Page 111 of All I Want for Christmas

‘And yet he kissed you.’

‘He was using me! He was making me work at his place so he could spy on me and see what I was discovering about this painting he wanted to buy.’

‘Spyingon you?’

Darcy sighed. She’d had a long day and an even longer night; this was not what she needed right now. ‘There’s stuff going on at work I can’t talk about. Legal stuff. But he and I are on opposing teams and it’s not pretty. He plays dirty.’

‘Yeah – clearly anyone who kisses your hair and comes all the way over here with a designer dress to save your skin must be a complete fucking monster.’

‘Exactly,’ Darcy muttered. Then she frowned. ‘Wait.’ She looked at Freja. ‘...How do you know he kissed my hair?’

Freja held up her phone, a cunning look in her eyes. ‘Three million likes and counting.’

‘What is?’

‘How do you think I found out in the first place?’ Freja asked, turning her phone to show a paused TikTok on the screen. She pressed play and the image panned from aLADIESsign on the door of a hotel bathroom to the push plate. Filmed through a narrow opening, a man in a black dinner suit stood with his back to the camera, his phone to his ear and his other arm holding something out of sight.

Darcy felt her blood run cold, already knowing what she was going to see. She could feel Freja’s stare upon her, gauging her reaction.

Max returned the phone to his pocket, said something inaudible, dropped his head momentarily to hers, then slowly started turning towards the door. As he came around, he saw the phone, looking straight into the screen just as Darcy herself came into shot, wiping her cheeks. For three seconds, the full extent of the damage to the dress was clear as Max broke away from her and moved ahead to the door. The camera pulled away suddenly, the door closing before he could get to it; there was a flash of carpet, and then it was turned off.

Darcy was stunned. She had no idea who had taken this, but written in bright white type across the top was the Gen Z-favourite caption:If he wanted to, he would.

‘You didn’t know?’

‘No,’ Darcy whispered. ‘Of course not. Who would...who would do that?’

‘A fairy godmother it appears,’ Freja shrugged. ‘Someone who saw what you and he seem blind to – that he cares about you, Darcy. Whether he wants to or not.’

‘...He’s a player.’

‘Well, then, the player got played.’

Darcy didn’t reply. It was everything she wanted to hear, and yet...she’d seen the coldness in Max’s eyes again tonight. In spite of what this TikTok suggested, she knew he wouldn’t let her close. If they kept falling together, he also kept pushing her away and he wouldn’t stop until she didn’t come back.

He was alone, and that was exactly how he wanted it. A few tears began to slide down her cheeks.

Freja’s eyebrows arched to a point. ‘...Hey, don’t look so sad. I’m sorry for being a bitch. I was just shocked, you know?’ She walked over and curled her arms around Darcy in a hug.

‘And you were right to be. You shouldn’t be the one being nice to me,’ Darcy sniffed. ‘It’s just been a shit day. Everything’s gone wrong. Max hates me, and Aksel, well he basically tried to push me into the canal.’

‘What?’ Freja pulled back.

‘I was so wrong about him. He turned on me because I had to cut our date short. When I tell you he’s a nasty piece of work...’ She rubbed her eyes, not caring that she was giving herself panda eyes. ‘I think he might have a drink problem. I’m not sure. Anger issues, definitely.’

Freja’s grip tightened around her. ‘Jesus,’ she murmured, the two of them standing in silence together. ‘He looked so sweet too.’

After a few moments, Darcy found Freja’s hand and she squeezed it. ‘...I really am so sorry for what I did. I’ll never forgive myself.’

‘Yeah, well,’ Freja sighed after a minute. ‘What did you really do?’

‘I stole your dress.’

‘Because you were panicking.’ She shrugged. ‘I’d have done the same.’

Darcy pulled back to look at her. ‘But it was special! You’d bought it for this really precious moment.’

‘Which didn’t happen.’ Freja made a face, beginning to pace. ‘I didn’t even go in the end.’

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