Page 76 of Edge of Whispers

“I cannot believe what you just said!” I exploded. “I told you those things in confidence! I had no idea when I invited you here that you would do your best to sabotage my professional life!”

He frowned. “I didn’t mean to sabotage you. I just told it like it was. And about time, too.”

“About time for what? To ruin my career? Are you trying deliberately to do that?”

“No,” he said. “For a reality check. Peter and Enid are vampires. They suck you dry. And you don’t react. You don’t draw the line.”

“But timing! Why say that right after an important gig, in the earshot of other agents and managers and concert-series presenters? It’s a terrible time to?—”

“There’s never a good time, Nancy.”

I plowed on. “Grace, delicacy, and minding your own goddamn business. These are crucial earmarks of maturity.”

“So call me immature.” The label clearly did not bother him.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Liam, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”

He grunted low in his throat. “I’ll tell you who’s jealous. Peter. He’s jealous of me. Afraid of losing you. Or at least, losing control of you.”

I gaped at him, bewildered. “No way! Peter’s got Enid now, which means he definitely has his hands full! And besides?—”

“I got his number the minute I laid eyes on him. ‘You’re the guy who spirited away our manager,’” he mimicked in a voice so much like Peter’s, I almost betrayed myself by smiling, but I caught myself just in time. “Peter and I are old friends. We have a lot of history. It’s normal that there’s ambivalence?—”

“Ambivalence?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm. “For the first time, he doesn’t get to have his cake and eat it, too. He took advantage of you when you were together. Then he met Enid, and he wanted her, too, so he figured out a sneaky way to keep you both. It’s the perfect setup. You, to do all the scutwork and the secretarial stuff, to get him the gigs, and make sure he gets paid. Enid to suck his dick and fluff his ego. Nobody will give you the respect you deserve for free, Nancy. You’ve got to demand it. You’ve got to put your foot down.”

I opened her mouth in automatic denial, then closed it.

A dull pain in my belly told her that it was the truth. An ugly, dangerous, ill-timed truth.

“Maybe you’re right,” I said. “But it was wrong to say it out there. Putting me on the spot. It embarrassed everyone. And reflected very badly on me.”

Liam shrugged. Right or wrong, he did not care.

An aching silence spread out between us. I wanted to howl in frustration. “So what do you expect me to do about it?”

“Get rid of them,” he said. “Fire their asses.”

I snorted. “It’s not that simple. They’re my clients, Liam, not my employees. And they’re also my?—”

“Friends, right.” His voice was heavily laced with irony.

“Yes! They are! Friendship is complicated. It’s never perfect!”

“They suck you dry, and they don’t even thank you. They’re spoiled children. They don’t deserve you. Get rid of them.”

“Liam, you can’t just fire your friends. You have to find solutions, compromises.”

“No, you don’t.”

I gazed into his grim, unreadable face. “You’re not very good at compromise, are you, Liam?” I asked slowly.

His silence answered for him.

I clenched my hands. “I can’t deal with this conversation right now. I’m busy. So either keep your mouth zipped around my colleagues, or leave. Understood?”

Liam started to speak, stopped himself. He nodded.

I braced myself. “What does that mean? Does that mean you’re staying?”

---