‘What is it, Jen? Is it this place? Has it turned you into one of them? Made you think you can fuck the workers then sell them out? Is that it?’
She stared in horror.
‘You can’t think that of me. You can’t. I’m one of you. I’m a worker.’
‘Maybe you were once.’
‘I still am.’ She shouted it, desperate, wanting to grab him and shake him. ‘Our lives are not a stupid metaphor for Bledburn, so you can shut up with that.’
‘Right,’ he said, breathing hard and fast. ‘Right, I’ll shut up. I’ll clear off out of here. I’ll go somewhere I’m respected, even it turns out to be prison.’
‘No,’ she cried, launching herself at him, in an effort to bodily restrain him from throwing himself to the wolves. She clung to his arms for dear life, refusing to be dislodged. ‘I won’t. You can’t. You can’t go to prison for something you didn’t do. You can’t go.’
She was crying now, the tears falling into her mouth and making her voice quiver and jolt, but she kept it up as forcefully as she could.
‘I do respect you, I won’t go behind your back again, I’m sorry, I won’t. Please stay.’
She saw his eyes close, felt his resistance begin to ebb.
‘Let go of me,’ he whispered.
‘Only if you stay. Only if you stay.’ She kept repeating it until he grabbed her wrists and laid his head on her shoulder.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘All right. For now.’
They held each other, tight enough to make their ribs ache, feeling the other’s chest rise and fall, feeling the heat, and the shaking, and the subsiding of rage.
‘Why did you do it?’ he asked, once they were calmer.
‘It wasn’t for glory. Please don’t think that. I just thought that the world deserves to see your work.’
He shook his head on her shoulder.
‘The world deserves fuck all from me,’ he said. ‘Sweet FA.’
Jenna didn’t reply, but she understood what was at the heart of his objection and she could only sympathise.
‘Call your mate,’ he said, rocking back and forth now on his heels, taking her with him. ‘Tell her it was a mistake. Tell her to forget it.’
‘I will. I’m sorry.’
It had been too soon; she saw that now. She should have given him a little more time, waited until the legal nightmare was untangled. He would come round.
‘You’re a bit too free with me, Jen,’ he said after a while, loosening his hold enough that he could look her in the eye. ‘I’m not your toy. I think you need to learn that. I think you need to learn a lot of things.’
Jenna bristled at first, hating, as ever, to be told that she was not right and perfect in every way. After all, she’d grown so used to the sycophancy of the TV people in LA. It was a jolt to be seen as less than impeccable.
‘And you’re going to teach me, are you?’ she said, slightly sulkily.
‘Oh, don’t tempt me,’ he said with a hard little laugh. ‘I could have you begging for mercy on this floor in three minutes flat. Don’t think I couldn’t.’
He was infuriating and yet his words inflamed her so much that she felt weak in his arms, ready to take anything from him. Prove it, beat her heart in an excitable tattoo.
‘Look, I’ve said I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back. Mea culpa. Can we move on from this? Please?’
‘Yeah, because that’d suit you, wouldn’t it?’ he said. Hot breath in her ear. ‘To get away with it.’
Her body was taut, knowing in advance that something was going to happen, preparing its defences. At the same time, her knickers were getting wetter and wetter.