Page 48 of Outlier
I managed a small smile and waved back, relief surging through me that the sight of me in her brother’s arms did not seem to be provoking anger.
Lucy was one of the few people who didn’t have a pecuniary interest in me and still wanted to be my friend. I put that down to her slightly quirky, extremely forgiving and unbelievably kind nature.
“Okay,” I said, a little sadness leaking into my tone.
I didn’t want to go back to the meeting. I wanted to stay with Mike. It was the first time I’d ever truly not wanted to work. Normally, work was really all I had, to be honest.
“Great,” Felix muttered. As we walked back to the conference room, he shoulder-checked Mike, which I thought was completely unnecessary.
“Well, that was interesting,” Lottie said in an excited whisper as we walked to the double doors. “Don’t worry. I’ll deal with your brother.”
“Half-brother,” I corrected automatically.
Chapter 18
You’ll do
Mike
Bloody hell.That was not what I’d had in mind when I decided to surprise Vicky at work.
To be honest, I hadn’t really thought the whole thing through, but then, thinking clearly when it came to Vicky didn’t seem to be my strong suit.
So when I completed my delivery early, I’d decided not to wait until later when we said I’d pick her up from her place.
No, like the normal bulldozer I was, I decided to go to her office. I’d been there often enough.
Felix was one of my best friends, and my sister’s boyfriend. And I was tired of us keeping things on the down low whilst all the drama with Ollie and Lottie played out.
It was time for everyone to know that Vicky was mine.
I had not anticipated that Vicky would stand up in the middle of the meeting she was in, leave all those suits who had been hanging off her every word for dust, and run out of there, straight into my arms.
I mean, whocouldhave predicted that?
But I should have remembered how very literal she was. If I’d told her I wanted to be greeted with a kiss when I saw her, then that’s what she was going to do, appropriate circumstances or not.
And there was no way I was pushing her away.
Those suits could suck it up, and that included Felix.
B-but why do you care?
I tamped down the surge of anger as I remembered her small voice and the genuine confusion in it.
What the fuck was going on with these people? Why did Vicky think they wouldn’t give a shit about her?
Now that their meeting was finished, I’d been told, in no uncertain terms, that the quiet meal for two I’d planned for Vicky and me had been hijacked.
Minutes later, Ollie strode into the office like he owned the place. To be fair to the bloke, hedidactually own a large percentage of London, and some of his swagger was just innate aristocratic arrogance. His family had been bossing around a fair amount of the UK for over five hundred years after all. Well now his aristocratic, Lord of the manor gaze was fixed on me, and the man wasn’t best pleased.
“Hi, Ollie,” Vicky said, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.
When I put my arm around her and tucked her into my side, Ollie’s eyes flared with surprise.
“Felix rang me,” he said, looking between us and taking Lottie’s hand automatically when she came up to his side. “Mike, this is a bit of a turnaround, don’t you think?”
Bloody hell. I really wished I’d been a bit less of a prick about Vicky in the past. It was coming back to bite me in the arse now in a big way.
