Teddy?"

I looked up at Gabby and smiled. "I'm good. Just enjoying the food."

"More than the company," Mac said.

"That's not true."

It was only a tiny lie. Soph and Gabby were great company.

"Oh." Gabby's mouth scrunched. "I guess you're used to it being just the two of you."

I clenched my cutlery and resisted the temptation to glare at Mac for putting the idea in Gabby's head.

"Don't stress, Gab." Mac nudged her with his elbow. "It's my company he's not enjoying. You're as lovely as ever."

"Can you blame him?" Soph said. "You're being a fucking dick. It's pissing even me off, and normally I have a high tolerance for your bullshit."

"Chill, Palmer." Mac held up his hands in surrender. "Your boyfriend can handle himself, I'm sure."

Except I obviously couldn't. Not in public when I needed to be on my best behaviour. He knew that.

"I hope you realise—you both realise," she said, cutting a glance across to me as well, not sure why, "that the longer it takes you to find common ground, the longer we'll all have to sit through these awkward meals?"

"We've already got common ground," Mac said. "That's the problem."

The insinuation lingered in the air around us. Gabby, bless her, didn't pick up on it.

"What's the problem?" Her eyes darted between all of us.

Mac leaned back in his chair and heaved out a dramatic sigh. "Golden Boy doesn't like that I've seen his girlfriend naked. Twice."

A fresh wave of anger rolled through me, and this time I didn't bother to tone down my external response. How could anyone expect me to after that? It wasn't even about him and Soph.

Okay, it partly was, but the bulk of my resentment stemmed from last year's settlement with Veronica. He'd liked my brand then, hadn't he? Enough to see how much money I'd be willing to part with to protect it.

"Oh." Gabby shrugged, then turned to me. "That was ages ago, and plenty of other people have seen her naked, too, so Mac's nothing special."

For a heavy second, silence engulfed us. Gabby's signature lack of tact had her eyes widening in mortification as her words caught up with her.

"And Mac's a massive slut," she quickly added. "I mean, his number is at least ten times higher than Soph's, so it really meant nothing to either of them."

"Yet I'm still not the biggest slut at the table." Mac chuckled and popped a cube of lamb between his lips. He lifted an eyebrow at me as he chewed, as if to say, Your turn.

Man, I hated myself for potentially embarrassing her even more, but I couldn't see a better way out of the situation. A better way to ease some of this tension and redirect onto easier ground.

I turned my gaze onto Gabby and winked. "Didn't know that about you, Gab. Good for you."

Pink crept up her neck and stained her cheeks. Instead of responding, she kept her eyes on her plate and concentrated on pushing flakes of fish onto the back of her fork.

Great. Now I'd made her uncomfortable. Frustration poured through me. Why had I agreed to come here? What good was this dinner doing? Soph couldn't be enjoying this. Was anyone enjoying this? Apart from Mac?

With my patience down to its last thread, I looked across at him. "Your comment was obviously directed at me, so just to be absolutely clear, you're very much mistaken in that assumption."

"Huh. My bad." He brushed his thumb across the corner of his mouth as our eyes met. "Someone in your position, I thought you'd have girls dropping to their knees for you."

Dick.

"You thought wrong," I said.

I picked up my orange juice and took a sip. Concentrated on the sharp tang of citrus on my tongue. On the refreshing mouthful of liquid rolling down my throat.

"I guess the temptation is no longer there now you've got a girlfriend," Mac said. "And I don't blame you. She's got quite the skill set."

My glass hit the table with a loud thud. Juice sloshed up the sides, nearly breaching the rim before settling down. Heat seared every inch of my skin, creeping up my throat. Choking me. Blinding me. I didn't dare look away from the orange, but all I saw was red.

"Excuse me." I pushed my chair back from the table and folded my napkin beside my plate. "I'll be right back."

Then I rose from my seat and cut across the restaurant floor to the bathroom. Once inside, I checked I was alone, then curled my fingers around the edge of the sink.

Cool, smooth ceramic against my sweating palms.

Faint guitar chords strumming from an overhead speaker.

Backlit mirrors with my hunched reflection staring back at me.

Vanilla floating out of a burning candle.

My pocket vibrated, twice in quick succession. I reached to pluck out my phone.

Soph: I'm so sorry. Take all the time you need.

Mark Anderson: Shattered?

I tapped out a reply to Mark to reassure him I was fine and just needed a few minutes to regroup.

Soph got a similar message. She was a true professional not following me in here. A wave of pride and affection swooped through me. Sitting through one meal with her obnoxious friend was nothing compared to the show she had to put on every time we went out together.

I needed to pull myself together. For her. If Mac wanted to be a dick, I'd just refuse to engage. Polite but detached. No faux niceties. I was Soph's boyfriend, but I didn't have to put up with her friend being so consistently rude to me. Especially after what he'd already done to me last year.

As I was running my wrists under the cold-water tap, the bathroom door opened and a red-haired guy ambled in. His eyes flickered over me once, then twice, then a third time. He paused.

"Shit. Are you Teddy Stone?"

I shut off the tap and shook my hands into the basin. My lips curved into an instinctive smile, one that told a different story to my actual feelings.

"Yeah. I am." I reached for one of the small flannels and dried off before dropping it into the laundry basket. "Nice to meet you."

"Wow. My girlfriend is a huge fan. She'll never believe that I bumped into you in the bathroom."

"She out there with you?" I tipped my head towards the door.

Maybe that was what I needed. A few minutes with a fan to reset my mind and calm me down. I refastened the third button on my shirt.

"Nah. I'm with colleagues. Can you sign something for her, though?" He patted his hands over his body as if to search for something. "Shit. I've got nothing. Not even a pen. I can't believe it."

"Video message instead?" I offered.

His eyes lit up. "Seriously? Dude, that would make her day. Thank you so much. Wow. You really are as nice as you seem..."

Just one side of my 'dual personality'. Mac was about to meet the other one. 

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Thank you for reading :) xx

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In the next chapter, things between Ed & Mac come to a head. How do you think that will go down?