“Alex, calm down!” Lara raises her voice. “You're scaring Amy and quite frankly you're scaring me. And Max is asleep.”
Alex drags his hand through his ink-black hair, tugging at the strands. “How can I calm down when she's being so stupid? He's going to ruin her life. Again.”
“He won't,” I say, my voice calm even though I'm shaking inside. “I won't let him.”
“Well, I'm sorry if I don't trust your judgement, but you seem to rebound from one fucking crisis to another. If you do this, don't expect me to be there to mop up your tears this time.”
I step back, offended. “I'm not a little kid, Alex, I know what I'm doing. You need to back off.”
“You're my little kid. I'm the one who was there for you, the one who looked after you. Don't expect me not to care.” He grabs his jacket from the arm of the sofa. “I'm going to the pub before I say something I regret.”
With that, he storms out, leaving Lara and me standing with our mouths agape. It takes a few moments for me to find my voice, and when I do it's thin and shaky.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble.”
Lara smiles, then hugs me close. “You haven't. It's not your fault.”
I close my eyes, resting my cheek on her shoulder. “But Alex was so angry...”
“He was.” She leads me to the sofa and we sit down. “But you know what he's like, he blows up and then he calms down. He'll be back full of apologies I expect.”
“Why doesn't he trust me?” I ask, looking up at her. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and rests her face on the palm of her hand.
“He's very protective of you,” Lara says. “You've always been his little girl. You have to remember he's used to being the man of the house, he thinks it's his job to look after you.”
“But I can look after myself.”
“I know you can.” She smiles. “It's just going to take Alex a while to realize that. As far as he's concerned, you're still a fifteen-year-old school girl.”
“Ugh.” I rub my face with my hands. “Sometimes I wish I was still at school. Life seemed so much easier then.”
Lara twists around. Through a gap between my fingers I can see her staring at me. “Does this have anything to do with the text I got from your mum last night?” she asks.
“What text?”
“The one asking if I knew where you were, and why you still weren't home at two in the morning.”
“She sent you a text?” I sit up straight, suddenly panicked. “You didn't tell Alex did you?”
Lara laughs. “Not likely. She sent me another one when you got in. Where were you all night, anyway?”
“Umm. A few of us went to a bar.”
“And then?” She looks amused. “Wait, do I need a cup of tea for this? Or something stronger?”
I lick my dry lips. The remnants of my hangover have disappeared, leaving behind an arid taste and an intense thirst. “Tea sounds perfect.”
Ten minutes later I'm clutching a chipped mug that's emblazoned with the Union Flag. Steam escapes from the opening, swirling through the air in a misty haze. Lara listens quietly as I recount the whole sorry tale, her face sympathetic. When I finish, she offers me the packet of biscuits she brought out with the tea. I stuff a chocolate Hobnob into my mouth.
“Wow,” she says. “Now I'm really glad I didn't tell Alex about that text.”
“So am I,” I agree. “I've made him angry enough as it is, I don't need to add sex with my boss into the mix. You won't tell him, will you?”
Lara looks almost affronted. “Of course I won't. I'd never betray your confidence.”
Frowning, I wipe some crumbs from my lips. “But won't keeping secrets from him cause problems?”
“Not half as many problems as telling him the truth would cause. You saw how he was today. Imagine what he'd be like if I told him your boss had taken advantage of you. He'd be running over to Canary