Page 73 of What Happens in Dubai

‘You look nice.’ His voice sounded quieter than normal but I could hear his distinct northern accent echo up the stairwell. My heart immediately felt achy seeing him again.

‘Thanks for returning them.’ I sort of laughed, feeling uneasy at the tension.

‘Can I explain? I know this is your big leaving party but I’ll be a couple of minutes max.’

I shook my head, ‘I’m not going anywhere now. I’m staying here – Raj is taking my spot in Dubai.’

Cameron let out a puff of disappointment. ‘Shit. Well, I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t intend to hurt you or Laura. We’ve had a relationship for a while now but it’s long distance and I never intended to hurt you both.’

I stared through him. The last person I wanted to hear him speak about right now was Laura.

‘I seriously blame myself – I should have known. You were too nice, Cameron. Good guys don’t exist for girls like me. There was always something I couldn’t put my finger on with you. I should have trusted my gut.’ I could feel my eyes tear up so I blinked, determined to hide how much he had hurt me.

‘Please don’t say that, Zara. I didn’t feel like I held back.’ He reached forward to hold my hand but I stepped back.

‘You switched your phone off, pretending to be in the zone but it was just in case Laura called. You weren’t honest the entire time. Fuck, you couldn’t even make eye contact with me when we had sex, Cameron. Why was that? Were you picturing Laura?’ My voice was getting louder and I was determined not to fall for any more of his bullshit lies.

‘What? I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe I felt a tad guilty. But I didn’t want to hurt you,’ he pleaded.

‘Are you still speaking to Laura? Have you told her all about this?’ I asked.

Cameron remained quiet, not answering my question.

‘If you didn’t want to hurt me, you would have been honest with her. With me. You were keeping your options open, Cameron. And to be honest, I’m done with this conversation. You are a liar, a cheat and a fuckboy trying hard to disguise himself as a good guy. See you, Cameron,’ I shrugged. ‘Or, probably not, eh.’

With that line I shut the door and slumped to the ground.

‘Zara?’ he mumbled from outside but I didn’t answer. Eventually I could hear his footsteps get fainter in the distance as I listened to him walk out of my life for good.

‘Babe, fancy a quick glass of Prosecco before we leave?’ Ashley called out from the bedroom, unaware of my unexpected visitor.

‘Good idea!’

With a deep breath I stood up, walked through to the kitchen, grabbed another mug from the dish rack and lifted the half bottle from the counter. I started to glug the contents into the mug.

‘Fuck’s sake, go easy, Zara!’ Ashley said.

‘I need it tonight! Come on, let’s go get this over with!’

‘Who was at the door?’ she asked.

‘Long story. I’ll tell you later. C’mon, let’s go!’

In the hallway, Ashley grabbed my wrist for balance as we both slipped into our high heels. Then we did a last-minute check in the mirror, got our bags and made the five-minute journey to The Corinthian Club.

The Corinthian stood alone on Ingram Street, a grand sandstone building with an archway of flowers tastefully decorating the doorway. We walked up the marble stairs into the vast bar area and spotted Emily and Raj chatting to some clients. When Emily spotted us, she waved us over enthusiastically.

‘We have the room next door booked out for us. Do you want to go in right now?’ Ashley asked.

‘Sure!’ From across the room, I communicated to Emily that we were going into the function suite.

‘This is better!’ I puffed as we entered the less crowded room. ‘I felt claustrophobic out there, I don’t know why.’

The function suite was small, and clients were dotted around the tables, chatting and enjoying glasses of Prosecco. I smiled and waved as I wandered past a few familiar faces. Raj was wearing a black and gold embroidered suit. I walked up from behind him and gave him a little fright by suddenly slapping my hands on his shoulders.

‘My two favourite girls have finally made an appearance!’ He gushed as he turned around.

‘Better late than never?’ I held my hands up, trying to excuse myself.

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