Page 30 of Blindsided
I redirect my lethal stare back to him. “You don’t need to worry a thing about my friendship with Freya, all right? You just need to know that she’s mine, okay, pal?”
“Yours?” he scoffs. “I didn’t force her to come here tonight, Maclay.”
My knuckles crack in fists at my side as I turn to eye Freya. “Tell him you’re leaving with me, Freya. Now.”
“Leaving with you?” she asks, her wide eyes whirling with confusion. “What on earth are you talking about, Mac? I’m on a date.”
I shake my head slowly. “I need you to trust me when I tell you that we need to leave.”
“Mac,” Freya states, her chin trembling. “Why are you doing this?”
“Who do you trust? Him? Or me?” My voice is increasing in volume, but I can’t help it. Every time I’m around Santino, I lose my fucking temper.
Freya sniffles as she glances at Santino. With a resounding sigh, she leans over and picks up her clutch off the table. “I’m so sorry, Santino,” she says, her voice shaky and on the verge of crying.
Fuck it. I don’t care. This is what best mates are for. I reach out to grab her hand, but she yanks it away from me like I burnt her and storms off towards the exit. I give Santino one last withering stare and turn to follow her out the door.
Mac and I are both completely silent as he drives in the direction of my flat. Part of me wants to reach across the console and punch him square in the nose. Another part of me wants to scream at him that he has some bleddy nerve sabotaging my date and humiliating me.
A larger part of me is scared to do anything because I’ve never seen him like this. So angry. So demanding. So unapologetic. This isn’t the Mac whom I’ve grown to know on my sofa, eating takeaway, and catching wine gums in his mouth. This is a different beast altogether. I need to tread carefully.
What on earth is his history with Santino that turns him into such a raving lunatic? I want to ask, but I’m afraid to.
I honestly don’t want to give a toss. What he did to me back at the restaurant was completely uncalled for and unacceptable. I’m a grown-arse woman. I should be able to make my own decisions about whom I will date. The only reason I agreed to leave with Mac is because everyone was staring at us in the restaurant, and I was horrified by the thought of someone taking a photo.
Mac pulls up to my flat, and without a word, I get out of the car and storm towards my door. I hear him approaching behind me, so I turn on my heels and nearly thrust my chest into him as I exclaim, “Don’t think for one second you’re coming inside!”
He has the nerve to look shocked. “Why the hell not?”
My eyes go wide, and my jaw drops. “Because you and I are in a very, very big fight. Do I seriously have to tell you that?”
Mac scoffs and aggressively shoves his hand through his hair. “What I did back there was for your own good, Cookie.”
“Don’t you Cookie me,” I growl, stepping forward and jabbing a finger into his chest. He doesn’t budge.God, he is maddening.“You don’t get to ignore me for days, then show up at my date and act like an overprotective father who’s caught his daughter having The Sex in a car or something!”
“Would you stop saying ‘The Sex’? You sound ridiculous,” he growls, his angry eyes fierce on mine.
“Thanks to you, any chance I had of having The Sex tonight has been completely shattered.”
Mac’s eyes flare with rage. “I’d rather die than see you have sex with that fucking wank,” he seethes and actually spits on the ground beside us. “He’s slept with half the population of London, Freya, and only because the other half are all men.”
“Who cares?” I scream and grip the sides of my head because I feel like the entire world is spinning. “Maybe I’m looking for an easy shag!”
“The fuck you are,” Mac replies harshly. “You’re not the casual sex type, especially since the only people you have shagged are the ones you’ve been in love with.”
“You don’t know me as well as you think you do, you arrogant, conceited animal!”
“What the fuck are you going on about? I’m around you all the time. I know you, Freya. I know you better than most people. I—”
“I’m a virgin, you big, stupid ox!” My voice is loud and echoes down the nearby alley as I shut him up for good at last.
There’s a strange suspension of reality that happens around us for a few seconds, where it feels like the earth has stopped rotating and all that exists is my anger and Mac’s anger, sizzling between us like an electric current.
When I finally realise what I just shouted for all of London to hear, my legs suddenly feel like pudding. With a shaky exhale, I turn away from Mac’s stupefied expression to go sit down on the front step of my building before I proceed to die of mortification. If I don’t die of mortification, then I will murder myself in the name of mortification. Whichever comes first.
My eyes are wide and shooting back and forth in horror. This is all my fault. This entire night, this entire week, this entire situation is something I put myself through by allowing Mac to be my stupid love coach. How ridiculous! All I wanted to do was find a nice date for Allie’s wedding, and, oh yeah, perhaps lose my virginity in the process before my thirtieth birthday. Was that really too much to ask the universe? What a fool I am!
I look up to find Mac blinking back his shock. His mouth is hanging wide open like a fly trap, and he still hasn’t moved a muscle since my humiliating confession.
