Page 53 of Heart on Ice

“You’re lying to me,” she says, sipping her champagne.

“Like you lied to me,” I throw back at her.

She gasps in surprise at my comment. “It must have been good if you’re being spicy about my questions.”

I throw back the rest of my champagne. “I’m tired, I’m going to call it a night.” I start to get up.

“Hey, wait, Issy …” Harper says, tugging at my wrist and pulling me back down. “Are we okay? What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I mumble.

“Right, because this is normal,” she says, waving her hand at me.

Urgh. I let out a frustrated sigh. “This is all a lot, okay,” I snap at her.

Harper stills. “You mean Pierre is a lot,” she says slowly.

“Him being in my space. His being here in general.”

“You said there was a truce,” she adds.

“There is but it can still be fricken hard to be around him. Every time I look at him, I see Missy Jenkins’ smug face. I hate it.”

“Oh, shit.”

“That night …” I start but feel the emotions choking me.

“That night gave you Pierre PTSD. Babe, I’m so sorry for doing this to you,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “I thought I was doing something to help you move on … shit, I was so wrong. I’m sorry.” Her hug tightens. “I’ll talk to Felix and get Pierre moved in with us until Felix finds somewhere to live.”

“Felix is still moving out?” I ask her.

“Yeah. We both agreed it was only until the end of summer, nothing’s changed,” she explains. Everything has changed. How does she not see it? But I’m too exhausted to get into it with her tonight.

“I can’t let Frankston eat your shoes,” I tease.

“He’s still eating shoes?” I nod. Pierre replaced the ones Frankston ate, which was nice of him. “I love my shoes.”

“I know.”

“I’m sure we can sort it out,” she says, grimacing.

“I appreciate it, but I can handle it,” I tell her.

“You shouldn’t have to handle it.”

“It’s fine. I’m exhausted, it’s been a long day,” I tell her.

Harper whistles, and the boys stop dancing. “Felix, let’s go.”

“See ya, boys.” Felix smirks, and they all give him hell, but he just flips them off. “Are you ready?” He looks to Harper who nods, and moments later, he picks her up from the sofa and pulls her into his arms. She wraps her legs around his waist, while the boys boo him. Felix ignores them. “Thanks for letting us celebrate tonight, my brother really needed it,” he says. I give him a nod as he says his goodbyes and hauls Harper koala-style out of my home.

That just leaves Sam and Pierre together, who take a seat with their beers. I get up and start to tidy up the kitchen.

“We need to go out now that you’re single. I know the best places,” Sam says.

“I can’t go out, I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future. No one knows that Kitty and I have broken up,” Pierre tells him.

“Shit, that’s right you said that earlier,” Sam says, taking a sip of his beer. “That’s going to make it hard to get laid. I’ve got the best idea. I’m going to gift you a membership to The Paradise Club. I’m part owner of the islands. Nate, not sure if you’ve met him, but he’s just got his girl back, and he’s disappeared off the face of the Earth with her. Anyway, it’s these secret sex clubs, everyone who is famous goes there. And it’s only via word of mouth. Right, Issy, she’s a member,” Sam says. Why is he bringing me into this? Pierre looks over at me, and I ignore him as I continue to clean. “Don’t you think him going to the club, Issy, is the perfect idea? He can get laid, and the paparazzi will never know.”

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