Page 20 of Suddenly Desired
He was in shock at what had happened, his pulse hammering. The barmaid’s voice — sharp, cutting, and laced with fury — echoed in his ears. But worse than the foul-smelling, dripping mess from his clothes, had been the way she’d looked at him when she’d thrown the drink. She’d looked as if she hated him.
And then there was the phone.
Blake clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists in his damp sleeves. He was certain she’d been filming. The angle of her phone had been too deliberate, too practised, and Blake knew what it felt like to be filmed. He could only guess the headline that would be emblazoned above the footage.
Chauvinistic prick.That’s what she’d called him. The words churned in his stomach, mixing with the sharp sting of realisation. This is what his life had become. Every interaction would be scrutinised. Every misstep magnified and dissected for the world’s entertainment. Though he missed them with a pain that felt visceral, Blake was glad he’d created a distance betweenhimself and his family. It would kill him to see them scrutinised in the same way.
He swore under his breath, quickening his pace. How could he have been such an idiot? He’d known something like this was going to happen. He should have known better than to leave the apartment. His gut had told him it would be a mistake. And it had been right. He’d let himself get caught up in the moment. In her.
Ellie.
Her name drifted through his mind, uninvited, but impossible to ignore. He didn’t know why he felt so drawn to her. She wasn’t just another face, another voice clamouring for attention and validation. No. When he’d first met her, by the river, he’d felt something special. And now, after just half an hour in a bar, he knew for sure.
Blake shook his head, trying to banish the thought. He’d only known her for a matter of hours. Whatever spark there was between them couldn’t be worth more than his business. Heartbook was his life, his legacy, and right now it was teetering on the edge of ruin.
He crossed the street, seeing a taxi coming the other way and flagging it down. The driver must have taken one look at his ruined clothes and decided he was penniless, because it roared away almost immediately. He had more luck with the second one, climbing inside and pulling out a wad of notes.
“You can keep it if you don’t ask any questions.” He gave the address.
The taxi driver’s eyes flicked to Blake in the rearview mirror, widening as he spoke. He took the money without a word and pulled out into the traffic.
Only when they were accelerating down the street did Blake let himself relax, leaning his head against the back of the seat and listening to the hum of the engine and the noises from thecity. But it didn’t take long for the tension to creep back in, as his mind replayed every second of the bar incident like a broken record.
He could already picture the fallout. The video would circulate online, then the snarky captions, the anger and hate would follow, along with the steady plummet of share prices. The board wouldn’t even wait for him to have a say — they’d pounce on this like wolves, using it as leverage to push him out of his own company.
Blake needed to speak to David.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, seeing David’s name there. Had the news reached the board already? That was not good. He thought about not answering, but this was no time to be an ostrich, and he really did need to hear the voice of a friend right now.
With a resigned sigh, he swiped to answer. “I know,” he said, before David could speak. “Don’t say it.”
“Say what?” snapped a familiar, cutting voice. “That you’re single-handedly throwing this company under a bus? What’s the game here, Blake? Are you trying to burn it all down?”
Blake froze, the tension in his shoulders ratcheting up a notch. “Michelle,” he muttered. Of course she’d muscled her way into this.
“Don’t play dumb,” she hissed. “This is a disaster. You’ve got the public screaming down my neck, the media are frothing at the mouth. Are you doing this deliberately or are you really that stupid togo out and get coffee?”
“Michelle,” he said again, choosing his words carefully. “There was a reason I was there, and it’s not the reason you’re thinking of.”
“Sure, Blake. There’s always a reason.”
He heard David mumbling something, then the sound of the phone being passed over.
“Sorry,” David said. “She knew you wouldn’t answer if it was her.”
Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply. “Yeah, no kidding. What’s the situation?”
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” David said, his voice serious. “This is bad. Really bad. Let’s just say my media alerts are working overtime. Your name has been trending all day, but this video? It’s blowing up.”
“The bar?”
“Yeah,” David confirmed. “Someone sent it to me five minutes ago and now it’s everywhere. I’ve forwarded it to you, but timing couldn’t be worse. Agnes is pushing for an emergency board meeting. I think I’ve managed to hold her off until tomorrow, but she’s rallying the troops.”
Blake’s chest constricted. “Don’t let them meet without me.”
“I’ll stall them as long as I can,” David said. “But you need to be ahead of this, Blake. And whatever you do,stay inside.Don’t give them more fuel. If you’re not careful, you’re going to lose everything.”
David ended the call, and Blake froze for a moment, the weight of the man’s words sitting heavy. Slowly, he unlocked his phone, trying to ignore the flurry of notifications that had been setting it alight. He’d intended to go straight to his emails and deal with what David had sent him, but his thumb hovered as a familiar group chat lit up:
