Jealousy, hurt, betrayal, sorrow, anger… and worst of all, I feel completely and totally inadequate. Olympics or no, I’ll never compare to Lila.
“Oh my god! Kate?”
No. No, no, no.
“Kate,” Abby hisses, “let’s get out of here.” She tugs harder on my hand. I must be a sadist because I don’t move an inch.
Suddenly, the small circle of lights grows to include Abby and me. I’m face to face with Lila Griffin, my slutty first-year flatmate from hell and current girlfriend to my soul mate.
“It is you!” Lila spreads her arms and pulls me into what has to be the most insincere hug I’ve ever experienced. She steps back, that familiar evil spark in her eyes. “It’s been so long. How are you?”
The dark lens of a camera is less than three feet from my face. The reality of my situation smacks me over the head.
I’m being filmed for Lila’s show. The show she has with her boyfriend Dax. He’s going to see this.
“Ummmm, I’m great. Brilliant. It’s good to see you.” I glance over at Abby who seems to be itching to slap Lila right acros
s her smug face if the scowl she’s sporting means anything.
“That’s so awesome! I can’t believe you’re here! I figured you’d have left L.A. by now. You know, to go back to that little town you grew up in.”
Nice dig on my poor upbringing. “No. I’m still here—”
“Great!” She interrupts me before I can tell her what I really think of her or how I made the Olympic footy team. “Well, I gotta run. Daxey is waiting for me.”
My mouth falls open as Lila leans in to air kiss both of my cheeks. Before I know it, she’s gone, her bizarre little entourage trailing behind.
“I hate her so much,” Abby says.
Me? I’m speechless. There is literally nothing I can say to make anything that just happened seem less humiliating than it is. Dax will see that. He’ll think I’m a total failure. A pathetic waste of space.
They’ll probably watch it together and have a laugh.
Abby manages to maneuver me outside and into a cab before the tears start pouring down my face.
CHAPTER 17
Dax
“When did this take place?” I bark into my mobile, my breath coming out in misty puffs.
“Dax, are you coming inside?” My mum is staring at me from the door of the conservatory with a concerned expression on her face. Her arms are wrapped around her middle to stave off the bitter cold.
“Hold on.” I cover the mouthpiece of my mobile. “Mum, you go on in. I’m buying it for you and dad. It only matters if you two like the house, not me.”
She nods, but the knot between her brows lets me know she’s not happy. I rub my forehead, the stress so overwhelming I’m on the verge of losing my mind.
“Zane,” I bark at my assistant. I hired the eager kid from the gym in L.A. “When was the bloody thing filmed?” The urge to chuck my mobile into the fancy koi pond is nearly overwhelming. He’s a great assistant, has been for a few years now. Unfortunately, he does take the brunt of my frustrations.
“Two months ago.”
Clenching my jaw, I attempt to calm down. It’s not Zane’s fault that Lila is a psychotic bitch. It’s not his fault she somehow found Kate at an L.A. nightclub and filmed it for her reality show. It’s definitely not his fault that I found out about it airing while I’m over five thousand miles away in London, spending the holidays buying a house for my parents so they can get away from the dangers of Hackney. It took me two years to convince them to move, I had to jump on the chance to get them out of there as soon as they agreed to it.
A cold winter wind whips under my fleece, causing a shiver to wrack my body. The large back garden is laid out beautifully, with a stonework courtyard, bushes that are probably gorgeous in spring when they’re blooming, and of course, a pretentious little koi pond complete with working waterfall.
“Get me a meeting with Rachel as soon as I’m back in town.”
“You got it.”