Page 24 of The Beast's Heart

“Damn right I did. I walked out of there.”

“Naked?”

“As the day I was born.”

Ray laughs uproariously, banging the table and Geoff looks smug.

I slip around the counter, trying to be as quiet as possible. But Geoff notices me. “Teach! What are you skulking about for?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted coffee.”

Ray turns in their chair to look at me. “You’re looking a bit peaky, hun. You feeling okay?”

My cheeks are probably pink from the wind, my nose from the cold. “Oh, yes, I just went up the hill to call my family.”

“They doing well?”

“Yes, thank you. All’s good.” I nearly knock over my mug. For someone who’s not actually up to anything suspicious, you wouldn’t know it to look at me. The truth is, Geoff still makes me nervous. Aside from tattling on me the other day, he’s often staring at me a fraction too long or making comments that could be interpreted as him knowing the truth about me—like the skulking thing.

They seem appeased though. Geoff goes back to his story. “So that’s how I ended up spending the night on a super yacht.”

“Now, hold up. You said you left!”

“I left thecabin. I couldn’t very well jump overboard, could I?”

“Knowing you? It would hardly surprise me.”

The door crashes open. All three of us jump. I spill my coffee everywhere. Adam storms in and slams a magazine down on the table in front of Geoff. “What the fuck is this?”

I duck to clean up my mess, but it feels like I’m ducking for cover.

“It’s the feature,” Geoff says, innocently.

“I know it’s the damned feature. What are these photos?”

“You wouldn’t let them send photographers. We had to compromise.”

“These areprivate!”

Geoff is completely unruffled. “Oh, I haveprivatephotos, they weren’t interested in those.”

“This is not a joke!”

Geoff’s chair scrapes against the stone floor as he stands. “Do you think they would have covered your story without any photos? What, get a court reporter to do a nice sketch of you and the kids? You didn’t leave me any option.”

“You should haveasked.”

Geoff blows air out between his lips. “As if you would have agreed.” I hear him turning the pages of the magazine. “These are nice. They humanize you. That’s exactly what you wanted, right? Heartbroken widower dedicates his life to children in need? It’s perfect.”

I rise slowly, so as not to startle anyone. Adam is looking down at the pages and the expression on his face is… broken. He looks completely and utterly destroyed by what he sees there.

Geoff lifts the magazine and reads an extract. “‘As De Villeneuve talks, there’s a fire behind his eyes and it’s easy to get swept up in his passion.’ This is gold. You can’t pay for this kind of press. I mean, we did, but?—”

Adam slaps the magazine out of his grip and Geoff takes a step back. He holds up his hands in front of his chest, but he’s still smiling. “I’m just doing my job here.”

Adam’s voice is that low growl when he responds. “You had no right.”

And then he turns and stalks out.

---