Rules of Harte (Harte Series #1) (22 page)

             
‘I’ve lost my appetite.’ Nathan’s eyes narrowed and he tried to catch Shelly’s attention. Eva noticed her purposely look away and try to garner the attention of staff.

‘Eva I don’t know how to say this…’ Nathan paused as if the words were making him physically uncomfortable
. ‘
There’s just something about him…’

Julian? There was something about Julian? Eva
’s eyes narrowed and her heart raced until it felt like it might burst through her chest. Nathan knows, she thought. Oh Christ how could he know?

‘Eva, I don’t want to hurt you, but I think…’ Nathan continued.

Nathan,’ Shelly snapped. The usual girly giggle was missing from her tone and she said his name like the syllables hurt in her mouth. ‘Don’t,’ she warned, saying more with her face than her words.

‘It’s ok
ay,’ Eva said.

‘Look, it’s not the time or the place
,’ Shelly insisted.

‘It’s okay,’ Eva repeated
, placing her hand over Shelly’s.’ ‘I’m okay.’

             
It wasn’t, of course, and she wasn’t. Eva was utterly shitting it that Nathan was about to expose her secret. But if it was going to come out, that she’d contacted an escort, she was glad on some level that it was here and now, among her friends. If Nathan had figured it out so quickly, it was only a matter of time before someone in the office came to the same conclusion and blurted it out at their next staff meeting. Oh Christ, no. She shook her head just thinking about it. She couldn’t live with Mia having that ammunition.

             
Shelly smiled back at her friend, very obviously un-convinced. ‘Excuse me while I use the little ladies room.’

She pushed her chair back painfully slowly. The timber legs squealed as they bucked across the pretty mosaic floor.

‘You know where I am if you need me, Eva,’ she said, squeezing Eva’s hand while glaring at Nathan.

             
Eva watched as Shelly walked away, painfully aware of Nathan’s steadfast gaze on her every flinch. Fifty per cent of her wished Shelly had stayed. Being alone with Nathan right now was about as appealing as plucking her eyebrows with pliers. The other fifty percent wanted to grab the pliers and just get it over with. Clear the air. Explain her position. Although since she really didn’t know what the hell her position was, it could prove a little difficult to explain. And one hundred per cent of her wanted to run away and not deal with any of this.

             
Nathan raised his arm and silently signalled the waiter to their table.

‘Two scotch, on the rocks,’ he said. ‘Make her
’s a double.’

Eva shook her head.

Don’t argue. You’ll need it.’ Nathan added superciliously.

‘I’ve done my research, Eva.’

‘Research?’

Eva tried hard to hide her disgust. Her life wasn’t a project open for his perusal. And his so called research wasn’t very accurate… for one thing
, he didn’t know she hated spirits. She had ever since she was a little girl. The musty smell reminded her of her father.

             
‘Yes, Eva, research. I just had to check it out. You know when you find someone who is sweeter than sugar, but you just know deep down they’ve acid inside?’
Was he talking office politics, or did Mia know about Julian too? No, she couldn’t possibly. She’d never have been able to sit on gossip that juicy.

             
Silence fell over them as the waiter placed two tumbler glasses of burgundy coloured liquid splashed over large, cubed ice in front of them. Eva shocked herself as she reached for the glass and poured the fiery Whisky down her throat in one large swallow. She gasped as the alcohol scorched on its path to her stomach.

‘Thirsty?’ Nathan asked
, his eyebrows raised for effect.

‘No.’

The heat of her alcohol breath over her lips felt like betrayal to her own resolutions.

‘She’ll have another.’

‘No.’

The waiter was about to walk away but Nathan caught his arm
. ‘Well, I will. I need it. Actually maybe just bring us the bottle.’

The waiter turned to Eva for confirmation, but Nathan
’s eyes were just as quickly upon her. There was a burning sadness in his expression and she couldn’t deny him his request. Maybe he was finding it as hard to tell her as she was finding preparing to hear it. Her lips twitched and she let her chin fall to her chest just once. The waiter left.

             
‘Making things complicated should be your middle name.’ Nathan laughed.

Eva closed her eyes. His words rang true and she lacked the energy to argue.

‘Don’t worry, Eva. I know how it feels. I’m not exactly Mr Popular in that place.’

Nathan pointed out the window as if their office was next door to the restaurant.

‘You’re new. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It takes a while to settle in.’

‘Have you settled in?’

Eva suspected that was a rhetorical question so she drained her glass and waited for his next line.

‘I know I upset you the other day talking about the ball. I’m sorry. My mouth can be the biggest part of me sometimes.’

Another correct observation but this hurt less.

Eva shook her head. ‘It wasn’t you. Honestly. Just me being an idiot. Nothing new there.’

              Anyone who worked in Ignite Technologies for longer than five minutes knew Eva liked to keep to herself. But Nathan was actually making an effort to draw her out of her shell, it was sweet, if not slightly uncomfortable.

             
‘It’s not okay. I feel awful. Even Mia came over after you left to check if you were okay.’

Eva’s face turned as if she’d bitten a lemon and her voice came out an octave higher than usual. ’Mia did?’

‘Yeah. I didn’t know you were friends. She just wanted to check where you had gone and if you were upset.’

Eva felt like a wrestler had just grabbed her in a headlock. This was the last thing she needed.

‘And what did you tell her?’

‘Just that you were upset about the ball and you left.’

Eva dropped her head back and her neck creaked.
Damn it.
That little nugget of information must have made Mia’s day. Jesus, Nathan was a pro at putting his foot in his mouth.

             
‘Have I said something wrong again?’ Nathan asked softly.

‘No
, it’s me. It’s just Mia and I aren’t really friends, you know?’

Nathan’s face reddened. ‘Shit sorry…I didn’t know.’

‘It’s just that, well, actually she hates me. I don’t fit in there.’

‘You do.’ Nathan’s tone was so jumpy he was almost singing, rendering his argument beyond unconvincing.

‘It’s okay. I’m not sure I even want to. All the other girls go on the piss every weekend, and fuck their way around corners. It’s pathetic.’

             
Eva cast her eyes towards the back of the busy restaurant to find the bathroom door for any sign of Shelly. She felt bad as soon as the words passed her lips. Shelly fitted in but she definitely wasn’t pathetic. Eva hadn’t meant it like that. She’d never say stuff like that about Shelly and definitely not behind her back. She crossed her fingers that Nathan wouldn’t pick up on it.

             
‘Shelly,’ Nathan said suddenly.

‘No. Jesus. No, not Shelly. Shelly’s great. I really like her.’

Nathan laughed softly and threw his eyes over Eva’s shoulder. ‘No, I mean Shelly’s on her way back.’

What was that Eva was saying about Nathan and his foot in his mouth? She really wasn’t one to talk, she thought
, blushing as bright as a Cherry tomato.

             
‘So did you ask her?’ Shelly said, sitting down and pulling her seat closer to the table.

‘Ask me what?’ Eva
’s heart pounded. This was it. This was the moment it was all going to come out.

‘I didn’t get a chance,’ Nathan mumbled sheepishly.

Shelly flicked her eyes to the ceiling playfully. ‘So I just spent twenty minutes talking to an old lady in the bathroom
, about knitting, all for nothing? Bloody hell, you two. Right, before we all die of old age I’m just going to say it.’

Eva dropped her head, grabbed o
nto the corner of the table to stop herself from sliding off the edge of her chair and waited for the explosion.

‘Nathan has a feeling Mr Hot has something to hide and he’s not good for you
,’ Shelly blurted, almost laughing and bit into a Prawn Cracker.

             
What?
That was it? Eva wondered, almost forgetting to breathe. That was Nathan’s extensive research? A feeling. She looked at the glass of spicy liquid in her hand but she didn’t drink it. The feeling of relief washing through her body was fabulous and she didn’t want any more alcohol to hinder that. But this was close. Too close for comfort.

             
Nathan rested his elbows on the table and covered his face with his hands jokingly.

‘There
. Was it that hard to say?’ Shelly grabbed the bottle of Whisky that Eva hadn’t noticed the waiter bring to the table.

‘Oh, yum. Don’t mind if I do,’ Shelly said, pouring some into her empty wine glass. ‘Top up?’
She asked, pointing towards Eva’s glass. Eva nodded instinctively, trying to reset her rapid breathing back to normal.

             
Eva watched as Nathan and Shelly chatted and laughed. It was an unlikely friendship that she definitely didn’t see coming, but she liked it. And she liked that she was part of it. But with friends comes questions. It was only a matter of time before questions about Julian were unavoidable. She just had a taste of how it could be if news of Julian broke and she knew she wasn’t strong enough. No amount of Whisky could help her then. She knew what she had to do.

I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.

Eva hit send on the text and instantly regretted it.

             
‘And there’s more,’ Shelly said drawing Eva’s attention away from her phone.

Eva held her breath.
More?

Shelly nodded, beaming.
‘He’d like to know if you’d like to accompany him to the ball. Wouldn’t you, Nate?’ Shelly knocked her shoulder against Nathan’s like a giddy schoolgirl.

             
Eva watched as Nathan scrunched his face with his hands. His whole body screamed nervous wreck. If she wasn’t mid emotional-roller-coaster, she probably would have found it adorably funny.

Eva nodded her reply gently. She was past word
s.

Nathan took his hands down from his face and smiled. Eva smiled back and tried
hard not to giggle at the reddened impressions of his fingers across his forehead. Shelly topped up his glass and teased him for not having the balls to ask himself.

‘Fucking finally.’ Shelly r
aised her almost empty again glass. ‘Cheers.’

Eva followed Nathan’s lead and raised her glass and tapped it against Shelly’s making a large clinking sound. ‘Cheers.’

‘Now that that’s sorted, let’s see where the hell the desert is. I don’t know about you, but I want cake.’

Chapter 22

Dun Laoghaire Harbour was surprisingly quiet for a summer’s evening. A chilly wind had descended suddenly and most tourists had retreated to the warmth of wine bars and restaurants off the promenade. Julian relished the silence as his luxury yacht swayed from side to side on the soft waves, like a baby’s rocking cot. He loved the sea, but not even the clear view of the horizon could settle his uneasy feeling this evening.

             
He paced the lower deck and re-read the text on his phone. He wasn’t angry or upset by its concise message, merely bemused. Eva was learning. She was finally playing the game. But she was using the Coward’s Rulebook. He tucked himself behind the small oval table and tutted. The breeze from the overhead window danced across the top of his dark hair. He dropped his elbows onto the edge of the table, clasped his hands and rested his chin on his knuckles. ‘Evangeline Andrews,’ he said, enjoying how her name sounded brushing past his lips as it broke the stillness of the room. ‘I know you can do better than that.’

***

The quaint cobble-stoned, side-street, in Dublin city centre suddenly felt enormous and lonely as Eva wandered aimlessly. Less than an hour before, she’d slugged one last mouthful of Scotch and made a hasty exit, pretending something had suddenly come up. She had to act while there was fire in her belly or she might chicken out. But by the time she’d reached the restaurant door the fire was nothing more than smouldering ashes. She’d been wandering in circles since.

             
It was cold now, and tiny goose-bumps dotted across her exposed shoulders. Her phone vibrated in her bag and Eva was reluctant to check it. She’d had endless texts and missed calls from Shelly, begging her to go clubbing. They’d all left to go home but Shelly and Nathan appeared to have gotten distracted along the way, and they were now drinking cocktails named after body parts.